text:
Video streaming from PC to Android?
I just installed Opera Unite's video streaming service. I can access my video files through my phones web browser (Galaxy S), but it starts to download instead of playing.
Is there a player I can use to watch streamed videos from my PC?

This says press Play to stream, or click on the file name to download.  So, are you pressing Play?

Non-root Option
Subsonic
Subsonic is a free, open source, web-based media server in Java. It is easy to install and runs on various platforms. There is also a Subsonic Android App, which allows you to stream audio and video from the server. Video streaming is done with Flash. You should disable transcoding for MP4 files, since Android's Flash Player can play MP4 native.
VLC Remote
Use VLC Remote. Instructions are on he homepage. While this is mainly a remote control app for VLC it's also able to start a stream which you can receive either also with VLC Remote or with any other streaming capable player. I suggest RockPlayer.
To start the streaming, open VLC Remote, connect to the VLC instance on you streaming server, browser the files and press long on the file that you want to stream. A context menu should appear, from where you can choose stream.
Root Option
One option, that needs root, is to use cifs manager to mount the windows share with you video data, which enables other players to play the video as it was stored locally on your device.
Paid Option
This would be Plex.

You could use the file sharing features of your OS to share the folders and then browse them with ES File Explorer. Just tap the Local text in the top left corner and select LAN, press menu and add your shares. In addition you need a player that supports the formats your videos are in, I use DicePlayer. It's not free, but there's a 3 day trial version on the market.

Do the videos get really streamed or are they just downloaded before playing?

They are streamed since they are handled as normal network shares.

I tested "ES File Explorer" and I does show an "open with" dialog when accessing for example an .avi file. Astro File Manager doesn't do this. But there is a huge delay before the avi files gets played by the choose player, therefore I doubt that this is real streaming. It seems more that "ES File Explorer" does copy the multimedia file to the device before starting the player. Real streaming over SMB/CIFS can only be achieved with root and cifsmanager.

Weird, on my tab playback starts in a few seconds, regardless of the size of the file (tested 350mb-7gb).


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App to sync PDFs between Linux laptop and Android phone?
I like reading research papers on both my laptop and on my phone.  I'd love to be easily send a PDF to the phone while reading it on the laptop, so I can read it later on the subway or when I am someplace without a network connection.
I've tried Evernote with the web clipper plugin on my Linux laptop, but that will only remember notes that contain the PDF URLs rather than the PDF contents directly.

I can recommend https://www.dropbox.com/
At the moment I have it on Ubuntu, Windows 7, Mac OS X and also on HTC Desire HD

I you don't want to use an external location, apps like Syncness that sync files over WIFI are pretty good.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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How would you change the default Android boot animation?
I am attempting to change my boot animation on a rooted Xoom with Android 3.2.
I've got the files in part0/ the desc.txt looks like
1408 880 24
p 0 0 part0

I made the images 512x256 since this is what the Honeycomb boot animation had.
After I copy the bootanimation.zip image to /system/media/ and reboot I get just a black screen. I've tried 777 and 644 permissions on this file.
Any ideas how to not get a black screen?

Closely related: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/8054/how-to-create-a-custom-boot-animation

this may or may not attract more attention on StackOverflow.com

This isn't on-topic for [so].

Looks like this was a corrupt zip problem.. from linux zip tool you must be using the -0 switch to 'store'.

I'm glad you found a solution. Don't forget to "accept" this answer to act as a signpost for future readers with this problem.

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


text:
Can I disable geotagging and delete prior geotag information in photos?
My phone is a rooted Samsung Captivate (Galaxy S) running a 2.2.1-based ROM.  Another question touched on this, but I want to do 2 things

Be able to take pictures that are not geotagged.  According to the referenced post above, "it turns out Froyo made GeoTracking default and unchangeable in Galaxy S".  Yay.  So, I can either use another camera app that doesn't use geotagging, or some other solution.  I may have more options since the phone is rooted.  I would prefer not to disable GPS altogether.
Clear previous geotag information from my photos, either on the phone or through my desktop computer (Windows XP or Linux).

FYI, it looks like I have #2 figured out, just struggling with #1.

As a solution to #2, GeoTag Security is a program you could use. It (should) run in XP, so you would have to copy your pictures to your computer first, or hook your SD up via usb, but it should do the trick!
Here's the site where i found it, the above is a direct link to their site.

Thanks.  I think this will work.  I'll probably still wait a couple days before issuing the bounty.

naturally! always wait till the end to see what answers pop up :)

Since this is the bounty answer I also want to mention the answer to #1, Camera Advance Lite (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004V5BOHI/?tag=stackoverfl08-20) which allows me to take non-geotagged pictures.  Or, use a Gingerbread ROM.

Glad you found answers! :)

I found a camera mod here that allows disable of geotagging and does it by default.  It looks like I either need ADB or root to install it.
Edit:  The camera mod doesn't work, as far as disabling geotagging.
Updated Answer:  The Amazon App Store has Camera Advance Lite (and a non-lite for that matter) that has the option to turn off geotagging, which is disabled by default.
This app Geo Eraser looks like it will remove prior geotagging info.
It appears that using a Gingerbread based OS will fix the problem as well, based on my conversations with Gingerbread users.

and there goes 200 rep.

i could copy your answer for you ;)

@jlehenbauer, actually I'd be happy with a better answer for #2.  Geo Eraser can only scrub one pic at a time.

gotcha! check it out!

I haven't looked at removing geotags yet other than desktop apps already mentioned above, for which I use the GeoTag Security. However, for preventing geotagging in the first place, this is easy seeing as you are rooted.
I recently wanted to do this, wrote to Samsung support and they told me the ability to do so in the camera app was removed with the last update. Whatever.
To stop it yourself, install LBE Privacy Guard. You will then need to go into App Management > System Components and remove Camera from the list of trusted system components. It will warn you... it's okay. Once you've removed it as trusted, go back to the main screen then to Location Access Manager and deny the camera app the right to get your location. This will stop it from geotagging while still leaving your GPS on and available for other apps such as Maps.
I have verified this with my own pictures I have taken.
This solution also allows you to hide your location from other apps you may not want to have it (such as twitter or facebook). The same app can also be used to restrict apps' access to your data connection, your contacts and a myriad of other options. Basically it allows you full control over which system permissions any app may use.

imagemagick has a "strip" command line argument which will remove all EXIF data (try it with the convert command.). It might be a little excessive, but imagemagick is very very very scriptable.
However it will recompress the image. See the answer to this question on stackoverflow.
Short version: jpegtran or exiftool.

Maybe I am missing something here, but photos I take when my Froyo device's GPS is shut off are not geotagged. Furthermore, my default Camera app has a "Store location" option. When exercising either of these options, my phone does not display the "tracking your location" icon in the notification area while taking photos.
It seems like the above options are a trivial solution to  part 1 of your question. Is your phone missing these options? Do they not do what I think they do? I am running a Motorola Droid on stock Android 2.2.2 (FRG83G.)

Your phone is made by Motorola, his by Samsung. Distributors often have different stock apps and options built in, so what works on one device may not always be the case on another.

I think @jlehenbauer is correct. I have no such store location option for my samsung.  And yes I could turn off GPS altogether but I'd rather not have to remember to turn it on/off for other appear.

Gotcha re: the Samsung camera app. I suppose that's why you're asking this in the first place. Though, why do you want a whole app to accomplish what the power manager widget can do? Apps like Google Navigation will remind you that your GPS is shut off and give you a shortcut to turn it back on.

In regard to your discussion, I would recommend an android phone application that is quite useful for the purpose. I use an app named “GPS Privacy” that automatically deletes the GPS location tags if the photo is taken in a privacy area – like around your home, school, work, etc. This way you don’t have to remember whether you have the GPS tags on or off. Simply define your privacy areas, and your pictures won’t have GPS coordinates when made in these zones
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shumoapp.gpsprivacy&hl=en
Hope this would be helpful for you as well!

Do you have any relationship with the developer of this app, or are you just a happy customer?


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Galaxy Tab 10.1" 3G locked?
I'm on vacation in the UK and the Galaxy Tab 10.1" is coming out here the first week of August. I was wondering if the tablet is locked to one of the networks here in the UK or if it's unlocked and I can essentially take it back to Canada or on the rest of my European travels and use on any 3G network with that counties providers?

You should be able to get unlocked version, but most likely only from online stores just like handtec (if admin feel this can be advertising please remove link)


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No sound through handset speaker of Nexus S
Suddenly when I was playing music on my Nexus S it stopped playing all sounds through the handset speaker. It still works though if I use an external headset though.
I don't really have that much knowledge of the Android internal workings to see what the problem is, although I tried rebooting it.
I also can't really leave it for warranty repair because the boot-loader is unlocked (although I later reflashed back to the stock ROM).

You can re-lock the bootloader easily (if no severe hw problem exists that prevents it): boot into fastboot mode and issue a fastboot oem lock command.

I just saw this googling around, maybe it could be of help to you:

okay, I had the exact same problem. My speaker suddenly stopped
  working even though the ear phone plugin was still working good. I
  also found that sometime the sound came back but it is very weak,
  barely audible. and then it would disappear again. What I did to fix
  the problem is to open up the N1, disassemble instruction is on
  youtube. Open the the 3 screws to remove the board with the attached
  speaker from the main board. clean up the speaker attachment surface
  really good. Then reassemble the backboard and its speaker together.
  Then the sound came back loud and strong.
My guess is that the contact of the speaker could get dirty and
  limit the electric supply to the speaker hence it didn't work
  properly. By cleaning the surface I helped to get the current going
  again and the sound came back. Hope that this could help someone since
  this problem had driven me insane for a while.

I found this on the following website: http://www.nexusoneforum.net/forum/nexus-s-general-discussion/12468-external-speaker-not-working.html.
Cheers, and I hope this helps.

That one says N1, Nexus One.

Since the original question was for the Nexus S and the Forum is a joint Nexus 1/ Nexus S forum, I was hoping it would be helpful.

as I said, yes, that makes sense, although the instructions are for the Nexus 1.

Are you talking about the backside speakers? Suddenly mine wasn't working too (the front one still did though) and I just rebooted my phone :P And it worked again. Maybe you should try that. :)

Yes, I am talking about the backside speakers. Yes, I have tried rebooting. No, it didn't work. However, it's been on repair now and works like a charm again.

I had a similar issue with my wife's Galaxy Nexus.
No sound through the built-in speaker in regular call mode. The other party could hear her, so the Microphone was OK. The speaker worked in loudspeaker mode, but not regular.  Headphones also worked properly.
What fixed it was removing the battery and leaving it off for 5 minutes before re-installing and rebooting. I'd tried numerous reboots previously and they didn't help, nor did a quick battery removal and replacement.

While it might have been unclear from the question, my problem was actually the opposite (loudspeaker broken, regular worked), but interesting info.


text:
Is it possible to use 2 Bluetooth Unidirectional devices simultaneously?
Is it possible to pair (and use) both a microphone-only and a speaker-only Bluetooth devices so that they can be used instead of the built-in mic/speaker in the phone?
If so, can you point to where I can find more information about how to accomplish that?

I haven't tested this specific case myself. The answer might depend on what you might want to do with the mic-only and speaker-only bluetooth device.
How multiple bluetooth devices work with a single android phone:
The android phone provide you with two types to bluetooth profiles to connect to - Phone and Media. Long press on the device listing in the 'Bluetooth Settings', click on options and you can select which profile your bluetooth device should connect to.
The mono hands-free bluetooth headsets can connect to just the phone audio. The mono headset's options in android will not even list the 'Media' profile. The stereo bluetooth headsets can connect to both phone and media profiles. You will find both 'Phone' and 'Media' options for stereo headsets.
An android phone can be actively connected at a time to maximum of 2 devices. One device(Device1) will be connected to the 'Phone' and the other(Device2) will be connected to the 'Media'. All your phone calls will be routed to Device1 and all your music will be routed to Device2. But 2 devices cannot be connected to the same profile at the same time. I have tested this with my 2 stereo bluetooth headsets.
Your request: Connect a mic-only and a speaker-only device to the phone at the same time.
What will not work:
If you want to use it in a phone call so that you can speak through the mic-only device and hear through the speaker-only device, it will not work. Only one device can be connected to the 'Phone' audio at any point of time. For both devices to work together in a phone call they should both be using a phone audio which is not possible.
What might work:
A mic-only device to 'phone' audio and a stereo bluetooth headphone to the 'media' audio might be possible, since both these devices would be connected to 2 different profiles.
Caveat:
I don't know if a mic-only device can be connected to an android device, in the first place. Since devices can either connect to the 'Phone' profile or 'Media' profile and both require speaker output at the other end, I am not sure how it would work. I am specifically curious about how a phone call would work when a mic-only device is connected to the phone profile. May be android would receive audio input from the bluetooth mic and send the audio output to the phone's speaker. Maybe android will show a different profile for the mic-only bluetooth device. The problem is in android I don't see a place where one can choose 'Audio Input' and 'Audio Output' devices like we do in a desktop OS. Mic-only bluetooth devices are used with cameras as shown in this video. I don't know how they would connect and work with android devices.

+1 for the great analysis. Actually, your assumption for using it in a phone call is incorrect. Sorry for not making this clear in my original post. I am actually looking to use it for TTS: Headphones-only via A2DP and mic-only via any  Bluetooth profile that supports it. Does this change your answer?

@an00b I have changed my answer. Unfortunately, I don't know if a mic-only bluetooth device can be connected to an android phone, in the first place. If that is possible, then your request might be possible.

It should be possible to do what you want. Try this: pair both of the devices with your phone, then go to Settings -> Wireless & networks -> Bluetooth Settings, and long-press on the paired device and  select "Options".  From there you can choose which service you'd like for this particular device.

+1 for reminding about the long-press. I don't have a mic-only Bluetooth device yet so I can't try this yet. I am trying to find out whether it makes sense at all to start searching for one.

I have just done this.  I have a bluetooth compatible stereo on my Road Glide (Harley) and I like to stream my music through those speakers. But, I also want to be able to use google assistant voice commands, and take and make phone calls as needed, and I do not want the phone call to go over the bike speakers.
I set the H-D radio to media only, and set my Produtrend bluetooth device to phone call only.  I connect to my bike first, then turn on the Produtrend device.  The produtrend device has a 3.5 mm jack for connecting speakers (which i have in my helmet) or ear buds.  I was able to listen to pandora on my bike, and then make a phone call which was heard through my in-helmet speakers.  Worked perfectly.
I hope this info can be adapted to your situation
Cheers

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


text:
What's causing the pictures copied to my HTC Desire to disappear?
I'm currently running CyanogenMod 7.0.3 on my HTC Desire, and pictures copied to the SD card disappear!
If I copy an image from my computer to the phone using USB Mass Storage mode, it disappears as soon as the copy is finished.
Pictures taken with the Camera app disappear too.
Pictures copied with adb push some_pic.jpg /mnt/sdcard/DCIM/100MEDIA don't show up in the Gallery app.

Do they show up if you check with a file explorer (and are just missing in the gallery)? In this case, it might be a .nomedia file in the very same directory (or a level up), see http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/27714/why-cant-my-phone-find-pictures-or-music-files-suddenly

I can see them with a file explorer, they're just missing in the Gallery. I've searched for .nomedia files using find and found one in the card's root, but I suspect it's been recently added by a recent ROM Manager bug (I didn't take note of the file's creation date before deleting it).

I've removed /mnt/sdcard/.nomedia and /mnt/sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails and rebooted the phone, and the pictures are back in Gallery. Let's see for how long...

For as long as you keep that .nomediafile away :) I added this as an answer, including some closer explanation -- so you might want to check and possibly even accept it, as it solved your issue.

I noticed a similar problem on my HTC G2 recently after I migrated phones.  Deleting the thumbnails folder fixed the problem.
See also: Not all images showing up in gallery

Check you SD card for errors, preferably by powering down the phone, removing it and inserting into an SD reader.
And always use "Safely Disconnect Hardware" in Windows system tray or unmount the USB mass storage device in Linux.

A quite common cause for "disappearing media" is not restricted to photos only, but can also affect audio and video files:
The media scanner checks each directory for a file named .nomedia (this file can be empty, its content is not checked). If found, this directory including its subdirectories is skipped from scan -- which means, this media does not appear in the gallery.
You can easily check if this might be the cause:

use a file explorer (e.g. ES File Explorer) to check whether your media is where it should be (i.e. usually somewhere on your sd card). You can also check this from your computer via USB.
if so, check all the tree along for a file named .nomedia (note the leading dot!). It may reside even in the root directory of your sd card -- or somewhere in the path to your media files
if found, just delete it (safe to do so -- you can re-create it anytime, it has no important content but is more likely even completely empty).


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Why can't I access the /data directory with ADB on my Samsung Vibrant?
I used Simply Honey before and everything was okay. However, when I flash to a Stock 2.2 ROM, I cannot access the /data directory from adb. I am sure the phone is totally rooted because I have the Superuser icon in my apps menu and I can open the /data directory in Root Explorer. Why can't I access /data from adb as well?

What's the error?  Are you escalating the adb shell to root?

no, just when use adb shell to go into data directory, it says "don`t have the permission"

You need to escalate the shell, since /data requires root permissions to access.  After running adb shell, run su before running cd /data.  The prompt should change from $ to # if it works.

but i can`t run su in adb shell.

@ufo Why not? You can run it if you have it.  Example use.


text:
How to play android games on PC?
I have Asphalt 6 on my HTC Desire S. That looks awesome on phone, now I want to play the game on PC. Is it possible at all? I mean is there any app which will let me play this game on my PC over wifi using my phone?
Desire S don't have any TV out, but it do support DLNA connection, if that matters.
OS: Windows XP
Mobile OS: Android 2.3.3

As far as I'm aware, the official emulator would be too slow for most intensive games like Asphalt.  For games I usually use Memu on Windows and Genymotion on OSX/Linux (the latter also works on Windows, but Memu is definitely better).  I have found Bluestacks to be very buggy and do not recommend it.
For viewing the phone's screen from your PC you could use a solution from this question: How to capture video stream from Android phone screen and show it on laptop?.  You might be able to get up to 30 FPS depending on the quality.
One way to control the game externally, if you don't want to hold the phone, is to attach it to a gaming steering wheel.  Sort of like the WiiMote steering wheel attachment.

You might have to fidget with this one, and if you could get it working, it would be awesome. There's an Android x86 project that you could use to boot android on your computer, and just play the games there. The builds they have up now come with a few games, and if you could install .apk files to it, then you could play all the games right there!
Let us know if you do this, and how well it works!

If you had a pretty decent PC, you could try using the official Android Emulator from the Android SDK. The only problem might be that with the current emulator, there is no graphic acceleration yet so game performance might not be so great, though Google says it will be coming soon.


text:
Possible to answer a comment made at the Google Play Store?
Is it possible to answer a comment made in a review at the Google Play Store?

It is now the case that all developers can reply to reviews on their apps. The reply shows up publicly next to the review, and by default, the user who left the review gets notified by email (but users can turn off being notified in the settings on the web). There can only be one reply per review. The reviewer can only respond by editing their review, and the developer isn't notified when this occurs.
It's still not helpful to use reviews for reporting problems with the app, because solving them generally needs several messages back and forth to narrow down the problem, and sometimes needs the user to tell the developer how they were using the app or what they wanted to achieve: something you might not want made public.


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Is there a reasoning to how often and long the notification light blinks?
I have a Droid X.  The green light on the front blinks when something has happened, but I've noticed that the number of blinks and their length is not consistent.
Is there some method to it?  Some code to it?  Does it reflect the event that has occurred in some way>?

Some apps will use the LED to indicate that there is a notification. For instance, the LED blinks green for me when I've received an e-mail message and blinks blue when Twitter has a message for me.
There's no consistency as to how to manage these, however. For instance Google Voice has it under Menu | More | Settings | Sync and notifications | Light, but no way to choose the color. Gmail doesn't offer any way to control it.


text:
Is there way to view two applications split screen on Android tablets?
Is there way to use two applications simultaneously on split screen on Android tablets? It would be great to put tablet to vertical position open navigation software to upper part of screen and music player to lower and use it at car. Just like the Kyocera Echo can.

Is there a Custom Android MOD like CyanoGen supporting this?

There is a company that is working on doing this but they said they will not be releasing it to consumers, they want to go directly to OEMs: Onskreen.


text:
Display the reason I just got an alert?
My phone makes a noise when I get a text or email.
Can it also display a line of text saying what the text or email is from? I hate having to check all my apps to see which one wants my attention.
I also want to know why it wants my attention, as in, who just texted me? Who just emailed me? what did they say?

You should see a notification icon in the bar at the top of the screen.
Swipe down and you can click on the notification to load the application that generated it.
In addition you can install SMS Popup or something similar to display the details of the SMS on screen immediately. I haven't found anything like this for email though.

Thanks. For some reason, I see nothing. The small icons at top let do not even turn red...
The iPhone, when you return to if after an absence, displays a list of calls and texts received on the main screen...nothing like that for Android?

Voice Notify may help as well. It is not necessarily practical in every situation (i.e. meetings), but can be handy at home when your phone is charging across the room and you don't want to have to get up to look at it every time it buzzes.


text:
How can I increase the brightness of photos on the HTC Wildfire S?
I just moved from a Sony Ericsson C510 to a HTC Wildfire S.
Although the Wildfire as a flash and the C510 doesn't, I was able to take pictures in dim rooms better with the C510 than the Wildfire. Even using the flash creates dark pictures.
For example, in this picture you can see in the reflection in the picture glass in the lower left that I used the flash but the flash was so weak that it didn't seem to make the picture any brighter than without the flash.

What settings can I change on my HTC Wildfire S to help make pictures taken in dim rooms brighter?

You can access advanced options to better configure your photos outcome and maybe improve them on that particular environment.

Open the menu panel to access and change camera settings:
To open the camera settings, while within the Camera application, press your device "menu" button.

Available Options:

Image adjustments

Slide your finger across each of the slider bars to adjust the
  exposure, contrast, saturation, and sharpness.

White balance

White balance enables the camera to capture colors more
  accurately by adjusting to your current lighting
  environment.

ISO (photo mode only)

Choose an ISO level or set it back to Auto. Higher ISO
  numbers are better for taking pictures in low light
  conditions.

Auto enhance (photo mode only)

Select to reduce noise when using a high ISO setting and to
  automatically adjust photo brightness.

These are the most relevant settings to play with in order to obtain better results to your current scenario. You can read all about this and the remaining available settings on the users manual for your device under page 86.


text:
How can I install swype on HTC Wildfire S?
I have an HTC Wildfire S and want to install Swype.
I understand from a bit of searching that I need to download it.
When I search for "swype" in the marketplace there are dozens of results which all don't seem to install the Swype functionality.
Some forums even mention that this is not possible.
How do I install Swype functionality on my HTC Wildfire S?

Use Go Keyboard or SwiftKey X, dude..

Swype uses a "closed" beta system to distribute its app rather than using the Market. You can register for the beta and get a download link for their installer by simply visiting the Swype website.
Disclaimer: I have no idea if the Wildfire is "officially" supported, but QVGA screen support is noted for v3.0. The forum thread you linked to in your question is about 5 months old, and QVGA was not supported at that time.

Have you tried http://beta.swype.com/ ?
You need to register with an email address to get a link to download the Swype installer.

Swype developers pulled the app from the market in favour of deals with manufacturers and networks to have the app pre-installed on phones. So the only way to obtain it is to find a copy of the app apk file and manually install it. Note that there are different versions of the apk depending on the screen resolution (and possibly other factors) of the phone.

go to new message, put your finger on text input box and hold, it'll bring up 'edit text', choose 'input method' then 'swype'.

What if Swype isn't installed?


text:
Enter username or password via voice?
Is there a way to enter a username or password by voice?
Google's Voice Search only interprets entire words or phrases but I couldn't find any way to dictate letter-by-letter to an input field.
Is this at all possible in Android?

You can spell out words with the voice input, but it puts spaces between each letter. I can't see there being a feature to support this as saying your password out loud would defeat the point of having a password.
Now if you follow the "pass-phrase" model, where your password is something like "i walk on the beach to relax", then it may work. but again, I don't think it would be a good idea to say your password out loud anyway.

I couldn't find any way to dictate letter-by-letter to an input field. Is this at all possible in Android?

Currently, not possible with Google. Some other programs support it, eg Dragon or CMU Sphinx. https://stackoverflow.com/a/34096295/395857


text:
How to make a simple bookmark on HTC Wildfire S?
I am in the browser on my HTC Wildfire S.
I want to make a bookmark of the current page and save it to my desktop (main screen).
I press and hold down the URL and it gives me the choices:

share page (twitter, facebook, etc.)
copy page url

I would also expect it to give me the option "save bookmark".
How can I make a bookmark of a web page?

To add the current page as a bookmark, in the browser:
Menu->Bookmarks->Add Bookmark
Then you can long click the bookmark and select 'Add Shortcut to Home' which will add an icon for the bookmark on the desktop. Alternatively, long click on the desktop, then select
Add Item->Shortcut->Bookmark


text:
Google Navigation, screen doesn't rotate when in walking mode?
I'm having a problem using Google Navigation.
I select a destination, click the "walking button" and rotate my phone, yet the display remains portrait.
If I select "by car" - then it rotates as it should.
I'm using the phone mainly as a cycle GPS, and my bike mount is fixed to landscape orientation. So is there anything I can do about this?
If there is no way to "edit a config file?", if not, is there a way to force the app (using a widget) maybe to rotate?
Thanks in advance.

This issue possibly has been long deprecated with the current Google Maps which has built-in navigation with various methods and also support both portrait & landscape modes.

Did you enable screen rotation?
In the Samsung Galaxy S4, it is in the pulldown menu. It can also be found in: System settings > My device > Display > Auto-rotate screen.


text:
Is the Galaxy S II stable?
I am thinking about getting a Galaxy S2. It seems like a great phone, but I have some concerns about the system stability.
I hear from Android users that Samsung's original ROM is very slow and heavy (and doesn't handle right-to-left languages very well - I speak Hebrew), and that other ROMs have their own problems and the releases are not so reliable.
Is any of this true?

As an Android user for about 2 years (and an iPhone user for 2 years before that), I feel that Android is very stable.
BUT you have to remember, that with the ability to load widgets, and background applications - you can certainly bog down your phone and decrease its performance.
In Apple's walled garden this isn't a problem, but you also don't have the freedom and choice.
As a modern computer user, I want the choice to slow down my phone if I want :)

The best part about android is first the freedom, second the community. Like NPike said, you can do whatever you like with your phone, causing it to be more or less stable. You can customize as far as you can imagine (and possibly program), but if you do too much or incorrectly, yes, you will bog down your device. But there's nothing a good wipe can't fix :)
Second is the community. If it's roms you're looking for, there's always one that you'll like, or there's one being developed with new features you want. Or you can make your own! Android enthusiasts are always innovating and finding new ways of helping each other out. So if you do have stability issues with your device, chances are there's someone who can help you :)

I run a custom ROM on my Samsung Galaxy S.  The hard part is knowing which ROM to pick.  If you want stability, I would stay away from Cyanogen, because they tend to be more experimental and bleeding edge.
If you visit the XDA forums for Galaxy S 2 and go to the Android Development page, the most popular ROMS will be on the first or second page.  Typically you can get an idea of the stability of the ROM by looking at the change log and how frequently bug fixes have been made to the ROM recently.  For instance, if a new ROM was just released, or it seems to have very frequent serious bug fixes, you may want to stay away for a while.  However, if you find one that has been out for a while and the serious bug fixes have died down (as opposed to feature updates), then it is probably okay.
You can usually find reviews of ROMs on various Android community sites, but I'm not familiar enough with where to go.

To reply to your question,
I just got a Samsung Galaxy S2, and it is amazingly fast!! and of course very stable, as any other android phone I tried.
I am not sure about right-to-left languages, but the original Samsung rom on the Galaxy S2 is nothing like "slow and heavy", it offers really good performance in every aspect, this is certainly the fastest Android phone I ever tried (or fastest smartphone, all platforms included)


text:
Can someone explain fragmentation?
Would someone be able to explain android fragmentation?
If I created an app using 1.5 will that app work on all devices that have version 1.5 - 3.2 (highest current version)?  Or are there issues between the versions?  I understand 3.0 is the tablet version so an app made for 1.5 probably won't look good, but will it work without having to create specific version targeted versions of the app?
Also, why does it take so long for some phones to get updates?  Is Android so tied to specific device hardware that upgrading it is not possible without other device specific modifications?  I would have expected that if a phone is able to run a new version it would get it OTA, but reading around it seems a lot of android users complain that it's taking so long to get x update or that they don't even know if they will get it.

From logical point of view if you create an app with SDK 1.5 it should run on devices with OS version 1.5 and higher. But reality is a bit different.
The same application that works on Samsung device with 1.5 may not work on HTC with the same os version and vice versa. Also there is no 100% guarantee that it will work on other devices with newer OS versions.
Why?
There is no strict standard on hardware/software implementation among all Android manufacturers. Every manufacturer makes his own device and makes his own version of Android OS for the device which complies to the relevant SDK version, but has some additions/differences.
And these differences lead to the fragmentation.

+1. I've found that usually the apps that don't work are games (relying on specific video chips, etc.) and camera-related ones like Skype.

There is a strict standard. It's just you can't test everything.

Fragmentation is caused by a number of things, here are a few:
Screen resolutions - You can have a varying degree of screen sizes between phones (and tablets).  Solution? Developers have to make sure their UIs scale gracefully.  It's not much different than creating websites for different screen resolutions. This isn't a new problem. Apple "solved" this by forcing their phones to have one resolution (plus a 2x resolution which make it easy to scale things up).  See Android dev guide for some more information.
Hardware - No phone is exactly like another phone.  Beyond screen sizes, we have different processors (or  multiple!), different video graphics, different sizes of memory (on board and external), different keyboards (or no keyboards!), (optional) notification lights, (optional) track balls, (optional) cellular antennas, etc, etc, etc. There are at least 500 different types of Android devices out there. One thing may run great on my phone, but not yours due to different hardware limitations.
Operating System - Each flavor of Android brings out new APIs for developers to use. This means that developers have to conditionally check whether or not they can use these APIs based on the device in use.  Additionally, carriers/manufacturers can be slow at updating (or may never update) their devices' software.  So some devices may "lag behind" in updates.  Even more: some manufactures like to skin/theme Android to their own liking (TouchWiz, MotoBlur, etc.).  This can cause some fragmentation as a stock version of Android behaves a bit different than a device with a skin.


text:
Getting market error "Sorry there's not enough space to install this item."
Android Froyo 2.2 with 3GB available mmcblk0p2 space and over 3GB free space on MicroSD.
Have no idea from when it started. Since then, every time when I try to download/update an APP from Android Market, it prompted the "Sorry, There's not enough space to install this item." message for further action.
Have tried a few hints from Web, but yet no luck:

Format MicroSD.
Clean up Memory and Cache of Android Market.
Repartition the main storage from 4GB to 3GB.
tune2fs -m 1 /dev/block/mmcblk0p2

Any body can give steps to overcome this?
---Update on Debug message gathered from ADB---
When I clicked on Install-->OK to start download from Market, it logged a warning message in logcat:

14:45:16.928 Warning PackageManager 1948  Couldn't clear application caches

---Storage Structures---

#df -ha

Filesystem               Size    Used    Available    Use%    Mounted on
/dev/root                2.9G    652.8M   2.2G         22%     /
tmpfs                   76.8M     12.0K  76.8M          0%     /dev
tmpfs                   76.8M      0     76.8M          0%     /mnt/asec
tmpfs                    4.0M      0      4.0M          0%     /sqlite_stmt_journals
/dev/block/vold/179:9    3.7G     41.2M   3.6G          1%     /mnt/sdcard
/dev/block/vold/179:9    3.7G     41.2M   3.6G          1%     /mnt/secure/asec
tmpfs                    0         0      0             0%     /mnt/sdcard/.android_secure

====== Update on 2nd Aug 2011 ======
**
After days of research, found a few discussion about the error of calculation on available space in Android 2.2 series.  Someone was mentioned on the maximum partition size which might caused this problem.  Thus I have run a test on this, to repartitioned the system partition from 3GB down to 2GB and the market was back to normal...
Any idea on how to solve this?**

Application caches and data mounts are probably low on space.

Which device are you using? Sometimes that matters

Can you show us the "normal" space information?  From Settings -> SD card and phone storage.

@Ray, There are over 3GB available space on both Machine Memory and MicroSD.  Believed Low on Space is not an issue.

@Broam,
I am using the porting version of O2Droid.  Previously was used with no problem.  Until a day it appears system corrupted, after reinstall the whole system, it happens.

I was getting this error because my Gingerbread update was filling the /cache folder.  Deleted it (this probably requires root) and was able to update apps again.

Depending on your bootloader, fastboot erase cache may work. You don't need to have an engineering bootloader; later "ship" loaders allow for this too.


text:
Mobile network: browser is OK, apps doesn't connect internet
When phone use WiFi connection, all apps can connect to internet. When it use mobile network connection, browser can connect, but apps cann't connect. Is there any settings? How can I diagnose? Phone is Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 with Android 2.1.

What's your carrier?

Orange Slovakia

I think the most interesting is you APN and Operator. It could be that only http traffic is allowed (port 80 and 443 for https) or some similar limitation. Check you operators support page for details.

Opera Mini also cann't connect, but browser can.

In my country there is one operator with whom we've same behavior. They have given us two different apn. With first only the browser works, exactly like you have said. With second everything works.
If your operator has different apn for using Mobile internet in Computer, try that apn. This works with one of the operator in my country but not sure if this will help you.


text:
What are applications locked against? ROM, phone ID, or google account?
If I bought an app, is it locked to the specific installed android ROM, to the hardware (phone) or to my Google account?
Basically I want to know what would happen to my paid apps when I would reinstall the ROM, or change my phone. Could I re-download my apps?

Your Google Account. Were you to get a new device you'll be able to download previously purchased apps.

Possible duplicate: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/4187/can-i-re-install-a-purchased-app-from-the-android-market

When you wipe your phone and re-install a ROM, or switch to a new phone, you will be prompted to sign in with your Google account. As long as you use the same Google account, you will be able to find your purchased apps in the Market by pressing the Menu key and selecting My Apps, or something similar (i believe they're named differently in different versions). From there you will be able to view and re-install previously purchased apps.
NOTE: This only works for apps you've spent money on. If it was free, it will not be stored on your account in this way.

Most apps also save their information on your SD card, so when re-downloading said apps there may be a way to reload previous information from your old rom


text:
Is there an updated version of Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro that has been released?
I went to the Taipei Computer Applications Show 2011 today and bought a Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro from the Sony Ericsson booth there. However, the specs don't seem to match the one on GSM Arena for Xperia X10 at all. Mine shows Android version as 2.3 Gingerbread, a 1 GHz processor, and an HVGA display instead. Is this a legit version or have I just bought a very sophisticated brick?

The Xperia Mini Pro and the Xperia X10 Mini Pro are actually different phones.  Confusing, I know.  The former appears to be a "refreshed" version of the latter with your specs.

Interesting. From that news item, it would appear I have bought a version of the phone not released yet officially?

@Ankur Possibly. Looks like it might have been released in India, I didn't see anything about elsewhere.


text:
Why are my auto-complete suggestions so bad?
When I'm typing into a text entry field, the auto-complete suggestions I get are much worse than they used to be (they have never worked well on this phone, but have worked great on previous Android phones).  For example, if I enter "Th", my suggestions are "Rh" and "Therock", rather than "The".  The only suggestions that seem valid are names out of my address book.
Any ideas?  I've turned on all the auto-complete settings, but the suggestions are still terrible.  I'm using a Nexus One running 2.3.4.

Are you using the standard keyboard, or some third party keyboard?

The standard keyboard.

This appears to be a bug in the 2.3.4 update. It is being tracked here.

If you are looking for a solution, I suggest downloading a third party keyboard.  I'm 95% sure each keyboard has its own dictionary.  I use Go Keyboard, which I prefer over the stock Android keyboard anyway, based on the larger letters and the period that doesn't hog most of the space where the keyboard should be.

I agree with user Chance, find a third party keyboard with better autocomplete. However, I strongly suggest using a different third party keyboard than GO Keyboard. Go Keyboard is basically adware as far as I can tell, having downloaded it myself. Make sure you do your research.

@VRR, I agree with you now about Go products.


text:
Installing app from Market when it was previously installed
I'm developing an app that was just released. Prior to release, I had 10 or so testers that helped me test the app and had test versions on their phones. Now I want them to install the app from the Market so they can be some of the first people to (fairly) rate the app.
The problem is, even after uninstalling the test version of the app, when trying to get it from the market an error pops up saying that "there was an error creating your order." They can't install it. Is there something I or they can do about this?
Update: I told the testers to follow the instructions under Troubleshooting Download Issues -> "Download unsuccessful" message. This did not work.

Are others experiencing this issue as well? I'm trying to figure out what the up votes mean.. and if it's just me or not.

Upvote most of the time just mean's a well formed question.

You could cheat and change the package name for the uploaded app to the market. That way you won't have to instruct your beta users' to do anything differently.
In the future whilst in beta:
 <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  package="com.your.app.beta"

Then once you want to release just do a little refactor:
 <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  package="com.your.app"


text:
What is the difference between the Android OS and Android System?
When I open my Battery Usage, there are two components enlisted as Android OS and Android System. What is the difference between these two?

"I got a rather meaningful suggestion on another forum that "Android OS" is actually the low-level kernel, while "Android System" is actually the higher-level OS service layer"
Source: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=10922010&postcount=3

This seems to make sense. Maybe it's right.

I don't know what the difference is between them, however, if you're asking the question because 'Android OS' is using a large percentage of your battery life then you may have the 'Android OS drains battery' bug.


text:
How do I get dictionary suggestions while typing?

Possible Duplicate:
How to enable real text prediction for android / stock keyboard on LG optimus one?

I'm using android version 2.2.2 and the default keyboard (at least it appears as 'Android keyboard' in the configuration menu). I have suggestions enabled, but I only get autocomplete suggestions for my contacts, I don't get suggestions for common words. It doesn't really matter which language I choose for the input (portuguese or english).
The device is a LG Optimus One (P500h), and it came with another keyboard installed (called 'LG keyboard'). If I choose this keyboard as the input method, I get the suggestions. The problem is that this keyboard is really bad, and I like the default one.
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

if you're willing to switch keyboards, you have several incredible options.

SwiftKey has (by far) the best word prediction so far, and tracks how much it improves your typing speed, which is around 30% for most people.
FlexT9 has some great features (including traceType, like Swype), and pretty good word prediction, but not quite up to par with SwiftKey.
TouchPal is supposed to be the next revolution in keyboards. It combines the first two strategies (word prediction and traceType) for incredibly fast input. As of now, it does not support traceType, only word prediction. But look for the update soon ;)

These are my favorites, the first two are paid and the last is free, but you might be able to find free or trial versions of the other two. Let us know if there's anything else we can clear up for you!


text:
How do I stop my phone from beeping when it completes charging?
I have a Samsung Galaxy 2 S running Android 2.3.
When I plug it in to recharge, it beeps when it reaches 100%.
I would prefer that it not notify me with a sound.
However, I can't for the life of me find anywhere that this is set.
Is it possible to disable this annoying chime?

possible duplicate of How to disable battery full notification sound?

Realise it isn't an exact dupe as one's for a Galaxy S 2 on 2.3 and one's for a Galaxy S on 2.1 or 2.2, but this does seem to be a feature that Samsung put into all their firmwares for a while, so the answers over there should be the same for you.

I don't know if this should be closed maybe... it seems that with recent firmware updates the problem has gone away.

which is why for people like me who actually liked the beep, there's an opposite question How do I turn on the battery full notification sound?. As not everyone will have updated their firmware, and as Samsung may bring this back in the future (hopefully with an option to enable/disable) I'm not sure this needs to be closed.

@GAThrawn: Fair enough.

Here's Here's [tnx @GAThrawn] a free app that claims to be able to do that.


text:
Google Music not available for Samsung Galaxy S with Android 2.2.1
I have Samsung Galaxy S (i9000) with Android 2.2.1 (Froyo).
Lately I got an invite to Google Music. Android app for Google Music requires 2.2.0, however Android Market keep saying my phone is not capable to run application.
Is there a way how to get Google Music Android client on my Samsung Galaxy S - ?

I thought it was not available outside of the US.

Well, the website works fine, I was allowed to upload my songs, and I can even listen to the music via in-browser player. So, it is available outside US. But not for Android device... :-(

While I understand Google might not like this, and probably it is not 100% politically correct answer, here is the link where you can download APK of Google Music.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1072655
If you enable installation from unknown sources, you can install the thing on your phone, without restrictions.
I tried and it worked. I was able to access my music uploaded to Google and even play it.
That means the restrictions are only settings in Android Market, everything else seems to be free of restrictions.

I'm glad you found a workaround, but don't be surprised if that loophole gets closed. That said, I'm sure they are looking to open it up to more of the world eventually so probably don't care that much. Still, you'll not be able to get any technical assistance from Google if you run into problems. Caveat Emptor.

I see exactly the same thing with a UK Galaxy S running Gingerbread 2.3.3.
From the 3rd paragraph of the description of the app in the Android Market:

Available in the U.S. by invitation only and free for a limited time.

According to your profile you're not in the US, so it won't be listed as compatible with your device.


text:
Nexus S 4G: Use wifi for LAN, 3G/4G for WAN?
I'm developing a remote control app that will use wifi to communicate with my car stereo. The car stereo has ethernet, and I have the ethernet wired to a wireless AP in my trunk. This works great, but since the phone has a wifi connection, it wants to use it to reach the internet, which it can't do when my car is away from home.
What I'd like to do is develop a script that I can run to route LAN traffic through wifi, but WAN (internet) traffic through the cell data connection. I dug a bit into this issue, and found this, but it doesn't seem to work, even after adjusting the routing table with a default route through the rmnet0 interface and bringing up the rmnet0 interface with ifconfig.
It kinda seems like something in the OS is disabling the 3G hardware when wifi is active. Is that a known behavior, and if so, does anyone have any pointers on how I can circumvent it? I found this post where someone got working on a different phone. Can this be done on the Nexus S?

Hmm, interesting. I know I've heard of phones that can use both the cell network and WiFi at the same time but I don't know about the Nexus S.

what is the output of the route command after you bring up rmnet0?

I do believe it is default behavior to turn off data when connected to wifi.

by default, 3g/4g cannot coexist with wifi, 3g/4g will be disabled whenever wifi comes up, if you need this so badly you can use some custom rom's source and modify the below code to enable 3g during wifi, also you need to route like u already do.
http://gitorious.org/0xdroid/frameworks_base/blobs/234551c44102003c1fb2de5c16f60f9f0cefe71d/services/java/com/android/server/ConnectivityService.java#line224


text:
How to get the "check" next to text messages without being notified?
I have an HTC Incredible 2. The default is NOT to notify you when your message has been delivered.
I can go into settings and tell it to notify me. After doing so, it puts a checkmark next to the message when its been delivered -- That I like. However, it also "alerts" me with a notification in my notifications bar that it has been delivered -- I find that annoying.
Is there anyway to get the checkmark indicating it was delivered without the notification alert?

This is probably an HTC Sense thing that you can't change. On my G2, with the "vanilla" Android interface, it displays a small toast message that disappears after a few seconds.

@thunsaker, thanks, you're probably right. This is my first Android phone so I can't compare with others.

John as @thunsaker states this a HTC Sense mod and unfortunately cannot be changed.
You could look at rooting your phone and putting a vanilla ROM of Android on or the fully customisable Cynogen Mod 7, that way you can take back the control HTC stole ;-).
A place to start would be http://www.android.modaco.com

Rather than modify your ROM and switch over to CyanogenMod, why not simply use an alternative SMS app like Handcent SMS or GoSMS. Both have customizable options for Sent message notifications, including vibrate pattern options.


text:
APN Switch for sprint devices
I have used APNDroid on many of my phones in the past. I have recently started using some sprint devices and noticed that this APN toggle widget will not disable the network connection on these devices. I don't know if it is something because of the different network type, or some other reason. Can anyone point me to another application that you've had luck using to turn off the data connection on sprint phone?

For anyone else who finds this: Tasker has an action that will shut off data on CDMA devices.

APNDroid doesn't work on CDMA phones.  This appears to be the case with most such apps.  Internet Scheduler and GreenPower claim to work on them if you have Gingerbread, though.
There are some other solutions you can try in this Google Groups thread.


text:
Backing up Android without needing Internet?
All the Android Backup apps I have checked out (MyBackup, Lookout) require an internet connection.
I don't want my data to ever be stored in the cloud. These apps may have legitimate reasons to require Internet, but I don't trust that my data is not being sent to the cloud.
Is there any backup app that can store my data on the SD card without requiring Internet access?
Update:
My phone is not rooted. Hence Titanium Backup is not useful.

'that can store my data on the SD card' Are you trying to store your phone data onto the SD card.. Or are you trying to Backup your data that is located on the SD card.

The former, that is, backup phone data onto SD card.

The absolute best way to do this is through clockworkmod recovery. However, in order to install clockworkmod, you will need to temp root your phone.. or some similar exploit. You can install the recovery and leave your phone unrooted.. but I don't know why you would want to.

Titanium Backup does not require internet access, you can firewall it off if you like or just turn off your connection while you use it.  The internet permission is used for downloading Busybox if you don't have an appropriate version, but again there is no reason or need to trust it to do what it says, you don't have to let it access the internet.  It does not back up to the cloud and saves the backups on the SD card.
Also, keep in mind that full backup apps require root.  A root application does not need to request permissions in order to use those functions; the root user can do anything, that's the point.  You should take the fact that they do request the permissions as a good sign.  They're letting you know exactly what the app does.
Edit: Without root, you can use LifeSaver 2 for SMS.  There are some options here for backing up contacts.

Oops, forgot to mention: I am not rooted. Titanium backup failed saying it won't work if not rooted.

Yes, I agree it's a good sign and I appreciate the effort. I mostly want to backup contacts and SMS only. Would have been great if Titanium let me backup whatever it can without root.

@HRJ Edited my answer.

LifeSaver2 worked like a charm. Thanks for the rec.


text:
Is there any low bandwidth VoIP software for Android?
I have measured Skype's bandwidth consumption:

When just running Skype: ~0.09 KB/s
When talking to someone through Skype: ~9 KB/s

Is there any VoIP software available in the Android Market that consumes less bandwidth?
NOTE: I'd like to be able to talk to someone on Ubuntu with this client, so it should also have a Linux version or be compatible with another Linux client/network.
P.S.: Are my measurements correct?

Thats pretty low bandwidth... What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Why does it need to be so low?

lower bandwidth usage :)

P.S.: Are my measurements correct? How do you do your measurement?

Android shows the traffic. I used skype for talking, and just on "stand-by" and i did the math

i already tried the following VOIP apps: tango, google voice, Skype, viber - there are all not good:\

Get the pcgod's mumble client for android (don't get it from the market because the market one is not the pcgod uploader and is very old and not updated).
Mumble is an open source VOIP client that is available for windows and linux. However, this VOIP is a client-server one , hence requires both the clients to connect to a server. While you may choose a public server in the list when launching the desktop application of mumble, it's better to configure and setup your own mumble server so that you have more choice of freedom and you can even set the voice quality and codec that can use lesser bandwidth. Further, mumble is more like Push to Talk, so it uses very little bandwidth (I was torrenting on my 256k connection while using mumble with just 2 people in the room and still it was fine!)

@LanceBaynes Did you check this app? For precise bandwidth requirements , read http://mumble.sourceforge.net/FAQ/English#What_are_the_bandwidth_requirements.3F

Bandwidth consumption depends on the codec that the app will use. Skype uses SILK or G729 (see wikipedia for their bandwidth consumption).
You can see here http://searchvoip.techtarget.com.au/articles/23239-VoIP-codecs-Day-Three-Low-bandwidth-codecs more low bandwidth codecs and search for an application that support one of them.
I have used SipDroid that has support for SILK and Speex too.
For linux client you can use SFLphone or ekiga. I have used both with Asterisk and SipDroid and worked quite well.

Have you try with Fring, i don't know about the bandwidth but it does allow Google Talk.
You can also check What is Fring
If fring does not convinced you try TruPhone
Although if you ask me i'm quite sure that you won't be able to win skype app bandwidth usage on their own application, i mean they must (or should) know their stuff.
Let Me know


text:
How do I store pictures on SD card by default?
How do I move the photos I have in my gallery to my SD card? Someone told me to download an app that allows you to do this, but it didn't.
Also, is it possible to save them to the SD card by default, rather than the internal memory? Someone told me to open the camera and select settings, but there was no option to change it. I think my phone is an HTC wildfire. It's the smallest white HTC on the market and it has 'with HTC sense' on the back.

How do you know your photos aren't currently on the SD card?  I have a different phone but they're stored at /sdcard/DCIM/ by default.

If your phone is an HTC the pics will be on the SD card by default.

It defo isn't on my memory card because my internal storage is low and all I have are pictires

Connect your phone to computer with USB cable, and select USB Drive from the notification. Then browse your SD card and search in DCIM folder, all your pictures should be there. If they are, then you are low on memory due to some installed apps.

@Matthew_Read In phones with larger amounts of internal memory, internal memory is rigged into multiple dynamic partitions.  One of these partitions actually gets mounted to /sdcard.  An actual physical SD card gets mounted to /storage/extSdCard and linked to /mnt/extSdCard.

I have (or rather had, until a few minutes ago) a Desire C, with SD card, but photos storing on internal Memory. Unfortunatly, the previous suggestion is no option in Desire C, as there is no "storage" option in the camera app. The phone should, but does apparantly not always, default to storing pictures on the SD card.
What I did to try and solve this problem, I connected the phone to my PC as USB storage. (This connection mode is important, otherwise you cannot do the following.)
My pictures where in the \DCIM\100Media folder on the internal storage.
I did the following

Copy the 100Media folder on the internal storage.
Paste it into the dcim folder on the SD card (in my case there was a dcim folder, if not I'd suggest you can just create it. I haven't tried that).
Remove the 100Media folder from the internal storage (and keep it on the desktop, just in case). At this point is no 100Media folder on the internal storage, but there is one on the SD card.
Unplug the phone from the PC, as camera does not work when connected to PC in USB storage mode. Try to make a picture. Actually the phone asked me: Do you want  to switch to SD? Happy to oblige.... It did apparently not create a new 100Media folder in the internal storage, exactly as I had hoped it wouldn't.

After making some test pictures, I checked by connecting to PC again as USB storage, and voilà, the pictures where on the SD card now.
Looking back, I may have had a question on storage when I first inserted the SD card, but I do not remember. I might have, since I got this queston now. If I did I must have answered it incorrectly.

First confirm that your photos and videos aren't in your SD Card. To do that Unmount and Remove your SD Card from the Phone and try to use the Camera and see your previous photos.
If they are still coming up then the photos are stored in your phone internal memory.
If the photos are not coming and shows any warning message something like "Please Insert SD Card" then all your photos and videos are stored in SD Card.
I don't think so that the Photos and Videos are stored in internal memory as it is for System Data not for User Data
There might be a different folder where it stores the pictures on your SD Card.

Of course internal memory gets used for user data, at least in phones with sufficient amounts of it.  They don't shove multiple gigs of flash in there just for apps.  In such phones (e.g. my Galaxy S3.  The HTC Desire C and One V are the same, I believe, and the next units up the One line have no SD slot), you've got a partition on internal memory mounted to /sdcard and the actual SD card at /storage/extSdCard.

I have a HTC Desire and in my case non of the other answers worked. But I solved it in his way.
Do not go into the camera app settings. Go into the general phone settings. The path is then...
Settings/Storage
Here I was able to define the default writing media from internal to SDcard. This includes also the camera app. Now my pictures can be saved either on the internal or the SD by default. You should also notice that the amount of pictures or the rest space changes.
In the HTC WildFire I had before this was done in the camera apps under settings. The thing with the move the folder and to the SDcard did not work. The phone just created the same folder again.

I have an HTC 10 running Oreo and on that you can change the picture folder to the SD card using the options in the camera app itself.  Pull down the two bars at the top then scroll to the far left and you will find 'settings', scroll down (it isn't obvious that there are further settings below the four shown on screen), simply change the setting for 'Storage' to 'Removable Storage'.
Easy when you finally fathom it out!

That's a great answer, but probably not useful to the original questioner. The question is nearly 7 years old and about Android 2.1. I upvoted for keeping the answers relevant today.

Judging by your description, I believe your phone is the Desire C.  To set it to send pics to the actual SD card rather than the pseudo-SD card in internal memory, you'd open the camera app, hit the menu and there should be a "storage" option you can set to "phone" or "storage card".

Connect the phone to your PC and choose as connection "Disk Drive". Selecting this connection mode is mandatory, otherwise you will not be able to implement the steps below. Also remember that, by default, your pictures are located in the \DCIM\100Media folder on the internal storage.
To move your photos and define a new storage location (i.e. the SD card) proceed as follows:

Copy/Paste the 100Media folder on the internal storage into the DCIM folder on the SD card (if no DCIM folder exists you can just create it).
Delete the 100Media folder from the internal storage. Note that at this point there is no more 100Media folder on the internal storage, but there is one on the SD card.
Unplug the phone from your PC. Note that the camera does not work when the phone is connected to PC in USB storage mode.
Open the camera application and try to take a picture. The dialog box "Define storage location" pops up with the following question: "Do you want switch to the memory card?" Select Ok.
Then, the following message appears: "Press the screen to activate the camera".
Finally, the camera is on and you can take some pictures for a test.
After making some pictures, reconnect the phone to your PC and check that the test pictures are stored on the SD card.

Have fun!


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AT&T Nexus S: is this sold SIM locked / boot-loader locked?
I know this is a bit localized, but I can't find ANY information on this at all on the internet, because all of the information for the Nexus S assumes the T-Mobile band version.
I would only purchase this phone to immediately unlock the bootloader for custom ROM development.
Is the only difference between the two phones the bands the 3G radio uses?

If the bootloader comes locked, it can be easily unlocked.  Google doesn't let the flagship devices be sold any other way, since they are designed for development.
Endgadget says it's SIM locked. This review says it's unlocked, but I bet they didn't buy it with a contract.
The specs for Best Buy's "T-Mobile version" state that it works for EDGE (2.5G) on the 850 and 1900 MHz frequency bands, in addition to others, which are what AT&T uses.  So EDGE should be usable on any GSM network in the world (I can't find the specs to see if the AT&T version is likewise compatible).  3G/HSPA won't work on AT&T and some others, though, since it's limited to the 900/1700/2100 bands used by T-Mobile.  Google confirms this info.

I'm aware of the band compatibility issues (using an MT3G on AT&T right now), but I figure that'll be of use to other readers of this question, so thanks.

A review on Best Buy's website suggested that the AT&T Nexus S is SIM unlocked. The author of the review claims that he was able to insert a T-Mobile SIM card immediately after purchasing the phone without any issues. This make sense since Google touts the lack of a SIM lock on its Nexus S feature page.
All information that I can find online supports the idea that the AT&T version, even if it bought subsidized, is SIM unlocked. The only source I could find suggesting otherwise is the Engadget article previously mentioned, but that claim seems unsourced (and therefore likely incorrect).
Since the Nexus S is intended to be a developer phone, all models should have bootloaders that are easily unlocked.


text:
How do I get SMS messages to be sorted in chronological order?
I just got an HTC Desire HD, and it's sorting my SMS texts by what the sender has sent up at the top of the conversation page, and what I reply down below. It's almost like two conversations in chronological order, but it's not mixing them together. When it says I have a new text, it's actually the one I sent them and I have to scroll up to read the reply. How do I get the the SMS conversations to read in an answer-response chronological format?

This sounds weird. On HTC the default message app does exactly what you want. You sure you are not using a replacement?

I don't know how your stock messaging app works, but HandcentSMS does this exact thing, and very well at that!


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How to play already transfered music with 'Music' app?
I just bought Galaxy S2. Its really cool, but I have one serious problem! I transfered few MP3 files using USB and copied those files to usbStorage/. When I open 'My files' app on S2, it does show those files.
When I open the 'Music' app, there aren't any clue of new files. Only the default music.
It there any way to somehow add that music to 'Music' app? Maybe I need to get other app to play music?
If relevant, I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 running Android 2.3.3 and my computer has Debian 6.0.2.

Is there a /media/ folder or similar? I would try moving them there.

sometimes you have to scan from the music app. Otherwise, i would get an app like DoubleTwist, that and Google Music are really good at finding all the music on your phone, regardless of where it is

The answer is NOT to copy to the directory named usbStorage. Probably, just for Galaxy S2.
Create new directory named Media in / and move your music in it. Then, reboot (optional).

Remount SD card or even restart will also work or just browse using any file manager type of apps and play using Music app...

Just move your mp3 files to the Media folder on the phone and Music players will see them. You will also be able to assign the files to the contacts from your address book as personal ringtones.

For syncing music to your device I use Songbird and find it throughly good, and a great iTunes alternative.  I would suggest you run Songbird, then let it find all your music files, take the original files off your Samsung, and then sync Sonbird with the Galaxy device.  Good luck!
Builds can be found here

The easiest way to do this is install winamp on both your computer and your phone. It is a free software and app, so no purchase is necessary. This will do exactly what itunes does with i* devices.
Winamp will discover your phone on your computer and allow you to literally drag and drop your music files to your phone within winamp. It also imports all your songs from your itunes music folder, so it's a very simple process. It even updates the library if the itunes music folder is updated (songs are deleted or added).

Winamp will not run on Debian Linux.

Didn't see that part. I can't help you here then :/


text:
Is it possible to use a Google TV device without a TV connection?
With the price of the Logitech Revue having dropped, I am interested in using the Google TV device purely for the (internet) functionality of the Android platform.
Since a "Cable or Satellite set top box with HDMI out" is listed as a requirement I am wondering if the device can be used without the HDMI input being connected.
I am aware that this might remove the TV functions that are at the core of the device.

Yes, you will be able to use the Logitech Revue Google TV unit without the Set-Top Box.  I am doing this with the Sony BlueRay Player w/GTV.  During the set-up process simply skip the section for setting up the TV provider and you should be all set.
Here is a youtube video of a Revue functioning without a cable or satellite STB.

I happen to use it primarily as a UPnP client.  My internet connection is not that fast, so I download many of the youtube videos to my media server and watch it from there.  Also, I have cable, but not HDMI capable.


text:
When I lose access to my Exchange server, is there a way to keep my contacts?
Changing jobs and will soon no longer have access to my company's Exchange server.  Contacts are in Exchange and synched on my Droid (HTC EVO) using the default Exchange app.  I want to be sure I don't lose my contacts when I no longer have access to the Exchange server.  But if I transfer them to GMail contacts now, I'm concerned it will duplicate my contact records.  Any suggestions or tips?  Thanks in advance!

You may want just transfer your Exchange contacts to GMail. There are quite good duplicate/merging tools in GMail Contacts. Use More actions and Find and merge duplicates. There are automatic as well as manual merging modes.
You can import CSV formatted contacts into GMail from its More actions and Import menu.

Assuming that you're using Outlook when you're at a PC in the office, you could just Export your contacts from Outlook on your last day, and then Import them into GMail.
GMail is good at handling CSV imports from Outlook, and will also suggest Duplicates that can be merged and help you to merge them.
A few helpful links:
Export Outlook Contacts to Google Gmail (Outlook 2002/2003)
Transfer contacts between Outlook and Google Gmail (Outlook 2007)
Export contacts (Outlook 2010) then follow the final steps from either of the above guides for the GMail import stage
Merging duplicate contacts in GMail

If it's stock, and you don't see an "export" option, you're probably toast.
I know CyanogenMod allows contact export to SD Card in VCF format, at least in version 6 (don't know about 7, don't run it). CM4 did not allow contact export.
I can't imagine a system administrator allowing rooted phones on their network.

Thanks to you both for replying.  Found the export/import function and was able to export to SD and then import back to GMail contacts. I'll just have some dupes on the Droid until my last day at work is done.  It was much easier than I expected - the import/export function on the device worked surprisingly well!

Oh so that's Stock? Awesome.


text:
Email application with notifications only for specified contacts (standard SMTP/POP3/IMAP)
I have a lot of mail traffic on my phone. But I want to be notified only for mail from certain contacts like my family, colleagues/boss, critical automated systems or at least any contact in my phone contact list (with email typed in).
Are there such applications which can access email on my personal/corporate server? Standard IMAP (or at least POP3) + SMTP, not some proprietary protocols like Exchange/Gmail.

Could you please edit your question with some details about your e-mail server? Is it Exchange, or SyncML, or something else? This will greatly limit your choice of Android apps.

Related question: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/8028/is-it-possible-to-have-android-only-alert-me-when-specific-email-accounts-have-ne

That question assumes you are using the Gmail app, which you said you weren't interested in.  I would look into 3rd-party e-mail solutions like K-9 Mail (for POP and IMAP) or "Exchange for Android", a.k.a. "Touchdown" (for well, exchange).

Last time I checked, K9 did not support this.

From Touchdown FAQ
1.3 Can I use TouchDown with my Gmail/Hotmail/Yahoo/POP3/IMAP account ?
No, TouchDown will not work with any type of accounts that are not hosted on a Microsoft Exchange server (or a compatible ActiveSync Server).
No dice :(

This isn't a direct answer, but I've found BuzzKill to be great for things like this. You can set rules to match particular notifications and then take a variety of actions. However, BuzzKill doesn't check your email for you, it just manages notifications.

I haven't found a standalone app but K9 in conjunction with WhoIsIt Lite supports this. It doesn't do away with visual notifications mind you, but it can silence them.
Alternatively you could investigate whether your workplace email support server based rules. You could use them to filter unimportant emails into a folder other than your inbox. Android's stock email app only checks for new emails in your inbox so the app would ignore the others.

Some functionality (customization of notifications per application) is already present in CyanogenMod.

not particularly surprising since this is eight years old, but link to app is broken, does not show up with search in Play store

You can use Gmail filters to label these messages, and set the notifications to only be for specific labels.

I do not use Gmail. I do not trust Google with my personal email.

out of curiosity, why don't you trust Google with your email?

@Denis ..well then an Android phone is probably not the best choice for you ;)

@Juri Android is the only phone OS with open sources and allows modifications without restrictions. For paranoids like me Android OS is as practical as it can be: open source and with established application market. I just do not use closed source, privacy infringing Google components, that is all.

I think most mail clients (like Touchdown, and the default mailclient, etc) do not have support for sophisticated notification schemes like you want.  I suggest disabling your mail-reading app's notifications and trying a separate email notification app.
Poking around the market I found this app:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.willdev.mailalert
and this app:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.netcompss.efilter
I have not tried either of these apps, but the descriptions seem a reasonable match for your problem.
I searched the market for 'email notification' and 'email filter' (the search returned a lot of irrelevant stuff, so there may be other useful apps buried in the results)....

Still looking for an email app with this functionality. But standalone app is better than nothing, awarded bounty, thanks.

I just needed to do this and it was fairly easy using this method:
Install IFTTT (free app that supports all kinds of awesome rules).
Create a new "applet" where:
IF This: checks gmail for messages according to whatever criteria you want
Then That: send notification
I'm doing this to try to get exchange messages from work (but cannot access or send content outside of work).  I wound up creating a rule in outlook that sends a new message to my gmail account with a set subject/body (via a script).  IFTTT searches for new messages with that subject and pops up a notification.
I used this page to help me create the script to create a new message:
http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/rules/send-a-new-message-when-a-message-arrives/
I saw that you don't trust Google with your personal mail.  The gmail account you use could be a dummy account (I assume you may already do this since you're on android).  Or you could use an alternative trigger from IFTTT.

If you don't mind paying money check out touchdown.  There is a free trial but I think it will do what you want.
http://www.nitrodesk.com/features.aspx

TouchDown will not work with any type of accounts that are not hosted on a Microsoft Exchange server (or a compatible ActiveSync Server).


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Gingerbread on Samsung Galaxy Mini

Possible Duplicate:
When will my phone get the Android 2.3 update (Gingerbread)?

I recently bought Samsung Galaxy Mini with Froyo installed on it. Can any one tell me when can I get Gingerbread on it using Kies? I did not buy it from any operator. Also, I live in Pakistan (in case region matters for updates).
I do not have any experience of using Android before (though I have written a couple of apps for it :P ).

You could send a mail to Samsung Pakistan, and ask them.
The ROM for the Galaxy Mini (and every Samsung) has specific Samsung components (TouchWiz, Samsung Apps, etc). And comes with a language pack specific for each region. Eventually every provider can add his stuff.
So it is up to the combination Samsung and provider when (or if) a new version of Android is released.
I know of some friends that have been able to upgrade their provider branded phone to Gingerbread, while my non-branded phone does not have the update (yet).


text:
What's the difference between Camera.apk and com.sec.android.app.camera.apk?
I'm trying to install a modified version of the Camera app on my rooted Samsung Galaxy S (Captivate) through copying to /system/app and through installing a zip file via ClockWorkRecovery.  It doesn't seem to be working (based on the fact that the modified camera should have no geotagging).
Looking in my /system/app/ folder I have Camera.apk and com.sec.android.app.camera.apk.  Are these complementary files or are they different camera app files?  Camera.apk has a timestamp of August 1, 2008 (which doesn't seem right) and the other has a timestamp of August 1, 2011 (which is around the time I was playing around with this stuff).

Are you running a deodexed ROM?  That's required for replacing system apps.

@Matthew, I believe so.  It's Serendipity, and this link (http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/get-serendipity-custom-rom-for-samsung-captivate/) says it is.  Although I'm not sure what that means exactly.  I was able to push an mms.apk app successfully in the past.

The Serendipity ROM only contains Camera.apk and CameraFirmware.apk.  I would think that the version you're trying to copy over is being renamed by the system on reboot and the original Camera.apk is being restored.
What I would try:

Get the non-CWM version of the Camera.apk and put it on your SD card
On your phone, use Root Explorer or similar to mount /system/app/ as RW
Rename /system/app/Camera.apk to Camera.bak or something
Copy in the new apk from the SD card
Remount /system/app/ as RO, you may want to make sure /system/ is RO as well
Try to use the camera.  If it works, reboot and see if it still works.

That works, thanks.  Well, it works in that I'm running the new Camera version.  It's just that this Camera mod does not disable geotagging as the website claims.

@Chance I haven't read the whole thread but I saw this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=11273491&postcount=3

I saw that, perhaps I can't find the menu they are talking about.


text:
Where are the 'stock wallpapers' stored on the htc Desire S?
I just bought an htc Desire S, which runs Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).  I can connect to FTP via BLuetooth's OBEX file transfer, or download one of the many file manager apps on the app store.  But one thing is driving me crazy.
When you 'Personalize', you get 'Scene', 'Wallpaper', and 'Skin' as the 2 top options.  I changed my wallpaper, so I clicked on Wallpaper, and selected 'HTC wallpapers'.
For the life of me I can't figure out where on the file system they are stored.  I wish to download them to my PC.  Where are they?

OK, what I ended up doing was using the ASTRO file manager app to access /system/customize/resource on my phone, which seems to have the wallpaper graphics (amongs a load of other stuff).  I copied the wallpaper I wanted to customize to an easy-to-reach place on the SD card (Edit | Copy, then Paste, in ASTRO), and copied it to my PC.  Customized the wallpaper, and then copied it to the sdcard's DCIM directory via a USB cable (you can also use Bluetooth for this).  I set it as my phone's background and it worked!  Yay!
Kudos to the people at xda-developers.
For those interested, I just wanted to have my phone's make/model display as part of the background.  Here's my new background wallpaper:


text:
Can application upgrades happen automatically, even if you have it turned off in marketplace?
I thought I had turned off all the automatic upgrades for the apps on my phone (T-Mobile G2 w/ Froyo).
However, yesterday, I got a notice that said that I had new GMail and described the new features.
I checked GMail, and I did have the new 2.3.5 version.
Then I checked Android Market, and it shows "Allow automatic updating" as unchecked.

I know that Google can reach out and pull apps off your phone (like it did with some recent malware). I suppose it might be able to force updates to apps, probably in cases where it's an important security update. I haven't heard of them doing so, however.

I had the same experience.  Automatic updates are off, but the new GMail arrived without input on my Moto Droid/2.2.2

I believe that Google can and will update their system apps like Gmail, Market, Search and Youtube (I think that is still system app).
There have been plenty times that the Market updates itself, without any interaction from the user. I have not seen them actually update anything automatically, except the Market, but if you have a "with Google" phone, I am sure there is some blurb somewhere that says they may update the applications without you knowing, or something.


text:
How can I connect to my home VNC server via its hostname?
as asked in the Android chat room.
At home I have a remote-access VNC server set up (running UltraVNC server). My current Android VNC app, called, funnily enough androidVNC will only accept IP addresses to connect to. This is fine when using it inside the home, but as I want to access it from outside, my external IP address is dynamic, so when I save the settings one day it may be different the next day.
I have a domain, home.example.co.uk that is set up for the web server also running on that machine. If I open the ports in my home router, how can I connect via the server hostname (home.example.co.uk:5900, or similar)? If it requires a new VNC client, so be it.

Android VNC viewer is free and works with host names, but I have not played around with it much, so I cannot vouch for quality. Alternatively you could use a hostname to ip resolver (either as an app or as a website) to find out the ip address and use that to connect. I just tried out DNS Lookup from the Android market, and it looks like a pretty decent solution (fast, long-press to copy ip).
If you have the time, send an email to the creator of the app you use for a feature request, I'm sure he would appreciate the feedback :).

This is the one I've been using, although I've been unable to get it to work with hostnames...might be something on my end though, as it does say you can do it in the documentation.

Very strange, I had tried it myself with a host name to make sure it works. Perhaps it is a DNS issue? Can you access the http server on your machine (or use SSH, ping, any other service) by host name from your phone?

Instead of exposing your VNC server to the internet, consider using a VPN. This would secure and encrypt your remote connection. And as a side-benefit, you could save the internal IP address in your Android VNC client.

I'm not 100% sure but I think it should work with VNC Viewer (paid app but worth its price).
I'll give it a try when I'm at home and edit the answer.


text:
Will Asurion charge me for my replacement phone if I've rooted it
I have an android phone with Sprint which I dropped and cracked the screen. I have insurance, and they've already sent me a new phone. However, my old phone is rooted and has CyanogenMod on it. Will they charge me for the full cost of the phone (instead of just the deductible) when they find that my phone is rooted/has CyanogenMod on it? I don't see why they would, because which ROM it had wouldn't prevent the screen from getting cracked, but I want to know if I'll have to flash it back to factory stuff before sending it back to Asurion.

Let's think about the cost/benefit here; 10 minutes SBFing back to stock could save you the full cost of a phone if it is in fact an issue for the carrier/insurance place.  On the other hand, if you SBF back and they don't check/care, then it doesn't matter anyway.

@shambleh What does SBF mean? Also, I don't have any backups of before I rooted/flashed CM7 (the tutorial I read didn't say to make one) so I'm following this post: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/7396/how-can-i-flash-back-to-the-stock-rom-for-htc-evo-4g-supersonic-using-just-the-ph/7398#7398 Would that be good enough?

From reading that post, it looks like it should be good, but do some additional investigation.  To clarify, SBF files (the file type may be native to Motorola phones while RUU may be what HTC calls them [all: feel free to clarify]) are files which allow you to get your phone back to the stock state.  A few Google searches may be in your best interest on how to do this for your phone type so you are armed with some additional knowledge.  There may even be some vids on YouTube that go through the process.

In most (all?) cases, rooting voids your warranty.  I would assume that in jurisdictions with sane laws, physical damage clearly caused by the dropping would still be covered; they can't reasonably claim that the rooting caused the damage or would prevent them from fixing it.
That said, most jurisdictions don't have sane technology laws, and most carriers seem to jump at any chance to screw people over for money.  If they find out it's rooted, I would expect them to try to charge you the full cost.  So unroot / flash stock if you can.

I doubt they're going to even look. If it's salvageable, they'll probably send it out for a refurb. If so, it'll get wiped.

Agreed.  I should have expanded on my if.

I have rooted every phone I've ever had and they never charge you for rooting it. As already commented, I doubt they even look. Here are some examples:

I used to have Assurion and they never charged me for a rooted phone.
I bought a phone one time, rooted it and returned it. Never heard a peep from them.


text:
Hide or autohide top bar
Is it possible to hide or autohide the top bar which is still present on the top of Android screen? My version of Android is 2.2.
The top bar is distracting for me while reading. I'm using Aldiko, ezPDF Reader, Infinity for reading. Most distracting is the wifi icon which is changing when something happens with the connection.
And the top bar is using space on a small display which can be better utilized (e.g. in Teamviewer)
Some video players can hide the top bar (default Video player) and some can't (Act1 Video player - which I like more but don't use because of the top bar).
Thank you.

Certain apps have fullscreen mode.  Those that don't probably won't be able to take advantage of the extra space if you were to hide it?  I'm not sure.

Infinity browser has fullscreen mode but the top bar is still there.

You can hide the top bar if you use a different launcher like @CustomiZer stated, but it will Only hide it when you are on the home screen. When you open apps, if they are not Full Screen apps, the top bar will still be present.
This is part of "core" android, and it is not something that can be changed, currently, via a setting or 3rd party application.

I edited the question. The top bar is present even in fullscreen (see Infinity browser).

My answer is still the same, the app doesn't seem to actually use "full screen mode" if the top bar is still there.

OK, it seems this is the feature of individual applications. Is there a proof that application A can't change this property in application B? You probably have this information from somewhere. Could you please cite this source?

Its not a feature of an application, it is a feature of the Core System. it allows the application to cover it, if the application specifies that it is a full screen activity.

It is usually not possible with the default home screen.
This is possible with alternative home replacement like GO Launcher EX, LauncherPro, ADW Launcher, etc. Some of these allow hiding of the top notification bar in their respective settings with specific swipe actions.

The top bar is distracting for me while reading. I'm using Aldiko, ezPDF Reader, Infinity for reading. Most distracting is the wi-fi icon which is changing when something happens with the connection. And the top bar is using space on a small display which can be better utilized (e.g. in Teamviewer)

I don't think  you can do it when opening other apps (unless you mod the ROM I guess)


text:
Download free-software apps from official Android Market without logging in
The Android Market has some apps which are free software, which entails that anyone can redistribute them; and that are also zero cost. (An example is Theremin, but I'm not interested only in that one specific app.)
So for those apps, there's no good reason for me to register with the Market in order to get those apps and install them. I have no interest in registering with the Market.
It would be good if such free-software and zero-cost apps were available at more places, like the FDroid Repository, which doesn't require anyone's credentials in order to get the apps.
(Please note: this question is not a request for other app stores, that's not the issue.)
But the Android Market doesn't have an obvious way to download apps without logging in. How can I do so?

As you stated, FDroid is the best place for FLOSS applications. However it requires "unknown sources" checked, which means certain AT&T users are out of luck.

Related: How can I download an APK file from the Play Store?

Possible duplicate of Can I install apps on phone without using the Android Market?

You cannot download apps from the Market without an account associated with your device.
The only way to get apps without the Market (or an alternative market) is to get it directly from the developer and "side-load" it.

Google has no way of distinguishing between software that is free but licensed and freeware that has no restrictions (though they could enforce some sort of selection for licence type on upload if they wanted, of course). There is no way (without hacking, presumably) to download apps from the Market without logging in.  There's nothing to stop an app maker from providing an alternate download, though.

Short answer: you cannot.  Any app that you download through Google's Android Market requires a Google account.
There are some alternative markets for Android out there.  Check out Amazon's Appstore and SlideMe.org for example.  You may find some of the apps you're interested in there.

and m.getjar.com


text:
Is it possible to change the background of a keyboard or change the color of a key?
I want to change the look and feel of the keyboard , by changing its background and also the color of individual keys. Please help if there is a way to do it.

You can theme keyboards, but it requires hacking the APK.

If u got the answer of this question then please post here, I want the answer of the same question...!!!

Yes you can change the look and feel of the keyboard. But for individual keys its not possible. you can set key background and show popup (this can be changed for different keys through coding). In the android sdk example you will find a keyboard example, you can make changes in xml placed in the layout folder and see the changes

I already use android sdk keyboard. But I want to be change the background color of each key. Is it possible? If yes then how, I dont want to be use of android:keyIcon...!!!

i did a detailed research on this , but finally i did not got any solution for that. but you can change the pop up of each key which comes on key press

How? Can you give me an example...?

If you're not too attached to your current keyboard, there are loads of other ones you could try.

SlideIt keyboard is good, and it has a new support for skins! so you can make it look however you want :)
Swype has about the same functionality as the former, with a single skin that is more of a darker grey.
FlexT9 has the same support as the first two, with a white skin.
SwiftKey is good if you don't like the swipe to type thing, and has a couple good-looking included skins.

The only way to change the default keyboard on your device though, will be rooting and finding a ROM that has a keyboard that you like (or making your own if you're developer inclined ;) )