text:
Do the apps purchased via SlideME.org give you notifications about available updates?
SlideME is a website where you can purchase apps (useful for countries where Play Store does not support purchase yet).
Will I get a notification if their apps are updated?

SlideME Application Manager (SAM) will notify you if there's an update to the apps purchased from SlideME.

SAM supports SlideME's Storage Locker. This allows you to re-download or upgrade Android applications you have previously purchased in case you lost or reset device.

when will it be released?


text:
What does "to root a phone" mean?
I heard this phrase or the variants (rooted phone, rooting, etc.) in android forums but I don't know what it means. Can you explain it in simple terms?

Two great resources for understanding this more deeply are: http://code.google.com/p/android-roms/wiki/Obtain_Root and the CyanogenMod Wiki. The latter does a great job of defining terms throughout, so even if your goal is not to install CyanogenMod (which they also define :) ), the wiki is a great way to fill in gaps in your understanding.

Dead URL.  Cyanogenmod.com vanished recently.  Instead, try https://wiki.lineageos.org.

Related: HOW ANDROID RESTRICTS ROOT ACCESS? section in my answer to How Magisk works?

To 'root' your phone means to gain administrative rights on the file system of your phone (in linux, root is the username of the master admin).  With root access, you can install and uninstall anything you want on the phone.
Most phones come with limited access regarding what you can and can't do on it.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing, because it can keep users from accidentally breaking something they shouldn't mess with on the phone, especially in regards to the operating system.  However, many manufacturers limit your rights to things that aren't really so mission critical, too, and rooting the phone gets around this.
If you have a few unnecessary applications (bloatware) pre-installed on your phone that you cannot uninstall, rooting will give you this ability.  It will also allow you to upgrade to newer versions of Android before your phone's manufacturer and/or cell provider make the updates available to you.  Be warned, though, that rooting may void your warranty.
For more info on what rooting enables you to do with your phone, check out this question.

Nice answer... I also like the part where you said  It will also allow you to upgrade to newer versions of Android.  Any good resources you can recommend for that ? (Hopefully One of your prior answer..)

Why is bloatware such a big deal for many users? As long as the phone works well, and one can disable the blatware (I do not because I do not pay attention to them), everything should be fine.

When you "root" your phone you are unlocking the administrative privileges of the phone which by default are locked by the manufacturer.  It's similar to "Jailbreaking" in the iphone world.
Rooting your device allows you to do things like overclock or underclock your CPU, delete those preloaded apps that your phone wont delete like Amazon MP3 or Corp Calendar, install certain apps that require root access, load custom ROMs...
The manufacturers don't want you to have access to these options for a number of reasons including but not limited to:

They want to control and ensure a specific user experience
Certain carriers require that certain functions are locked out because they want you to pay for them or because they are incompatible with their network
If you don't know what you are doing you can "brick" (render useless) your phone or at least cause enough problems where you'll be calling tech support demanding to know why your phone doesn't work.

A big one is that you can remove critical system components and require a wipe (reinstall). They don't want this. Too much dissatisfied customers and tech support calls :)

@DmitriyLikhten I doubt that its tech support and neither customers satisfaction, instead its making money on bloat and surveilance.

To gain root (administrator) access to a phone.
'root' is the user with UID 0, which is the equivalent of a full 'System Administration Account'.
It means you have the permission to do anything.
Anything includes opening protected ports (for example for WiFi-tethering), update and upgrade the OS and all software, replace the operating system with your own software, full access to every file on the machine, and the ability to delete any file, including the entire operating system.

" replace the operating system with your own software" is not true. Root is not required to flash new firmware. It may make the process easier though.

In short, it means to get administrator access to the phone.  To do things that a normal (non-administrator) user of the phone cannot do.

Other answers are already correct, but just for a bit of nerd reference. In all Unix-based systems, there is a "root" user who has access to any and all functions available by the operating system. This is a very powerful (and dangerous) privilege because once you are root, you can do anything, and much of what you can do can completely destroy the system.
This is why when you administer a server, you usually don't do it as root so that you can take advantage of the operating system saying "umm... you don't want to do THAT!" when you accidentally ask it to wipe clean the entire hard drive at 3am.

This is a bit of an amendment to everything. Essencially Rooting is Jailbreaking. You are a user, you don't have administrator access to your own phone. Rooting is the process of getting access to the "root" user. Once you have root, there are some fun things you can do.

Remove "system" apps like Sprint's Nascar or NFL apps.
Use tools like Open Tethering to do wifi tethering (for free)
Underclock or Overclock your processor (underclocking with SetCPU helps keep battery usage up while not really affecting performance when your phone is in idle/etc.)
Install a custom recovery tool.

Nandroid Backup -- A complete dump of your android's internal memory to the SD card which allows you to do a very clean backup and literally roll your android back to that point when needed. Also allows you to swap operating systems in minutes by having 2 backups, 1 of each.

Recently rooting is getting more efficient and with 1-click rooting coming up, it should be a breeze for most people, just set up and let it run for a half an hr.
The only risk is bricking your phone (screwing up some critical software thus making it impossible to start it up or install a fix).

This question is one of the most viewed on this site, yet all answers say the same: "getting admin rights, let's you do stuff like xyz and abc". The latter is not really part of a relevant answer, and indeed there is already a question here: what can a rooted phone do?.
Sure rooting equals getting admin rights, but let's add some more details: how admin rights are implemented in Android. Whats happens, on a technical level, when you root a phone? A new program/applet becomes available: su. It sits in the /system/xbin/ folder and allows users to switch to a different user ID --including root (aka admin).
Remember that in android applications normally run under their own user ID. So if 1) su exists and 2) an app uses it to change to root, then the app can do anything the root user could do!
Not all rooting methods produce the same change. For example many methods rely on an additional app called superuser.apk that has a custom version of the su binary. This lets the app act as a permission control manager whenever su is invoked by an app.
In addition to su and superuser (or SuperSu), often busybox gets installed as part of the rooting script. These three files (technically busybox is a set of files) are the most common additions when we talk about rooting a phone.

It is not trivial to just copy a su to the folder yourself, as the /system partition is mounted read only and you need root rights to (re)mount it as writable (and you'd need write permissions if it was).
One 'indirect' way of doing this is using a recovery with extended functionality, it can mount /system as writable and copy files to it. In most cases this means flashing a custom recovery, as many stock recoveries are limited to patching only specific (OEM) files.
A more 'direct' way would be to directly flash a new /system partition (with root files) using some flashing tool. Such tools include:

odin(PC--Samsung only)
fastboot(PC--Generic Android)
flashify(app--Generic Android)

It is relatively easy to copy the /system partition from your phone--or an image file from the web, and flash the root-modified partition back. Lastly you may be able to get a root shell using ADB, if the ROM was compiled to allow it (not common in stock ROMs). Using the root shell it is trivial to remount partitions and copy files anywhere you want--if you know linux commands.
These simple methods work for phones that are unlocked/easy to unlock. When a bootloader is locked the process of rooting can become a convoluted process that may differ between devices, see more specific rooting info here.
This is because any custom modifications to important partitions will break the OEM 'signature' and cause the bootloader to refuse loading (bootloop). Or, in some cases the bootloader will just undo any changes.

"Lastly you may be able to get a root shell using ADB, if the ROM was compiled to allow it (not common in stock ROMs)." -- the whole ROM is not responsible for that, only the kernel is. Make changes into the kernel and you would have insecure adbd running in your machine (adb root, that is).

"any custom modifications to important partitions will break the OEM 'signature' and cause the bootloader to refuse loading (bootloop)." - per Google's instructions here, in case of signature mismatch, the bootloader must issue a warning which isn't alike to  refusing  the user to boot into OS. Why would it cause a bootloop?

@Firelord You are right about boot being the partition that controls the ADB root permission. But I didn't wan't to get too specific. Feel free to suggest edits.

@Firelord Regarding the bootloop: because if all a locked bootloader did was issue a warning (and continue to boot), rooting would be easy. The reason simple partition flashes on locked devices fail is because the bootloader detects a change. Or am I missing something?

source: Stack Exchange

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

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

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

sort: votes


text:
Exchange no longer working after upgrading to Froyo
I have a HTC Desire that was on 2.1 and worked perfectly with my works exchange server.
But since upgrading to 2.2 I cannot get it to work at all. There are no errors it just synchs forever.
Any suggestions?

It looks like there is an issue with the Exchange Server certificates and Froyo. I have found a few others with the same issue:

Exchange 2007 doesn't work after ota 2.2 update
Android 2.2, FRF91 now Active-sync is unable to connect to server, all was fine on Android 2.1

Those links have several workarounds that might solve your problem as long as you can get your IT team to help figure out what is going on.
I have seen several people mention the the Touchdown (appbrain link) app is not having any problems. Touchdown is an alternative to the built-in Exchange sync. It might be the easiest solution for you - though it is a paid app - $19.99 as of right now.
QR Code for the app market:

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

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


text:
How to set a profile that only allows selected calls through?
I work on the third shift, so I sleep during the day. But I get calls all day long, so I shut my ringer off.  I would like to be able to allow a couple of phone numbers that can ring through no matter what.
Using Google Voice to do this won't work because I get calls directly to my cell number as well as to Google Voice.
How to set a profile that only allows selected calls through?

The Setting Profiles app can do that. From their site:

What if I don’t want to miss an important call while I’m on mute?
You can overwrite current sound
  settings with a rule based on Incoming
  Call condition. Here is how to:

Create a new rule
Add Incoming Call condition and set it to your preferred contacts group (like VIP or Family)
Add Activate Profile action to activate the profile where sound is On and/or some custom ring tone specified

That’s it! Now even if your phone is
  set to mute, it will still ring in
  case of a call from someone from
  Contact Group you have set up in step
  two.

They currently have two versions of the app - a Lite and Full. I would try the Lite version to see if it has this feature first.
QR Code for Setting Profiles Lite:

QR Code for Setting Profiles Full:

Awesome thanks!  The last time I bothered searching for this was in the spring and I don't think this app was out yet.

I use "Shh! Auto-Silencer" for a similar purpose, screening notification automatically (so I don't get calls at work rather than while sleeping).
It is a time profile based app that silences your phone between time A and B and allows you to set exception for contacts. The best thing about it is that it runs in the background (boot on start-up and runs off the alarm clock service), you don't need to enable/disable it as a sound mode.

Shh!auto-silencer lite

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


text:
App to allow me to set which contacts dial out with Google Voice by default?
I'd like to be able to set, at the contact level, which phone number is used to dial out.  For example, I'd like to be able to set it so calls to my boss use Google Voice by default where as calls to my family use my cell number.  Any suggestions?

Bryan may be right.  I've been searching for this functionality for sometime without success.  I've just about given up.  I hope someone here proves me wrong.

I still haven't tried Voice Choice, but I just downloaded this free app: Voice Plus
This looks perfect.  From the description:
Allows you to set rules for which number dialed will use your Google Voice number. Specify rules based on area code or by contacts (using contact groups). No more annoyance of having to press another button when dialing to choose where to call from!

It doesn't give you contact by contact level control like Voice Choice claims to but it gives you group control so I just added a contact group called Google Voice and make sure everyone I want to call with Google Voice is also in that group.

Seems like a recent update to the Google Voice app breaks Voice Plus (which switched to a v2.0 version a while ago for some reason).  Not sure if the app is still maintained...

I just found Voice Choice which claims to do what I want but I haven't tried it yet because its a big purchasing decision at $3.  I will have to discuss with the family and check with my financial advisor.  I'll report back if it actually does the job (or not).

Please do report back. BTW you might be able to help this question... which is wondering the same thing about SMS.

There's a free version of it as well. I don't know what the difference is between free/paid.

The Google Voice app it self only lets you choose three things: all calls with regular number, all calls with GV number, or you can choose at a call-by-call basis.  I do the call-by-call basis to get sort of what you want.  I don't think there is any way to automatically have it choose one way or another per contact level.

Thanks for the response Bryan, but that's not really an answer to my question.  I'm well acquainted with what the native Google Voice app is capable off.  I'm looking for any apps, hacks or mods that will build on this functionality and give me more control.
I'm pretty new to the community so you can tell me if I'm off base on this but your response should probably be a comment not an answer.

The problem is that I'm pretty certain there are no apps to do what you're asking.  The biggest problem with Google Voice is there is no public API for developers to build applications against.  There is a crummy non-official API, but it returns full HTML responses, not JSON data or similar for developers to use. I've been wanting a similar thing myself, but currently it just isn't possible/available.

Although it doesn't address the real request, the widget available with the latest version of Google Voice makes it easier to switch modes as you can step through 4 modes (do not use for calls/International calls only/ask for every call/use for all calls) from your home screen.
The widget is fast, so I think once you learn the sequence, you'd be able to rapidly select the mode you want for a call before opening the phone app.    I only wish you could select which of the 4 icons in the widget you want displayed so it could use less than 3x1 spots on the home screen.

Thanks TomG.  Yes, the new widget does make it easier but call me picky, I don't want "easier" I want it to work the way I want it to work ;)  Voice Choice looks promising but still haven't tested it yet.

I agree; just offering the closest option we seem to have at the moment...

You can do this with voice plus


text:
Change idle screen
Is there some way to change the "sweep glass" idle screen (screen you see when the phone comes back from turning off screen)?
I like the "sweep glass" screen, but have seen some others. Eg. Screen similar to the "phone call" screen - two options (answer, reject) that need to be swiped to either side.
Aside: idea of puzzle pieces for messages, emails, etc is brilliant!

I've been using WidgetLocker (AppBrain). Its very customizable and has worked like a charm for me.

Note: WidgetLocker is not free.

Not willing to pay for apps just yet. Gotta figure out the stuff I have first. Plus there's so many free apps...

@cofiem Skip a coffee break at Starbucks and buy yourself a couple of apps.  Developers need the support so they can make more awesome apps for everyone.  Plus, there is a 24 hour return period so you can get your money back if you do not like the app (unlike Apple where all purchases are final).

@Bryan Denny This article sums up my feelings pretty well. I haven't yet explored everything on the phone, and don't yet feel like I want to go buy things. http://fury.com/2010/09/the-first-step-to-fixing-the-android-marketplace-has-nothing-to-do-with-the-android-marketplace/

There's flyscreen, which lets you put widgets and such on your lock screen. (App brain link)

I'll give it a go.


text:
Is there a way to enable WiFi-tethering without root access?
Is there a way for WiFi-tethering without root access.
I mean before Froyo.
I have HTC Hero 2.1, and frankly, I don't want to root it for security reasons.

Anyone care to elaborate on if there actually are any security reasons not to root?

Here is the ultimate answer:
First, on your phone, install a terminal-emulator from Android market, then run
cat /proc/cpuinfo

which will show you the detailed processor information of your phone (ARM5 in my case).

Afterwards, you need to install an ARM5 cross-compiler environment on your Linux box (download Ubuntu and VirtualBox if you are a Windows/Mac-freak and  don't have a Linux box), in order to compile native code for your phone.

You do this in order to be able to start a privilege escalation attack ON YOUR PHONE.
So, next, you need to cross-compile a privilege-escalation attack for ARM5 (HTC Hero microprocessor). For that, use the RageAgainstTheCage attack made by Sebastian Krahmer of Suse Linux Berlin (in binary only), reverse-engineered here:
http://pastebin.com/fXsGij3N

A precompiled version is available here
http://cmw.22aaf3.com/common/rageagainstthecage-arm5.zip

Download the Android SDK starter kit from Google.
Install the appropriate Android Platform SDK (version 2.1 for me).
http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html

Then, download the superuser (su) package:
http://cmw.22aaf3.com/common/su-2.3.6.2-efgh.zip
Put all, the superuser package, the su program, and the RageAgainstTheCage exploit in the same folder as adb (a program to connect to your android phone from the Android SDK).
You need to enable USB-Debugging, and switch of internet sharing.
Next, you transmit the file rageagainstthecage.bin to folder /data/local/tmp on your phone (initially, as normal user, you have write access only to the sdcard and the temp folder, but this is sufficient)
adb push rageagainstthecage.bin /data/local/tmp/

Then you start a shell on your phone:
adb shell

And change ownership on rageagainstthecage.bin to all
chmod 755 /data/local/tmp/rageagainstthecage.bin

Next, you start rageagainstthecage on your phone as normal user
/data/local/tmp/rageagainstthecage

When the exploit finished, your adb connection should terminate.
If it doesn't type
exit
adb kill-server
adb start-server

Now connect again to your phone:
adb shell

ADB shell now runs with escalated privileges (root).
So now, remount the file system so you can write on the system partition.
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
exit

Now push su and superuser to your phone (remember, you have write access now)
adb push su /system/xbin/
adb push Superuser.apk /system/app/

And then change ownership on su to all
adb shell chmod 4755 /system/xbin/su

Next download and install one of all those free tether apps that require you to root your phone.
Start superuser.
Now start your tether app.
A popup will appear, which will ask you whether you want to grant this app root access.
Say yes, and check remember.
Now switch of your phone and restart.
When it has restarted, everything is back to normal, no more root privileges.
But su is still there and executable for everyone.
So, when logged in, start the wifi tether app.
Since you checked remember in the superuser app, it will use su to switch this application to root, which means it will now run fine, with only the tether app with root privileges :)

Next, connect with your Linux box to your brand-new working Android WIFI hotspot. After you're sure it works, don't forget to put access restrictions for the hotspot in place.
BTW, if you use your escalated privileges to export some apk packages for reverse-engineering, you will notice that android lacks the cp command.
You can circumvent that restriction by using cat (copy-cat) instead:
cat /data/app/superuser.apk >> /sdcard/Downloads/superuser.apk

;-)

I don't know of any way to do wifi tethering without root (before 2.2).  You can, however, use bluetooth or a USB cable with PDANet which does not require root.

I have no Bluethooth (and don't want it either). And unfortunately, the USB cable is wearing out.

micro USB cables are cheap to buy: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=micro+usb+cable

Yea, you see, here in Switzerland, the cheapest USB cable you can get is 10 $. While you can buy it for 1 - 2 $ on Amazon (and delivered for 5$), I mind the 60 $ customs processing fee. And apart from that, having to connect and disconnect (and bring with you) the cable is immensly annoying.

Update: Got Bluetooth working on my Laptop by patching the driver myself. But the quality is poor. PDAnet Bluetooth connects much faster than USB thethering, but it disconnects often.

@Bryan Denny: Unfortunately not a solution, because I've now no admin access on the windows machine anymore (company laptop).

My samsung galaxy s (android 2.1) had a tethering option build in from the start.
Settings->wifi-Mobile AP and I only had to check a checkbox for it to work. And it works really great. (not locked here t-mobile/netherlands)
I can't find the application name though.

That application is called Android 2.2+.

Yes but its locked by the provider and you have to pay money to unlock it per month. Sprint wants 30 bucks per month.

I'm not a Sprint user, I'm an Orange user ;-)) But I don't have 2.2, yet.

Unfortunately, This does not work on the Samsung Galaxy S Captivate via AT&T here in the USA.

my galaxy s is 2.1 and this method works for me too

Easy tether is an awesome app that allows wifi tethering. http://www.androidzoom.com/android_applications/communication/easytether-lite_eoqh.html

I thought it was just usb tethering...

@colithium: it is...

He mentioned WiFi tethering.

@colithium: But it definitely doesn't.

Which is why I commented...  The questioner asked for a wifi tethering solution.  Easy Tether is a USB only tether solution.  Hints the problem with this answer. I'm confused

You won't like this answer but your carrier may provide the service if you're willing to pay extra for it. Sprint offered a WiFi hotspot feature for $30/month on the Evo pre 2.2. Ridiculous, yes. But may be your only option.

I have 2.1 not 2.2 . And yes, ridiculous, but hey, Linux is FOSS, just compile your own and that WiFi thingy is unlocked. I suppose that is why Motarola digitally signs the bootloader and prevents any non-Motarola ROM from running...

I think xda got around that. But WiFi tethering was possible on 2.1 with Sprint. Just to be clear.

Are you sure it was 2.1 ? If yes, interesting.

Positive. I'm sure you can find press releases mentioning 2.1 being the launch version and the wireless hotspot feature. Sprint disabled 2.2's built in feature and still wants you to pay them of course.

You can get unrevoked, its an app which gives you root access without changing your kernel/flashing a rom/voiding your warrenty, use that on every startup (its automatic) and then get the superuser app. Then you can use the Open Tethering app which requires root access.
Thats the ONLY free way to do wifi tethering. Otherwise pay sprint or your provider the monthly enable tethering fee.
Worst Case Scenario you can tether using EasyTether app. It creates a forwarding mechanism for HTTP requests through the USB port. Requires software on android + computer. Its not WiFi Tethering, but its free, rootless tethering. For 3 bucks you can get the pro version and do HTTPS as well. Better than nothing (or 30 bucks a month --err thats insane--)

Unrevoked doesn't work on my hero, I can't get root.

Poo! I have that problem on certain builds as well. Most unfortunate. Easy Tether might be your only solution. Requires USB cable and some set up on both sides, but better than nothing.

Short answer, you need to root for wifi hotspot tethering, or pay Sprint $30 a month. I thought about purchasing the package, but decided against it because they already charge you $10 extra per line for no legit reason. My thought there is they expect you to tether and can't do anything about it really, so they charge you extra and every month, 10 bucks adds up quickly per line, especially for those on your plan who don't even care to tether at all.

Even if Sprint was my provider (it isn't, I'm in Europe) I wouldn't pay that.


text:
Battery conservation?

Possible Duplicate:
What can I do to increase battery life on my Android phone?

What are some general ways to improve the battery life of my phone?


text:
How do I identify apps or settings that cause performance problems?
If I am having performance problems, what tools can I use to identify where my performance lags are coming from?  I have used a System Panel Task Manager, Android System Info, System Manager Free and some others but none of them have really identified the problem children.  System Panel Task Manager came the closest with it's historical look at CPU and memory usage but it didn't let me look at which apps were using how much resources over time.

Starting from Android 11 and up the security for controlling system dependent apps have been limited to root user only so modern android can do such automatically close unresponsive apps by default but if you run admin programs or debuggers it will interfere
How to activate Auto optimization
From Settings , swipe up and tap Battery & device care .
Tap More Options (three vertical dots) and then tap Auto Action .
Enable Daily Auto Optimize to automatically optimize your phone once a day.

Starting from Android 11 and up the security for controlling system dependent apps have been limited to root user only  -- Hi. Can you provide a link for this? I don't think root user should be involved in this at all.

Ah on latest android 13 y cant replicate that y use an app called 3c all in one toolbox (paied version) evething besids kernel settings works in none rooted devices task manager network,  battery settings including settings in the BSM board of the battery where you can set charge max ampere etc actually android 11 is kinda buggy but on android 13 you barely need root from anything  and if you really need to tweak root settings  you can use shizuku,  that supports some apps and acces the rootshell through wireless adb , and the saker app wich can reach root settings


text:
How can I use shell commands and interact with the Linux system underneath?
Android is based on Linux and has a Linux kernel underneath. Is there any way I can use shell commands and interact directly with the Linux system? E.g. A shell app that has access to the Linux system?

Yes there is,
Check out the application Better Terminal or Android Terminal Emulator both are support from 1.5

Don't forget that as TheCottonSilk noted in their answer that you'll need busybox in order to access most of the usual Linux commands!

If you have a wireless network set up I can recommend to connect via SSH. It allows you to access and fully manage your Android in a few minutes.
For Linux or Putty users there is no difference to a standard terminal using SSH besides some specific Android commands. Moreover, some file managers such as Nautilus support the SSH protocol so you will have the flexibility of a shell and additionally the comfort for file operations using a graphical file manager. I liked SSH so much that I have written a small how-to for Android (in German). I know, it might not fully apply to your question but can be considered while working with an additional computer and an Android phone.

An easy to use SSH server is SSH Droid, available in the Google market.

Do you mean set up an SSH server on the phone? That may be more trouble than it is worth.

I installed SSHDroid in no time and it is definately less complicated than setting up the Android SDK / ADB shell (check my tut). If you are experienced with SSH you will appreciate it for accessing the phone.

Huh, I had no idea. I would read your tutorial, but I don't know German :-).

I am going to add an English translation in the near future.

How exactly does it work? Does the SSH connection go over the USB cable?

My setup at home consist of a router with wifi and a computer connected to it. My android phone is connected to the wifi as well. From the computer you can access the phone simply by using "ssh root@192.168.0.100" whereas 192.168.0.100 is the IP address of my phone. Thats it.    Connecting to your phone via USB / Bluetooth check out this question link

Recently I had similar requirement, and I found 'busybox' utility. The terminal emulator apps are useful however those support very few commands. However 'busybox' gave me access to most of the generally used Linux commands.
Here is how I used it.

Even if you used busybox, you still need a terminal emulator to actually run busybox on. They're complementary.

Yes, very true..I agree.

The Scripting Layer for Android also includes a shell.


text:
Music transfer and playlists
Is there an app that will allow you to make playlists with your music (on your computer) and then transfer those playlists, and the associated MP3 files, over to the phone?
I'd prefer not to have to "Sync" stuff because of all the headaches that syncing carries with it, but I just don't see anything in the market that has this functionality.

As a further answer I forgot there is Media Monkey which just has basic USB copy which will do what you want - let you make a playlist and just copy it to your phone.

This looks like a very good answer, but it's missing a vital piece of information - where do you copy the playlist to?

Most apps use M3U playlist which is a pretty standard format.  You can manually sync or sync your playlists using DoubleTwist for insert OS here.  I dont even believe that youre required to run doubleTwist on your phone.
Also Cubed has the ability to create and edit playlists right on the phone

I tried putting an m3u file (test.m3u) on my phone in sdcard/Music/Playlists.  In that file, I put the name of one mp3 file that is found on the sdcard. I was expecting the Music app to find a playlist called test, with a single song in it.  But no such playlist was found.
Is there a special directory where I need to put playlist files?  When I create a playlist within the Music app - where on the system is that playlist stored? I keep losing playlists everytime I flash a ROM.  I'd like to know where to put playlists and how to preserve them through a ROM flash.
Thanks

It works for me (Android 2.3): Create a text file with one file name per line, stored next to the actual mp3 files. After scanning the SD card again, this shows up under Playlists in the standard Music player app.

Why not install "DropBox" on your PC and on your Phone. You can drag and drop files either way back and forth then ;) I haven't tried it with a playlist. But certainly done it for MP3 and other files.

I have drop box and it works great for file transfer but I'm specifically looking to manage playlists on my computer.

After years of different problems with iSyncr, I just found out that the "File Manager+" app can give me fpt address to access the mobile from the pc (using WinSCP on PC), if on same wi-fi.
Now I just copy files both sides, and refresh iTunes =)
Also, if using iTunes to organize files on folders, watch out after you refresh, if you rename artists and albums. You'll need to update file structure on mobile as well, if it's your case (it's mine).

I tried Media Monkey. Not the right fit. It is not clear how it handles playlist references, and appears to pull all the music with playlists off the source phone and recreate them on the target phone. (When the music is already on target phone.)  I contacted their support with questions and did not hear back.
Tried dropbox. Not quite right, because the m3u files need to be tweaked by hand. IOW: It is fine for moving media files (and poss also m3u files), but it doesn't give you working playlists on the target phone.
Ultimately, wasn't that hard, but took some dancing. I describe the process here.


text:
Copying applications between phones?
Is it possible to easy copy applications between phones (eg. two HTCs via bluetooth) and get them running fine? Or apps just need to be downloaded from AM each time because of some installation routine that comes right after downloading?

Android 2.2 introduces the App Sharing app which is installed by default. I think this might be what you are looking for, however you will need a FroYo device.
For earlier versions you could use the app "Bluetooth File Transfer" to share the APK files, if you have these available on your memory card for example.

Can you explain how to use the native app sharing in froyo?

I use an app called App Manager by Amazing Droid (search pub:"Amazing Droid" on market) which is free and allows you to do batch backups to SD and batch installs from SD (and also batch uninstalls).  The backup places the .APK files into a known location on your SD card so you can copy them off to another device.


text:
How can I install the Amazon MP3 app?
I have a Motorola Backflip running on AT&T with Android 1.5. I previously had a G1 with which I used Amazon MP3 all the time to buy music. However, Amazon MP3 doesn't come on the Backflip and isn't in the Market. Where can I find it to install?
Also, is there a reason it isn't on the market? My guess was because AT&T wants me to use their proprietary app.

Xda-developers has a link in this thread, grabbed from a cc-May-2010 Froyo ROM.
Found it in AppBrain and CyrKet.
Also, it IS in the market as of Sept 14, 2010 on my Incredible. Good luck linking to that one.

Using CyrKet results in a "not found on Android Marketplace" message.  Is it possible AT&T has the application blocked?

that would be.... weird. AT&T just wants to lock-down TO the AndroidMarkter, IIRC.


text:
How can I choose between Shazam and SoundHound?
I want a Music ID app, I have tried both Shazam and SoundHound which were good. They both have a limit of 5 songs, and cost $5 to upgrade to unlimited. Before purchasing one of them, I want to make sure I'm making the right choice. What are the advantages/disadvantages of each one?
Are there any other competing apps I should consider?
Update: I used SoundHound's old name, Midomi, accidentally.

Google Sound Search is free of charge.

I would pick a handful of songs that are of the type of music you like and see how each one does at identifying them.  Also consider how long it takes each one to get you your results.  Also if you buy music through a particular service, consider the app's ability to interface easily with that service.  The other big thing to consider would be startup time of the app, since you want to be able to tag a song before it ends!

Both are pretty much the same. I've found that each one sometimes can't identify songs that the other one can.
Both have pretty much the exact same features. SoundHound is a little quicker at recognising the song... it doesn't need that full 10 seconds of the song and will sometimes stop after only 5 seconds of recording.
I'm not 100% sure if Shazam has this but SoundHound also allows you to view the artist and album of the song... i.e. so if you've identified the song, SoundHouse will show you which album that song is from and you can then browse that album right within SoundHound which is pretty good.
I used both but in the end chose to use SoundHound because of the mentioned features above.

I use SoundHound.  It also costs $5 for the full version.  I can't really articulate why, though; I just liked the interface better.

I've used both and usually Shazam gets me a better result on slower networks. Soundhound has some great extra features. But for long-term, I think I would just use an app like Shazam or Soundhound to find a song I hear, not to share or anything like that.


text:
Is there an alarm clock app that takes account of personal and/or public holidays?
On my current and previous Android phones (HTC Magic with stock Android 1.6, and Samsung Galaxy S with 2.1 and TouchWiz) there have been pretty good alarm clock apps that allow you to set a a variety of alarms with a variety of timing and days. This gives you the handy ability to set different alarms for weekends and weekdays, for instance. Unfortunately, I often have the experience of looking forward to a nice lie-in on a holiday but getting blasted awake too early, because I forgot to switch off the alarm.
What I'd like is an app that either adjusts the built-in alarm clock to automatically set the weekend alarm when a personal or public holiday falls on a weekday, or one that replaces the built-in alarm clock and offers this facility.
I guess it could pull info on public holidays for my country from a public feed (pretty sure Google Calendar publish one for most countries) whereas for my holidays it could pick up specific all-day appointments with certain text in from a nominated Google Calendar.

Try this - it pulls from calendar plus you can add custom days - I had used it long back or pick from Izzy's list of Holiday aware clocks. The clock recommended first is also on Izzy's list

Anybody who wants to make an answer drawing on above suggestion and try for the bounty, please feel free to do so. I won't be posting since I don't have time / inclination to make a bounty worthy answer. Thanks

There is Sleep As Android that reads google calendar to turn alarm off on statutory holidays and your personal days off if you put #holiday into a full day event title.
Some statutory holidays may not apply to you. For example in Alberta Medical Aide Day is October 18, 2018 but my workplace (like most places) is not giving it as a paid day off. As such I can put #notholiday into the title of an all day event in Google Calendar for October 18, 2018.
To read more see: Sleep as Android: Sleep cycle tracker, smart alarm

It's hard to imagine no one has come up with the ability to turn off the regular Monday to Friday Google Android Alarm Clock based on Google Android Calendar stat holidays plus any vacation days and personal days you add to the calendar.

The link states:

Ever been roused from a good, deep sleep on a public holiday because the alarm clock wasn't turned off? AMdroid knows the public holidays
for your country; alarms won’t go off on these days (optional).

I'm not sure what "optional" means. Plus there is no mention of your days off (vacation, personal days, summer floats, winter floats, birthday, etc.)


text:
What Launcher app lets me put the most on one screen?
I'm currently using LauncherPro which lets me have 4x5 icons and a bar at the bottom of my home screen. Are there any alternative Launcher apps that will let me cram more in?

Not a launcher app itself, but MultIcon (review link) lets you cram multiple icons into a teeny tiny space. Also available via cyrket.

Now, that unconfigured screnshot is the extreme example -- but the density ranges from 4 incons in the space of 1 on down. It's pretty handy -- plus it comes with its own shortcuts widgets to a few things. Can't have icons for normal folders, however. Bummer.

Zeam (Zeam.org) is a great alternative launcher that offers an 8x8 workspace on each screen (up to 7) as well as multiple dock icons.
Zeam Is the Fastest Android Launcher We've Seen Yet (via Lifehacker)

You should try the ADW.launcher , its free and lets you have up to a 8 x 8 screen plus 4 dock icons . It also allows you to resize widgets ( I reduce my clock to 1x1 and increase a few others).

Don't forget you can use folders as well to cram lots of apps into one space, I usually keep apps in category folders, it's a nice way of being organised also!


text:
What apps in base Android can be replaced?
I've seen that you can replace the default launcher app with something like LauncherPro, the onscreen keyboard with Swype or ShapeWriter, and I've heard of others. Does anyone have a list of all default apps in the base Android OS (version 2.2 preferred) that can be replaced?

Strictly speaking, neither of those examples are part of the Operating System.

That is correct - updated question text.

Keyboard can be replaced
Browser can be replaced (Opera, xScope (i like), Dolphin HD, etc.)
Launcher can be replaced
Gallery can be replaced (3d gallery is my favorite)
Camera can be replaced (Camera 360 (drains battery like crazy), Retro Camera, etc.)
Hell you can even replace the kernel if you root.
Not an app, but you can add search providers like getting the DuckDuckGo app which allows you to search using all search tools, but ddg vs google.

Also, phone, contacts and sms apps can be replaced.


text:
Is it possible to only silence certain notifications?
I'm running Android 2.2 FroYo on an HTC Droid Incredible. When I go to bed, I want to turn off all notifications except for incoming phone calls, which I still want to receive. Is this possible, either natively or through an application?

I asked this question to a friend and he suggested the AudioManager Widget. It allows you to control volumes for Alarm, Media, Alerts, Ringer, System, and Voice Calls independently. It also allows you to toggle vibrate for alerts and ringer independently. So far, it seems to be a solid app.

The Setting Profiles should be able to do something like that. You can set up a profile that turns off all notifications for when you get ready for bed. Then, add a rule that overrides the profile - turning notifications back on only for incoming calls:

Create a new rule
Add Incoming Call condition - this can be set to a specific contact group of just to <> depending on your preferences
Add Activate Profile action to activate a different profile where sound is On and/or some custom ring tone specified

They currently have two versions of the app - a Lite and Full. The Lite version is limited to one rule at a time. You might be able to try it out with the Lite version and then get the Full if it works out for you.
QR Code for Setting Profiles Lite:

QR Code for Setting Profiles Full:

You can try Tasker or Locale. They can be configured to do this automatically.

You can create a profile and switch it by long pressing the power button. At least on Cyanogen, there is a menu item Change Profile. On stock Sense ROM it is likely there, too.


text:
Is there any app for Stack Exchange?
Is there any app available in the Android Market for Stack Exchange sites?

A good resource to find the currently state of art Android App for Stackexchange is the highest voted android tag Q&A on stackapps. Droidstack isn't really maintained any more.

There are a couple of apps out there like Droidstack and StackWidget.  Both of the apps can work together.  I've just installed them, but so far you can't seem to answer or respond to questions with them.  You can though, follow your questions and get notifications when you get answers.   Droidstack is a question browser, and StackWidget lets you watch specific questions.
There is also TopStack for question browsing and SOflair for reputation monitoring.  Having tried them.

The SOAPI doesn't allow write access at the moment so no app will allow you answer questions. Go for droidstack.

Droidstack only notifies me of rep changes. Shouldn't it notify me when I get mentioned, when my question is answered, etc?

@Bruce currently the "inbox" is not available yet to the API, but will be in version 2.0.  Version 3.0 will include write access via API.

@Bryan Cool. Is there an expected date for the new versions?

@Bruce roadmap here: http://stackapps.com/questions/1999/announcing-api-version-1-1 No schedule/expected dates yet

The official Stack Exchange app is now available in the Play Store.

The best answer

And David uses it proudly.

Note: the app has been removed from the Play Store since 2020 and its infrastructure has been removed since 2022.

There just happens to be such a tool. It's not an actual application, but it works quite well with and is optimized for Android phones and tablets.
Website: StackMobile.com

Some of the features you will find:

Full access to all questions, answers, comments, and users on the site.
Full question and user search capability.
The ability to easily switch between StackMobile and the equivalent page on the main site.
View tags and tag wiki excerpts as well as questions with certain tags.
View user profiles including a user's top 5 question / answers.
The ability to quickly share pages using social network buttons.

Disclaimer: I wrote it.

DroidStack seems to be the ticket.  Android Market Link

Thanks for sharing. It would be great if its directly available from app store.

That's where I downloaded it from; sorry, I have a helluva time linking to pages in the AndroidMarket..... hrm... that remind me

There is a site specifically for apps that use the Stack Exchange API(s): Stack Apps.
If you're looking for Stack Exchange apps for Android, simply look under the android tag there.

I recently had the opportunity to try Stack Remote, which features an incredibly well-designed interface that looks really slick:

As is the case with all other apps that use the latest version of the API (2.1 at the time of this writing), there is no support for asking and answering questions. However, the app is handy for checking your inbox and quickly browsing questions.


text:
How do I add comments to an app in the Market?
Apps in the market have a lot of comments and reviews.  How do I add my own rating and comment to these?

Navigate to Market, select Menu > Downloads and you will see the list of apps on your phone. Notice the My Rating section where you can star and comment on the app.

you don't actually have to be in the "Downloads" section to add comments -- just as long as you navigate to the app. But "Downloads" is the easiest way of finding everything you've .... downloaded.

Once you've actually installed an application, open it up in the Market and the "My Review" section will appear -- you can give it a 1-5 star rating, and then submit comments.

If you haven't installed (or have uninstalled the app)s, you can only view comments (or mark as spam).
See Also: Market comment posting policy.

Just to be clear: You cannot add a comment to an app until you have rated it (out of 5 stars). You cannot rate an app until you have installed it.
Once you have installed and rated and app, then you can comment. (Even if you no longer have the app installed.)


text:
Is an antivirus really needed for Android?
I use Linux for half a decade now, so I am not used to dealing with viruses anymore. To my surprise, I saw some discussion about antiviruses in Android. I haven't installed any yet, but this bugs me: are they really necessary? Are there (or were) any known viruses in the market? Doesn't Google runs an antivirus before allowing an app to the market?
I haven't had no problem in one year of Android, but my cellphone has a lot of important information, and I wouldn't like to be surprised with some virus cleaning my phone, or making international calls while I sleep, or whatsoever. Should I install an antivirus?

It's even bad practice to run Linux without an AV. Same thing goes for Android. Google doesn't check the apps.

Please be aware, that an antivirus requires viruses. If there are no known viruses, an antivirus is worthless since android itself already has some built-in protections. Once viruses start coming out (its enevitable) for android/iphone then we will need AV software to actually keep track of different backdoors (assuming the android os does not try to solve each problem as part of the os). Also note that AV on linux checks for windows viruses incease there are interactions between systems, so that one is important too.

Just to clarify -- the AVs I see installed for Linux are there for when people use Linux for email servers or file sharing, and they are to catch Windows-based virus signatures. As far as I know, there are no known Linux viruses, only exploits through systems not updated, and even then are extremely rare.

You shouldn't need to worry about running an anti-virus on your phone. I would recommend running one on your PC though and having it set to scan peripheral devices. When you plug in your phone and it gets mounted as a mass storage device the desktop's antivirus will scan the phone for viruses' signatures and you will be doing the minimum to ensure your security.
It is an illusion to believe that just because you are running *nix or OSX you won't benefit from the security afforded by AV software; that said you dont need to spend anything to get a good, lean program especially in Linux.

There are malware apps on Googoe Play. The question is do antivirus apps detect these malware once downloaded onto your phone.
http://clark.com/technology/google-play-malware-app-hummingbad/

There have been a few reports of Trojans that basically pretend to do something, but they are actually texting short codes charing you money or stealing data or something.  However, I'm not sure how these 'anti virus' programs could actually counter that as they don't have anyway to monitor what these other apps are actually doing.
All you really need to do is take a close look at the permissions requested when you install an app, and ask yourself 'should this app need full internet access and contacts access and location?'

There was a known "virus" live background which sent data about you to it's servers. Can you really distinguish this vs ads?

@Dmitriy - or vs all the legitimate apps that harvest your data.

I say no, and I have two reasons for that:

Always read the required permissions before installing any application, and ensure that this application needs these permissions for its function and not just asks to do some crap on your phone. Do not allow any application to take permission to tamper with your phone information.
Installing an anti-virus app will slow down your phone, so better scan for viruses from your PC.

Suppose I download free ebooks or music that might be infected. I always scan them if i downloaded them on computer. Should not one have an antivirus on phone to scan the same? I keep hearing that android is like Linux and cannot be infected in this way. Does this means one can download files like ebooks from internet without worry?

Yes AFAIK, android can be infected only if you install an unwanted apk which cann't happen without user interaction or system permission. System permission is given only to preloaded app in normal phone

Antivirus isn't as necessary as it is on Windows but it isn't a bad idea to have it. Google does check apps that are submitted to the Play Store as far as I am aware. However, there have been a few incidents of malicious apps on the Play Store and people downloading these. The bigger issue is apps from outside the Play Store, especially if your device is rooted. It's probably sensible to have antivirus software installed, especially since they are so effective, according to the AV-Test Android results here, where some programs get close to 100% detection rates. This website also includes 'Usability', which includes whether the antivirus slows down the device during normal usage.

In Android Market was only few viruses so the possibility of catching an virus is rare occurrence. The problem is when you download the apps from internet. I highly do not recommend it.
What about AV for Android phones?
I am always laughing when people insist that AV for Android device is must have.
Why it is not necessary? Consider what the names like kernel, root etc come from. Android is based on Linux and I have never heard about strong viruses for Unix like operating systems. Yes, there is possibility to create virus, yes it might work but only if you give the app permissions. That is why I think that AV for Android is just a scam.
So to sum up as long as you download apps from Google market feel comfortable and just forget about viruses.

Wasn't me, but a few pointers: 1) there are no viruses for Android, so they cannot be on "Android Market"; 2) Market was renamed to "Google Play Store" years ago, so not sure what you're referencing. But if those two points justify a downvote is a different question :)


text:
Is there an app for Flash support for Android 2.1?
Currently I am using Samsung Galaxy 3 (i5801) with Android 2.1. Is there any app available to support flash video ?

note that even without full flash support, all current Android phones from all popular manufacturers (including Samsung Galaxy 3) can play Youtube (no surprise there). Most Android phones ships with dedicated Youtube app.

Useful: http://www.adobe.com/flashplatform/certified_devices/

There is an alternative browser, Skyfire, which purports to support at least some Flash videos on Android 2.1.
It should be available in the Market.

I'm running 2.2 pn my Droid and I've found that skyfire handles flash video better than the flash plugin

Does Skyfire support games also or just videos?  I tried some games in Skyfire and they didn't work.

assuming you're in the united states it's just a matter of days before you get your 2.2 update which comes with Flash.  I don't believe any other aftermarket player will decode FLV files for you at this time.

I am citizen of india. :(

well... the phone you're using is totally read for 2.2, so, you should be able to find a way to update it manually if you can't wait till your carrier updates it for you.  At that point, flash video will just magically work :)

you can install flash by these steps
The first step is to download flash_for_21.zip to your computer and extract the .apk file.
Now navigate to the market and install “Apps Installer” utility to your phone.
Now connect your Android phone to the computer and copy .apk file to your SD card. Make sure that it is in SD card root and not in a sub folder.
After this launch “Apps Installer” on your phone and follow the on screen instructions to install flash_for_21.apk file.
After installation is complete, simply reboot your phone and there you go! You now have Flash 10.1 on your phone.
get flash for 2.1

why do you write everything in a code tag, mate? It's hard to read

I tried that.  That didn't work for me.

That's a fake, Flash doesn't work on 2.1.


text:
How do you link to applications in the Android market?
When posting app links, I'm always using a link on Cyrket or AppBrain -- becuase I can't get a link to anything in the official Android Market.
But I have seen some links out there for use w/ Android itself ( ''market://'' protocol ):
market://details?id=de.schildbach.oeffi

(as seen @ Android Dev Studio)
Is it possible to web-link to apps in the Market so that a non-Android user can link to the appropriate Market page in a non-Android web browser?

This question is being marked as duplicate of a closed question, that in turn mentions this one as duplicate (infinite cycle)!

If you are talking about making a link that goes directly to the app in the market on an Android device, yes, just append the Package Name to the market://details?id= or market://search?q=pname: to create the link.  In your example above the Package Name is: de.schildbach.oeffi.
If you don't know the package name you can get it from AndroLib.  It's a pain because their pages are so busy but if you can't find it just do a text search for "Package Name."
Just to be clear this link format only works when clicked on and Android Market enabled device.

Update: Yes. You now access the full Android Market on the website, and when you use the link format that therefromhere mentions in his answer (with http://market...), users clicking it on their phone will be brought to app in the market and users clicking on it on the web will be brought to the app's market web page.
Edit: No. The Android Market can only be accessed on Android Devices (more specifically only Android Devices with the Android Market Enabled).

I've clarified the original post.

I added a new answer.  Do you think I should I have done this or edited my original answer?  And yes I probably should post this question in meta but I'm running late, will do later.

I believe you should refine your answer when you get a chance and then delete the extra.

It's a work-in-progress, and we got an excellent answer out of it; thanks!

It's worth noting that you don't have to use the market:// protocol - you can swap in
http://market.android.com/ instead of market://.
eg these two links should have the same effect:

http://market.android.com/details?id=de.schildbach.oeffi
market://details?id=de.schildbach.oeffi

Unfortunately, this currently isn't quite as useful as it could be since a non-Android browser will just get a 404 from the http:// link, but I imagine if Google wanted to they could give you a useful page instead.
See the Publishing Your Applications page in the Android developer guide for more details.

Also, some websites (like this one apparently) will automatically linkify the first one, but not the second.


text:
What is the "Launcher" application and why are there alternative apps?
Several questions have mentioned launcher.  What is it responsible for, and what kinds of features do the alternative apps in the Market provide that the basic android launcher doesn't?

Launcher is a replacement for the Home application (the app that your phone switches to when you press the Home button).  It is basically the application that lets you switch screens, launch apps, view widgets, etc.  Other apps offer more home screens than the default, or different toolbars at the bottom of the screen offering different ways to quickly launch applications.  These were very popular with the initial Moto Droid since it was basically the stock Android 2.0 OS which only had 3 home screens.  With Android 2.2 and the custom interfaces that handset manufacturers add on, the usefulness of these launcher apps may not be so obvious or necessary.


text:
Is there anyway to connect to a WPA Enterprise Wi-Fi network with version 1.5 on a Motorola Backflip?
The only available security options when adding an new Wi-Fi network are:

None
WEP
WPA Personal
WPA2 Personal

I was hoping to connect to WPA Enterprise either by getting it added to the list, or finding a workaround/hack to do so.

http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=1386
Short story; Android uses wpa_supplicant for its WPA support, so it can connect to WPA Enterprise, however the configuration app lacks the UI to configure wpa_supplicant for WPA Enterprise.
As a workaround, you can configure wpa_supplicant configuration files manually, try this: http://waipeng.blogspot.com/2009/08/howto-wpa-enterprise-on-android-htc.html


text:
How can I change the Icon of a Shortcut on my Home Screen?
I have a couple direct dial to landline shortcuts that I use at work regularly.  There are no avatars associated with those contacts and the Homescreen icon just shows a generic Android Avatar so they are indistinguishable.  I have a couple other contacts whose avatars are still indistinguishable because they are so small.  I'd like to be able to set a shortcut icon instead of having to mess with making custom avatars.  Any apps to do this?

Desktop Visualizer does the trick (and a little bit more)


text:
Is there an App or Widget that can replace my Screen On and Off Button on my Moto Droid?
The button is broken and I'm waiting for my replacement phone.  I can turn it on by sliding open the keyboard but I have to wait for it to sleep to turn the screen off.  Is there an app or a shortcut that I can put on the home screen to do this? Or maybe a hack to change my camera button to a screen off button?  It's an un-rooted Motorola Droid 1 running 2.2.

I ended up using this free app: http://code.google.com/p/lockenabler/ and with smart bar I was able to set the camera button as a shortcut. My cam button now turns off the screen on a long press.

There was an app reviewed by "Android Guys" yesterday call screen off , unfortunately its not free and costs 99 cents , here is the link

Thanks for the answer! I hate to be a cheapskate over a $1 app but I actually found a free one in the comments on that review: http://code.google.com/p/lockenabler/


text:
Sometimes My Phone Just Restarts
Occasionally (maybe twice a month) my Milestone just reboots (goes black and then to the Android startup screen (but not all the way to the Motorola screen)).
I presume that such behaviour could be caused a poorly written app. I have uninstalled a few but to no avail. Is there any sort of log that I could pull which would shed some light on this or even a dump file?
Could this restarting issue be caused by something else?
I am currently running Android 2.1 (no OTA update available for me, yet) on a Milestone and have had this problem since I bought it in December (when it was 2.0).

I've seen that once or twice on my Nexus One. I assumed it was a bad connection with the battery contacts or something along those lines.

Are you using any apps when this happens? I did find this about kernel panic (which causes a reboot) on android 2.1 on the Milestone while using openGL apps: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=7944

I've had this happen, and it's usually related to me trying to do application/sync updates, and my wifi/mobile connection fails, causing the entire thing to spazz out

This happens on my Incredible once or twice a month.  I've taken to calling it my Android BSOD.  It's always happened when it was just sitting there, never while I was actively using an app.   I'm assuming its some background process failing while attempting to run an update.

same here... I didn't find any particular pattern... I've got "Task Manager" on "auto-kill" to handle high-memory condition but still reboots from time to time.

@ninjaPixel Have you had any luck in the last few months?

related: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/18892/how-can-i-determine-the-cause-of-random-device-reboots

I have uninstalled TaskKiller as I read that these types of applications can cause stability issues on Android 2.1 and 2.2. So far so good...

I got excited too soon. Have had a couple of restarts recently. I presume that it must be due to some 3rd party process. Realistically though, I don't want to delete every app from my phone to find the cause, because 1) this will take ages and 2) I downloaded those apps for a reason

I know its too late to answer the question. But anyway, Restart generally occurs  when,

Phone is going out of resources, (Memory)
Bad Battery contacts, due to frequent pullouts.
Faulty apps leading to crash and screens of death.

I am saying so as Android too is an OS and these are the basic nature of an OS.  So if your Milestone is rooted, use XDA Assistant from Market and do some tweaks to your phone like

See your startup list and remove unwanted services while boot.
Also download InfoLLc  CacheCleaner to clean cache on regular intervals.
Install AdBlockers to block unwanted ads, sometimes they leads to crash.
Remove all apps that are not in use.
Instead of Auto Cleaning , do manual memory cleanup {RAM} using taskkillers.
Dont use any Battery Defenders as they too run their own service on the phone 24X7 {in wake phone} and consumes memory.
Use App2SD and try to move all your apps from pHone memory to your SD Card.

Finally I would like to say, keep your OS as light(clean) as possible.

Doubtful... faulty apps, according to Android sandboxed execution environment, are supposed to never let the phone crash. The phone crashes only when the ROM or the hardware is faulty, by design... I fully agree with possible causes 1 and 2 anyway

Well, let me clarify... If an app eats too much memory we may fall in case 1 but OutOfMemoryException is supposed to be thrown by OS if that happens. "Faulty" in the means of not catching exceptions never lead to reset: the app crashes and system detects the crash safely

I have the same problem. One possible reason is that the graphics card does not support it. Delete graphics, especially pics attached in the phonebook. Everytime I am tempted to attach pics to the phonebook, I get this problem.
Hope it will help.


text:
Outlook contacts ALWAYS sync with my phone?
I have a Milestone and I only want my Google contacts to appear in the contacts list, on my phone. The native (corporate)'email' app is synced with my work email (Microsoft Exchange) and calendar; this works great apart from one irritating problem... Even though I have unchecked the 'sync contacts' option from within the 'email' app and from Contacts>Menu>Accounts>Corporate A/C options (though I presume both options are the same single setting) my work contacts are pulled into my overall contacts list, anyway!
Twice I have deleted all of my outlook contacts (from my PC) and ALL of the contacts from my phone. After re-syncing the Google contacts and being certain that I didn't check the option to sync my Outlook contacts, low and behold the outlook contacts would start to appear through the course of the day (once I put them back on the PC).
Any suggestions as to why this is happening or, even better, how to fix it?
I understand that the MS exchange sync component was written by Motorola, so maybe this is interfering with the contact sync? Anyone not use the calendar sync and still have this issue?

I stopped using the Corporate Email app that came with my Droid because of stability issues and reasons like this. I got TouchDown (AppBrain) for my work MS Exchange email and haven't looked back.
I realize this doesn't offer a solution to your problem's symptoms, but it would solve your main problem by avoiding the inferior Exchange app all together.


text:
Sync calendar entries on Samsung devices to Google Calendar
The Calendar app on the Samsung Captivate is fed by the Google Calendar, but I have to make all my entries online. Otherwise, they are (uselessly) local to just my phone.
Is there any way to sync them back to my Google Calendar and (most importantly) include the events that I add from the calendar?

The default google calendar app work fine for me. If I enter an event to my phone calendar it will appear on the web calendar in less than a minute... maybe Samsung have fiddled with the handling of calendar events, on the Captivate. Some HTC owners also experience this problem too, btw.

I'm not sure what you mean by the "default" google calendar app.  I don't see such an app in the market, where do I get it?

I use the Calendar app from HTC, and I can enter events and have them appear on my google calendar. Are you sure you're adding your events to the right calendar? (you could be adding them to the local one instead of your google one)

There is a bug report logged with Google on the ability to set the default Calendar events are saved to, that would potentially sort this out http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=3920

I'm running the Calendar 2.3.7 on top of Cyanogemod7 and it is not syncing back to the Calendar Web interface.

Related: Sync local calendar entries with Google.

Assuming Samsung have made the same changes for the Captivate as the Galaxy, then fully opening an appointment in the Calendar app and pressing Edit, you should have a line labelled "Calendar" that will say "My Calendar" (this is the local calendar on the phone), press the arrow beside that and it takes you to a list of your calendars and lets you select your Google Calendar to move the appointment there.
Also when you're in the Calendar and want to create a new appointment there are two ways to do it. Either long pressing on a day/time takes you to the quick appointment creation box, this always goes into your phone's local calendar and then needs moving out to your GCal. However if you press the Menu button and select "Create" then it takes you to the same screen as the Edit screen, and you can pick which calendar to save to from there.

long holding the date seems to force it into my calendar but just tapping, then yes, I see the other google cals and it seems to work. Thanks

I use the Gemini calendar app, and it seems to sync back to your Google account.  It does, however, require the stock Google Calendar app, which based on your question, may pose a problem.


text:
What's causing the Sirius XM app to stutter even with a good 3G signal or WiFi connection?
More often than not, the Sirius XM app has trouble streaming content when the screen turns off - it will replay the same buffered audio in a loop (usually 20 or 30 seconds worth) until I turn the screen on and unlock the screen.
This happens even when using WiFi - when going 8 feet to my PC (where the wireless router is) and logging into the XM Radio Online site, there are no problems streaming content.
Is there a way to give network priority to an app when the screen is off? Is this a common problem with other apps?
I have an HTC Droid Incredible (with the 2.2 update).

More of a shot-in-the-dark based on my own personal experience rather than a resolution, but do you have anything like SetCPU installed that might be throttling back your clock speed when the phone goes to sleep?


text:
How can I stop the Music app from launching when headphone is plugged in?
I have a Moto Droid, running Android 2.2 (Froyo), although this behavior also existed on 2.1.   Whenever I plug something in the headphone jack, the Music app will start up (sometimes with a bit of a delay) and start playing something (generally Christmas music).
More often than not, I'm plugging in headphones to use Google Listen to listen to podcasts... if Listen is already running, I may end up with both apps playing at the same time.
The Music app doesn't seem to have any settings that would affect this behavior.  Is there some way, short of deleting all of the music so that there's nothing to play?

I have almost the same problem; in my case, though, music doesn't start when I plug in the headphones, but rather, when I press the little button attached to them.

I upgraded to a new phone running Gingerbread about two months ago; haven't seen the problem since then, so it could be fixed.

Alas, I'm running Gingerbread.

Five years later, now on Lollipop - the same story with Google Play Music starting automatically when a bluetooth connection is made with my vehicle.

It's been reported as a known issue on code.google.com. There's a long list of 79 comments which seem to indicate that rooting and adding a program called "Autostarts" fixes the problem. This is obviously not something everyone is going to want to do... be careful if you go that route.

CyanogenMod has had this fixed since 5.0.8.

Thanks; I'd searched for the relevant bug before, and somehow not found that one.

You can use the Headset Blocker widget to disable that behavior.

It looks promising.   I'll give it a try.   Thanks.

Fixed!
Go to: Settings; General
Select: Context Awareness
Select: When earphones are plugged in
Then click the slide to disable.

When you plug in your headset click the Music On The Go Event in smart connect and then go to the options and disable Smart Connect. Worked on my Sony Xperia Z3 on Droid 5.0.2


text:
How do I turn off the light that comes out of my moto droid's usb port?
When I plug my moto droid into a charger a bright white light comes from the micro usb port. It is super bright when its on my nightstand and the lights are out.  It drives me nuts.

Simple hack: cover it with a small strip of black sticker. Or, cover the nightstand with a handkerchief.
Complex hack: Find if the USB port driver allows you to turn the light off; I think that's quite unlikely, as it may be hardwired to the hardware itself.

Its hard to cover the light because it emits around the radius of the micro-usb plug.  I  could cover the whole phone with a handkerchief but I was hoping for a more elegant solution, that hopefully just as easy.

@Matt: an alternative to black sticker is a black permanent marker; I personally wouldn't do it that way though. A probably more elegant solution would be to find a charging/multimedia dock that would cover the USB port.


text:
How to backup an Android device?
Can anyone recommend a good way to backup Android devices?
Ideally I would like to do this wirelessly and, not only backup my data, but also my user settings. Is it possible to backup an image of an Android device - so that one doesn't even need to reinstall apps?
It would be particularly useful to hear from users that have restored backups, as to how easy, and complete, their processes were.
Thanks

Please specify rooted/unrooted. Rooted is easy to backup, unrooted is where the real question comes in.

If you have a rooted phone and are interested in the special case of restoring to the same device, see my answer to my question How to back up rooted phone to PC? (for restore to same device).

The requirement being that you must be ROOTED, you could get Titanium Backup and back up your phone using that.
The reason for using Titanium Backup is so that you can selectively restore parts of your data if you were to install a different version and/or build of Android. NANDROID backup is good for having a safe image to fall back on but it isn't good for restoring data on top of a new OS installation (there are side effects sometimes).

Where do backups (when using Titanium Backup) go? Do they go on PC? Do I need a SD card to back up?

They go to /sdcard/TitaniumBackup. Note that /sdcard doesn't necessarily mean it's on an SD card. The Moto X, for example, doesn't support physical SD cards but Android creates that partition for storage.

Note that: 1) you can choose where TB stores backups. 2) It doesn't backup user files like photos.

A good way to back up app data if you're not rooted is to used adb from the Android SDK.  For example, to back up the data for Locale, you'd do something like the following:
adb pull /data/data/com.twofortyfouram.locale/ C:\backup\locale\
And to restore, just use adb push with the same arguments in reverse order, i.e.:
adb push C:\backup\locale\ /data/data/com.twofortyfouram.locale/
You should be able to back up apps from /data/app/ the same way.

Is there a way to browse /data? Are there any other directories besides /data/data that need to be backed up?

@Shoan Yes.  Start adb shell then cd /data/data/ then ls.  Back up /data/app/ if you want to save the applications to avoid re-downloading them.  There's no other fixed data locations AFAIK :)

Is there a way to backup the preferences/settings of the applications as well as the OS?

@Shoan You could try backing up /data/system/ but I don't know if it will work.

If you want to do what is essentially a 1-to-1 backup of your device, you can use a custom recovery to create a "nandroid" backup. Doing so effectively creates disk images of your NAND partitions (hence "nandroid") that you can restore from at a later point. This is going to vary a bit by device and recovery system, but in general if you want to perform a full backup of your phone's internal memory you would need to:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

...from a PC shell.

There are a number of apps you can use but many will already have the ES File Manager
Note: Turn off as many apps as you can. Some apps will not backup while running.

Launch ES File Manager
(When you open it you are normally in the file manager mode)
Tap the second icon from the right to switch to Application mode
Long press on any icon. Select "Select All" from the context menu
Press Menu. Select "Backup"

While the backup is running, you can watch its progress by opening the notification bar
The applications will be copied into backup/apps

Is this just backing up the apps?  Can similar process also backup data files, such as photos and voice-recorder files?

@Neal yes app & data can be backed up as well, but requires root permission. Directions are in Settings >> Help >> FAQ. It takes some back and forth and careful reading between help and app to get it all sorted out but then it's all good. Also with root system apps and data can be backed up.

Depending on your phone is the complexity of this task.
HTC Evo (and supported phones) you can use unrEVOked root tool to get root access. Install Titanium Backup and back everything (system included) up onto the memory card (and can copy it to your computer for extra backup).
Otherwise you need to either get something similar to unrEVOked to root and use Titanium.
If not possible, you need to root your phone and do a NANDROID backup. This backs up everything on the phone's memory as an image and can be restored at any point to fully replace anything on the phone with what it was, even if you installed another version of android.
Otherwise... HTC PC Sync? By that is kinda crappy compared to the other tools.

If you don't have root, you can use MyBackup. It can save applications & media (photos, music, videos), and it can save data (contacts, SMS, MMS, alarms, ...).
Unfortunately it requires internet connection (for MyBackup / Rerware account) even for local save and restore (e.g. on SD card), and free version is single phone only (you cannot copy backup to other phone).
Note that non-root version is less powerful than e.g. Titanium Backup or MyBackup Root.

There is also Helium (formerly Carbon), which also doesn't require root.


text:
Phone LED only flashes for a few minutes after receiving a notification
My HTC Desire is set up to flash its LED lamp whenever I receive an email, SMS etc.
Only problem is that (without touching the phone) the LED stops flashing after 5 minutes or so. So if a message comes in while I'm not near my phone and I don't come back for more than 5 minutes, I have to turn on the screen to discover the message.
I've searched through everything, but there seems to be no setting for this.
Am I missing something, or is this by design? Is there an app for this problem?

Must be by design. Flashing the LED infinitely would drain the battery (even if only slightly). I don't see anything in Settings regarding lengthening the amount of time the LED will flash; you can only specify what things cause LED notification.
After some searching it looks like the "Missed Reminder" app allows for a lot of notification customization - LED interval, color, etc. Not sure how to link an app so just search for it in the market. Sounds promising. Hope it helps.

I've noticed the my Moto Droid started doing this with the latest Android 2.2.  The notification icon stays in the notification area, but the LED stops flashing.  Personally, I like this behavior, but I don't know of any way to prevent it from "silencing" the blinking LED.  Seems to be by design, and seems to be for the latest versions of Android.


text:
How can you uninstall an app that you didn't install on your Droid?

Possible Duplicate:
How can I uninstall applications that are locked by phone vendor?

I want to uninstall the facebook app, as I don't use facebook. The phone won't let me uninstall that app.
I have a Droid Eris and a Motorola Droid. I want to get rid of it from both these phones.

unfortunately you need root permission to uninstall system apps.  If you are rooted you can use ADB and type
adb uinstall <package name>

Since I am not rooted, I guess I have no choice.

@adbhi - That's how carriers work. "Android is as open as the clenched fist I'd like to hit carriers with." as quoted on a tech blog. Carriers make a lot of money by keeping that kind of apps on their devices.

@Arda Xi: The guy who wrote that article didn't really understand what "open" means.  But, yeah, this is a valid gripe with the cell carriers; It's basically permanent advertising on your device, and it's annoying as hell.

Guys, think Free as in Free Speech, not Free as in Free Beer. You can do what you want with the SOURCE CODE for android. And are entitled to it. However that says nothing about what rights you have as a user to your own device. According to the carriers, you should have as much rights to customize an android as someone has to customize an iphone without jailbreaking. They advertise what "droid does" but they don't claim droid = open.

Titanium Backup actually has a convenient interface for doing this. Requires root though. Be careful not to remove something important (I removed com.android.mms and was unable to receive sms messages).

Did you solve your sms problem?


text:
What causes battery to drain faster than it can charge?
I have a Moto DROID (v1).  On a trip from Tyler, TX to DFW airport I had my phone in the car dock and charging.  I was using Navigation for directions to the airport and also had Listen running to play a podcast over the device speaker.  As I neared the airport, the phone rebooted a few times and then remained off.  I took the phone out of the dock and noticed it was very hot to the touch.  At the airport, the phone had cooled and I plugged it into a wall charger.  The battery was completely drained!
My brother had the same experience with his Moto DROID (v2).  He was on a 4 hour road trip and was using the navigation app and participating in a conference call (hands-free).  The phone was connected to the car dock and charging the entire time, but after a couple of hours the phone rebooted and then shut-off with a dead battery.  We left the phone off and plugged into the charger for a while and it was able to boot again, and like with mine showed a dead battery!
Is the phone really able to drain the battery faster than it can be charged via the car dock?  If so, are there known combinations of apps or uses that will cause this behavior?

I think we can use your two examples as known combinations of apps that will cause this behavior. :-)

Navigation is the one common between the two examples.  I'm trying to learn if it is some combination of components (GPSr + BlueTooth? GPSr + Speaker? GPSr + Anything?) that causes the phone to drain faster than it charges.

I think you answered your own question ;)
Navigation uses a lot of power: it needs constant use of GPS along with reading the map and processing text to speech.  Throw in another power-intensive activity like bluetooth or the phone's speaker (or calling, or data, etc), and it's very conceivable that it would drain power faster than it can pull it from a charger, especially a car charger, though the exact specifics would vary from phone to phone.
Here is a great list of the things that use the most power on a phone.

Thanks for that list.  It boggles my mind that 1) when on the charger it still powers from battery rather than bypassing to the external source and 2) it can drain the battery faster than a charge.

@JadeMason: I mean, when it might need more power than the charger can provide, what else can it do but use the battery...

Make sure the charger outputs 1 amp.  Most vehicle chargers that aren't specifically for smartphones or don't list output are going to be .5 amp.

In both cases we were using the Motorola car kit adapter.  I haven't put a meter on the adapter, but since it came from the manufacturer of the phone and is intended for use with the phone, my assumption is that it is at the proper amperage.

This might just be a nonsense story but here is a start.
Some 'chargers' don't supply enough power to fully and quickly charge the device. A car charger might just not give enough power to charge faster then the applications are using the battery.
Ever noticed a computer cable charging slower then a wall socket charger. There is a difference there.

You can always underclock the phone, I notice a SIGNIFICANT decrease in heat generated which means less energy used. Yes it affects performance, but may give you what you need. Running the EVO 4G (so I can underclock to 50% and still get same mhz as the droid).


text:
Have you got flash to play on your stock Froyo yet?
I have been playing flash videos using skyfire, but I would really like to play some games like chopper using flash.
How can I get flash enabled on Froyo? I have heard that Froyo supports adobe flash.

You can download the Flash Player 10.1 app from the Market or by going to http://adobe.com on your phone and clicking on the Get Adobe Flash Player button.

Not sure what you mean by "stock", I have a T-Mobile G2, it has Android 2.2 out of the box, and Flash was pre-loaded. There is flash handling enabled in the browser and (I presume) in the YouTube application.

Back when this question was asked, Flash was not available on Android without using the Skyfire browser or a customized ROM.

Are you sure, Al? The question is tagged 2.2-Froyo. 2.2 had the flash update.

@Michael An upgrade fixed it. At that time, it was not available.


text:
Netflix: Is there an app yet?
Is there an app to play videos from Netflix and Hulu for the Android?

Do you mean a single app that plays can play both /either Netflix and Hulu? If not, then let's edit this to omit the Hulu double-barrel question.

Yes there is!
Today Netflix released an offical App.
Netflix Blog post about release.
Currently Netflix playback is supported on the following phones:

HTC Incredible with Android 2.2
HTC Nexus One with Android 2.2, 2.3
HTC Evo 4G with Android 2.2
HTC G2 with Android 2.2
Samsung Nexus S with Android 2.3

If you don't have one of these devices but you do have an HTC or Samsung device you can try this method here to make the Netflix app work on your device.  I have not tried this myself as I have one of the supported devices.  Try this at your own risk

More recently, Netflix said it works on all phones that run Android 2.2 and 2.3.

Netflix recently posted on their blog that they will begin to roll out support for individual devices in the coming year, but not a generic Netflix app. They claim:

The hurdle has been the lack of a generic and complete platform security and content protection mechanism available for Android.

You can read the entire post at http://blog.netflix.com/2010/11/netflix-on-android.html .

As of today, no there is nothing public. Like Matt says, you can find this out through other sites instead of asking here. A simple Google search will give you results of speculation and rumor like this:
http://mashable.com/2010/08/07/netflix-android-app/

No, as of Sept. 18, 2010, but according to this story Netflix appears to have hired Android developers, almost certainly for this purpose: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/08/10/netflix-android-app/


text:
What's the most complete way to erase all the data from my phone so it cannot be recovered?
I just got my replacement Droid and will be sending my current Droid back to Motorola.  I'm sure they are going to refurbish it and resell it.  I've backed up everything and I'm going to be keeping my microSD card, but how to ensure that all the data is completely wiped off the internal memory so there is no chance that it can be recovered by someone else?

Perform a factory reset then write to the memory and reset again.  This is the best way I have found to prevent data remnance.
I was aware that with a magnetic based drive there is almost always data remnanace.  I believe the standard to effectively erase info on a magnetic drive is erasing and re-writing over the drive 7-20 times (don't quote me on those number).  I was under the impression that once you erased data from flash storage it was gone for good but recalled the story of a woman finding porn on her refurbished Evo. So, I asked about data remnance at Superuser on flash memory and found that data sometimes can remain after it is deleted.  The recommendation there was: formatting, writing to the memory and formatting again.
To format, as the answers above suggested, I performed a factory reset.  This can be done one of two ways on the Droid:

Go to the "Settings" menu, choose "Privacy" then choose "Factory Data Reset"
Do a hard reset

Ultimately I just did the Factory Reset because I was too lazy to load the system memory up and I suspect that 99.99% the Factory Reset is sufficient, but it's good to know what the risks are.

Keeping the microSD is probably the main thing, so since that's the plan already it's just the phone to go.
I couldn't swear to this, but I used it when selling my g1:
uninstall everything - except astro file browser or similar
Use astro to wipe out any app related folders
remove astro
Use the "factory data reset" (on 2.2 its under Privacy)
Power up and check it's greeting you as a new user
Power off
Remove sim card
Power up and check it does even less
Power off & send

Keep in mind that creating a copy of your data and destroying the original data is a not a backup, just a transport action.
Create a copy of you data on another device/usb stick from your phone and use the move command. This will create another 'copy' and essentially makes sure you didn't forgot anything to move. Moving the data also 'deletes' is from the original device. (better save then sorry)
Now make a list of all things you don't want them to get and make sure they are deleted/removed. After this execute a factory data reset (from settings or boot menu) and check you phone if its really clean.

As I understand it, factory reset only "deletes" user specific files and databases. They still could be recovered if not overwritten at least once.
Also internal android flash memory is partitioned into several areas with independent file system. Some of these partitions are not directly writable.
I would do the following:
1. Make a factory reset.
2. Install as many apps as possible to overwrite almost all of the data blocks in the "data" partition.
3. Make another factory reset.
If there were a stock ROM to overwrite the currently installed ROM, I would reinstall that ROM, too.


text:
Is there any WEP cracking application available for android?
Is there any WEP cracking application available for android?
If not is WEP cracking technically possible with the API's and hardware available on your average android phone?
This is a purely academic question please leave ethical arguments out of it.

There is nothing available. While it is theoretically possible with the hardware, in practice it would be very difficult to implement and would probably need a custom ROM that supported it.
Even the tools for doing this on a desktop (Aircrack, etc.) generally require specific wireless chipsets and drivers to do wireless packet capture.
EDIT:
There's now a project that got monitor mode working on the Galaxy S2 and the Google Nexus One.
See http://bcmon.blogspot.de/

So how can I use that tool? Which app do I need to run it? or is it just an addon so you can use aircrack on the console?

The Broadcom bcm4329 chipset in a lot of android phones (Nexus One, Evo, G1) probably many more) supports monitor/promiscuous mode. The driver needs to be modified to allow monitor mode to be enabled.
Here is the source of the current drivers:
monitor mode flag
method to that sets the mode
In the second link, you can see that monitor mode flag is not even in the switch statement so it's just gets ignored when called.
Someone also got tcpdump working on a G1 so it's possible, we jsut need to put in some work to get it functional though.
A few more links about the chipset, drivers, and modifications to them:

http://forum.aircrack-ng.org/index.php?topic=281.0
http://aircrack-ng.org/doku.php?id=b43
http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43

As Rohan said, you need at least a device with a wireless card that can be set on "monitor" or "promiscuous" mode, so you can sniff the packets sent between the clients and servers of the wireless network.
So, technically it is possible, but at the beginning it would be a very device-specific solution

Care to explain why promiscuous mode is needed? I understand that having the ability to monitor the traffic sent forth and back between clients who know the WEP key helps to (quickly) acquire data, which can be analysed to find the key (without being noticed). However, why can't we just brute force guess password and try to connect to the wireless AP. If the server replies with a valid DHCP package, the password was correct and we are connected to the network.

technically no. however you can jailbreak it and install a OS on it and it would look just like a normal OS. just a smaller version. once thats done you can install softwares like aircrack exct. and it would capture the packets and then crack them.. now this does take some time.. anywhere from 15 minutes to a few days all depending on their encryptionsetings. but the average wifi shouldnt take more then 30 minutes.. tops. so yes in theory it is "possible" but it all depends on how much work you want to put into it in order to get it. there is no "app" YET.. im not sure if anyone is converting a software like aircrack from an OS to app compatable.. although im sure someone is somewhere.