text:
ROM Manager - What Is It's Purpose?
I just finished rooting my phone (Moto Droid) for the first time using the z4root application. It worked great (one-click, no computer involved). However, before I start messing with my phone, I wanted to make a backup of my phone so, in case I really screw up royally, I can easily recover back to a certain point (AKA - I don't want to brick my phone).
As I was reading, I started hearing about Nandroid backups. However, it seems as though you need to install some sort of ROM in order for it to happen. I checked into that and heard about ROM Manager. Apparently some of the mods that come with the ROM Manager are able to setup the Nandroid backup. I have a couple questions first, however.

I noticed ROM Manager needs a lot of access to your contacts, accounts, etc. Is that because it's doing a full backup, or something else nefarious? (Yeah, I'm suspicious.)
Is there an easier way to back-up? I don't really care about a new ROM (such as CynogenMod). I just wanted root access for a couple, very specific reasons.
If Nandroid is the only good/correct way to backup a phone, am I going down the right path/process? Anything I should look into before I keep going (such as Titanium Backup)?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

1) ROM Manager is the de facto app to do two specific things: 1) Install a custom recovery 2) Install a custom ROM (or kernels.  Check out ChevyNo1s kernels for the Droid).  You need to not worry about any permission problems with this application as pretty much every rooted person uses it.  It is also an application provided by Koush, who is a well known hacker in the Android community (he ported CyanogenMod to the Droid).
2) You do not have to have a custom rom to do a NANDROID backup.  But you do need a custom recovery.  Download ROM Manager.  Flash "ClockworkMod Recovery".  Then open up ROM Manager again. Then under "Backup and Restore" do "Backup Current ROM".  This will run a NANDROID backup of your phone.  Do this ASAP.  It is very important to have a backup of your  phone right after you just rooted it in case you ever need to restore your phone back to this state.  A NANDROID backup is like taking a full image/snapshot of your phone.  With a NANDROID backup in hand, you can then experiment with custom ROMs (or anything, really) with a safety net of being able to go back to the way your phone was.  You can also perform a NANDROID backup by going into your Recovery when you boot your phone (press and hold X on the Droid when powering on until you get the yellow triangle exclamation point, then press the Camera and Volume Up buttons to get the menu to show up).
3) NANDROID is the best to restore your phone to a previous state.  I highly recommend Titanium Backup if you plan on switching to a custom ROM or ever plan on wiping and reloading your phone (or if you need to re-install an app but need to keep its data).  Titanium Backup will let you backup specific apps (AND their data, only root users can do this!) and restore them.  So you could backup all of your apps on Stock Android, install CyanogenMod, and then use Titanium Backup to restore all of your apps and their data.
Please see these other questions about How do I root my phone, and I've rooted my phone, now what?

Excellent answer! Thank you. One thing that I am still curious about (I believe you that Koush isn't trying to do anything shady). But why does ROM Manager require access to contacts? Is it due to the recovery "stuff?" Thanks again!

@JasCav Are you talking about the Phone calls permission?  This could be why: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1747178/android-permissions-phone-calls-read-phone-state-and-identity

Yeah, that and why it needs access to your contacts' information. Thank you again for your answers.

@JasCav I looked at the permissions and didn't see one for contact's info.

My mistake. I meant to say it requires permissions to look at/discover accounts and credentials. That's the one that I couldn't figure out. (Of course, the fact that the application requires root access pretty much negates all permissions anyway...but I'm still curious.)


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In google contacts where is the contact for me?
I'm not sure if it matters but my phone has 'HTC sense'.
I have all my contacts sync'd with my google account.
I have a normal contact called "me" in my google contacts that through various merging has accumulated all my contact details.
However on the phone that shows up as a normal contact called "me" rather than going into the special "my contact card" thing.
I would like to fix this, but preferably without having to copy all the stuff over manually.

As per Bob's answer below, "My Contact Card" is a special HTC thing and isn't a normal contact.  What's wrong with using the "Me" contact?  Just ignore "My contact Card".

The contact record for you I assume just has your name.  If you link the two (top right corner when editing a contact) it will pull all of the information in.  On the down side it will eliminate the "Me" entry.  At least that's how I remember it working when I went through this.  My Wife just left with my phone for the evening...

There is no entry in google contacts with my name, only the me one.

Also on the phone the the "my contact card" doesn't have the link option. And if I select link on the "me" contact I can't find the "my contact card".

Perhaps "Me" is a reserved name in the Android contacts app.  Try renaming your "Me" contact in your Google account and then see what happens in Android after syncing contacts again.

Mine too, also HTC Sense. My "My Contact Card" isn't called 'me' but rather has my name - it's linked to my facebook account which I think happened during set up. The HTC site says this about "My Contact Card"...
"My contact card provides a convenient way to store your personal contact information so that you can easily send it via MMS. In addition, you can log in to your Facebook and Flickr accounts to receive notifications of your contacts' updates and events. On the All tab of the People screen, tap Me, and then tap  here [??] to edit contact."
Anyway the result is that my phone has a perfectly good contact record for me from Google Mail/Talk (with my various phone numbers, email and physical address) and another useless one sucked in from Facebook - it doesn't seem possible to link my personal Google contact record to my Facebook Record or to delete the 'My Contact Card'. That's a bit of a mess really, shame as the rest of the gmail/facebook integration is very good.

source: Stack Exchange

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sort: votes


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My sense home screen has stopped auto rotating, how do I fix it?
I have a desire z (aka tmobile g2). When I fist got it a week ago the home screen used to rotate when the phone was tilted. It has since stopped doing that.
Other things still rotate when the phone is rotated. And the home screen rotates when I extend the keyboard. And menu -> settings -> display -> auto rotate screen is checked.

Hey.. I just noticed I have the same problem on my HTC Desire Z.. bizarre! Let me try holding the power button and selecting "restart".. nope, doesn't rotate anymore! Wow - I wonder if installing "Advanced Task Cleaner 2.0" is causing the problem...

I tried un-installing Advanced Task Cleaner, RockPlayer, WinAmp.. home screen still won't auto-rotate.

Are you sure it used to auto-rotate? I'm pretty certain the Sense / Rosie homescreen does not auto-rotate on any phone - it's just the slide-out keyboard that forces it.

Is there any major thing that you did? updating your OS perhaps? what is your android version?

@ Matthew Read: sorry to reply without a solution, but just to let you know: I too have the same issue, this is the first post I came across on the subject, and just to make sure you know this: the home screen did rotate without extending the keyboard, that much I can guarantee you. But just like with the others who posted here, after 2 days of usage it suddenly stopped auto-rotating, while other menus still do. I also noticed some lag in the Sense UI that wasn't previously there. Clean reboot, fiddling with the display rotation setting, recalibrating, uninstalling some software that had acces

I have the same problem.  Worked for 1 day, then stopped auto-rotating.
Help!

i have a similar problem as my desire-z prompted that the 'HTC sense is not working properly', either terminate it or wait. It happened when I return to the homescreen by pressing the home buttom after using the apps. it makes the auto-rotate very very slow too. I guess there must be some problems in the htc sense.....who can help???

I don't know about Sense UI, but in ADW.Launcher, setting ADW to be "System persistent" (prevent the system from killing the home screen) will also disable auto rotation.

Mine too stopped rotating.
I am sure that it did rotate wo the keyboard out: I have a car cradle and didn't have a problem rotating when docked. Now I do. Is this something to do with the recent update from HTC that supposed to fix camera issues?

From everything I've read, it appears that the Desire Z version of Sense only rotates the homescreen when the keyboard is out.
You could try installing a custom ROM like this one at XDA that supports rotation.

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


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What volume setting do the Twitter and Facebook apps obey?
I asked a question about silencing only certain sounds and decided to go with the AudioManager widget, which is working quite well. My main uses are to silence everything but alarms and the ringer when I'm sleeping and everything when I'm in class. However, if I get a notification from Facebook or Twitter (both the official apps by Facebook and Twitter, respectively) at night, they still go off, which makes me think that these apps either use the ringer volume (instead of the alert volume) or some volume that AudioManager doesn't have control over.
The volume controls provided by AudioManager are Alarm Volume, Music Volume, Alerts Volume, Ringer Volume, System Volume, and Voice call Volume. Alarm volume is always 7/7, music volume is where ever it was last time I listened to music (in the car, I have it 15/15, and usually 8/15 when I'm listening with earbuds), alerts is 7/7 during the day and 0/7 at night, ringer is always 7/7, system is 7/7 during the day and 0/7 at night, and voice call volume is 3/5.
So, my questions:
(1) What volume do these apps actually use for notifications?
(2) Is there an easy way (without having to open both apps and turn off notifications at night, then turn them back on) to silence these notifications? This includes possibly switching away from AudioManager to another free application.

When you develop an app you are able to choose which volume to use (or rather what kind of sound you are using). At least for alarms, ringtones and notifications.
I have the same problem as Tomas Owens, Twitter is waking me up even thou notifications are muted (using AudioManager).
Im guessing they are using ringer or alarm volume.
Best is to ask them i guess.
I might add that Im using Cyanogen 7 Nightly on my Nexus so my experiences could be due to the custom rom part.

@Alex: I'm getting the same thing on Cyanogen 6.1 now and the stock HTC Incredible ROM when I asked this question. I suppose I should contact Twitter and Facebook or file a bug report/feature request.

I've been seatching for a solution to this as well. I've always used Quick Profiles and I have daytime and nighttime profiles made. At night I have all sounds off except alarms and ringtones. Annoyingly the twitter and facebook apps still get their sounds through. VERY annoying... time to do more googling I think. Hope I find an answer, I hate having to go into the app to silence them every time it's such a hassle.

1) App notifications use the Ringer volume for how loud the notification is played.
2) You could use an application like Locale or Tasker to automatically silence your Ringer volume during the night.  Then you could create exceptions if you need for certain people to be able to call you during the night.

The GMail and Google Voice apps don't obey 1 (they appear to follow the Alerts volume, and not the ringer, since I've gotten emails with the ringer on and Alerts off and no notification sound) so it's not all apps. And I don't just want certain people to be able to call me - if I'm getting a phone call, I would like to assume that it might be important, even if I don't know the number. If this is indeed the case, I suppose individually muting applications (or looking into creating an app that manages the notification settings of other apps) might be the way to go.

Quick Settings has a separate "Notification Volume" which for me controls all of my apps notifications (although I have FB and Twitter notification off at the source).  Another app I use is Quick Profiles for fast switching between preset profiles.  This app also can control the "Notification Volume".  I have a specific profile set for when I sleep that turns off all notifications.  Another thing you could do is turn off AutoSync at night which is a toggle on the stock Power Widget.  That way you'd still get calls and texts but it would update any of your email or apps.
For the record, Quick Settings can control the following volume levels:

Ringer Volume
Notification Volume
Media Volume
Alarm Volume
Voice Call Volume
System Volume

as well as the Master Volume.

I was just testing. It seems like every app I have, except for Twitter and Facebook, obeys Alert/Notification volume settings. Twitter and Facebook appear to, like Bryan says, use the Ringer volume. I've never developed an Android application, but I would suspect this is a problem with the Twitter and Facebook apps.

That is strange that they'd do it that way.  That being said, I'd say you best bet would be to toggle the AutoSync before you go to bed.


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How can I display image formats not supported by the email app, e.g. TIFF?
As I'm using K-9 Mail for my email app, sometimes I get a tiff attached to the mail, but I cannot watch it. Even Tiff2PDF will fail :(.
Any idea how I can get this to work?

The picture viewer of my HTC Desire work fine for TIFF...
Do you try Astro?
BeamReader is able to do it, but it's expensive... However, they offer a 10-day free trial.

+1 for Astro, great program.

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HTC Desire HD Android 2.2 disable screen shut off when timer is running
I tried to use the timer for a countdown of 3 minutes. 1 minute in, the screen shut off and the phone locked, disabling the countdown.
After 4 minutes, I realised what had happened. Is there a way to disable the screen shut off just when the timer is running?

You may try to install KeepScreen application from Android market and configure it to disable screen timeout when your timer application is running.

The Tasker app should be able to do this as well.


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What does "Battery Use" tell and how is it implemented?
I have several questions about "Settings -> About Phone -> Battery Use", mainly because I don't understand what exactly those items mean.
(1) Does "Cell standby" indicate the energy used by the radio communication with the towers when there is no voice/data communication?
(2) What does "Phone idle" indicate?
(3) What does "Android System" indicate, energy used by the OS code execution?
(4) What does "Mediaserver" indicate?
(5) What does "Android Core Apps" indicate?
(6) It also lists energy consumed by individual apps. I'm wondering if those items only include the energy consumed by CPU+RAM+Flash, because the energy used by display+wifi+cell is already listed separately without breakdown to apps. Am I correct?
(7) How does Android measure energy used by individual hardware component? For example, to measure energy used by display, does it measure by voltage and current or just measure by the time the display and/or backlight is turned on? If the latter is the case, how does it handle different hardware?
(8) How does Android measure energy used by CPU/RAM/Flash of each individual process? I guess for CPU, it may use exampling and find how long each process occupies the CPU, just like many performance profilers do. But for RAM and Flash, it seems to be very expensive to measure it on-line.
(9) Is information in "Batter Use" accurate? :-)
Any help would be highly appreciated. Thanks!

If you click on each one, it will give you more info.  I don't know the answer to all your questions but I'll share what I do know...

(1) Does "Cell standby" indicate the
  energy used by the radio communication
  with the towers when there is no
  voice/data communication?

Yes.

(2) What does "Phone idle" indicate?

It's the power your device uses to stay on when you are not using it.  The CPU is still going and the memory is kept powered up...

(3) What does "Android System" indicate, energy used by the OS code execution?

There is a separate option for Android OS which refers to the execution of apps.  The Android System is the energy used to run certain background services like AutoSync and the software side of communicating with cell towers...

(4) What does "Mediaserver" indicate?

I believe this is all audio and video processing.  I don't think it'll reflect the total time you played music, but instead, the total processing time the CPU used to decode it.

(5) What does "Android Core Apps" indicate?

I don't have this on my phone.  I wonder if this is what is labeled "Android OS" for me.

(6) It also lists energy consumed by
  individual apps. I'm wondering if
  those items only include the energy
  consumed by CPU+RAM+Flash, because the
  energy used by display+wifi+cell is
  already listed separately without
  breakdown to apps.

Great question.  I don't know.

Hey Matt. Thanks for the answers (+1). Regarding (5), you're right that I saw both "Android Core Apps" and "Android OS". For example, this page, http://www.geardiary.com/2009/12/29/android-tip-stopping-apps-using-any-cut/, has "Android Core Apps". So is the energy consumed by executing code in kernel is categorized in "Android System" or "Android OS"? You mentioned that Android OS refers to execution of apps. What exactly are those "apps"?


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How can I sync photos to a network drive over wifi?
My current workflow is to snap pics on my Droid, plug it in via USB, and sync the pics. I'd like to just run a script to sync the DCIM folder with a shared network drive, if anyone knows of a way that I can do this?
I can connect to the share with a file explorer app, but copying the files is even more awkward that way than plugging in the USB. The tech is there, I'm just wondering if there's a simple one-touch solution.

I asked this question regarding the easiest way to push pictures to a photo site. You may want to use your network drive in the end but if not, I recommend PicPush. Once you set it up, snap a picture and it's uploaded automatically. It's zero-touch. ;)

Try Image Transfer.

Looks good. Reviews mention a free version, but I can't see that anywhere. Anyone know if there is a free/lite version to try it out? Otherwise I guess I'll take the plunge and rely on the Market's 24hr money back.

Upload 2 NAS can do this, and there is also a lite version. I haven't actually used this but it's on my list to try.

I can see uses for scheduled batch upload, interesting find.

Had a play with Upload 2 NAS, but it only seems to be able to upload to FTP servers, not shared folders.

I would always go for rsync
if your phone is not rooted you could use
rsync4android (which is free)
https://market.android.com/details?id=eu.kowalczuk.rsync4android
if your phone is rooted you could offcourse also use the above but if you need more advance stuff I would combine BTEP (Better Terminal Emulator Pro, not free) which has a cli ssh client which can be called from SL4A (scripting engine usefull for BASH scripts, which is free)


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Can I get a notification of failed WiFi connection for secured network?
I have an HTC Hero running Android 2.1. My work has a secured wifi network that we're allowed to connect our phones too. We also have to change our account passwords every so often. When this happens, my credentials are incorrect when trying to connect to the wifi from my phone. But the phone doesn't tell me that, it just keeps trying, which ends up locking my account because of failed logins. Is there a way to get the WiFi app to notify me when the connection fails so I can update the credentials, rather than continuing to try to connect, locking out my account?

The best way I know is to use an app called Tasker. Its price is a little steeper than most, but it's very useful once you start playing with it. Check out lifehacker to see some other examples of what Tasker can do.
Here are the steps for what you want to do:

Open Tasker
Select "New"
Name it "wifi alert" (or whatever)
Select "OK"
Select "State"
Select "Wifi Connected"
Enter the SSID for your network
Make sure the "Invert" check box is checked
Select "Done"
Select "New Task"
Name it "disconnect" (or whatever)
Select "OK"
Select the "+" icon
Select "Alert"
Select "Popup"
Enter some text (wifi disconnected or something more ominous)
Select "Done"
Select "Done"
Select "Apply"

You could also make your phone vibrate or play a sound if you prefer. If you're worried you won't see/hear the notification in your pocket, you can also automatically disable wifi until you have the correct credentials. Just add another action to the task by going to "Net", selecting "WiFi" and setting it to "Off".
Tasker is great fun to nerd out on and isn't nearly as complicated as my numbered list might imply.

I'll definitely look into this. Bummer that it costs money though :(


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How do I use stock UI on HTC Desire HD?
How do I disable HTC Sense on my HTC Desire HD without having to root my phone?
I looked at a guide for the regular Desire and attempted to follow that but it didn't work (was missing the ability to force close HTC Sense).

Related: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/2566/how-can-i-replace-htc-sense According to an answer on that question, it requires root.

You can't :o(
You can install another home screen app from the market if you don't want to use the Sense home screen.
If you want to avoid Sense altogether, you will need to root your phone and flash a non-Sense ROM.

wow that's kind of annoying I was looking forward to having a stock android with decent hardware, thanks for the answer.


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What are the risks to overclocking my CPU?
What are the risks to overclocking the CPU on one's phone?
Bonus Question: What's the max profile I should set on my Motorola Droid 1 to get the most performance (with no regard to battery life) but without making it explode (if that's even possible)?

You can ruin the processor, your data, and possibly your skin (ouch!).
According to "Risks of overclocking your CPU" [aimed at desktop PCs], the risks include:

Success: The processor may overclock perfectly, and run stably for many years to come. There are thousands of people who have done this, and I am certainly not going to deny it. This is the best case outcome.
Immediate Destruction: It is possible to totally destroy a processor by attempting to overclock it. By destruction, I mean that the processor will not boot at the higher speed, and when returned to its normal speed, will continue to not function. This is basically the worst case outcome. This sort of permanent failure is very rare, but it does happen. It is made more likely by using inadequate cooling, and also by being ridiculously aggressive in how far you try to overclock (i.e., trying to run a Pentium 75 at 166 MHz.)
Non-Functionality: The processor may not work at the new speed, but may work fine when returned to its original speed. This is a fairly common outcome when overclocking, and in most cases the processor will not be any the worse for wear.
System Instability: The processor may boot at the new speed, but you may see the system behave strangely. Random hard lockups, parity errors, resource conflicts, strange hard disk problems, beeping, application crashes and [your OS] refusing to boot are just the tip of the iceberg. Particularly insidious are the overclocks that work almost perfectly, because that occasional crash may be due to your operating system, but it may be due to that overclocked chip also.
Electromigration: When the processor is run at a speed that is higher than it is supposed to be run at, there is a chance that the internal components in the processor may break down over time. The internal features of a CPU are sized in the range of microns. It is possible that when the processor is stressed by running at too high a frequency, along with the extra heat that overclocking incurs, that the actual metal lines inside the processor may form shorts or opens and damage the processor over a period of time. How likely this is to happen, and how long it takes is really not known. The system may work fine for a while and then suddenly stop working.

And don't forget that higher speeds means higher heat -- your tiny pocket-sized squeeze-asmuch-as-possible-into-this-small-area has very little in the way of cooling fins. Speed it up, and you might overheat. Probably won't burn a hole in your pants, though.
However, accordin to "Big Lou" @

Modern processors are not harmed by
  overclocking. You aren't altering the
  voltage, just the multiplier. If
  anything, the Droid will not boot or
  may act funny, but once you revert
  back to a slower clock speed, it will
  be fine (and that's for higher speeds,
  mind you).
Anything up to 1.3 is tested to work
  fine on the Droid. Heat may rise but
  the OMAP3 is rated to around 200
  degrees Fahrenheit. You won't be
  getting anywhere near that, and in
  case you do, you can always set SetCPU
  to roll back the clock speed
  automatically.

YMMV. Note how the original text refers to 75 Mhz Pentiums. ha-hah-ha.
this post @ Overclockers.com covers the SetCPU app, which can adjust speed vs battery performance, start times for clock boosting, etc.


text:
How do I back up my Motorola Droid?

Possible Duplicate:
How to backup an Android device?

Hi,
I have a Motorola Droid that I need to send in for repair. How can I back up everything to my PC easily?
The Moto Phone Portal expects you to individually download each photo. I would rather not transfer everything through wifi to my PC or to the cloud.

Photos
Contacts - gmail
App settings?
Playlists ?

Your contact -Gmail are already saved in GMail isn't it ?
And Photo, playlists are on the SD card, so just keep it / change it / backup it with a card reader
For app settings, some of them are on sd card, and if you use app2sd, all your apps are on the sd card
For your SMS, you can use SMS Backup + to back it up on GMail:

If you have a rooted phone, you can use Titanium Backup ★ root:

Good luck!


text:
How to disable certain Android sound alerts?
I have a Motorola Droid phone running Android 2.1. Many times per day my phone alerts me with a sound. It is not a new email or SMS or disconnection from the 3G network. I suspect it may alerting me about new WiFi networks that come in or out of range (I live in a big apartment building with dozens of networks around). That's only my suspicion as there is no indication on the screen about what triggered the sound alert.
I looked in Settings/Sounds but I don't see any category for such alerts.
And just to be clear: I want to find out how to disable the sound only for some alerts. I do not want to mute all of them.
Thanks in advance.

I have the same annoying signal like a vibrating buzz. I want to get rid of it. All tasks are closed and it still does it.

It's maybe because you ave a Google Talk session opened : It's the same for me, for day, I've looking for what "ring" like that and don't display any informations...

Also, if you have SMS delivery receipts turned on - an alert is sounded when the recipient gets yr message.


text:
In my Samsung Galaxy S under Settings - Status - Phone number is says 'unknown': Why?
Title says it all ( I think ), if I look under the 'Settings - Status - Phone number' on my Samsung Galaxy S mobile phone, it says 'unknown'.
What does that mean ? Do I have to enter the number some where ? And if so, do I need it, or why should I do that ?

This is just showing whether your phone number is saved to the phone number description property on your SIM card. Some networks always program this in for you, many don't. Some phones let you write to this property, some don't, some read it, some don't.
It has nothing to do with what actual phone number is attached to that SIM card by the phone company.
It is possible to put your phone number in there, and is easier than you might think:
Go into Contacts -> [Menu] -> More -> Settings -> Own numbers -> [Menu] -> Create and type your phone number into the Number field, now Save.
Then switch your phone off and on again, and it should show the correct number (or whatever number you entered) in the status now.

unfortunately, this doesn't appear to work on the galaxy s2

There is no "Own numbers" anywhere in the Contacts app, at least not on a stock Galaxy S4 Mini.

Some Android phones don't support such advanced features as "setting own phone number". In this case try set it on a different phone, preferable a dumb phone.

The easiest way to do this is to insert the sim into an iPhone, go to Settings > Phone > My Number. Here you can set your phone number and save it.
Now if you insert the sim in an android phone, you will be able to see your number.

There is also a problem with some 2.2-Froyo code for the Galaxy S that can cause this to happen, even if your number was shown under 2.1.  (This is the case for me).

There was no above suggested path on my phone either. Instead following worked for me:
Go into call settings (call button then settings)
Scroll down and find Additional Settings.
Then there is set My Phone Number where you can set your number.

Can't find Set my phone number in Additional settings on my SGS3 Stock...

First off, what phone company are you with because it would help greatly to at least know that much more than just the name of the phone? If it were an integrated phone such network providers Sprint, Verizon etc companies with 3G phones because 3G with such providers worked without SIM cards. If so that would mean the phone isn't programmed and needs to be and I do believe same thing applies towards companies that required SIM cards used in their phones for service such as AT&T, T-Mobile etc.
If the SIM card you are using hasn't been activated it wont display any number or if the SIM card isn't the preferred SIM for the phone the number wont display. There are a few other reasons as to why you are getting this unknown reading for your number but mainly it's due to errors within the SIM and phone compatibility. If I were you I would find some WiFi to connect to via your phone with SIM inserted and then download a SIM manager app so that you can find and resolve this error with your number being displayed.

Do you have some evidence that this is caused by an error in the SIM or phone compatibility, or that it means the phone isn't programmed and needs to be? Everyone else, including the suggested answer, says it's just a setting in the SIM card and makes no difference.

I have evidence the issue can be an inactivated SIM. Took me a while to realize that the SIM needed to be provisioned. I had an inactivated SIM in a Galaxy S5. It started showing the phone number after the SIM was activated and the phone was power cycled.

To edit your SIM-Card content (including own number), open phone dialer and input the code ∗#∗#4636#∗#∗ and then go to "Phone information" -> ⋮ (menu) "View SIM address book" and change there the entry of the own number beginning with AA_. After that reboot the phone (tested on android 6)

Such code is not doing anything. When I tap the Call button, it simply tries to dial such number, which doesn't exist obviously. Tested on Samsung Galaxy S8+ (Android 8.0.0).


text:
How can I access EPST on the Motorola Droid 1 (Verizon)?
I've tried "##778#", "##778 send", and "##778# send" but every time it dials the number giving me a "Welcome to Verizon..." message instead of opening the provisioning screen (except for option 1 which does nothing).

what is EPST?  What are you trying to do?

I'm not sure exactly EPST stands for but it's a way to enter the carrier settings on your phone through the keypad.  I'm trying to edit my Network Access Identifier to enable WAP.  From what I've read this is done by changing your NAI from my10digit#@dun.vzw3g.com to my10digit#@vzw3g.com.  This calls for using programming codes (##...), which you use for other things as well like reprogramming your voicemail providers... anyway instead of opening provisioning menu it just tries to make a phone call.

My phone just clears the entered code on 2.2/custom ROM, but it worked on 2.1/stock.

So it must be a 2.2 thing.  I haven't been able to get it to work on Stock 2.2 or on CM 6.1.

This may not be what you're looking for (I can't find any options for EPST in this menu) but give ##7764726 a try.  The password is 000000 (six zeros) and it should bring up a menu with 9 different options.  Maybe what you want is in there somewhere.
I know that using option 4 and setting EVRC-B will make your call quality better.  Normally it's set to EVRC.

Thanks but my droid isn't activated anymore. just curious, what other options did it give you?

Give me a few minutes and I'll post a screenshot or two.  And since I've got your attention, can you give me more detail on what you were trying to accomplish?  Near as I can tell enabling WAP would be redundant if you have a data plan on your phone, but I may be misinterpreting the (sparse) information I've found.

@Matt - https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/Public/Droid%20Screenshots/2011-03-24/2011-03-24_10.31.36.png?w=8f2a6eff  The last option is just "09 Data Call Settings"


text:
How do I run a web application "offline" on my Android?
I have a web application written using HTML5 that leverages the application cache for "offline" access.
On my iPod touch, I can go to the web while online, click the "+" icon, and set a shortcut on my home screen. This will launch the web application full screen and run the app, even when there is no Internet connection.
Is there a similar process to use on my Android device, or will it vary by maker?

This sounds like a question for StackOverflow

hehe, first SU closed it, now AE is going to bounce me to SO? I thought it was simpler than this! 8^D

Offline data saving is supported on Android, you can see this if you go into your browser, select Settings, Advanced Settings, Website Settings and you can see which websites are using your offline cache, as well as which are using other advanced access like GPS.
To create an icon for a website on your home screen: once you've created a bookmark in your browser for the page, you can go to your home screen, long-press on a bit of spare space, select Shortcuts, Bookmark and pick that one. That should give you an icon straight to that page.

Thanks! The "full screen" mode might be an iPhone only thing, but I was able to verify the app worked from the icon while the phone was in airplane mode.

From my HTML5 knowledge, offline content and access, even though implemented by the website, will only work if the browser the client is using supports it. The iOS browser seems to support offline applications, but the Android one does not yet, based on what you said. So you will jsut have to wait until the browser is updated.

Offline data saving is supported on Android, go into your browser, Settings, Advanced Settings, Website Settings and you can see which websites are using your offline cache, as well as which are using other advanced access like GPS.

@GAThrawn I was able to check that, and I verified the app worked in "airplane" mode on a Samsung Fascinate last night. I was looking more for how to get the "home page screen" link to work and if there was a way to have it open the app in a "full screen mode" like it does on the iPhone/iPod touch.

@Dillie-O Once you've created a bookmark in your browser for the page, you can go to your home screen, long-press on a bit of spare space, select Shortcuts, Bookmark and pick that one. That should give you an icon straight to that page. Not owning an iPhone I'm not sure what you mean by full screen, all web pages are full screen aren't they?

@GAThrawn You should migrate your comments to an answer. This is what I've been looking for. As for the "full screen" mode, it functions similar to the "web app" mode in Chrome where it strips the navigation header/footer elements and just runs the app that way for you.

You can use this app: Offline Browser link: you can download a portion of a web site in your sd card and then read it offline


text:
How can I enable the Wifi Hotspot capability on my Moto Droid 1 without using Adhoc?
I want to enable the wifi access point / hotspot functionality on my Droid so it acts as a "Standard" router like the built in functionality of the newer VZW phones (like the Droid Incredible).  I have tried Wireless Tether for Root Users and Barnacle but they only create Adhoc connections for tethering which is different than becoming a hotspot.
My phone:

Motorola Droid 1
Rooted Android 2.2 w/ any ROM you tell me will get WAP going
Verizon Wireless

Edit:  Just a preemptive request... Please don't suggest PDAnet.  Someone always does.

This atrticle and others around the same time suggest that the hardware in the Droid is only capable of supporting ad-hoc mode.

I believe that unless you are running a different ROM (like CM6, etc.) then it's not available. Pretty sure stock ROM (rooted or not) didn't make this available (even though the non-stock ROMs had it working. Love how VZW said it wouldn't work when it obviously does.

I'm not sure it does. I haven't seen it confirmed anywhere. I'm running cm6.1 an still no wap. My ? is how do I make it work?


text:
How to play YouTube audio in background/minimised?
The official YouTube app stops playing when I minimized, switched to another application, or even when I lock the phone. And when I resume, it restarts downloading the clip from the beginning.
Is there any way that I can play YouTube clips in the background? Note, I only want the audio to continue playing.

Possible duplicate: Play audio of flash video while screen is off?

Here's a solution using entirely free and open source software. The basic idea is that although YouTube can't play clips in the background, VLC for Android can play clips in the background, so all we need to do is pipe the clip to VLC where we can listen to it minimised.
That sounds complicated, but luckily there is software that does it for us.

Install NewPipe (either from APK or from the Fossdroid app).
Install VLC Android.
Open NewPipe, and in Settings, make sure that Use External Player has a checkmark.
Open VLC, and in Preferences, make sure that Play videos in background has a checkmark.
Now, when you play a video in NewPipe, on the dialog that appears select VLC player. It will play in VLC and you can do other things while it plays.

+1 for the new pipe! It is a shame that Android version of vlc player does not open the media from the network stream like it's desktop counterpart does.

Recent NewPipe versions don't require external player for background playback.

With all settings, it starts in opera instead of vlc.

Download MX Player
Play YouTube video using MX Player.
Press Menu button (or the 3 dot icon), and then select Play
Make sure "Background Play" is checked
Now, you can press Home Button and listen in lock screen.
There is also a shortcut for enabling Background Play, which is tapping and holding the Play button, instead of just tapping it to play a video

Update :
Now MX player is not allowing to play  youtube videos directly as mentioned by narayanan.
Solution :

You need to download UC browser .
Now play the youtube video through UC browser

(The other browsers redirect to youtube app but it wont since it has its own built in player)

Now you have to select option called Play With in top of video player and select MX player.
Thats it.

Update #2:

Only For Rooted: You can install Xposed Modules Installer and use Repository called Youtube Background Play

Update #3:
Try YouTube Vanced
For non-rooted phone:

Install the MicroG APK if you want to log in with your YouTube
account.
Find the YouTube Vanced APK that you want and download it.
Install the APK like you normally would.

For rooted phone:

Download the official installer found in downloads above
Select a suitable apk for your device (check your architecture using an app such as CPU-Z) and the secondary theme you want to. (All apks include the white theme)
Place the downloaded apk into /sdcard/Downloads or inside the installation zip
Uninstall all YouTube updates and disable auto-update in the playstore (If you are able to completely uninstall the youtube app do so)
Flash the installer in TWRP

Seems to be a very good idea and +1 from me to make me discover mx players okay from network stream feature. Unfortunately, when tried few video URLs  all I get is an error can't play this link . Does it work for YouTube and if so I have a doubt that it will violate YouTube's terms and conditions.

Thanks for bringing issue to attention..I have just updated answer now it shoud work..

TubeMate YouTube Downloader is a great app that will let you download either the audio or the video from a YouTube file and save it to your device. When it is on your device, you are then able to use a media player (such as DoubleTwist) to play either in the background. But as for straight background music from YouTube, that's a no-go :/

Instead of the YouTube app, open YouTube in your standard browser. Then, the video won't pause or stop when you turn your screen off. It will still pause when you go home or minimize, though.

It's not currently possible but it should be soon. According to AndroidPolice background audio is coming in a future release of the YouTube app.

You can use firefox and request the desktop site. You can change tabs, open other apps, or turn off the screen. However the desktop site layout is not optimal for mobile firefox. This does not work in chrome or the default ("Standard") browser and it will not play videos that require flash (vevo).

It is possible with xposed framework, and module youtube background playback:

Download xposed installer
From that app install xposed framework
Than in download section find youtube background playback module, activate it and than reboot.
Enjoy!

But beware if your device runs stock rom there is big chance to get bootlop after installing xposed framework.
EDIT: ooh, sorry I didn's see that your device is running 2.1 android, and for using xposed framework 4.0+ android is required..

Select a video and start playing. Press home button (ofcourse youtube app will close/minimize). With headphones plugged, stay in the home screen, press play/pause button on the headphone itself. Works for me everytime, but only for playing from browser not from YouTube app.

Firefox for Android had that feature.
YouTube blocked it so now you need an extension for that.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/video-background-play-fix/

I'll share 4 methods to play youtube in background and with the screen lock.

Install Brave browser, enable media play background option in site settings, and visit https://m.youtube.com
use Youtube vanced app https://youtubevanced.com/
use YMusic app
use NewPipe app

+1 for YMusic, which can play in background (while a different app is is use, e.g. while the user is browsing internet) and with the screen off (some tools that I've used could do the latter but not the former). A similar app is Firetube.

YMusic (https://ymusic.io) is quite usable, but it doesn't integrate smoothly with YouTube. (for some reason it requires you to create the channel in order to use playlists) Youtube Vanced is much better in this respect.

Simplest way to play YouTube video or playlist in background:

Play a YouTube video in Google Chrome.
Switch to Desktop Mode (Options ~> Request Desktop Site).
Hit the Home button to push Google Chrome into background.
Pull down notification to find Google Chrome media control. Play the video from here.

There's no thumbs down of it as you can still open new tabs in Google Chrome to do another thing.
Enjoy listening YouTube podcasts and song playlists while doing other things in smartphone or real world!

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


text:
How do I diagnose hanging and restarts?
I have a Droid which was running fine with Cyanogen Mod 6.0. I travelled for a week out of service range, and since I returned it's been both hanging (no response to user input) and spontaneously restarting.
I'm suspicious that an app update is causing this, but I don't know how to diagnose it. Is there a way to diagnose this?

I ended up spotting the offending program via Battery usage. There was one app that was showing a lot of battery use even though I wasn't doing anything with it (NewsRob). I killed that and everything's been fine since.

What do you use to see the detailed battery usage?  On my SGS the battery usage doesn't break it down by app.

I would check Settings --> Applications --> Running Services first.
See anything there that looks rogue?  Consuming a lot of memory or the process seems hung up?

Thanks, that's a good place to look, but in my case nothing jumped out. Battery usage showed the problem.


text:
Is there a way to automatically sync photos taken on my phone to picasa web albums?

Possible Duplicate:
What's the most effortless way for “cloud” back up of photos taken with an Android phone?

Is there a way to automatically sync photos taken on my phone to picasa web albums?
In the Gallery I can see albums from the web synced to my phone but not the other way round.

Seems like a repeat to this question. Anyway, PicPush was suggested as an answer. It works as expected, pushing pictures to Picasa from one of my phone's folders. It does so automatically once you set it up. Set and forget.

This app does it using a pixelpipe account (auto-upload, not sync). There are some which do this through dropbox. For some reason, this is still not directly possible using picasa.


text:
I like the HTC interface additions to Android, but I have a non-HTC phone. Is there a way I can get them anyway?
From the list of on-topic questions in this SE's definition phase

In order to do this, you would need a rooted phone, and flash a custom ROM with the HTC interface (called Sense) built in. Depending on your phone, it may or may not be there (more likely not).


text:
Is it possible to install an app and exclude some of its requested permissions?
Occasionally I want to install an application which requires certain permissions that I feel it really shouldn't need. Can I install the app without giving it these permissions? For example, GPS location, phone state, internet connection, etc.
Is it possible to change the permissions of an application once it is installed?

Here's a related question worth keeping an eye on: Are there any tools to sandbox a malware application even more than the granted permissions on Android?

another related question Revoking permissions for an android app?

Related: Revoke App Permissions Without Root?

Prior to Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean)
No. Without a custom ROM it's an all-or-nothing affair. Which is part of the reason Google encourages developers to ensure that they're asking for the absolute minimum permissions required for the app to work.
Short of getting the app code and modifying it, you either need to accept the access request or not use the app. Some alternatives exist if your device is rooted.
Android 4.3/4.4 (partly also 5.x)
There's a semi-hidden permissions manager (App Ops) that can be reached through a third-party app, but doesn't require root or a custom ROM. Android Police has covered it here.
Note, however, that Google has said that this was released in error, and newer versions of Android have once again disabled this.
Android 4.4+
Additionally to above mentioned App Ops, here you can also use the Xposed Framework (for Android 5+ see here) with modules like Xprivacy or Protect My Privacy. While this will require your device to be rooted, it offers additional functionality.
Android 6+
marcioggs outlined functionalities provided in Android M in a separate answer.

If you root, you can exclude network access with DroidWall, but that's a specific exception.

Unfortunately, Google decided to group things which a lot of entertainment applications need such as determining if there's call active, under the same permission as things which very few non-phone-functionality applications need, such as determining the phone number.

CyanogenMod 7 supports this. It activated by going to Settings->CyanogenMod Settings->Applications and checking "Permission management" as of the most recent build. You can then allow and disallow permissions by choosing an app from the app management list (Settings->Applications->Manage applications). There is an article on endgaget with a Youtube demonstration.
Disclaimer: This may be obvious to some, but denying permissions to an app could have fairly crash-tastic consequences. Nonetheless, if you have a device that is supported by CM and you are willing to root and install it, you can enjoy permission-by-permission control (and any hazards that come with it).
In fact, due to the crashes that the permission management implementation tended to cause, it was removed from the CyanogenMod codebase in version 9. However, the most recent nightly builds of CyanogenMod 10.1 now include a feature that has been dubbed "Privacy Guard". Instead of blocking apps from accessing data that they request, Privacy Guard will provide them with blank data.
As an example, if an app running under Privacy Guard requests your contacts list, CM will simply return an empty list, causing the app to functionally believe that you don't have any contacts stored on your phone.

Sadly, faking data is not considered for integration into CyanogenMod.

There is an App Shield application. It essentially repackages .apk with permissions removed from manifest. Brilliant idea for stock, non rooted phones. Subject to crashes (force closes), though, as with CyanogenMod (as of version 7).

Update: App Shield seems no longer to be maintained. It currently can be found in some "personal Aptoide repositories", e.g. at Mixal and Karbyfio. It is recommended to rather use something more up-to-date now.

NOTE: LBE Privacy Guard is no longer maintained and only available for Android versions below 4.2.
Warning: if you are on Jelly Bean (Android 4.1+), be sure to check whether LBE has been updated for Jelley Bean yet. At the moment (July 27 2012) it is still incompatible, and it will cause your device to boot loop on Jelly Bean. That means you may have to factory-reset your device. Xprivacy is now recommended instead (root required).

LBE Privacy Guard can block specific permissions per application, both during installation and afterwards. This is the English version of an apparently Chinese application that has existed for a while (I am not in any way affiliated to them); it already has over 100,000 downloads. I haven't tried it yet, but I plan to do so tomorrow.
You can also set it to, say, have Facebook display a prompt (yes/no) when it wants to access your location, etc. A screenshot from the Play Store:

Doesen't work on Xperia ray with CM 10.0. I just had to re-install my device!

@rubo77: Ouch, that sucks! (Did you read my warning at the top?)

Yes, but I thought I might get away with it ;) You should add, that there is no way to recover a bootloop and that it doesen't work on many devices. looking at the feedback in Play store, exactly half the votes are 5 and halv are 1, so I guess every second device will fail

@rubo77: So it hasn't been updated for more than a year, then? I haven't used it since I made that edit...I now use Xprivacy. As to recovering from a boot loop, there are ways. You could for example boot into recovery and remove the application through a file manager / your PC. Maybe then reflash your ROM.

Sure, I meant "no way to recover a bootloop without loosing all your settings". I will try Xprivacy now, sounds promising

@rubo77: If you remove the application and/or reflash your ROM, if that works, you shouldn't lose your settings. Goof luck with Xprivacy!

The second link is dead, unfortunately. Answer needs an update.

@Firelord: Ah, now I understand: the link is only accessible for me because I once installed it. When I log out of my Google account, I can't access the page either. However, there is no other location for the software in the Play Store. The only alternative is the Chinese version in the Play Store, which is up to date but unusable for non-Chinese speakers. So I have no other link. Everything in my answer under the vertical line is outdated and is kept for archival purposes only. Just use Xprivacy: it is better in many ways.

The following functionalities will be provided in Android M:

Give specific permissions as needed during rutime;
Show an app's permission;
Show all apps that uses a specific permission.

Documentation for M preview:
https://developer.android.com/preview/features/runtime-permissions.html
Permissions screen:
(Click image to enlarge)

You can use the Xposed Framework along with the App Settings Module to deny application permissions. You can also use it to change DPI settings allowing apps to run in tablet mode on phones and vice versa (along with changing the size of things in general). It works beautifully for me. You will need root to install it, though.
Thanks to Izzy for pointing out the need for a module. As per their comment you can also use Xprivacy or Protect My Privacy to achieve this control.

At the time this answer was written the app settings module came bundled with most xposed framework installations. That module supports this functionality.

Thanks to you for still caring for your "old answers" – +1 for that :) So we shall cleanup (delete) our comments then :) PS: Please leave your first, it still makes sense :)

I stumbled upon this app called Permission Remover that allows you to remove permissions from the APK package before installing it. Worked for both installed and downloaded APKs. This method is convenient as it does not require you to root your device.

Fine-grained app permissions are not present in stock builds of Android up to version 5.1.1. Google has introduced a new permissions model starting with 6.0 that includes some control based on permission groups. However, if you've gained root access on a device running version 5.1.1 or below, there are options for adding this feature to your device.

Xposed Framework

Head over to xda-developers.com and search for "xposed framework" to get info on how to install the framework. After installing the framework, install either the XPrivacy or the App Settings modules to get more control over each app and their granted permissions.

Install a Cyanogenmod-based ROM

Go to Cyanogenmod Downloads and see if your device is listed. If it isn't, head back to xda-developers.com and go to your devices forum page to find a list of ROMs for your device. Look for anything referring to "cyanogenmod" or "cm" in the original post of a ROM thread to find the right base to give permission control access.
Hope this helps.

A good app (which is not in in playstore anymore since 2016) by root uninstaller: To withdraw an app just the right to enter internet in CyanogenMod you can use Root Firewall (needs root).
It can block internet access for any apps.
The free version can already block either all apps or just block up to 7 distinct apps.

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


text:
I saw the 'z4root' application on the Droid market just now. Is it safe to use on my Samsung Galaxy S?
Anybody used the Z4ROOT program to root/unroot his device ? Can I use it on my Samsung Galaxy S phone ?
Is it a real root / unroot process ? I am a developer myself and know how much damage you can do on a computer if you have too much power and too little knowledge.
However, a true root / unroot program seems ideal. That way I can root the device if necessary (f.i. to grab a screen dump or whatever) and unroot the device immediatly afterwards (until such time I really know what I'm doing - if ever :)  ).

I've rooted my SGS with z4root and it was a very smooth process! I can highly recommend z4root!
And while you're at it, continue with installing One Click Lag Fix to make your SGS lag a lot less! I did it, and haven't looked back since. OCLF is made by the same guy who made z4root, but for some weird reason, OCLF can, by itself, only root pre-froyo phones. But that's not a big problem, you just need 2 apps instead of one :)

I used z4root on Samsung Galaxy 3, and it was quite smooth.
The easiest way to root(unroot) android.

The XDA post for z4root says that it is 100% compatible with Samsung Galaxy S and will provide a permanent root option.

V1.2.0 : Unroot support, fix for
  devices with small max file size such
  as I5700, binaries in xbin rather than
  bin

So it says it will unroot?  I have not used this method to root any phones, so I can not vouch for it.

Z4root was a very nice simple app (at least, v. 1.3.0 worked for SGS on Froyo 2.2),
but after I upgraded Samsung Galaxy S to Gingerbread (2.3.5),
this rooting method became nonfunctional.
The phone can be rooted with SuperOneClick though.


text:
What purpose does the Notification Flash/Email setting serve?
The Notification Flash/Email setting (Settings > Sound & display > Notification flash > Email) appears to have no influence on the stock mail app or gmail app. So does it serve any purpose?
In the stock mail app, even if Email notifications (Settings > Notification settings > Email notifications) are on, the flash doesn’t occur, regardless of the system wide Notification Flash/Email setting.
In the gmail app, the Email notifications (Settings > Email notifications) setting controls whether the flash occurs or not, regardless of the system wide Notification Flash/Email setting.

Is this an HTC Sense based ROM?

Yes it is an HTC Wildfire running Android 2.1 with HTC Sense. Are the Notification Flash settings specific to HTC Sense then?

The Notification Flash settings are supposed to enable/disable flashing the LED on the front of the handset for events such as receiving an email or SMS.  If your handset has no LED (my HTC Desire does, my ZTE Blade does not) it has no efect but the option is usually still present as it's a stock option.

That behaviour is what I would expect from the Notification Flash settings, but it doesn’t have any effect on my email apps, as outlined in my question. After FoleyIsGood’s comment, I realise that my use of HTC Sense might cause behaviour in this area that is different from pure Android. I suppose I was looking to get some confirmation that the Notification Flash settings do work as expected for some people, whether they use HTC Sense or not.

The notification settings in each mail app (GMail & Stock) control whether a notification is made on the pull-down area at the top of the screen.  The one under sound and vision controls only the LED flash.  FWIW, the setting does work on my Sense-based HTC Desire.


text:
Does ClockworkMod Recovery's "Wipe Data" command also wipe the SD card?
I've been playing with rooting and custom ROMs for a while now. I'm fairly comfortable and knowledgable about it all. However there is one thing I haven't really found the answer for nor have I gotten a chance to test for myself to answer it.
When you use the "Wipe Data" command in ClockworkMod Recovery, does it also format the SD card?

Logically, it wouldn't make sense for it to also format the SD card because the user would be stuck with no OS to install UNLESS they assume the user "knows" to pull out the SD card before wiping data (which I've been doing)

No, it does not format the SD card.  It only wipes all internal memory on the phone.  It is recommended you do this every time you switch to a new CustomRom, or if the current CustomRom is giving you problems (typically after upgrading the CustomRom).

Thanks. I suspected as much but I wanted confirmation rather than assumptions. =)

does this include all of the installed apps?  Does it include the data for the installed apps?

Yes, it will wipe installed applications.


text:
Why does Pandora advance songs randomly?
I use Pandora a lot. Unfortunately, I've noticed that when using headphones at work it randomly skips songs very often. It might jump to the next track after just 30-90 seconds, etc.
It's very, very annoying. What is going on?
I'm usually on solid 3G when this happens but not exclusively.

This solution seems to help--not too sure yet. My phone might think I'm intentionally skipping songs by way of headphone buttons I don't even have. The solution seems pretty simple and effective: install the Headset Blocker widget (free in the Market).
Note: you might need to restart pandora after enabling the block for it to kick in (not sure).
I'll know in the next few hours if this helps or not...
OK, three skips in the last 10 minutes...this isn't helping at all! I'll leave it here as an failed option for future browsers.


text:
Gmail app only shows "Archive" button for one account
I have two gmail accounts connected on my HTC Incredible.  When looking at account 1, I can select some emails and three buttons appear: Archive, Delete, and Labels.  But when using account 2 and an email is selected, only Delete and Label buttons appear.  How can I get the "Archive" button to appear in the second account?

Are these both the same type of GMail account? Is one normal GMail, and the other Google Apps GMail maybe? Also what version of Android are you running? If you're on 2.2 have you downloaded the updated Gmail from the Market to see if that fixes the issue?

This is weird! I have a 'normal' and Google Apps account on mine and can see all the options fine. +1 check you have updated Gmail from the Market, various other bugs fixed so maybe this too.

These are both normal Gmail accounts.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

Upgrade to the new Gmail released 3 days ago and see if it still happens.

Everything seems to be working fine now.  Even before the upgrade, it worked intermittently.  But since the upgrade, it seems to be solid.  Running version 2.3.2.


text:
Is there something in the Android architecture that prevents people from creating MP3 players that read embedded lyrics?
When I play certain MP3 files (such as lessons from JapanesePod101.com) on my iPod Touch, lyrics or transcripts that are embedded in the MP3 files are displayed in the media player.
I find this to be an extremely useful feature, and I believe I'm not alone. Despite that, neither the stock Android media player nor any other media player I've downloaded from the Market seems to support this. I just have not been able to find any way to get feature on my Nexus One.
This feature is important enough to me that I'm considering learning Android development just so I can write a simple media player that displays embedded lyrics or notes. However, the fact that nobody else seems to have done this makes me wonder - is it even possible? Is there something in the Android architecture or APIs that make it difficult or impossible to read and display lyrics information from MP3 files?

I don't see why it would be possible.  It's just meta data in a file.  Maybe a dev could use something like this? http://javamusictag.sourceforge.net/  The only thing is most mp3s don't have lyric data.  TuneWiki crowd sources this problem for you.

Not something that I've actually sought out yet, but it does get me that most of my music files are stuffed with tons of metadata that's being totally ignored by the players I'm using on Android. As I use Squeezebox music players on my home network, I've made sure my metadata is correct just to make the experience better, and so a lot of my music does have lyrics embedded.

I haven't actually researched this answer, so take it with a grain of salt. Basing it off of other development work I have done with MP3s in the past.
I do not think there would be any reason that Android would limit an application from reading the embedded lyrics (or, rather lyrics from the ID3 tag). Because the tag supports this, really all you would need is a Java library that you can bring into your Android app that will read the lyrics.
With that said, the lyrics tag tends to be a little more in the "advanced support" for many applications. Everybody reads the title and artist tags. Most people will even display the album art (which is also part of the ID3). I haven't researched any recent libraries, but if you are curious about the ID3 tag in general, read this ID3 Easy article.
So, the short answer is: no, nothing is stopping anybody from supporting it other than library support. Either a library doesn't exist, or nobody cares to utilize that feature within an Android media player.
Hope that helps!

Meridian Media player has support for lyrics - i believe, embedded as well as .lrc files, but you might need the payware PRO version for that functionality to be enabled.
UPDATE: You're right! Turns out I had .lrc files in my music folder which is why i was seeing lyrics.

Nope. Downloaded the PRO version and tried it. Doesn't seem to read embedded lyrics. Thanks anyway.

Is there something in the Android architecture that prevents people
  from creating MP3 players that read embedded lyrics?

Apparently the answer is "Yes."
There's an open issue in Android's issue tracker on this very problem. Only users with Commit permission may comment, but you can star and follow the issue and perhaps help it get more attention.

That doesn't stop other players reading the lyrics from the MP3 file directly. It just means that the MediaProvider, which is a central store of music metadata, doesn't offer that information.


text:
Quickly input frequent used phrase by choose-and-paste
Is there any application that can enhance the clipboard, so that I can quickly input some frequent used phrase by choose-and-paste?
Use case:
I need to input my email address to a field in an application. I recall my frequent used phrases list (by some kind of operation), choose my email address, then it is pasted into the field.

Both SmartClipboard and Quickcopy fits me. SmartClipboard can paste phone number or email address chose from my contacts as well. But its ad is annoying, it's too close to the buttons I often press the ad by mistake. So I finally choose Quickcopy.

use NATIVE CLIPBOARD., it is the best to copy and paste, TEMPLATE option
u can use it in SMS, WHATSAPP, TEST Editors.,

Personally, I use Quickcopy - It may be as close as you will get to your ideal. The only part it will not do is automatically paste into the field you want it to, but it does provide quick access.

You could try Smart Clipboard: http://www.appbrain.com/app/smart-clipboard/net.xdevelop.cp it claims to do just what you are asking.
Personally I use Uber Keyboard: http://www.appbrain.com/app/uber-keyboard-%28text-voice%29/com.pwnwithyourphone.talktomekbd It give you suggestions while you type which I usually ignore but it also let's you set custom mappings.  So I set it up so the 1st two letters of my email are mapped to my full email address so when I type in mw it shows my full email as a suggestion so I can insert it without having to open another app.  I've set a bunch of other custom mappins as well for commonly entered things.

I'm the creator of Clipper, a free clipboard manager app. In addition to the clipboard history feature, you can also store snippets, which is what you're looking for.

try
clipNote


text:
Flashing a New Kernel
If I'm going to flash a new Kernel with ROM Manager Pro, do I need to reinstall my MOD, delete my data, or delete my cache?
I am running CM 6.1 and want to flash one of ChevyNo1's kernels but will I have to reload CM and all my data?

No, you do not have to reload or delete anything.
However do make sure you take a NANDROID backup before you install one of those kernels.  You can potentially get into a reboot-loop that can only be broken by flashing another (lower mhz) kernel or restoring to a previous NANDROID backup.
I went from stock kernel to now running the ultra low voltage 800mhz ChevyNo1 kernel.  I couldn't get it go any faster with ultra low voltage without a reboot-loop.
Basically you will start with the lowest processor speed kernel at a certain voltage and work your way up.  So try ULV 800mhz, if it runs stable at 800mhz, try the 1ghz, then the 1.1ghz, etc.  If you're wanting to conserve battery, then try the ULV kernel.  If you're wanting processor speed, the LV kernel should be just fine.  Your mileage will vary because no two Droid processors are made exactly a like (because these kernels are going outside of the processor's design specifications).


text:
Blocking specific applications from accessing the network while not active or on screen
Is there any applications out there that can let me selective limit network access when i put a program into the background?

Hmm, difficult problem
Your only bet is rooting; and app like droidwall which is front end for iptables.
And then you would have to add rule that states block any app that is running in background.
That I'm not sure how to achieve.


text:
Why is my Samsung Galaxy S constantly dropping its wifi connection?
When I attach my Galaxy S to my home wifi network it will stay connected for about 1-2 minutes. After this the wifi icon will be enabled, however no connection seems to actually be there.
I've tried a few wifi re-enablers on the marketplace but they haven't been successful.

Is it possible for you to check the logs on your home wireless router? I wonder if there's some wireless protocol issues causing your device to be disassociated. One thing to try if it's available to you, change your wireless router to 802.11g mode only (i.e. if you supported 802.11n then force it to g only)

It's a linksys wireless-n

I would start at the router and look there first. Do a reboot of the router and see if it still happens. if it does, there should be logging in the admin of the router that you can turn on (if its not already) and maybe you can see something causing the drop.
Try getting Wifi Analyzer from the android market (free) to check if your router is on the same channel as other networks around you. try to put your router on the "clearest" channel.

That's a very useful app, I tried it and it seems to be the phone as I'm exclusively on Channel 12.

I think that is the way to go. Try another network or router. I had a Linksys Router that was always dropping the connection on my iPod Touch and I never really found any solution other than changing the router. Since then I didn't get any disconnection.

It appears to be my router after getting a new one. But wifi analyzer helped out a lot

go to Settings -> Wireless and network -> Wi-Fi settings, then press the "menu" key at the bottom of your phone. Click on "Advanced", then on "Wi-Fi sleep policy", it should have the option of "When screen turns off" but change it to "Never" if you don't want it to drop your Wi-Fi and use your phone service provider's data network when your screen turns off.

Doesn't seem to be the problem when reading the description. The wifi icon is still there but no connection is actually working.

That happened to me because the network was handling b g and n bands, if you set only n in the router, the problem is solve.

Is it dropping while you're actively using it?  Then is probably a router problem, or possibly a defective phone.  Try on another network.
Otherwise, try using RyanZa's One Click Lag Fix.  You don't need to actually use the lagfix, just open the app and change the WiFi Timeout value to something higher.

If you have JPY firmware then it might be causing problems.
Try JPU/JPX
And try also other modem.
Hopefully it will help!


text:
What Android sync'd data is encrypted?
With the release of the firesheep plug-in for firefox it has become trivial for website browsing on open Wi-Fi networks to be hijacked by 3rd party listeners.
Android offers the convenient auto-sync option. However I fear that my data may be auto-sync'd while I am connected to an open Wi-Fi network while at the local coffee shop or shopping mall.
Is all the data Android auto-syncs encrypted using SSL or a similar encryption mechanism? Is any auto-sync'd data unencrypted and transmitted in the clear for all to listen in to?
Update: COMPLETELY INSECURE!!!! See below!!!!

German Heise Magazine has a great article about that question. It's just in german, but you could use an Translation Service. link:heise

It seems, finally, Google will take care of its users data: http://www.uni-ulm.de/in/mi/mitarbeiter/koenings/catching-authtokens.html

Note: answering my own question as nobody knew.
I did a packet capture after selecting Menu -> Accounts & Sync -> Auto-sync (also accessible via the "Power Control" widget). What did I discover?
To my horror (http requests from phone displayed below):
GET /proxy/calendar/feeds/myaccount%40gmail.com HTTP/1.1
Accept-Encoding: gzip
Authorization: GoogleLogin auth=_hidden_
Host: android.clients.google.com
Connection: Keep-Alive
User-Agent: Android-GData-Calendar/1.4 (vision FRF91); gzip

and
GET /proxy/contacts/groups/myaccount@gmail.com/base2_property-android?showdeleted=true&orderby=lastmodified&updated-min=2010-12-01T08%3A49%3A00.561Z&sortorder=ascending&max-results=10000&requirealldeleted=true HTTP/1.1
Accept-Encoding: gzip
Authorization: GoogleLogin auth=_hidden_
GData-Version: 3.0
Host: android.clients.google.com
Connection: Keep-Alive
User-Agent: Android-GData-Contacts/1.3 (vision FRF91); gzip

My contacts and calendar are being transmitted unencrypted! I don't currently synchronize gmail so I couldn't say if that is unencrypted either.
Also the stock market application (which must be a service because I don't have the widget displayed or the application active):
POST /dgw?imei=TEST&apptype=finance&src=HTC01 HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: curl/7.19.0 (i586-pc-mingw32msvc) libcurl/7.19.0 zlib/1.2.3
Content-Type: text/xml
Content-Length: 338
Host: api.htc.go.yahoo.com
Connection: Keep-Alive
Expect: 100-Continue

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<request devtype="HTC_Model" deployver="HTCFinanceWidget 0.1" app="HTCFinanceWidget" appver="0.1.0" api="finance" apiver="1.0.1" acknotification="0000">
<query id="0" timestamp="0" type="getquotes">
<list><symbol>VOD.L</symbol><symbol>BARC.L</symbol></list></query>
</request>

Completely unencrypted request for stock quotes: just think, you could sit in Starbucks in the financial centre of your city and packet-sniff what quotes were important to all the smart phone users around you..
Other items that were not encrypted:

http request to htc.accuweather.com
time request to time-nw.nist.gov:13 (doesn't even use NTP)

About the only data that is encrypted on my phone are the mail accounts I set up with the K-9 application (because all my mail accounts use SSL - and fortunately gmail accounts are, by default, SSL; and yahoo! mail supports imap using SSL too). But it seems none of the auto-sync'd data from the out-of-box phone is encrypted.
This is on a HTC Desire Z with Froyo 2.2 installed. Lesson: do not use phone on open wireless network without VPN encrypted tunnelling!!!
Note, packet capture taken by using tshark on ppp0 interface on virtual node running Debian connected to Android phone via OpenSwan (IPSEC) xl2tpd (L2TP).

That's worrying. I can't see any cookies passing back and forward there, are they being sent in the clear too?

The auth= string contained what appeared to be similar to a cookie, I deleted it before posting here for security, however.

Is this still a current problem on Android 2.3.1?

I believe you can set up Android 4 to always use a VPN connection.

Results captured on an LG Optimus V (VM670), Android 2.2.1, stock, rooted, purchased in March 2011.
As of today, the only unencrypted requests I could find in a pcap taken during a complete resync were:
Picasa Web Albums
GET /data/feed/api/user/<username>?imgmax=1024&max-results=1000&thumbsize=144u,1024u
    &visibility=visible&kind=album HTTP/1.1
GData-Version: 2
Accept-Encoding: gzip
Authorization: GoogleLogin auth=<snipped>
If-None-Match: <snipped; don't know if it's sensitive info>
Host: picasaweb.google.com
Connection: Keep-Alive
User-Agent: Cooliris-GData/1.0; gzip

That's it.
Picasa was the only service I could find being synced unencrypted. Facebook requested a couple profile images (but didn't pass any account info); Skype requested ads; and TooYoou grabbed a new banner image. None of those relate to sync, really.
So it looks like Google's syncing security has been tightened quite a bit. Turn off syncing Picasa Web Albums and all of your Google data should be synced in encrypted form.
Market
This bothered me a little:
GET /market/download/Download?userId=<snipped>&deviceId=<snipped>
    &downloadId=-4466427529916183822&assetId=2535581388071814327 HTTP/1.1
Cookie: MarketDA=<snipped>
Host: android.clients.google.com
Connection: Keep-Alive
User-Agent: AndroidDownloadManager

The return of this is a 302 Moved Temporarily that points to a highly complex download URL:
HTTP/1.1 302 Moved Temporarily
Cache-control: no-cache
Location: http://o-o.preferred.iad09g05.v5.lscache6.c.android.clients.google.com
          /market/GetBinary/com.wemobs.android.diskspace/1?expire=1322383029&ipbits=0
          &ip=0.0.0.0&sparams=expire,ipbits,ip,q:,oc:<snipped>
          &signature=<snipped>.<snipped>&key=am2
Pragma: no-cache
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2011 08:37:09 GMT
X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN
X-XSS-Protection: 1; mode=block
Server: GSE
Transfer-Encoding: chunked

Android's download manager turns right around and requests that download location, passing the MarketDA cookie again.
I don't know if there's any security danger from how Market downloads APKs. The worst I can imagine is that unencrypted APK downloads open up the possibility of interception & replacement with a malicious package, but I'm sure Android has signature checks to prevent that.

I'm glad that since my initial discovery that others are taking this seriously now. Thank you! I felt I was alone in the wilderness when I posted the initial question/response. I've not actually done any retesting since the original post and kept to more secure practices - but I'm glad that others are following up on this.

I get funny looks from people sometimes because I spout off about security like it's normal. And three days after posting this, I snapped up a Cyber Monday deal on a new Motorola Triumph. Customer service issues delayed its arrival until last Wednesday, but I quickly discovered that it has major issues with EAP-secured networks. My college uses EAP. So I'm glad I looked into this. More may be coming, as I haven't yet tested Currents. ;)

I only want to encourage you - sound like a good person to care enough about security.


text:
How can I de-brand my phone? (install vanilla Android?)
I bought a cheap handset (XTE San Francisco, 2.1) from the Orange provider.
I'm not a regular Orange customer so I had it unlocked so I could use my existing SIM.
Orange seem to pre-load their devices with a bunch of useless stuff. Which is now even more useless since I can't access any of them.
Is there anyway I can remove these? I would prefer not to "root" my device if possible.
What about installing the vanilla version of Android, such as the flavour which the SDK emulator has?

Related: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/2575/what-is-involved-in-installing-android-onto-a-device

Why avoid root? flashing a new ROM will void your warranty just as much as rooting. If it is a security fear just unroot after removing the bloatware.

You have two options I know of to 'de-Orange' the San Francisco. You can use something like Titanium Backup (requires root) to remove the Orange apps, or install a custom ROM.
On my San Francisco I rooted the phone (see first part of this video, full details and file downloads here, or alternatively you could use Super One Click) and then used Titanium Backup to uninstall the Orange apps (list in this thread). If in doubt, TB lets you 'freeze' apps so you can make sure everything still works before uninstalling fully.
Alternatively, you can install a custom ROM (see full video) which I haven't done yet (waiting to see if FroYo ROM becomes available).

There's a full on guide to installing android 2.2 here orangesanfrancisco.co.uk


text:
Can I use my Android device as Wi-Fi Adapter for my PC (i.e. Tethering to PC through USB, but using Wi-Fi not Phone Network)?
I want to use my Android phone to connect a desktop (windows 7) PC to the internet via Wi-Fi (ie, not muching though my Data plan). Is this possible with the various tethering options out there?
The reason I ask is, most suppot wi-fi the other way around, ie, the phone is the wi-fi hotspot, and the internet connection comes over the phone network. I want to connect to an existing wi-fi network, and share that with the PC.
Background - for various reasons our office LAN network is b0rked and very slow. The office WiFi network on the other hand is happy and fast. But my desktop PC is wired only. If I can use my phone as a wifi dongle/modem/adaptor, and connect to the office wifi, then I'll get a much faster connection.
Edit: I've got an HTC Desire HD, I haven't rooted it so far.

This does depend on what phone you've got, and what version of the OS you're running. Froyo has a lot more options for tethering in it, including sharing some of the phone's connections over USB to a PC.

You can achieve this natively on some versions of Android (for me it works on KitKat 4.4.4). All you have to do is connect the phone to wi-fi as usual and then connect the USB cable and do a USB tether. Some devices may require you to enable WiFi sharing in the mobile hotspot settings. Your computer should detect a new hardware - a "USB ethernet" or similar, you may need to install drivers for that, ymmv. Then it behaves just like any other network card. This works for all common operating system, including Windows (where the drivers part may apply).
Just to be sure, you can disable mobile data on the phone for the time being but the phone should be smart enough to route traffic via wifi automatically when it is available.
No root needed.

The only problem is connecting through ssh to the pc, since the usb tethering is on a different netmask. Is there any soution for this?

You just need to have correct routes and gateway set.

Should this be done on the android mobile ?

For me this didn't work. When I check the tethering toggle, it turns itself back off automatically. When I turn off WiFi it works just fine. I'm pretty sure I have stock Android on a OnePlus 2.

This is excellent. Started a new job & couldn't connect to their wifi from my laptop (dunno why but spent way too long trying). Then I found this and connected right away. Solved my problem.

PDANet claims to be able to do this. Other phones, such as my Sidekick, do this out of the box.

I get an error download unsuccessful this content not supported on this phone. I'm using sanyo zio android 2.2

You can do this using PdaNet.
From KnowYourMobile.com:

To use your Milestone as a mobile broadband dongle, you will need:

Motorola Milestone USB Drivers
PDANet Tethering Software ($15.95 to buy right now, limited trial also available)

Step I:

Tap the upward pointing arrow on the Milestone's home screen to get to the app menu
Tap the Settings icon
Tap Applications
Tap Development
Check the box for USB debugging

Step II:

Install the PDANet software on both your PC and Milestone -- when installed on the desktop, it should automatically install the USB driver for you but if it doesn’t, you will have to use the driver you downloaded above.
Connect your Milestone to your PC via USB, then launch PDANet on your device
  Click on "Turn PdaNet On" on the Milestone
  Right-click the PDANet icon in the taskbar on your PC, then click Connect

Assuming your computer doesn't have a Wi-Fi card already and you're not rooted, I would probably just buy a USB Wi-Fi card.  You can almost certainly buy one for less than the cost of PDANet.
If you are rooted, Cyanogenmod has had built-in tethering in the Wireless & network settings menu for a while now.  You can enable USB tethering and connect your phone to the hotspot to essentially have it act like a USB Wi-Fi card.
For my other tethering needs that aren't covered ROM-covered (e.g. Bluetooth network tethering) I've preferred Android Wi-Fi Tether, which is free, although I don't know how well it works on the Milestone.


text:
What is the maximum Xperia X10 memory card size?
I just bought an X10 and I would like to have as large a memory card as possible. What is the largest one that works with X10? Does it work with 32 GB cards?

Has anyone successfully used a 32 GB card on X10?

I took a chance and bought a 32 GB card, class 4. It works. I believe it is a Zap or something.

This post suggests 32 GB cards work. I'd rather someone on this site said so though.

Acording to the specs here GSM Arena: Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 the X10 can take up to a 32GB microSD card.


text:
Does the Xperia X10 play Ogg Vorbis audio files?
Or do I have to convert my OGG files?

Android supports ogg.
You create a folder on your sdcard called Music and Android will recognize it.
Here's a list of supported media formats.


text:
How can I add a photo to a contact?
It seems like this should be possible - how can I add a profile photo to a contact that I manually created? At the moment they're all boring silhouettes.
In my Contacts, the only ones with photos are ones from Google or Facebook, and I can't find any option to add a photo for a contact.
I keep my contacts on the SIM, but when I copied one to the phone to see if that made a difference, it didn't, at least as far as I could tell.

Open the stock People app (i.e. navigate to your contact list) > select the contact > select Edit contact > select the camera icon in the top left corner. Your options are Gallery (find an image already on your phone) or Camera (take a picture of the contact). Hope it helps!

On my Galaxy S Vibrant, the options are called Album and Take photo but the process is the same.

Looks like keeping contacts on my SIM was the problem :(

An alternative to gary's method is to use "Set as".
You can open the Gallery app, select a photo and then pick Menu > More > Set as > Contact Icon. You can then choose the contact to apply it to.
The "Set as" option is sometimes available from other applications (I have a Media Gallery app on my xt720 that has it).

The method really relies on what handset are you using. And keeping your contacts on the SIM card is one main reason for not being able to add photos to your contacts.
Anyways, navigating to any contact of your contacts and editing it then clicking on the silhouet will do the trick.


text:
I have to talk in an American accent despite setting voice recognition to English UK
Is there a way around this, or perhaps a 3rd party voice recognition app that gets around it?
I also ran a few tests in a Scouse accent and it didn't like any of them - are people with strong regional dialects ever going to be able to use this technology?
Is there a way of training it to better recognaise the nuances of your voice?
In the past this sort of technology works best with:-

no training but a low number of words
high amount of training allowing a larger recognaised vocabulary

It's fair to assume the technology has moved on a lot but there's still scope for it to be trained to an extent. We'd all prefer it to work out of the box of course.

I'm English, but a southerner with a fairly RP accent, and using voice recognition for Google searching is pretty accurate for me. Unfortunately this sounds like it's an accent thing.
I know Google offer their 411 directory voice service in the US, apparently one of the main benefits of this for them is that they can capture a huge amount of speech and use it to train their voice recognition with the words that people really use, in the accents they really use.
Until they start offering something like that over here I don't think their British regional accents are going to get better very quickly.
UPDATE 15 Dec 2010: Things are changing. Google are starting to trial a new version of Google Voice that does Personalised voice recognition and learns based on the way you pronounce words. Unfortunately as it's a trial this for US Android 2.2 users only at the moment, but hopefully it should be going out to the rest of the world if this trial is successful. If you're an English speaking Android 2.2 user in the US, you can get the update here.

And unfortunately, it doesn't look as if that's going to happen: http://lifehacker.com/5659358/google-shuts-down-goog+411

The Google "411 directory voice service" was GOOG-411 and has been retired since October of 2010 - two months before this question was asked...


text:
Do the apps that require a full internet access override android network settings?
You all know that some apps require "full internet access', and other permissions. Some use it for ads, some use it for other reasons, etc. So, can these apps access the internet when my wifi network and mobile network are disabled? I'm afraid of extra charges from my operator for extra MB. I mean those apps still show ads even if any network connection is disabled - how is it possible? In other words - how can I be sure if an app doesn't use any traffic while wifi and mobile networks are turned off?

Well, if you had your 3G off, then they can't access that, I suggest if you didn't override it, use APNdroid from the market to do so and it also features a good widget.
Anyways, applications can't override your WiFi settings, if it's off, then they can't turn it on, but if you left your 3G on without any overriding application, like APNdroid, then they might use that, and this will ruin your data-plan.
I suggest you use 3G watchdog and APNdroid, both are available in the Market, to ride and monitor your data-plan, and for WiFi you got the power widget or any other mean to turn it on and off.
Keep in mind, keep your WiFi and 3G off all the time until YOU decide you want to be connected. And if you enabled 3G, turn automatic sync before turning your 3G on, sync lives over MBs if you got more than two accounts to be synced as I do.

Apps use ad cache to show you ads when both Wi-Fi and mobile network are disabled.
You can use something like DroidWall to prevent an app accessing the Internet. But this requires a rooted phone.


text:
Android Email application dropping profile
I use my Android with Microsoft Exchange for synchronizing my work email. Every few weeks or so, when I click on 'Email' it asks me to setup my email profile again.
It also stops me from sending photos via Email, etc.
Any idea whats causing this to happen? Usually I end up deleting the profile and recreating, but that sucks.

Is your work email a Gmail account, or Exchange, etc? Which email app are you using?

are you using some kind of cleaner or anything else ?

Sometimes misbehaving apps need to have their data cleared out and a fresh start. Go to Menu -> Settings -> Manage Applications -> Email (or whatever app you are using.) Click on "Clear Data." Try setting up the profile again. If that doesn't work, you may have memory issues as already indicated. Good luck.

This happened repeatedly to me, I'm not entirely sure why.
What worked for me was to do a "Clear data" (in the Applications screen) on the Email app. When I recreated the profile the next time, it stuck. It may not work for you, but it's worth a shot.

Sounds like your phone might not have enough storage space.


text:
Why does a single MMS message show up as three separate download buttons?
Using the default messaging app, CyanogenMod 6.1, T-Mobile Pay As You Go, whenever someone sends me an MMS, it shows up as 3 separate messages, all with Download buttons.  If I click the first Download button, it downloads the image.  If I click the other two, they fail, and don't go away until the message expires days later.
Using SQLite manager to look at the mmssms.db pdu table, the pending messages all have mtype 130.  After downloading, they become mtype 132.
https://github.com/jberkel/sms-backup-plus/issues/issue/80
Why 3 messages?  Can I change this behavior?  Is it a bug?

Have you tried using a 3rd party messaging app?

i get the same thing using Handcent SMS...

I would suggest this is one of 3 things:

a bug in CM6. I used Handcent regularly in CM7 and didn't see this behaviour.
Possibly related to having Handcent / some other MMS app installed. All apps have registered to be told when a message arrived, and all apps are capturing it and inserting it into the telephony MMS/SMS database. This seems unlikely, because apps will normally rely on the built-in app to insert the message into the database.
This could be an issue with the interaction with the network, and acking of the message, which is causing it to be notified multiple times.

I think the best thing to do in this case is capture some logs using ADB and logcat, and posting them on the Cyanogen forums where we can take a look at them and figure out if this is a bug. If you aren't comfortable using the development kit there is an app on the market called aLogCat, which will grab the log for you, and allow you to send it to an email address.

Disable Auto Retrieve in the MMS apps you aren't using.

I only have one MMS app that I know of, the default one.


text:
How can I organize items in a folder?
I created a folder for games on my homescreen. I added many apps to it, but now that I need to scroll I'd like to reorder them. Long pressing on an icon closes the folder (so I can drop the icon on my home screen).
Is it possible? Or do I have to remove and re-add them in order.
I have a stock Motorola XT720 running eclair.

As I just mentioned here, Ice Cream Sandwich allows you to rearrange icons within folders.

Using nothing but your Android options won't do the job straight forward, you need to install an App to do your folders, there are two applications (amongst others of course); one called App Mate, or AppManager-Organize your apps, both are available at the market, and both will require sometime at first to cache your apps and stuff.
I'm caching my handset right now, and will get back to here with what is what.
[Update]
App Mate is no use for you, on the other hand AppManager is way much better, it can even sort your folder applications according to frequency of use but unfortunately the folders it creates on your home-screen is cropped in a strange way, I guess that will be easy for the developer to fix.

By default, items in folders are organized by the order they are added.  If the absolute order is not important to you, but rather just having more used apps at the top, you can pull the less used apps out and then re-add them to the folder, which will place them at the bottom.


text:
Why do I keep getting interrupted by a Device Management - Software Update screen? How do I get rid of it?
Occasionally and frequently at inconvenient times (in the middle of important Angry Birds games) I get a screen that says:
Device management
Software update
Congratulations!
New software update for
phone installed.
Phone is ready for use

OK

I click OK and it goes away, but it always comes back. Is my phone really being updated this often. I doubt it. It always reports the same version, Eclair. Even if it was, I don't want to be notified like that.
How can I stop this?

Are you rooted, or have you played around with your phone settings at all?

No. Not rooted. I don't think I've made any unusual settings changes.

That's very odd.  Normally there should be no auto-update of the device software, and other updates will require a reboot.  Try the following:

Hold both volume buttons and the power button
Wait until the phone reboots, keep holding
Release the power button about 1 second after the white text with your phone model appears onscreen, keeping holding the volume buttons
Recovery mode should appear
Select "Reinstall packages" or similar

I don't see Install Updates. I see Reinstall Packages (also Reboot System Now and Delete All User Data and Delete Cache Data) is that what you mean? At the bottom in yellow it says: update media, please wait... update media, finished # MANUAL MODE # --Appling Muli-CSC... Installing Muti-CSC Thanks!!

Yes, Reinstall Packages is what I meant.

Any luck with this?

Not really. Recently I tried to update my phone to FroYo and failed, so I got a new replacement phone. I lost all my apps and with it the problem. If it comes back I'll try your suggestions again. Thanks for your help.


text:
Are there any known conflicts between the official Samsung GpsRestore App for the Galaxy-S and custom roms?
Samsung have released an app for the Android Market in order to reset the GPS to factory settings, on Galaxy-S devices that experience problems using it. It should fix the GPS problems that a lot of people are experiencing.
(Android Spin: Samsung Finally Has a GPS Fix)
However, I know that several custom ROMs also attempt to fix the problematic Galaxy-S GPS. Does anyone know (or experienced) any problems after running that application on a custom ROM?

I think if you're using custom ROMs, you do not need to apply Samsung's fix.

Note that this fix is only for the US Captivate and Vibrant Galaxy S variants. Presumably Samsung are releasing this as a stop-gap until they (or the networks) get round to releasing 2.2 for those Galaxy S variants?

See also: How can I fix my GPS?

The app only changes the settings, so it doesn't matter which GPS code the ROM has.  All the custom ROMs I know of use GPS code from Samsung anyways.
One note: This will fix very few people's problems.  The factory settings cause most of the problems, so restoring will probably hurt more than help.  It is possible that the new 2.2 releases will fix some issues, however, and in that case it's probably better to use whatever settings Samsung tested with the new GPS code, i.e. the settings GpsRestore uses.