title: face recognition as password

text:
# Question
Title: face recognition as password
Looking for an application that use face recognition of the cellphone's owner wnen you are powering on your cellphone + activating the phone after being stand by with black screen.

Where can I find it?

I'm using Galaxy SII with android 4

# Answer
Is it face unlock you are asking about? If so, there is a handy guide here. It requires your phone to be rooted and have ClockworkMod Recovery installed. Here are the installation instructions from the link:

> Installation Instructions
>
> Before you proceed with setting up Face Unlock on your Galaxy S2, make sure that your phone:
>
> is rooted, has ClockworkMod Recovery installed, and is running Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich firmware build XXKP8.
>
> If your phone meets those requirements, you can follow these steps:
>
> 1.Download the Face Unlock update file to your computer and then copy the downloaded ZIP file to your SD card. Get the file here.
>
> 2.Turn off your mobile phone and reboot it into recovery mode. You can do this by pressing the Volume Up and OK buttons. Press both buttons at the same time and then press the Power button.
>
> 3.If you are already in recovery mode, proceed by selecting “Wipe data/factory reset” and “Wipe Cache partition”.
>
> 4.Reboot your device by selecting “Reboot system now” from the recovery menu.
>
> 5.Reboot your device again into recovery mode.
>
> 6.From the menu, select “install zip from SD card”, then ” choose zip from SD card”, and then choose the Face Unlock ZIP file which is on your phone. After you have selected the file, installation will start.
>
> 7.After installation, your device will again display the recovery mode screen. Select “Reboot system now” to reboot the phone. Take note that this time, restarting your device will take much longer. On the other hand, you can also opt to update this package from ClockworkMod Recovery.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, samsung
---


title: Find out ROM version

text:
# Question
Title: Find out ROM version
I just got a Galaxy Nexus and I want to revert it back to it's original condition for starters ( I'm talking about the software ). I noticed I have ClockworkMod installed, does that mean I have a custom ROM installed?

# Answer
ClockworkMod is a custom recovery software. If you want to revert to the original ROM, then you can download the official ICS ROM for nexus and flash (install) it if you donot have a backup taken previously of the phone. And AFAIK, you can still root your phone again on ICS and then the phone will again be at your command (you can even install custom APKs). Also you can try a file manager like, Astro File Manager which I personally haven't used it but you can get it from marketplace and use it to install non-market apks by simply transferring the apk over usb to sd card and tap on the apk.
> 3 votes

# Answer
It is possible to have CWM installed while running stock ROM. The simplest way for me to identify is to check your kernel version.
> 0 votes

# Answer
Generally, but not all the time, the presence of CWM which is a custom recovery, suggestively implies a custom ROM is present. But, having a custom recovery as CWM far outweighs the normal recovery that is found in the majority of handsets, some are limited, some are crippled.

You can easily flash another ROM such as ICS, or CM9 which is available to download. Hence I would highly suggest to leave CWM in there for a simple reason - to enable backup/restore of the ROM.

Judging by your previous comments in other answers above, it sounds like a unstable Jelly Bean ROM made its way into your handset.

Go to CyanogenMod site and get the download for either one of Nexus (crespo) or a Nexus 4G (crespo 4g) (crespo is a codeword given as the name of the handset). Whichever one is it you have, *make sure you have the right version*.

After downloading it, push that across to the SD-card, and use CWM to flash it for you. *Be sure to wipe cache/data before hand*. Yes, you will lose everything you have on that unstable Jelly Bean ROM. And then you should be back into the stability of the CM9 ROM.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-nexus
---


title: Asus Transformer slow charge

text:
# Question
Title: Asus Transformer slow charge
My ASUS Transformer TF101 charges extremely slowly using the original power adapter.

**I'm trying to figure out the cause.**

Here are all my knowns:

1. The power block (wall to USB adapter) charges my mobile phone without issues
2. The power block plus ASUS cable turns on my Transformer if it is off, or wakes it up if it is sleeping (but charges extremely slowly)
3. The ASUS cable lets me MTP and all that from computer and tablet
4. I installed ICS when in April and now its running 4.0.3
5. The charger does charge, but extremely slowly both on Keyboard dock and Tablet (a few days to get to 20%)
6. It definitely has not been near water, dust, direct sunlight or particle accelerators

From this I gauge: it's not the power block or the cable, and the only change was ICS a few months back which worked okay (first update was buggy, but the next one fixed this).

*Anyone else had this or know why it could be?*

# Answer
The issue turned out to be with the charging cable. Asus quickly swapped it over with a longer cable too.
> 1 votes

# Answer
Charging via USB can happen at very different rates depending on what the "host" end is plugged into. Generally the vendor-supplied wall charger is the "fastest" way, but perhaps something has gone bad with your supplied wall adapter. You should be able to improve charging times by shutting off wifi, GPS, etc, and making sure the screen is off.

See these questions for more details on what to look for on your adapters:
> 2 votes

---
Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, battery, charging, asus-eee-pad-transformer
---


# Question
Title: Phone calls - the other person can't hear me
My phone has just started having a problem where on phone calls, the other person can't hear me. They just hear some static. I can hear them just fine. It's the same whether I call them or they call me. I tried restarting my phone, I looked at the settings and couldn't see anything obvious whereby I could have muted myself. I tried turning the call on Speaker and off again - no difference.

Any ideas?

If it's relevant, my phone is a Samsung Galaxy S running Froyo.

# Answer
> 3 votes
Check the microphone. Can you record yourself with the Voice Recorder app? If not, I would suspect you damaged it somehow.

# Answer
> 2 votes
I faced a similar problem with my LG Optimus One (P500). I first suspected the microphone and hence attempted to use voice recorder as suggested by Matthew Read. Since it was working, I became clueless.

After struggling a lot, I realized that I had installed a call recording software. This call recording software was installed months before and hence I did not suspect it. Even after disabling the software I could not receive calls. However, the problem was solved once I uninstalled it.

Later I understood that Android SDK does not provide clean solutions to hook into mic (unlike Symbian platform). Hence call recording software developers are left to use any sort of dirty means (which I am not aware) to make their app work.

So, if you have any such application which plays with mic, just uninstall them and try.

---
Tags: 2.2-froyo, samsung-galaxy-s, calls, hardware, audio
---


# Question
Title: How can I access files on a Seagate GoFlex Satellite wifi or Kingston Wi-Drive?
My final goal is to programmaticaly access files on a Wifi/USB storage device, like a Seagate GoFlex Satellite wifi or Kingston Wi-Drive (preferred because less expensive).

The storage devices are made to be connected to a PC by USB and also can be connected to Android (and iPhone) by wifi.

Once connected, it is possible to put files on the hard drive over wifi using a custom Android application provided by the manufacturer (like Kingston Wi-drive or Seagate GoFlex Access™ app)? How do they do this? Can I access on my filesystem with program like Astro ?

# Answer
> 2 votes
According to this review Pocket-Lint: Kingston Wi-Drive review :

> You are also able to access the files on the Wi-Drive on a PC or Mac by visiting it's IP address in your web browser. This, again, allows you to play any files that are supported in your web browser. MP3s, for example, play fine, but you might struggle more with video files.
>
> You can also connect to the Kingston as a regular network drive. We were able to view it as if it was any network attached storage device. That means we could also copy files over wirelessly too.

This suggests that, the Kingston at least, supports something like SMB (the Windows file-sharing protocol). Many Android apps let you connect to an SMB shared drive to copy files on or off, I use File Manager to copy files from my Windows machines to my phone/tablet this way, and I'm pretty sure Astro supports it too.

To do this from your app, you just need to include SMB file access support in your Andoird app. How to do that is off-topic for this site, as that is a developer question.

---
Tags: wi-fi, file-system
---


# Question
Title: Playing subtitles - and only subtitles - on Android
I've decided to embark on learning Spanish. Last time I learned a foreign language, I was in a foreign country watching a lot of American TV subtitled in the local language. Seeing the translation of things said on the show was very helpful.

I'd like to watch my Netflix movies (and possibly other sources as well, like Amazon streaming) with Spanish subtitles, but Netflix generally does not support them.

There are a large number of free, independently-made subtitle archives out there; it would be an easy task to download the subtitles for a movie or TV show I'm about to watch.

I'd like to sit in my TV room and watch movies or TV shows on my TV, while the subtitles are displayed on my phone. While there are a few video players out there that support external subtitles, I have been unable to find a way to do subtitle-only viewing. Is there an app or some other solution?

# Answer
> 2 votes
After more searching, I found SubtitlePlayer in the Google Play Store.

It seems to work adequately for what I need, but because its name is two words jammed together, doesn't show up when you search for "Subtitle" in the market.

Also, the page says it needs 'Unicode' subtitles; after a few tries, I got it to work correctly with UTF-8 encoding, without a BOM.

# Answer
> 0 votes
I have never tried this but one thing that comes on the top of my mind is to use a video that has nothing but a black background play on your mobile. You can then add subtitles to it and may be increase the subtitle size, change the position etc to suit you. Hope this helps :)

---
Tags: accessibility
---


# Question
Title: How to upgrade Samsung Galaxy S2 to ICS?
> **Possible Duplicate:**
> Upgrade Samsung Galaxy II OS to android 4.0?

I want to know if there is any official documentation on how to upgrade Samsung's Android enabled devices?

# Answer
> 4 votes
I assume your device is not rooted since you did not mention it. For non-rooting device you just have to wait for the Over The Air (OTA) update from Samsung or your network provider.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Official documentation can only come from your carrier, or if you bought it sim-free, then from your country's Samsung website.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Ota is definitely going to be the "easiest" but you aren't guaranteed to ever get the update. If you want to get ICS as soon as possible, I'd recommend flashing CyanogenMod (full update guide for the S2), downloads are here. Believe version CM9 is ICS 4.0.4, and CM10 (aka. Jelly Bean) is also available as nightly builds. I've heard some great things about it.

But... that may not be what you are looking for if you are trying to go completely stock...

---
Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, samsung-galaxy-s-2, updates
---


# Question
Title: Find carrier allocated public IP address
Fido has a service where they allocate a public IP address for some fees. I have paid the fees and apparently they have allocated my phone a public IP address. In normal circumstances, I should be able to see the IP address in my device settings (status information), but it shows "IP address unavailable". Fido customer service is not able to help, saying that they only have instructions for the iPhone. For any other phone, I should contact the manufacturer.

Any idea how I could go about finding the public IP address that I am paying through my nose for?

Carrier: Fido in Canada.
Phone: Samsung Galaxy S2
OS: Android 4.0.3

# Answer
> 1 votes
So reproducing the solution here for posterity: Need to change the default apn to either publicip.apn or vpn.com. All the other settings remain the same as the original default apn (which is fido-core.appl1.apn). Restart the device and voila!, the phone has a public ip. It can be discovered using adb and netcfg. @MartinSchröder, thanks a lot for pointing out Network Info II tool, its quite useful. Only thing is, after tethering the device, it reports an IPV6 rndis ip as the "internal" ip of the device.

# Answer
> 4 votes
You could always use the browser hit one of the many web pages that will tell you what your IP address is. WhatsMyIp being one such.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Typically your carrier will be using NAT so you will have either a private RFC1918 address or an already allocated public IP.

A free app like Net Tools will tell you the IP assigned directly to your phone, so can you have IP communications with your carrier. (Net Tools will use netcfg as you have).

If you go to whatismyip.com you will likely find a different IP though because your connection is behind a NAT device. This is why you can't "ping" your phones IP.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Get Network Info II. It also gives you the name of your gateway.

# Answer
> 0 votes
This open-source app might fit your needs, called External IP.

> This simple application will show your IP addresses(default local & external).

---
Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, samsung-galaxy-s-2, ip-address
---


# Question
Title: Can Android phones restrict background syncing to secure WiFi connections?
Context:

* T-mobile G1
* CyanogenMod
* No data plan

WiFi is available for free in many places, including my home, local libraries, and even at least 1 doctor's office. However, not all of them are secure. While I don't mind using insecure networks for Google Maps or simple Google searches, I don't want to transmit my Google account infomration/e-mails/contact list/etc. in the clear.

Is there a way to keep the phone from doing this?

Incidentally, I really don't want to turn off background sync completely because that would defeat the point of having a phone that's (more or less) always up to date.

# Answer
> 4 votes
In general, you should never assume that any internet connection is secure. Not even if you owned the hotspot. Internet is built under the assumption that intermediary links are unreliable and not necessarily trustworthy (not even your service provider or the backbone operators should be considered trustworthy). That's why we have developed various authentication and encryption protocols which can ensure secure communication through these untrustworthy channels.

In short, use HTTPS or SSL when accessing informations that you don't want anyone snooping on and do not use apps that do not use HTTPS/SSL. Gmail always uses SSL when communicating with Google servers, although last time I checked not for Calendar or Contacts, though this may have changed since then.

---
Tags: wi-fi, sync
---


# Question
Title: Will android tablets from US work in the UK?
I'm thinking of getting an adroid tablet from the US and ship it over here to the UK. Will it work completly and as a UK based tablet? I don't need 3G.

# Answer
This may depend somewhat on the device, so I would try to narrow down which one in particular you want then try to figure out what other people are saying about it. Having said that, I know lots of people on XDA are using US Verizon Xooms in Europe without any problems (minus 3G, of course, which you said isn't a problem). There's a thread about this here. Some have also noted that you can flash European firmware onto the VZW Xoom without any problems, but I'm not sure what the caveats are and I don't know if that would work on other devices.
> 3 votes

# Answer
Tablets that use CDMA network technologies will be restricted to wifi internet only (there's no CDMA cell coverage at all in the UK). If you can get a tablet that uses T-Mobile's 3G frequencies, you can SIM-unlock it and use 3G with an operator in the UK. AT&T frequencies are not common in Europe, you'll get EDGE only.

Wifi will work, but Europe/UK uses a different channel/frequency standard and you won't be able to use channels 12 or 13 (at a minimum; it could be only a few channels work if the spaces between the channels are different; I haven't stared at the standards recently).

If you can tell the device to use the EU ranges, you'll be fine - but I'm not sure how to do it - If Android uses the Linux kernel's regulatory compliance daemon, that's fairly easy to change because the commands should be similar to a Linux desktop and there's quite a few tutorials out there.

That assumes Android uses that part of the Linux wifi stack, and it also assumes that the wifi driver in the tablet actually uses the Linux stack to drive compliance. This is not very likely. :(
> 0 votes

# Answer
It depends on your tablet. If your tablet has included CDMA technology that is not available in UK then it can't possible to use that tablet. Tablet with Wi-Fi technologies will definitely helps to work in another country but it's also depends on tablet network connection features. As per my view, you should include little information about your tablet.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: tablet
---


# Question
Title: Update from app store stuck on "downloading.."
There are three apps that needs an update on my device, I've got an always-on 3G connection and it's working (I can use whatever app I need), but when trying to download the update from the app store the progress bar reach the end (100% downloaded, should have saved it entirely) but it won't install the new update and the page on the store keeps telling "Downloading..".

I tried clearing the store cache/data several times but didn't work, I tried clearing the app's cache too (the one that needs to be updated) but it wasn't useful.

How can I solve? I didn't do anything to my un-rooted semi-new phone (Galaxy S plus with gingerbread)

# Answer
I solved this by reinstalling the store update (i.e. switching it back to the basic market app and let it update again)
> 1 votes

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s, updates, downloading, google-play-store
---


# Question
Title: Can I update my android system although the USB port is broken?
The USB port of my LG-p500 is not capable of exchanging data anymore (the device or any `dmesg` do not show up when connected to a computer). Charging still works, fortunately.

Due to some annoying software bugs (Android 2.2, original LG supplied), I'd like to update the operating system to a newer Android version.

Do I have any chance to upgrade?

---- EDIT ----

For completeness, I include a screen of the update notification screen (Menu -\> Update notification). It says it is updated, but the version V10R\_00 was the one supplied initially with the phone. Furthermore, it tells me to connect it to the *PC suite*, a LG software.

# Answer
You have lots of options. The easiest would be just to turn on your wifi and download the latest carrier-supplied update to your SD Card and update your phone that way (assuming that for some reason the OTA update isn't working).
> 1 votes

---
Tags: 2.2-froyo, updates, usb
---


# Question
Title: Download Google Play Apps from Computer?
> **Possible Duplicate:**
> How can I download an APK file from the Play Store?

Can I not download the Google Play Android apps first in my computer and then transfer it to my mobile and then install and use it?

# Answer
> 3 votes
Afraid you cannot do that as that is violating the Terms and Conditions of Google Play.

> 3.3 You agree not to access (or attempt to access) Google Play by any means other than through the interface that is provided by Google, unless you have been specifically allowed to do so in a separate agreement with Google. You specifically agree not to access (or attempt to access) Google Play through any automated means (including use of scripts, crawlers, or similar technologies) and shall ensure that you comply with the instructions set out in any robots.txt file present on the Google Play website.

---
Tags: google-play-store
---


# Question
Title: How to disable SMS preview displayed over a locked screen?
On an Android device (HTC Desire S if that matters) with a locked screen whenever an SMS is received it's preview is displayed over the locked screen. This is super inconvenient - anyone who is nearby can see it without even unlocking the screen.

Is there a way to disable those previews over a locked screen?

# Answer
> 5 votes
You can do so by going into the Messaging app, and pressing Menu -\> Settings -\> Uncheck "Received notification (Show notification in status bar when messages are received)".

But you won't get the notification on status bar as said above.

# Answer
> 4 votes
Go to `Settings > Privacy` and uncheck `Display Message Text`.

# Answer
> 2 votes
If you're not terribly attached to the stock messaging app, install GO SMS PRO to handle your SMSes. It's better looking and infinitely more customisable than the stock app. Handcent SMS is another alternative SMS app.

Once you've installed GO SMS PRO, in the stock messaging app's Settings, uncheck everything. This should prevent double notifications.

# Answer
> 2 votes
Once you've disabled the in-built notification as in Roxan's answer, you could install an alternative SMS notifier app.

I use SMS Popup which still uses the in-built messaging app to handle all of your messaging, but gives a whole set of extra customizations to how you're notified. I have mine currently set to display the name and contact picture of the person that texted over the lock screen, but not show the message until the phone is unlocked.

# Answer
> 1 votes
The only way in the stock messaging application is to disable SMS notifications completely. As an alternative, you can install GO SMS. It has the option to disable SMS preview in the notification bar.

# Answer
> 0 votes
If you go to Phone Settings -\> Privacy, there is a check box for displaying messages on the lock screen.

---
Tags: sms, notifications, lock-screens
---


title: HTC Desire - where are my photos?

text:
# Question
Title: HTC Desire - where are my photos?
I was low on battery and my niece installed an app to assist (can not remember the name). However, she changed all my images onto my SD card. After that, I assumed I lost all my old images as I could not find them. :(

I removed my SD card to reset the phone and realized that one of the photos is showing under the gallery. Also, my screen saver is also an old photo now. However, I can not access the photo as it says to install the SD card. The problem is when I install the SD card, the images are not there anymore.

My niece does recall that she has changed something to say to save all the images onto the SD card, however she can not remember if it was on the phone or a part of the program. The issue is that I deleted the program when I realized I was still low on battery.

Is there somewhere on the HTC desire that I can change images from the SD card as I can not find it?

# Answer
> 0 votes
As you removed the sd-card, you could use a card reader to attach it to your PC, which makes a search a lot easier. Usually, photos are stored below a folder called `dcim` on the card. Depending on the camera app (I don't have a Desire, so I cannot check that myself), subfolders there are named differently. On my phone, it uses a subfolder called "Camera". But there should not be too much subfolders there, so it will be easy to find.

If that's not the place where your niece placed the "old images", but as your Desire insists they are (somewhere else) on the card, you can use your file manager (I don't know what OS you are running on your PC) to search for `*.jpg` on the card -- that might match a lot of other images, but your photos should be listed along as long as they are on the card.

---
Tags: external-sd, htc-desire, htc
---


# Question
Title: swiping music player does not kill the process?
Swiping programs from the process-list should kill/shut them down, right?

I listened to music and then swiped the music player away but the music was still playing.

How come?

Does swiping not kill processes? if so, how can i close them correctly?

# Answer
> 4 votes
Taking Google's Music app as an example (I would wager most others are implemented similarly), there are two distinct parts that constitute the app:

1. The foreground processes and tasks that the user interacts with
2. The background service that actually handles music playback

Point 2 can be verified in this Android Developer's blog post wherein it is stated:

> Music playback runs in a service to allow it to continue operating after the user leaves the music application.

This distinction ends up being important when you remove an app from the recent tasks list. As covered in my answer to another question, the following is what happens when you swipe an app out of the list, as stated by Android engineer Dianne Hackborn:

> Actually, removing an entry in recent tasks will kill any background processes that exist for the process. It won't directly causes services to stop, however there is an API for them to find out the task was removed to decide if they want this to mean they should stop. This is so that removing say the recent task of an e-mail app won't cause it to stop checking for e-mail.

In this case, that means that the foreground tasks of the Music app are being stopped, but the background service (evidently) chooses to continue running. This is a product of the way the app is implemented, so you simply won't be able to stop music playback by swiping the app out of the list. Instead, you can try the following from the recent apps list (also covered in the above linked answer):

> If you really want to completely stop an app, you can long press on recent tasks to go to app info, and hit force stop there.

---
Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, samsung-galaxy-nexus, processes
---


# Question
Title: Can I set my HTC Desire into sync-mode without using touch screen
The screen of my HTC Desire just broke (It's not shattered, but it's completely black). I have no reason to believe anything else is broken (When I start it up, I hear the short tune that plays when the logo is normally displayed). Now, I'd really like not to lose any data, so I'd like to sync it to a PC using USB; however, I've set the default mode to tethering.

Is there any way for me to set the phone to sync-mode or any other way for me to recover my data?

I know that I can extract the memory card and use a card reader for that data. This question is specifically about the data that doesn't reside on the extractable memory card.

# Answer
> 2 votes
If the device itself works as you suggest you might be able to access the recovery mode, enable USB and then download the files you need. However this will not be a USB sync access, instead it can be a fastboot or ADB access.

To do so take your Desire which have to powered off and press and hold `Volume Down`. Now start it up by pressing `Power`.

In the recovery mode you are able to enable USB access via ADB. As the recovery mode uses only `Volume Down`, `Volume Up` and `Power` it can be controlled even without seeing anything.

You only have to know which keys have to be pressed in which order. This is of course the complicated part. I don't have an unrooted device with the original recovery here for giving you the orders which keys to press. May be you find an Youtube video showing it or a very detailed manual.

---
Tags: backup, htc-desire, touchscreen, broken-screen, htc-sync-3.0
---


title: App can't be moved to SD card

text:
# Question
Title: App can't be moved to SD card
There was an app moved to SD card.

I did a factory reset. Then I reinstalled the app. It was side loaded by Humble Bundle app, it's not from Google Play.

Now the app can't be moved to SD, getting error "Couldn't move app".

I am guessing there is this some type of Android's cache for this app on SD already that prevents it from moving again, but this is just a speculation.

Titanium backup couldn't move it either. Well, it said it did but it's still "on the phone".

Any ideas welcome.

The phone is HTC Sensation.

# Answer
You most probably left some residuals of the (moved) app on your SD card.

The easiest way to remove that would probably to pull out the SD card and remove the moved app on your computer (it's not accessible on your phone easily).

For example, the full path to the moved tricorder app on my phone is: /mnt/sdcard/.android\_secure/org.hermit.tricorder-1.asec

Just access it on your PC and remove the appropriate .asec file in the .android\_secure folder.

Background (why not to do it on the phone):

Moved Apps are located in a cryptoloop mounted container file which is stored at /mnt/sdcard/.android\_asec/\*. This is however not accessible so that normal apps cannot mess around with moved apps (there's a tmpf mounted over /mnt/sdcard/.android\_secure with 0kb space to inhibit access). The original .android\_secure is bind mounted to /mnt/asec/secure where the system can access the containers.

```
app_36@android:/ $ mount
# omitted unecessary stuff, only the sdcard, the bind mount and the tmpfs mount are shown
/dev/block/vold/254:1 /mnt/sdcard vfat [mount-options-omitted] 0 0
/dev/block/vold/254:1 /mnt/secure/asec vfat [mount-options-omitted] 0 0
tmpfs /mnt/sdcard/.android_secure tmpfs [mount-options-omitted] 0 0
# no output, tmpfs still mounted:
app_36@android:/mnt/sdcard/.android_secure # ls
app_36@android:/mnt/secure/asec # umount /mnt/sdcard/.android_secure
# umounted... now there's what we expect:
app_36@android:/mnt/secure/asec # cd /mnt/sdcard/.android_secure
app_36@android:/mnt/sdcard/.android_secure # ls
org.hermit.tricorder-1.asec

```
> 4 votes

# Answer
When I had an N1 that used to fill up on space quickly, I used to use an app called ModInstallLocation to move apps that weren't technically movable through Apps2SD.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: sd-card, htc, app2sd
---


# Question
Title: How to set MAC address on (HTC Desire) Android terminal emulator?
I typed into the terminal this:

> ip link set eth0 address XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

the XX for my numbers and so on.

But it says permission denied.

Source: http://androidforums.com/incredible-tips-tricks/78668-how-spoof-mac-address.html

# Answer
This seems like your terminal doesn't have root access. Is your phone rooted? and did you type `su` to get to the root user first? On my phone you can tell if you're using root privileges by checking the prompt, `$` = no root, `#` = root.
> 5 votes

# Answer
Root is needed so if you have that turn on your wi-fi and write

```
su
iplink set eth0 address XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

```

and it's done.

("iplink" without space between)
> 0 votes

# Answer
Check http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1525230

You actually need to change some stuff in the bcm4239 driver to allow it to read the mac address from somewhere else. The above kernel reads the file /data/local/mac.dat.
> -1 votes

---
Tags: htc-desire, terminal, mac-address
---


# Question
Title: Samsung Galaxy Ace - HID Bluetooth Keyboard Connection?
I'm a newly arrived escapee from the iPhone Empire - I just got a Galaxy Ace and it seems better in all respects except one very important one for me... I used to use my iPhone to write / take notes etc, using an I-connex Bluetooth keyboard. But it looks like my Ace won't allow this keyboard to connect - it says it doesn't connect to HID devices.

I've tried two different apps to try and fix this - BlueKeyboard JP (which only works with certain keyboards, not including mine) and Bluetooth Keyboard Easyconnect (which I think requires my phone to be rooted - at any rate, it doesn't work).

I'd be very grateful for any suggestions how I can fix this, as it really makes the phone seriously less good than what I had before, given how I use it! Failing that I'd be very grateful if anyone could advise me if there is any version of Android that DOES allow HID devices to connect - and what phones run it.

# Answer
Bluetooth was enabled early on in Android (1.5 or 1.6 iirc) So any limitation in that regards is from your specific device and not the platform itself.

I have successfully used HID bluetooth devices with: Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and HTC Evo 4g LTE, Toshiba Thrive, Acer Iconia A200.

I was unaware that there were any devices that disallowed HID device connections actually.

In general though Nexus \[anything\] devices are the least limited devices on the market at any given time, so I'd say you can't go wrong with one of those.
> 0 votes

# Answer
Bluetooth HID support was officially added to Android in Honeycomb 3.1. Any device that uses either this version or Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0 -\> ) or Jelly Bean (future devices) supports Bluetooth keyboards out of the box.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: bluetooth, keyboard, samsung-galaxy-ace
---


# Question
Title: HTC Incredible 2 clearing "App Associations" on reboot - why?
My Friend has an HTC Incredible 2 that is clearing all app associations whenever the phone reboots. Does anyone know what is causing this? I couldn't find anything on google, or my phone (an HTC Thunderbolt) that would lead to a setting or something.

Thanks!

# Answer
Has your friend modified the Linkify app that implements the App Associations? Typically both the Linkify app that actually performs the association and the Settings app where you set them are signed by the system signing key. If the Linkify app was replaced with a modified version not signed by the system signing key, which is possible if you unlock and root your device, I imagine it would have trouble accessing the settings.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: applications, settings, htc-droid-incredible-2
---


# Question
Title: Transferring messages to android from a sqlite db on my laptop
I am a new android user. I switched from nokia to android today only. Been googling around for various solutions to transfer my sms (text messages only) from my old nokia to my new Android (Galaxy Ace with Android 2.3).

After exploring my laptop, I found the synced(using Nokia PC Suite) sms were stored in AppData as a sqlite file.

**Can I transfer all these to my new Android? Any app for this?**

# Answer
Well I solved the problem. Documenting the solution here for future references.

Using any sqlite manager (I used firefox plugin- SQlite Manager), export the database to XML format (generally any db manager has options to export the database in csv, xls & xml formats).

If your sqlite was generated by nokia pc-suite sync, you would get an xml like:

```
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--
- sqlite-manager XML Dump
- version 0.7.1
- http://sqlite-manager.googlecode.com
-
- Generation Time: Sun, 08 Jul 2012 14:12:42 GMT
- SQLite version: 3.7.10
-->

<!-- Database: msg_db.sqlite -->
<sm_xml_export version="2.0">
  <database name="msg_db.sqlite">
    <table name="messages">
      <column name="msg_txt" type="3">Your message body</column>
      <column name="msg_address" type="3">+919203487229</column>
      <column name="msg_folder" type="1">1</column>
      <column name="msg_time" type="1">1305483332</column>
      <column name="msg_imei" type="3">355940045825435</column>
      <column name="msg_status" type="1">36</column>
      <column name="msg_uid" type="3">{c33eb602-1456-4542-a755-268dc3728638}</column>
      <column name="msg_address_substr" type="3">4487229</column>
      <column name="msg_subject" type="3"/>
      <column name="msg_attachments" type="3"/>
      <column name="msg_type" type="1">0</column>
      <column name="msg_binary_path" type="3"/>
      <column name="msg_attachment_tns" type="3"/>
      <column name="msg_sent_frompc" type="1">0</column>
    </table>
    <table name="messages">
      <column name="msg_txt" type="3">Hi gopi, how are you? ;)</column>
      <column name="msg_address" type="3">+919582821300</column>
      <column name="msg_folder" type="1">1</column>
      <column name="msg_time" type="1">1305516490</column>
      <column name="msg_imei" type="3">355940045825435</column>
      <column name="msg_status" type="1">36</column>
      <column name="msg_uid" type="3">{15a0d257-2318-4baa-b764-dd14c1aa1fb5}</column>
      <column name="msg_address_substr" type="3">2821300</column>
      <column name="msg_subject" type="3"/>
      <column name="msg_attachments" type="3"/>
      <column name="msg_type" type="1">0</column>
      <column name="msg_binary_path" type="3"/>
      <column name="msg_attachment_tns" type="3"/>
      <column name="msg_sent_frompc" type="1">0</column>
    </table>
  </database>
</smses>

```

Then you can use the following php script to do the conversion to the generate the xml format script required by the SMS Backup and Restore App.

```
<?php

$file=fopen("sms-20120708160401.xml", "w");
$xml=simplexml_load_file("messages.xml");
echo $xml->getName()."<br/><br/>";
$begin="<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' standalone='yes' ?>\n";
$begin.='<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="sms.xsl"?>'."\n";
$begin.='<smses count="">'."\n";
fwrite($file,$begin);
$start='  <sms protocol="0" ';
$finish='/>';
$i=1;
$j=0;

foreach($xml->children()->children() as $table) {
    echo $i++."  ";
    $read=1;
    $msg_status=$table->column[5];
    $msg_folder=$table->column[2];
    if($msg_status=="34") {
        $type=1;
        $read=0;
    }
    else if($msg_status=="36") {
        if($msg_folder=="4294967295") {
            $type=3;
        }
        else {
            $type=1;
        }
    }
    else if($msg_status=="1" || $msg_status=="5") {
        if($msg_folder=="4294967295") {
            $type=3;
        }
        else {
            $type=2;
        }
    }
    else {
        echo "<br/>".$msg_status."; ".$msg_folder."<br/><br/>";
    }
    $body=htmlspecialchars($table->column[0]);
    $body=str_replace("\n", '
', $body);
    $address=$table->column[1];
    if(strlen($address)==11) {
        $address="+91".substr($address,1);
    }
    else if(strlen($address)==10) {
        $address="+91".$address;
    }
    else if($address=="") {
        $i--;
        continue;
    }

    $sms=$start;
    $sms.='address="'.$address.'" ';
    $sms.='date="'.$table->column[3].'000" ';
    $sms.='type="'.$type.'" ';
    $sms.='subject="null" ';
    $sms.='body="'.$body.'" ';
    $sms.='toa="null" ';
    $sms.='sc_toa="null" ';
    $sms.='service_center="null" ';
    $sms.='read="'.$read.'" ';
    $sms.='status="-1" ';
    $sms.='locked="0" ';
    $sms.='date_sent="null" ';
    $sms.=$finish."\n";

    fwrite($file, $sms);
}

$end='</smses>';
fwrite($file, $end);
fclose($file);

?>

```

***One point to be noted:***

**You have to manually write the `count` attribute in the `smses` tag. Just check the number of lines in your generated xml file & subtract 4 from it OR just write the last echoed integer by the script**

Now just send this to your android & restore using the SMS Backup & Restore App. Bingo! you are done!
> 2 votes

# Answer
It's not as simple as to copy the SQLite database to your new Android device, as the internal structures will differ (they even do between Android versions). There are a lot of apps in the play store to Backup/Restore your SMS on Android, using defined API-calls to extract / restore messages from/to your Android device. But unfortunately I saw none capable of converting from other formats. As some of them store the SMS-Backup in XML Format, you might be able to manually produce such a XML file for import (though *I* would think that being to much overhead).
> 1 votes

---
Tags: 2.3-gingerbread, sms, sync, data-transfer, sqlite
---


# Question
Title: Why is the NFC in the Galaxy Nexus battery?
Why is the NFC in the Galaxy Nexus embedded in the battery?

Wouldn't it make more sense to separate the two things? Is there any hardware advantage of being this way?

Disadvantages I can see several, like replacing the battery with another, without NFC...

# Answer
The NFC feature does not sit in the battery, only the antenna does.

NFC consists of:

* an integrated chip (soldered onto the logic board)
* an NFC Antenna that needs *free view* to the phone's back side
(antenna signals from the sticker on the back of the battery only need to pass the back cover)

If you look at the antenna you'll notice how big it is. It's basically just a coil with 4 windings, see ifixit's teardown. NFC allows for passive devices (Credit cards and such) which need to be fed energy from an active device through the antenna. Some engineer decided its best fit would be as a sticker on the battery.

There's only 2 positions where you can place it:

* Back of the battery
* Inner side of the battery cover (like with the Nexus S)

My guess is this: By placing it on the battery, the expensive and big 2-point connector (as with the Nexus S) could be merged together with the battery contacts to make it cheaper (and/or maybe more robust).
> 23 votes

# Answer
The NFC circuitry itself is in the phone, but the antenna is in the battery. This is due to the layout of the phone. Since the range of NFC is very small, the antenna is placed on the outer side of the battery to increase the range as much as possible.

Yes, the downside of this is that replacement batteries need to be NFC-enabled, but it's a small price to pay for a significant improvement in the functionality of NFC.
> 7 votes

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-nexus, nfc
---


# Question
Title: Are there any ROMs (other than CM and MIUI) for the HP Touchpad?
> **Possible Duplicate:**
> Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?

I'm looking for a ROM which is closer to stock Android for my HP Touchpad and haven't had much luck finding any information for ROMs other than CM and MIUI. Is there anyone out there who's working on a AOSP ROM which hasn't been modded too heavily (aside from making it work, obviously)?

# Answer
You may also be interested in AOKP ROM for the Touchpad. It's a derivative of AOSP, with some CM.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: custom-roms
---


# Question
Title: Long delay for Google Voice prompt if dialed from "Contact" home screen shortcut
I have Google Voice set up to prompt me (whether to dial using GV) every time I make a call (in GV app `Settings -> Making calls -> Ask every time I make a call`.)

When I dial via the Phone app, or via "Direct dial" home screen shortcut, the "Google Voice" prompt appears instantaneously. However, if I add a "Contact" shortcut to my home screen, tap it and select any number to dial, the same prompt takes over 5 seconds to pop up. The logs are showing no other activity during this time:

```
I/ActivityManager(  223): Displayed com.android.contacts/.quickcontact.QuickContactActivity: +332ms
I/ActivityManager(  223): START {act=android.intent.action.CALL_PRIVILEGED dat=tel:xx-xxx-xxx-xxxx flg=0x14000000 cmp=com.android.phone/.PrivilegedOutgoingCallBroadcaster} from pid 2814
D/PhoneUtils(  636): checkAndCopyPhoneProviderExtras: some or all extras are missing.
D/dalvikvm(  223): GC_EXPLICIT freed 2189K, 18% free 23216K/28103K, paused 2ms+6ms
I/ActivityManager(  223): START {flg=0x10000000 cmp=com.google.android.apps.googlevoice/.CallConnectingActivity (has extras)} from pid 1646
D/dalvikvm(  636): GC_EXPLICIT freed 107K, 4% free 13700K/14215K, paused 2ms+4ms
D/OpenGLRenderer(  636): Flushing caches (mode 1)
D/OpenGLRenderer( 2814): Flushing caches (mode 0)
I/ActivityManager(  223): Displayed com.google.android.apps.googlevoice/.CallConnectingActivity: +5s25ms (total +5s167ms)

```

Specifically, the line `I/ActivityManager( 223): Displayed com.google.android.apps.googlevoice/.CallConnectingActivity:`**+5s11ms**`(total +5s302ms)` shows the actual "lag" time.

I cannot see anything different than if I try dialing out from a "Direct Dial" type of a shortcut:

```
D/dalvikvm(  612): GC_CONCURRENT freed 607K, 7% free 15178K/16199K, paused 3ms+16ms
I/ActivityManager(  223): START {act=android.intent.action.CALL dat=tel:xx-xxx-xxx-xxxx flg=0x14000000 cmp=com.android.phone/.OutgoingCallBroadcaster bnds=[185,50][360,250]} from pid 671
D/PhoneUtils(  636): checkAndCopyPhoneProviderExtras: some or all extras are missing.
D/dalvikvm(  758): GC_CONCURRENT freed 423K, 5% free 13369K/13959K, paused 1ms+4ms
I/ActivityManager(  223): START {flg=0x10000000 cmp=com.google.android.apps.googlevoice/.CallConnectingActivity (has extras)} from pid 1646
D/dalvikvm(  636): GC_EXPLICIT freed 210K, 4% free 13690K/14215K, paused 3ms+4ms
D/OpenGLRenderer(  636): Flushing caches (mode 1)
I/ActivityManager(  223): Displayed com.google.android.apps.googlevoice/.CallConnectingActivity: +265ms (total +354ms)

```

I am running CM9 alpha (ICS: Android 4.0.3) on my Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone, but the same thing was happening on my Atrix 4G running stock Gingerbread (Android 2.3.4) and CM7 (Android 2.3.5.) This makes me think that this is not a general Android issue, but rather a bug in Google Voice app.

Has anyone else experienced the same problem? Other than posting on GV feedback forums, how do I go about resolving this?

# Answer
> 0 votes
This has been resolved in Android 4.1, a.k.a. "Jelly Bean". Now Google Voice prompt appears instantly no matter how it's triggered. Since the Google Voice app has not changed, my original thinking that it's the app's fault was incorrect.

Still no idea what's causing it on earlier OS versions.

---
Tags: home-screen-shortcuts, phone-app, google-voice
---


# Question
Title: Deleting Pictures through adb - Yet They Remain in Gallery
I'm attempting to write a script to test out a camera for long periods of time, and one of the issues right now is the fact that it runs out of space when pictures are taken. My initial approach is to remove the picture using adb after its taken. The issue is, even after I remove it from the location it is saved in, it remains visible in the gallery, and I assume it's taking up space somewhere. The properties associated with it (such as width, height, flash info, etc) all get deleted as well, except for the size.

What I'm currently doing is deleting all files in the DCIM directory (where the camera saves the pictures) after every time a picture is taken, using adb. Additionally, when I search throughout the phone using adb, I cannot find anything similar to the pictures anywhere in the file structure.

Is it possible to fully delete the pictures using adb? Is there a cache where the images are stored somewhere? The only way I can get the pictures to fully be removed from the phone are to either reboot, or use monkey runner to delete the pictures through simulated touches in gallery (which is tedious for a large # of photos).

# Answer
> 2 votes
The reason the pictures remains visible in the Gallery is because the Android's MediaScanner is a bit weak in this regard. What happens is this - when Android boots up, it runs the MediaScanner, which goes off and checks all the images, ringtones, audio to sum up, and keeps tab on it. *This is only done once on boot*.

You can get around this, by unmounting the SD Card, do this safely (Settings \> Storage \> Unmount SD Card) this will take a few seconds, once its unmounted, you can pop out the SD Card, pop it back in again, this in turn will force the MediaScanner to run again, and then all the images that you've deleted are no longer there in the Gallery.

MediaScanner is a service that acts as a caching service in that it caches all media (images/audio). On some ROMs, there is a facility to force it to run again without having to do the above.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Try the proposed solutions in this post. In short, one of these may trigger media scan:

1. Send a broadcast Intent ACTION\_MEDIA\_MOUNTED. Note that it's possible to send an intent via `./adb shell am`.
2. Run the Rescan Media app
3. Renaming a file
4. Taking a photo through the Camera app
5. Remounting SD Card
6. Rebooting

# Answer
> 0 votes
While other answers have given nice workarounds for this issue, most of them seem to not work properly in ICS. The only sure method of deleting all pictures was as such:

1. Delete all files in DCIM Folder
2. Clear Data for Gallery
3. Clear Data for Media Storage
4. Kill both Gallery and android.process.media

I've attempted to get these into a script, the issue is with 3 - as Media Storage doesn't give it's process name, and as such I can't clear data through 'adb shell pm clear processname' for it.

---
Tags: camera, adb
---


# Question
Title: Can I sync my Chrome bookmarks with my Android phone?
> **Possible Duplicate:**
> How can I sync the bookmarks in the web browser?

Since I'm a big Google user, I'm used to everything (Google Contacts, etc.) being synchronised on my Android phone. Is it possible to use something similar to Chrome's bookmark synchronisation, but somehow get these bookmarks to my Android phone?

# Answer
> 8 votes
The Dolphin mobile browser is supposed to have built-in Google Bookmarks sync capability.

# Answer
> 1 votes
There are quite a number of ways to sync bookmarks to your Android phone. If you're looking for one-click-import, check out the MyBookmarks app for Android.

If you use Opera on your desktop, I think it lets you save your bookmarks on the cloud. You can then sync it to Android using Opera Mobile/Mini (i.e., if you use it as your primary browser)

# Answer
> 1 votes
If you use Firefox, you might want to take a look at Firefox 4 and Firefox 4 Mobile. Both have Firefox Sync built-in, syncing bookmarks and browser history across various desktop installations of Firefox as well as on your mobile.

It's enough of a killer feature and done well enough that I've stopped using the stock Android 2.2 browser.

# Answer
> 1 votes
I use Chrome on my computer, and Opera on my Android. So I installed Opera on my computer, opened Chrome's Bookmark Manager, exported bookmarks to a Chrome HTML document, started up Opera on the computer, imported Firefox bookmarks (no Chrome option, but Firefox option works), then synced to my Android's Opera. I'm assuming you could do the same for most browsers.

---
Tags: browser, bookmarks
---


# Question
Title: Is there a way to route all traffic from Android through a proxy/tunnel to my Tomato router?
I'd like to be able to connect my Android phone to public Wi-Fi points (some with unencrypted connections), but:

1. People can see what I'm doing by intercepting unencrypted radio transmissions
2. The AP owner or other people logged into it can see what I'm doing
3. Hackers can pretend to be the access point and carry out man-in-the-middle attacks

There are tools like Wi-Fi Ruler and WeFi to automatically connect to access points, but I don't trust random APs. I'd like all my traffic to go through an encrypted tunnel to my home router, and from there out to the Internet.

I've done such tunnels from other computers with SSH/SOCKS and PPTP before. Is there any way to do this with Android?

More specifically:

I'm willing to change the router firmware, but I was having issues with DD-WRT disconnecting, which is why I'm using Tomato. Some possible solutions:

SSH with dynamic SOCKS proxy:

* Android supposedly supports this through ConnectBot, but I don't know how to get it to route *all* traffic.
* Tomato supports this natively.

I've been using this with Tunnelier for my web browsing at work. Requires setting up each app to go through the proxy, though.

PPTP:

* Android supports this natively.
* Tomato does not support this, unless you get the jyavenard mod and compile it?

I previously used PPTP for web browsing at work and in China because it's native in Windows and DD-WRT. After a while I started having problems with it, then I started having problems with DD-WRT, so I switched to the SSH tunnel instead. Also it supposedly has security flaws, but I don't understand how big of a problem it is.

IPSec L2TP:

* Android (phone) and Windows (work/China) both support this natively
* I don't know of a router that does. I could run it on my computer using openswan, but then there are two points of failure.

OpenVPN:

I could also run a VPN server on my desktop, I guess, though that's less reliable and presumably slower than running it in the router itself. I could change the router firmware, but I'm wary of more fundamental things breaking. Tomato has been problem-free for the regular stuff.

Related: Anyone set up a SSH tunnel to their (rooted) G1 for browsing?

# Answer
You can configure android to use a proxy server. But you must do it either from the adb client, or from the terminal in a rooted g1.

1. \> adb shell
2. \# sqlite3 /data/data/com.google.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db
3. sqlite\> INSERT INTO system VALUES(99,’http\_proxy', 'proxy:port');
4. sqlite\>.exit

read about @ http://discuz-android.blogspot.com/2008/01/set-proxy-for-android-web-browser.html
> 4 votes

# Answer
You can use connectbot to tunnel your connection over SSH.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: vpn, encryption
---


title: LogMeIn Hamachi VPN

text:
# Question
Title: LogMeIn Hamachi VPN
How do I connect my Android phone or tablet to a LogMeIn Hamachi VPN? Is it even possible?

LogMeIn has command line clients for Linux, and of course Android has built-in VPN settings.

Is there some way to hack my Android to get it on the Hamachi VPN? I'll try almost anything no matter how involved. Root and non-root answers welcome (I have root access).

# Answer
As described in this how-to, you can do this by installing a "chrooted" Linux distro on Android such as Ubuntu, and then downloading, installing and configuring Hamachi manually.

> Hamachi is a vpn program which can be used to link up computers. With hamachi on an android you would be able to access the files on multiple computers from anywhere in the world (provided that you have wifi, 3g, 4g or any other type of internet connection on your phone) this is useful when programs like dropbox can't hold the file that you want because it is too large and you know that you will need it at some point when you are on the go. To get hamachi on android there are a few requirements which must be met first:
>
> 1. Internet access.
> 2. Ubuntu/Debian/Backtrack or any other Linux distro on your phone.
> 3. Rooted phone (root access).
>
> Once those 3 requirements have been met you should be set to go.
>
> 1. Boot up the Linux distro on your phone
> 2. Either open up the browser on the distro or the browser on your phone.
> 3. go to http://www.mediafire.com/?jwng92o6j56ov8l and download the hamachi file. If you did this on the distro then you may skip to step 5A
> 4. If it hasn't happened already, move that whole file to emmc on your phone
> 5. (5A. Move the hamachi file from the downloads folder in the distro to `/root`) Open up the distro and copy that hamachi file from `/mnt/emmc` to `/root`
> 6. Open terminal and cd into that directory and run the following commands
> 7. `sh ./install`
> 8. `mkdir /dev/net`
> 9. `mknod /dev/net/tun c 10 200`
> 10. `apt-get install sudo`
> 11. `apt-get install libcrypto++7`
> 12. `ln -s /usr/lib/libcrypto.so.0.9.8 /usr/lib/libcrypto.so.0.9.7`
> 13. `sudo tuncfg`
> 14. `hamachi-init`
> 15. `hamachi start`
> 16. `hamachi login`
> 17. `hamachi set-nick` \[enter desired nickname here\]
> 18. `hamachi join` \[networkname\] \[password\]
> 19. DONE.
> 5 votes

---
Tags: security, encryption, vpn
---


# Question
Title: How to hide updates from market? (Given Titanium backup "detach from market" doesn't work)
I have an app that a recent update has removed functionality, so I would like to make the market think I no longer have this app so it'll stop trying to update it and I can safely use the "update all" feature again.

If this question looks like an exact duplicate of this question, it is because it is, EXCEPT the titanium backup solution which I've tried dozens of times, while android market is stopped, restarts, rom flashes, etc will not work under any circumstances. The titanium backup "detach from market" doesn't appear to help in the slightest. I'm not actually sure what that does. My assumption is that recent versions of the market broke the detach functionality.

**Titanium backup "Detach from market" doesn't work.**

# Answer
Save a copy of the original .apk file and keep it backed up.

A bulletproof way to get cut off from Google Play's update mechanism for that app is to **re-sign it with a different key**, then reinstall the newly signed apk file. Google Play (maybe) will still offer updates\** for that app, but **installing them will eventually fail** because of the different signature. ApkTool will do it for you:

```
me@local:/tmp$ java -jar apktool.jar decode --no-src FDroid.apk fdroid/
I: Copying raw classes.dex file...
I: Loading resource table...
I: Loaded.
I: Loading resource table from file: /home/me/apktool/framework/1.apk
I: Loaded.
I: Decoding file-resources...
I: Decoding values*/* XMLs...
I: Done.
I: Copying assets and libs...
me@local:/tmp$ java -jar apktool.jar build fdroid/ FDroid.new.apk
I: Copying classes.dex file...
I: Checking whether resources has changed...
I: Building resources...
I: Building apk file...
me@local:/tmp$ md5sum FDroid.apk FDroid.new.apk
123c6932114dbed1334611eb8f4ca397  FDroid.apk
059ba98c5c60433cb6799013f22f244f  FDroid.new.apk
me@local:/tmp$ diff -rq FDroid.apk FDroid.new.apk
Files FDroid.apk and FDroid.new.apk differ.

```

ZipSigner2 might also help you do it (just found it on Google Play).
> 2 votes

# Answer
Recent Market updates *did* break the detach. A solution is to freeze Market Updater and then uninstall updates of Market. If the original version of Market in your ROM is old enough, this will downgrade it to a version before the relevant update. Whether this will eventually make things not work in Market, I don't know yet.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: google-play-store, app-market-link
---


# Question
Title: How can I sync the bookmarks in the web browser?
I want to open the bookmarks I saved in my PC to be seen from my cellphone's browser. So I need them synced. How can I do that, say with Nexus One?

# Answer
Fennec (pre-release FireFox mobile) is supposed to have bookmark synch.

I haven't tested it, as the Fennec install keeps failing on my Incredible. :-(
> 3 votes

# Answer
Chrome for Android is now out of Beta, and not only does it sync your bookmarks, but also lets you open a browser tab that you have open on another device.
> 3 votes

# Answer
Transmute "will quickly and easily sync the bookmarks from the standard web browser on your Android device with Google Bookmarks." (untested)
> 2 votes

# Answer
You can use an app from Google named Chrome2Phone : http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.google.android.apps.chrometophone.

That's a pretty good one !
> 2 votes

# Answer
The Delicious site has an Android app, so any bookmarks you save there will be available on your phone.

Another option is to use Opera on the PC and phone, Opera Link will then sync your bookmarks.
> 1 votes

# Answer
what about xmarks.com?
> 1 votes

---
Tags: sync, bookmarks
---


# Question
Title: Tell HTC EVO browser to always "select all" when moving to URL field
Every browser I've used selects the full URL whenever I move into the URL field (address bar), but my new HTC EVO doesn't select anything. Almost always when I move to that field, it's to enter a completely new URL, so the extra steps (press, hold, wait, then select all) are annoying.

Is there some way to change this to work like every other browser on the planet? (Short of installing another browser, which I'll do now, anyway, while waiting for an answer here.)

Even a faster way to "select all" would be welcome.

# Answer
My best guess is that this behaviour is not configurable and maybe solely HTC's fault (you most problably had a look at every option of your browser already before asking here).

Some options that come to mind:

* You might want to try a different browser than the EVO's default (Dolphin, Opera, Firefox)
* Root, unlock and install CyanogenMod or something different (alas, not an option for many due to difficulty, risk and warranty problems)
> 3 votes

---
Tags: browser, internet, htc-evo
---


# Question
Title: How can I fix the GPS on my Samsung Galaxy S?
As has been well documented, the Galaxy S phones have terrible GPS functionality. It works for a minority, but it is slow/inaccurate for some and for others it just doesn't work at all. How can I fix this?

# Answer
Four ways: Upgrading the software, fixing the hardware, resetting the GPS settings/data, and using "fake" GPS.

# Upgrading the Software

Samsung definitely released some bad GPS firmware, which does not help things. Fortunately, good code is included in all of the recent 2.2 updates. If you can, upgrade your software to 2.2. It has many advantages besides just the GPS!

You can also try flashing 2.3 GPS code (see this XDA thread). Apparently it's the best yet, and should work with any ROM.

Summary: Gingerbread great, Froyo good, Eclair bad.

Note: A minority of users have *worse* GPS performance after upgrading to Froyo. If you have the very latest Froyo update and this is true for you, I believe you can fix it by continuing with the other steps below (or the 2.3 GPS code above). You probably have bad GPS data and settings left over from Eclair, or perhaps it's just that your phone has been "cold started" and the GPS needs to collect some information about the nearby satellites first.

# Fixing the Hardware

This might void your warranty, though if done properly it should be undetectable.

A major problem for many users is, yes, a hardware problem -- but not a GPS chip issue as some have claimed. I was reluctant to accept this myself, but after trying everything else I finally resorted to this fix, and it worked! The hardware has apparently been fixed in newer device versions, so if you bought your phone after October 2010 I recommend trying the other steps before doing this. But the good news is that it's easy to do. There's a detailed guide on XDA; here is the quick version:

* Take off the back cover; remove the battery, SIM, and SD card.
* Remove the 7 small screws in the back of the device, and carefully pry off the backing plastic.
* You'll see 4 gold-ish contacts sticking out, approximately at each corner of the device. You'll notice that the backing plastic has 4 flat contacts on it, which are supposed to touch the ones on the device. (See the guide for details).
* Slightly bend the contacts on the device upwards (a millimeter or so should be good, don't overdo it) so that they will contact the backing plate, like they were intended to. You might want to insert something like a small folded piece of paper under the contact, so that it doesn't bend back down.
* Put everything back together, and continue with the next section.

# Fixing the Hardware (2nd option)

This really voids your warranty, but seems like the best possible technical fix so far.

> Problem is caused by bad gnd conductivity between mainboard and antenna. It is conduced by conductivity rubber. This kind of rubber was used for old nokia 8210 for connect display to mainboard. It was the mayor fault for nokia 8210.

There are 2 different methods which both require soldering skill but are said to significantly improve the GPS signal. Read more, see photos and a step by step guide on XDA.

# Reset the GPS Data and Settings

* Start up the phone, shut off GPS, and install **GPSRestore** (alternate non-Market link) and **Captivate SGS Tools** (don't worry, for our purposes it works for all SGS models).
* Open the SGS Tools and, from the **Secret Codes** menu, go into **GPS-Test and settings (LBSTestMode)**.
* Hit **Delete GPS Data**.
* Run GPSRestore. I suggest running it with GPS off first, letting step 2 fail, then going outside, turning GPS on and running it again. It may take 5+ minutes while your phone searches for satellites and figures out where it is. This "cold start" should prep your phone with good data, and future locks should be much quicker.
* Once the test is done, you should be good to go!

I recommend only trying the following if your GPS is still slow or doesn't work after trying everything else; in most situations the default server is fine.

* Go into **SUPL/CP Settings** (in LBSTestMode as above) and change **Server** to **supl.google.com** (port 7276).
* Install **GPSTest**, go outside, turn on your GPS, and open the app. Wait for a lock; again, this might take some time.

# Using "Fake" GPS

Even the best GPS doesn't lock on instantly. You can use "assisted GPS", or aGPS, to help get a rough fix quickly while you wait for the more accurate GPS to get a lock; this only works when you have internet access, since it uses your IP address to locate you. Go into your device's GPS settings (`Settings -> Location and security`) and make sure **Use wireless networks** and **Use sensor aiding** are both checked. **Use GPS satellites** should, of course, be checked also.

Note: This might make things worse in situations where the phone relies on the inaccurate aGPS more than the "real" GPS. Experiment with and without it.

**And that's it!** I hope this guide works for you and you enjoy your newly functional GPS.
> 41 votes

# Answer
There is a simple guide of the hardware fix on xda-developers, which doesn't require you to remove any screws. It worked surprisingly well on my Galaxy S.

**The trick is to increase the pressure of the GPS antenna connector by placing a small stripe of tape above the connector. The guide on XDA has some nice pictures and instructions, definitely worth reading.**
> 10 votes

# Answer
I have several bluetooth-GPS adapters that I use with all of my devices when I need a superb signal because a specialiced receiver is almost always superior to a smartphone's internal GPS (due to integration constraints).

See a more generic question/answer here: What can I do when my GPS doesn't work (or if my tablet doesn't have GPS)?
> 4 votes

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s, gps
---


# Question
Title: Is it possible to use MadWifi on Android given the proper chipsets?
So, a friend and I were going back and forth about our phones (iPhone vs Android), and somehow landed on the topic of MadWifi. Given the right hardware with root access, could one use MadWifi on their device?

Using my phone as per example:

I have a Sony Xperia Play which uses the Snapdragon chipset. The chipset developer, Qualcom, also owns the Atheros chipset (wifi adapter) which I believe is included with this particular phone. However, due to my difficulties and getting root access, I have no way of testing this theory.

# Answer
**Short answer:** As per the documentation, Yes.

## **Long answer:**

* Your Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, uses the Qualcomm Atheros MSM8255 product brief PDF for MSM8255 Snapdragon CPU processor, which in turn uses WLAN 802.11b/g/n.
* As per the MadWifi project page:

> **The MadWifi project is**
>
> ... a team of volunteer developers working on Linux kernel drivers for Wireless LAN devices with Atheros chipsets. We currently provide three drivers, MadWifi, ath5k and ath9k.
>
> ...ath9k **supports all currently available 802.11n chipsets from Atheros**...

So, as far as we can read from their documentation, they provide support for all 802.11n chipsets, one of those included with the Qualcomm Atheros Snapdragon WiFi chipset.

---

**Ps:** This is purely based on the specifications, I can't guarantee with 100% certainty since I haven't tested this support.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: wi-fi, sony-ericsson-xperia-x10
---


# Question
Title: How to disable automatic picture upload to Google+
I've got Motorola RAZR (XT910) and I decided to install the Google+ app to stay in touch with it. Whenever I take pictures with my phone it would upload those pictures to my Google+ account even though I have set my Instant Upload settings to OFF. How can I really disable that without uninstalling the Google+ app? I would like to hand pick photos from my phone to be uploaded to my Google+. Thanks

# Answer
> 11 votes
Open the Google Plus app, go to settings and disable "instant-upload".

Please note **if you enabled it**: Each photo you take will be uploaded to Google Plus' staging area **but not be shared** immediately. It's just for convenience so that you don't have to grab your phone if you want to share some past pictures you took with your mobile. You will be able to to *share* from any browser you're logged in at any later time you want.

You can also select if you only want to *instant-upload* when you're on wifi.

---
Tags: images, google-plus
---


# Question
Title: What can I do when my GPS doesn't work (or if my tablet doesn't have GPS)?
The problem: I want to use an (offline|online) navigation app but:

* I have an Asus Transformer Prime with very bad GPS reception
* I have a tablet without GPS (e.g., a Nook Color)
* My phone has a very low GPS signal
(Samsung is infamous here, Galaxy S, Nexus S, Gio and so on all have users complaining about it)
* My phone often loses track of GPS satellites

My device has Bluetooth however.

What can I do to get a working and precise GPS signal?

# Answer
I have several bluetooth-GPS adapters that I use with all of my devices when I need a superb signal because a specialiced receiver is almost always superior to a smartphone's internal GPS (due to integration constraints).

It's very handy for my Nook Color tablet that has no GPS but bluetooth (Asus Transformer Prime users also have this kind of problem).
> 3 votes

# Answer
The Transformer Prime has a problem with its GPS all right. You can get a free external GPS adapter that fits into the docking port.

http://event.asus.com/ASUSPad/TF201GPS/
> 1 votes

---
Tags: gps, navigation, network-signal
---


title: Gmail stuck on "Waiting for sync"

text:
# Question
Title: Gmail stuck on "Waiting for sync"
My Gmail app recently stopped working. I'm on a SGS Captivate running this custom ROM -- while I realize there might be some ROM-specific glitch, I thought I could ask here for general troubleshooting tips. I stopped getting new emails last week, so I cleared the app cache, toggled sync off and back on, then finally uninstalled and re-installed the app. Nothing seems to make any difference -- mail will not sync, sitting at the "Waiting for sync" message with a blue spinner for hours. Am I missing anything? Is there any way to get a handle on what exactly is going wrong here?

# Answer
This question is rather ROM specific.

In fact the custom ROM post even says it's a "New Beta from vibraturk". If you want to continue using this beta ROM, please search the linked thread or ask the creator for for more specific help on his ROM.

You might want to consider a more "established" ROM like CyanogenMod for Captivate, there are even CM9/ICS nightlies already.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: gmail, sync, samsung-captivate
---


# Question
Title: Does Android have a "device driver" architecture?
Since 1990, when a new version of Windows comes out, the (only) thing that stops PC owners from upgrading is whether there are compatible device drivers for their hardware (network adapter device driver, display adapter device driver, printer device driver, etc.).

Does Android have "device drivers" that Acer, Archos, HTC, Huawei, and other phone manufacturers can publish on their website such that Android device owners can, if they want, upgrade their phone's OS and afterwards (download and) install the appropriate drivers?

# Answer
> 6 votes
Android does not have "device drivers". If you were to think of the entire Android ecosystem within your handset, split into 3/4, using the Java Programming language, the remaining 1/4 is the kernel written in C/Assembler. It is there within the kernel is where the drivers are embedded. That is part of the kernel's job to interact with touchscreen, accelerometers, compass, etc, and certain interactions with the hardware gets delegated to the Android side of things. That is a summary in abstract form for the layman to understand.

On to hardware manufacturers such as Acer, Huawei, HTC, Samsung, Sony, Zte, to name but a few, what each of those companies do, is publish the sources to the kernel, so that it can be built. Although, having said that, some are not exactly GPL compliant, some provide sources, which may not be fully complete, quite possibly, due to the restrictions on certain closed-source for a particular hardware, or others just flagrantly violate the GPL and not publish it at all. Perhaps, some do distribute the source in which the process of rolling your own kernel can fail due to malformed errors in the code or missing extra code.

That applies to, generally older kernels, version 2.6.x, in which a mix-and-match of the appropriate sources gets merged in manually, to create a build, this is where it can backfire quite horribly, the build breaks, kernel refuses to boot and lots of hacking to get the build to work.

Atheros, is one very classic example of a wifi chipset found in quite a large majority of handsets, notably, the sources for the device driver, are quite hard to find, which has resulted in broken builds of the driver, in turn, when integrated with the kernel, as a whole, Android refuses to start the wifi. Due to obscurity of the source, hackers have attempted to get the appropriate wifi driver from other stock ROMs thereby exacerbating the gambling on the functionality of the wifi which either work or break.

The newer kernel versions 3.1.x, have most of the device drivers employed for usage with Android, merged into the main kernel sources thereby minimizing the chances of mix-n-matching, merging the source manually for a hardware, be it a new compass, acclerometer etc.

*If there's anything amiss feel free to comment, and amend this accordingly.*

---
Tags: hardware
---


# Question
Title: Root Nook Color without removing Nook OS
I have a Nook Color 1.3.0 and a Mac OS X computer. I have a microSD card with ClockworkMod and such for installing the Android OS, but I would like a solution that would allow me to root so that I don't need Honeycomb or ClockworkMod to install and run things from the Market. At the very least a terminal emulator would do. Can anybody help me out?

# Answer
> 2 votes
It sounds to me like you want to keep a rooted version of the nook OS (which will have to be rebooted to run non-BN apps) (quoted from the cyanogenmod wiki)

Prior to rooting the Barnes & Noble Nook Color, it is recommend you register it with the Barnes & Noble.

**Setting up uNooter**

In order to properly flash an uNooter image to a SD card, you will need to use an USB card adapter or have an internal SD card slot on the computer. Writing the uNooter image to the SD card will wipe it, backup anything of value and/or importance elsewhere.

1. Download the uNooter image:
2. Unzip the uNooter zipfile.
3. Write the uNooter image to the SD card:

Windows

1. Due to Windows not having the ability to write images to drives, you will need win32DiskImager to accomplish this. Latest version should be fine. http://launchpad.net/win32-image-writer/+download
2. Insert the SD card you are going to use to write the uNooter image to.
3. Open win32DiskImager.
4. Select the downloaded & extracted uNooter image with the folder button.
5. Select the drive letter for the SD card.
6. Write the uNooter image.

Linux

1. Insert the SD card you are going to use to write the uNooter image to.
2. On the computer, open up terminal and navigate the directory where the extracted uNooter image is located.
3. Once in the same directory as the uNooter image, type the following commands: umount /dev/ NOTE: is the device file associated with the SD card, e.g., sdc or mmcblk0, and NOT the mount point, e.g., sdc1 or mmcblk0p1. dd if=uNooter.img of=/dev/ bs=1M

Mac OS X

1. Insert the SD card you are going to use to write the uNooter image to.
2. On the computer, open up terminal and navigate the directory where the extracted uNooter image is located.
3. Once in the same directory as the uNooter image, type the following commands: diskutil list NOTE: This will help you identify the SD card. Make sure it is the SD card & not one of the hard drives of the computer. diskutil unmountDisk /dev/ NOTE: is the device file associated with the SD card, e.g. disk2. dd if=uNooter.img of=/dev/ bs=1m
4. The uNooter image is now setup on the SD card. Continue to the next section.

**Gaining Root Access**

1. Power off the Barnes & Noble Nook Color. Also if the device is connected to a computer, disconnect it.
2. Insert the newly setup uNooter SD card into the Barnes & Noble Nook Color.
3. Connect the Barnes & Noble Nook Color to the computer. This will trigger the Barnes & Noble Nook Color to power on (the screen will remain off) and allow uNooter to root the device. This screen is black for up to ten minutes.
4. The computer will see a new USB device.
    * Windows: The computer may complain about missing drivers. Simply cancel through them at this time.
    * Linux: The Barnes & Noble Nook Color will show up the computer as a RNDIS ethernet device. You may ignore this.
    * Mac OS X: The Barnes & Noble Nook Color will show up as an additional Ethernet device. Just cancel when you see the dialog box pop up.
5. Once this occurs, disconnect the Barnes & Noble Nook Color from the computer. The Barnes & Noble Nook Color may restart itself. If it restarts normal, continue to the next step. If it does not, power it off, remove the SD card & power it back on normal.
6. At this point the Barnes & Noble Nook Color is rooted.

Two notes from my experience:

1. Use a small SD card, as you will not be able to reuse it.
2. I recommend going to the cyanogenmod wiki, setting up ClockwordMod, and installing Google Apps, as this will not activate adb. Sorry, not enough reputation to post the link.

# Answer
> 4 votes
Have you considered running Android directly from the SD card? It runs great (just don't go cheap on the SD card), is surprisingly easy to set up (the hardest part for me was being patient for the Nook to finish its initial charging), and if you have any problems or change your mind, you just pop out the card and it's a bog-standard Nook again.

# Answer
> 2 votes
It is possible to set up dual boot for the nook color. Booting normally will boot into say cyanogen, pressing volume down during boot will boot into the nook stock rom.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1275859

---
Tags: rooting, clockworkmod-recovery, nook-color, macos
---


# Question
Title: Accidentally accepted update, how can I abort before it actually installs?
I have been deliberately avoiding the latest Verizon D2G update for a few months now. It is really annoying that there is no way to make it stop asking me. But tonight I was tired and my finger slipped and it accidentally accepted instead of delaying 12 more hours. My phone started to shut down to install but I quickly pulled the battery out. Now every time the phone boots after about a minute of starting services it apparently remembers it was going to update so it starts shutting down the phone.

I have tried going to updates and manually looking for an update, in the hopes that this would confuse the phone and it would start asking me again if I wanted to update, but in the middle of searching for an update it just suddenly aborted and threw me back to the setting menu, and subsequent attempts just immediately aborted. \[edit:I tried this again, this time immediately looking for updates as soon as I could login. This time it immediately started searching, and continued searching until the auto-shutdown started.\] I also tried looking at the processes with a system monitoring app I have but wasn't able to identify a process to kill before it started shutting down - and even if I did I am afraid it might still start updating when I'm not watching later.

Is there any way I can abort the install? I am afraid to let it actually start installing because I don't know what to expect. Does it offer me a chance to cancel? If not, I fear I might brick my phone if I pull the battery after it starts to update.

And in case you are wondering, I absolutely will not allow this update because of the risk of the update breaking some obscure feature I depend on. For another, this is the update that removes the ability to root. My phone is not rooted, and I really don't have the the time or inclination to root it at the moment (it is another risk I don't want to take) but I won't accept the ability to be removed.

Edit: The following information is from the adb log:

```
07-XX XX:31:15.883  1306  1433 I ActivityManager: Start proc com.motorola.Upgrader for broadcast com.motorola.Upgrader/.UpgraderReceiver: pid=2334 uid=1000 gids={3002, 3001, 3003, 1015, 2001, 1007}^M
07-Xx XX:31:15.953  2334  2334 W UpgraderReceiver: !!! INSTALL UPDATE !!!^M
07-XX XX:31:15.961  2334  2334 W RecoverySystem: !!! REBOOTING TO INSTALL /cache/Blur_Version.4.5.608.A956.Verizon.en.US.zip !!!^M
07-Xx XX:31:15.961  2334  2334 I RecoverySystem: in google bootCommand, 23103 disalbed^M
07-XX XX:31:15.961  1306  1340 D ShutdownThread: Notifying thread to start radio shutdown^M

```

So, it wants to install 4.5.608.A956.Verizon. \[update: actually, that can't be right, because that is the version I am already running! \]

Also, the following did not work:

```
bash-4.1$ ./adb uninstall com.motorola.Upgrader
Failure

bash-4.1$ ./adb shell kill $(./adb shell ps | grep com.motorola.Upgrader | awk '{ print $2 }')
could not kill pid 2379: Operation not permitted

```

Update: Well, I am thinking it is looking like maybe the only way to avoid the update is to actually root my phone. :-(

# Answer
> 4 votes
Ok, here is how I solved the problem:

I followed the first part of the directions here: http://oldwiki.cyanogenmod.org/wiki/Motorola\_Droid\_2\_Global:\_Full\_Update\_Guide to wipe the flash and install older version of the Motorola software. (specifically, section 2.1.1) Then I upgraded to the version that I was running before the update started attempting to run.

---
Tags: updates, ota-update, motorola-droid-2
---


# Question
Title: How to put android 4.1 (jelly bean) on nook color
> **Possible Duplicate:**
> When will my device get the Android 4.1 update (Jelly Bean)?

I am running CM9, just so you know that it's been flashed before. My question has 2 parts:

1. Will the nexus 7 rom work (https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#nakasi)
2. If not, how can I make it work?

# Answer
> Will the nexus 7 rom work (https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#nakasi)

No.

> If not, how can I make it work?

This is quite honestly too extensive to cover in one Stack Exchange answer, and is arguably outside of the scope of our site anyway. Suffice it to say, you'd probably need to find or write driver implementations for all of the hardware, get them into a JB compatible kernel, and then put together a system image that actually boots with all of the above. Any driver/firmware code that is closed source would possibly have to be reverse-engineered. It's not a particularly trivial task.
> 4 votes

---
Tags: nook-color, 4.1-jelly-bean
---


title: Facebook for HTC Sense not working

text:
# Question
Title: Facebook for HTC Sense not working
Somehow, Facebook for HTC Sense has disappear from my HTC Vivid.

In `/system/app` I've found `HtcFacebook` which is `com.htc.socialnetwork.facebook`. When I try to install it errors with **Application not installed**.

I've tried to find this package on the Internet to install it, but could't find it anywhere.

How can I get the HTC Facebook back onto the device?

# Answer
> 2 votes
After many failed tries to reactivate the HTC Facebook, I've decided to **reset to factory defaults**. This fixed the issue. Now **Facebook for HTC** is working fine.

---
Tags: htc-sense, facebook
---


# Question
Title: What are the Pros and Cons to running CyanogenMod?
Can anyone that's used it list the relevant benefits and drawbacks? I'm actually more interested in the drawbacks and limitations because its not hard to find praise for it.

**Edit:** Ooops, I forgot to mention, original Droid currently running Android 2.2

# Answer
Your mileage with Cyanogen Mod (CM) depends on the phone you are running. If you have an HTC phone, you will not have any HTC Sense running or installed at all. So HTC widgets will not work. This is a hurdle for many HTC phone users that enjoy some of those widgets. Personally I've been able to find adequate replacements to them. So that wasn't a barrier for me.

If you are not using an HTC phone there probably won't be a lot of cons. Again though you might not be able to use any stock widgets that came on your phone. But you might have a different dialer and contact app then what you are used to.

Do you connect to an email system at work, such as an Exchange mail system? I do and that was one of the reasons for me not using CM. Not that it didn't work, but there was some functionality I was missing, a few settings and I didn't like the way the contact app managed the Exchange contacts. Whatever HTC uses for their builds worked better IMO so I use an HTC based ROM.

As Saboogu states, hardware will make a difference too, but CM team is good about refining their ROM and working out kinks so that it functions well even on older phones.

If you are already rooted make a NAND backup first. Follow this guide I wrote keeping in mind it was written for an Evo, but most info still applies to other phones. Once you have a backup then wipe and flash and go from there. See if you like it and the feature set. This way if you hate it you can easily restore your backup.
> 6 votes

# Answer
The biggest goal of CyanogenMod, in my eyes, is to provide back porting of functionality to older phones who are not getting the latest version of the Android OS (2.1+), e.g. the G1. It also gives plenty of little tweaks here and there to add some functionality to your phone that you may not have gotten before.

It also (typically) requires rooting your phone, so you also get those benefits too.

Although CM releases "stable" versions, your stability may vary. You'll most likely see more reboots from CM than a stock rom or other miscellaneous bugs.
> 6 votes

# Answer
Really depends on your hardware. At this stage, CM6 is likely slower on a G1 than the OTA 1.6 release. Maybe not quite as stable either, but certainly more feature-packed.

On the other hand, on a higher memory device that has native 2.x support, those same drawbacks won't apply.
> 2 votes

# Answer
I previously owned a HTC Hero and I resorted to CyanogenMod (CM) because it does not contain HTC Sense.

However due to hardware limitation I noticed that my phone ran slower as the Android version increase. Since Froyo the phone no longer fast and there are times it lags.

Another problem I faced was hardware support. For example camera may lack of some features introduced by HTC.
> 0 votes

# Answer
We have an Orange San Francisco, AKA ZTE Blade in the family.
I would say the biggest weakness I found with the CM7 rom for this device is around various little bugs with proximity sensor, wifi connection and power management states.

IMHO this is due to ZTE being very hacky in the way they maintain kernel source, and partly due to having undocumented hardware revisions which causes various minor glitches. This caused extra work for the devs who put the Blade kernel together for CyanogenMod, but all issues have been fixed.

Sometimes users suffer bugs and simply do not report the bugs on the bug tracker so the devs are unaware of issues to fix.

All these are minor issues, against the well know pros of CyanogenMod. I have had far more stability, performance and support from CyanogenMod than I did from Orange and their stock ROMs.
> 0 votes

# Answer
One drawback is reduced support for hardware in some cases. IE Cyanogenmod for HTC Desire doesn't support HD video.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: cyanogenmod, custom-roms
---


# Question
Title: How do I get the camera of the Lenovo ThinkPad to stop making a sound when I take a picture?
> **Possible Duplicate:**
> How do I disable the 'click' sound on the camera app?

I'm not sure if this question is specific to Lenovo ThinkPads or if it is more general to Android 3.1 devices (I haven't upgraded to ICS yet since I don't want to risk losing root right now).

But basically, even when I turn the volume all the way down to 0, my ThinkPad still always makes a sound whenever I take a picture with it.

# Answer
> 2 votes
You're root, you could replace the sound files with silent clips. This is what I've found:

```
find /system -name '*ogg' | grep cam
/system/media/audio/ui/camera_click.ogg
/system/media/audio/ui/camera_focus.ogg

```

Audacity is a free and open editor to create an empty or silent sample and export it as an ogg file.

EDIT: According to this question/answer you can also delete or rename the camera\_click.ogg file. Plus: Before you do, you need to

```
mount -oremount,rw /system
[remove/edit the above ogg files]
mount -oremount,ro /system

```

# Answer
> 0 votes
For non-root users (who cannot remount `/system` read/write), there are also some helpful apps in the playstore -- e.g. Silent Camera from Kinoko, or Silent Camera from Reason Rare Rat, or Debys SilentCam. And more...

---
Tags: camera, lenovo-thinkpad-tablet
---


# Question
Title: Why does the Android device connect to a secured wireless router without providing a password?
During the weekend, I was able to connect to a secured wireless network via an Android device (Asus Transformer Tablet), but when I tried to connect to the wireless network via my laptop it was requiring the connection key (which I didn't know).

Can anyone explain me how was this possible?

I've tried to see the password of the wireless network on the Android device, but (I guess for security reasons) the current password for a wireless network is not shown in its settings.

(The secured network was not previously saved/configured on the Android device.)

# Answer
> 8 votes
Do you have another Android device (like a phone, maybe) that you'd previously connected to that same Wi-Fi point?

Android 4, Ice Cream Sandwich, (and possibly older versions too, though I don't have any to hand to check) has an option to sync saved Wi-Fi passwords between different Android devices on the same Google account. Here's the option under **Settings** -\> **Backup & Reset** on my phone:

There are also apps that allow you to sync Wi-Fi passwords between your laptop and your Android devices, though I assume you'd know if you had one of those installed.

# Answer
> 3 votes
You can see the password if your device is rooted, it's located in plain text at:

```
/data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf

```

Normally your device won't connect to any secured *and previously unknown* Wi-Fi without your request.

The only possible explanation for me is one of the following:

* You gave it to a friend who added the Wi-Fi for you;
* You had another Wi-Fi with the same name/pass-phrase combination set up already.

# Answer
> -1 votes
At a guess, you're *actually* connecting automatically to another nearby unsecured network rather than the secure network.

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Tags: wi-fi, security
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# Question
Title: How to change Exposure when it is not possible
If i understand correctly, exposure is the measure of lightness in a picture. In my phone, there are no settings by which I can set it manually (it does it automatically), I use to put my hand on camera and then remove it suddenly and take a shot to get higher exposure when needed. For low exposure I use to face camera towards a lights source then suddenly back to the point and take a shot.

This is an ugly way to do it, is there any software or technique which can do that??

# Answer
If you can't adjust the exposure even with third-party camera apps, the only solution would seem to be adjusting it in post-processing. For example Photoshop Express can do this right on the phone. Or you can use your favorite image editor after you move the photos to your PC.
> 3 votes

# Answer
Try downloading Pudding Camera.

There is a little wheel on the left side you can turn to change exposure.
> 1 votes

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Tags: camera
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# Question
Title: How much user-available memory do you need?
How much user-available memory is needed in an android phone that runs Gingerbread and is likely to be upgraded to Ice Cream Sandwich in order to be able to install and work with a reasonable number of apps.

Of course, the answer might differ depending on the usage profile of the specific user so 2-4 number ranges would be useful (e.g., light, typical, or heavy user).

# Answer
> 3 votes
*How much more /data space does ICS need in comparison to GB?*

Easy answer: **The same**.

3rd party installed apps need as much storage on both GB and ICS and maybe ICS' internal apps need a little more storage, but that's negligible. Most often it's just the user apps that grow bigger and bigger by time (with bigger devices. It's the same with bloated websites as connection speeds grow).

I have installed ICS on all of my current devices and can say that it's not a big difference. I typically need 400-800MB with some games (MaxPayne, GTA3, etc.) and consider myself a medium-to-power user (with number of apps installed).

```
Breakdown for my Nexus S: 650MB used
Internal stuff, summed up: around 100MB (after some usage time)
User installed apps+data: 550MB
Dalvik-Cache: 85MB (15MB for internal apps, 70MB for user apps)
App sizes: 350MB (15MB for internal updated apps, 335MB for user apps)
App data: 190MB (40MB for internal apps, 150MB for user apps)
Remaining: 25MB for the FS journal and misc random stuff

```

So I guess, you need around 80-100MB for the minimal stuff (maybe less) and on top of this all that you want to install.

I think the comfort zone starts at 250MB if you move apps to the sdcard and 500-750MB if you won't.

# Answer
> 1 votes
This is the minimum specs for ICS:

* Minimum chipset: ARMv7 and upwards, SnapDragon S2 and greater, preferably. (*MSM 7225, 7625, 7227, 7627 - forget those chipsets as they are **ARMv6***)
* Minimum RAM is 512Mb,
* ICS is bigger than Gingerbread ROM, we're talking Stock ROM, (GB weighs around 65Mb, ICS weighs in around 120Mb), then again ROM modders have somewhat trimmed down ICS to about 90Mb)

The crucial thing to remember is this, if your `/system` partition is small (I define small as around 120-140Mb) then ICS is going to have a hard time running in that storage space.

At the bare minimum, the `/system` partition would be ideally 200Mb to cater and give breathing space for ICS.

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Tags: 2.3-gingerbread, 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, internal-storage
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# Question
Title: How to move applications to external memory card on ICS
I have an android ICS tablet and I'd like to install applications on the **external memory card** (not the internal memory / internal SD).

Is it possible to do so? A solution that does not require rooting would be great.

# Answer
> 1 votes
The "official" version disappeared in ICS. But you can use root-solutions (creating symbolic links) Therefore you need two partitions on your sdCard.

A complete explanation can be found here: http://www.modaco.com/topic/331205-guide-how-to-get-more-free-space-for-your-apps/

(The root-variants still work)

you will need a rooted phone though

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Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, external-sd, app2sd
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title: How to find saved wifi password?

text:
# Question
Title: How to find saved wifi password?
> **Possible Duplicate:**
> How can I find out the wifi password from android setting

A friend entered his wifi password into my android phone so that I could connect to his network.

I don't want to ask him again for the password and I want to use it on my laptop.

how can I find the password that he entered?

thanks.

# Answer
> -2 votes
There is an option in the setting to display "show passwords" on all. So basically when you click on the WiFi name in "Wireless and Networks" you will find the password.

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Tags: wifi-password
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# Question
Title: Reset battery status after changing battery?
If I plug in the charger of my Galaxy Nexus, I'm able to replace the battery without switching the phone off. However, the battery status does not adjust to the new battery. For example, if I replace an empty battery with a fully charged one, the phone still shows an empty battery symbol.

Is there any way to adjust the battery status to the new battery?

When changing the battery while the phone is running, do I risk breaking the phone or the battery in any way? For example, if the phone thinks the battery is empty while it's actually full, do I risk to overcharge the battery if I connect the phone to a charger?

**Edit**:

I just noticed the following:

If I enter `*#*#4636#*#*` and select battery info, it displays a charging state of 100 after changing to a new battery. So the phone notices that the battery was changed. I'd just like to see that as well in the battery icon in the notification bar.

# Answer
> 2 votes
You might need to reboot. Your battery won't be damaged by hot removing it. It has an internal circuit to prevent overcharge. Removing it while (dis)charging doesn't matter.

See this post from Android developer Dianne Hackborn.

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Tags: battery, samsung-galaxy-nexus, charging
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# Question
Title: Why does my Galaxy S3 make a noise when I put it down?
Occasionally, when I put my Samsung Galaxy S3 down relatively firmly, it makes a noise that's sort of half way between 'BONG' and 'CLANK'. When it happens I can immediately pick it up and put it down again to make it happen again. I can repeat this for as long as I like. Pick up, put down, BONG/CLANK, repeat.

There are no on-screen messages, just the noise. Why is it doing this? Can it be stopped?

Thanks

# Answer
Well, I've figured it out. Sort of. I habitually put my phone down on top of my wallet, which contains my NFC-chipped credit card. It turns out the phone actually makes that noise when it finds an NFC chip. If I push my credit card against the back of the phone the same thing happens.

I'm still not sure what it really means, though.
> 39 votes

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Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-3, nfc, alerts
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