# Question
Title: How come some apps can't be written to the SD card?
A question that has bugged me is why app developers (especially Google) do not allow apps to be written to the SD card. I understand there are a few that cannot; however, I think there are still quite a few apps that can run from SD, which would benefit those of us with small amounts of internal memory.

# Answer
Here is an excellent list of characteristics of apps which should not be installed on SD card, with reasons, from the Android developer site. Hope it helps.
> 11 votes

# Answer
Normally, apps that need to run constantly or in the background are considered to be unsuited to run from a storage card. This is also probably why most "system" apps are prohibited from doing so. Consider, if the card was unmounted, those apps would remain unavailable until the card was re-mounted.

As to why an app developer wouldn't make his/her app storage-friendly is a question better answered by those in the know.
> 7 votes

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Tags: applications, app2sd
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title: Where are log files located on Android?

text:
# Question
Title: Where are log files located on Android?
> **Possible Duplicate:**
> How can I view and examine the Android log?

My android (2.1) phone (a HTC Wildfire, if that matters) sometimes reboots without an apparent reason. Not extremely frequently, but too much to simply ignore it.
I'd say once every couple of days.

It always happens when I'm not using the phone, I take it out of my pocket and am greeted by the SIM unlock screen, so it's hard to pinpoint the app or service that is causing it.

I browsed the filesystem a bit but couldn't immediately find anything like `/var/log`, so I wonder if anyone knows where logfiles are located, if they exist at all?

Or any other way to easily pinpoint the offending process on my phone?

# Answer
If you want to examine the log outside the environment of your phone, there is the application LogCollector.

It's free and it allows you to send/upload the log to/with the program of your choice. I just send the log via gmail to my home email account.

It is always easier to read such log files on your pc screen, compared to reading it with whatever application on your (small) Android screen.
> 4 votes

# Answer
How do you know your phone has rebooted? Just because the lockscreen appears doesn't mean it rebooted. Check your battery stats, Settings \> About Phone \> Batter and look at the up and awake time. If the phone has been up for a long time its unlikely your phone is rebooting on you. Just check this after a time when you think the phone has rebooted.

I think you are going to have to use logcat to get logs from an Android phone. If your phone is rebooting on you, you could attempt to run logcat, but you would have to have logcat running continuously to capture what is going on and making it reboot. This is not very practical. But look below for info on logcat.

Instead of using logcat I would try just starting from a fresh install of Android. If you are rooted I would backup, wipe, and install a ROM from scratch. If you are not rooted, I would download the latest version of Android for your phone from HTC and install it. This will wipe your phone, but running from a clean slate should fix the reboot issue.

Once on your fresh Android install open Market place and install your apps starting with essentials only. DO NOT INSTALL any task killer of any kind. Reboot and see how the phone runs for a few days. If things seem fine then move on and install your other apps a few at a time. Give it a few days and continue on to the next few apps until you find the app that is giving you problems or maybe all you needed was a fresh start.

**Logcat:** Install the Android SDK on a computer and then open a terminal shell (cmd.exe in Windows) and run adb logcat. On windows it looks like:

> ```
> adb logcat
>
> ```

Sometimes I have to specify the whole path for that command to work. For me it would be:

> C:\Downloads\evo\android-sdk-windows\tools\adb.exe logcat

You mileage will vary depending on where you install the SDK...

After running that command you will only be able to view what the terminal shell can contain or hold in memory. My recommendation would be to increase the buffer size of the terminal shell so that you can capture more information. More advanced shells might be able to output a text file, I would try that too. If you do not have this option just copy and paste everything in the screen to a text file yourself. In cmd you do this by right clicking, mark, highlight what you want, and then go to the text file and paste.

Also this is not always the best route unless you know what you are looking for because logcat will essentially show output of everything your phone is doing. So there will be a ton of data generated.
> 1 votes

# Answer
The best you can do if you want to examine the log files is to install the free Android market app called **aLogCat** (just search for it on the market).

It allows you to inspect, filter for different levels of log categories and also to send you a log to your email or save it. For sure the easiest way to inspect the logs.
> 1 votes

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Tags: logging
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# Question
Title: How do I root Samsung Galaxy Tab? (Verizon)
I need to install an app which requires root on my Samsung Galaxy tab(Verison). How can this be done?

# Answer
I have not attempted this myself, but here are the steps that I found and seems pretty close to how I rooted my Samsung Galaxy S.

**I am not responsible for any issues that arise from following these steps, including, but not limited to your device spontaneously bursting in to flames. I suggest you do additional research and see what others say about using the tools below and read *EVERYTHING TWICE* before doing it. And follow the instructions step-by-step.**

1. The firsts step is to make sure that you have KIES installed on your computer.
2. Now download SuperOneClick Root App from here and save it on your desktop.
3. Once this is done, turn your Samsung Galaxy Tab on and connect it with your computer. Make sure that you have USB debugging mode disabled and sync with KIES.
4. Now disconnect Galaxy Tab from computer and enable USB Debugging mode. You can enable the USB debugging mode by Settings\>Applications\>Development\>USB Debugging.
5. Now reconnect your tab again to your PC and tap the Home button so that your Tab loses sync connection with KIES.
6. Once done, launch SuperOneClick.exe and click on root. Please wait for 5 to 10 minutes while the application roots your Galaxy Tab.
> 1 votes

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Tags: rooting, samsung-galaxy-tab
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# Question
Title: legitimate version Android 2.3 available for developers?
I have seen a bunch of posts online saying that you can download some hack of android 2.3 on your phone..are these safe to use?

or better yet, is there a legitimate version that I can download and use from the android dev site?

# Answer
There are many custom ROMs that are perfectly legitimate. They are built by dedicated people who put a lot of effort into the work. I wouldn't disparage them by calling their work "hacks". CyanogenMod is the most popular, but there are plenty more.

There is not an installable phone image available for you to download from the Android Dev site. Those are emulator images only.
> 6 votes

# Answer
It depends on your phone. I have been using Android 2.3.3 for about a month now on my N1, and it is not hack, but Google's own version.
> 2 votes

# Answer
If you download the source for Android 2.3 you can compile it and install it on your device. You can even make any modifications that you want before building it. This is what the folks who make all of those custom ROMs do.

Unfortunately even downloading and installing vanilla Android is a bit more involved and complicated than it sounds.
> 1 votes

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Tags: 2.3-gingerbread
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# Question
Title: HTC Mail:  Move Messages Between Folders, Not Synced on IMAP Server
I'm seeing some odd behavior on Android...running 2.2 on HTC Incredible.

I have an IMAP account configured through the built in "Mail" program. First of all, when you send messages from this program, it copies them to a local "Sent" folder, and there is no way to specify a remote IMAP folder for this (e.g. "INBOX.Sent"). So then, I try to move messages manually between the local "Sent" and the IMAP "INBOX.Sent" folder, and it appears to work fine, but when I check from another IMAP client (e.g. Thunderbird), I don't see the messages in "INBOX.Sent".

Has anyone else run into this? Any idea how to resolve?

# Answer
Sounds like it's just not copying sent messageinto your mailbox at all, only keeping them locally. I would assume that's just a shortcoming of the app and you'd need to use a different one that supports that feature. The default client is very basic and buggy. Have you considered using Gmail? You can configure it (through the web) to get mail from an IMAP account, and then you could use the Gmail app (which is very good).
> 1 votes

# Answer
There's also the most excellent and customizable K9 mail client that supports IMAP, POP3 and Exchange 2003/2007 (with WebDAV). Lots of features and its freeware too. I think you can specify folders on your server for special items like Sent, Drafts etc.

Also, it has push mail or you can configure it to poll at intervals.
> 0 votes

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Tags: email, imap
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# Question
Title: Any help on a HTC Desire GPS problem after Android 2.2 Froyo update?
I have an HTC Desire with T-Mobile Germany branding. Last Sunday I finally got the long-awaited Android 2.2 update from my operator. The update ran successfully. However, since then it doesn't get the GPS location! The blue dot won't lock on Google Maps. Another GPS-App, "Gps Status" cannot get the coordinates, even after almost half an hour. Restart or reinserting the SD-Card doesn't help. I wonder if anyone here experienced something similar after the update.

Cheers

# Answer
I had problems with GPS with my new HTC Desire (Froyo out of the box). I downloaded the "GPS Status" and "GPS Test" apps which showed only two satellites but were not locking them. Even Google Maps didn't get a GPS lock. I went outside of my room and tried but no luck. I switched off the cell, removed the battery, SD card and SIM and then put them back and restarted but still no luck.

Then I installed GPS Essentials from the Android Market. I launched the application and changed the following settings:

* Gps update interval -\> 10 seconds
* Tracking update interval -\> 10 seconds

After this I tapped on "satellites" on the main screen while standing outside. It detected 8 satellites in a few seconds and it was able to lock to 7 of them. After that everything started working including "GPS Status", "GPS Test" and Google Maps (even inside my room).
> 3 votes

# Answer
I had this gps fail happen and when I first used GPS status app it rebooted the phone.

I had travelled to Adelaide from Perth and back and then used the app Skydroid(golf) for the first time since froyo 'upgrade' to discover it wasn't working. Using google earth in Perth had my location still in Adelaide.

Whilst in Adeliade I has some trouble getting it to correctly set the locataion time which was set to automatic use network provided value.

I unchecked this and set the location time to Perth and restarted the phone and everything worked with full gps accuracy.

My theory is that the froyo 'upgrade' some how srews the timebase registry setting that the gps uses to locate and sync with the sats. Some how either by forcing the time reset or the reset caused by GPS status app this was reset and al works well.

Very shonky testing from HTC/google i think.
> 2 votes

# Answer
try using gps status , go to option , capteur,manage a-gps state , choose first reset , then redo and choose download . and do it outside for the first time , it's important. also , check your APN settings in Wireless and network \> Mobile network \> APN name . Check that the apn selected have "supl" in APN type (in the bottom of the list) , for example "default,supl".
> 1 votes

# Answer
Which version are you updating from? Since Android 2.1 (or 1.5?), most applications will not be able to turn on GPS automatically, for privacy reasons. You need to enable GPS setting: `Settings > Location & Security > Use GPS satellites`; there are widgets that allows you to enable GPS from the home screen as well.
> 1 votes

# Answer
I have a HTC Desire that is using 2.2 (though when I got the phone, it was already running 2.2)

I've found the GPS to be pretty good in general - there are times when it is a bit patchy (loses GPS signal even though the surroundings are the "same") and slow to pin-point my location.

What I've found helps is to turn on 3G data while using GPS - this seems to greatly assist the accuracy and speed when finding your location.

Also, a reboot of the phone (or if you feel lazy/in a hurry - turn airplane mode on/off) might help kick some sense into the phone.
> 1 votes

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Tags: 2.2-froyo, htc-desire, gps
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# Question
Title: How can you restore the default icons after installing a home replacement like Open Home 6
I have **installed Open Home 6** as a home replacement on my *Archos 101 apad*.

**Is there a way to revert to the default icons for gmail / market / contacts and the like ?**

Are icon sets a system wide setting ? Or are those sets specific to the software application which displays them.

# Answer
> 3 votes
AFAIK, OpenHome icons are specific to OpenHome. If you switched to another home scren app, the icons would revert to the default icons. If you want to keep OpenHome but not their icons, you would need to replace the icons through OpenHome.

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Tags: home-screen-shortcuts
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# Question
Title: How can I output video from my HTC Thunderbolt to a TV?
Could somebody please detail for me a system using which one can output video to a TV from an HTC Thunderbolt? It has no HDMI port so I'll (almost) certainly need an adapter, I know. I don't really need HD quality but at least 720p would be nice.

# Answer
The Thunderbolt has DLNA, so if your TV supports DLNA you can use that. On my Samsung phone, you use the AllShare app for DLNA, but I think the Thunderbolt has another app built in. Page 275 of the User Manual describes how to use DLNA. This droidforums thread has a discussion of ways to use DLNA without a compliant TV, I'm not sure how well other ways will work.

There's also a "multimedia dock" that is supposed to be released shortly, it's "out of stock" until then. That should provide a cable-based way of video output.
> 4 votes

# Answer
If your TV doesn't support DLNA and you have some other DLNA capable device, like an Xbox360, PS3, or DLNA capable blu-ray player, you can use that as a bridge between your TV and the phone.

Just set your phone to use wi-fi and run whatever app comes w/ the phone (or download some other app on the market) to stream via DLNA. Your DLNA capable device should detect the media server from your phone. Once that happens, you should be able to stream from your phone to the capable device, which would then display to your TV.

Check out these posts on Droid forum for more specific info.
> 1 votes

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Tags: video, streaming, htc-thunderbolt, dlna, video-out
---


title: How do you get Android OS bugs fixed?

text:
# Question
Title: How do you get Android OS bugs fixed?
I recently got an HTC Shift from Sprint. Within days of getting it, I noticed very bad issues with the phone losing sync to 4g, 3g, and wifi; it would not reacquire data connections unless I manually turned 4g on and off. Their tech support people immediately reset the phone to defaults, blamed my problems on an app, and declared victory.

I don't call this a victory. They treated symptoms, but the real problem (assuming it was an application issue) is that the Android OS allowed an application to routinely get their networking stack in a foobar'd state.

Assuming I can reproduce this problem, what is the best way to resolve it?

# Answer
> 4 votes
I assume from your posting that resetting the phone fixed the problem (temporarily).

If you want the problem fixed for good, you can help by trying to narrow down the problem further. This will allow you to address the right people with a very specific request of what needs to be fixed. You should:

* Try to reproduce the problem. Install the apps you previously had on your phone one by one until the problem re-occurs.
* If you can't reproduce it, there is not much chance of getting this anywhere further. If you can reproduce it:
* Try the offending application on a different type and brand of phone.
* If the problem exists on all phones, contact the author of the application about the problem and consider raising an issue with Google on their Issue tracker.
* Otherwise try the offending application on a different phone of the same model and brand. If the problem occurs there too, contact HTC telling them which application has that effect and on which phone is does have that effect. Also consider filing and issue with Google as above.
* Otherwise, if only your phone is affected, it's probably save to assume it's a hardware defect with your phone. Return it for repairs.

# Answer
> 2 votes
As I see it you have some options. I dont know if they will work though.

1. Return your phone if it has an internal error, demand your money back and get another phone.
2. Android OS is build by Google. HTC etc. only patches the OpenSource version of the OS from Google. So if you want something in Android fixed, I think Google would be the place to "place your demands" - not that I think it will matter much, but they do have a forum for Android too.
3. If you know its an application that made the phone faulty, then dont install that application?

Thats what I know/think - dunno if its of much help, but its my answer.

---
Tags: networking, operating-system, sprint
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# Question
Title: sync htc / android phone with macbook / mac os x
I use MacBook (which have Mac OS X 10.6 - Snow Leopard). How can I sync data between my HTC phone and my MacBook.

I have HTC Wildfire, and HTC Sync software only supports Windows.

# Answer
As of now, there's no counterpart on Mac for HTC Sync.

You can however try MissingSync for Mac \- which allows for syncing of contacts, calendars, notes, tasks etc. on Mac
> 3 votes

# Answer
It's not recommended to even attempt to do syncing Windows. Android have a very different design than, say, an iPhone; Android is designed to sync over the air with cloud services like Google Contact, Gmail, Google Calendar, etc. In Android, you shouldn't need to tie your device with a computer. What you need is a Wifi or 3G connection, and you don't need to worry about syncing.
> 2 votes

# Answer
For data not including contacts, email, etc since they're already synced for you thru Gmail... you could try Dropbox or some other cloud service. Dropbox would appear as a folder on your computer (Mac or Windows), and Dropbox would run as an app on your phone. So, whatever files/data you have in the folder on your computer would be accessible from your phone, and vice versa.
> 1 votes

# Answer
If you want to sync media files, I suggest you to connect your device in Storage mode or use Dropbox. If you mean that you want to sync contacts, appointments and this kind of stuff, just migrate all that information to Google Contacts, Calendar and others using iCal and Contacts on your Mac.

If you really want something like HTC Sync you have two options:
> 1 votes

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Tags: 2.2-froyo, sync, htc-wildfire, macos
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# Question
Title: How to sync an Android phone with anything other than Google?
> **Possible Duplicate:**
> Suggestions for syncing data to someone besides Google? Funambol?

As I understand, the Android phone can only sync with Google (GMail, Google Calendar, etc.) out of the box. I can imagine corporate users having a problem with their data residing on Google's servers — despite their "do no evil" credo.

Is there any Android application that lets you sync with the desktop (either Linux or Windows) or corporate server applications (think Exchange)?

# Answer
Finally, I can Sync Android contacts & calendar plus notes & tasks on other platforms...

I've tried all sorts of ways to sync my rooted Android HD2 with Outlook but nothing seems to work, not even HTC's Android sync works particularly well, and it's complicated by the fact that I have other devices (Nokia etc) that I also want to sync and often the software clashes or records get deleted or duplicated....

And then I stumbled across Funambol (http://www.funambol.org) which is a free server that runs on Linux (in my case) and I think there might be a windows version too. I think there is also a hosted version (http://www.funambol.com) if you don't want to go to the trouble of hosting your own server, but I don't have any experience of that.

So I downloaded the funambol server binary, ran it on a CentOS system and that was pretty much it! I then downloaded the android client from market place and the symbian client (for my Nokia) from the Ovi store and grabbed the Windows Outlook client.

The installation of these clients was straightforward and now all 3 systems (PC Outlook, HTC HD2 on Android, Nokia on Symbian) all sync up against Funambol with no problems and the phones sync over the air! And yes, there's a client for iPhones too.

This has really been a life saver for me so I hope others out there discover it and find it as useful! It's a shame it doesn't yet support notes and tasks on Android but hopefully that will come and in any case I sync tasks using Toodledo and GotToDo so no biggie.
> 8 votes

# Answer
1. Root the phone
2. Flash CyanogenMod firmware on it
3. Go to the "Work Email" app, put in your Exchange Activesync credentials, Bob's your uncle.

The "Work Email" app is by HTC, the device manufacturers, and I believe has been nicked from the firmware of another Android device. Unfortunately that .apk doesn't install on "standard" G1s.

If rooting/flashing isn't an option for you, then use an IMAP client, plenty available free in the Market. (With the Work Email app you get Exchange global address list integration, which is just fab)
> 7 votes

# Answer
Mark/Space is coming out with a software that will directly sync with your desktop:

http://www.markspace.com/products/android/missing-sync-android.html
> 5 votes

# Answer
You are wrong! Android itself does not sync with Google - the G1 and Magic contain Google proprietary software that syncs with Google. If you wanted to sync with something else, the API is there for you to program it yourself.
> 3 votes

# Answer
To not lose your contacts when disabling sync or deleting from Gmail, select "Phone" for Contact type when adding a new contact. This contact will not be synced with Google.
> 3 votes

# Answer
Telling us which phone you have would help quite a bit, I think.

That being said, I use the out-of-the-box functions with GMail and they do the job perfectly. If you don't trust Google, don't put any sensitive material on your phone. After all, phones might just get lost and then your data is gone as well. I'd rather put my money on Google than putting it on me not losing my phone, ever.

If you'd have a HTC phone, HTC Sync does the job for windows machines just fine. Not entirely sure if there's a Linux or Mac version for the software.

HTC also let you sync with Exchange, I've used it for a couple of days and it worked great, but then we started working on our OCS implementation and it broke - haven't had time to fix it.

**One last piece of software you might want to check though:** NitroDesk TouchDown: http://www.nitrodesk.com/ I've only briefly installed it so no experiences to share, but I've read and heard good things.

Good luck!
> 2 votes

# Answer
How about also synching gMail, contacts and calendar with Thunderbird, this way even if your Google gets lost for some reason, it will stay in TB local cache. gMail can be synched with TB by either POP3 or IMAP (yes, TB can cache IMPA). You also have TB extensions to synch with gMail Contacts and Google Calendar.
> 2 votes

# Answer
I don't want to sync my contacts and all my personal informations to gmail. I’ve been looking for software that can sync my Droid with the Outlook Calendar and Contacts for a while now. I recently stumbled on android-sync. It seems to be the only software that really works for my Droid to directly sync Outlook 2007 via the USB. For more information: http://www.android-sync.com/
> 2 votes

# Answer
Down load JEYO Mobile Companion, Attach phone, select export from file menu, select option, select Symbian vcard format, select destination.

Copy all and save in SD card, goto contacts select vcard, select import from menu, select import from sd card.

thats all.
> 2 votes

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Tags: sync
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# Question
Title: Why does the home screen stay empty (no application icons/no widgets) sometimes?
I have a Motorola Milestone, and sometimes when I press Home to go back to the Home Screen, the screen shows no application icons, no widgets.

It simply stays blank, with the wallpaper on background. I can navigate to the other Home Screens by dragging to left or right, but every screen it empty.

The phone seems normal, no slowness, the app drawer opens up normally.

The only solution I thought was to restart the phone. I don't use any task killer.

I also noticed this started to happen recently, after installing many applications. And it normally happens after running some heavy app, like Angry Birds.

Did anyone notice this too?

# Answer
The Milestone (original Motorola Droid to all you Americans) doesn't use the default home screen app because of the slide out keyboard, since the default home screen app doesn't support landscape. Switching to one of the other alternate home screen apps might solve your problem.
> 1 votes

# Answer
Took me a while to figure out but it happened to me only at work. For some odd reason, when plugged into USB on Windows 7 Ultimate (to charge), this would occur. At home, I use 7 home premium and everything works - driver and software. The PC at work simply would not install the driver for the phone, and would leave my phone hanging. Being I am at work, I don't have the 'time' to troubleshoot, but do notice this occurs often. Hope this helps - from Toronto, Canada.
> 0 votes

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Tags: home-screen, motorola-milestone, reboot
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# Question
Title: How to call GTalk to GTalk from Android?
I need it badly. I know Google voice is there, but it's not available in India.

**Clarifications**
Need any good client application (Google Talk / Jabber client) that supports voice calls to and from GTalk users.

Thanks @Matthew

# Answer
> 3 votes
Fring or Nimbuzz apps from the market place both allow you to do voice calls using gTalk.

# Answer
> 4 votes
Google Talk Video/Voice support will be rolled out shortly on all Android 2.3 Gingerbread devices or on the Nexus S now (but as an OS update, not an app update, so you would find it in Settings, not in Market)

# Answer
> 2 votes
Use **Fring**. It can connect to gtalk and enable you to talk to your gtalk buddies. But it mutes in Samsung galaxy 3.

# Answer
> 2 votes
You can do video chat through Google Talk on Honeycomb (Android 3.0), which is only available on the Motorola Xoom at this point in time. No word on when this feature will trickle down into newer versions of Android (2.4+) or if this will become a standalone/updatable market app like Gmail, YouTube, etc.

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Tags: 2.2-froyo, google-talk
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title: Why does phone keep switching off?

text:
# Question
Title: Why does phone keep switching off?
I have an HTC Desire Z which I have bought 3 months ago and I usually use it for phone calls. I don't have many apps in it. Sometimes when I call from my phone it switches off and then I have to remove and reinsert the battery to restart it.
What could be going wrong here? I have Android version 2.2 on my phone.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Hacker solution: Root it and flash a new kernel.

Mainstream consumer solution: Restore to factory settings and see if that helps, or go to your wireless carrier store and have them flash your phone.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Install Battery Monitor Widget, and the companion app Process Monitor Widget.

These will display and log the battery temperature and CPU usage respectively. Process Monitor will also let you see a list of the most active processes.

This may help you learn what's happening on the phone before you go as far as restoring factory settings or flashing.

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Tags: htc-desire-z
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# Question
Title: Why does the vertical size of the scroll bar change?
When I scroll down a web page the scroll bar appears and constantly changes size as I scroll What does this size relate to?

# Answer
> 2 votes
Some websites load new content as you scroll down the page, to prevent new page requests thus reducing bandwith. i.reddit.com is one off the top of my head, the Market app does this also.

# Answer
> 2 votes
The scrollbar is related to the size of the content of the webpage you are looking at. If it the scrollbar is changing size, then that means the content on the page is likewise changing size (via asynchronous calls that retrieve more data for that webpage as you are browsing it).

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Tags: browser
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title: Use Google Talk with multiple accounts

text:
# Question
Title: Use Google Talk with multiple accounts
(Motorola Droid, Android 2.2.2)

My new employer uses Google Apps to manage e-mail etc. They're also big into instant messaging for intra-company communication.

On my device I have my personal account and have added my company account so I can use Gmail for either, have consolidated calendar, etc.

However, the Google Talk app is tied to my main (personal) Google account. I can't see a way to get it to use the company account or, better, allow both accounts to be active.

How can I use Google Talk with a secondary account?

# Answer
EDIT: Looks like this is coming, according to Google employee Colin Gibbs, on this Google Mobile Support forum thread:

> Thanks for being patient while we work on this feature. When we launched Android 3.0 (Honeycomb), we added support to Google Talk for multiple accounts. We're currently working on bringing the feature to phones as well.

So it looks like it should work on a Honeycomb tablet, and they may be backporting it to Gingerbread phones (video chat over GTalk has just been enabled for 2.3.4, so they're definitely porting Honeycomb Talk's features back to phones).

---

Original Answer:
Not a great solution, doesn't do all the alerting and notifications in a way that's integrated with the Android OS, but the only way to do this currently seems to be to use the built-in GTalk client for one account, and access the other via the web page.

For a standard GTalk account use this URL to sign into the mobile webpage: http://talkgadget.google.com/talkgadget/m

For a Google Apps Gtalk account use this URL to sign into the mobile webpage: https://hostedtalkgadget.google.com/a/YOUR\_DOMAIN\_HERE.COM/talkgadget/m

Or use a second IM client for the second GTalk account, as suggested by Matthew Read.
> 4 votes

# Answer
As you've pretty much said, the official Google Talk client doesn't have any way to select an account for it. Unless you want to be constantly resetting your phone and changing the primary account, you won't be able to use it with multiple accounts. You can of course request the feature; see the comments below.

I recommend using eBuddy Messenger instead. It's the best IM client I've used so far on Android, and easily handles multiple accounts regardless of which service(s) they come from. Just be careful to sign out properly; if the app is force-closed, Google never clues in to the fact that the client is gone and you'll still appear signed in to your contacts. (I have no idea why it handles this fine with every other client).
> 2 votes

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Tags: accounts, google-talk
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title: Android tablet as music remote

text:
# Question
Title: Android tablet as music remote
I imagine a setup where I use an android tablet computer as a remote control for my hifi system - at least for selecting music. I have connected a low-power, cheap and small linux computer to the amp. The low-powered computer holds all music on a USB stick, SSD or similar. The computer has no screen or keyboard permanently attached.

Can something like this work? All solutions I have found on the net require streaming from a NAS or the internet (internet radio) - e.g. Sonos. Ideas regarding hardware and software are welcome.

# Answer
You could try something like VLC Remote. It can apparently even be configured to work with an MPlayer install instead of VLC if you prefer (according to this project, at least). There's also a remote app for Songbird available, and you can find it in the Market as well.
> 3 votes

# Answer
Sounds like you're looking for mpd (music player daemon). It doesn't require X and there are lots of different clients/remotes for all kinds of operating systems including Android.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: wi-fi, music-player, linux, remote-control
---


# Question
Title: On many applications, text is wrapped to half the screen width
In Gmail, Reader etc., text is wrapped to about half the screen width. This is extremely annoying! Text-size is normal, and I can't find any global settings that would govern such a thing. Can anyone help me out? I'm using a Nexus S, CM7.

# Answer
> 2 votes
This was an issue with CM7 builds up until 7.0.2 after which it was fixed.

---
Tags: cyanogenmod, text-layout
---


# Question
Title: App for running a (simple) web server on Android?
> **Possible Duplicate:**
> Viewing web pages offline.

Hi,

I just got a new Acer tablet, and was looking forward to reading HTML files in addition to PDF on my tablet during my commute: case in point being the Android documentation which is available in offline form in the `doc/` directory in the sdk install.

So I copied the `doc/` folder from my PC to my tablet, and browsed to it using Astro, but was saddened to find that HTML files on the SD card are not easily accessible by the browser, which brings me to my question:

Is there an app (preferably open source), which can provide a basic web server (only localhost, simply serving HTML, JS, CSS and image files) so I can access files by typing URLs such as `http://localohost/android-docs/index.html` ?

I have looked at iJetty, but it seems to be doing too much. I just want to serve files, not do much Java.

Thanks in advance.

-A

# Answer
I do not know if this will help you but.... I have a similar problem with my Droid X. This is what I did--it might work for you:

1. On your home computer or notebook, download Opera, the free browser. Install.
2. Go Opera Unite within the browser.
3. Install the proxy server (may be named web proxy). The Unite web server app will also work.
4. Follow the instructions. Choose a folder on an attached drive (example C:\nameoffolder)
5. Fire up the app. Note the URl which is generated.
6. If you did this correctly, you now have a webserver installed within the Opera browser. You can configure whether you want this to be public or private.
7. Now, go to the Acer tablet. Open up any web browser --it need not be the Opera browser.
8. Insert the URL you previously copied.
    1. If your html files are hyperlinked, you should be home free.

As long as Opera browser with the Unite apps are running on the "original" computer, you can access them as a web page on your tablet.

Good luck!
> -2 votes

---
Tags: html, documents
---


# Question
Title: Are there any Email apps that render HTML emails?
Are there any email apps on the Market that can render HTML emails instead of just displaying the text of the email? I know the GMail app can, but I want one that I can use to view HTML emails from my non-GMail accounts.

# Answer
> 3 votes
Mail app that comes on all Android phones can accept HTML emails, I just tested it. Go to Settings \> Accounts & Sync \> Add account and then add your other email accounts. Once added and sync'd you should be able to view them by going to your apps screen and scrolling to mail.

# Answer
> 3 votes
Go to app's menu \> *More \> Settings \> Send and receive* \> set mail size limit to *No limit*.

Enabling *No limit* will allow the inbuilt email app to render the HTML in emails. This does not work for exchange account however, but it does fix the text issue on all POP and IMAP email accounts.

# Answer
> 2 votes
The native exchange client can't display HTML email if you use exchange server 2003. The client "touchdown" (from the market) can. This is a known bug.

# Answer
> 0 votes
I am getting a similar problem here on an SGS with 2.3.3

The problem is that html emails are rendered as text (hence showing the html source) rather than rendered as html as the email is intended.

I have tried this with email (the default app), and also tried touchdown and k9 mail.

In my case, neither email nor touchdown rendered them properly, but k9 mail did. This is a shame for me as email has a nice logo adjustment to show new mail, and integrates a little better into things like the social hub.

I suspect that the problem is related to what is produced by my exchange type server, which is actually zimbra. I'm sure your mileage would vary depending on your exchange version etc.

---
Tags: email
---


# Question
Title: is there any official froyo upgrade from samsung for galaxy 5 in India?
> **Possible Duplicate:**
> When will my phone get the Android 2.2 update (FroYo)?

Hi,

I am a galaxy 5 user from India, there were news about froyo update for galaxy 5 but my kies \[downloaded from samsung site\] doesn't show any upgrades. I don't want to root my device if there is any upgrade available for galaxy 5, or will be available in near future.

Can you tell me if this upgrade available here?

# Answer
> 0 votes
There is an Asia Froyo firmware released by Samsung. It's available on the http://www.samfirmware.com repository. You'll need to register and login.

You can then flash this official un-modified firmware by using the ODIN software.

I5508ZCKP2 is the Jan 2011 released Froyo firmware update for the Galaxy I5500 or Galaxy 5 as it's known otherwise.

---
Tags: 2.2-froyo, updates, samsung-galaxy-5
---


title: Could not dial on my galaxy tab

text:
# Question
Title: Could not dial on my galaxy tab
How to get Dialer application on my T-Mobile Galaxy tab?

# Answer
Apparently the only way to get dialer is to reinstall the european firmware: http://www.thegalaxytabforum.com/index.php?/topic/151-gt-phone-dialer/

BTW, you are on the wrong site. SO is for specific programmers questions.
> 2 votes

# Answer
On your galaxy Tab goto

```
Application>Contacts

```

Now select Dialer tab
> 1 votes

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-tab, phone-app
---


# Question
Title: Samsung S Galaxy II (i9100): possible with stock Google Android OS?
I'm in the market for a new Smartphone. Except for iPhone's, I'm new in the field and probably have some misconceptions.

My first choice was the Google Nexus S, but I was offered a great deal on the Samsung S Galaxy II (i9100). The only issue is that I read that it came with an "enhanced" version of Android. Being familiar with PC's, I know that these enhancements are almost always bloatware: I always do a clean install of Windows to get rid of it.

My question is fairly simple: is this possible to use the stock Google Android OS on the Samsung S Galaxy II (i9100)? That was the killer feature of the Nexus S for me: coming directly from Google, easily upgradable. Would that be possible and if yes, how?

Thank you for enlightening me.

# Answer
It is very unlikely that Samsung will ever release an unmodified Android firmware for the Galaxy S II. They've never released one for their Galaxy S family of phones without their TouchWiz "enhancements".

Historically the only Android devices that have run the stock OS have been the very early phones released by each manufacturer (before they'd written their own customizations) and the Google Nexus series of phones. If you stray away from that you are going to get modified firmwares, interfaces and apps.

One of the big downsides to using a phone that has extensive manufacturer customizations is that this means that they will generally be a lot slower in pushing out updated versions of the Android OS to you. Phones with manufacturer customized OS's are normally updated months after the Nexus devices, if ever. This is because the manufacturers have to do lots of work and testing to re-integrate all of their changes and customizations back into the OS every time the base OS changes. Factor in the fact that phone companies often drag their feet in certifying the updated OS's on their networks and you have a huge set of delays before the updates reach your phone.

The big upsides to a customized OS is that the manufacturer will often add a lot of features that aren't available to stock OS phones, eg Samsung's TouchWiz offered built-in wireless tethering well before it was added to the stock OS in Froyo, both HTC Sense and Samsung TouchWiz add remote phone tracking and wiping features to the phones (in most geographic regions), their media players can generally play more formats, and the interfaces often look "nicer".

Your main option for "clean" firmwares running the stock OS for non-Nexus phones is to use unofficial custom ROMs. Many of these use the stock Android interface and apps, with only minimal changes to either. See these questions for more on custom ROMs: What is the difference between: Rooting, Jailbreak, ROM, Mod, etc, and What is the meaning of “flashing a custom ROM”?

Also see this previous question: Android phones without custom UIs

**UPDATE**: Since this answer was written one things has changed. In mid-2013 Google started offering "Google Play Edition" phones for sale on the Play Store in certain regions in addition to their own Nexus line of devices. These "Google Play Edition" phones tend to be some of the more popular, higher-end GSM phones and are offered with the plain Android OS with Google Apps, and without any manufacturer or carrier modifications, just like Nexus phones. So far these phones have been getting OS updates much faster than their manufacturer modified brethren.

So far the phones available on there in "Pure Google" versions include the Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One, LG G Pad 8.3, Sony Z Ultra, and Motorola Moto G.

As these are generally the exact same hardware as their manufacturer branded siblings there are often fairly simple ways to apply these "clean" OSs to branded phones (but do check that you really do have the same hardware, some of these phones have variations with the same name, but different hardware in them, eg they may be available in GSM, CDMA, LTE versions with totally different radio hardware and SoC CPUs).
> 6 votes

# Answer
If what you are looking for is an “official” way of having a clean Android installation in a Samsung Galaxy S II, then I have to tell you that this is not possible. Samsung provides some added functions in his firmware (proprietary launcher, mail app, synchronization app with the PC, etc…)

There is the possibility to install custom ROMs on the Samsung Galaxy S so probably this will be possible for the Galaxy S II too, but this void the warranty.

If what you want is a powerful phone which will be the first to update to every new version of android with no added software or modifications, you are looking for a Nexus S.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: device-firmware, stock-android, vanilla-android
---


# Question
Title: How would I use Tasker to boot my PC when I get home?
I have an Android phone running the Tasker app. I have a home computer running Windows 7 as well. Is there any way I can have Tasker detect that I've arrived at home, and send a "Wake On LAN" packet to the computer somehow? What configuration do I need to do on Tasker and on the PC itself to support this scenario?

# Answer
You could check out this wake on LAN plugin for Tasker / Locale. (Haven't tried it - would be interested to hear how you get on if you give it a go)
> 5 votes

# Answer
Not using tasker, but the following may also work:

http://lifehacker.com/#!5796450/automatically-turn-on-your-pc-over-wi+fi-with-pcautowaker-on-android
> 1 votes

---
Tags: windows, tasker
---


# Question
Title: Do I need Android SDK to connect my phone in USB debug mode?
I'm following the steps provided here to root my Samsung Captivate (Galaxy-S). I install the USB drivers in the link provided. Whenever I connect my phone, I get the error `There was a problem installing this hardware... SAMSUNG Android Composite ADB Interface`. I do have USB Debug mode checked on my phone.

The googling I have done on this issue mention downloading the Android SDK, but I have heard no mention of needing this on the XDA developers forum or in any other conversation about rooting. So, I wanted to ensure that downloading the Android SDK was necessary, or would even fix my problem before I bother installing it and its dependencies (Java JDK). I'm running Windows XP.

Note: Although I'm running a 64-bit machine, I Installed the x86 Samsung Drivers since Windows XP is a 32-bit OS. I hope that's right.

# Answer
> 4 votes
No, you don't need to install the Android SDK. The SDK's drivers don't work for the Galaxy S, actually, at least not the last time I tried.

You best bet is to download Samsung Kies and update the drivers through it, as per this answer to another question. You can get Kies most easily from Samsung UK here.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Usually, all that's needed are the bits to make ADB (Android Debug Bridge) operate, which on Windows are the two libraries (AdbWinApi.dll and AdbWinUsbApi.dll). But, that really shouldn't be necessary for a commercial product.

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s, adb, windows, usb-debugging
---


title: Can you run Android in a VM on PC?

text:
# Question
Title: Can you run Android in a VM on PC?
I came across a how-to guide for running Android 1.7 in a virtual machine (VirtualBox), but 1.7 is old. I haven't been able to find a Android 2.2 or 2.3 image anywhere, does anyone have any ideas on how to virtualize newer Android OS's? Preferably a free virtualization solution like VirtualBox.

Here is the link about virtualizing 1.7:

http://osxdaily.com/2010/12/14/run-android-using-a-virtual-machine-on-a-mac-or-windows-pc/

They send you to here to download Android disk images:

http://virtualboxes.org/images/android-x86/

But I can't find anything newer than 1.7, anyone have any ideas?

# Answer
> 5 votes
Android-x86 seems to be the most current project, with nightly builds available at http://android-x86.moonman.dk/

I think the lack of activity one sees isn't so much a licensing/warez problem, it's just that the OS simply doesn't work too well with desktop systems yet, being highly phone & touch-centric. That and there's simply not a lot of interest for it yet.

I don't know if this project has the Google Apps (particularly Market) baked in or not. If not, that's another *major* piece that significantly reduces the usefulness of this OS.

Finally, there'd be the problem of getting drivers for all the various hardware made available. Considering Android's Linux base, I'm not sure how easy or difficult it is to do.

# Answer
> 3 votes
The easiest way of running android and testing android application on x86 machines appears to be using the android virtual machine that comes with the latest SDK.

With reference to a recent question, https://superuser.com/q/221944/39248 , there may be a problem with the latest android sdk .exe installer. you can try to download the zip version of the installer, then run "sdk manager.exe"

Place to download the SDK:

Link: http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html

Note that you need JDK to run the android SDK

Link: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html

And as @afrazier mentioned, android-x86 is a definite option but the lack of drivers make it difficult for most of us to use the OS properly...

# Answer
> 2 votes
Here's a link to to Android 2.3 (Froyo) Live CD: http://android-x86.googlecode.com/files/froyo-vm-20100812.iso. It's a small image (53.6 MB), I ran the live CD on VMWare Workstation and it worked like a charm.

# Answer
> 1 votes
I think its easier to get arm processor images than it is to get the x86 ones. I've been able to use the android virtual machine that comes with the software development kit.

# Answer
> 1 votes
You can also Download the already done Virtual Machine from Bash Blog, they created a Froyo VMWare image... http://www.bash.ch/2011/04/android-22-froyo-in-einer-vmware.html

The Virtual Machine has only 100MB

---
Tags: 2.3-gingerbread, 2.2-froyo, virtualization
---


title: What are loop devices?

text:
# Question
Title: What are loop devices?
How to Install Ubuntu on Android! states "your Android OS must support loop devices". What is a loop device?

# Answer
> 10 votes
The Wikipedia page on loop devices explains this pretty well. It's basically a "pseudo-device" (i.e. a device which doesn't exist physically) that allows a file to be treated as a block device (for example, a hard drive).

You need support for it because the Ubuntu system is stored as a .img file, which is essentially created to be a file representation of a filesystem or disk partition. By mounting it on a loop device you can access the file as though it really was a whole filesystem, thus creating a sort of "virtual" partition (or disk) for Ubuntu to live on.

# Answer
> 4 votes
> In Unix-like operating systems, a loop device, vnd (vnode disk), or lofi (loopback file interface) is a pseudo-device that makes a file accessible as a block device.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loop\_device

Basically, it allows you to make your phone think that an image file is a separate storage area/device.

---
Tags: linux, loopback
---


# Question
Title: Default browser / update to support google cloud printing
Is the default browser on the android platform Chrome? And if so, does anyone have an idea how to update it or get it to work with the Google Cloud Printing?

In the settings area I am not able to see anything for the Cloud printing options.

If the default browser on a Android phone is not Google Chrome, What is the best way to get Google Chrome installed so I can use the Cloud Printing? And make it the default browser!

# Answer
> 2 votes
It's not Chrome and you can't install Chrome. Chrome and the Chromium project have been coded for the x86 architecture, i.e. the PC, and all the UI code is specific to either Windows, Linux, or Mac.

# Answer
> 1 votes
You can download and install Firefox Mobile and then add an extension/add-on that allows printing pages with Google's Cloud Print: http://www.androidcentral.com/cloud-printer-extension-enables-printing-firefox-mobile

In Honeycomb (Android 3.0) Chrome bookmarks sync with the device, so additional Chrome features, if not the entire browser, may make the leap to Android in the future.

---
Tags: browser, google-chrome-to-phone
---


# Question
Title: How do I set up a VPN from Android 2.3 to my home Ubuntu desktop?
I want to configure a VPN from my Nexus S (2.3.4) to my home Ubuntu desktop.

Has anyone tried this yet?

I would deeply appreciate tips on which VPN server to use (e.g., is openVPN support native on Android Gingerbread?) and pitfalls to avoid.

# Answer
> 3 votes
The way I did it was to install dd-wrt on my home router and enable PPTP VPN. Then I just put in the user name and password in the VPN settings in Gingerbread.

# Answer
> 1 votes
OpenVPN would seem to be another good solution if you cannot install dd-wrt on your router. There is a client app for it (http://www.appbrain.com/app/openvpn-settings/de.schaeuffelhut.android.openvpn) but you need to have rooted your phone to use it.

---
Tags: 2.3-gingerbread, vpn, linux
---


# Question
Title: How can you tell whether you are running a official Android program or one modified by your phone maker?
So many times , in this forum , I see answers with descriptions of their phone, contacts or messaging application, with options, settings or feature I don't see on my Samsung Galaxy S.

I presume that either I am running a modified version ( made by Samsung ) or the questioner is.

But how can you tell ?

**How do you know your application is not the stock application of Android** ( btw: *is that the correct term ? stock application ?* )

If I look at `Settings - Applications - Manage applications - Running`, I see f.i. `Email`. Clicking this tells me it's version 2.2.1. Same with `Dialer`. `Contacts` on the other hand , shows version 1.0.

But since no manufacturer info is present , I cannot tell whether this is the official Google software, or some other program.

And following that, can you download the stock application from somewhere ? Maybe it's better than the version on your phone ?

# Answer
You can compare what your phone had with the emulator for your Android version. The emulator is a pristine Android, with no manufacturers modifications.

It is arguable whether Google-branded applications (which are not included in the emulator), are stock apps or not; but AFAIK Google-branded apps are usually not modified by manufacturers since they weren't open source and also Google-branded apps are updated regularly by the Market.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: applications
---


title: Where can I find Android release notes?

text:
# Question
Title: Where can I find Android release notes?
Today I upgraded to 2.3.4 Gingerbread MR2 but I wonder: what changed?

# Answer
> 3 votes
Similar to this question which asks about 2.2.1, there don't seem to be any real "changelogs" made available for Android updates. However, you can look at their git repository to see the commit log. Here's the shortlog for the 2.3.4\_r1 tag.

The summary: mostly bugfixes, and the addition of video/voice chat for the Google Talk app. Apparently this is only enabled on the Nexus S since the Nexus One doesn't have a front-facing camera, but I don't know that for certain.

In any case, the video/voice chat could probably be made to work on the Nexus One somehow considering that it has already landed on the CyanogenMod codebase (and the latest nightly builds), so it's more or less working on other "unsupported" phones already. I know the EVO has a working implementation in the latest CM7 nightly build, though it did crash when I tried to switch to my rear camera (not that I'd really need to do that).

# Answer
> 2 votes
From a developer's point of view?

---
Tags: 2.3-gingerbread, operating-system
---


title: Can't remove app icons from the desktop

text:
# Question
Title: Can't remove app icons from the desktop
I installed AdwLauncher. In the beginning it worked well.

But now, I can't delete the app icons from the desktop.

The situation is that when I longpress the desktop, the list doesn't show up so that I can't add shortcuts, apps or widget to the desktop.

Also, when I longpress the app icon on the desktop, list doesn't show up so that I can't remove, delete or edit the icon.

My cellular is HTC Desire. Is this a bug problem or I just set up in a wrong way?

Restarting the phone didn't help.

I used "home switch" to change the launcher back to HTC sense, then changed back to ADW but it still remains the same.

# Answer
Have you accidentally locked the Desktop? The option to "Unlock Desktop" should be on the Menu (possibly under the "More" option).
> 7 votes

---
Tags: adw.launcher
---


# Question
Title: What is Acer Liquid Metal maximum SD card speed class?
I want to buy a new sd and I'd like to get best bang (and speed) for the buck... But I can't find this information... Anybody knows?

# Answer
There's no reason a class 10 card wouldn't work. The card being faster shouldn't break anything. I can find no evidence that the Acer Liquid Metal detects and behaves badly with a fast card, or does not use the SD card specifications properly, or anything like that.
> 3 votes

---
Tags: external-sd, performance
---


# Question
Title: How can I tell which account contacts have synced from?
I've just noticed that I've suddenly had 7 contacts appear in my list all called "Me Mob" all with my mobile's phone number as the only entry. I don't know when they appeared, but I don't think they've been there for long.

When I open these contacts up, I can see a Joined Contacts section with a generic icon and no details, clicking that just says "Unknown" "Me Mob".

Is there any way that I can tell where all of these have come from?

Galaxy S, running stock Samsung 2.2.1 OS in case it matters.

# Answer
In the **Contacts** app, under `Menu | Display options` I can select which of my accounts contacts' to display (and, in the case of Gmail contacts, which groups to display). Assuming Samsung hasn't monkeyed with that, you should be able to determine which account they're from by process of elimination.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: contacts, sync
---


# Question
Title: Can't log into google apps after sim card change
I went to Germany and I had switch my PLAY (PL operator) SIM card with Blau.de SIM card. Everything was good, I had Internet connection and full facebook/twitter/google sync. After return to Poland, I switched to my original SIM card and my android phone failed to log into facebook/twitter/google.

I'm sure I'm using good passwords. Error message says that phone was unable to establish Internet connection. But Internet is fully working (now I'm using my phone as a modem). I have correct apn's and I can use for example gmail through default web browser.

I found in Internet that this is common problem with android phones, and it can be repaired after factory reset.

It's very important to me to avoid factory reset. Anyone know other way to log in?

My telephone: Samusng i5500, Android 2.1

Update: I found that I can't fully use applications such as Waze, Glympse, Opera, basically all applications that use internet - they cannot connect to internet. But, I can use default browser to check gmail, and surf net. It looks like phone has disabled ability co connect to internet for every application except default web browser.

Update2: I can log into google account and fully sync phone when I'm using wifi. After disconnection from wifi everything is stopping despite the fact that I have GSM internet connection working.

**Solution: My operator has 3 different APN's, one for WAP, one for MMS and one for internet. First two was automatically configured, third one have to be added manually**

# Answer
> 2 votes
First, I'd start by ensuring that the APN settings are correct. A different SIM card from another carrier could have overwritten them. You can access these by going to `Menu -> Settings -> Wireless & networks -> Mobile networks -> Access Point Names` and then tapping on the selected one to edit it. The correct settings are sometimes listed on your carrier's website. At worst you may need to call their support line. While you are there, make sure under "Network Operators" option your provider is selected. After making the changes toggle the Airplane mode on and off to re-connect to the mobile network.

Try dialing the following number in the Dialer app: `*#*#2432546#*#*` (spells out "checkin" between the stars and pounds) and see what it comes back with.

---
Tags: google-account, connection-issues
---


# Question
Title: Should the phone be fully charged before flashing a rom?
In posts like this, and from other sources, I have heard that the handset should be fully charged before flashing or installing a customer ROM. I assume this is because the calibration for the battery is kept somewhere within the ROM, but I don't know for sure. Is this really necessary?

# Answer
It's just because, under some circumstances, flashing can take a while. You **really** don't want your device shutting off while it's being flashed; it can brick the device.

The calibration for the battery is stored, yes, but usually it gets adjusted within a few charges of the phone. It might be a little inaccurate for a while, but it's not a major concern.
> 10 votes

---
Tags: battery, rom-flashing
---


# Question
Title: Do I need to revert to stock firmware and/or wipe data before installing a custom ROM?
Several sites I've visited mention that I need to revert to the stock firmware and possibly wipe my phone data before installing a custom ROM. Is this recommended or completely necessary? I have a Samsung Captivate (Galaxy-S), running Froyo 2.2 (installed via Kies). My phone is rooted. In case it matters, I have Windows XP.

# Answer
> 3 votes
It's not always necessary, but always a good idea. There are custom ROMs that change the partitions of the phone storage, and some flashing methods don't reset the partitions. What ends up happening is that the update can't be written properly -- it either fails, or files and firmware end up in the wrong place and the phone can't boot. In some cases, this can brick the phone.

With a Galaxy S, the best way to ensure this doesn't happen is to revert to stock firmware, wipe everything, and then use Odin to flash an Odin-compatible ROM with the "re-partition" option checked. My answer here has some more info on Odin (just be careful not to use the firmware I linked to, since it's for the GT-i9000 and not the Captivate).

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s, custom-roms, rom-flashing
---


title: Connect Android GPS with Computer

text:
# Question
Title: Connect Android GPS with Computer
Is this possible to connect my Android's GPS with my computer? I have a Samsung Galaxy Fit running Froyo.

# Answer
> 4 votes
If your computer has Bluetooth (most laptops do, and some wireless keyboards and mice connect through a bluetooth adaptor), then there are apps that will allow you to share your phone's GPS device to the PC as a bluetooth GPS adaptor.

See this previous question for some of them: Can I use the Nexus-S GPS as an external GPS for another device (via Bluetooth)?

---
Tags: 2.2-froyo, gps, samsung-galaxy-5, remote-access
---


title: I keep losing my Swype keyboard

text:
# Question
Title: I keep losing my Swype keyboard
I'm running CM6 on a Motorola Droid.

Every now and then (at least once a day), my keyboard will revert from Swype back to the Stock Android Keyboard and I have switch back to the Swype keyboard to be able to use it again.

And sometimes (at least once every other day), the Swype keyboard will be completely disabled and I have to go back into Settings --\> Keyboards and re-enable Swype.

This is starting to get really annoying. Any suggestions?

# Answer
I believe this problem was caused by having Swype installed to the SD card. Moving Swype back to the phone's internal storage seems to have fixed the problem.

```
Settings-->Applications-->Manage Applications-->Swype-->Select "move to phone"

```
> 7 votes

# Answer
Good question... I'm experiencing this currently although the app is already living on my phone. A quick fix for me seems to be un-selecting Swype as the alternative keyboard (see steps below) and then re-selecting it. Then I will then have to reset Swype (i.e. long-press in a text field, select Input Method and select Swype).

```
Settings > Language & Keyboard > Swype

```
> 1 votes

# Answer
Just a suggestion: is it possible that you have Swype on the kill list in your task killer?

(NOTE: I have a Droid as well, and have not experienced this. I do not run a task killer though. Also, I could not live without Swype.)
> 0 votes

# Answer
Try relicensing it. That has worked for me in the past.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: motorola-droid, keyboard, cyanogenmod, swype
---


# Question
Title: How to ping [some resource] on [some network] on an Android phone or emulator?
I have serious doubts that my emulator really can access a certain server. I want to confirm that by trying to ping the server. Is it possible, and how would I do it?

# Answer
You can use the ping utility from terminal emulator or adb shell. Also: https://market.android.com/search?q=ping&so=1&c=apps
> 3 votes

---
Tags: connection-issues
---


title: What are HTC system images for?

text:
# Question
Title: What are HTC system images for?
HTC recently released a Nexus-One system image for Gingerbread. What do I do with that? Can I use it to update my phone to "stock" Gingerbread (no carrier modifications?) If so, how? Or is it just some kind of backup?

# Answer
> 2 votes
It's more or less a backup version of the Gingerbread release for the Nexus One. HTC manufactured the Nexus One, so they host a copy of the kernel, drivers, system images and so forth that are released for it, just like they do for the other phones they made.

You can use it to flash back to a stock ROM if you own a Nexus One, but if you have a different HTC phone it won't do you much good. You *might* be able to flash it, but it would most likely either not run properly or brick your phone. I certainly wouldn't recommend it.

---
Tags: nexus-one, 2.3-gingerbread, updates, htc
---


# Question
Title: Do Android 3.0 tablets have standby/hibernate mode?
I am considering an Acer Iconia A500 device as a book reader. Having years of experience with using (and programming) different devices (PDAs, smartphones, tablet PC, book readers), I am used to charge the reading device (whichever I use) only once in a week or so. When I don't read, I hope to have it in sleeping mode consuming only minimal energy (as it's a bookreader, I don't need it running any background apps or hanging on the net).

So the question is - do Honeycomb devices have a true standby mode which can keep the battery for a week or so (and let the device power on in less than 10 seconds), and not just "sleep" mode we see in Android 2.2 smartphones?

Update: got myself the above mentioned device. It holds power for about a week when not used, so I guess this is close to what I would like to have with sleep mode.

# Answer
> 9 votes
As far as I'm aware, Android basically just doesn't work this way. You can turn off the screen ("sleep" mode) and put it into airplane mode for some extra battery saving, but there's no "standby" equivalent like on a laptop. The processor should underclock itself when you do this, too (how much probably depends on the device). And, as Lie Ryan points out in the comments, for phones this is largely due to the fact that a call could come at any time. I'd guess Honeycomb's behavior is essentially a hold-over from that since it's easier than rewriting it.

That being said, if you just want a book reader, you might consider something like a Nook Color. The Iconia is really a full-fledged tablet PC (though running Android), but something designed specifically for e-reading will probably offer better battery life.

---
Tags: 3.0-honeycomb, standby
---


title: Automatic Download of Youtube Channels

text:
# Question
Title: Automatic Download of Youtube Channels
I have a couple of Youtube channels I subscribe to. I'm subscribed both on Google Reader and on Youtube itself. **Is there an app that checks for new updates to my subscribed channels and downloads them automatically (perhaps once a day)?**

My objective is to always have a few videos I can watch while on the road (and offline). I love how Google Listen syncs really well with my Google Reader podcasts and downloads them automatically, but it doesn't work with video podcasts. So is there an app that will do the same with my video podcasts? (either with Google Reader or with Youtube)

*Running 2.1-eclair if it matters.*

# Answer
> 2 votes
YouTube itself doesn't provide any way to download videos for offline viewing; any application that would let you do this would have to scrape the page to download the FLV (Flash Video) file, and then let you play the file on the phone; this might violate the Terms of Service for YouTube.

Basically, there probably isn't a way to do this, at least no legitimate way.

---
Tags: youtube
---


# Question
Title: how can I stop Outlook calendar from syncing?
since I updated the OS on my intercept, my outlook calendar is now syncing and I want it to stop. I only want to see my personal google calendar appts on my phone. Any ideas how I can turn it off?

# Answer
Go to `Settings -> Accounts and sync`, select your corporate (Exchange) account, and uncheck **Sync calendar**.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: calendar
---


# Question
Title: Is it possible to disable the system update notification?
I have a Nexus One that I want to keep at v2.2 for testing purpose. But the update 2.3.4 has been pushed to my phone and I keep seeing the notification to install it. Is it possible to disable the system update notification?

# Answer
I believe the only way to stop the OTA notifications for good is to unlock/root the handset and install FOTAkill.apk to the /system/app/ directory. The version of this app for Froyo can be found within the GApps package.

You might also need to "fake" your phone's signature by modifying the /system/build.prop file and altering the `ro.build....` lines, so that they match the latest OS version.

On my Nexus One (it's rooted and running CyanogenMod 7) these are the relevant entries:

```
ro.build.id=GRI40
ro.build.display.id=GRJ22
ro.build.version.sdk=10
ro.build.version.codename=REL
ro.build.version.release=2.3.4
ro.product.model=Nexus One
ro.product.brand=google
ro.product.name=passion
ro.product.device=passion
ro.product.board=mahimahi
ro.product.manufacturer=HTC
ro.build.description=passion-user 2.3.3 GRI40 102588 release-keys
ro.build.fingerprint=google/passion/passion:2.3.3/GRI40/102588:user/release-keys

```

In either case you will need to root your N1.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: updates, system
---


# Question
Title: How do I stop apps from getting killed while sleeping?
I have a Droid 2. I have a long, resource-intensive game (spectral souls) that I would like to leave running while I'm not using my phone. If I hit the Android "Home" button to get back to the home screen and then immediately re-launch the game, it will be right where I left off. Same if I hit the power button to sleep, and then immediately turn on the phone, unlock, and re-launch the game.

If I leave it for some amount of time (a few hours), then when I come back and launch the game, it starts fresh as if it were never running. The phone hasn't been used for anything in the meantime, although syncing is on.

My question is twofold: how can I get more information about what apps are killed when & why, and how can I set it up to allow this app to continue running? I don't need it to DO anything in the background, I just want it to still be there when I come back.

I'm familiar with the concept of Android clearing memory as it's needed and not needing a task killer, but I want it to not kill THIS task unless I really exit it.

# Answer
I am pretty sure that isnt an option in the default design of android. I have never personally seen an app for such things because most people desire the programs to shut down to keep the speed of the phone up. It is the android system that is shutting unused programs down. The creator of the app would have to design a service to keep it running in the background or possible like an always on calculation or audio so the system would think the program was doing something. That would eat up your battery.
> 2 votes

# Answer
Suggestion: Use Tasker to disable screen timeout for your app. This *may* prevent it from going to the background.
> 2 votes

# Answer
To the first part of your question;

> how can I get more information about what apps are killed when & why?

The Android SDK has a quick summation on the Android Memory http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/fundamentals.html

> By default, every application runs in its own Linux process. Android starts the process when any of the application's components need to be executed, then shuts down the process when it's no longer needed or when the system must recover memory for other applications.

So effectively Android can be summarized as killing programs when it determines you're not using it (I clicked quit in the app), or when it runs out of resources. For example, If you have 512 MB of ram, and 10 free and you launch an app that needs 12 it will try to determine the least used app it can grab 12 from.

It tends to do this pretty well (at least in my experience). You might be able to go home from your game, and do a couple things, but on the third thing it will evict the game. Keep in mind how resource intensive games in particular are, so it's likely it will kill that app sooner rather then later.

Now the reason it disappears after time, is that you likely have sync processes trying to start and compete for resources. The apps memory pages have been hit very infrequently at this point, so it's fair game to any memory reclamation the OS feels is necessary.

To your second question;

> how can I set it up to allow this app to continue running?

I don't use a task killer, but I'm pretty sure the good ones (seems like ATK is the leader https://market.android.com/details?id=com.rechild.advancedtaskkiller&feature=search\_result ) have an exception list. It might be possible to whitelist the game you want, and blacklist the other processes.

I'm also not familiar with this game, so I'm not sure what auto-save abilities and such this has. Hope I was some help.
> 2 votes

# Answer
How to get more information what apps are killed and why?

You can connect your phone to adb; and then turn on logcat ; saving output to file.
In log file you will have ton's of info; by searching for you app name; you can find out when it gets killed.

What can you do to prevent it from getting stopped by android system?
I don't know; hopefully rAndy answer will work.
However; I would contact the developer and tell him the problem, because he/she should have the easiest time to fix it
> 1 votes

---
Tags: motorola-droid-2, standby
---


# Question
Title: Mount PC folder on my android, then serve audio/video through my Android to my TV via USB?
My plan would be to allow me to connect my Android to my TV by USB, and then be able to play videos/audio from my Computer that is mounted over wifi on my Android. Is this currently possible, or is there a better way that I can accomplish this task (using only a USB cable/wifi and not having to copy files to my Android)

Thanks for any advice :D

# Answer
There are definitely Android DLNA clients and servers which will allow you to share or receive videos or other media over a wireless network, see these previous questions:

DLNA enabled media player?
What can I do with DLNA on an android smartphone?
Can I get DLNA on my Droid?
What is the Android Answer to Air Video Server?

If you have a TV with a USB port, you should definitely be able to mount your phone's SD card as a drive and play the files on it (assuming they're encoded with codecs that your TV understands).

Also if you have a phone with video or HDMI out functionality you can play videos direct to the TV over a video or HDMI cable.

But, I don't think you'll be able to do things quite the way you describe. I don't know of any TVs that will mount a USB device as anything other than a mass storage device (USB drive) or a network adapter (normally only specific manufacturer approved adaptors), and it sounds like you want to stream movies via your phone rather than just play them from its storage. One problem you're going to face is that on an unmodified Android phone the moment you mount your phone as mass storage to one device (eg your TV) it's no longer accessible to other apps on your phone (such as whatever's receiving it from your PC).

TL;DR three realistic options:

1. Plug phone into PC copy movies onto SD card, unplug phone, plug into TV play as files
2. If your phone has TV-out, video-out or HDMI-out, plug your phone into the TV that way instead of USB and then either play from its storage, or from a streaming video client
3. If your TV is network connectible, use a DLNA client on your phone (see above question links) to push the movie from a DLNA server on the PC (eg Windows Media Player on Win 7, or Twonky server) to a DLNA compatible, network attached TV (or media streamer box attached to TV).
> 1 votes

# Answer
This is possible, if the phone is rooted. And I suppose it might even be worth doing if you can get an old G1 off craebayslist, but probably not with the device that is your "phone".

Normally when you connect your android device to a computer (or the TV) and enable mounting, it mounts the SDHC card or non-removable equivelent. But that's not the only possibility. With some root level reconfiguration (replacing vold) the usb storage driver on the phone can actually be pointed at anything that looks sufficiently like a disk - ie, a physical disk, or a file containing a disk image.

Since there are also ways to get the linux underlying a (rooted) android device to mount a filesystem served over the network from your pc, you could now point the usb storage driver at a file on your pc containing a disk image of a FAT filesystem containing the media you want to serve.

(There are some potential shortcuts to merge the steps, but it will be easier to get the PC-to-android and android-to-tv parts working separately first)

You would still have to create disk image files on your pc much like you now copy things to usb sticks, but you could automate that and only eat up hard dive space having duplicate copies in the images, and you wouldn't have to physically move the USB stick.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: wi-fi, usb, video, television
---


# Question
Title: Use android as xbox360 wireless adapter?
I have a rooted cynogen mod Lg P500.

I can connect my xbox360 to my laptop for bridging a connection. but have recently moved to ubuntu so the bridging is a mission and a half.

So I was wondering if it was possible to use an android phone as an xbox360 wireless adapter.

By this I mean:

My android is connected to my networks wifi.

I want to connect my xbox360 to the android and connect to xbox live.

Is this possible?

# Answer
> 5 votes
This will almost certainly be impossible. Your XBox doesn't have USB drivers for your Android phone.

# Answer
> 1 votes
This would be possible if your rooted your phone and wrote an installed a new kernel usb driver which made it look like a supported network adapter. Needless to say that would be a project requiring quite a bit of expertise and effort - it's probably going to be cheaper to get a supported adapter, and not tie up your phone in the process.

---
Tags: wi-fi, game-controllers
---


title: Upgrading LG P500 (Optimus/Maximo One)

text:
# Question
Title: Upgrading LG P500 (Optimus/Maximo One)
> **Possible Duplicate:**
> Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?

I've thinking about rooting my LG Android for a long time but I've been hesitant because I use it on a daily basis and I'm afraid I might mess it up and not be able to restore it to the previous condition.

The main reason reasons I want to root it are:

1. Get rid of my providers' bloatware.
2. Upgrade to Android 2.3 Gingerbread.
3. Possibly overclock it (*how safe/risky is this \[on this phone/model\]?*).

I've never rooted an Android phone before and I would like to get some answers on these questions:

---

## How do I root it?

Sorry if this question seems lame, but I honestly have no idea. I read some threads on the XDA forums and from what I gathered the SuperOneClick application seems to be the way to go, right..? Is there any precautions I should take? Also, I think I also need a to get a new Girgerbread / Froyo ROM compatible with my phone model. What is the "place to go" to get this?

---

## Can I backup the current ROM / state of my phone?

So that if anything goes wrong I can restore it?

---

## Exporting / Importing Contacts and SMSs

I'm not very worried about contacts since most of them are also stored my Google Account, but what about SMSs - is there any way / tool I can use to avoid losing them?

---

**EDIT:** Thanks to the links @Matthew posted I've managed to root and save all my phone data, however I'm still stuck regarding the ROM upgrade, I've found a forum thread on XDA that has a 2.3 ROM compatible with my phone model, but it still has some annoying bugs I would rather avoid. I see a lot of hype around CyanogenMod but it doesn't seem to be compatible with my phone (~~is it?~~).

So, can I get a 2.3 (or even 2.2) ROM that works on my phone without any major problems? Thanks!

# Answer
OK, to answer the part of your question that wasn't answered by the questions I linked in the comments: Yes, you can unofficially upgrade to 2.2 or 2.3. This XDA thread has a relatively comprehensive list of ROMs. It looks like all the 2.3 ROMs are pretty buggy, so you should probably go with a 2.2 ROM that looks good to you; after a brief look, the one I would probably try is called "AmberHome". The thread for each particular ROM should have installation instructions.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: rooting, custom-roms, rom, lg-optimus-one
---


# Question
Title: Wallpaper is blurry when cropped from downloaded image
When creating my own wallpapers on my Nexus S, they always end up being low quality. The image is slightly blurry. Edges are not crisp. These are the steps I'm doing:

1. Download a very large image from the web browser.
2. Long tap my current wallpaper.
3. Wallpapers \> Gallery \> download
4. Selected the large image and expanded the crop marks to the max.
5. Save

It seems like Android is compressing the image too much. Is there any way to set the quality higher?

# Answer
> 2 votes
Why don't you try another image editing application? I mainly use PhotoWonder, but there's also Photoshop Express. Both have their issues, but I haven't noticed low quality results with them. The Nexus S wallpaper size is 960 x 800, so you can make them that size and then use them without having the Nexus S editor do any cropping.

---
Tags: photos
---


title: Terminating adb.exe?

text:
# Question
Title: Terminating adb.exe?
I am trying to hot spot my htc evo. When I click on PDAnet, it tells me that I have to terminate adb.exe. how do i terminate adb.exe. thank

# Answer
> 8 votes
`adb kill-server`

You need to run that from wherever you installed the android tools.

---
Tags: adb
---


# Question
Title: Is there anyway to watch wmv and or divx videos on android?
I have a nexus one and would love to watch divx and wmv videos on it. Is there a way to do that?

# Answer
The only one I'm aware of is yxflash, and I wasn't too impressed by it - the video was quite choppy. I am looking forward to the upcoming Android version of CorePlayer, though, because I was able to play smooth DivX videos with its predecessor TCPMP on my Tungsten T5 with a fraction of the power my Nexus One had.

**edit:** I just saw that there's a new media player out for Android called RockPlayer that will play DivX and WMV. I haven't had a chance to test it though.
> 4 votes

# Answer
I've installed RockPlayer from the Android Market on my Nexus One, limited testing for avi, divx and mkv formats has been successful. Have yet to check wmv's.
> 2 votes

# Answer
I've done it with both arcMedia and MoboPlayer to view these. WMVs play fine with this.

An alternative is do send it to your gmail and watch it from the gmail app or to upload it to Picasa and view it in the Gallery or through the browser. In both cases the video is converted in transit to something the video player understands.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: nexus-one, video
---


title: Disable Data connection automatically

text:
# Question
Title: Disable Data connection automatically
I own an Optimus One. I want the Data Connection to go off, everytime I lock the keypad. For that, now, I manually go to Setting--\> Wireless & networks--\> Mobile Networks--\> Data Enable.

Is there any way to automatically disable the data when the keypad is locked(or phone is in sleep mode) and enable it when the phone wakes up?

Also, I can't find Mozilla Firefox in my app store. Why it's so?

# Answer
You probably need to use some sort of 3rd party program like Tasker, Locale or AutomateIt.

These programs allow you to set triggers such as:

* starting an app
* screen on/off
* connected to Wi-fi
* location
* etc...

and perform actions based on that, such as:

* toggle data
* toggle GPS
* run an app
* etc...
> 5 votes

---
Tags: 2.2-froyo, data-connection, automation
---


# Question
Title: Android Market applicatin top, filtered by country
Android Market has an application top (free and paid apps), but it seems it is universal since in the top I see many apps in different languages.

Is there a way to see these tops by "market"? (by this I mean country, for instance France). It would be extremely interesting to see how an app is positionning itself on its market, and I guess for the users it would be extremely welcome to be able to see what's hot in their country.

Does anyone know the status of such a feature, or if there is a way to access all these data by a specific country filter?

# Answer
> 1 votes
You can use AppBrain.

Up right menu. Press "More" -\> "Popular in ... (I'm not sure translation)" -\> country

Example for Poland http://www.appbrain.com/apps/country-poland/

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


# Question
Title: How can I zip a folder into a zip file in Android to send over the Internet?
I have root, and I tried running the zip command from shell, but zip is not found. I think Android doesn't come with zip. How can I install zip on Android?

# Answer
androzip might help you with that
> 3 votes

# Answer
The ZipOutputStream class will help you. There's an example of creating a zip file in the documentation.
> 0 votes

# Answer
I don't really understand your question, but if you are developing an app and you want to zip files with it, the following article might help you: http://www.jondev.net/articles/Zipping\_Files\_with\_Android\_(Programmatically)
> 0 votes

---
Tags: linux, shell, zip
---


title: Talking GPS software for Android?

text:
# Question
Title: Talking GPS software for Android?
I need a GPS when I use ride my bike. :\
Holding my phone in my hand is not really a solution....
Can somebody help me to find a talking GPS Android app?
Thank you...

# Answer
Provided that you have a phone running Android 1.6 or higher, and are in a supported country, then Google Maps Navigation will do this. You should have Navigation as a separate icon in your apps list (upwards pointing blue arrow icon) even though it comes with Maps. If you don't have that (and are on a supported version and in a supported country) then just go to the Market and search for the updated version of Google Maps.

I've used it for car and walking directions, and it works very well, don't need to take the phone out of my pocket while walking, as everything spoken through my headphones.
> 7 votes

# Answer
I swear by Waze. It is gives spoken directions. As a plus (or actually main selling point), it is a social GPS. That is, by keeping track of speed and location, it knows where there is heavy traffic and routes you around it.
> 3 votes

---
Tags: gps
---


title: Full encryption with Android?

text:
# Question
Title: Full encryption with Android?
I have an LG GT540 Optimus with Android.
How can I encrypt all my filesystems to ensure that if it gets stolen, no one will get my passwords, contacts, etc.. :\ ?
Thank you!

# Answer
> 3 votes
From my post to the link GAThrawn called out; Encrypt the phone's internal storage

Android 3 (Honeycomb) offers full system encryption natively. However, as it's only for tablets at this point I will post some other avenues.

There was some work done on this for the G1 using LUKS and Cryptsetup. I think I've seen this on a moto droid rom too, but you'll definitely need root. It is not trivial to do, and there isn't too much interest so popular roms like Cyanogenmod don't provide for this natively.

There are some apps in the market that support encrypted file stores (check out Lock Files. I have no idea how transparent that is on the system however.

To your italicized point on remote wipe. There are MANY solutions for this. If you're using Exchange you can push this with ActiveSync, if not apps like Lookout, and more provide remote wipe and other functions. There are even manual ways w/ dyndns and a listening SSH server.

---
Tags: security, encryption
---


title: Do I have ROM in my phone?

text:
# Question
Title: Do I have ROM in my phone?
How can I find how much ROM I have? This is my phone, Samsung Galaxy S LCD I9003. Samsung Galaxy S I9000 has a ROM of 2 GB. What are the uses of ROM? I heard it is used to flash custom kernels. Cant I flash custom kernels in mine as nothing about ROM is mentioned?

# Answer
Usually, **Read-Only Memory** is called **internal storage**, specifically the system partition on that storage (since other areas are writable by default). The image of the phone's firmware and OS is the **ROM**. (That's how we do it on this site, anyways).

So your internal storage is 2 GB, and your phone's firmware and OS is installed on that storage space. You can flash new kernels or entire ROMs (kernel + other firmware + OS) as long as they fit on the internal storage. Generally, this isn't a problem; you won't find a ROM image for your phone that doesn't actually fit on your phone.
> 4 votes

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s, rom
---


# Question
Title: Can a Sprint-branded Samsung Intercept be flashed to Virgin Mobile?
I am getting a Sprint-branded Samsung Intercept that was rooted and flashed to MetroPCS and runs Froyo. Can I flash it to Virgin Mobile?

# Answer
> 2 votes
If you unlock the phone (as presumably you did to get it on Metro PCS), you should be able to flash the Virgin ROM and activate it on Virgin. However, you should call Virgin and ask! They can best answer this question, and you'll need them to activate the phone on their network anyways.

---
Tags: 2.2-froyo, carriers, samsung-intercept
---


# Question
Title: How to check HTC desire is off without turning it on?
Is is possible somehow to distinguish between the phone being off or sleeping without turning it on in the process (this happens when pressing the power button)?

I appreciate that I can just use silent or airplane mode rather than turning it off, but was interested to see if there was a way.

# Answer
> 3 votes
This is for the HTC 1. You'll have to see if it works for you. The charge light is red when the phone is off, and orange when it's on. Obviously, that's with the charger connected.

# Answer
> 3 votes
There are a number of "Shake to Wake" apps in the Market. Obviously if you use one of those, shake the phone and it doesn't wake up, then it's fully off.

# Answer
> 2 votes
You can make a call to your own phone number, it is faster than suffering a boot/shutdown cycle.

Also, you can keep some notification just to keep the LED always blinking.

# Answer
> 2 votes
It is a bit of a hassle, huh. There is a slightly unusual solution though: Turn the phone on while holding down the Back key, which will do nothing special if the phone was merely asleep, but will display the HBOOT version within about a second if the phone was completely off.

From that screen, press Volume Up and then Power to turn the phone completely off again.

# Answer
> 1 votes
I don't think you can. I just did some tests and even the slightest press of the power button will turn it on if it is actually powered off. I didn't like the having to press the power button to 'wake' up the phone myself. Would prefer if you could hit the home button or similar as a long press.

# Answer
> 1 votes
On my Samsung Galaxy S I can use either the home or power button to 'unsleep' the handset.

# Answer
> 1 votes
You can install a custom lock screen application and use hadrware buttons like optical tracpad to wake up the phone. More info in the blog post.

---
Tags: htc-desire, notifications
---


# Question
Title: Opening sms thread goes into incorrect thread
When using my mobile (HTC Desire), I would say I use sms more often than actually using it as a phone.

Because of this, I have a fairly huge history of sms threads (I really like how HTC Desire displays the sms conversation). However, I've realised that every so often when I hit on say sms thread with "person A" I actually get sms thread with "person B". At first I thought it was just me accidentally hitting the one below. However, today this happened three times (tried to open personA, but got personB instead) and the thing is there is a gap of ~8 between person A and personB... so impossible for me to accidentally hit the wrong one...(plus the repeated occurrence is quite annoying!)

Was wondering if anyone has a similar experience or know why this is happening... also preferably how to fix it :)

# Answer
This is a known bug, and it's not entirely clear if it's the SMS application or Android's SMS implementation itself. You can see the ticket here, which was closed on Jan 29, 2011. The fix has been slow getting out to phones other than the Nexus line because carriers haven't released updates that include it.

One option in the meantime would be to try an alternative SMS app, such as Handcent or ChompSMS. However, though many people say that it does help, others have reported that the bug still persists on 3rd party apps.

There is also a reportedly related bug that causes outgoing messages to be sent to the wrong recipient. The "opening the wrong thread" bug was closed as a duplicate of the "wrong recipient" bug, as the fix for the latter apparently applied to the former (according to Google).
> 4 votes

---
Tags: htc-desire, sms
---


# Question
Title: Can't Access iPlayer via Internet Pass-through - is there a workaround?
My HTC Desire HD plays nicely with Windows 7 and while at work I use it for personal web access, quicker than H/G/E connection and free.

However when attempting to view/listen to content on the BBC's iPlayer I get a message which asks me to switch to a wi-fi connection to access their content.

Is there a way of getting over this? Seems like very odd design ...

Thanks.

# Answer
From the BBC's iPlayer Mobile FAQ:

> Programmes can be played through a wi-fi connection. Customers with 3 UK and Vodafone (except for those using Android, Apple or Symbian 3 devices) can also access programmes via their 3G network. The BBC is working to make BBC iPlayer available over more 3G networks.

This seems to hold up with my testing using both the website and the app, I'm on Vodafone UK and get this message on 3G on the website:

> Please switch to a wi-fi connection to play this programme. 3G streaming of BBC iPlayer programmes is not currently available for this handset.

And in the app:

> Please switch to a Wi-Fi connection to play this programme.

Presumably the BBC are just checking your connection type and can see it's not a Wifi connection, they're not aware of the reverse tethering you're using and so are just treating it as if its a 3G connection.

Does your company have a Wifi access point you could connect the phone too, that would eb the easiest way to get round this, and I'm presuming if they're happy for you to tether the phone to the PC, then they wouldn't have an issue with employee's devices hooking up to their wifi.
> 1 votes

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Tags: wi-fi, htc-sync-3.0, reverse-tether
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# Question
Title: How to get out of broken home screen replacement?
I was writing my own home screen replacement, and while trying it out on my ZTE Blade I got into a bit of trouble.

I have hooked the HOME-button, and set my app as the default for it. Too late I realised there is no (easy) way out of such an app.

I have tried: * holding down VOL DOWN to get into FTM-mode, but that just gives me screen that says "FTM" and nothing more * Using adb, but it just says my device is offline. Debug mode is not enabled on the phone.

So, how can I: 1) get out of an app that has hooked HOME-button? or 2) reset the phone with a button-combo or over USB (since I cant access the menus)

Installing new ROMs is something I rather not do.

# Answer
Assuming you have ADB access to your test device, you can issue the following command:

`adb shell pm uninstall PACKAGE`

Where "PACKAGE" is the package name of your launcher app (you should know this since you're creating the app in the first place.)

*\[Edit\]*
As requested, re-posting my comment as the answer: Every site for ZTE Blade has instructions for accessing the Fastboot mode via Volume Up + Power button combination. Eg: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=ZTE\_Blade:\_Full\_Update\_Guide Give that a shot and see if you can access the phone via fastboot.exe (should be in the \[Android SDK\]/tools/ directory.) At that point you can flash a different recovery image (Clockworkmod, Amon-Ra) that will allow access to /data/app to delete your program.
> 3 votes

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Tags: home-screen
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# Question
Title: When to know it's time to replace the Nexus One battery?
As we all know, battery consumption rate (i.e. "per hour") is not very standardized and its highly dependent on actual use, per user.

This makes it very difficult for me to know whether I need a new battery for my Nexus One (I bought it used) or not.

Assuming WiFi and Bluetooth are enabled, how long should the Nexus One battery last while the Nexus One is in **Standby**?

How long should the battery last when the Nexus One is **completely turned off**?

Thanks.

# Answer
It is very difficult to put a number on the estimated battery life of the N1, mainly because there isn't really a standard "typical use".

But since it seems that you are looking for a number, this thread may help.

Since at least 2 people reported at least 2 days in a single charge (given certain conditions), I would say that if your N1 battery doesn't hold more than 10 hours, it is time to start shopping for a new battery.
> 5 votes

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Tags: nexus-one, battery, battery-life
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