# Question
Title: What happens when bluetooth headphones run out of battery while playing music?
I have a Motorola Xoom 3G with Android 3.0 and use it with a bluetooth headset. I'd like to know what happens when the headphones run out of battery? Does the music just stop in the same way it does when I unplug wired headphones?

# Answer
> 3 votes
I go running with my Motorola Droid and a bluetooth set of headphones (Motorola ROKR S9-HD). When the headphones die, my phone will stop playing the music. So it basically acts the same way as removal of normal headphones.

Do note, that this does depend on the app's behavior as the developer has to actually code in the listener for headphone removal. I know this because I have had to do it myself when writing a music app (radio reddit). But most music apps I've seen have implemented this behavior in their apps.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Yes the Xoom should stop transmitting as soon as the Headset disconnects. (Although it may start playing out of it's own speaker).

( And in this case it would disconnect as it had ran out of battery and turned off! )

---
Tags: bluetooth, 3.0-honeycomb
---


# Question
Title: How do I stop com.google.process.gaps force closing randomly?
Motorola Xoom running Honeycomb 3.1, for the last few days, every few minutes I get a popup in the middle of the screen saying:

> Sorry! The process com.google.process.gaps has stopped unexpectedly. PLease try again. Force close

This happens when I'm running pretty much any app: browser, Google Reader, Gallery, GMail, File Manager HD, etc. Can't work out any pattern to i, sometimes it happens every couple of minutes, sometimes I can go for 10 or more minutes without seeing it.

What's causing this (or how can I tell what's causing this) and how can I stop it?

**Update** This does appear to only happen when I've got a network connection (mine's a Wifi only tablet) - after installing alogcat, I did a 40 minute commute on a train using Google Listen and playing Angry Birds, with no errors popping up at all (and therefore no way to catch anything in the log. Will have to wait until I'm home again to investigate further.

# Answer
After a lot of experimentation and backwards and forwards and disabling and enabling various things, I've got it to the point where I haven't seen that error popup for about a week now (which is a huge improvement over it appearing every 10 minutes).

Unfortunately Logcat never seemed to show any obvious, enlightening errors when the Force Close messages popped up, so there was nothing to work on there.

Various posts on web forums suggested that going into Accounts and Sync disabling sync on Calendars and Contacts, then clearing the data on the Calendar and Contacts app should help, but it didn't seem to for me.

In the end what I think solved the problem was:

1. Completely deleting all my non-primary Google Accounts off the device (I have a primary Google account, which is a Google Apps one, plus another Google Apps account and a normal GMail account)
2. Disabling all of the sync on my primary account
3. Clearing the data on the calendar and contacts apps
4. Leaving it an hour before re-enabling the sync on my primary account
5. Leaving it a day before adding back my secondary accounts, and enabling their sync

Not 100% sure which of those steps solved it, but after doing all of those steps in that order my problem has gone away.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: 3.1-honeycomb, force-close
---


# Question
Title: Why is my phone's brightness reset to full brightness?
I put a new SIM card in my phone, then took it out and rebooted. Afterwards I noticed the screen brightness was up to nearly 100% (I always have it all the way down). Auto-brightness was off both before and after. Does anyone know why this might happen? Is brightness somehow linked to my Google account (which was invalidated on the phone due to the SIM swap)?

# Answer
> 0 votes
I'm going to assume that, as suggested in the comments, brightness is (for some reason) one of the settings that gets wiped when the SIM is swapped.

---
Tags: sim-card, screen-brightness, google-account
---


# Question
Title: text messages beginning with '!' trigger automated responses?
Whenever I send a text message to my friend with an Android phone (further testing has shown this happens with iPhones as well, though not blackberries) that starts with '!', I get an automated response. I've detailed it in full, but to summarize:

Me sending an SMS to my friend:
"!test"

results in me receiving an immediate response:
"message test to XXXXXXXXXXX succeeded"

and my friend receives:
"test"

XXX is where the destination phone number is. I find it concerning because I suspect it is the phone itself that is sending this automated reply, and for anyone who has to pay for outgoing text messages this could be an avenue for a third party to inflate their bill without them even knowing.

Does anyone know what this is, why it's happening, or how to disable it?

# Answer
> 6 votes
That appears to be your carrier's delivery report code. Many (but not necessarily all) carriers implement it in some form or another, but the exact method can vary pretty widely. It's briefly mentioned on the SMS Wikipedia article.

I don't recall exactly when the network sends the delivery report, but I'm fairly positive that it wouldn't be originating from the phone, and therefore wouldn't count against any SMS limit it may have. The device may respond to the provider when it receives the message (though it may not since the carrier may send the report at some other point in the process), but the actual SMS you get back should be originating from the network's SMS gateway, I believe. The phone's OS (or SIM) may have some bearing on whether or not it "honors" the request, but I'm not sure.

I found a (probably incomplete) list of some of the various carrier codes here:

```
UK
T Mobile: *0#
O2: *0#
Orange: RCT followed by a space
Virgin: *0#

US
T-Mobile: *noti#

Germany
T-Mobile: *T#
Vodafone D2: *N#
O2: *N#
e-plus: *N#

Sweden
Telia: *KV#
Comviq: KV#
Telenor: ##

Brasil
Claro: *N#

Switzerland
SWISSCOM: *N#

Turkey
TURKCELL: *N#

Poland
PlusGSM (Polkomtel): XYZ

Croatia
T-Mobile: *r*

Portugal
Vodafone: *NOT#

Hungary
T-Mobile: *A#

India
Voodafone: *NOT#

Qatar
Qtel: *N#

Belgium
Proximus: *R*
Base: *N#

Greece
Vodafone: *#
Wind: *0#

Serbia
MTS: *!#
Telenor: *!#

Romania
Orange: *NM#

Israel
Orange: *NM#

```

---
Tags: sms, auto-answer
---


# Question
Title: Unlocked Galaxy i7500, Reset Will Remove it?
> **Possible Duplicate:**
> Will resetting my unlocked phone to factory settings lock it again?

I just purchased and unlocked a Samsung Galaxy i7500 using FastGSM's system. (It cost $20 and it's used up; I can't redo it.)

I know my phone has an option to "reset" it to the default/factory settings. **Will doing so re-lock my phone?** Is the lock hardware-level or OS/software-level? Can I upgrade the OS now that it's unlocked?

I noticed my app running a bit more slowly after unlocking, too... I just want to understand what level locking is on.

# Answer
> 2 votes
According to the FastGSM page: "Congratulations! Your phone is permanently unlocked and can use it with different network SIM card. It will never relock again even if you do software update." (source)

This means that even a factory reset won't relock the phone. I assume this is because Samsung phones use the /efs partition to store the IMEI and other network data, and the unlock modifies these files. The partition is not modified by updates/resets.

---
Tags: sim-unlocking
---


# Question
Title: How to change the account for Android Market?
I use two Google accounts and add them to . Let's say acc1 and acc2. When I try to buy an app in the Market, it chooses acc1's Checkout account, and I don't see an option to change to acc2. Can I use acc2 to pay this? And I still want acc1 as the main account for other purposes. (i.e. Talk, Mail, contacts)

Possibly related question: How Do I Know Which Google Account is Used for the Market?

# Answer
As of mid-2011 the Android Market supports multiple accounts.

> To add another account... Press `menu` button – select settings – Accounts and Sync – tap on “Add account” and add your another gmail account. To activate or use another gmail account in the market, open the new market app (v 3.0.26) and select “Accounts”. A list will pop-up showing all your gmail accounts that you’ve added in “Accounts and Sync”. Select the one of your choice and you’re good to go.

From http://www.theandroidsoul.com/multiple-accounts-sign-in-logins-supported-in-the-latest-android-market-v3-0-26/
> 21 votes

# Answer
P.T. details how to accomplish this by simply adding another account to the phone and then selecting it in Google Play Store settings.

It's worth noting that *originally* the only way to change the Google Account associated with the Google Play Store was to do a factory reset of your phone and set it up again from scratch.
> 5 votes

# Answer
Here are three option, but 2nd and 3rd maybe works better xD

* You can go to Settings/Applications And CLEAR DATA to **Android Market app** and **Google Services Framework**
* Or you can try to go to Settings/Accounts & Sync click on your account and hit on Remove Account Button
* Or try to clear data in the Gmail program, it should ask for a new account xD

That should unlink your account from the system and will ask you again for an Account to link to the system.

But take care on this because can be erased/lost some of your data as Conctacts associated with the previously added accout, also Email and Talk

Mainly because you are changing your linked account and those services use info from that linked account.
> 3 votes

---
Tags: google-play-store, google-account, accounts
---


# Question
Title: How can I prevent my Wi-Fi connection from glitching?
Occassionally my Wi-Fi goes into this weird state where the phone "thinks" I'm connected, but the connection simply doesn't work. Apps still seem to think I have connectivity, though they can't actually connect to anything, and the status bar still shows that I'm connected to Wi-Fi. Turning Wi-Fi off and back on resolves the issue, and this occurs on multiple networks.

It seems sort of like whatever service manages the Wi-Fi connection gets killed occasionally. It usually happens when I've been playing a game (that doesn't access the Internet) for a while or if my phone's been sitting for a while; it never happens while I'm actively using the connection. I have my Wi-Fi timeout set to "Never" and the normal timeout isn't the issue since my phone regularly lasts several hours without the Wi-Fi dying. Sometimes it dies a couple times in a day, and recently I went a week or so without it happening.

How can I fix this or prevent the service from being killed (if that's indeed what's happening)? Shouldn't that be a system process that never gets killed? (Does Android ever kill system processes other than when they crash?) Could it be related to TouchWiz? I have an SGS Vibrant running 2.2 (Bionix NextGen v1, but this has occurred on multiple ROMs).

# Answer
> 6 votes
This could be a solution, but it's more a hint at the issue:

The ZTE Blade suffers with losing it's Wi-Fi connection when it comes back from sleep. Perhaps you have a similar issue?
The app Blade Wifi Fix by AA Android available from Google Play Store, fixes it on the Blade, you could give it a try:

> Some people with the ZTE Blade / Orange San Francisco phone find that the Wifi doesn't always come back on after the phone wakes up from being locked or asleep.
>
> Install this and you wont know its there until you wake up your phone and the Wifi jams, at which point it will flash a message to tell you its fixing it.

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s, wi-fi, services, processes
---


title: gallery sort order

text:
# Question
Title: gallery sort order
I have HTC Wildfire.

I used default gallery app, that ships with the phone to view photos.

What is the default sort order of the gallery app?

Sometimes, photos are in a particular order, after a month of so, they are in different order.

I don't know what is happening.

# Answer
> 4 votes
I've had experience before on the Nexus One, this sort order is the **last modified**.

If you access your SD card from your PC this can sometimes scan your images folder and 'touch' the images with the last modified date then being updated.

That's how I've had random sort orders in the past!

---
Tags: gallery, htc-wildfire
---


title: Android Voicemail Settings

text:
# Question
Title: Android Voicemail Settings
Voicemail on my T-Mobile Galaxy Portal/Spica/i5700 doesn't work. I've set it up via the Tmobile voicemail setup, but if I call my mobile it just rings and rings until I get a message saying 'This number is currently unavailable.'

Is there anything in Android itself that might have borked it? I'm running an *ahem* not official Samsung version of Froyo. In `Settings -> Call Settings` I can see `Voicemail service`, from which my only option is `My Carrier`, and `Voicemail Settings`, and all that lets me do is pick the voicemail number to call.

Or is it more likely just some error at T-mobile's end? Thought I'd check before giving them a call.

# Answer
You have to actually setup your voicemail with TMobile as well as on your phone.

You simply ring 222 from the phone.

Here is a detailed description:

http://forums.t-mobile.co.uk/help-and-support/index?page=home&cat=VOICEMAIL
> 1 votes

---
Tags: 2.2-froyo, samsung-galaxy-spica, voicemail
---


# Question
Title: Is there a way to "downgrade" (revert) an HTC Desire HD to stock Froyo from Gingerbread?
I don't have any backups or whatever. My phone isn't rooted. It updated to Gingerbread 2.3.3 OTA a couple of days ago, and I hate almost every change that it introduced.

Thanks.

# Answer
Stock Froyo, I assume you mean Froyo with HTC Sense on top of it.

You would have to root your phone and then load a Froyo ROM.

How to Root HTC Desire

See here for instructions to install custom rom: Modaco Froyo with Sense
> 1 votes

---
Tags: htc-desire-hd, downgrade
---


title: Exchange Inbox Doesn't Sync

text:
# Question
Title: Exchange Inbox Doesn't Sync
I am using the default mail client exchange. The client syncs all folders except my Inbox. It synced one time on Jan 10 when I set it up and that was the only successful sync. All other Exchange folders are syncing ok. I just don't get it. There was a google hit suggesting reducing the size of one's inbox, but mine is small -- a dozen messages?

Manually syncing the Inbox also does not work.

* OS: 2.2
* Phone: HTC Incredible

What other information can I provide? Any advice?

# Answer
I deleted the account and re-added it. It's syncing again. Not much of an answer, I suppose...
> 2 votes

# Answer
I had the same problem. After deleting a large (3 MB) message it synced the Inbox again ... maybe this would work for you too?
> 1 votes

---
Tags: sync, email, exchange
---


title: StackExchange apps and LaTex rendering

text:
# Question
Title: StackExchange apps and LaTex rendering
Is there any app which allows to browse Stack-Exchange sites and is able to interpret and render latex formulas inside the posts?

I have already tried StackAniwhere and Droidstack which apparently can't do it, unless I'm missing something.

# Answer
> 2 votes
**I doubt that there is one one and that there will be one in the (near) feature.**

A look at stackwrap4j, the only Java Stackexchange Library that runs on Android, shows that the body (the content) of a post, which can be a question or an answer, is returned as plain String. The Tex equations are just included as plain Tex in that String and get rendered on the client side by the browser.

So, for example, Droidstack would need a Tex library that parses the tex code and returns a picture with the compiled tex. And I am not aware of such a library *for Android*.

---
Tags: applications
---


# Question
Title: Application to batch-move all applications to SD card?
I'm looking for an app that will allow me to move most (if not all) of my applications to the SD card really easily. The actual Android application manager takes too much work to go to each application and manually move it.

# Answer
Take a look at SD Move and SD Watch. They don't automate the process for you (I don't think automation is possible), but SD Move will give you a color coded list of what applications you can move over, and SD Watch will alert you when you install a new app whether or not it can be moved to the SD card.
> 4 votes

# Answer
You can use the `pm` command (via the debugger or a terminal app) to move packages around. I don’t know whether or not this needs root access.

```
$ pm list packages -f
package:/mnt/asec/cx.hell.android.pdfview-1/pkg.apk=cx.hell.android.pdfview
package:/data/app/uk.co.nickfines.RealCalc-1.apk=uk.co.nickfines.RealCalc
package:/mnt/asec/com.google.android.apps.androidify-1/pkg.apk=com.google.android.apps.androidify
package:/system/app/GoogleContactsSyncAdapter.apk=com.google.android.syncadapters.contacts
package:/data/app/com.isecpartners.android.manifestexplorer-1.apk=com.isecpartners.android.manifestexplorer
package:/system/app/GoogleBackupTransport.apk=com.google.android.backup
package:/data/app/org.fdroid.fdroid-1.apk=org.fdroid.fdroid
...etc...

```

Those packages which start with `/data/app` are candidates to be moved. Use

```
pm install -r -s /data/app/org.fdroid.fdroid-1.apk

```

which will reinstall it on the SD card (preserving the data). You could script this.

If an app does not want to move, use

```
pm setInstallLocation 2

```

to force it, but be warned that this can disable widgets and notifications for apps that aren’t expecting it, and that you should set it back to `0` unless you want every future app to go on the SD card.
> 3 votes

# Answer
App2SD both notifies you when apps can be moved to the SD card, and provide an interface to do so.

Also there is a way to refine app2sd to allow more apps to move to SD card instructions here -

http://www.bongizmo.com/blog/moving-all-android-apps-to-sdcard-apps2sd-froyo/

I was able to follow except that it didn't indicate precisely what to enter in terminal, so I got stuck there - if anyone can advise on what should be typed in, would be helpful.
> 2 votes

# Answer
AppAdmin

The screenshots don't show the "Move" option if you Google it.

It's useful for backups and restores too. A great piece of kit
> 0 votes

---
Tags: app2sd
---


# Question
Title: How can I monitor my phone's activities?
A couple of times I've found my phone turned off when I don't remember doing so, especially when I have a fully charged or nearly full battery. Are there any applications out there that will monitor the events that get called and applications that call them so I can log what is happening in the background? Thanks.

# Answer
Many events are already logged to the system log on an Android devices. Apps such as Log Collector can be used to access the log (it allows you to email or SMS the log). The log data is extensive, and sometimes cryptic, so be prepared to spend some time sifting through it.

You may be surprised as what you find ... I was able to learn that my wifi router was shutting down in the middle of the night by seeing that the phone was syncing over 3G starting at 2am. Turned out I had set the router to shut down for certain hours and had forgotten. You'll also get a sense of what your apps and widgets do in the background.
> 3 votes

---
Tags: system, resource-monitoring
---


# Question
Title: My phone just notified me that Kickback and Soundback were updated, what are they?
My Motorola Droid just informed me that Kickback and Soundback were updated. Clicking on the updates takes me nowhere, and they aren't listed in installed programs that I can see. What are these programs?

# Answer
These are accessibility apps. One of Motorola's FAQ questions summarizes their purposes well:

> **KickBack** \- Check to vibrate the phone briefly as feedback as you navigate the phone’s user interface, press buttons, and so on.
>
> **TalkBack** \- Check to cause an installed speech synthesizer to speak the labels or names of items as you navigate the phone’s user interface.
>
> **SoundBack** \- Check to play a sound as you navigate the phone’s user interface.
> 10 votes

# Answer
Kickback / Soundback / talkback are Google's accessibility offerings. To turn them on, go to SETTINGS \> ACCESSIBILITY.

They allow users with low vision to navigate around Android by reading out and giving noises / vibrating feedback when buttons are pressed or new notifications are shown.
> 9 votes

---
Tags: updates
---


# Question
Title: Why does my EVO 3D think I am talking to it?
Occasionally when biking or walking, something must be going on in my pocketses because my HTC EVO 3D keeps thinking my standard headphones are evolving into headphones with an inline mic.

Normally I will be listening to music (Winamp) and the track will start skipping around; this is long after I have locked the screen and it has gone to black. I pull out the device and the headphones icon in the notification bar now have a mouth piece sticking out of them in the icon. I look at my headphones, they certainly haven't morphed in any way. I don't have bluetooth on, no other devices are connected to cause interference.

What is going on with my phone and how can I keep it from happening? I don't mind forcing it to never be an inline mic'ed set of headphones if that option is available somehow; it's incredibly annoying 45 minutes into a ride and I would love to get this locked down.

# Answer
> 1 votes
The connector must be a bit loose (or incorrectly sized) and as it wiggles around in the socket, it hits the connectors in a way that makes the phone think it's equipped with a mic (that is, a TRRS plug instead of TRS). Try another pair of headphones or try twisting and aligning the plug/cord so that there no pull or twist in the root of the cord.

# Answer
> 0 votes
I had this problem with a TRS to TRS cable, but not with TRS headphones. It maybe improper sleeve length due to the housing being irregular.

---
Tags: hardware, htc-evo, headphones, microphone
---


title: Android Virtual Calls Assistant?

text:
# Question
Title: Android Virtual Calls Assistant?
I want to know if it is possible to do the following:

**1.** When "Unknown" calls, after a few seconds audio recording starts and asks caller to recall but with identified number this time. Otherwise there is no other way to reach recipient.

**2.** When not answering for a long time, audio recording starts and tells that recipient is busy.

I want to hire 2 professional voiceovers to voiceover all the above on 2 different languages.

Is this all possible?

Thanks!

# Answer
You can very nearly do this with totally standard built-in features, most of which actually rely on support from the phone network rather than anything special on your phone. In fact I can't think of a real way to do absolutely everything you're asking without implementing it at the phone network, rather than on the phone.

You can block "Unknown" numbers very easily, but I don't think there's a standard way to play a message saying that the call has been blocked and why. After all your phone would have to answer the call itself in order to play the message, only the phone network can talk to callers without answering the call!

To block unknown callers: on your phone, go into **Settings**, then into **Call Settings**, select **All Calls**, select **Auto reject**, tick the box to **Enable auto reject**, select **Auto reject list** and tick **Unknown**.

Playing a message to callers after the phone hasn't been answered for a specific time is exactly what normal Voicemail does. Most voicemail kicks in after a small number of rings, but if you want to extend that most networks will allow you to set a longer time before the vooicemail divert happens, but you will probably need to call your network to arrange this. I have had to set this up for phones on two different networks in the past, for one I had to type a complicated \*# dialler code into the phone to request the longer delay, on the other the phone company's helpline could arrange this over the phone.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: call-screening
---


# Question
Title: Can't enter < (less than) or > (greater than) in terminal
When I try to type "\<" or "\>", I get semicolons ";" and colons ":" any idea?

# Answer
Note sure if this question should really been have migrated here. But this is a typical case of a vacuum that we have here. It's not really an android end-user question and on the other hand not a android programming question.

Anyway it looks like a typical codepage/localisation problem:

* **"\<"** on an US layout is **";"** on an German (and maybe others) keyboard layout
* **"\>"** on an US layout is **":"** on an German (and maybe others) keyboard layout

**I take a wild guess and say that you develop under Microsoft Windows, where each windows can have a different keyboard layout.** You should see a symbol with the current layout right to the clock in the taskbar, where you can change this.

I hope I was able to point you into the right direction.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: terminal
---


# Question
Title: Let Android believe it is connected to internet
> **Possible Duplicate:**
> How to set up reverse tethering over USB?

Is there a way to do this?

I'm trying to reverse tether my Android phone. I'd like it to use my PC connection. Many guides on the net say that I should root my phone, but I don't want to do that.

What I would like to happen:

* connect Android to the Internet via wireless
* attach to PC via USB, in "tethering usb mode"
* PC is already connected to the Internet in another way (cable)
* when I disconnect the wireless connection on the Android phone, then the Android phone uses the connection of my PC

With no internet connection on my phone I can't connect successfully to the PC. So, I'd like to know if there is a way to let the Android device believe it is connected to the Internet.

I'm using Ubuntu 11.04

# Answer
You haven't specified if you have wireless capability in your computer. Assuming you have one or can manage wireless in your computer then you can take the following steps to share the computer's Internet via ad-hoc wireless connection.

First create an ad-hoc connection in your computer so that your phone can connect to it. You can follow this guide for that.

After that you have to enable Internet connection sharing in your computer. Follwo this guide for that.

Now from your Android phone search for the ad-hoc network you created and connect to it. Internet should work fine.

One more thing I should mention is that when I tried the same for my cousin it didn't work. The phone couldn't see the ad-hoc network. She had Windows 7 in her computer. But after little Googling and using 3rd party software for ad-hoc connection in the computer, everything worked.
> 3 votes

# Answer
I tried this a while back when I first got an Android phone, but it didn't fully work. In windows 7 I use http://www.connectify.me and that works perfectly, so I never continued with it in Ubuntu.

Try these anyway:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/WirelessAccessPoint

http://www.esrun.co.uk/blog/ubuntu-gateway-access-point-server/

Let us know how you get on... would be interesting to know!
> 1 votes

# Answer
The Replicant Project has a page on how to use USB Networking; you'll need a rooted phone, the scripts there, and a GNU/Linux system to use the scripts with little to no modification.

However, it's a start.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: networking, internet, reverse-tether
---


# Question
Title: How can I turn OFF encryption on a Honeycomb tablet?
I used the "Encrypt tablet" option on the "Location & security" page of my settings to fully encrypt my up-to-date Asus Transformer. Honeycomb encryption seems a bit flaky so I want to un-encrypt my tablet again. How can I do this? (the option on the settings page still says "Encrypt tablet" and underneath it says "Encrypted", but tapping it does nothing, and I can't find any way to decrypt the tablet again)

Owen

# Answer
Did some research on this myself before I turned on encryption on my Iconia... the *only* way to decrypt the tablet is to do a factory data wipe. The UI should have gave you this warning when you chose "Encrypt tablet" (the Iconia sure did). If you back your stuff up, wipe, and restore your backup, you should be fine. (That's where root + Titanium Backup + ClockWorkMod + Nandroid comes in handy)

This Engadget post shows the UI and it's warning about the inability to decrypt.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: 3.0-honeycomb, encryption
---


# Question
Title: How do I do the equivalent of removing the SIM card in Gingerbread?
I currently have a Nexus S with Gingerbread. I'm planning to travel oversea and I want to disconnect my phone from my cell phone provider but still be able to use the Nexus for wireless access at airports or hotels. Is there a way to achieve that in the OS without having to remove the SIM card?

# Answer
The easiest solution is to simply use airplane mode. The wifi chip still works but the cell radio will be turned off, so you have no voice, SMS or cellular data capabilities. This will be in your settings somewhere, probably `Settings->Wireless and Networks->Airplane mode`. You may need to explicitly re-enable your wifi after turning on Airplane Mode (ex: my phone disables wifi at first, but I can just turn it back on).

Some phones also allow you to toggle airplane mode from the power menu, but I don't know if this is a standard feature of the Android OS.
> 3 votes

---
Tags: 2.3-gingerbread, calls
---


# Question
Title: Why do get SMS send to the wrong recipient ( HTC Thunderbolt)?
My SMS texts on numerous occasions have crossed from one thread of text and gone to a completely different person. That person usually has recently texted me. I close out the keyboard and make sure it is going to the right person, hit send, then **it ends up going to the wrong thread.**

Is there a fix for ?

# Answer
> 3 votes
There are many people facing similar problem here, http://community.htc.com/na/htc-forums/android/f/107/t/12961.aspx?PageIndex=3

The solutions they came up with was:

1. Use handcent SMS app instead of stock SMS app
2. Keep low number of messages in inbox
3. Delete read message
4. Waiting for Gingerbread update which will fix it

If I were you I'd choose number 1.

---
Tags: sms, htc-thunderbolt
---


# Question
Title: Why does the Ebay application automatically startup at boot?
I can't find a good reason that this application must always be running on my phone. However, it starts at boot and I'm constantly getting error traces in Logcat about the Ebay application.

Why does this application start at boot?

# Answer
> 4 votes
Well it starts because that's how dev coded it.

You can try programs like startup manager that will kill the program once it starts.

---
Tags: boot, logging
---


# Question
Title: Does the stock mail app log out from the mail-server?
There is an email app provided by Android.

Does this app keep the connection alive all the while?

OR

Does it login/logout from the mail server each time it polls for new messages?

If the latter is true, how does one tell the app to log out from the mail?

# Answer
About your concerns:

# Connection on air

There is nothing that a log out at the end of every session would improve. If you don't use the email client, it won't transfer any data. And if you use it, it will query the server for new email etc. If the client would perform a log out at the end of every use, it just had establish a new connection again. Conclusion: Data related to the e-mail connection will be the same time on air if you don't use log out as when your e-mail client would log out every time. No gain here. Just make sure that you have enabled a secure encryption.

# Bandwidth

You are right, that *polling* is the worst thing that could happen. But not from a bandwidth perspective. Polling is just a quick packet asking "Is there something new" and the server replying "No" or "Yes and here is the data". The data would be send later on anyways, so no big bandwidth consumption. It is more the battery life that should concern you, when you have a polling e-mail client on Android.

That said, trust the Google engineers to build a e-mail app that tries everything to reduce battery consumption. If you use gmail you are safe, because the email app will use push notifications for new e-mails. If you use an IMAP account it depends on the server if it support the IMAP IDLE extension. If you use POP3 you are doomed, because it's a plain polling protocol.
> 1 votes

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Tags: email, authorization, stock-email-app
---


# Question
Title: Can I still get caller ID in Gingerbread without having it as a service from my provider?
In Gingerbread, Settings \> Call settings \> Additional settings \> Caller ID, there are 3 options available:

* Network default
* Hide number
* Show number

I'm currently paying $5 a month to get caller id. If I were to cancel that service, will the OS still display the caller?

# Answer
> 6 votes
That option doesn't give or take the ability to see other people callerID, it only let's you choose whether the people you're calling see your callerID or not.

---
Tags: 2.3-gingerbread, caller-id
---


title: what is updated in honeycomb 3.2.1?

text:
# Question
Title: what is updated in honeycomb 3.2.1?
My wifi Xoom was just updated to 3.2.1. Anyone know what this update contains?

# Answer
Motorola's Xoom Support forums has a thread that is updated when updates go out, and contains links to the lists of changes in the updates which (for US Wifi Xooms) is here.

According to that two software updates have gone out in the last few weeks, HTK55D and HTK75D the first contains security updates, the second updates to included apps. Specifically they contain:

**HTK55D**

> Platform security fixes :
>
> * DigiNotar certificate revocation
> The security fix removes a compromised root Certificate Authority (CA).
> * libpng security update
> Libpng has been updated to version 1.2.46 to correct for multiple publicly-known security issues.

**HTK75D**

> * Android™ Market has been updated.
> * Android™ Books has been updated.
> 1 votes

# Answer
The android developers web site has the new features for users and developers listed under the "Android 3.2 platform". Digging into that page, under the revisions heading it lists "3.2, Revision 1" as the only revision. I would guess that this would be the 3.2.1 update then.

> **New user features**
>
> * Optimizations for a wider range of tablets
>     + Android 3.2 includes a variety of optimizations across the system to ensure a great user experience on a wider range of tablet devices.
> * Compatibility zoom for fixed-sized apps
>     + Android 3.2 introduces a new compatibility zoom mode that gives users a new way to view fixed-sized apps on larger devices. The new mode provides a pixel-scaled alternative to the standard UI stretching for apps that are not designed to run on larger screen sizes, such as on tablets. The new mode is accessible to users from a menu icon in the system bar, for apps that need compatibility support.
> * Media sync from SD card
>     + On devices that support an SD card, users can now load media files directly from the SD card to apps that use them. A system facility makes the files accessible to apps from the system media store.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: updates, motorola-xoom, 3.2-honeycomb
---


title: Anyone knows where Shazam stores tags?

text:
# Question
Title: Anyone knows where Shazam stores tags?
I have an android and all of a sudden shazam doesn't work. It crashes whenever I open it up, so I want to clear the data but I have a lot of tags in there and I want to download the songs but I can't even look through the list... Anyone know where the tags are stored and if there is a way for me to retrieve them?

# Answer
Ok, so it seems the only way to do this on android is to contact shazam customer support, give them your IMEI number and they will send you the list.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: shazam
---


title: Does APNdroid eat battery?

text:
# Question
Title: Does APNdroid eat battery?
Someone suggested that APNdroid will cause your battery to drain because your phone is continually attempting to connect to the disabled APN. Makes sense, but I wonder if there's something I'm missing? Does APNdroid burn battery any faster than having a good APN and using data?

# Answer
I confirm it will attempt to connect all the time and drain battery in half a day in my case. To solve it you should untick the data in the network settings and check that GPRS/EDGE/HSPDA icon is not visible on top next to the signal strength bars. But at least APNdroid (or manually modify the APN name) will prevent any connection and any extra charge during roaming session.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: battery-life, data-connection, apn
---


# Question
Title: Can't Add Shortcuts to Home Screen, get Shunted to Folder
I recently started using folders to organize my apps, but I've noticed since then that I can not add any shortcuts to the homescreen. If I try to drop an item on the home screen, it instead gets put into a folder (apparently at random, no less). This happens even if I drop the icon on a completely empty screen with no folders.

If I drag the app out of the folder back to the home screen and drop it, it goes to a different folder instead.

Running Android 2.3.5

# Answer
> 2 votes
This is  reported bug which hasn't yet gotten any attention.

A workaround is to use long-press to add items rather than dragging them.

---
Tags: home-screen-shortcuts, home-screen-folders
---


# Question
Title: Is there any working implementation of Google Docs on Honeycomb?
Simple question. I need to edit some Google documents on my EEE Pad Transformer with Honeycomb 3.2. I want few basic features.

* I want my changes to be displayed corectly in File/See revision history
* I want to be able to browse the file only with keyboard (that means up and down keys on the physical keyboard).
* I want to use my localized, non-US keyboard, which I have on Transformer and which works on most of the applications

There were few ways people told me. None of them works.

* Google Docs in mobile version looks ugly on tablet, but mainly, I am **not able to browse the file with up and down keys**. Moreover, the cursor jumps like crazy, so I often delete some text accidentaly when I want to delete something else, and there is no undo in the whole thing.
* the application "Google Docs" in the market does the same thing.
* the external applications, like Documents to Go, which are paid, do work more sanely, but still, when I upload the document, it replaces the whole revision, so I don't see any changes in revisions, just one version replacing the other.The same thing happens when I remotely connect to my server with SSH and use the python API (yeah, I tried everything).
* the desktop version of Google Docs doesn't work **at all**, I can't enter single letter, no matter how hard I try. It looks beautiful, though, which is awesome.

edit:

* what **sort of** works is opening desktop version of Google Docs in newest Firefox beta. However - for some reason, Firefox takes all keypresses as coming from US keyboard, while I have clearly selected localized keboard (which I have).

So, is there any working implementation for Google Docs? I thought that because Android is from Google and Docs are from google, it will work seamlessly, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

# Answer
There was a recent (around 5-Oct-2011) update of the offical Google Docs App, with the following changes:

# What's new in this version:

1. Optimized experience for tablet users, Honeycomb (Android 3.0+)
    * New 3-panel interface for improved browsing
    * Details panel showing a thumbnail and sharing information
    * Improved sharing experience with autocomplete system
    * Landscape or portrait mode
2. Improved video playback

---

Maybe it fixes the problems you described. I am sure Google will further work on the tablet compatibility of the Google Docs app, it's just a matter of time.
> 2 votes

# Answer
One working solution is to remotely connect to linux server through VNC and do it there. But that feels so very, very wrong.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: google-drive, 3.2-honeycomb
---


# Question
Title: How to save a text file from the browser?
I was reading a game FAQ on my Galaxy S II with the stock browser, and was a little surprised that I had no option to save the `.txt` file to the phone.

Is this possible?

# Answer
Dolphin Browser HD has the ability to save the current site that you are viewing:

```
More -> Save Site

```
> 1 votes

---
Tags: browser, files, downloading
---


# Question
Title: How to remove device(s) from My Market Account?
I know I can choose **"Hidden in menus"** and never see the devices again when I install a application. But I don't want my old mobile phones display in my account settings anymore. I have sold those phones already and never use them again!

In fact, the list look likes a cemetery in my mind now. ;(

# Answer
As things currently stand, there is no way to **disassociate** a device from the ones shown in your Market Account. Keeping them hidden is the only way that Google currently offers.
> 13 votes

# Answer
A funny thing was happen to me: I had a HTC Wildfire S, HTC Desire S and actually a HTC Sensation. The Wildfire S was Hardware bugged and exchanged by the Desire S which I gaved to my wife - both devices still in my market account - when i bouhgt the Sensation they was added as normal to my market, restored a coupple of apps, settings a.e. as well as installed few apps from the market. I recognized a death pixel on my sensation, did therefore a ful factory restore (when you switch on the phone keep the power button pushed and same time the volume down - this is putting you in the service menu - select factory reset with the volume button and press the power button again) then i brought the device to the service to replace it with a new one. After I did the setup again on the new device and WONDER!! the old sensation wasn't in my market account anymore!!! no idea why and how but this was the fact. Maybe it' neccessary to do the Hard-Factory Reset to remove the device...
> -2 votes

---
Tags: google-play-store, accounts
---


# Question
Title: Is it safe and stable to use titanium backup and restore at two different android versions?
I want to upgrade an android phone from 2.2 to 2.3.

If I backup apps with titanium backup, will they be restored at 2.3, or will they be conflict because of different android version between backup and restore?

If it doesn't work with titanium backup, then is any other safer way?

# Answer
It is usually safe to restore non-system apps and their data across different Android versions with Titanium Backup. I wouldn't try to restore a Honeycomb-specific app on a previous OS version though, as the app itself may be incompatible due to radical changes between 3.x and earlier OS versions.

Restoring system apps and data is very unsafe. You can introduce instabilities to your device, due to changes in the way system data is handled between major OS versions of Android.

If you are using Titanium, I assume your device is rooted, since otherwise you wouldn't be able to backup app data. If you also have a custom recovery installed (e.g. ClockworkMod) I would highly recommend doing a full backup of the device, in case something goes wrong.
> 3 votes

---
Tags: 2.2-froyo, 2.3-gingerbread, updates, backup
---


title: Music Player Not Displaying Songs?

text:
# Question
Title: Music Player Not Displaying Songs?
I am using a T-Mobile G2 running Android 2.3 and recently had to replace the phone with another as the old one was bad. I then launched the stock music player with my SD Card inserted and I viewing `"All Songs"` I noticed I was missing songs. I went to the Artist and could find the missing songs. What I am confused about is how to get the default Music Player to show those songs in the `All Songs` list.

I was looking at this question and the answer provided: The music player keeps displaying deleted songs. How do I remove them or refresh the library? I found the program and the cache was empty yet the `"storage data"` had info but when I went to clear it it gave me a warning saying this would clear all accounts and data etc. What will this clear if I choose this option? I do not want to lose other information.

Beyond clearing the media data is there any other steps that I should be using to try and get these songs to display?

It would be nice if in the options it gave a `refresh music library` option, other smart phones give this and I would assume Android would also but it is not there!

Note: This issue was not there on the old G2.

# Answer
> 4 votes
I haven't looked exhaustively at the filesystem itself (didn't use `adb shell` or anything), but I'm fairly positive the warning is just a generic message that shows up whenever you clear data for an app or system service. I tried a couple of different apps and services and always saw the warning. After clearing my Media Storage data and unmounting/remounting my SD card I had:

* All of my music still available (after it had a chance to rescan)
* My Google Music account still set up and properly linked
* My ringtone still set to the correct song on my SD card
* All other accounts and settings normal

So basically, everything excepting the actual list of songs on my SD card was retained, and the list was refreshed after I remounted the SD card, as far as I can see.

Other than clearing Media Storage data, the only other thing I've tried to get my music to update is just unmounting and remounting the SD card (or using an app like SD Rescan to do it for you, as mentioned in the other question). I've personally had kind of mixed results with this, but the clear data then remount cycle always seems to work.

---
Tags: music-player, htc-desire-z
---


# Question
Title: Get profile photo to Android contact manager for non-friend contact from Facebook
I would like to know if is possible import a Facebook profile photo to contact manager for contacts which **I don't have in my friend list** on Facebook.

For example:

* In Android, I have this contact: "John Smith".
* On Facebook, there also exists some John Smith, but I don't have a John Smith in my friends list on Facebook.
* I would like add his photo from Facebook to the contact manager in Android.

# Answer
> 2 votes
You can manually download the photo and in your contact manager click the placeholder for photo and chose that File.

As far as automatically importing, your phone can't figure out which "John Smith" is the "John Smith" you want from the list of "John Smiths". The default contact manager can't do this.

---
Tags: photos, facebook
---


# Question
Title: I it necessary to SIM unlock my Samsung Galaxy S2 to use a custom ROM?
I want to upgrade my Galaxy S II to Android 2.3.5, and my provider only has 2.3.3. So I have to use a ROM from samfirmware.com. Do I have to SIM unlock my phone before installing one of these ROMs? Do I have to root it?

# Answer
> 2 votes
The Galaxy S2 has an unlocked bootloader, which means you can install any rom on it, rooting is not mandatory, some roms have root privileges, some don't.

---
Tags: updates, samsung-galaxy-s-2, rom, sim-unlocking
---


# Question
Title: Is there a way to change the on-screen position of the 'Return' button on my Archos 101?
I have bought an Archos 101 tablet.

It doesn't have hard buttons, but in stead, **on screen buttons** for '*Return*', '*Home*', '*Menu*' and '*Help*'.

If I hold the tablet in an **horizontal position** (*landscape mode*), the 4 four buttons are displayed at the **right edge of the screen**, with the '*Return*' button at the bottom ( and the 3 other buttons on top of 'Return' in the order given above.

So **I have to use my right hand** to press the '*Return*' button. Being right handed, this is a natural place for the 'Return' button to be situated (lower right corner of the screen)T - after all, it's the button you use the most.

However, when I hold the tablet in a **vertical position** (*portrait mode*), the 4 buttons are displayed at the **bottom of the screen**, in exact the same order : from left to right '*Return*', '*Home*', '*Menu*' and '*Help*'.

This now means that **I have to use my LEFT hand** to press the '*Return*' button.

---

**I would like to still use my right hand to press the '*Return*' key.**

---

Therefore my question: **is it possible to change the order of the 4 on screen buttons on an Archos 101 tablet ?**

# Answer
in the google market there is an app to change the archos buttons and even add some. its named archos buttons afaik. but your device has to be rooted. havent tested it though.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: buttons, archos-101
---


title: Where's the 8pen Preview Popup?

text:
# Question
Title: Where's the 8pen Preview Popup?
I just purchased the 8pen keyboard last night, and one frustration I'm having is that I keep having to look around my finger to figure out where the next letter is.

I found this blog post from November saying that the keyboard was now free and also updated to, among other things, include a preview popup that would show where the letters are.

The bit about the app being free is definitely outdated, as there is no free app on the marketplace and the links it includes are dead. It would seem that the preview popup is also gone.

I'm hoping someone can help me either to get the preview popup in my version (2.0.3), or help me find the version that has the preview popup.

# Answer
8pen has now answered this at their official support site:

> You're right, in the early version of the 8pen from November 2010, we included a popup window. It's now removed, but we are considering putting it back again, as you are not the only one requesting this feature.
>
> By the way, are you aware of the game "8pen Wordcup", available for free on the Market (http://goo.gl/Qvpiw)? That should get you quickly up and running with the new layout, so you won't need to be looking for letters all the time.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: keyboard
---


# Question
Title: How does android transfer with bump apps work?
I've come across several apps which allows the user to transfer data (like files, photos, contacts) when they "bump" their phones.

An example is Bump, which use the the bump to transfer files and add friends. The FAQ stated that this app uses various sensors and algorithms to "feel" the bump and the server will find matching bumps according to the sensor reading and algorithms. The FAQ also says that this app was designed with personal and data security in mind.

How exactly does it work? How does it know that I am toasting/bumping with another person? I mean I don't think GPS can track the phones *that* accurately. And how does it transfer the contacts and photos? And how can it correctly determine who is toasting with whom if there are multiple users in the same room? How is the security and confidentiality protected?

# Answer
> 11 votes
Q: How does Bump work? A: There are two parts to Bump: the app running on your device and a smart matching algorithm running on our servers in the cloud. The app on your phone uses the phone's sensors to literally "feel" the bump, and it sends that info up to the cloud. The matching algorithm listens to the bumps from phones around the world and pairs up phones that felt the same bump. Then we just route information between the two phones in each pair.

Q: No way. What if somebody else bumps at the same time? A: Way. We use various techniques to limit the pool of potential matches, including location information and characteristics of the bump event. If you are bumping in a particularly dense area (ex, at a conference), and we cannot resolve a unique match after a single bump, we'll just ask you to bump again.

http://bu.mp/faq

Your phone has some idea of where you are using cell phone cells or wifi networks, the are several applications that use that. GPS would only work outdoors. So using time of the bump and somewhat accurate location provided by either cell phone cells or wifi networks it can see which two phones are bumping.

---
Tags: applications, security, data-transfer
---


title: Deactivate Talk Messages on Samsung

text:
# Question
Title: Deactivate Talk Messages on Samsung
On my Samsung Galaxy S2, I am using Google Talk. I also use the preinstalled messaging app for SMS. This messaging app seams to read my Google account and shows Google Talk messages. Therefore I get Google Talk messages twice. Once in each app.

How can I deactivate receiving Google Talk messages in the preinstalled messaging app without deactivating the whole Google account on my phone?

# Answer
After the latest update, the Samsung messaging app provides an option to disable Google Talk messages. Exactly what I was looking for.
> 3 votes

# Answer
If you just want to disable the Talk notifications and use Messaging for everything, it should be as simple as opening Google Talk, going to its settings, then disabling IM notifications.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-2, google-talk
---


# Question
Title: How to a flash the rom.zip file to my Android phone?
I extracted the rom.zip from the HTC RUU installation and I want to flash it to my phone.

In case it matters, it is an HTC Desire HD, rooted with Cyanomod and ClockMod Recovery on it.

All I want is to flash the original stock firmware back to the phone. Because the phone has now a different firmware RUU will not recognise it.

What I need to do?

PS. I tried to rename the file to PB32IMG.zip and use the update from zip option but it doesn't work.

# Answer
> PS. I tried to rename the file to PB32IMG.zip and use the update from zip option but it doesn't work.

How does it not work? Please provide details.

---

**The general procedure for installing a new ROM would be:**

1. Download ROM .zip file to SD card.
2. Back up current ROM in case new ROM does not work:

* Boot to Recovery Mode (hold down the Power and Volume Down (Vol -) keys at the same time under boot)
    * Select 'backup and restore'
    * Select 'Backup' and confirm
    * wait for process to finish and go back to Recovery main screen
3. Wipe and factory reset (this is important for stability! Especially when installing a different ROM, and not just an update. With an update you can usually skip factory reset):

* Select “wipe data/factory reset” and confirm
    * Select “advanced” then “wipe dalvik cache” and confirm
    * wait for process to finish and go back to Recovery main screen
4. Install ROM.

* Select “install ZIP from SD Card“
    * Select “choose zip from sdcard“
    * Select the .zip file you downloaded to the SD card in step 1.
    * Wait for process to finish, go back to Recovery main screen and select Reboot.

**Where in the above process do you get stuck?**
> 3 votes

---
Tags: rom-flashing, device-firmware
---


# Question
Title: How can I share the internet connection of my HTC Wildfire ( Android 2.2 ) via  Bluetooth or USB?
I have HTC Wildfire and has Android 2.2 installed on it.

I have internet (GPRS,3G) on mobile. I want to share to my computer as windows XP.

Tried to figure out it first on other questions but didn't found the answer.

How could I share mobiles internet on XP PC ? (Please PC doesn't have wi-fi as its PC. May be some way to share via bluetooth OR USB)

Thanks,

# Answer
> 1 votes
For USB teathering i know only two options that (in my experience) works well:

AziLink - The hard but free way

EasyTeather - The easy but non-free way

---
Tags: bluetooth, tethering, htc-wildfire, usb-tethering, bluetooth-tethering
---


# Question
Title: How do I unlock the bootloader on my Sony Ericsson Xperia mini pro?
I own a "**Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro**" (model number **SK17i**) running **Android 2.3.3** (**Kernel 2.6.32.8-perf**, build number **4.0.A.2.335**). It's **branded by Orange Austria**. **I'm looking for a way to root it**, but all I could find doesn't help. I've read the xda-devel thread on rooting my phone and followed the xda-guide mentioned there. That doesn't work as planned.

The problem seems to be the branding. Fastboot won't recognize my device since I'm not able to unlock the boot loader. The phone just goes to normal charging mode, when I press \[volume down\] while connecting the USB cable (volume up will do nothing).

Hence my question: **Is there a workaround to unlock the bootloader or an alternative way of rooting?** I looked and found a method of unlocking the bootloader using the device's testpoint. According to one post there, the author succeded in unlocking his orange branded phone. For me the method described there results in a frozen s1tool and no effect on my Xperia.

Thanks for your help.

**Edit:** Now it seems that nothing can be done if `dial *#*#7378423#*#* -> "Service Info" -> "Configuration" -> "Bootloader unlock allowed:"` says `No`.

# Answer
> 4 votes
Because your phone is branded by Orange Austria, the SIM card is likely locked. SonyEricsson states: ... you can’t unlock the boot loader if you have a SIM lock protected phone

http://unlockbootloader.sonyericsson.com/which-phones#13182586887331&if\_height=1139

---
Tags: rooting, fastboot, bootloader, sony-xperia-mini-pro
---


# Question
Title: How can I retrieve data from an Epic 4G without a working screen?
My epic 4g served me well for 10 months before the screen died out on me. I bought a new one and would like to transfer data from my old phone to my new phone, however, it seems impossible when the old phone has no screen to work with.

Any suggestions on how to retrieve this data and get it on a computer?

# Answer
onik's right that ADB is your best bet for retrieving your apps, data, etc. But to get it all, you need to be rooted. XDA has an extremely simple guide for rooting that fortunately doesn't require the use of the screen, it just requires USB Debugging.

Once you root and start `adb shell`, try entering `su` before anything else. If the prompt changes from `$` to `#` then you have root privileges. If it fails, adb probably gained root privileges automatically. Now you can access the full contents of the data partition and other areas normally off-limits.
> 3 votes

# Answer
If you have debugging enabled, you can use adb to pull files from the phone. If you can't remember the names of the files, you can use `adb shell` to enter the phone's shell and then browse the filesystem with normal UNIX commands, such as `ls`, `cd dir`, `cd ..`etc. Once you have a list of files to copy, use `adb pull /sdcard/path/to/file.ext localpath/file.ext`.

If you prefer to use a graphic interface, install the full SDK and Eclipse, then use the DDMS view to browse and copy files.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: usb, screen, data-recovery, file-transfer, samsung-epic-4g
---


# Question
Title: What is the podcast/music syncing experience on android like for OS/X users?
I have been an Iphone user for a long time but I am now considering moving to an Android device (Samsung Galaxy S2). The only thing that is giving me cause for concern is the convenience of the syncing experience.

I use my IPhone largely as a media device that accepts phone calls, so syncing is important for me. I subscribe to podcasts and manage my music using ITunes on a Mac. I then attach the Iphone and press the sync button. Everything else is then automatic, new music is copied to the phone, new episodes of podcasts are downloaded and old ones removed. I then listen to this media in the car using a bluetooth connection. I could not be much happier with that experience at all.

I appreciate that the Android experience will not be as slick as the IPhone one and I can accept that so long as I can get to the same goal, however I do not want to find myself copying files/podcasts manually on to the device.

How do other OS/X users rate the Android sync Experience, and what application do they use to achieve what I am doing with my IPhone.

# Answer
> 3 votes
For things like Podcasts, the experience should be far more slick than the clunky Apple need to plug into a PC and use iTunes. Most services on Android are about the device itself doing all of the syncing directly with the internet, not needing to have a PC in the middle that you have to plug into to get updates.

For Podcasts, you can use something like Google Listen, this keeps the list of your Podcast subscriptions in Google Reader, and syncs and downloads new episodes wirelessly throughout the day (though if you're concerned about data usage you can configure it to only download when you're on a wifi network). I haven't personally used it, but other apps like DoggCatcher keep your subscriptions on the device and wirelessly sync throughout the day in similar ways.

For music syncing, there's nothing built-in, but apps like WinAmp allow you to do a wireless music sync with a PC running WinAmp, again other apps also allow that, but I haven't used them.

# Answer
> 2 votes
I've heard good things about DoubleTwist from Mac users, allows you to continue using iTunes to sync your music. Haven't tried it myself since Spotify does enough for me, and iTunes isn't really pleasant on a PC, had enough of it when I had an iPhone.

---
Tags: sync, podcast
---


title: Change auto-lock timeout by GPS?

text:
# Question
Title: Change auto-lock timeout by GPS?
I have a PIN to lock the phone so in case someone else gets my phone, they will be deterred from accessing any personal info that might be on it.

But I don't really need this everywhere. When I am at my desk, I always keep the phone there, and I would like for it to not to lock, or to lock less often. (At times, I will be adjusting music, or using the stopwatch or whatever)

Is there a way to change the PIN lock timeout depending on GPS location? If I am not at home or the office, it might as well be on instant lock as soon as the screen goes off.

# Answer
There are apps that disables the lock scren when you are connected to certain WiFi or when your phone cell is connected to certain tower or as per your requirement, on GPS.

I believe, but not sure, tasker can do it with GPS.

But why not use the WiFi address to disable unlock. I reckon it will be more useful than GPS.

Look at http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/automatically-disable-android-lockscreen-when-connected-to-home-wifi/ for automatically disabling locks creen on WiFi.

Also don't forget to check llama, awesome and free location based profile management. You can do tons of stuff based on what cell tower you are connected to.
> 4 votes

---
Tags: gps, lock-screens
---


title: Where are my Google Listen podcasts

text:
# Question
Title: Where are my Google Listen podcasts
I sometimes want to export a downloaded podcast to my computer, but I've yet to find the location where **Google Listen** stores them. Does anyone know?

# Answer
It downloads them to your SD card.

I don't use Google Listen but I installed it and downloaded a podcast. It put it in:

```
/sdcard/com.google.android.apps.listen/downloads

```

The name of the file might be something odd so you might need to rename them but that's where they are all located.
> 4 votes

---
Tags: podcast, google-listen
---


# Question
Title: Sort  contacts by different field (not first \ last name)
Merging the gmail contacts with the phones address list has many advantages, but also one nagging problem.

While the gmail contacts contain full names, and in English, I want the display name in the dialer to be in Hebrew and I often use nicknames or first names only. Is there some workaround?

The easiest method I can think of is to use another field, such as nickname, for the Hebrew name. But this requires a contact manager that lists contacts by nickname, and not just first \ last name.

# Answer
Dw contact manager supports this feature

http://crowdin.net/project/dw-contact-group-manager
> 2 votes

---
Tags: contacts, localization
---


# Question
Title: Screen recording tool for the samsung galaxy tab
> **Possible Duplicate:**
> Is it possible record videos of my screen?

IS there an available video screen recording tool for the samsung galaxy tab, or any other android device, Thanks

# Answer
There is a tool called Ashot, but the device has to be connected to a PC and it has a pretty low framerate.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-tab-10
---


# Question
Title: Some of the Applications are getting downloaded more than once from Android Market
I observed one funny thing. I have the habit of installing the applications directly from Android market on PC.

How to install the Apps directly from PC ?
Ans: I have a Google Account. I open the https://market.android.com/ site on PC and login with my Google Account. I have set this Google Account as Primary Google Account in my Android Phone. Now if I Click on Install of any application on my PC, I can see the same application downloading on my phone's notification bar.

I saw the application 100% downloaded. And I wait for the application to be installed. Of course after downloading the application my phone will automatically installs the application. We need to watch thats it.

But most of the apps are getting downloaded more than once. I don't know why it is happening ? I saw the application downloaded 100%. But again starts a fresh download without doing anything.

I remember while updating the Google Maps and Facebook had the same issue.

# Answer
I myself got to know why its happening. First I selected any application from the **Android Market** and say **Install** and then **Ok**. Its going to start Downloading.

I observed this in two scenarios. Both of the cases are pretty much same.

Case I. If I **Minimize/Kill** the **Android Market** application while Downloading using the **Back Button** then it completes the Download and Starts the new Download again.

Case II. I **Minimize/Kill** the Android application while Downloading using the **Back Button** and again open the **Android Market** application, then we can see the same application is getting Downloaded twice from the Market. If we do the same thing again then we can see the application is getting download more than thrice.

The solution is Simple. If any application is getting downloading from the Android Market just press the **Home key** to minimize the **Android Market**.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: google-play-store, 2.1-eclair, downloading
---


# Question
Title: How to get rid of "SD Card blank or has unsupported filesystem" notification
My Samsung Galaxy S II phone crashed and after I restarted it, there was an SD card notification icon that says "SD Card blank or has unsupported filesystem" with the only option of formatting the card.

However, ~~the contents of the SD card like photos taken or videos is accessible just fine~~ **UPDATE: the card seems to be corrupt, at least it's not visible from my computer.** I'll try formatting it.

# Answer
> 2 votes
**SD Card blank or has unsupported filesystem** means your SD Card has corrupted data.

The only way is to get it normal is to Format it.

**Now what about the Data on SD Card ?**
If you are using Linux Machine then there is something called TestDisk. Install it on your PC. Now connect your phone with SD Card inserted to you PC. Run TestDisk and follow the options that it shows. Backup the Uncorrupted Data to your PC and format the SD Card from your Phone.

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-2, external-sd
---


# Question
Title: Is there a way to have Adobe Flash displayed in Android 2.0?
Are there any custom players or plug-ins or something like that?

# Answer
> 0 votes
I have seen a few "Flash Lite" binaries floating around the net for Android 2.0.

It's not Flash, it's only a partial version with fewer features.

Unfortunately the only binary link I have is an update for the Pandigital Novel; the update is probably specifically for that model, but the binary inside may work on other devices. (If you want it, comment & I'll update my answer. It's hosted on mediafire, not adobe's website which means I'm not sure how much I trust it.)

---
Tags: adobe-flash, 2.1-eclair
---


# Question
Title: Samsung Galaxy SII: OTA ROM Manager update to CyanogenMod: Verification Failed
Howdi,

Basically as question says;

Download and Install Cyanogenmod 7.1.0 from ROMManager App, reboot into system recovery, and lo and behold

```
E:failed to verify whole-file signature
E:signature verification failed
Installation aborted.

```

Also tried with the 'standard' download from the website instead of OTA, same issue even after verifying md5 hash

**Anyone got any ideas?**

# Answer
I'd try putting the "standard download" on your device at `/sdcard/update.zip` and manually flashing it without using ROM Manager (reboot into recovery and select it yourself). RM doesn't always play nice with Samsung devices.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: cyanogenmod, samsung-galaxy-s-2, rom, rom-flashing, rom-manager
---


# Question
Title: How do I stop the Adobe Flash Player updates from installing themselves?
The Adobe Flash Player 11.0 update keeps installing itself on my HTC Desire. At over 17 MB that pushes me into the "Low space" zone and then my gmail stops refreshing etc... which is a disaster.

Now while I can go into Settings -\> Applications and can uninstall the update (which leaves me with the stock version of the Flash Player which is fine for me), a couple hours later Flash reinstalls itself again. Not only is this annoying but it also cost me a lot of bandwidth.

Is there any way I can disable updates for this default application?

# Answer
> 12 votes
You should be able to configure auto update via the market place. Open the market place go to my apps and find Adobe Flash Player and untick the "Allow automatic updating" box.

# Answer
> 1 votes
AS per How to hide updates from market? you can detach the app from market using Titanium Backup. Long press the app and click detach from market. But bear in mind that this feature is available only in donate version of the app.

# Answer
> 0 votes
I faced the same issue with my D1 Droid and simply uninstalled it. The YouTube ap picks up 99% of what I would use the flash player for anyway.

---
Tags: adobe-flash, application-autoupdate
---


title: Background apps and the battery

text:
# Question
Title: Background apps and the battery
Every time I use Google Search, the browser or the music player of my Samsing Galaxy S II (Android 2.3), even if I push the back button until it brings me back to the home screen, the apps keep running in background (seen in the "Active Applications" widget).

Do they consume my batery? Do they enter in some kind of supended mode, so they don't consume the CPU? If they do consume, is there any configuration to make them really close when I push the back button?

# Answer
> 4 votes
I've asked a similar question about my browser. The consensus seems to be that these apps are normally pretty dormant when in the background, and my browser was behaving strangely. Android's designed so that you don't need to exit apps (the system manages suspending and killing them); so, unless you notice an app consuming an abnormal amount of CPU time while in the background, it should be safe to leave them be.

---
Tags: applications, 2.3-gingerbread, battery, samsung-galaxy-s-2
---


# Question
Title: What does "Sync Google+ Notifications" do?
I've recently upgraded to 2.3.7 and noticed a new setting under the Google accounts sync options.

> Settings-\>Accounts & sync-\>my google account

As well as sync contacts, GMail etc it now also has a checkbox for

> Sync Google+ Notifications

Does anyone know what this setting does?

# Answer
> 5 votes
Obvious: It syncs Google+ notifications if you have a Google+ account. For example, comments on one of your posts (depending on your notification settings).

Not as obvious: You need the Google+ app for it to work.

---
Tags: sync, google-account, accounts, google-plus
---


# Question
Title: Is Samsung Galaxy S II rear camera Gorilla Glass too?
is Samsung Galaxy S II rear camera Gorilla Glass too?

It sticks out a little above the case, so I would like to know if it's durable enough not to need to buy special case which, obviously, makes the phone thicker.

Thanks!

# Answer
> 2 votes
Unfortunately it is not, my Galaxy S II already has a lot of little scratches on the camera "glass", and unlike in my old HTC Desire phone, GSII doesn't have extra "glass" in the back plate to protect the actual lens. So when it gets scratched I cannot just exchange the backplate :(.

I treat my phone very gently, so I'm very surprised to see the lens having some many little scratches :(. Clearly in GSII the lens is way too unprotected and near the surface when you place it on flat surface.

As a extra step, I bought case-mate "though" case to add a bit more space between the lens and flat surface. Although the lens is scratched all the pictures seem to be just fine. Phew...

# Answer
> 3 votes
Yeah it's **not** , have seen scratches on a friends GSII rear facing camera myself.

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s, camera
---


# Question
Title: Is there anyway to bypass the Verizon Wireless block of the tethering?
I have a rooted Droid X (v.1). I used to be able to use Wifi tether to connect my computer to the Wifi from my phone. Now Verizon is automatically blocking that and taking me to a page where they ask me to pay for the Wifi. I don't use the connection that much so I really don't want to pay an additional $25. Is there a way to get around this and activate Wifi tethering again or am I hosed?

# Answer
Get pdanet. Screw Verizon. Lifetime use is $14 and you'll never be charged another dime. It works well.
> 3 votes

# Answer
Switch Carriers to one that is more tether-friendly. (There may not be one.)
> 1 votes

---
Tags: motorola-droid-x, wifi-tethering
---


# Question
Title: How can I create a Wi-Fi network from my Galaxy Tab with no internet access?
What I am trying to do is to connect an iPad to a Samsung Galaxy Tab via Wireless LAN. What I don't need is an internet connection.

I also only have an Samsung Galaxy Tab Wifi. I can access the Hotspot Options via a shortcut, but it tells me that I need a SIM to do that.

Is there any way to create a local WLAN network broadcast by the Tab?

# Answer
The app ZT-180 Adhoc Switcher works with a **rooted** P1010 tab according to this thread on xda-developers, and as far as I know, iPad can create ad-hoc connections. Haven't tested this so use at your own risk.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: wi-fi, samsung-galaxy-tab, wifi-hotspot
---


# Question
Title: Where are the water damage indicators on a G2?
I got a G2 from eBay and it looks pretty nice. I'm just inspecting to make sure everything is good before I start using it. The battery has a white water damage indicator, which is good, but the battery could have been replaced. Are there other indicators? Where?

# Answer
In this thread on the T-Mobile forums there are a few people talking about water damage indicators. The OP mentions this:

> When I remove the back of the phone and the screen is face-down on a table, the triangle is just above the left side of the micro SD card door. It's visible even with the battery left in place.

...which another person confirms is a water damage indicator.

If you don't see any pink triangles I think you're in good shape.

**Edit:** Does your phone look like this with the battery out? Because it looks to me like that white circle near the bottom right is the only water sensor on the body of the phone itself.
> 2 votes

# Answer
See the white circle right above the battery contacts? It's in the picture. That is the phone's water damage indicator. How do I know? Because mine is bright red. Trust me, there'd be no doubt...
> 3 votes

---
Tags: hardware, htc-desire-z
---


title: How can I rate an app in Honeycomb?

text:
# Question
Title: How can I rate an app in Honeycomb?
Seems like I can't find out how to do the basics on my Honeycomb tablet. How do you rate an app in the Market?

# Answer
> 6 votes
As your comment suggested on the other answer (now deleted), you can't.

The Android Marketplace app on Honeycomb seems to be very close to the web version which (at the time of posting) didn't allow ratings/comments.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!

# Answer
> 4 votes
The newest version of the Market (3.1.6) allows you to rate apps now. I'm not sure exactly when it was released, but it was rolled out to the Motorola Xoom as part of the 4G LTE upgrade. There's an XDA thread for the new version which has discussion about installing it on other devices (I got the update when my Xoom was upgraded, so I'm not sure about stability and the like). I'm not positive if it requires a specific version of Android to work (i.e. 3.2) or if it will work on all versions of Honeycomb.

Rating works pretty much like the phone version. You go to the app's page on the Market and there is a "Rate & Review" link on the left side of the page.

---
Tags: google-play-store, 3.0-honeycomb, app-ratings
---


title: Turn off Incredible Bottom Lights

text:
# Question
Title: Turn off Incredible Bottom Lights
Droid Incredible has 4 buttons below the screen that are very bright at night. I'd like to turn these off when I'm reading from the screen. Is there any way to do this without rooting the phone?

# Answer
> 1 votes
From what I've read, this is not possible without a rooted phone. Other than that, you can you only control the lights' on/off state by how much ambient light is hitting the sensor.

# Answer
> 1 votes
It seems there must be some way to do this because FBreader turns then off whether there is high or low lighting.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/fbreader/org.geometerplus.zlibrary.ui.android

Even a note about this in the FBreader releases:

FBReaderJ 0.7.12/13 is released (October 28, 2010). Changes: * Keys backlight has been disabled.

# Answer
> 0 votes
There is an app called Screen Filter which allows dimming of the screen, as well as disabling the bottom button lights. However, as my phone is rooted, I am not entirely sure if the button light disabling works on a non-rooted incredible. The app is free though, so it is worth a try.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.haxor&hl=en

---
Tags: htc-droid-incredible, buttons, backlight
---


# Question
Title: Ways to improve battery life on Droid Incredible?
Out of the box, I noticed my Incredible has *a lot* of stuff running/turned on by default. Besides the basics of turning off WiFi, GPS, and BlueTooth when I'm not using them, are there more steps I can take to make my battery last longer?

# Answer
In general, I believe reducing use of vibration helps save battery life on a phone. So for the Incredible, I even disabled the feature of vibrating when entering keystrokes.

Here are some good tips from wikiHow.
> 1 votes

# Answer
Switching to 2G when there's no need to use 3G networks is also increasing the battery life.
> 0 votes

# Answer
The biggest thing I've seen is to dim the backlight as much as possible (while remaining comfortable for your eyes), as well as lowering screen time-out length. Another big killer is to stay connected to wifi or 3g with a very weak signal. If it is at the point of losing connection and reconnecting repeatedly, it will eat through the battery very quickly.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: battery-life, performance, htc-droid-incredible
---


# Question
Title: Webpage not loading in the Android browser
I was checking out my website using the default Android (2.3.4) browser and the link to one of my PDFs is not loading and returns a "Web page not available" error. The URL http://www.ericperrets.info/Resume%20-%20Eric%20Perret.pdf . When I try it in Chrome or any other browsers on the desktop it load correctly. Any ideas why this is happening?

# Answer
> 2 votes
Looks like a similar issue has been raised in the Google code repository for android at: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=3678

I've just tested this with a few browsers on Gingerbread - namely Firefox, Dolphin HD and the native browser. Neither of them like to navigate to the file directly, but accessing the file through search results (e.g. Google) seem to prompt the browser to download the file.

It may be worth cross-checking the configuration for the PDF mime-type on your web server. The standard MIME type is application/pdf.

# Answer
> 2 votes
For better compatibility you might consider removing the spaces in the filename. Other than that I don't know what the problem could be.

---
Tags: browser, pdf, stock-browser
---


# Question
Title: Xperia Arc Social Phonebook Add Contact Problem
On my phone add new contact is failing by unexpected closure. The logs of that operation is;

```
10-13 08:06:57.801: INFO/CustomizationProvider(1340): No configuration file: /system/etc/customization/settings/com/sonyericsson/android/socialphonebook/custom_settings.xml
10-13 08:06:57.801: WARN/socialphonebook(12699): SettingsParser: No customization file exists.
10-13 08:06:57.801: ERROR/socialphonebook(12699): SettingsParser: key not found. key=[account-types]
10-13 08:06:57.831: DEBUG/szipinf(12699): Initializing inflate state
10-13 08:06:57.841: WARN/dalvikvm(12699): threadid=11: thread exiting with uncaught exception (group=0x2aac8560)
10-13 08:06:57.851: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(12699): FATAL EXCEPTION: AsyncTask #1
        java.lang.RuntimeException: An error occured while executing doInBackground()
        at android.os.AsyncTask$3.done(AsyncTask.java:200)
        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerSetException(FutureTask.java:274)
        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.setException(FutureTask.java:125)
        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:308)
        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:138)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1088)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:581)
        at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:1019)
        Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: Top level element must be ContactsSource
        at com.sonyericsson.android.socialphonebook.model.ExternalSource.inflate(ExternalSource.java:137)
        at com.sonyericsson.android.socialphonebook.model.ExternalSource.inflate(ExternalSource.java:108)
        at com.sonyericsson.android.socialphonebook.model.ContactsSource.superInflate(ContactsSource.java:119)
        at com.sonyericsson.android.socialphonebook.model.ContactsSource.ensureInflated(ContactsSource.java:111)
        at com.sonyericsson.android.socialphonebook.model.Sources.getInflatedSource(Sources.java:369)
        at com.sonyericsson.android.socialphonebook.model.Sources.getAccounts(Sources.java:268)
        at com.sonyericsson.android.socialphonebook.ui.EditContactActivity$AddContactTask.doInBackground(EditContactActivity.java:1438)
        at com.sonyericsson.android.socialphonebook.ui.EditContactActivity$AddContactTask.doInBackground(EditContactActivity.java:1422)
        at com.sonyericsson.android.socialphonebook.util.WeakAsyncTask.doInBackground(WeakAsyncTask.java:49)
        at android.os.AsyncTask$2.call(AsyncTask.java:185)
        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:306)
        ... 4 more
10-13 08:06:57.861: WARN/ActivityManager(242): Force finishing activity com.sonyericsson.android.socialphonebook/.ui.EditContactActivity
10-13 08:06:57.861: WARN/ActivityManager(242): Force finishing activity com.sonyericsson.android.socialphonebook/.SocialPhonebookActivity

```

Help please, I can't add contacts ( weird and funny !! )

# Answer
> 1 votes
Typical case where an app, in this case socialphonebook (package com.sonyericsson.android.socialphonebook), has messed up (or lost) its configuration and seems unable to recover from this.

Without root you can only try to **delete the apps data** (Settings -\> Manage Applications). But be careful, since this is the phonebook app on the xeperia, you **will lose all your contact data.** Be sure to have a (cloud-based) backup.

---
Tags: contacts, sony-xperia-arc
---


title: USB drivers on the xperia play

text:
# Question
Title: USB drivers on the xperia play
I'm helping out a friend with rooting Xperia play, I spent 5 hours trying to root it yesterday with him and we couldn't. We tried gingerbreak and z4mod but they did not work, so we tried the fastboot way and I can't seem to get the drivers installed properly.

Whenever I try the command to check for the phone in cmd the phone shows no response as if he wasn't connected.

What am I doing wrong?

# Answer
Steps I've used in the past for this kind of issue :

1. Check your USB cable - some are no good for data. (this is frequently the issue when my computer can't see my phone)
2. reboot everything
3. you say the drivers aren't installing - what's the issue there? try manually installing the drivers.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: usb, fastboot, usb-drivers, sony-ericsson-xperia-play
---


# Question
Title: How can I get dictionaries for more input languages?
Ok, so I figured out I can enable other input languages through settings, which at least makes it easier to enter some special characters, but only the biggest languages have "Dictionary available". Is it possible to somehow add dictionaries for the other selectable input languages?

# Answer
It looks like that all dictionaries are embedded into keyboards, but you can try to find the dictionary by searching in Android market with query:

> Your\_desired\_language language pack

For example for "Finnish language pack" there are packs for 3 different keyboards: SlideIT, AnySoftKeyboard and Gingerbread keyboard (unfortunately not the original one, you should install Gingerbread keyboard app from market even if you already have original Gingerbread keyboard).
> 1 votes

---
Tags: input-methods, text-prediction
---


# Question
Title: What's the name of the protocol that android devices use in debug mode?
I have a strange Android prototype what we got from a customer. Said customer has forgotten about it, and I'm now fiddling with it to see if I can make it do anything interesting. The device appears to be the same family as the Acer beTouch.

It used to boot fine, but while trying to make it go into fastboot mode it has stopped booting correctly at all. Now it boots up into some weird debug mode. If I plug it in to USB, it shows up on my Linux box as a /dev/ttyACM0 port via Linux's USB modem driver. However, it's *not* a modem.

If I connect to it via a serial terminal and press RETURN it responds with:

```
OK

```

If I type anything else and press return, I get:

```
NOTSUPPORTED

```

So, it's not a Hayes modem. It's not Android's fastboot or adb protocols. hwinfo tried to probe it but didn't get anything. Since it's a USB device, I can't get any messages that appears on startup. I've done evil things with a whole bunch of Android devices but I've never seen this before. Anyone recognise it?

(Tips on how to make it boot again would be useful, too; I *have* found recovery mode --- CALL+VOLUP+POWER, for reference --- but factory resetting it does nothing. I haven't found fastboot yet.)

**Update:** I was wrong! It *is* a Hayes modem. It just doesn't understand any commands. So:

```
AT
OK

```

But:

```
ATI0
NOTSUPPORTED

```

I can't find any commands that make it do anything, not even `AT&V` or `ATS0=0`. Which is weird. I don't know why the phone is booting into this mode; probably something's wrong with the root filesystem. Don't suppose anyone knows a magic Android Hayes command to get a root shell, or reboot into recovery or fastboot, or *anything* that I could try?

# Answer
> 1 votes
Have you tried using adb from the Android SDK to connect to the device? I believe it's the same protocol also used when the OS is running and connected via USB.

---
Tags: usb, boot, fastboot
---


# Question
Title: Can I hook up an external GPS to Android devices without a built-in GPS?
I know there's a number of solutions that allow you to use a Bluetooth-enabled external GPS antenna but what if you don't have Bluetooth? Does anyone know of a way to connect a USB GPS antenna to an Android device?

**A little background: I just ordered this cheap resistive screen tablet primarily to be a less expensive dedicated Kindle/Nook Reader but I'm also thinking up other ways I can use this thing. One way I was thinking was as GPS unit mounted on my dash, only problem... no GPS.*

# Answer
I believe Bluetooth is the only way to do this.

In order to be able to do this via USB the device would need to support USB-OTG (basically be capable of acting as a USB host); given that you are excluding Bluetooth, I doubt there would be a device with USB-OTG but without Bluetooth. You'd obviously need a GPS capable of sending data over USB, as well.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: gps, external-gps
---


# Question
Title: What are the features that HTC Sense has that vanilla Android does not have?
What are the features that HTC Sense has that vanilla Android does not have?

This question is similar to What are the features that Motoblur has that vanilla Android does not have? but for HTC Sense.

# Answer
* integration with social networks (Facebook, Flickr, Twitter), including down to the contacts application, with contact pictures and everything
* free "lost phone" functionality, without the need for a third-party application (eg. Lookout), including remote lock and wipe
* an (arguably) easier to use keyboard, with quick access to numbers and common symbols
* HTC-specific applications (Navigation, Sync, launcher, widgets, etc.)

Keep in mind that all of the eye-candy features offered by Sense do reduce battery life, so it may be desirable to install a third party ROM or remove them from the existing ROM using Titanium Backup.
> 4 votes

---
Tags: htc-sense, vanilla-android
---


# Question
Title: What does Skype use all those permissions for?
I'd like to know what Skype does with all the permissions it asks for. Is there any page where Skype (the company) justifies the various permissions?

Does it make any difference, whether I'm a paying customer or not?

The permissions are as following:

* Your accounts
    + act as an account authenticator
        - Allows an application to use the account authenticator capabilities of the AccountManager, including creating accounts and getting and setting their passwords.
    + manage the accounts list
        - Allows an application to perform operations like adding, and removing accounts and deleting their password.
    + use the authentication credentials of an account
        - Allows an application to request authentication tokens.
* Hardware controls
    + change your audio settings
        - Allows application to modify global audio settings such as volume and routing.
    + record audio
        - Allows application to access the audio record path.
* Your location
    + coarse (network-based) location
        - Access coarse location sources such as the cellular network database to determine an approximate device location, where available. Malicious applications can use this to determine approximately where you are.
* Network communication
    + full Internet access
        - Allows an application to create network sockets.
* Your personal information
    + read contact data
        - Allows an application to read all of the contact (address) data stored on your device. Malicious applications can use this to send your data to other people.
    + write contact data
        - Allows an application to modify the contact (address) data stored on your device. Malicious applications can use this to erase or modify your contact data.
* Phone calls
    + read phone state and identity
        - Allows the application to access the phone features of the device. An application with this permission can determine the phone number and serial number of this phone, whether a call is active, the number that call is connected to and the like.
* Storage
    + modify/delete USB storage contents modify/delete SD card contents
        - Allows an application to write to the USB storage. Allows an application to write to the SD card.
* System tools
    + disable keylock
        - Allows an application to disable the keylock and any associated password security. A legitimate example of this is the phone disabling the keylock when receiving an incoming phone call, then re-enabling the keylock when the call is finished.
    + prevent device from sleeping
        - Allows an application to prevent the device from going to sleep.
    + retrieve running applications
        - Allows application to retrieve information about currently and recently running tasks. May allow malicious applications to discover private information about other applications.
    + write sync settings
        - Allows an application to modify the sync settings, such as whether sync is enabled for Contacts.
    + modify global system settings
        - Allows an application to modify the system's settings data. Malicious applications can corrupt your system's configuration.

More:

* Your accounts
    + discover known accounts
        - Allows an application to get the list of accounts known by the device.
* Hardware controls
    + control vibrator
        - Allows the application to control the vibrator.
* Network communication
    + view Wi-Fi state
        - Allows an application to view the information about the state of Wi-Fi.
    + view network state
        - Allows an application to view the state of all networks.
* System tools
    + read sync settings
        - Allows an application to read the sync settings, such as whether sync is enabled for Contacts.
    + read sync statistics
        - Allows an application to read the sync stats; e.g., the history of syncs that have occurred.
* Default
    + modify secure system settings
        - Allows an application to modify the system's secure settings data. Not for use by normal applications.

# Answer
> 2 votes
* **Your accounts** \- Skype acts as an account authenticator the way Google does; most likely used to easily store your Skype username and password
* **Your location** \- probably for statistics and some location-based features
* **Your personal information** \- allows you to directly call a contact's phone number, as well as their Skype account, from the contacts application
* **Phone calls** \- almost every application needs access to to this section in order to get the phone's unique ID. Skype also needs this to know if the phone is in a call.
* **Storage** \- probably to store cached data
* **System tools** \- all of these allow Skype to prevent the phone becoming idle during a call, as well as sync contacts

All other permissions should be obvious.

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Tags: skype, permissions
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# Question
Title: SMS messages from one contact displayed as "null"
My daughter has a stock Motorola Atrix on Bell in Canada. When she receives a text from one particular friend (on a Telus phone), rather than displaying the text, the phone just displays "null". All other texts work fine. She can receive from other people on the Telus network as well.

When the problem contact sends an MMS message with a picture, any text in the picture message comes through fine.

I have tried multiple SMS apps to see if they made a difference but they all behave the same way as the default text app.

Any ideas??

# Answer
> 1 votes
Related to : SMS messages just have "null"

Try this,

> delete their contact

then

> Settings \> Applications \> Manage Applications \> Select the Messaging App
>
> Choose 'Clear Data' and also 'Clear Cache'.

**N.B. you will lose all data / txt msg's in your phone**

(don't forget to write their number down to save as new afterwards!)

# Answer
> 0 votes
You could also check on http://www.google.com/contacts and check if the address book entry for that person is missing some information.

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Tags: sms
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# Question
Title: Is there any graphic-accelerated PDF reader for Android?
I use Adobe's Reader and ThinkFree Office, but they both are too slow. Any suggestions?

# Answer
Starting with Android 3.0 (Honeycomb), Google introduced hardware accelerated 2D rendering pipeline. For now it's a tablet-only feature, but hopefully we'll get that in the unified Ice Cream Sandwich platform.

That should be a bit with that slowness issue with PDF readers since they are only able to do software rendering in Gingerbread and older.
> 1 votes

# Answer
There is no hardware accelerated PDF reader for Android at the time I am writing this (correct/edit me if I am wrong).

As kernal already sad, the performance depends on your phone. You could try to downsize the images in the PDFs for better performance on your android device.
> 0 votes

# Answer
It seems like the better choice is ezPDF Reader. It's a paid app, but the screenshots look just great!

Remember the performance depends on which phone do you have... :-/
> -1 votes

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Tags: pdf, ebook-reader, hardware-acceleration
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title: Delayed incoming GTalk messages

text:
# Question
Title: Delayed incoming GTalk messages
Recently, I performed a factory reset on my SGS (Froyo), since then all my incoming GTalk messages are seen arriving one hour before: if it is 5pm, the message is tagged 4PM.

Well, I could live with that, but the problem is that my responses are tagged with the right time, therefore any further incoming messages will be placed vertically before my messages.

I have tried changing the time, change time zones, accept network-provided time, and nothing seems to work...

Had this happened to you?How can I solve this problem?

Thanks

# Answer
> 2 votes
This sounds like an issue with Summer Time vs Daylight Savings Time? Most parts of the world are still running on Summer Time right now, which is generally +1 hour to your actual time zone.

As well as checking your phone's time zone, check to see if you have the correct settings for summer time/daylight savings set.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Try to delete the gtalk application data:

`Settings -> Application -> Application Settings`

choose the gtalk app and press delete data.

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Tags: google-talk
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# Question
Title: Does the Android specification include minimum sensor parameters?
Android apps can access sensor data. How do I know how accurate the sensor readings are? Is there a universal standard that specifies operational parameters of a sensor?

E.g., a temperature sensor on an Android device must be able to accurately read temperature with an accuracy of 0.01C over a temperature range from 0C through 100C.

If there is such a standard, is it available for reference online?

# Answer
Google has an Android Compatibility Definition Document (CDD) (see http://source.android.com/compatibility/overview.html) that specifies the minimum (and suggested guidelines) for what a device must physically support to be allowed to use the Android branding (and to get the Google Market and Google's android apps).

The latest CCD in section 7.3 lists the minimum requirements of the sensors. The temperature sensor (section 7.3.7) is actually listed as something that Android devices should *not* include. There are not specs for this sensor's sensitivity.
> 4 votes

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Tags: hardware, sensors
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