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My 4 year old son loves my ASUS Eee Transformer, and likes the games and stuff. But he has a cold, and the screen is literally gross. What are safe methods, and conversely what are unsafe methods of cleaning it? Being a touch pad I am not sure if the surface is specially coated and say, Windex will destroy it. I understand there might be device specific concerns as different manufacturers may use different screen cover materials that react differently.
|
You can find special screen cleaning mixtures to use, but they're mostly just alcohol. I've been using a lens-cleaning spray on my phone for years with no adverse effects. Just spray a bit on a piece of paper towel and wipe the screen down. You'll want to use an alcohol based spray, as it evaporates much faster than water, and so won't short out your device.
|
Cleaning the screen of a tablet safely
|
android
|
I am running Android 2.3 on a Samsung Galaxy S 2. Recently, when I play music, at some random time, the volume will suddenly increase. It's hard to put an exact measurement on the increase, but I'd estimate it's about 20 to 30% louder. It's quite jarring, and if my volume is already up near maximum, it can be a little painful. This happens with any application that plays MP3s, so I don't believe it's application specific. It also happens without any action on my part. When the volume jumps up, I'm not holding my phone or using any interface, or touching any buttons. It's not that volume buttons are accidentally being hit, either. It happened just now, and my Android is lying on the table beside my laptop, without anything touching it. Is this a bug of some kind?
|
It could most likely be a bug. I suggest you upgrade your Android via Kies or manually. Galaxy Nexus is known to have a similar software issue with volume: http://techie-buzz.com/mobile-news/galaxy-nexus-to-get-a-software-update-to-fix-the-volume-bug.html Perhaps it could be the same with your S2, especially since it is on older Android version.
|
Why is sound on my Android suddenly increasing?
|
android
|
An Android-based HTC Desire S is set to "auto brightness" display mode. The brightness is adjusted okay unless the device in a completely dark room. In a dark room then display is very bright - tolerable, but really uncomfortable. Is there a way to make it less bright without disabling "auto brightness" mode?
|
go to the market and search for screen filter. It Can get much dimmer than the brightness control by controlling the screen colors rather than just the backlight.
|
Screen brightness too high on auto mode when in the dark room
|
android
|
Is there any way to capture mobile activities of user on mobile capture as a video. I have samsung galaxy S running 2.3, is it possble using this? or is such feature introduced Android 3.0 or, if above is not possible, could you please help me out in finding out any software which does window activity capturing in Windows7 , I will use Android emulator to create video of my mobile web application. -Thanks.
|
You can try Screencast Video Recorder FREE and if it works you can get the paid version Screencast Video Recorder . For Windows I'm sure many software exists. Why don't you ask on Super User if you can't find one.
|
Movie or Video of mobile web application for demo
|
android
|
So I just bought a Milestone 2 and installed CM 7.2 by Endless (based on the Defy CM ROM). Everything is working great, but there's one thing that annoys me. Everytime I tweet something it never shows up as <code> x secs ago </code> , instead it shows <code> 4 min ago </code> . This also happens on the Facebook app. The real time events always shows 4 minutes. It is like the OS is adding the time by itself. This really doesn't make much difference but I'm really curious as it why does it happens. Any help is much appreciated. :)
|
It sounds like your clock is 4 minutes fast. Check to see if your phone is getting its time from the network (on Gingerbread, it's Settings/Date & Time, not sure about CM 7.2). If you are getting time from the network, try disabling automatic updates and set the time manually to a source like time.gov or time.is.
|
Real time events show up with a 4 minute delay
|
android
|
I just got a new 32GB SD card for my Nexus One. On the old one I have a bunch of apps installed and store the data there because the internal memory doesn't handle it. So now I want to switch SD cards, but how do I go about doing that without causing any issues? Do I just simply copy-paste everything, or is there another way to do it? I'm on stock firmware on the Android and using Mac OS X Lion.
|
Unless you did some App2SD magic with ext4 partitions on your SD card (if you don't know what I'm talking about, you didnt), the SDCard will only have a simple FAT32 partition. So all you have to do is copy all the data from old SDCard and to a new one and everything will be fine. Easiest way to do it is to plug the phone in your laptop, put the card in the card reader (with help of an adapter which is usually bundled with new SD Card), copy everything over and swap the SD Cards in the phone. EDIT: Android stores applications that were moved to sdcard in a folder named .android_secure which is hidden on OS X Finder and Linux Nautilus by default. Don't forget to move that :)
|
How do I switch my Android device's SD card without causing problems?
|
android
|
I am trying to install "Samba Filesharing" on my Samsung GT-S5660. The requirements is that it is rooted, and also the application "Superuser". Rooting, seems to be a complicated hack. Why is that necessary? This is a phone sold without a contract, and I am concerned that phones with contracts are a bit different, and i think in a phone like mine it should be a simple setting or something. What should be the best approach in my case?
|
Ok if you havent checked out the link Uri posted, "root," to put it simply, is administrative privileges on the phone and gives you the ability to mess with core system files and configurations. The "Superuser" app is just an app that is designed to grant or block root permissions to different apps. Rooting android phones is sometimes complicated but it mainly depends on the phone and manufacturer as different manufacturers lock down their phones in different ways. Some developers have brought it down to you just plugging in your phone when a certain app is running and everything is done for you while other times will require you to run terminal commands, and download specific software onto your phone. Unlike standard desktop Linux, root has to be acquired through exploits apparent in the phones. Now why gain root? Well for android phones, it allows us to a variety of things such as have the ability to underclock our processors for considerably better battery life or overclock them for performance. We can also create wifi-hotspots with ease, run network based attacks such as ARP-Poisoning , conduct cookie hijacking and so on. Its like jailbreaking an iPhone (except its a LOT more power to tinker in the palm of your hands). In your case, your app probably configures the network card on your phone for the File Server in a way that cannot be done with the traditional Android API and so needs more system access (hence the request for root permissions). There is no "simple" setting to turn on root no matter what phone you have. This is because carriers make money by locking down your phone and forcing you to pay for more functionality (i.e tethering/wifi-hotspot). If they give you the ability to activate root, then some people could easily circumvent their control, thus making them lose money. The other possibility is that careless people who don't know what they are doing could seriously mess up their own phones and thus making it a support nightmare for carriers and manufacturers who now have to deal with bricked phones. What should your best approach be? It all depends. If you really plan on tinkering with the phone or want custom software or want better battery life, then rooting is for you. If you just want to use your phone with no extra functionality or no hassle, then don't bother for root as you probably don't need it. If you do want to root, CAREFULLY follow all instructions and do your research. Your best place to start is on your device forums on xda here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1404 The 1 click root also has a very good chance of working but this isn't verified to work with your device afaik.
|
Do I need a complicated root? Why? How (Samsung GT-S5660)
|
android
|
The issue is that I see a high percentage on the "Android OS" item in the Battery Usage, and I want to find out what is causing it. But let me say that I'm interested in diagnostics techniques and tools, rather than increasing the battery life, as you will see in the below figures that the battery isn't drained much faster than expected. Here's the situation with the phone right now: Last charged 13 hours ago I restarted the phone after charging it I have switched off everything (such as GPS, WiFi, Data network) I was on a 2G network all the time My only use from the phone during the day was a few minutes of WiFi, receiving two SMS messages, and a call that lasted less than a minute. I have auto-sync turned off And here's the battery usage stat: Android OS: 67% Display: 10% Cell standby: 9% Phone idle: 6% The Android OS shows 1 hour and 30 minutes of CPU time, but the total time that the phone was turned on was less than 30 minutes, and I don't have anything active in the background. The battery level isn't bad at all (80%), but considering that I haven't done anything with the phone (and that the phone has a 2500 mAh battery) I am curious to find out what is causing the battery usage. Obviously, this should be caused by some background tasks that aren't listed in the battery usage. I am looking for ways, tools, and methods that enables me to diagnose this further and relate the 67% of the usage to actual applications. Some additional information: I have a Galaxy Note, with Gingerbread 2.3.6 installed. I have "Usage Timelines Free" installed (which wasn't running during the day), and it doesn't show any excessive CPU usage by any app that can lead me toward who's consuming the battery. Related question (helpful, but didn't answer my question) : stackexchange-url ("What can cause "Android OS" process to use high percentage of battery?")
|
Use an app such as "Better battery stats." This app provides detailed information about all the services running. This is way better than the stock app for diagnostics. Additionally, a lot of the core services for the system are attributed as part of the "Android OS". There is a very particular bug in Samsung Galaxy SII devices relating to the TouchWiz calendar that keeps doing a lot of unnecessary checks which prevents the device from sleeping properly when the screen is turned off. This causes a huge drain in battery life. Since the TouchWiz on an SII is very similar to the one on a Galaxy Note, you might have the same inherent bug. These links might give you a better idea http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1316003 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1383929&page=5
|
How can I find out what causes "Android OS" to consume battery?
|
android
|
I run a dual-booted HD2 from SDCard/HaRET with MIUI Android & stock WM6.5. I keep a copy of this file in <code> \Storage Card\My Documents </code> for listening in CorePlayer and survive possible hard resets. However, everytime , and I really mean every time I boot MIUI this file disappears from the SD card. I'm unable to locate it from Android and when I reboot into Windows I see no traces of it. Why the hell (can I say hell?) does Android delete the file from SD on every single boot? Does it hate M3U files?
|
Android scans your sd card. When it finds an MP3 playlist (m3u file) it looks for media files in the same path, if it does not find any, it deletes the playlist because it thinks it is empty. To stop this from happening create a file in the folder with the m3u file called <code> .nomedia </code> . This will tell the media scanner to ignore the content in the folder.
|
Why do I always lose this file?
|
android
|
I want root, but not enough to reflash or do anything that has a significant chance of harming the phone. In the past I've always used Super One Click, but I've found the Kindle fire can't be rooted Super One Click (though it has specific instructions to root) and neither can my Motorola Electrify after the latest update. Is there anything to try after Super One Click? It's an amazing catch-all solution but I realized I have never found another solution that doesn't require carrier and device specific roms, recovery mode and lots of other scary things.
|
The kindle fire was just recently updated and the update removed root from the device, and it broke the Super One Click root method used. Once another root method is found (it may have been already) the developer of Super One Click will most likely update the application to support the Kindle Fire again. Here is an article from Engadget talking about the update. Just when you thought it was safe to root your Kindle Fire with a single click, Amazon has clamped down on homebrewing enthusiasts. The company has begun pushing out an update for the $199 tablet that breaks the root, disabling the SuperOneClick utility in the process. If you've rooted your tablet and are still running a version of the Amazon-flavored Gingerbread, you're susceptible to the update any time you're connected to a WiFi network. However, if you've already made the leap to another version of Android, such as CM7, you can bypass this and any future software updates. There are some improvements with 6.2.1 though, as smoother scrolling, password protected WiFi use and the ability to remove recently used items from the home screen carousel are among the upgrades. If you're looking to read up on the issue before taking action, roll up your sleeves and hit the links below. XDA-Developers Topic From that thread, if you modify the hosts file and put the amazon update server to point to localhost (127.0.0.1) you will not receive the update, but If you cannot use Super One Click, it sounds like it is too late for you. You seem to already have the update. Steps to disable the Kindle Automatic Silent Update: Modify /etc/hosts <code> 127.0.0.1 s3.amazonaws.com </code> Disable OTASilentInstall Use an app like Titanium Backup and Freeze the OTASilentInstall apk Rename OTASilentInstall (Optional) Another option is to use a tool like RootExplorer and rename OTASilentInstall.apk to OTASilentInstall.bak. As for your Electrify, I found some steps to root but I don't have the device so I do not know if they still work. Turn on USB Debugging in <code> Settings -> Applications -> Development -> USB Debugging </code> - check the box. From the market download and install the Superuser App to your phone. You may be asked to update binaries but you can't till you're rooted. It's OK as is. Download and install the drivers to your PC from the link in step 9 below. Download both the ADB package and the torpedo root file to your PC from the link in step 9 below. Create a folder on your C: drive called Root. Unzip the ADB package to the Root folder and move the torpedo root file there as well. Plug your phone into your PC with the USB cable. Set USB Settings to Charge Only. From your PC click Start:Run: type CMD and click OK. Enter the prompts shown at How To: Root Motorola Photon 4G
|
What's next if Super One Click fails?
|
android
|
How can I watch movies on my tablet (Asus Transformer tablet with Android 3.2) offline? I recognize that this is a very basic question, however, I can not find any step-by-step instructions on this site or online. It is also not clear if any popular sites such as Netflix, Amazon, or Hulu support offline viewing. I think that it would be useful to have step-by-step instructions. If I had the tablet in my hands, I would probably be able to figure something out - even though it is a new device and my first experience with Android. However, my wife has taken it and the children on a trip, and would like to use it for entertainment on the flight home.
|
Android comes with a basic video player called "Movies", although it might not show in the application list for some devices. To use the built-in player, you need to use the Gallery or a file manager to invoke the Movies app on the movie file you want to play. Alternatively there are many alternative movie players on the Market. Here are a few threads to get you started: MX Video Player MoboPlayer RockPlayer QQPlayer VPlayer
|
How can I watch movies offline on my Android tablet?
|
android
|
There are a couple of apps I'd like to install that aren't available in Amazon's store. Is there a way I can get the normal Android Market app set up on this thing, so I can get apps (and updates for those apps...) without involving Amazon?
|
You can use Kindle Fire Utility to easily get root and Market with Google Apps. It would automatically perform steps described in the above answers and even more.
|
How can I get the Android Market installed on my Kindle Fire?
|
android
|
I was wondering if stock Android puts Wifi and other data networks to sleep when the display of the device is turned off. If not, what app can help me do the same ?
|
It depends, some Android devices have an advanced setting WiFi Sleep Policy under <code> Settings -> Wireless -> Wi-Fi Settings -> [Menu Button] Advanced -> Wi-Fi Sleep Policy </code> But I am not sure if this is a vanilla Android feature or an manufacturer modification. At least the Galaxy S series has this setting. Data networks are usually fully active. But Apps like Tasker allow you to define certain profiles to improve battery life. For example: Only allow 2G when the display is off, because 2G requires less battery then 3G (UMTS).
|
Does Android put wifi and other data networks to sleep when the display is turned off?
|
android
|
I find the media volume to not be very loud on my Samsung Galaxy Nexus and would like to somehow "boost" it beyond what stock Android allows. My phone is rooted and is running Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0). Is there a way that I can "boost" my phone's volume / make it louder that works on Android 4.0? In particular, I am wanting to do this for media playback than notification sounds, but information on either is beneficial.
|
I use a program called Volume+ Free. Works pretty well. The free one is capped though at +4 db. If you want to go higher you have to get the paid version. The full version can be found for free on the developer's website.
|
How can I make my Samsung Galaxy Nexus volume go louder than what stock allows?
|
android
|
On my Galaxy Nexus running (stock, non-rooted) ICS, there is a contact entry for "ME". This is different from the contact entry farther down the list with my actual name on it. And the contact for "ME" actually contains some incorrect information. Some non-existent email addresses, etc. I don't even know where these came from, as they aren't anywhere in my contacts lists nor in my G+ profile. When I try to edit "ME", it does not give me the option to modify the email addresses. And it also doesn't let me Join this contact with the other instance of myself. How can I edit this "ME" contact to show correct information? Or can I somehow delete it and choose a different contact to represent ME?
|
I also had the same problem and it took me 2 days to fix this Try going to contacts.google.com. Find your profile (should have your gmail on email address) Re-add the faulty data (it was an old phone number in my case), save, and force your nexus to sync contacts Now delete the faulty data, sava, and force sync again. If that didnt work, do the same but with your google+ profile: re-add faulty data, save, and force sync, then delete it. I did both of the above, so I'm not exactly sure which method worked Edit: just remembered there was one other thing i did after all of the above: Go to google plus app on your nexus Click "settings" and uncheck the contacts syncing. The old phone number was removed at this point. And turning sync back on did not make it reappear Hope that helped!
|
How to edit the "ME" contact?
|
android
|
Using Movie Studio, how can I edit a video, specifically split it to remove a portion of the video? I've figured out how to apply effects and transitions, but I want to clip a portion. Is it possible?
|
A quick search brought up this article at http://blog.laptopmag.com/how-to-edit-video-with-movie-studio-on-your-android-tablet . While I don't have a tablet, I have played with Movie Studio before, and it looks like all you have to do is tap the timeline at the bottom of your clip, and drag the arrows that appear on its edges to trim it. This only trims the edges off, so if you want to take a part out of the middle, I would re-add the clip (so you have two copies of it in your timeline), and then drag the arrows on the ends of the copy so you only have the part you want, without getting rid of the beginning of the clip from the original.
|
How can I edit a movie with Movie Studio?
|
android
|
I am trying to create a wifi access point (hotspot) from my virgin mobile Optimus v to provide internet access. It looks like there are several options if I root it but I'd rather not root it. Bluetooth would be an acceptable alternative.
|
Found a few options. The easiest seems to be : QuickSettings (free, works on an unrooted Droid, including Optimus V, reviewed here .). It did reveal the Wifi Hotspot setting so I could turn it on, but it didn't work. After more investigation this seems to be a limitation of Virgin Mobile (not allowing Tethering). k
|
How to tether lg optimus v without rooting
|
android
|
I can't seem to find the sorting options in the contact list. Currently, the contacts are sorted by first name and displayed as "firstname lastname". I'd like to change it to be sorted by last name and displayed as "lastname, firstname", but the option seems to be missing. Is this really the case in ICS or just the teamhacksung's alpha version?
|
Is there something like: People app -> press the menu button bottom right (the 3 vertical dots) -> settings -> Sort list by
|
Contact sorting in ICS? (Galaxy S alpha version)
|
android
|
I've been told that the SD card is a terrible place to store secure data because any app can read it. How else can my phone store my private key I use to log into my home PC ssh server?
|
I use ssh in a terminal. <code> $ ls -l .ssh -rw------- 1 10106 10106 427 Jan 8 07:39 id_rsa -rw-rw-rw- 1 10106 10106 319 Jan 8 07:39 id_rsa.pub ... $ pwd /data/data/com.magicandroidapps.bettertermpro/home </code> So the private key is protected simply by the unix filesystem and Android's user-per-app design: only Better Terminal Emulator Pro can read id_rsa, and only ssh and other programs I'm aware of run under it. Whatever your app is, it need only do this to enjoy the same security from other apps. Full-sdcard encryption, unless it comes packaged with a filesystem having a comparable system of permissions, will not protect your data from other apps.
|
How can I securely store my private key I use for logging into my home PC
|
android
|
Once in a while I see a description of a program that is to be installed via Android market. It is often accompanied by a two-dimensional barcode looking like a QR code that I guess somehow contains a link to the right Market page and the process of using it should be very easy. I've searched and the closest thing I found is stackexchange-url ("this question about reading QR Codes") which makes me think it shouldn't be that hard and so I can't see whether that question is about the same usecase I'm asking about. How exactly to make use of such barcodes? What's the way to proceed from the QR code on a web page to Market page?
|
I have installed the application "Barcode Scanner" from here https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.zxing.client.android To install an application, I open the "Barcode Scanner" application and hold the phone up to the barcode. It scans and decodes it automatically and then gives me the option to "open brower". I click on that and it eventually leads me to the Android market when I am given the option to install the application.
|
How to utilize those Market QR codes?
|
android
|
I've resorted to the FB Mobile site which isn't a bad compromise really, but I was going a little crazy trying to find the option within the FB App, just wondering if it exists?
|
Yes, there is a way to do so in the mobile app. I am using Facebook App Version 1.8.1 on a Motorola Droid 3. The process I did to set a picture as my profile picture was as follows: Started Facebook At the top left there was an icon with 3 horizontal dashes that brings up the different sections of Facebook, I browsed down to the "Photos" section under Apps. I selected a photo out of my list of Photos (It would not let me select the option on anyone else's photo; so I assume it must be one uploaded into your account). I used my phone's physical Menu button to open the Facebook menu. I hit the "More" arrow button to list more options in the menu. One of these extra options was to "Make profile picture" It may be slightly different on your device; however it is possible to do this in the latest Facebook version on the desired photo.
|
Any way to set profile pic using FB for Android App (1.8.1 on ICS)?
|
android
|
Is it possible to print from an Android device (specifically an Asus eeePad Transformer) without going via the cloud? The ideal is to do it without going via a PC as well, as I'd rather not have to keep switching a machine on just to print. My only idea at the moment is something like ePrint or PrinterShare on the eeePad and then print via a print server. Using a PC is one option - do any of the apps work with a Samba print share or something Linux-based? The other alternative is an Edimax print server to make the printer available on the network (either wired or wireless). Will it work? Will any Android apps be able to print like that? Are there any better ways to do it with a USB laser printer? Thanks.
|
There's a paid app called ePrint, which I believe works locally to printers attached to a wireless network (printers themselves don't need to be wireless) and doesn't appear to use a cloud service or need a PC in most cases. They have a free ePrint version that you can use to test the functionality before you pay for the full ePrint version . Next there's PrintBot , this "Network printer driver" supports 1,000s of printer types connected to a local network. The free version lets you print a few pages to test, the full paid PrintBot Pro licensed version is unlimited. Try both of those out and see which one works with your printer and apps. There are also some free proprietary apps that work with specific hardware, HP ePrint should work, but only to HP printers (both older network enabled ones and newer ePrint enabled networked ones), Samsung MobilePrint should work (but only for Samsung printers). MotoPrint lets you print to a lot of different printer types as long as they're connected to a wireless network (don't have to be wireless printers), annoyingly you can only install it on Motorola devices, so not putting down as an answer for you but someone else might find it useful.
|
Is there a way to print from an Android tablet (preferably without a PC/cloud)?
|
android
|
Now that the latest update has been pushed, is there a way to install Swype on the Kindle Fire without rooting it?
|
Still no way without root. ( But I'll post some quick links for root users. The old method (need to edit settings.db with SQLite Database Browser): http://blog.pathany.com/2011/12/swype-on-kindle-fire.html New easier methods: [Guide] Get Swype working without having to edit settings.db Four simple steps to use alternative keyboards With Kindle Fire Utility it's rather easy to obtain and revert root.
|
Swype for Kindle Fire?
|
android
|
I have a Huawei U8180 (sometimes called X1). When I mount the USB I can see the SD card and there is also a tool on the device to install the Windows drivers. But can't seem to find anything for Mac. Does anyone know if you can get Mac drivers for it so adb commands will run on it?
|
You do not need drivers for a Mac. What you can do so you can access adb from anywhere is create an environment variable that points to the path of adb. Open Terminal Type <code> cd ~ </code> this will take you to your home directory Type <code> touch .profile </code> this will create a hidden file named profile Type open -e .profile this will open the file you just created in TextEdit In the file, type export PATH=${PATH}:/pathToTheAndroidSdkFolder/android-sdk-mac_86/platform-tools Save file, close TextEdit, Quit Terminal, and Relaunch Terminal now when you run <code> adb devices </code> , in a terminal, you should see something like the following: List of devices attached 5751A45CB25EF device if you don't see anything listed for devices, make sure you have USB Debugging enabled in <code> Settings > Development > USB Debugging </code>
|
Can you get MAC drivers for Huawei U8180?
|
android
|
Baseband version: I9020XXKF1 Current software build number is GRK39F on Android 2.3.6 I seem to have a pretty much unrecognised baseband version of the Nexus S. I brought mine carrier-free in the UK. There are a bunch of updates listed in this thread on XDA: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1063664 But there are 2 versions beginning with I9020 , but they have extra letters on the end (no X like I do) : I9020A and I9020. None of them match up perfectly, what update do I need/any dangers of using the wrong one?
|
The correct build was here . It's listed in incremental updates 2.3.6 - 4.0.3.
|
What build of ICS do I need for Nexus S baseband I9020XXKF1
|
android
|
I don't have dropbox installed, but whilst checking log files I've found that there is a <code> /data/system/dropbox </code> directory with log files from the 18th (which I think is the last time I rebooted my phone). Does anyone know why this might be present? Is it possibly symptomatic of some kind of malware?
|
<code> /data/system/dropbox </code> is not part of "DropBox" it is part of the Android OS DropBoxManager (not related at all to "DropBox"). This puts data from application crashes and kernel logs and such in this log directory. I know the market uses this directory(See #4) as well, probably to report application crashes. You could probably remove the data in this directory, but DO NOT delete the directory and you may see logcat errors from parts of the OS/Apps looking for specific files in this directory. edit : I deleted everything from this folder and rebooted my device afterwards, I had no issues with any applications, and it actually freed up some space on the device.
|
Dropbox not installed, but there is log activity in /data/system/dropbox?
|
android
|
In the calendar reminder settings, these are the two options: "alert" and "status bar notification." However, I'm a little confused between the exact difference between the two. Is alert simply the same thing as status bar notification except that it will play a ringtone if one has been selected? But if that's the case, why is there a ringtone option even when you have chosen "status bar notification?"
|
"Alert" will cause a new window with the event details (or a list of events with their info, if more than one) to pop up on top of the active one and take focus when the reminder occurs. It also puts a notification icon in your status bar tray. The "status bar notification" setting causes the status bar icon to appear but doesn't automatically bring up the details dialog.
|
What's the difference between calendar reminder types "alert" and "status bar notification"?
|
android
|
In Android market some app have a Wi-Fi icon next to them. Some examples are Cordy, Fieldrunners HD, Flight Control, Where's My Water?, Wind-up Knight, World of Goo. What dose it mean that these apps have this icon next to them? I'm using Galaxy Nexus.
|
It means that a Wi-Fi connection is strongly recommended to download them. This is usually because the apps are very large, such as World of Goo which is ~48 MB. The newest version of the Market (v3.4.4 as of writing) displays a warning that lets you download it anyway, but I think that older versions just wouldn't let you download at all via a cellular connection (not positive on that, but I seem to recall seeing it myself).
|
Wi-Fi icon next to apps in android market
|
android
|
I do not have Android Market App installed on my Tablet. When I try download Google Maps App - it redirects me to link which look like that <code> market://details?id=com.goodle.android.apps.maps </code> and my browser fails on it. I guess I have to have Android Market App installed in order to install other apps. Right? Where can I get Android Market App ?
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Google Maps and Android Market are not freeware apps, and are available only on Android devices certified by Google. Aside from using other marketplaces, you can try installing 3rd-party custom ROMs such as CyanogenMod (if available for your device) that provide Google apps as an add-on.
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Where can I get Android Market App for my Tablet?
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android
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An Android device shows a notification that a system update is available . I guess it is shown because the user has to decide - otherwise it would just be installed silently. How should the user decide whether he wants to install the update?
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Phone updates are an odd thing. Manufacturers decide if the phone is capable of handling the update (based on the device's hardware) and carriers decide when to push the updates to the handsets. There are exceptions, such as Wifi only devices, where it is solely up to the manufacturer. However, system updates are generally a good thing . These updates bring bug fixes, security patches, and general improvements to the Android experience. There have been some bad updates, that have broke existing features; but these have been fixed within a few days and are few and far between on recent devices. But how to decide? If you are hesitant at all to install the update, do some searching for the device and update. Technology sites such as Gizmodo and Engadget post updates to many devices, especially if the update introduces problems. There are also many Android specific blogs that post information of patches and updates. If no one is reporting problems then the update should be fine to install.
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How to decide whether a system update should be installed?
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android
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For years now, on every browser I own, Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Internet Explorer, I've assigned <code> w </code> as a shortcut/keyword to the custom search engine <code> http://www.google.com/search?q=site:wikipedia.org+%s&btnI </code> . That is, I just type <code> w android comparison </code> to jump to the befitting wikipedia article. I use many, many other custom searches. Is there a way to set this up on Android? Not necessarily with the stock browser?
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Yes, with Firefox Mobile . The search plugins from <code> addons.mozilla.com </code> can be installed directly in Firefox mobile. If the search plugins from <code> addons.mozilla.com </code> don't cut it, Shortmarks.com lets you make your own search plugins to save on your Firefox install. This guide might help.
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How do I set custom search engines in Android?
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android
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I get spam alerts about free ipads and typical junk like that on my notification bar when I start my droid. This also happens when I first connect to WIFI on my home router (secured). I use a DROID X.
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Get this Air Push Detector app to find out what is creating those notifications. Then uninstall the app(s) that are creating them.
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Spam alerts in notification bar
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android
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Just upgraded my Nexus S to Android 4 aka Ice Cream Sandwich. Was looking through all the new features, and decided to enable encryption, which worked (and is working) just fine. Now I'm wondering if I can undo that and revert to an un-encrypted filesystem. There does not seem to be an option in the settings area, and while I'm not fussed about doing a factory reset, I just wonder if I'm missing an obvious option somewhere. Can anyone help? Or even confirm that the factory reset is the only way out?
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There should have been a warning when you begin the encryption that you had to agree to. The only way to unencrypt it is to perform a factory reset, thereby wiping your data partition completely.
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Undo Android 4.0 (aka Ice Cream Sandwich) Full Disk Encryption
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android
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I removed some of the stock ringtones (from my ROM) that I didn't want from /system/media/audio/ringtones and added some new ones that I got from the xda forums via my SD card and RootExplorer. When I open the Sound/Default Ringtone menus in settings, some of the old ringtones are listed and new ones are listed as well, none of them play. The only ones that do are the few that I left in /system/media/audio/ringtones and a few stored on my SD card. How can I fix this issue so that my phone recognises that all files are in their proper directories?
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To update the ring tone directory, the media scanner has to run. Usually restarting the phone will do this, but if media scanner is not checking that directory when the device starts you can try to create a file in the sdcard ringtone directory with an app that triggers media scanner. I think Astro File Manager will trigger it. If that doesn't work, you could try clearing the cache (I assume root since you are using root explorer and deleting system ringtones), the system may be caching that information and thinks they are still there.
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Ringtones directory won't update in settings
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android
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I changed the CSC to my country and after that, I couldn't download anything from the Market. It gives this error: "app name" could not be downloaded due to an error. (-101) I tried updating to Market 3.4.4, cleared the cache, rebooted my phone. Nothing worked. I don't have wifi at home and I get online via free wifi at a local mall. Couldn't download any app for 2 days now (that I've tried after the CSC change) but I'm able to browse. Please help. Thank you.
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I fixed it by doing a factory reset, and restoring my personal apps only and not including backups of system data.
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Why can't I download anything from the Market after CSC change?
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android
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I have Acme 7" tablet. How can I install Skype on it? When I go to the Skype for Android site it seems to allow installation for mobiles only. Also, when I go to the Android Market and sign in with my Google account it says that "There are no Android phones associated with this account". How do I manage my tablet from the web interface so I will be able to download apps from the Market?
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If you don't want to/can't install the market on your tablet, you can download the .apk file for an app either directly from a website on your tablet or download it on your PC and then transfer it to your tablet. After that you can use any file manager to navigate to the APK and then click on it to install it (you have to have third party app installation turned on). I usually get my APKs at Android Community for Devs
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How can I install Skype on my Acme tablet?
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android
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I bought a non-3G tablet because I already have a 3G phone with tethering function: HTC HD2 with stock WM6.5. When I enable "Wi-Fi Router" program from WM I successfully create the <code> Aldaris </code> network (yes, that one!) that any Windows and Linux laptop can see. But not my Iconia Tab!!! Any ideas on how to use a tethered wifi from HC3.2? Thanks
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Seems due to a limitation in the OS (Android I mean) that hides (why the hell??!?!?) ad hoc networks like HD2 creates. Solution is posted on http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1060909 and is now working!
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Tethering HC3.2 with Windows Mobile
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android
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I really like the Samsung / iOS bounce at the end of lists, and I really dislike the overglow animation from Google. And since I'm only using MIUI ROMs, I'm used to being able to set up everything the way I want it, I decided to ask them the question: And as you can see I received a positive answer. But either it's not true, or I'm completely blind. The menu option isn't there for me. (I double-checked.) So does anyone know if it's still possible, or why she said this?
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As Uri seems not to place it in an answer, I will do so -- to help other searchers see there is an answer ;) As pointed out, there is a MIUI control panel , which should ship with most MIUI ROMs. If it is not included with yours, you will find it in an app called Extended Settings .
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Changing end-of-list animation in MIUI
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android
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I recently had an SD card die in the field. I've tried everything I know and can't get anything out of it or have it recognised on any reader with any OS, so I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that it's gone. Nothing irreplaceable on it. I bought a replacement 8 GB card and now some of my apps don't work. Is the only way to fix them a remove/reinstall or is there some other option, especially a batch repair/update? I've had some apps update in the normal way, some work, some don't. Android 2.3.3 HTC Desire HD, Sense 2.1
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Most apps save their settings and preferences to the internal memory. However, many apps are written to use the SD Card for some storage as well. This is usually done to prevent taking up too much space on the (often very limited) internal memory. For example, many apps with "offline" mode (e.g. news readers) will place downloaded content onto a folder on the SD Card. Some apps handle disappearance of such cache from the SD Card better than others. In most cases though, you can get away with clearing the app cache and data via <code> Menu -> Settings -> Applications -> Manage applications </code> menu, then tapping on the app, and tapping "Clear data" and "Clear cache" buttons, if available. Uninstall and re-install is a last resort option and should always work.
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Reinstalling apps after replacing an SD card
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android
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Samsung have released an extended battery for the US Galaxy Nexus . I know the US and EU versions have a slightly different shape, so was wondering if this extended battery would fit my UK Galaxy Nexus? Or if there's a version which would fit?
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Engadget has a great comparison shot of the battery differences between the HSPA+ and LTE versions in their review of the Verizon (LTE) Galaxy Nexus . The short answers seems to be 'no'; the link you provided is to an extended battery for the LTE Galaxy Nexus and therefore wouldn't be compatible with your HSPA+ version.
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Can I buy the Samsung official extended battery for the UK Galaxy Nexus?
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android
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I've installed a hacked version of ICS three weeks ago or so and now I want to switch to the stock 4.0.3 ROM. As it needs the 2.3.6 stock ROM, I'll have to downgrade to it so that I can install ICS again. I've found a 2.3.3 on ROM Manager. I know it may be possible to update from it to 2.3.6, but I'd like a direct approach. I have a Nexus S (i9020), bootloader unlocked, clockworkmod recovery installed, rooted, with a hacked version of 4.0.1.
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These kinds of downloads can usually be found on the XDA-Developers forum. Usually the stock ROMs are in the "General" section of the device forums and custom ROMs are in "Development". Check out this thread for a pretty comprehensive collection of stock ROMs.
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Where can I find a 2.3.6 stock ROM for Nexus S (i9020)?
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android
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I'm wondering if anybody knows how the battery level is measured on the Transformer when the dock is connected. I fully charged the other day, and after few hours of use the battery level was still 100%, so my first thought is that first uses the dock battery until this one is empty and the continues with the tablet's battery. Can anyone confirm/deny my guess about the battery level measurement on this tablet? Also, does it work the same when you charge the tablet though the dock, that is, starts charging the dock and when is fully charged continues with the tablet?
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The Eee Pad Transformer will use the battery of the dock to both power and charge the tablet so long as it is connected. You can see this when docked and on battery because the tablet shows its battery as "charging". This gets the most use out of the tablet because when you undock it, it is most likely to have more charge than the dock. When docked and on the charger, I am fairly sure that both charge at the same time. However, I haven't checked as my TF is docked most of the time. Incidentally, if the dock's battery goes flat, it gets its power from the tablet (without trying to recharge its own battery).
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Battery level on Asus eee pad Transformer with dock
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android
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In Gingerbread and before, long-click on an individual call log gave you also the option to delete it. Now, in ICS, while in the Call log tab, on long-press: on contact image(red): it opens the Contact details; on the cal log details(yellow): nothing happen; on the phone image(blue) : re-dial Now, I've found the <code> Clear call log </code> option in menu, but can someone confirm if it has more options and will let me choose the entry to clear, or it'll just delete my entire call log? I've also found a lot of new <code> Settings </code> , but nothing about deleting an individual call log entry.
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If you touch an individual item in the call log, and press the Menu (vertical ellipsis) you'll see a "clear from call log" option.
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Delete individual call log
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android
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I used the ADWLauncher EX by default while having Gingerbread 2.3.6. Today I have manually updated my Nexus S to Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.3 , and I wanted to give the new default launcher a shot, but I cannot find anymore where to select / forget the default application for an action. I've turned the settings of my phone inside out, googled and crawled the forums, but without success. If anybody can tell me how to change a default application in ICS, I'd be grateful! Yeah, I never thought I'd want to see that Complete action using... window again! :D
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Go to Settings, Applications. Find the app that has the default set. Scroll down to the bottom of that view and click the "Clear Defaults" button.
|
How to change a default application in Ice Cream Sandwich?
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android
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There are several reasons to be looking for a ROM: Upgrading or downgrading your stock ROM Looking for firmware from a different region/language Flashing a custom ROM for different features, removing bloat, etc. But where can one find ROMs in the first place? What sites are likely to have the ROM I need? stackexchange-url ("This question is intended to be canonical"); please add to the wiki answer instead of posting separate answers.
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Manufacturer Websites While they don't usually host ROMs directly, you may find that they have software useful for upgrading stock ROMs, such as Samsung's tool Kies. If you want to upgrade and stay stock then you should try official methods first. Google Flagship Updates Google hosts update packages for the flagship Nexus devices at <code> http://android.clients.google.com/packages/ </code> . You can't browse that link directly, but web search is your friend here. Search for that link plus the code name of the device and the version you want; for example, searching <code> android.clients.google.com/packages crespo ics </code> results in a lot of pages with this link -- the OTA Ice Cream Sandwich update for the T-Mobile Nexus S. Links for various "factory images" for Nexus devices can be found here. XDA Forums Probably the first place you should look after trying the official route is the XDA Developers' forums. Stock ROMs are usually posted in the General sub-forum for your device, and custom ROMs in the Android Development sub-forum for your device. No guarantees. They don't have dedicated subforums for all devices, so if you have a less-popular device you should use the site search instead of the subforum search. CyanogenMod The first and arguably best alternative ROM of them all. Extensive tutorials on rooting and flashing CyanogenMod on a large number of phones. RootzWiki Forums You may or may not want to check RootzWiki before XDA Forums above. Developers tend to move from forum to forum and RootzWiki provides devices for the best developers so a lot have jumped on board. They have sections for many devices and for those that don't there is a General section. The forums tend to be divided into 3 sections per device (not always): General, Development (ROMS and such) and Themes. ROM Manager Many developers publish their custom ROMs in ROM Manager and even provide OTA-style updates through it. Naturally, these ROMs can be easily flashed through ROM Manager / ClockWorkMod Recovery as well. Goo Manager This app is a front-end for the popular free Android file hosting site, Goo.im (formerly Goo-Inside.me). It allows for downloads of ROMs, Google Apps packages, kernels, apps, and any other file available via the website. Android Forums This site often has ROMs for more obscure devices, as well as the popular ones. PDADB This site provides a long list (about 800 pages) for all kind of devices, including Android, Blackberry, Symbian, and more. It misses a filtering mechanism, unfortunately... CommunityRelease In this list you can filter by device, Android-Version, developer. TheUnlockr Grouped by vendor, then device. Seems to be quite up-to-date and quite complete -- for sure one of the best resources. Android @ MoDaCo Similar to Android Forums. SamMobile This site posts stock Samsung ROMs from all over. It does require you to sign up. Google When in doubt, do a web search. Make use of quotes (e.g., <code> "vibrant" "stock 2.2.1" </code> ) in order to narrow the results and find what you need. Shipped Roms A collection of shipped ROMs. Contains ROMs for 40-odd devices. MIUI Translated from a popular Chinese ROM, MIUI is a highly customized version of Android with a large base of customization and theme options and a strong iOS aesthetic. Available for many devices and in Froyo (2.2), Gingerbread (2.3), Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0), Jelly Bean (4.3) options. AOKP Android Open Kang Project (AOKP) is just like Cyanogen Mod (CM) a Android Open Source Project (AOSP) based ROM. AOKP focuses on providing extensible settings with the disadvantage that less devices are supported in comparison with CM. Samdroid Board If you have a Samsung device and you want to unleash the potential of your device then this is the place to go for information, tutorials, files, firmware and many surprises! Many top devs in the industry and talented people frequent and maintain many useful threads on this forum based site. Android Central Another popular Android forum, similar to XDA and RootzWiki.
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Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?
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android
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My Galaxy Nexus running 4.0.2 does not vibrate for any notifications while in "vibrate" mode. Haptic feedback works, and the phone vibrates when I receive phone calls, but not for notifications. The global vibrate setting under "Sound" in the menu is set to "Always", and individual apps like Gmail, Messaging, etc. have vibrate set to "Always". Any help appreciated! Thanks!
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I took the phone to two different Verizon stores, talked to phone support, and even got a replacement- to no avail. Finally I installed the Sound Manager app and set it to "Vibrate Whenever Possible". This fixed the problem!
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Notification Vibration Bug on Galaxy Nexus?
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android
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I have finally succeeded at Rooting and installing Android Market on my Fire, but now I'm wondering if there are any complications with using both the Market and Amazon to purchase ebooks. Scenario Say that I want to purchase an eBook and that book is available in the Android Market and the Kindle Market for the same price. I need to build some foundation in order to make a decision, here are my concerns: Concerns Does an eBook from Android market have a different format than a Kindle format eBook? If so, Which one should I buy looking forward? Android Market seems to be more open while Amazon even though they are using Android they follow closed practices similar to Apple. However, Amazon is a big book seller and a strong innovative technology company. I also have a lot of books in PDF format. Which app do you guys recommend for reading PDF from Kindle or any other Android device? Which is the best app for reading mobi format eBooks?
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Yes, an eBook from Android Market (in Google Books) has a different format from the Kindle. It would seem that you can obtain Google books in either ePub or PDF ( more information here ). Amazon books are in the AZW format. This comes down to personal preference. I have read books on both Google Books and Kindle on my Xoom; I see little to no difference in quality. Both can sync to my phone to keep my place. Since you have a Kindle Fire, perhaps sticking in the Amazon ecosystem would be a good idea, since you may wish to un-root in the future. There are a lot of PDF readers; just recently the Kindle software was updated to read PDFs. I personally use ezPDF Pro for PDF files because of speed and its ability to remember my location in PDF files from read to read. This again, would be personal preference; however I have loaded Mobi into the Kindle app without problems. The book acted like any other I had in regards to reading (except it did not sync across devices and had to be manually uploaded to each of them). I would suggest looking at stackexchange-url ("this question") as well for more information on eReaders. So, the Kindle App does what you want it to do overall (Books, PDFs, and Mobi) and also is a major part of the Kindle Fire Amazon Ecosystem they have setup for the device; and may be the way to go if you decide to revert your Fire to its un-rooted state. Edit (Addition): Amazon also seems to like releasing updates that Un-root your device (and prevent further known rooting methods - for now). Source states that unless you have changed ROMs, you are susceptible at any time on WiFi to get the update.
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eBooks from Amazon Market or from Android Market?
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android
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With the update to Android 4.0.3, I noticed that the wifi is always on . I used to have the sleep policy where is turns itself of when ilse for some time. Where did this feature go with ICS?
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On a pretty much vanilla build on my EVO, I can get to it by going into <code> Settings->Wifi->(Menu Button)->Advanced </code> . It's listed as "Keep WiFi on during sleep". Just be sure to tap on the left half of the "Wifi" menu item, since the right half is simply the toggle.
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Where did the wifi sleep policy go in ICS?
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android
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I seems to me, that the Nexus S did not get the face unlock feature with ICS ? Why would this not be supported for the Nexus S? Is it the hardware? I wonder because the code is open source and I assume any other competitor would not restrict this feature just because it's not perfect yet. I mean: There are still quite a few other things that also do not work perfectly.
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That's correct: starting Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) 4.0.1 and until the curent (at the time of writing) 4.0.3 the Face Unlock feature is not available to any version of Nexus S (NS). This thread on xda-dev provides various speculations as to why Face Unlock is not available on NS: lower quality front camera hardware on the NS the vulnerabilities of this feature (check out the note on the setting that says that Face Unlock is low-security and experimental) having this feature exclusively available for Galaxy Nexus Bottom line: Face Unlock is present in various ported ICS ROMs, but it's reported to be pretty flimsy at the moment.
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No face unlock for the Nexus S?
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android
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Is it possible to take a screenshot in ICS (Galaxy Nexus) without external apps and without rooting? Most apps on the market seem to require rooted phones. I did find this app which claims to not require the phone to be rooted but it costs $4.99 which is a bit steep for an app that only takes screenshots.
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Press the <code> Volume Down </code> and <code> Power </code> buttons at the same time and hold them for a second or so (this is the vanilla behavior, at least; source ). By default on my device it will save to <code> /sdcard/Pictures/Screenshots </code> (or whatever your equivalent "external storage" path is, I assume).
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Taking a screenshot in ICS without rooting
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android
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Is there a service/company/app that vets Android apps and reports on their "trustworthiness"? I recently moved from Blackberry to a Galaxy S2 which does not have an LED indicator light. I searched the market and found an app that is highly rated and uses the screen to mimic this functionality. This app requires an abundance of permissions that I don't see a need for. I don't want to compromise my data if I understand that stackexchange-url ("the granularity of permission-granting leaves a lot to be desired"), so I'm hoping there's a service that rates whether these apps are "good actors"...
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Have a look on http://www.appoozle.com/ They provide an app and a web information service that allows publishers to justify the permissions their apps require.
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Is there a service that rates app security/permissions?
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android
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I have just got a Kindle Fire and I want to root it and Install Android Market on it. I am having a problem that is ticking me off big time. I plug my Kindle Fire to my computer (Windows 7 Professional) and I get the message in the Fire screen that states that I can now start to transfer files to my device but two things are happening: Every time I plug the USB end to any USB port on my computer my Internet goes down !!! WTF!!!! When double clicking on my computer the Kindle Fire does not seem to be recognized correctly as it shows under Devices with Removable Storage. When clicking on that drive mapping I get a pop up saying: "Insert disk" Any ideas? UPDATE: I have installed the Kindle drivers by adding 0x1949 to the adb_usb.ini and now under Device Manager I do not longer see "Kindle" under Others. Now I see Android Phone/ Android Composite ADB Interface I double click on My Computer and I still do not see the Kindle anywhere. I have the letter I: which appears there once I plug the Kindle Fire but its not clickable. What am I doing wrong? I have followed this instructions to the dot correctly. http://www.jayceooi.com/2011/12/13/how-to-install-kindle-fire-adb-usb-driver/ but yet I cannot see the Fire as an icon in my computer
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The instructions I have followed in the link above do the job. The solution to my two problems listed above was: Replace this Micro/Mini USB to USB adapter http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Rocketfish%26%23153%3B+-+1.5%27+USB+Cable/1000247.p?id=1218207305639&skuId=1000247&st=RF-CC1MC&cp=1&lp=1 ...with this one: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Rocketfish%26%23153%3B+Mobile+-+Micro+USB+Data+Transfer+Cable/2077196.p?id=1218308698225&skuId=2077196&st=rocketfish%20micro%20usb%20&cp=1&lp=3 It sounds weird but trust me do not get Micro USB to USB adapter from the first link. You will not be able to access the Kindle Fire as a storage device, guaranteed.
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Kindle Fire Not Recognized when plugged into PC
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android
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is there any way how can I get my e-mail from Thunderbird on my W7 pc to Transformer? My laptop just died so I am considering Transformer, but without my mails... Syncing via GMail isnt a solution for me, because I have multiple e-mail accounts on many servers with both POP3 and IMAP.
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If your goal is solely to transfer your email, your best bet would be to create a dummy gmail account with IMAP and add it to tbird as a separate account (so that it doesn't go to the general inbox). Once you had that done, in tbird copy all the folders you want transferred to the dummy account and wait for it to sync with gmail's IMAP server. Finally, add the dummy gmail account to your choice of email client on your phone and wait for the IMAP sync to complete. If you want to continue to receive email on your phone from all these accounts, you can add them in as you like to the email client of your choice. Personally I'd recommend K9 for multiple email account management myself; it has an unified inbox similar to tbird's general inbox and is all around mucho handy.
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Transfer emails from Thunderbird on PC to Asus Transformer email app
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android
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I bought a Galaxy Ace. It initially came with: Gingerbread 2.3.3 Build is GINGERBREAD.XWPKY, for regions France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, UK Unrooted With that, let me add that I am from the Philippines. And I know that there's a 2.3.4 Asian ROM update (DXKPD) as per here: http://www.pinoytechblog.com/archives/have-you-updated-your-samsung-galaxy-phones-to-gingerbread-yet But Kies doesn't show any update. So I thought that Samsung has not released an update for that European region, and concluded that I might need to change it to my region. (Although my local carrier was able to send me GPRS settings while under this region). So that's what I did. I used Odin on 2 attempts I did so far. I flashed it FIRST with a different region ROM (Germany, I think). SECOND time, I got it right. I now have 2.3.4 GINGERBREAD.DXKPD via Odin and using an OFFICIAL 2.3.4 Asian ROM from this page (MediaFire link): http://rumah-android.com/new-stock-rom-android-2-3-4-s5830dxkpd-for-asia.html Here's what troubles me. Regardless if there's an update or not, Samsung Kies tells me that I couldn't update my firmware even if it's an official ROM. I can't get GPRS settings now that the region's changed. Finally, the questions: Is it possible that my phone is locked to that European region? Is there such a thing? Or did I use an unofficial ROM? What should I do next from here? I'm sorry this is too long. I'm confused and I just need clarifications. I hope I made myself clear. Thanks in advance.
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Fortunately there is no region-locking for phones, just carrier locking. If your phone came with European firmware then you should probably stick with European firmware. Ideally you'd be able to find something from your carrier even if it was re-packaged by someone for Odin. As for your network settings, there are a couple possibilities. You may need to supply the APN information, which you can usually find by doing a web search for "<carrier> apn" or similar. You might also need to flash a different modem if the one you have is buggy or otherwise incompatible with your device/carrier.
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Why does Samsung Kies say that my device does not support software upgrading via kies?
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android
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On the Android 4.0 (Samsung Galaxy Nexus) there is a posibilty to encrypt the phone. I found this about the encryption on Android 3.0, is the same algorithms used in Android 4? http://source.android.com/tech/encryption/android_crypto_implementation.html My main question concerns the use of a PIN code to decrypt your phone. Why am I forced to use the same password to unlock my screen and to decrypt my phone? This restriction will only allow me to use a password of low complexity (like a PIN number) since it would be to hard to write in i.e. 17 characters to unlock my phone for a simple phone call. Brute force attempts against the screen unlock could be prevented i.e. by a force reboot every 5 tries. So there is not any need for a very strong password there, a PIN might be good enough. This type of protection can not be used on the disc, thus there is a greater need for stronger passwords here. (It doesn't help much that the entropi of passwords have increased since there will be very few users with a complex password, so an attacker could simply try most passwords with low complexity). What is the reasoning behind being forced to use the same password for both features?
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I think I have found the solution. Check this link . It's a hack and it requires a phone to be rooted, but it does allow you to use alphanumeric password for encryption and PIN for screen unlock.
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Is it reasonably safe to use PIN code for encryption?
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android
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No matter what I do, I can't get my phone to vibrate for text messages anymore. I am running Cyanogenmod 7.1.0. It vibrates for phone calls and for haptic feedback, so there's obviously nothing wrong with the hardware or notifications in general. Settings → Sound → Vibrate: Always Stock messaging app → Settings → Notification settings → Vibrate: Also vibrate when notified, Always, and Vibrate Pattern: Multiple short (which used to work) I don't get it.
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I had a rom that failed to vibrate certain "very short duration vibrations" (or those of low strength vibrations). I am not sure if its just a hardware limitation of my phone or the rom in particular, but you could try an app like Handcent for now and play around the vibration settings in there. Handcent SMS allows you to fine tune the vibrations, adjust the intervals between each vibrations in milliseconds etc..
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Phone will not vibrate for incoming text messages
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android
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Here's what I'm talking about: I want a widget that shows me an agenda of my Google calendar just like this. But I'm not using Launcher Pro anymore, I'm now on a Samsung Galaxy Nexus and am using the stock ICS launcher, so I need a new widget to replace the widget from Launcher Pro.
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Indeed - there are a few but I'd recommend Rolf's Agenda Widget . Lots of options and highly configurable. Scrolling support is present, although the launcher must support scrollabel widgets like ADW / LPP / GoLauncher do.
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Is there a widget available that duplicates the Launcher Pro Calendar Agenda widget?
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android
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I am thinking on getting a Kindle Fire due to the good reviews and the price tag. I see that there are a lot of links showing you how to root your Kindle Fire so that you can have regular Android OS and be able to benefit from the Android Market. My objective is to be able to have both worlds running side by side . I was planning following these tutorials: http://www.gizmowatch.com/install-android-sdk-root-kindle-fire.html http://www.androidauthority.com/how-to-root-the-amazon-kindle-fire-36015/ My questions are as follows: If I root Kindle Fire, do I lose all the functionality that the Fire was designed to do? If I root Kindle Fire, do I lose access to the Amazon Appstore? Will following this instructions above leave me in a situation where I cannot revert back to the original functionality? Does anybody know if the Fire will be upgradable to ICS (Android 4.0)? Why is Kindle Fire running a 2.3 version of Android rather than the latest Honeycomb?
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The Kindle Fire will function as it normally would, but you cannot use the Video on Demand service while you are rooted. The Amazon Appstore functions fine even if you're rooted. You can revert to the "original functionality" with the "Unroot" button provided by SuperOneClick. Nobody knows this but Amazon. Honeycomb was not open-sourced when the Fire was being developed, and Amazon forked the Android open source code to create the Kindle Fire's codebase. Thus, the Fire was built using the newest available source at the time of development - Gingerbread. I rooted my Kindle Fire ~30 minutes after I got it, largely because I wanted access to the Market but also to ease any development I do with it. Everything works like normal except VOD (as noted above).
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Does rooting Kindle Fire disable your default Kindle Fire functionality?
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android
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I just got my Galaxy Nexus, and from logging into some service, I can't figure out which, it automatically imported contacts which I don't want on the phone. Is there a way to delete contacts in bulk? I haven't found one yet. Thanks
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for android 4.0 settings---> storage---> Apps---> Contacts Storage---> clear data sync the contacts with your gmail account before doing this, remove synchornisation, do the above steps and sync again with you gmail account, will take some time for the names and numbers to come
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Deleting contacts in bulk - Ice cream sandwich
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android
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Testing my new Motorola Triumph the last couple of days, I've noticed issues with the Wi-Fi. Aside from connection attempts to the 802.1x EAP network at school causing reboots (a known problem with the Triumph's software and/or wireless chipset), I've run into a problem where if I walk between buildings, it won't reconnect automatically. When I go into the Wi-Fi settings, the network is "Disabled", presumably because there were issues reconnecting while I was outside on the sidewalk. My LG Optimus V never had this problem; I used it all semester and it always reconnected within a minute or two of settling into a new room. It occasionally disabled the network, but I can count those occurrences on one hand (in decimal ;-). The Triumph did it half a dozen times in one day. (I change buildings a lot.) Is this something that can be fixed? Perhaps by rooting and tweaking some system settings file(s)? If I can work out most of the software issues by tweaking the phone myself, I'll live with the few that will undoubtedly be unfixable without an update from Motorola. Meanwhile I've tested with the insecure campus network. The unauthenticated network reconnected within 30 seconds of my entering a new building. (How fortunate that IT maintains a network that dumb devices can use for Internet access.) (Note: I have no desire to use a custom ROM unless it fully supports all the features of the phone. That includes HDMI output and the ability to have Wi-Fi & Bluetooth turned on simultaneously without pegging the CPU. Unfortunately that lets out ever using CM7 unless those known issues are fixed.)
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This appears to be a bug related to the underlying issues with 802.1x EAP authentication in the Motorola Triumph's software / Wi-Fi firmware or wherever the bug is that causes the reboots I mentioned in my original question. Short answer: Don't use 802.1x EAP networks. They will cause problems with the Triumph.
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Walking between Wi-Fi access points causes network to be disabled
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android
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When I first purchased an Android phone over a year ago the installed OS was Android 2.1 (Eclair). The OS has been updated twice by the carrier since then and now runs Gingerbread. However, I had to restore my phone to factory settings recently and the OS that was reinstalled was Gingerbread. I was expecting it to restore back to 2.1 (Eclair). Is this expected behavior and was the phone reset properly to factory settings? I followed the hard reset instructions here and everything looked correct. However, this was not the factory restore I expected. If this was correct does anyone know how the Gingerbread OS "replaced" the OS that was installed from the factory? I thought the factory settings were "read only." Thank you very much. This is all from a stock Android phone that has never been rooted.
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Resetting to factory settings removes all personal settings, data and installed apps from the phone. It doesn't uninstall operating system updates and doesn't remove apps that your manufacturer or service provider have included in the system. It also (normally) doesn't delete data from your SD card. Installing operating system updates on an Android phone overwrites the previous version of the Android operating system and doesn't keep any of the old OS files. It's the same as if you upgraded a Windows Vista PC to Windows 7, you can't go back to Vista on that PC without finding the original install disks, as it has overwritten and deleted the old Vista files. The only way to go back to the previous version is if your manufacturer/network has made a copy of the old OS files public that you can download and install.
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Why does phone reset to Gingerbread instead of the version of Android that came with the OS when it was purchased?
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android
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On rebooting my Samsung Galaxy S2 (running Villain ROM 3), I got an error in the status bar "USB Storage damaged. It may need reformatting". File managers like Astro fail to open the /mnt/sdcard folder. Things I've tried so far: Rebooting Connecting via USB cable to PC in USB debugging mode (This brings up 2 drives, but they are not mounted) Removing the external SD card and rebooting Anyone encountered this issue before? Any suggestions?
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Solved it myself after hours of Googling. I really only needed to run error checking on the internal storage (CheckDisk) in Windows. Since I couldn't get Windows to mount the drive normally, I tried booting into ClockworkMod recovery mode and then connect USB. Ran the error checking (Right click on drive, Properties, Tools, Error-checking), rebooted phone and voilà! Life is beautiful once again.
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"USB Storage damaged. It may need reformatting" error message in status bar
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android
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This is more of a meta question, but the best place to ask I'm sure.. Why can't I send an sms from my samsung galaxy tab 10.1 3G tablet? Is it because the hardware does not support it (most likely), or because android 3.1 does not support it (least likely)? Cheers!
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The hardware and software support SMS, but not calling. The most likely explanation is that your contract is a data-only contract and SMS messaging is disabled by your operator. There is a chance, however, that the problem is your SMS settings. You can check these by opening <code> Messaging </code> , then open <code> Settings </code> from the top right corner and check that the <code> Message center </code> under <code> Text message (SMS) settings </code> is correct. The Message center number is network specific, so check it from another phone that uses the same network or ask your operator.
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Sending sms from tablet not allowed or not possible?
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android
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I am about to buy the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and I need to tether with the following connections USB to my Windows PC Wi-Fi with my Mac, iPad or iPhone (to download apps over 20MB) I will be using Verizon Wireless's LTE 4G connection to my smartphone I also don't want to root my phone, install a custom rom or pay Verizon $20/GB I heard of PDANet and EasyTether and Tether.com but they only provide USB connectivity to the Mac or PC (I won't be able to use it with iPhone's or iPads) Any help is greatly appreciated. I am willing to pay for the software if it provides Wi-Fi and USB. (Bluetooth is optional but not needed)
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ClockworkMod Tether does USB tethering without root and Bluetooth tethering is planned (it's still in alpha). Unfortunately, from what I understand only Windows, Linux & Mac OS will be supported, but who knows what will happen in the future (maybe Wi-Fi support). Koush's apps are great.
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Can I set up Wi-Fi and USB tethering on the Galaxy Nexus without rooting it?
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android
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All the email it pulls are currently unread, it's really annoying, how do I set it up so Hotmail and Android know a email has been read?
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I know the built-in Android mail client doesn't sync read status with Hotmail. Have you tried the official Hotmail client ? It does seem to support most of Hotmail's more advanced features.
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Sync Hotmail with Android so it recognize read status
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android
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I know how to set a static picture from my photo gallery as a background wallpaper picture. However, I would like to see a new picture every time I turn the screen on. Is there a way to configure my Android smartphone to do this? Or maybe some app that does something like this? I'm using a Samsung Galaxy 551, with Android 2.2 (Froyo).
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You could try an app like WallSwitch , which can be set to change your wallpaper every time you unlock the device or on a timer. I don't know that there's a way to tell it to pull from "the gallery" in general, but you can just specify that you want to pull from the folders your gallery images are in (works out effectively the same).
|
How can I configure my phone to show random background wallpapers from my pictures galery?
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android
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I have a Droid Bionic and I keep it in an Otterbox Defender case. I would like to get the extended battery but am concerned that my Bionic might no longer fit within my Otterbox. Has anyone tried this?
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No. My friend got an extended battery so I tried my case with his phone -- the extended battery is really large, so it won't work. Which is a shame, because the Otterbox Defender case is so large that a hypothetical extended battery Otterbox Defender wouldn't be significantly bulkier than the current Otterbox Defender (regular battery). If Otterbox made a Defender case specifically for the Bionic with the extended battery, I would buy both that case and an extended battery. I guess that the market for that specific case is just too small.
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Will Droid Bionic with Extended Battery Fit Inside the Otterbox Defender Case?
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android
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I'm trying to clear some space on my SD card, so I can run AnTuTu Benchmark. Also, having some extra space for music would be great. I'm assuming apps installed to your SD card can eat up free space faster than you'd imagine. As of now, 19 (out of 65 apps) on my SD card which occupy appox. 197 MB total. I currently have 1.74 GB used and 103.47 MB free, would my ROM be occupying a lot of space (i.e. needing 4GB of HD space to install Ubuntu/Linux)? I want to figure out the best way to maximise space on my SD card without haphazardly deleting files. Also, knowing what are key folders would help too.
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It's better if you don't manually delete stuff, unless you can recognize the package names for the apps you want to remove. Though it sounds hilarious to install an app to get rid of apps, APPS2SD will neatly list out whatever apps are on the SD card or can be moved between that and the internal memory, so you can make a list of the apps you don't want and manually uninstall them. Speaking of key folders, here are a couple of common ones- DCIM - This stores camera photos. Attachments - Default save location for Gmail attachments. download - Default file download location. data - Stores app specific data. If you have games that download additional data, they may store that here. This is based off my SD card - most of the other folders I've seen are app specific. Update - Some phones have a Camera directory, with DCIM under it, so look for both.
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Freeing up space on SD card
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android
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I rooted my HTC Incredible a few months ago by following a tutorial . My phone downloaded an OTA update and is asking to update. I would like to update and remain rooted. How do I go about doing this? I removed a few bloatware apps. I couldn't tell you which ones, though. Android version: 2.2 Baseband version: 2.15.00.07.28 Kernel version: 2.6.32.17-g9a2fc16 Build number: 3.26.605.1 CL264707 release-keys Software number: 3.26.605.1
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First of all, since you've modified the system, the OTA update could very well fail partway through -- most of those are distributed as patches against the existing binaries. The easy way to update is to find a pre-rooted stock ROM, like this one . You may need to update your radio first though, information and download links are available here . I think the one you have was the official Froyo radio -- you'll need the Gingerbread radio for newer ROMs to work properly. 2.15.10.07.07 is the official Gingerbread radio. However, if you want to go the hard way, keeping root (or at least the ability to re-root easily) is easy provided your Incredible is NAND unlocked (aka S-OFF). Recent versions of Unrevoked do this automatically, but depending on where you downloaded from and when could affect that. To check if you're S-OFF, reboot into the bootloader (aka HBOOT). To do that, power off the phone, then hold down the volume down button and power it up. Keep the Vol Dn button held until you get a screen like the following: You can also see the notification that it has S-OFF at the top of the screen. That's what you want to see. If that's missing (or says S-ON), then you don't have S-OFF. If you're not, get the latest Unrevoked Forever . Once that's done, you can flash whatever you want and still be able to reroot easily by simply flashing your recovery of choice (often ClockworkMod) from HBOOT and then reflashing a root/superuser package from recovery.
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How to update rooted HTC Incredible
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android
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disclaimer: of course I can move apps which allow that, using "manage applications" menu. There are apps, some stock ones and some downloaded, that for some reason don't have the "movable to sdcard" flag set. Is there a way to move them anyway without preventing them from working (as long as the sdcard is on, of course) . Yes there might be a good reason for them to be in the internal memory, I'd like to try moving them anyway if possible. Phone is a Nexus One with stock android 2.3.6 unrooted — I guess I'd either have to root it or to install cyanogen or whatever?
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Yes, you can move any apps that don't normally allow it, including system apps, if you have root. Note that most apps that doesn't allow moving usually do not allow it for a good reason, so if you force move you may get crashes and other stability issues. You need an app2sd application that uses root, like this: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.droidsail.dsapp2sd
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Can I force move to sd card applications that don't want to be moved there?
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android
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My kids play games on my tablet, and I would like to disable the Android Market and in-app purchasing for the duration of their use of the device . Is there any option, third-party software or any other way to stop my kids from buying stuff inside their games or installing any software? I understand that I can remove credit card info from the account, but since that device is used by me most of the time, this is too cumbersome. I also don't want to stop Internet connectivity since some games are Flash games in the browser.
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In the Market settings you can add a PIN to protect purchases; that should lock them out effectively enough. I don't know of anything offhand to prevent all installs, though. I would assume you'd need to be rooted for an app to intercept and prevent install attempts. If you are rooted, you could use something like Titanium Backup to back and uninstall the Market, then reinstall it when your kids are done. That might be cumbersome as well though.
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How can I disable the Android Market temporarily?
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android
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I have an Asus EEE Transformer (not the prime) that has unreliable GPS performance. I usually just fire up Google Maps in my car and use the navigation but the tablet always gets stuck with "Searching for GPS". This can go on for over 30 minutes in which the tablet either won't get a signal at all, or might get one every once in a while, update the map, and then go back to "Searching for GPS". I have tried the following things: Done the same navigation with my Nexus One in the same car and it has no problem receiving a signal right away and finding it's location so I'm pretty sure it's not environmental conditions. I tether the Transformer to my Nexus One for internet so at first I thought using the "Use wireless networks" for location was just trying to get the location from the phone but toggling the option on or off doesn't seem to make it work worse or better one way or the other. The amazon reviews don't seem to indicate an overwhelming problem with the Transformer with GPS. I have tried the tips in this forum thread on the transformer forums. I've tried installing GPSfix and using that tool but it doesn't seem to help. Android version is 3.2.1, GPS version is 5.5.8, and Build # is: <code> HTK.US_epad-8.6.5.19-20111107 </code> So far the only reliable means to get the GPS working seems to be to shutdown the tablet and fire it up again, at which point the GPS and Google Navigation works right away, which leads me to believe that it's a software or configuration problem rather than a hardware issue.
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It definitely is a software configuration. There are 2 possible reasons for this problem: Servers its contacting - When Google Maps on your tablet/phone contacts the GPS satellites, its done through a special set of servers. Sometimes, the manufacturer might have set the system to connect to a set of particularly busy servers. It has been shown that connecting to other servers with lower traffic can give dramatically faster lock on times. Possible bug in the initial configuration - when the manufacturer was setting up the initial build configuration, an unintended bug could have been introduced. The solution to both can be done I believe through a simple fix in the gps.conf file but that would require root access. When I was running the stock firmware on my Asus Transformer, I was having the same problem. Now I am running a Custom ROM and I have no troubles with lock on in Google Maps.
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Asus EEE Transformer never gets a GPS fix unless I reboot it
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android
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Here's my scenario: HTC Incredible, Rooted to MIUI, with an 8GB SD card. I want to reformat my SD card because I have a ton of junk on it from before I rooted it, so I want to start with a clean install. Since some of the application data is on there, what's the proper process? I've backed up the SD card by copying all of its contents to a folder on my computer, and I have Titanium backup on my phone for the apps, so I've done those things. Is it ok to just format the SD card, and let the phone reinstall whatever it needs? Or what's the best way to do this?
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Unless you have apps installed on the SD card, nothing on it should be permanent/critical. Any app that always relies on SD data being present is written badly. There may be some data you want to keep backed up, but that's up to you. It's impossible to say what will happen if you format the card and stick it back in empty, since it depends on every individual app. But generally speaking the apps should continue as if they'd never written anything to the card in the first place. If an app misbehaves then clearing the data should fix it.
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What is the process for reformatting SD Card without breaking the current applications on my HTC Incredible?
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android
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I have a rooted Samsung GT5510 running 2.2. I have tried in vain, using different file explorers, to locate the built in ringtones (folder). Can someone please point me to the right path? Is it inside some APK, in which case how do I unzip it to access the internal contents after saving it on my computer?
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Look in <code> /system/media/audio/ringtones </code> . The notifications folder one level up contains the notification tones.
|
How to access the internal ringtone folder on rooted 2.2?
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android
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I have stuff on the 7th screen and I've expected to be able to reach it on left swipe from homescreen, but it is not so. How can I configure it ? Does it require some non-default launcher?
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This is an option in most launchers, but I think it's not available in the stock launcher. I'd recommend switching to Launcher Pro, there it's enabled by default and can be toggled from <code> Preferences -> Homescreen settings -> Homescreen looping </code> .
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Missing "left screen" in my SGS1 . How can it be added?
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android
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How can I remove contacts from accounts I don't sync with anymore? Without being afraid of removing them from the "source" exchange account now or in the future? Background: When installing the email synchronization with Exchange, I thought it was a good idea to also sync the contacts. Now the internal memory of my phone is stuffed with thousands of contacts I don't really need. It seems I cannot move them to the SD card, so I want them gone. When I stop the synchronization (only contacts) with exchange, the contacts are not automatically removed. I'm a bit afraid that if I remove them manually, and click or accidentally enable the sync, the contact will also be removed from my exchange contacts list, that is linked to my companies contacts list. BTW: I know some Java, so if necessary I can develop an app to do this.
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There's 2 slightly different solutions. Log onto your corporate mail account using Outlook Web Access. Go to the account settings, i.e. the options link. Under that, select Phone, and delete your phone profile from there. Now delete & recreate the Exchange account on your phone, and this time don't choose to sync contacts. Exchange has a corporate addressbook or directory, and a local addressbook for your own personal contacts. Get rid of the locally saved contacts in your Exchange addressbook, so that on the next sync they'll similarly be culled from the phone. You can always look them up in the corporate directory, and Android can also perform a lookup against the directory for contacts that aren't stored locally. This of course assumes that you don't actually need so many contacts on hand in your local addressbook, or that these are all company contacts and not external business contacts.
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Remove contacts from synced Exchange account, without removing them from the server
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android
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Where in the file system are SMS messages stored? I'm using ES File Explorer to browse around but can't seem to find this - is it on the phone or the SD, and where? I have an HTC Wildfire but I would imagine it doesn't vary hugely from vendor to vendor (although I am an iOS developer who knows little about Android).
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See here: stackexchange-url ("stackexchange-url The gist is that SMS/MMS are residing in databases on the phone and the answer to the question contains the link to this tutorial. The location of the database might vary from phone to phone, but you can look it up with this command via adb (you need to be root to find it because it's in the protected storage area): <code> find / -name "*mmssms*" </code> On my device (Samsung Galaxy S) these databases turned up: <code> ./dbdata/databases/com.android.providers.telephony/mmssms.db ./data/data/com.jb.gosms/databases/gommssms.db </code> The first one being the native db and the second one is by the sms app I'm using.
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Where on the file system are SMS messages stored?
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android
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I just saw a tweet where someone had added a search button to the 3 docked software buttons So I'd like to know how to add the search button (or any other) to the dock with the Back, Home and Multitasking buttons Is this a setting of the default launcher or done through some app?
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They work like normal shortcuts, just long-press the icon and drop it into the recycling bin, and then open the app menu, long-press <code> Search </code> and drag it down to the dock. Edit: The dock in question is not customizable from the default settings, but it can be patched through ClockworkMod. The most comprehensive customization options I've seen can be found here . The files need to be applied through ClockworkMod so the device has to be rooted. Just download the file you prefer, move it to the internal sdcard and apply the update from recovery. Be sure to backup first, just in case.
|
How can I add a search button to my dock on a Galaxy Nexus?
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android
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I have the need of downloading and forwarding a PDF receipt downloaded from Firefox (Firefox runs in Honeycomb, not on PC!). I know that the PDF should be "protected" because Adobe Reader on PC says so, however in Adobe Reader for Android I don't have any option more than "Info on Adobe Reader" to save or forward the file in an email. My stock ROM comes with the shareware Docs To Go that wants me to buy the full version for saving/forwarding a file. Am I missing something in Firefox to show some kind of open/save dialog instead of directly opening the file in a reader? Thank you
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Actually, I found that all downloaded files are always stored in <code> /mnt/sdcard/Download </code> no matter they are "opened" or "saved" so I can grab them from there with any file manager
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Saving a PDF file downloaded from browser
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android
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I have a rooted phone with the stock ROM/Kernel. I only use the tethering hack outside of the stock ROM. I was prompted with "System Update" this morning. Should I stay away from this update, or would it be ok? Thanks!
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A system update will most likely un-root your phone, but if all you have is the tethering hack, I would recommend updating, re-rooting, and reinstalling the hack, after making sure the the hack is supported in the next version.
|
Is allowing an OTA to install after rooting a good idea?
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android
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When travelling I usually bring my camera for pictures and my Android phone for communication. Camera is better than the phone for pictures, since it works faster and has better quality sensor. But what if I want to send fresh pictures to someone? Then I need to transfer the files from the camera to my phone in some way. Since the camera doesn't have any wireless connection, the only way is to connect it to the phone is via cable. I can of course purchase a micro-SD card and put it into an adapter to fit into my mini-SD slot in the camera and then put it without adapter into the phone. However, I would rather avoid this as exchanging micro-SD on my phone is not easy and requires me to open the case that is kept together with some fragile pieces of plastic. If I do this too often, it will break soon.
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There are a couple of phones that support USB host mode. You could check the compatibility list of the app "DSLR Controller" over here: http://dslrcontroller.com/devices.php In the column "How to connect" are links to an adapter cable which enables you to connect a camera to your phone. If your phone is listed there or you verify via outher sources that your phone supports USB host mode then you could try one of the cables listed there. After that you would need an app that enables you to mount the camera storage so you can access it. Today I ordered one of those cables and will try to connect a cardreader to my phone (Samsung Galaxy S GT-I9000). Will post further updates once the cable arrives.
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Connect camera to the Android phone via cable
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android
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Running a rooted Galaxy S2 with DarkyROM2 2.3.5 & SuperCore kernel. I have a 32 GB microSD card in addition to the 16 GB internal storage, and it takes ages to scan both when the phone boots. At times when I connect USB mass storage mode and later turn off, it goes into an infinite reboot loop. Have tried this , but it doesn't appear to work. Any other workarounds?
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You will need to root your phone first and then download and install a free app from the market called ' Rescan Media Root ' by 'Aditya Talpade'. Launch the app and you can easily disable the scans.
|
How does one disable the media scanner? (obviously on a rooted device)
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android
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It was noted in another stackexchange-url ("thread") that it should be possible to build up a white list for an android device using the /etc/hosts file. I would like to experiment with this idea. Does anyone have any guidance to offer as to how to go about it? It has been many years since I played with that area of networking, but from what I remember the host file allows you to specify an IP for an URL which overrides the published DNS settings. With that it is fairly easy to build a list of content that I want to have accessible, or explicitly blocked, but I am not sure how that helps prevent access to other content. I am not aware of, and so far google has not showed me, any way to tell the host file to intercept all other requests. Does android support some form of wild card in the hosts file? Or is there some way to disable DNS regardless of the active network connection? Should note that the devices I am worried about at the moment are wi-fi only tables running android 2.3.3. I am willing to root them if necessary.
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/etc/hosts doesn't allow wildcards (see here: http://serverfault.com/questions/118378/in-my-etc-hosts-file-on-linux-osx-how-do-i-do-a-wildcard-subdomain). Two more links about /etc/hosts: HOWTO Configure your hosts file: http://www.linuxhomenetworking.com/wiki/index.php/Quick_HOWTO_: Ch03 :_Linux_Networking#Configuring_Your_.2Fetc.2Fhosts_File Large example file with nice intro header: http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/ Small Android app that allows you to add an entry to the hosts file (requires root): https://market.android.com/details?id=com.pof.Add2Hosts
|
Guide to editing /etc/hosts
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android
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My phone has Android 2.3.3, build GINGERBREAD.XWPKY. I have the latest version of Kies and my phone isn't rooted. But I believe I should see an upgrade to 2.3.5 there. Any clues? Note: When I first plugged my phone into Kies, it found a firmware update. I wasn't very sure what it was, but after the update the version is still 2.3.3 (which is the version before I did that update.)
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My phone is also on 2.3.3. The updates get pushed out depending on a number of factors including region (as mentioned by Crashhh in his comment) and carrier. From my understanding, often the releases will be controlled by the manufacturer (and in the case of Samsung and most others, customisation occurs). Once the manufacturer is ready to support it in a particular region, it will release the software to the carriers. Many carriers will also make their own modifications (and add their own bloatware). Only once this process is complete, will the update be available in Kies. With the release of Gingerbread in Australia from my carrier, I know that the release went back and forth between Samsung and the carrier a few times, delaying its release to customers. I'm speculating, but the update you received may have been some sort of patch to the manufacturer/carrier specific software, and therefore I wouldn't expect it to increment the version number of the OS.
|
Why doesn't Samsung Kies show an update for my Galaxy Ace?
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android
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I'm not sure if this is possible, but knowing that is possible to use the device as mouse I think this should also be possible: Somehow connect the phone with a PC, then in the place you touch from the phone, in the computer should appear a red dot (or something). Is there any app for this?? Is it possible?
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It is totally possible, and there are a lot of remote touchmouse apps available on the Android market. Just search remote mouse, touch mouse, etc. That being said, I think that will be even nicer is to have an app that uses the orientation of the device as the cursor position, i.e. it works like a real laser pointer. (That i have not seen yet and I am coding one.)
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Use my device as laser pointer
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android
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Without middleware, without Google Apps, does Android support the Exchange ActiveSync policy "encrypt storage card."? According to Wikipedia , Android doesn't support the ActiveSync command to encrypt a storage card. I'd like a second opinion, with a reference. PS: I've seen Samsung claim the ability to encrypt storage cards , but unless it's through ActiveSync, it's not what I'm looking for.
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Prior to Android 3.0 (Honeycomb), Android did not natively supported encrypting local storage at all. Android 3.0 introduced the ability to encrypt the local device , and to enforce device encryption by Activesync policy. Other than the Galaxy Nexus, every phone currently on the market is running either a 1.x or 2.x version of Android, none of these support device or removable media encryption in the Android OS, it is possible that some manufacturers may have added encryption, but this isn't a standard part of the OS available to standard ActiveSync implementations. For Android 4.x phones (currently only the Galaxy Nexus) full device encryption (and the relevant policies) is brought to phones but this still doesn't seem to include removable media.
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Does Android support the Exchange ActiveSync policy "Encrypt storage card"?
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android
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Where are the configurations to set the default dialer? I installed a new one and want to know where I set the default.
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Go to your Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications. Select the 'All' tab and scroll to the current dialer app. Scroll down and press the 'Clear defaults' button. Now when you select dial, you should be prompted to select a particular app and also have the opportunity to set a new default.
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How to set the default dialer?
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android
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I just got my Galaxy Nexus and was browsing Stack Exchange (in both mobile and full theme) and got the following warning. As a result things like voting, the dropdown and such don't work. I never had this problem on Gingerbread, so I think it has something to do with Ice Cream Sandwich. So I'd like to know which settings do I have to tweak so the Javascript gets loaded anyway? It does seem to load on Dolphin, so it seems limited to the stock browser.
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It turns out my probably was solved by something as simple as clearing my cache. Which makes me feel pretty stupid, because I should have done that before even bothering to ask. I never suspected this could happen straight out of the box, guess I was wrong.
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How to turn on load external Javascript on the Galaxy Nexus?
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android
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I got a little toast pop up just now saying "hello world, PMEasyView!" I just woke up my phone, was in the SugarSync app. I haven't recently installed anything except from the Android Market and Amazon market; nothing named like PM Easy View. The wording sounds like something I would have written in a development Android app. I don't see any unusual running processes or apps, so I'm wondering if it's dummy code from a real app I own, but I was hoping someone knew for sure. I'm having Lookout scan my phone now. All I found on this topic was this thread which has no answers.
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The system app, PerformanceManager.apk has the line Hello World, PMEasyView! in the resources.arsc file. This does not appear to be malware, just a mistake that this appears to some users with the Motorola Task / Performance Manager.
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What is "PMEasyView"?
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android
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I'm trying cyanogen's mod approach to root my Defy. I can do <code> adb shell </code> , it works as intended. But after I run <code> adb kill-server </code> and try an <code> adb shell </code> I get <code> error: device not found </code> It seems my phone just decides to not be connected anymore when I call <code> kill-server </code> . I need to physically reboot it and start everything again. This is the complete command session I did: <code> [~]$ adb devices List of devices attached 0A3AA8D5195599849BN device [~]$ adb shell $ exit [~]$ adb kill-server [~]$ adb start-server * daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 * * daemon started successfully * [~]$ adb devices List of devices attached [~]$ adb shell error: device not found [~]$ </code> This is driving me nuts. I've searched about this problem, but there simply isn't a solution in entire Google's database. I want to use this rageagainstthecage root approach because I can see the exploit source, I'm a little nervous about using something in my personal phone that I don't know what it does (an explanation about rageagainstthecage , and a compact explanation )... Anyone here at SE network have seen a similar problem - or have a suggestion? I'm doing this in a Macbook Pro machine (OS X 10.6.8). My phone has Android 2.2.1. (PS: Even without using the exploit, just doing <code> adb kill-server </code> and <code> adb start-server </code> , my cell phone isn't shown anymore on <code> adb devices </code> , thus receiving <code> error: device not found </code> . So this seens to be a problem with <code> adb kill-server </code> )
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I had the same problem (Rom: 34.177.3.MB525.Retail.en.DE). The only rooting method that worked was Gingerbreak ( http://project89.com/root-defy-without-pc-gingerbreak-200/ )
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adb doesn't detect my Defy (Motorola MB525) after I call adb kill-server (rageagainstthecage exploit). Any ideas?
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android
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I recently installed a Compass app on my phone (it's a HTC Wildfire S if it matters) and I'm curious as how it works. Found some answers online that the phone's hardware has a digital compass in it, is that it? or is it just a smart use of other sensors?
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Yes, it has a magnetic sensor / digital compass.
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How does an android compass application work?
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android
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The stock soft keyboard on Sony Ericsson Xperia mini pro has a feature called 'Learn words' ( <code> Settings > Language & keyboard > International Keyboard > Text input settings > Learn words </code> ) that learns from user input and adds them to the autocorrect dictionary. Over time however this has resulted in many misspelled words also being added to my autocorrect suggestions. I want to start this over from a fresh canvas. So how do I reset my autocorrect dictionary? When I go to <code> Language & keyboard > User dictionary </code> so I'm guessing Sony Ericsson uses its own keyboard replacement with its own user dictionary store.
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Best answer I've found so far: You could try clearing all data from the keyboard. <code> Menu>Settings>Applications>Running Applications </code> then tap <code> All </code> . Scroll down and find <code> Internation Keyboard </code> (if thats the one you are using) and <code> Clear Data </code> . Source: Sony Ericsson Support Forum Of course, it will also set the keyboard to the original settings. Anyway, I would like to find a way to remove some misspellings and not all the learned words, so if somebody knows how to do it, I will be glad to hear from it.
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How can I reset auto-complete dictionary for my Sony Ericsson Xperia mini pro?
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android
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The on screen buttons bar "Back, Home, menu" are not convinently located at the bottom of the tablet screen as it is in close proximity of controls of the program being run. Specifically I am using a SNES emulator and it's using that area for it's joypad control. It would be very helpful if I can move the bar to the top of the screen, is there any program to do this?
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As stackexchange-url ("Romain Guy"), one of the Android Engineers, stated in a stackexchange-url ("Stack Overflow answer"): No, you cannot move the Honeycomb status bar, either via a setting or programmatically (meaning it's not possible for an app to move it for you). You'd have to modify and build the Honeycomb source if you wanted to have any chance of accomplishing this. You could, however, try to find an emulator that lets you move the controls to the top of the screen. I recall seeing one that had this option, but I don't remember which one (I think it may have been Snes9x, but I'm not positive).
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Change the location of on screen buttons bar
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android
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Simple straight question: I own an Acer Iconia Tab A500 w/3.2 OS and a Windows 7 PC with lots of movies, including H.264 HD in Matroska format. How can I stream that content, supposed that I installed K-Lite Codec Pack, on Android by installing the least possible amount of software? The tablet is already shipped with Acer ClearFi which is a DLNA implementation and looks compatible with Windows Media Center, however when I tried to play a non-HD movie in MPEG-4 format the default player reported that the fortmat is unsupported. I'm new and a bit confused to Android video and home streaming. I don't know how codecs work in the Linux-like world. [EDIT] About codecs (if these matter): on Windows, I can watch the videos with Windows Media Player too, not only VLC/MPC I remember that once I was able to stream to my Xbox 360 with Vuze's embedded media server with live transcoding. Do I need something like that for streaming to Android too? Thank you.
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I use TVersity to stream to my Android device, Logitech Revue, Original Xbox, Xbox 360, etc. TVersity can transcode the video on the fly. I have, in the past, been able to get Matroska container files to play, but not always and with varying results. Sometime they don't play at all, sometime they played fine, and sometimes they play, but the video is choppy and out of sync with the audio. Being able to stream the video to your android device will depend on the video codec used to encode the video. If the device does not support the codec, it will not play. AFAIK, android, out of the box, does not support the matroska container, actually, there are a lot of formats that android does not support. Using something like TVersity on your "Media Server" allows you to transcode these videos in a format that the device will understand, and can play.
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Streaming a movie from Windows (Media Center??) to A500
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android
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In the process of attempting to get Cyanogen MOD onto my HTC Hero. I rooted it successfully, and can connect with ADB. I restarted the phone with the back key held down and get the fastboot screen. I press volume down to get to the HBoot screen (otherwise fastboot was failing to connect). Now I run: C:\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools> fastboot boot recovery-RA-hero-v1.7.0.1.img and get downloading 'boot.img'... and I wait. And wait. And wait. It certainly appears to be doing something in Task Manager (win 7) - it's showing some CPU activity, but how long is this step supposed to take? The longest I've waited was 1100 seconds before interrupting. Using HTC Hero GSM.
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At the time I was semi-blindly following another poorly written walkthrough that just had a series of commands without explaining them. Now with some knowledge I eventually worked out that it was better to flash the image to the phone. Still don't know why it was taking so long though. Eventually with flashing to the phone and then the Cyanogen Mod, I got it all working. Now with ROMManager on my phone it'll be sooo much easier in future!
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downloading 'boot.img' while using fastboot to copy ra recovery
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android
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I recently factory-reset my HTC Desire to free up space for apps, because it was suffering from constant 'low space' warnings, and it wasn't possible to free up space. (Initially I installed Cyanogenmod, but didn't like various things about it, so returned to the HTC Sense UI). However I can see the phone storage problem is going to come back soon - after moving 4 apps off the phone and onto SD card (the only 4 that supported this) I ended up with 10MB LESS space on the phone! So I am wondering if there's a way to get more stuff off the phone and onto the SD card while keeping the HTC Sense UI. I have heard of 'A2SD+' for example. Can I use that while retaining HTC Sense? (My phone is rooted and has S-OFF).
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I also have the safe device and had faced the same problem. I have two wonderful solutions: 1) Use link2sd . This app moves your app's apk, lib and dex file to second partition of you SD card. It will leave only the data files in the internal memory. So you can install nearly five times the more apps. I have a blog post if you want to try it out. 2) Use sueprnova ROM. This ROM is the stock ROM with data2sd support. So you can even use 2GB of SD space as internal memory. Both of this solution requires you to have a better class of SD Card.
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Is it possible to free up phone storage while keeping HTC Sense?
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android
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I have a rooted Galaxy S2, and I want to block access for all apps whose primary function does not require network connectivity. I am using DroidWall and LBE Privacy Guard (both require root) to control application behavior. Droidwall is an excellent firewall, but it doesn't provide a snapshot of currently active network connections. Is there an app that can do so, on a per app basis? Update : Just realized I can simplify things by just saying I want for Android what I can achieve using netstat -b on Windows, but properly presented! I have already seen a few - but they just wrap a commandline interface - as though they're calling netstat locally and then just piping output.
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Opensource Iptableslog app does exactly that. The features are: real time log display hostname resolving per app view filters based on app name, hostname, port It needs root and busybox.
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Looking for a network monitor that can enumerate outbound connections
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android
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This question might sound dumb, but I really don't understand how can I save a bookmark in Firefox for Android!! I see no bottom menu option for that. If I click on the address bar I still have no option to save a URL as a bookmark! Who can help me? Please!
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On Android < 3.0 or on Firefox v8 or earlier I think you still have to use the clunky, not-so-intuitive method. You swipe the screen to the left and it will reveal a sidebar on the right side of the screen which has the bookmark star. Press that and it bookmarks the page. How they expected to you to find this on your own I will never know. On Honeycomb devices with Firefox 9+ (currently beta) you just need to press the little star icon on the far right side of the address bar. It pretty much works just like the desktop version. Annotated screenshot for the right sidebar:
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Saving a bookmark in Firefox?
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android
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I just got an over-the-air update from HTC for my Wildfire S for the "FOTA Client" (or something like this, can't see it anymore after the update and can't find any logfiles in the FileManager or elsewhere) and somne related component also with FOTA in the name. Googling FOTA only yields blog posts and news about "phone X getting FOTA update" with none of these explaining what it means. Searching here yields zero results... So, what does FOTA mean?
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FOTA - Firmware Over-the-Air This is the update sent to the OS via your service provider(for 3G/GPRS/EDGE..) or Wifi. It will download an image of the new firmware from the server and install it after you accept.
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What does FOTA mean
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android
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My wife has decided to get the kids a set of android tablets for christmas. These are Coby Kyros 4GB wi-fi only models. The kids are ages 6-10 so I don’t particularly want to let them have free reign of the internet or the app stores. I also want to make sure the tablets are protected from the various forms of malware. Ideally I would like to be able to establish a white list for the websites they are allowed to visit, and make it so that they are not able to add any apps or modify the white list without parental intervention. However I am not familiar enough with the android platform to know where to start on any of this. Google has helped me find out that apps exist which claim to be able to restrict access to other apps, but almost all of them have comments indicating that they are very easy to bypass. Likewise I have been seeing mixed reviews as to the effectiveness and value of the antivirus options that are out there. So far I have not been able to find anything about building a whitelist, or restricting content accessible from the web. So I am asking for suggestions as to specific topics/apps that I should be reading up on, and/or other approaches that I can take to reach these goals. EDIT: I should note that this model does not come with the android market pre installed, it has some third party app store on it. It does come with an apk manager installed, and I have played with one of them enough to get the market and gmail onto it. So I should be able to get most anything installed/removed if I can figgure out what it is I actually need to do.
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As I noted in stackexchange-url ("your other thread"), your best bet is probably to manually set a web proxy server via the devices network settings that filters by keyword or whitelists. Even if they do go to another person's house or try to get on another network, they will be unable to browse (especially if you are hosting the proxy server yourself on your own network; in that case, they most likely won't be able to browse to anything at all). From wikipedia : In computer networks, a proxy server is a server (a computer system or an application) that acts as an intermediary for requests from clients seeking resources from other servers. A client connects to the proxy server, requesting some service, such as a file, connection, web page, or other resource available from a different server. The proxy server evaluates the request according to its filtering rules. For example, it may filter traffic by IP address or protocol. If the request is validated by the filter, the proxy provides the resource by connecting to the relevant server and requesting the service on behalf of the client. A proxy server may optionally alter the client's request or the server's response, and sometimes it may serve the request without contacting the specified server. In this case, it 'caches' responses from the remote server, and returns subsequent requests for the same content directly.
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Securing a young child's tablet
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android
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