text:
How can I get push notifications for emails in sub-folders?
How can I get push notifications for emails in my inbox's sub-folders? By default it pushes just inbox emails, not the other folders that are in inbox.

You can't, the Gmail client for Android only syncs the Inbox folder. The other folders are only synced when you enter into each one.
If I'm not mistaken the K9 Mail client have the ability to sync more than one folder.
EDIT to add some new information provided by "Mr. Buster":
The current version of Gmail client for Android phones actualy have this option.
In order to configure the gmail client to sync more than one folder you have to go to: Gmail Settings > *@gmail.com Account Settings > Sync inboxes and labels

That's not entirely true about Gmail - Gmail Settings > *@gmail.com Account Settings > Sync inboxes and labels

I have a Samsung Galaxy S2, and i have also got a app called "Email". This was on the phone when i got it, and you can also access gmail trough this app as well as the gmail app.
Maybe this app has the function your looking for.


text:
How do I move multiple app icons at the same time?
I have an HTC Incredible running Miui with Go Launcher EX. Is it possible to move multiple icons at the same time?

Can you be more specific ? Move to where ? Are you talking about the icons on Desktop or App Drawer ?

sorry, move the icons around the various desktop screens.

You cannot select multiple icons on Go Launcher Ex, so multiple icons moving is not possible.

out of curiosity, why would you want to do this?

I suppose if you have multiple icons on one screen that you want to move to another screen, you could add the icons to a new folder then move that folder to the other screen. Then you can just move the icons back out of the folder.

Unfortunately you can not do so with GoLauncherEx.
Your best bet would be to contact the dev team at their blog, or other forms of contact like Twitter, facebook, etc. and just ask them to include this feature. As of right now (Mid-2012) I don't believe there is a launcher on the Android that has this feature yet.
Feel free to contact the dev team.
http://golauncher.goforandroid.com/
GoLauncher is really innovative and usually has features long before other launchers and updates frequently. They have a very active development, with the largest user base of all other launchers, so its not really out of the question for them to support this feature if asked.
I do believe it would be pretty handy at times. But who knows how much of a priority they would make this innovation, as their is only 8 home screens and once you pull an icon over to another screen it automatically takes you to the overview of all home screens, so its a pretty efficient and fast situation. But the "Go" devs love what they do, and love their user base so I don't see why they wouldn't work on it if you asked.
The only way to find out is to try and contact them! :)
Hope the best.

This exact feature is available in the default MIUI launcher, just pinch your screen or looking press on a empty area and you will open window editing mode from there you can select and move multiple apps simultaneously, from screen to screen.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


text:
Why does my phone sometimes reboot when playing music?
My Droid X spontaneously reboots when it's playing music.  I've confirmed this behavior with the native music player, Amazon's MP3 player, and now Spotify (though, with Spotify, it seems to happen less often).
No warning, and no pattern, the phone just goes silent mid-song, then reboots.  Sometimes it does it on consecutive days, sometimes it doesn't do it for a week.
It's perfectly stable at all other times, and has never spontaneously rebooted outside of when I'm playing music.

You don't seem to be the only one having this trouble. See this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1283773

I think its general error with android, my phone that does that now and again, usually the more time it has been playing the more likely it will reboot, however not always.

I finally got a log of my phone doing this. Relevant section: https://gist.github.com/1515675. Anyone know what to make of "W/dalvikvm( 1315): threadid=23: thread exiting with uncaught exception (group=0x40018560)"?

I think it was a memory issue.  I installed Auto Memory Manager, set it on "mild" and never had the problem again.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


text:
How to backup Windows 6.5 /HTC HD2/ data and transfer it to Android 4.2 /Samsung Galaxy S4
I have a HTC HD2 / Windows 6.5 / several years. A week ago I got a Samsung Galaxy S4 / Android 4.2 /. My question is what program I could make a backup of the old phone, so I can restore them to the new. Thanks in advance for all the help.

What data is it that you want to move across? Are you just talking your address book, or messages, or something more?

Well mostly address book and messages and events eventually. Anyway, one of the applications will not work on the other.

I hate to sync with cloud/online service. My contacts list is confidential not to be uploaded on Google account.
I use dual boot on HD2 and for having the same calendar and contacts on Android HD2, I found MyPhoneExplorer. It will sync your Outlook with your Android device. It is possible to require phone Android drivers.
The Contacts were synced with photo and everything.
Be patient, MyphoneExplorer is not so quick as Activesync.

HOW TO TRANSFER/BACKUP DATA FROM WINDOWS MOBILE TO ANDROID
To make backups and transfer that data to your Android device, you'll need to install PIM Backup on your Windows Mobile device.
Go to www.dotfred.net and download the PIM Backup CAB file for Windows Mobile 6.5 (direct link: http://www.tinyurl.com/PIMBackup65).
Move it to your HTC HD2 and install it.
Contacts:

Make a backup of your contacts with PIM Backup and save it as a CSV file.
Copy the file to your computer and go to Google Contacts. Click on More -> Import.
Choose the CSV file and press Import. Once your new phone has a proper connection to the internet, it'll automatically synchronise with the Google servers and you'll see a complete list of your contacts in the Contacts app.

Calendar/Appointments:

Use PIM Backup to backup all of your appointments to a CSV file. Copy that CSV file to your computer.
Go to Google Calendar and click the mechanical wheel and click Settings.
Go to Calendars and click Import calendar.
Choose the CSV file and press Import. Once your new phone has a proper connection to the internet, it'll automatically synchronise with the Google servers and you'll see your appointments in your Google Calendar app.

Text Messages/SMS:

Use PIM Backup to backup your text messages to an .xml file. Transfer that file to your phone to /sdcard/SMSBackupRestore.
Install the free app SMS Backup & Restore on your Android device.
Start it and restore the XML file.

Call Log:

Use PIM Backup to backup your call log to an .xml file. Transfer that file to your phone to /sdcard/CallLogBackupRestore.
Install the free app Call Logs Backup & Restore on your Android device.
Start it and restore the XML file.

This work only for contacts. But Calendar / Apointments; Text Messages / SMS; call logs not working. Any other ideas for dealing with the problem, please.

I edited my answer. Make sure you move the XML files to /sdcard/SMSBackupRestore and /sdcard/CallLogBackupRestore . Could you tell me on what point you fail to accomplish the tasks?

I copy the files in the Documents folder in root. And then ask the program to search for them in it. Detect them, but then can't read the data from them.

Come on, people. Has anybody had a similar problem. Helpppp meee.

If you are also a Outlook user and used activesync to sync your old Windows Phone, then a very nice tool to use is Local Sync.
I migrated my contacts, appointments and other data flawlessly from my windows phone to android.
But not SMS data, because that's not data what Outlook handles. But pimbackup should be fine for that.


text:
How to save the data when phone is locked via too many patterns attempted?
I am using Samsung S2, due to my nephew attempting too many wrong patterns in my phone now it is locked and it is displaying "Too Many Patterns Attempted sign in to your Google account".
I want to know if I unlock it by using Google account, will it wipe out my all the data that is in my phone memory? If so, how can I unlock the phone without losing any data from my phone memory?

When your phone says Too Many Patterns Attempted sign in to your Google account, signing in with your Google account (even without Internet connectivity) will NOT wipe any data. It will only ask you to provide a chance to change the lock pattern.

But i have lost some contacts from my phone memory.it saved my data from my galary.


text:
Upgrading developer phone
I've an HTC Magic Developer Phone running Android 1.6. I want to upgrade it to Android 2.1. Please guide me how to do this.

If your phone is actually a developer phone supplied through Google (and not a consumer phone bought through a phone company) then you've actually got an ADP2, not a Magic, beware of that when looking for ROMs as they are some subtle differences in the hardware.
Official ADP2 images are hosted by HTC at http://developer.htc.com/ but only up to Android 1.6 for ADP1 and ADP2.
If you do actually have an HTC Magic (aka mytouch 3G)  then depending on your phone company there are official Froyo releases for the Magic which have been pushed out OTA by some phone companies, see this previous question for more info When will my phone get the Android 2.2 update (FroYo)?. If going for unofficial ROMs then be careful again as there are (at least) two hardware variants of this with incompatible ROMs, the Magic A, and Magic B.

If you don't mind rooting your phone, perhaps the easiest thing to do is to flash CyanogenMod on it. The HTC Magic is supported up to CM6 (Android 2.2, Froyo). You can find more details here, be sure to read up on the wiki. It is not supported on CM7 or later (Android 2.3, Gingerbread).


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

OS: 2.2
Phone: HTC Incredible

What other information can I provide?  Any advice?

Is this question related? http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/237/exchange-no-longer-working-after-upgrading-to-froyo

I wouldn't think so since the phone came with 2.2 and it worked the first time.

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

Hey, if it works for you it'll probably work for someone else with the same issue.

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

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


text:
SMS-Email Gateway App
Is there any combination of android applications which can connect to a POP3 account and:

transfers emails to SMS (by phone number provided in the subject of
the email)
transfers SMSes to an email?

The first could be tricky, but the second is possible with SMS Backup+ (only to a Gmail account AFAIR).

I need it to connect to a POP3 server, not Gmail account.

Not sure how much reliable this is, but I found this app: SMS Gateway
Their description says that e-mails via POP3 can be sent via SMS, while SMS can be sent via HTTP GET request.

Thank you, I'll check it. What can I do for sending automatic email with incoming SMS?

No idea about sending SMS automatically as e-mails, as I have never tried it myself. It would be good if you're able to do that with the respective app, else may be suggest the developer to try providing the functionality in the further update of the app. :)


text:
Make fonts larger in Galaxy Tab
How can I enlarge all texts in galaxy tab for an old man, specially in contacts and more specially numbers of contacts?
Thank you.
edit galaxy tab version 2.2

Can you please post what version of Android your Galaxy Tab is running?  I don't know when the new 10.1 inch devices ship but they are supposed to run 3.0, while the older Galaxy Tab was running 2.2.

Individual apps might have settings for font size, but I don't think Android 2.2 included any system-wide settings for changing the default font size.  Check the Market for a third-party contact list app that allows you to change that setting.

I'd suggest one but I'm a little swamped at work atm :)

anyone can suggest a tested contact management software for old men?

Use IDEAL Text Enlarger. Works without need for root. But not all apps work with it and overly large fonts make the interface more difficult.
I'm looking for a similar solution, but in terms of accessibility, the iPad's triple finger gesture to zoom and magnify any part of the screen in any app is unmatchable in Android as yet.

iPad doesn't make calls :)

Nope and neither does the iPad2

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


text:
Recover data from bootlooped phone
I have a Samsung Galaxy S Plus (GT-I9003) that is stuck in a boot loop. It is running the stock Samsung firmware (Android 2.3.5). I want to recover the data (specifically of the Memo application) from the device. I can boot into recovery mode and then connect via adb shell, but I'm not allowed to read /data:
$ ls -l /
(...)
drwxrwx--x root     root              1970-01-01 00:00 data
$ id
uid=2000(shell) gid=2000(shell) groups=1003(graphics),1004(input),1007(log),1009(mount),1011(adb),1015(sdcard_rw),3001(net_bt_admin),3002(net_bt),3003(inet)
$ su
su: permission denied

How can I backup /data from this phone?

@Izzy I edited the question, but just to be sure, here are the answers: I do not have any custom ROM installed, and do not have root access. If there is a way to gain root access without overwriting the application data, that would probably be the answer to my question. As evidenced by the output, I can connect just fine via adb shell, but adb backup doesn't work as the device is running Android 2.3.5.

Looks like that device has an entry in our rooting index: Galaxy SL GT i9003. Please refer to that one for the rooting part. Apart from that: correct conclusion. adb backup was introduced with ICS, and without root you'll have no access to your apps' data below /data. Best would be a Nandroid backup, which you even could create via adb from your computer (see Is there a way to do Nandroid backup directly to pc?) root needed for that.

I was able to copy the data by first rooting the phone. After routing, I can boot up the phone in recovery mode, connect via adb shell, and use cat /dev/mmcblk0 / cat /dev/block/stl10 to get the interesting data from the phone.


text:
Get Windows PC Notifications/Updates on Android Mobile
I need a way to get all the desktop taskbar updates/notifications on my Android device.
Example: Someone pings me on my Office Communicator on PC. I need to see that as a notification on my Android Device.
Not looking for screensharing apps such as Teamviewer where I need to connect and check the screen for updates.
What I'm looking for is the exact opposite of Desktop Notifications.
Is there any way to do this? Third-party apps are acceptable.

Sending phone notifications to desktop work because there is a simple framework for the phones, and all your app as to do is listen for that event and echo the message to the desktop.
The reverse is significantly harder because there is simply no unified notification framework yet. Every app handles notifications differently. I haven't written desktop apps for windows at that depths, but notice how most application icons on the taskbar light up when there's an event? (May not always be a valid notification). Well, my first guess is that you'd have to write a listener for that - assuming you're given that kind of access in the OS in the first place. [ Check out this SO answer ].
Once you have a listener in place, you can know when an app receives a notification. However, unless the app exposes a method to see what the notification is though the taskbar, it is unlikely that you can derive the contents ...


text:
How do I search emails on Honeycomb?
I have multiple email accounts set up on Honeycomb. To my disappointment, I couldn't find any way to search my email. On my Froyo phone I can do this from the options menu. How can I do this on Honeycomb?

In the Gmail app, there is a search icon (magnifying glass) that appears in the top right corner when you are within a mailbox. If you're using the stock, general Email app (with the yellow "@" icon) then I'm afraid there is no search function supported.


text:
OEM USB Drivers Lenovo
What's the URL for Lenovo drivers?
I tried to run my first Android app on my Lenovo tablet (Android 4.2).
http://developer.android.com/tools/extras/oem-usb.html
My OS is Windows 7. I tried to download the Lenovo driver here, but the URL is corrupted:
http://developer.android.com/tools/extras/oem-usb.html#Drivers

have you downloaded the SDK already?

It's not asking for a recommendation, the question needs help finding the official driver.  Shouldn't have been closed.

Try these:

Download the Android SDK, and try the driver inside the SDK.
Check out this link: Android Lenovo ADB Interface Driver

i find it here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/fn1ozc9174b71db/IdeaPadA3000_extended_Driver.rar

Where abouts in the Android SDK folder (C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Android\sdk) is the required driver?

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\extras\google\usb_driver

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


text:
Encryption of offline mail, calendar, contacts data on Android
I'm very new to Android and I wonder what I can do in terms of encryption.
As I read it seems that only Android >= 2.3.3 supports encryption but my new device will be running Android 2.3.1. So I think there's no native solution to encrypt offline mail, calendar and contact data.
What solutions are there to protect my offline data?
Is it possible to encrypt the folders belonging to mail, calendar, contact? Decrypting should always happen when the screen is not lcoked.
Any ideas?

Related: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/9055/full-encryption-with-android

Encryption of saved data (the data on flash storage) is a feature of Android 4.0 and higher. The only non-4.0-device I am aware of that allows full flash storage encryption is the Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet.
Encryption of connection data (data that goes over the wire) was a big security concern in some Android versions. Google has released some updated versions of the affected Apps, but it's unkown if they where dispatched on every device. IIRC most fixes got into 2.3.5, but I can't find the source ATM - Googles disclosure policy is not so good. Here are some good resources about this topic:

The Insecurity of Google's ClientLogin Protocol
What Android sync'd data is encrypted?
Ungesicherte Einsichten (german) ("Unsecure Insights")

Any apps, which bring this functionality? My device runs 2.3.1 so most likely the connection is still not safe in terms of encryption?

@meinzlein I don't know any App. You don't want full system encryption provided by an App, it's also not easy for an App to implement that. It's something that the Firmware/OS should provide. It's very likly that some data on our 2.3.1 is send and received unencrypted, but there is also a chance that your manufacturer has fixed this in his ROM.

Thanks for your reply. How to check wether my 2.3.1 is patched in terms of encryption of connection data? Well it doesn't need to be a app which encrypts the whole device - it would be nice to have Mail, Calendar, Contacts encrypted, maybe app-wise or folder-wise. Something which let's me encrpyt at least some parts..

@meinzlein This would at least require root. Not sure if there exists a solution. We have to wait if there are other answers on your question. I am also interested.

Well root is not a problem. Let's wait for further answers..

Android 3 also supports local data encryption.

Can't find an App so far. Smart App Protector seems best we can do


text:
Is there any free (not trial) software by which we can run android on windows xp PC?
Is there any free (not trial) software by which we can run android on windows xp PC?
I have search and found this http://youwave.com
However, it is trial for 7 days

you can do it in emulator right.

Duplicate of Can you run Android in a VM on PC?

You can try LiveAndroid. It's around 180MB and comes as an ISO file. Create a virtual machine in your Windows Machine and load the ISO to boot the VM into Android.

You can download Android SDK for free from Android Developers website. The SDK includes an emulator or all major versions that have been released. The emulator can run any Android applications that doesn't require specific hardware (e.g. GPS, Accelerometers). Graphic intensive applications (e.g. games) could be slow though, unless you have a very, very powerful PC.


text:
How do I unlock the bootloader on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus?
I have a LTE (Verizon) Samsung Galaxy Nexus. How do I go about unlocking the bootloader such that I can root the device?

Full instructions can be found here.
In short:

Install SDK
Get the Fastboot.exe and place in your SDK/tools
Turn on USB debugging on phone
Connect to PC via USB
Using adb, run adb reboot bootloader
At the bootloader, run fastboot oem unlock
Accept dialog to unlock bootloader
Start phone, phone will reboot, do not battery pull!

Afterwards, you can get root access.


text:
Search on Android Market website?
Am I just blind or is there no "search" option on Android Market (??) if you go to the website from your desktop computer? If not, should I use some 3rd party search engine for the Market or should I just switch to some other "market" (some other android apps website)?
And if there is no search option - why? I don't get it why someone wouldn't put something as trivial to that kind of a website? lol
thank you

I don't know why either, but you can use AppBrain like suggested by gary in the answers

Yeah, I didn't cover the why, but it's a good question. Maybe they need to add some kind of searching "engine" or something... but where are they going to get one of those?

This has been a long-standing complaint. As of right now, the only way to search the Market is in the app on your device. Enhancements to the website are supposedly forthcoming, but we obviously haven't seen anything yet.

It looks like an improved market is on its way (today?). Android phones to get new online Android Market: report.

You can now search and install apps from the Android Market website.
It apparently launched today and people (myself included) are having trouble loggin in but I'm sure they'll clear it up soon.  Now you can search apps, filter by Free vs Paid and sort by Relevance or Popularity.  There is also a button on each listing for "Install" which will probably be like Appbrain's service that causes the app to automatically download on you phone (when you're able to actually login).
When you visit http://market.android.com/ on your phone, you actually see the site but if you click on any apps or search you are redirected to the Market App.

Durn! Beat me to it.

Nice. I saw an article earlier today, that's when I added the comment to the question. I forgot to see how it would pan out.

When Google's Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra announced Froyo in his keynote for Google I/O 2010 last May, he showed that they are working on a new website where we will be able to search, browse, and install apps directly from the website. However up to this day (January 2011), no more words has been heard of that website ever since.
Note that everything in this paragraph is speculative: My guess is that they are holding back the website to launch with Honeycomb or probably for Google I/O 2011 (or they may be going to announce Honeycomb on Google I/O 2011 (EDIT: no, they just given peek preview of Honeycomb's tablet feature at CES 2011, they haven't released any Honeycomb device yet though (EDIT2: Honeycomb is now released)). Also, it is possible that web install will only be for Android 2.2 and above due to C2DM requirement, though Google might have other solutions. Another possibility is they are scraping the site, and are now wishing for everyone to forget what they were saying in front of thousands of audience and practically eternal Youtube audiences. But keep in mind that it's really up to Google's strategic, on how and when they will launch the new site. (EDIT3: Android Web Market have been released for some time now at https://market.android.com/)
For now, though, AppBrain and AndroidZoom provide similar functionalities.

The new site has launched!

AndroidZoom is another site, similar to AppBrain.


text:
How to set alarm for all calendar events synced from Google account android
I used to use my events in Google Calendar for reminding me of my events through SMS alerts earlier (when I had a simple mobile). Now I've got those synced up in my Android 2.1 (Samsung Galaxy 3 Apollo) and I would like it to remind me of my events by  alarm instead of SMSes.
Is this possible?

Log on to Google Calendar Online through web browser (I did this on PC. Not sure if these steps are available on mobile calendar site).
Go to Settings > Calendar Settings > Calenders > Click Notification against your specific Calendar.
Remove reminder for SMS and add Reminder for Pop Up.

By the above steps, whenever a new event is added on-line, it will set an alarm notification for it on mobile when synced.
For already created event, change the notification for each event to Pop Up through web browser.

Using stock Calendar apps, you can Press "Menu Button" > Tap "More" > Tap "Settings" > Tap "Set Alerts & Notifications" to set the phone to ring for each reminder you've set for each events.
EDIT:
The stock calendar icon:

press "Menu", then tap on "More":

tap "Settings:

tap "Set alerts & notifications":

tap on "Alert":

This is on Calendar version 7 on 2.1-eclair Samsung Spica

Will that work for existing appointments or only for appointments created after the setting has been activated?

It will work on existing reminders; however, note that events that are not attached with a reminder does not get a notification (I never used SMS alert, but I presume it works the same).

I don't know which is the "stock Calendar" app, but I'm using default calendar app which came pre Installed and it has properly downloaded all my events and even the repeated events properly from Google Calendar. In that app, clicking on Menu directly gives Settings option and I don't see any option for "Set Alerts & Notification". I'm using 2.1 eclair.

@Ismail: I've added some screen shots

The "Set Alerts & Notification" will change the global setting however if you appointments are all set-up in gmail to notify you via SMS I don't believe you can change them all to normal notifications without doing it manually.  If you choose "Popup notification" in gmail, I believe that translates into a regular notification in Android.

From screen shots I can see that your calendar app and my calendar app differs on all screenshots. How can I know which Calendar Version I've got?

I've got a way. I will post answer by the end of day as I get time

I believe you can setup something with Tasker.
Create a new event, based off of state --> "Calendar Entry".
Then create a task based off of it to alert a sound for you or show a dialog or whatever you need for it to do.

I don't think Tasker is a free app. And I'm satisfied with the Calendar app. just that would like it to sound an Alarm for event

Tasker isn't a replacement for you calendar, it's a way to get around having to go back and retroactively set notification manually on all your existing appointments.


text:
Why has my Android phone stop updating calendars, mail etc?
As question says above. It used to update every few minutes, but recently I've had to manually refresh each of the applications to get it to run
Thank you

Go to Settings -> Accounts and sync:

Ensure Auto-sync is checked.
Check the relevant accounts to see if sync is enabled for them (click the account and see what's checked off).

Ah thanks! No idea how it got unchecked... :S

@kurru I highly recommend using the stock Power Control widget (or many of the other better versions in the Android market).  It'll let you quickly see and control things like Sync, wifi, bluetooth, etc.

@Bryan Denny And now I know why XD I use it and its not on my main screen so couldve done that and since forgotten!

Another possible cause: is your phone's memory full?  If your phone is low on free memory, it will not sync any new data to it.  You'll have to uninstall some apps or move them to the SD card to resolve this.

Try this:
Go to settings ==> apps
Find yor mail app
Force it to stop
Deactivate
Reactivate
Find your the mail amongst all your other apps and setup your mail account once more. Your gmail settings do not need to be set up again.
Add the app to your homescreen again.
I do not know why it stopped working or if there is an easier solution, but this worked for me....:-)


text:
Backup of my Droid X
How (What App) do I use in order to do backup? What is good backup apps out there? I primarily want to save calling logs & SMSs, as all of Applications I can just re-download from Market.
I use Droid X!

You should probably tag this question as motorola-droid-x since that's what it's referring to.  I'd update it myself if I had the rep.

I've used BackItUp Pro successfully -- it's one of very few apps I've found that can backup/restore MMS across ROMs.  MyBackup Pro is another popular app.  I've no experience with it personally though.
Titanium Backup is very nice for a lot of things, but for call logs & SMS, I'm not sure it's portable across ROMs.  It looks like it's simply backing up the sqlite DBs directly.  There's a "Data Migration" option that's been added recently, but it looks like it's a Pro-only feature.  Perhaps someone who's tried it can chime in with their experience.
There's also Call Log Backup & Restore and SMS Backup & Restore, which are free apps.  They back up to XML files, so should be highly portable across ROMs.
Edit: I had a chance to test the "restore" features last night with my wife's Droid.  I switched her from Ruby 1.1.1 to CyanogenMod 6.1.0, and took the opportunity to wipe her phone and start it fresh.  The Call Log Backup & Restore and SMS Backup & Restore apps worked perfectly.
Finally, there's SMS Backup+, which copies SMS/MMS & Calls Logs to your Gmail Account.

Titanium Backup is probably the best.  It can back up and restore data like SMSs and call logs.  It can back up the apps themselves too, which is much easier than making a list (or trying to remember) and manually restoring them.  There are others but I don't think any can compare to TB.

As afrazier also said I use SMS Backup+ to automatically backup my SMS/MMS and Call Log to GMail. This has the side benefit that it's very easy to access all your messages, etc and search through them when you're sitting at a PC. Great for finding those directions that you know a friend sent you a few months ago!
I also use LifeSaver every now and then, which does a one-click backup of your messages and calls to your SD card. It's very handy to get your history back if you change phones, or need to factory reset yours, or wipe it for any other reason (like putting custom ROMs on).


text:
Locking down an Android device?
I'm interested in locking down an Android, so the user can only access a particular app (bonus points: only allow them to access the browser app, and only allow one website from within that).
How might I go about doing this with minimal work?
(I work for a school, and am considering using some androids as roll-marking devices)

There are a number of apps in the market that allow access to apps only after inputting a password.
For your second problem, i hope there's some way of preventing a user from putting a SIM of choice (either by encasing the device in a lockable case or something) and then configuring your WiFi router to only allow access to the site in question and block all other requests.


text:
Whatever happened to VISIONary?
A number of people on here have recommended I give VISIONary a try out on my HTC Desire HD. But I can't find it anywhere - has it been decommissioned?

Please don't use device tags like htc-desire-hd unless your question is absolutely specific to the device (in this case it's really about the app).  Thanks!

ok. I wasn't sure if I needed a specific flavour of it to match my handset.

It hasn't been updated since November, and was removed from the official Market, but as far as I know it's still around.  You can get it from http://android.modaco.com/content/software/320350/19-nov-r14-visionary-one-click-root/

Thanks much. I have it but I'm not sure its working - it doesnt seem to give me a success message when I try Temprooting.


text:
Are there any apps that can shut down the phone?
The power button is stuck on my friend's phone, so he wanted to know if there were any apps available that could shut off the phone, or any other way to turn it off without pressing the power button. He has a Droid with Android 2.2.2

Check out the answer to this question: http://android.stackexchange.com/q/367/137

@Matt: isn't power button different than sleep/lock button?

@Lie: No one button on the OG Droid does both (Normally: Press to sleep and long press to power down)  but it's a good point that those two functions are different.

@MatrixFrog:  I reopened the question.  Are you trying to just turn the screen off (sleep) or power down the phone so it's completely off?

Matt: I'm not sure what he wants exactly, but I'll make sure he sees this question and hopefully some part of your answer will help him out. Thanks!

Just a curiosity...
How are you supposed to turn it on again without a power button? O_O

If you are simply trying to turn the screen off, like the normal single press of the power button on the Droid does refer to this question: Is there an App or Widget that can replace my Screen On and Off Button on my Moto Droid?
If you are trying to power down the phone you'll need to have a rooted Droid then you can install an app that give you a boot menu like Quick Boot or Reboot Manager, both of wich give you an option to turn the phone off.

As I pointed out in the answer you do need a rooted device for option 2. Option 1 does not require root access.


text:
How can I enable Google's voice recognition?
I want to enable Android's Voice Input on my Archos 70 Internet Tablet.  Voice Input/Output isn't even visible in the settings menu.  Is there an apk file to add this or some other way?  I'm happy to take 3rd party Voice Recognition suggestions like vlingo if they don't need access to the Google Voice Recognition Engine, but I'm most interested in getting the standard Android voice input working.
Device: Archos 70 Internet Tablet running Android 2.1

What about installing "TTS Service Extended"? Does that do anything for you?

Have you got the Android Market on the Archos 70? I know a lot of current tablets don't. I'm pretty sure that voice recognition and TTS need an extra download from the Market to work (Navigation definitely prompts to do this the first time you use it, and I thought voice recognition was linked).

@Bryan, I haven't tried that but I'm looking for STT not TTS so I'm not sure that's the right thing.  Google Voice Search seems to add that functionality but it isn't compatible with pre-2.2 devices.  I recall having Google Voice Search natively on my Droid when I had 2.1 and not downloading the app until 2.2 to get the enhancements.  @GAThrawn, yes I have the Market.

Android 2.2 is now available for your device, which includes voice search:
http://archosfans.com/2010/11/30/froyo-firmware-2-0-54-for-gen8-released-2/

I forgot I asked this question.  Thanks for the answer.  I've actually upgraded already (did it the day it came out) but haven't worked out all the kinks yet to get the voice input working yet.

I haven't figured out all the kinks, either (on an Archos 43), but I figured this would get you going in the right direction if you hadn't heard of the update.

Thanks.  I really wish the forum.archosfans.com had a format like StackExchange.  I hate sifting through pages and pages of nonsense to get to the tiny bit of useful information buried deep inside a thread.

Me too.  If it's not on the main archosfans blog page, I'm probably not going to take the time to look for it.

Do you mean the Google Voice Search?
If so, I think it is only available on selected countries.
Here on Brazil, it was unavailable until some weeks ago, when it was released on Android Market.
This page shows where it is available: http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=170820

Nope.  Google Voice Search is an app that uses the Voice Recognition/Input service.


text:
cifs.ko wanted for MTK 6572 device
I want to access my external HD attached to Raspberry PI, so I've installed SMB server on it, and CifsManger on my MTK6572 device (rooted, busybox installed). I've tested the SMB server with my desktop machine, and it works.
CifsManager says that I have to install cifs.ko. I have downloaded one and copied to the device, but insmod says:
# /system/bin/insmod cifs.ko
insmod: init_module 'cifs.ko' failed (Exec format error)

I've tried ones from other sources, but the result is the same.
My configuration:
# cat /proc/cpuinfo
Processor   : ARMv7 Processor rev 3 (v7l)

Kernel version is 3.4.5.
I'm not sticked to CifsManager, I just want to mount the HD on my device, so all programs should use it. (File managers can see SMB and SSH servers, but they don't mount.) I can install any file server service on the Raspberry Pi.
EDIT: I've used file command to determine the exact type of my existing .ko modules:
$ file /media/peklapat/system/lib/modules/devapc.ko
  /media/peklapat/system/lib/modules/devapc.ko:
  ELF 32-bit LSB relocatable, ARM, EABI5 version 1 (SYSV),
  BuildID[sha1]=*cut*, not stripped

Edit2: Modinfo says:
  $ modinfo /media/peklapat/system/lib/modules/wlan_mt6582.ko
    filename:       /media/peklapat/system/lib/modules/wlan_mt6582.ko
    license:        GPL
    description:    NIC_DESC
    author:         NIC_AUTHOR
    depends:        mtk_stp_wmt
    intree:         Y
    vermagic:       3.4.5 SMP preempt mod_unload ARMv7

Do you have kernel source for mtk6572 device?

Nope. But MTK6572 is not a rare animal, lot of phones, tablets and TV sticks are equipped with it.

try this one http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1764228&d=1361929447 might work for you

Nope. I've used file to determine exact type of my .ko files, I added this info in the question. Anyway, thanks!

Hm, file says the same for the .ko-s you've sent, why insmod keeps saying the same error (Exec format error)?

could you provide the kernel log output: "dmesg" after trying to insmod your module? This usually contains valuable hints when stumbling over such problems.

<3>[517515.694103] (0)[29512:insmod]cifs: version magic '3.1.10-g05b777c SMP preempt mod_unload ARMv7 ' should be '3.4.5 SMP preempt mod_unload ARMv7 '
<7>[517515.701031] (0)[29512:insmod][29512:insmod] exit
<7>[517515.701540] (0)[29512:insmod][29512:insmod] sig 17 to [29446:sh]
<7>[517515.702140] (0)[29446:sh][29446:sh] fork [29513:sh]


text:
How to use a logical disk partition as an SD card in Android-x86
Android-x86 4.0.4 (ICS) runs beautifully on my netbook and it can even mount USB sticks as SD cards, but now I would like to use an available hard disk space (logical partition, /dev/sda7) as a permanent SD card.
Is this possible?

According to this thread, this is possible and it is as easy as adding the following line to /etc/vold.fstab:
dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard auto SDCARD=/dev/sda7

But I haven't tried it myself.

Thanks. This is the first clue that this may be possible. But I just tried this and it didn't work for me. There is a mention there that another step is necessary: Changing MAX_PARTITIONS from 4 to 8 in DirectVolume.h but my system has no trace of a file named DirectVolume.h.

FYI: As soon as I tried this, the touch pad stopped working... Turns out switching back from Android's shell (Alt+F7) is very close to disabling the touchpad on this netbook (Fn+F7). No cause for alarm.


text:
Disable Phone's Built-in Microphone?
I just conducted a tiny experiment with the original headset that comes with Nexus One: I plugged it into the phone, expecting the phone built-in microphones to be switched off, replaced by the microphone on the headset.
I was disappointed to see that the voice input behavior of the system didn't change: The phone seems to continue picking up sound from the built-in microphone(s).
So, I thoroughly covered the headset's microphone with tape and tried again...
Still, no change. The Nexus One's built-in microphone are fully enabled.
This is disappointing because I really need to disable the Nexus One's built-in mics, so that I can use a different microphone instead.
Is there a way to accomplish that?

which icon do you see in the notification bar, headphones or headset?

Maybe disabling the noise cancellation feature might work..
Get a rooted file editor first, then
from "/system/build.prop" change the
"media.a1026.enableA1026=1" to "media.a1026.enableA1026=0"
Then do a reboot. See if your problem is solved. I simply suspect the android's mic always gets enabled for the purpose of noise cancellation during calls/voice input.
REMEMBER! I do not hold responsiblilty for any failure. I suggest you make a backup and everything when you try this.
SOURCE: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=6787214

@Android Eve, Did you accept it because it worked or for being the only answer alone?


text:
Does the 4.4.1 update improve 3rd-party camera apps or are the enhancements just to the stock camera app?
The new minor update to Kit Kat is apparently all about improvements to the camera on the Nexus 5. The official Nexus G+ page says:

It improves the camera with faster focusing, especially in low light, faster white balancing, for truer colors, the ability to pinch-zoom the viewfinder in HDR+ mode and less shutter lag.

Will I see these improvements when I use a third-party camera app, or do they only affect the official camera app that Google ships with the OS?

Updates of this kind are usually for the camera as a whole and not just app centered. For a detailed analysis I suggest you read this. The update as a whole brought changes to the API the way the auto focus, White balance, etc in pictures taken as a whole. You will notice changes(for the better) in pictures taken from a 3rd party app too.


text:
Trying to use Xbox controller on Nexus 7
I just got the Asus Nexus 7 and I am attempting to play the N64 emulator (Mupen64 plus, AE). I have my wired xbox 360 controller plugged in to the otg cable, but the light does not stay on the controller and the Nexus is not reading it. Only when I press it does it flash for a second. Help?

Have you tried the controller with other games besides N64 emulator games?

This very comprehensive article entitled "Guide to Game Controllers on Android" published on 9th May 2012 maybe greatly beneficial to you:
http://www.pocketables.com/2012/05/guide-to-game-controllers-on-android.html
You may also be interested in this video (approx.45 mins duration) entitled "Gaming On The Nexus 7 With A PS3 Controller"
http://revision3.com/hak5/how-to-bluetooth-a-controller-to-nexus

How can the PS3 controller video help?

@Matthew Read: Principle of connecting the controller to the Nexus 7 is the same

Is it?  He's not using a Bluetooth controller.

@Matthew Read Thats true, in hindsight I thought it might be helpful to him


text:
How can I tell Google Play Music to store the audio files on the removable micro SD card (and not on the internal storage)?
How do I set the Google Music Play app to store the local "offline" music on the SD Card? I've used up about 90% of my internal storage.
I've looked in the app Settings and don't see any options for that.

Hope there will be an answer that doesn't require root...

If your phone is rooted you can solve this via a shell command:

mount -o bind [Path to new Location] /mnt/sdcard/Android/data/com.google.Android.music/

(Replace [Path to new Location] with a Folder on your external SD-Card)
It will basically redirect every access to the default folder to the Folder which is specified.
You probably need to do this every time you reboot your Phone, so you may be interested in putting a script which does that into Autostart.
Source: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1785245&page=2

I found that I was just able to use a couple of sym-links to solve this problem. All you need is a rooted device. I've written up a simple guide here:
http://charleswilkinson.co.uk/2013/07/24/using-external-sd-card-with-google-play-music-app/
However as requested, here is a summary for posterity:
Prerequisites:

Your phone must be rooted.
You must have a terminal emulator installed.
You must have a file explorer app installed.
You should know what a terminal is.
Read here to learn what a sym-link is.

Steps:

Go to Settings > Applications > Google Play Music.
‘Force Stop’ the app and clear all app data.
Open your file explorer of choice and create a directory (folder) on your external SD card    called ‘GoogleMusic’.
Inside this directory create two more: ‘files’ and ‘cache’.
Open terminal emulator and enter the command: su -
The superuser app will ask you to grant root privileges. Hit ‘Allow’.
Enter the following commands in order:

cd
/data/data/com.google.android.music ln -s
/mnt/external_sd/GoogleMusic/cache cache ln -s
/mnt/external_sd/GoogleMusic/files files

You’re done!

Update:
On 5th Dec 2013 an update to the Google Play Music app added a new feature in the app’s settings, allowing you to choose to store files on the external sd card instead which solves this problem so the above solution is now unnecessary.

If you could summarise/copy-paste the solution bit that'd be great, at the moment this is more of a 'link answer' and especially since it's your own domain there's no guarantee people will always be able to access it.

Are answers that are just links Answers?

Updated as requested. Sorry about that.

@Peanut now that its fixed, I see no reason for the downvotes (and kabadisha may want to notify AIE by starting a comment with @ AIE. )

@user2813274 The downvote wasn't actually from me but I've upvoted now it's fixed.

@AIE As suggested by others, notifying you that I have resolved the issue you pointed out and have also updated the solution with new information which renders the solution unnecessary. Thanks


text:
Import data from ColorNote app?
I have lost my Android phone but I have backup of my SD-card on which I have backup of my ColorNote app. How can I get all my notes from that backup?
NOTE: I am using iPhone now so don't have a Android device for now.

What backup you have? Backed up from Titanium or backed up using ColorNote's backups to SD card functionality?

backup from ColorNote's backups to SD.

but if you know how to retrive it from Titanium backup please also let me know that.

Restoring with Titanium is only possible if you have a backup from Titanium.

ya but what if i dont have any anroid devise ..as i said i am using Iphone. so can it be done on my PC

Yes you can, but it will be a bit convoluted: ColorNote's notes can only be exported from the SQLite colornote.db file, but it's not available from the sd card backups. So we will have to do it in two steps: first reimport the sd card backup into the ColorNote app, then extract the generated colornote.db SQLite file (note that you must have rooted your phone to access the SQLite file, but you can do it on the BlueStacks emulator). Here's the walkthrough, inspired greatly by this post by Danyil Bohdan and this one:

Install ColorNote on an Android device. Since you don't have an Android phone, you can use BlueStacks to emulate an Android phone on your computer.
Open ColorNote and import your sd card backup file. Remember that you have to disable cloud syncing in order to show the Restore option as per the ColorNote's FAQ.
Check that your notes are correctly restored inside ColorNote by opening them. If they seem ok, continue to next step.
Install Total Commander for Android on your phone or BlueStacks emulator.
Open Total Commander and browse the root/filesystem partition and then browse to /data/data/com.socialnmobile.dictapps.notepad.color.note/databases/.  You need root rights to access /data/data, but in the BlueStacks emulator it should be easy to do. Inside this folder, copy the file colornote.db to your SD card slot (I don't know how it works inside BlueStacks but you should have the possibility to setup a virtual SD card or send directly to your computer).
Transfer the colornote.db file to your computer (either via USB if you're using an Android phone, or by copying the file from the BlueStacks emulator).
Open colornote.db with a SQLite browser of your choice. A good open source and portable app for that is sqlitebrowser. You should now see something similar to this screen:

Click on the Execute SQL tab (highlighted in red above) and execute the following sql statement:
SELECT date(created_date / 1000,'unixepoch'),date(modified_date / 1000,'unixepoch'),note FROM notes ORDER BY _id
You should now see a list of records below the sql statement, and you can click on the little floppy disk icon on the right to export into CSV, as shown here:

Open the .csv file into a UNIX friendly editor such as Notepad++ (else there won't be any line returns) and check if the content of your notes was correctly exported. They should be stored in chronologically ascending order (from oldest to newest at the bottom).
You can then import your .csv file in most programs or keep it as a readable backup of your notes.

Note that this technic works for most applications, since most Android apps use SQLite to store their databases (exception being some apps like WhatsApp which uses SQLite but encrypted to, of course, avoid leaking your private data to anyone).

Wanted to add my recent experience with this. I used BlueStacks on MacOS and was unable to find/access colornote.db, I assume due to root issues? I tried finding how to root BlueStacks but couldn't find any convenient solutions. So I ended up writing a python script to automate my mouse clicking through each note and copy/pasting to a file...very brute force, but it worked. If anyone has any info on how to root BlueStacks, that would be helpful to add here for others

Sorry @Ian I have no idea how to root MacOS (or if that's the culprit). Glad you could find a workaround, please consider posting your own answer along with the code as it can certainly help others? Also I have stopped using ColorNotes, and switched to Writer Plus, a Markdown writer which also stores directly .md files in the filesystem so it's super easy to backup. Since then I had no issues at all for years.

You could do the same with oneliner in terminal (install sqlite beforehand)
sqlite3 colornote.db "SELECT date(created_date / 1000,'unixepoch'),date(modified_date / 1000,'unixepoch'),note FROM notes ORDER BY _id;" > colornote.txt

You need another Android phone.
You can either:

Restore your ColorNote's TiBackup on another phone
Install ColorNote on another Android phone and view one of your backups  (Go to settings->sdcard backup, then choose one and 'view' it)
ColorNote's backup is in /sdcard/data/colornote/ (if you need to copy it to your new phone)

I dont have an anroid phone I want to do it on my pC

You forgot to mention this in your question. Seems like this isn't possible.

@Champ, The only way this will be possible is to have an android phone. If you don't have an android phone there is no way for you to get the data, unless you know how to extract TiBackups on your PC. There is not currently an app that does this, AFAIK.

The files created by TiBackup are just tgz archives, you can unpack them easily. In case of an encrypted Backup: https://github.com/bhafer/TitaniumBackupDecrypt/blob/master/README.md

To restore your notes from SD card which were backed up using ColorNote's Backup to SD card functionality you can try this.
Install ColorNote app and then go to Backup select SD Card Backup. See if your earlier backups from SD card are listed there. If they are, select the one and your notes will be restored.
I have tried this using the same SD card, in your case you have a backup of it so I am not sure but I guess it should work. Let me know how it helps.

I dont have an anroid phone I want to do it on my pC

I doubt if you can do this as ColorNote doesn't have a desktop counterpart, and the backups it created are not human-readable. So if possible you can try using a friend's phone to restore you notes.

@Champ This is one of the reasons why I recently switched to Evernote. It syncs your data and you can access if from anywhere using a browser. I liked ColorNote for its simplicity but there's no way to access it from PC. :(

In my case the program had problem finding my backup after upgrading from Android 2.3 to 4.2.
The backups were in sdcard1/data/colornote/backup and I needed to copy them to external_sd/data/colornote/backup for the program to find them.

There is also another solution. If you download the app "Evernote" on your phone. You will then have two note apps; color note and evernote.
Then click on a note you want to keep. On my phone, HTC wildfire, you can press a "menu" button once you've accessed the particular note; And then you can choose "Share" or in my language "Send". You will then be able to send the particular note from "colornote" to "Evernote". "Evernote" is accessible for an iphone and an android phone, and the app enables you to transfer notes from different devices.
Good Luck!

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts. While this would be a good answer, the original question states that they do not have an Android phone. In which case, this would not work for them, but hopefully it will help others that still do have an android phone. Thanks for contributing.

Even if they don't have an Android device, this can be used on an emulator such as BlueStacks, the main problem being to recover the notes in a readable format for a computer, so this is a good entry I think.

It is easy to restore ColorNote backup files from PC:

Connect you Android phone (or tablet) in MTP mode
Open connected Android phone folder on your PC
Locate "data/colornote/backup" folder on the Android device and copy your backup files to that folder
Open Colornote on your Android device and go to Backup, select SD Card Backup, touch the saved backup data and restore it.

If your Android has a SD card, you could just plug the card into PC and copy the files. On my Colornote versions, the backup restore deletes previous files.

Hi I found the answer to lot's of peoples problems on restoring colornote files. Transfering from one mobile to another, I Tried everything but like most people I could see them on the phone's sd card but I could not read the files, this is how I managed.
If you have files backed up to an external HDD copy the colornote data folder to the phone's sd card, open colornote go to settings & sign out of online sync (this is the secret), while in settings go to sd card back up and select the first one of your file's when you select the file it gives the option to restore. Hit restore and all your files will then show in colornote. If any files are locked it will require that you enter the password I just used the same as used on my old phone and I could then open and read the files.

You can install Android emulator (such as www.bluestacks.com/) Install there ColorNote and send notes to email or save them to a file.

I created a tool for decrypting backups when I wanted to export my old notes: https://github.com/olejorgenb/ColorNote-backup-decryptor
Not sure if it works on files created by newer versions of ColorNote. The files I successfully decrypted was 3-4 years old.

authors: Алексей Нагорных


text:
How do I turn on Safe Search ICS 4.0.4?
I can't see any option to turn on Safe Search. Can anyone advice where I can find this?

System Settings->Select your Google account->Search->Near the bottom.


text:
Delete Status bar Icon downloaded from web
I joined way2sms to send free SMS from my laptop. Now I find an app icon downloaded to my status bar in my Samsung Galaxy Y mobile. Also, I get debited for calls not made. I am losing money in this scam due to this app downloaded and it does not show up in my running apps menu. I need to find and delete this app.

The app should at least be found in Settings → Apps → Manage Apps, where you should be able to uninstall it. Alternatively you can visit the Playstore website, log in with your credentials, go to "My Android Apps", select your device (in case you've got more than one in there), find the app in that list, and remove it by hitting the trashcan-symbol.
If all this fails (the second alternative should not, but who knows), your "last resort" will be a factory-reset of your phone (which will remove all data and all apps you've installed).


text:
map physical button to auto-rotate switch in android?
I would like to map the auto-rotate lock toggle/switch/setting to a physical button in a device. how do I do that?
On the linux side of android, in linux/input.h, there are different KEY events, SW(switch) events and a lot more. fortunately, the rotation lock is there(SW_ROTATION_LOCK), however it is a switch event type, not a key event type...
Looking in my key layout file (.kl file), all items that are listed there are key events...
On the other hand, the assigned events to these keys are constants in the android framework. looking at http://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/KeyEvent.html where valid key maps are listed, I assume.
What I have done:
Registered the physical button to recieve the rotation lock as a switch event on the board configuration settings... (imx6 board) all that's left is on the android side I believe..
so, anyone knows how to map the button to auto-rotation lock/switch?

You might want to have a look at some of the answers to this previous question: How can I customize the actions associated with my Moto Droid's hardware buttons?

Use AutoInput or Xposed Additions (latter needs Xposed Framework) combined with Tasker to do the job. Use Tasker to create task where the action would be auto-rotate. Attach that task in AutoInput or Xposed Additions.


text:
Getting rid of my SD card
Very frustrated so please forgive the rant.
I've given up searching Google because despite well written search queries such as
"How do I move everything from my SD card to my phone"
or
"How do I get rid of my SD card"
I get results that all have to do with moving stuff TO my SD card FROM my phone.
My SD card is flaking out on me and I have gone through several attempts to scan it and fix it and it never stays good for long.
My phone has plenty of internal storage I just want to completely get rid of my SD card but I don't want to lose the stuff I have on my SD card or break where things look to find stuff like pictures and music.
Does anyone know of ANY forums or tutorials to do the opposite of what it seems everyone else wants to do in relation to SD card storage.
Thanks in advance for the help.

Doesn't cover data, but you can set your default app install location to internal storage using this question: How do I stop apps from installing themselves to my SD-card?

If you've installed any Apps on the SDCard, you can simply move them back to internal storage via the Settings→Apps→Manage Apps menu, walking your downloaded apps one by one and see whether it is installed on SDCard. This should be your first step.
For the remaining files: If your device offers an "internal SDCard", you could simply use a file manager like e.g. ES File Explorer File Manager to move "normal files" from the external to the internal SDCard.
Both steps done, remove the SDCard (either should down your device to do so, or simply use the Settings→Storage menu to unmount the card first if you can access it without shutting down the device).
Optional step: Once the card is removed, you could check again if you still can move apps to SDCard, as the device might use the internal SDCard for this.

If you have any experience with Linux, you could connect your SD card to your PC using a card reader, and use the dd command to make a direct dump of the card's contents. Then you could use dd again to write the contents onto a new card of the same capacity.
(it sounds like your card may be on the verge of total failure, so you should do this as soon as possible, if you have important photos/music on it!)

Depending on the phone, you may not be able to move files from the SD card to the phone's internal storage.  What you can do, however, is buy a replacement SD card and move all the files from the old card to the new one.
If your computer has a card reader (many laptops do), you can use that to copy the files from the old card to your hard drive.  Or you can connect your phone to your computer with a USB cable and access the files that way.  Then remove the old card and insert the new one, and copy the files back.

Other than pictures and music, if the user had installed many apps (which might have been moved to SD card) then, it would make sense to use Titanium Backup to back up the apps and its data.

I've got a Galaxy S2
My Husband has an S3 and he runs his phone without an SD card at all. I was hoping I could do the same.


text:
How can I zoom without multitouch in Adobe PDF Reader?
How can zoom in Adobe PDF Reader without using multitouch? I can double-tap to zoom but it is just one level of zoom. How can I zoom more?

You can only zoom without multitouch in Reflow Text mode, sadly.  Menu -> View Mode -> Reflow Text and then hit the T+ button that pops up when you tap the screen.

My PDF is image based :(

These are some alternate applications for that purpose
Beam Reader
RepliGo Reader


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Mice and Keyboard support in 3.1
Apparently, Android 3.1 will support USB devices such as mice and keyboards.

How much of an issue is driver support? If you have a "normal" keyboard or mouse, will it just plug and play?
Does the OS provide support for these input devices through standard Android controls, or will each program have to be modified seperately to support these input devices?

Most (pretty much all) USB keyboards and mice support the USB HID protocol. You might not be able to use some special "media keys" or other advanced features, but standard features will work without additional drivers.
As for routing USB Input to standard Android UI events, I suspect they'll do it (they'd be stupid not to) but couldn't find any conclusive information as of yet.

I've just tried a normal Microsoft USB mouse on my ASUS EEE Pad Transformer running Android 3.1.
It works just fine both in pre-installed applications (I tried the browser) and in third-party applications that I'm pretty sure have no dedicated support (they are not even adapted to 3.0 yet).
And as @Patrick noted, pretty much all USB mice and keyboards support the USB HID protocol, so you won't need specific per-mouse drivers.


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Can Opera Mini or Mobile be configured to set the page title as the subject when sharing as email?
Can Opera Mini or Mobile be configured to set the page title as the subject when sharing as email?

Short answer - no. There are advanced options accessible by typing the URL opera:advanced , but most of those deal with the rendering engine.


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How do I hard/factory/whatever reset a 1.6 tablet that will not boot?
I have one of those cheap 7" China jobs which I use as an eBook reader and not much more.
Suddenly it won't start, by which I mean that I see the "BIOS screen" with the green Android robot and the OS version, kernel version and SDK version, then it shows a black screen with the word "Android" forever.
There is no software installed apart from the eBook reader, so I don't mind doing a "hard reset".
How can I bring the tablet back to life?

Contact eBay seller from whom you purchased the tablet.

Did any manuals or documentation come with this thing? Is there a manufacturer's website for tech support? Look for ways to get into "Recovery Mode" which should have options for doing a "factory reset".

+1 Sorry, no, it was a real cheap China-made, bought on eBay for $99 a years or so ago and has neither a handbook nor any indication of the manufacturer on either the device or the box.

Are there any hardware buttons besides the Power button?  Like Volume up/down?  Often the recovery mode is accessed with a combination of buttons held down while powering up. Try turning the reader off, and then while holding down Volume Up press Power to boot up.  If that does nothing, turn it off and try again while holding Volume Down this time.


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How to listen to Microsoft Media Stream (mms) on Android?
There are many radio stations which stream in mms:// like a Chuvash radio: mms://media.cap.ru/ChuvRadio
Is it possible to listen to in on Android?

From what I recall, mms:// is actually a predefined content provider in Android for Multimedia Messages. It would be different under Android to handle the streaming of radio - perhaps rtsp:// protocol... just saying :)

Try yxPlayer. Unlike other apps, it allows a user to enter custom streaming URLs from what I can see.
There's also vPlayer that might work.

Thank you it works, but I must have it open. I neither can do anything else.

have you tried pressing HOME instead of back while it's streaming? Ordinarily, that ought to "minimise" an app rather than exit.

Yes I tried that, too. :(

I know TuneIn can play MMS radio, but from what I see, only ones from a predefined set. ChuvRadio doesn't seem to be there yet. Maybe you can submit your station to them?

MX Player also supports mms streams, and it's great because you can minimise the application and keep listening to the radio, as I am right now.


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Can I use an English locale setting on a Polish EEE Pad Transformer?
I live in Poland, but I am primarily an English speaker and I cannot speak any Polish. I want to buy the Asus Transformer tablet from a local online store over here in Poland. Will the interface of the tablet will be in English or Polish? If it is in Polish, can I simply change to English by changing the settings or do I have to install any extra software packages or do something out of the ordinary that a normal tablet user wouldn't usually do?

I think you might end up having to ask Asus this. If you go through them directly it may even be possible to order an English model for the same price as the Polish (I've ordered PCs etc with other European setups, keyboards, power cables and so on, through the main distributor in my country a number of times with no problems).

I just got a reply from the store that I had emailed yesterday. They said they only have the transformer with its interface in Polish. Though I am sure it is trivial to change the interface to English, through some language settings.

Most Android devices ask for the display language on the first boot, it's the first question. Assuming they haven't deleted the language files, which is pretty uncommon.

You can change the language within settings -> Language & input.  There are options for English (Canada, United Kingdom, and United States) and Polish (Polski) as well as a variety of other languages.  If it's in Polish, tap the bottom right of the tablet (the clock area), tap the top box (where the time is), tap the bottom option (Ustawienia - Settings), tap the icon that has an A in it (Jezyk i wprowadzanie danych - Language and input) and tap the top option on the right (Wybierz jezyk - Select language).  From there, you can scroll to the English option you want and tap it.


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Battery performance of Dual SIM phone running only one SIM
Does a dual-SIM Android phone running only one SIM yield almost the same battery life as a single-SIM phone?
Will both the radios be running all the time regardless of whether both the SIMs are present?

From Wikipedia:

Battery life (talk time and standby time) of active dual-SIM mobile
  phones is reduced, typically by about a third. For instance, Device
  manufacturer Samsung declares a standby time for its Champ Duos E2652
  Dual SIM phone of 476 hours when used with one SIM card and of 322
  hours when used with two SIM cards. To compensate the shorter battery
  life, some Dual SIM phones ship with better capacity batteries, for
  example newer Lenovo P780 have a 4000mAh capacity.

Wikipedia also describes different types of dual-sims, such as:

Pseudo-Dual
Dual SIM Shift: Accepts 2 SIMS; only 1 active at a time; 1 signal bar
Dual SIM Dual Stand-by (DSDS): both active; 2 signals, but only 1 call at a time
Dual SIM Full Active (DSFA) Dual SIM Dual Call/Dual talk: both active; 2 signals, and can process both calls at the same time. I think this one would consume the most battery.

UPDATE 2013-09-23: The answer to your 1st question is NO, as described in the quoted Wikipedia text above. For your 2nd question, I don't know, but I assume it wouldn't run since there is no SIM. Probably also the reason why it consumes lesser battery.

Agreed! But my question is what happens wen only 1 sim is used in a dual sim phone

That was answered by the first part of his answer.

The quote implies that the answer to the first part of his question is YES, not NO.

If one SIM used on dual SIM phone, then the battery life increases. It also depends upon network range, i.e. if poor network connection then it consumes more battery than usual.

Unfortunately, I don't see the answer addresses the questions (1 SIM usage on dual SIM vs single SIM, and if both radios running or not)


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How to disable Hangouts?
I have an HTC One, and I went to Settings -> Apps -> All to disable a few apps I didn't want on my phone (7digital, Facebook, Google Play Music, Google+). The apps are now gone and the update notifications disapeared for these apps in Google Play.
But for some reason Hangouts is not there. How can I disable it?

Did you even have Hangouts in the first place?

I managed to disable it. You need to remove all Hangouts updates in Google Play, then reboot for Hangouts to go back to Talk, then Talk can be disabled in Settings -> Apps -> All.

You might want to add this fix as an answer and toggle it as the correct one.

I couldn't. I got a message saying you can't reply to your own question before 8 hours when you have under 10 rep.

The phone came with Google Talk, then Google forced the update to Google Hangouts.
You need to remove all Hangouts updates in Google Play, then reboot and Hangouts will disappear from the application list and Talk be back. Talk can then be disabled in Settings -> Apps -> All.

My phone (Samsung Note 3), came with Hangouts installed. The process was similar, however. Disabling the app automatically uninstalled the updates, reducing it to an old version of Hangouts.

On android kitkat: long click on the hangout app and drag it to app info. Click on turn off.
To enable the app again: go to home, press menu (bottom)/ select manage app /go to tab: turn off


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Slideshow wallpaper using files in hidden folder
I've got some nice photos in one folder and their specially cropped versions in another hidden folder (the name starts with a dot).
How can I use the cropped photos from the hidden folder for a wallpaper slideshow? No matter what app I try to use, it doesn't allow me to use the hidden photos. I don't want to make them visible; I don't want duplicated photos in my gallery app.
Is there any way / app that would allow me to use the hidden photos for a wallpaper slideshow without having to make them visible in my gallery app?

Android treats filenames that start with a dot as hidden. So, there's no way for any app to show them. However, you can still see them on a file explorer that can see hidden files (may need root access).

So there is no way to do what I wanted to do?

@burtek Most likely, no. I think it's only natural for apps to respect the hidden property.


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Grooveshark app on Android
I realized that they took TinyShark offline recently.  I'm looking to see if anyone knew why or what the reason for that was?  I've found one alternative, BlueStream, but I don't think that that is a solid alternative and would love to hear some more apps from you guys.

Try Wiredog. It's new and you can find it on Reddit in the top apps category.

Care to elaborate more about this app?


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How do you determine if you're using Wi-Fi or LTE?
On Android, how do you tell if you're connected through Wi-Fi or some other type of connection like LTE or 3G?
If I'm sitting at a Starbucks and I sign-in to their Wi-Fi, my phone has both the Wi-Fi and LTE icons showing. How do I know which connection I'm using?
When I'm at a place that has Wi-Fi, I want to use Wi-Fi and not my data from my data plan. Is there a place in Android that specifically tells you?

Good question! I'm fairly certain that if you're connected to Wifi, then all data (except MMS messaging) is pushed through your Wifi connection. However, I can't really back that up.

I cannot tell for 4G (not having it), but when I'm on WiFi the WiFi icon shows up, and the cell bars lose their G/E/3G/H symbol. Moreover, the traffic arrows appear on the WiFi icon when transfering data (and not on the mobile one); on 4.4+ you unfortunately have to check that in quick-settings, as they removed the arrows from the notification bar.

Look at the traffic arrows on the top: they move from the 4G to the WIFI symbol.

There isn't a specific place that it shows, but the WiFi connection will take priority over the cellular data. If you wanted, you could perform a SpeedTest to check your service provider, but that shouldn't be necessary.
Also, if you're worried about updates and whatnot using your cellular, the downloads will initiate on WiFi (if you have that option) but they will continue on cellular if you lose the signal.

If you are connected with WiFi, your mobile connection is automatically disabled.

Not necessarily, newer (4.3 I think) versions of Android have the option to use both if the connection is unstable, or to swap over. Older devices sometimes used both and I got caught out with that myself a couple of years ago. Generally, you are correct, but most phones are running a customised version of Android and the OEM will sometimes change that setting. Cost me 30 Euro.

You can always go to the Wi-Fi settings menu where you connect to wireless networks and see if you are connected. You should see below the SSID the word "Connected" if that's the case.

An Android app from play store called Opera Max

monitors your mobile data and Wi-Fi usage & also LETS YOU KNOW WHETHER YOU ARE USING DATA OR WI-FI CURRENTLY in a persistent notification

with using settings in opera max app's settings

In settings, disable mobile data and if you still get Internet then you know. This also guarantees wifi only.
Also if connected to wifi, when you drag down the notification bar, it will show wifi connected.
Or, as op said, go to settings, click wifi and it will show you.


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What caches can be cleared, when wanting to keep settings?
I do not know enough about the original purpose of the different caches. If I do a cleanup in a few months and clear many app cache items, is it safe for me to assume that most programs will not lose settings, if I clear the "cache" cache and leave the data cache alone?
Most programs means if a few lose settings, it is not a problem. There are many settings in many programs that took me quite some time to setup (and test).
By settings, I am referring to the applications own settings, not web settings, or settings that the application has access to. Take a game, for example. I do not care if the game is reset, levels are lost, or log-in is gone. But the settings for that game app must stay.  In a program, I do not care if it loses its thumbnails, and add-in parts, just that the settings for the program stay the same.
If this is all wrong, and programs are not normally supposed to use the data cache for settings, then tell me about it. I just assumed after losing some carefully selected settings that it is there in the data cache.

Any cache can be cleared. Clearing the cache will not remove app settings.
Read more from this closed question in StackOverflow (should be migrated here):
What's the difference between clear cache & clear data in android settings

Ok thanks, I wrote that wrong.  The item is "clear Data" , not "data cache" oops, it is found in the same area.

@Psycogeek: Unlike clear cache, the Clear data is not always safe to clear, unless you're willing to lose potentially important settings. Some apps actually store their settings in an external server, and for those type of apps, once you relogin, they can restore their settings. You'll need to research individual apps to find out whether they do that.

All memory caches are safe to be cleared, as they need to be designed as such since Android will clear them when memory get's tight.
Caches stored to disc will include things saved. However, most applications either save to file or utilise an sqlite database. These can be backed up with a file manager e.g. es explorer and an sqlite manager e.g. the one with the white db logo on a red background.
Clearing the cache will not corrupt the program itself. You will only lose saved data, such as the examples you mentioned; saved levels, hall of fame entries, badges, etc.
PS. @Psycogeek: Psycho is spelled with an h ;-)


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Is it possible to read SMS headers?
Is there a way on Android (I've got Samsung Galaxy S3) to read SMS message headers? If yes,  how can I do this?

This question has been asked in StackOverflow: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3298088/is-it-possilbe-to-read-and-or-modify-the-sms-header-on-android

I asked not about code. I asked about application, which can make it.


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Music covers aren't shown correctly
I have copied my mp3 files to my new Google Nexus 7 (Android 4.2.1) via USB into the Music folder. It can be played with Google Play Music (version 4.5.910l.560208), but it is always showing one and the same cover for any track. This problem also shows up with other music players such as Rocket player. In VLC and iTunes on my PC the mp3 covers are just displayed fine!
Do I have to change something on my mp3's in order to display the covers correctly on that device or is there some kind of bug in the mp3-decoder? I couldn't find such a problem report in the web, so my assumption would be that there might be something wrong with my mp3 files.
Thanks in advance ...

It's an older question, but still pretty much holds true: How do I assign cover art to songs?. Do your MP3 files have art embedded in them, or is there a folder.jpg or cover.jpg file in the same folder as them?

They are embedded! I usually add the cover in iTunes, save it and remove the cover.

iTunes and Windows Media Player encode album art into the song file's metadata.  Googly Play Music uses an 'old hat' method for adding album art.  Linux or WinAmp users know about this.
In your Album directory drop the image of the album in the directory and rename as "AlbumArt.png" or "AlbumArt.jpg".  (Note the capitalization).
Google Play Music should pick it up, if not the artwork may not have fully synced.  Try resetting your droid and it should re-sync. :)

This would seem to be different behaviour to when you are using Google Play Music to stream/store music from your online library? In which case the embedded album art in the ID3 tag of the MP3 file itself appears to have priority (as it should). Only if there is no embedded album art will it look for an image file in the corresponding folder.

From my experience if you want android to "forget" the old album art, you must rename the album and the artist to a new name. Adding spaces is not good enough. Example: Dancing Queen ABBA --> Dancing Queen2 ABBA2


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Block A Number From Leaving Voicemail?
I keep getting spam calls from a number every night at midnight. I've blocked it, but now it just goes to voicemail and I have to delete the voice messages every morning. It's annoying. Is there an option to block it from leaving voice messages, or just automatically answer then hang up? I haven't found one in Android itself (my phone has ICS). I've also tried Mr. Number, which I thought would do this, but it doesn't. It does work, see update below. I've also talked to my carrier about it, but apparently I'd have to add "smart number blocking" or something to my plan for about $5 a month. If possible, I'd rather just get an app answer & hang up than have another fee to pay.
Delayed Update: I followed the directions eldarerathis provided below for Mr. Number and it does what I was trying to do; I must have just done something wrong before. The phone will still ring for a few seconds though, so it may be best to silence it if the call comes at a consistent, inconvenient time like it does for me.

How did you set up Mr. Number? It maintains two block lists, and one should be to answer + hang up immediately (the other is straight to voicemail). I use it exactly like you're describing. What happened when you tried to use it?

It claimed it was blocking the number, but I was still getting voicemails. How did you make it answer & hang up?

I opened the app, pressed the blocklist button in the top right (the circle with a line through it) and then it gave me three tabs: "Hang up", "Voicemail" and "Exceptions". Then I pressed the "Hang up on Someone" button on the first tab to add the number I wanted to block. This is on a Galaxy Nexus.

This can also be done with Tasker.

I'll try Mr. Number again--I don't think those were quite the same steps I took before, so I'll give it another go. I would try Tasker too, but $7 seems like a lot...

To keep this phone number from ringing, create a contact for it and then follow one of these options: http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-07-10/tech/29961867_1_ringtone-free-app-android-market.

Why not go to your carrier and ask them to blacklist the number so that it would never reach your voicemail?

@t0mm13b I asked them about that once. "Smart Number Blocking" is $5 a month, Mr. Number is free.

Mr Number is spyware garbage. It's not just an app, but a service; to use it you have to create a Mr. Number account on their site, whereby you agree to their terms of service. Your phone will upload info to the site, like your list of contacts. It is ironic for an app to increase your privacy (block unwanted calls) to compromise your privacy in this way, and from a technical standpoint, the level of complexity is unacceptable, since the problem can be solved locally on the phone without contacting a service.

I have tried numerous applications which claim they can do this, none of which worked. Call Blocker from embware finally seems to be doing it. It has a global setting for the behavior which applies to your entire black list (not per entry). Set it to "answer then hangup" and it does the job. You may have to remove the target number from the phone's built in blocker. Only two numbers leave voice mails, so I will transition them to this app and leave the rest to be handled by the phone's regular app.

@Kaz I don't remember having to make an account, and I can't find anything account-related in the settings. What makes you think it's spyware?

@Zelda64fan  It is spelled out in the Mr. Number terms of service: "You may join Mr. Number and become a “Member” by installing the Mr. Number Mobile App on your mobile phone. The first time you launch the Mr. Number Mobile App, a Caller ID record will be created for you automatically and linked to your phone number. When you use the Mr. Number Mobile App, you will have the opportunity to decide what Caller ID Data that other Members will see when you call or text them."

@Zelda64fan About a year ago they got in hot water with Google. Interestingly, since May of this year, though, Mr. Number has been owned by White Pages, evidently.

Not for Ice Cream Sandwich, but in Marshmallow, the stock call blocking also deletes voicemail.
Phone->Menu->Settings->"Call Blocking"

Calls from these numbers will be blocked and voicemails will be automatically deleted.

This doesn't seem to exist in Nougat on version 11 of the Phone app from Google.

The free App call control works pretty good. You can have a number blocked and set up so it picks it up and hangs up. It doesn't let them leave a message and your phone don't ring. However If you go where you don't have service it will still send it to voicemail, but works great otherwise.


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Stuck in USB-debugging mode
I turned on usb-debugging on my HTC One X just to see if I could identify it when using Android SDK. Now the usb-debugging mode always shows up when I connect the phone to my Windows and Linux computer.
I have Android 4.1.1 on it; it's not rooted. The settings in developer options is off for everything. Developer options itself is also set to off. Despite this, I always get a notification on my phone that it has connected in usb-debugging mode when I connect with usb-cable. When I check the developer options, they are mysteriously set to on again.
When I try to change the settings for the usb connection, I get the settings for Portable hotspot & tethering and not the settings to charge or use mass storage. Strange!
This behavior prevents me from using the mass storage option. On my Linux computer, I cannot see any files on the device.
Are there any global configurations/settings I can clear to fix this? What else should/could I do?

This XDA developers thread may be relevant

Did you update the phone. The mass storage option is no longer available. You are connected in MTP

Community bump prevention: this question was closed because the question seems to have been abandoned (OP hasn't visited the network for more than 5 years, and no answers have score above 0). If anyone can evaluate the existing answers, feel free to vote accordingly and reopen the question (or mod-flag the question requesting for reopening). For anyone else having the same issue, please post a new question and refer to this question as additional context.

In the developer settings, there is a "Revoke USB debugging authorizations". Try to use it. It should remove the authorization you give for your computer. So next time, that computer won't be able to directly use the debugging.

This sounds smart. OP should give it a go.


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How to use Android Device as Wireless Headphones for TV?
I go running in the morning and I'd like to use the Sony Internet TV in the basement without waking up my family. Is there any way to connect my Galaxy Nexus to the TV as a wireless headphone set, so that audio streams from the TV to my phone? My TV model is the Sony HX929.

Did you find a solution for this?


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Can I change which app launches when I put my phone in the media dock?
Samsung Desk Home can auto-launch when the phone is placed in the media dock, but it kinda stinks. I have alternatives, like Custom Car Home, but can't see any way to get them to launch.
The standard way of clearing the defaults in "Manage Applications" is greyed out.
My device is rooted, and I run Tasker, if that helps.

Sorry I can't give you any help with the root part since I've never done it but I could let you know what to look out for if you want this action to occur with another app.
Pretty much when you plug the phone into the car dock... an Intentis created. If an app like Custom Car Home or another other associates itself with that Intent then the user will receive a selection dialog asking them which app they would like to launch for that intent/action.
If at the moment the only thing that happens is the Samsung Desk Home is automatically launched, then this is probably because Custom Car Home has not associated itself with that particular Intent.
From the sounds of what Tasker can do (and I hear it can do a heck of a lot) this should be manageable through it. Try to set up an app launch on a specific condition. That condition is when the phone is docked into the car dock.
Tasker will then associate itself with that Intent and fire off your desired app.
Hope some of that was a little useful. Sorry I couldn't be much help.

I have some experience with this on the developer side of things (I'm the developer of Car Dashboard).
Basically, the application has to support the CAR_DOCK intent. Then, when you dock your phone in a car dock, the phone will go into car mode and it will automatically launch the application.  The very first time it launches, you will be presented with a list of multiple "Car Home" like apps to choose from and you can optionally choose one of them to be the default.  This works exactly the same way as switching to a new Home Launcher.
Note: however, that your dock must have a magnet (or similar) to activate the car mode.
However, it could be possible there is something in the Samsung's version of the OS that could be preventing you from launching other kinds of Car Home replacement apps.


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Is it possible to clear the 'program installed' icons at the top notification bar?
When you perform an update of an installed program, the top notification bar displays a 'downloading' icon.
When it is downloaded, it displays a 'successfully updated' icon.
Is there a way to clear these 'successfully updated' icons?
I found no other way than to pull down the notification bar, and click the installed notification messages, but this always starts the updated program.
I was just wondering if you can clear these icons without having to start the program.
A minor thing, I know, but once I get a question like that in my head...

Towards the top of your notification bar there should be a Clear button. Click this to clear your notifications (this will clear all pending notifications, not just application installed/updated ones).

Would you believe I never noticed that button there ? It's to the right of the name of my provider and I just skipped that line completely in me viewing the list :)

Sometimes it's the simplest things we just don't notice!


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How can I install google talk with video call support on CM7.1?
I I just installed CM7.1 on my SGS.  To my surprise, the google apps that I installed did not include the version of google talk with video chat.  The ROM I used to have was based on Samsung's stock Android (2.3.5), and did have this version of google talk.
How can I get this version on my phone?
Is it safe to install google talk from a backup created in my previous version onto CM7.1?

This version of google talk can be downloaded from http://goo-inside.me/gapps/.
The current version is gapps-gb-20110828-newtalk-signed.zip.
Details can be found in Rootzwiki at http://wiki.rootzwiki.com/index.php/Google_Apps#Google_Talk_with_Video.2FVoice_Chat


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How can I see the full charge capacity of my battery?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S running Android 2.2.
Is there any way for me to see the full charge capacity of the phone's battery, so that I can compare it to the spec?
What I have in mind is something like what Lenovo's Power Manager tells me about my laptop's battery:

Is there anything like this for Android?

Without special measuring equipment and some kind of a reference - no you can't (not in mAh). There is no app that would provide you with that kind of information, at least not accurate enough.

There is an app in the market that claims to do this for HTC phones (search "battery mAh" to find it) so I believe its theoretically possible.  I'd guess that instead of actually measuring the enery stored, its making estimates based on the phones specs and actual use.  I don't know how accurate it is and I'm pretty sure it would not be accurate on your phone.  One problem is that even an estimated battery capacity in mAh is very hardware dependent so you'd need an app specifically for your device and there isn't one at the moment.

Open the case and look at the battery.  It should say 1500 mAh.

That would be the spec. I'm asking about the actual current full charge capacity.  It deteriorates over time.

I don't think there's any way to check how much energy is stored in a battery, that's why the charge is measured in percent.  You could approximate it by hooking the battery up to something with a constant current draw and timing how long it took to drain, but the phone can't do that.  You can gain an even rougher approximation by comparing your current average battery life on one charge to that of when you first got it.

I use 3C Battery Monitor Widget to measure what is my real capacity. It monitors the state of charge of the battery (charging and discharging).
I can check that the original capacity was 2100 mAh, and the current capacity it's about 1400 mAh, two thirds of the specification.


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Is there an app like ROM-control for non-AOKP roms?
I found ROM-control very useful in ICS. But it can only work on AOKP roms. So is there an app can do the same job on ROMs other than AOKP?

From searching it appears that this manages aspect of the user interface, is that correct?  If so then no, you can't do this on any arbitrary ROM because most ROMs don't have configurable settings for all those things.  You should look in Settings for what the ROM makes available.

The answer is no, you cannot, because ROM Control is an app that is geared and orientated towards Android 4 and in this instance AOKP, hence internal API's are different. Back porting it into a non-ICS/non-AOKP ROM may fail due to the dependencies on the aspect of AOKP, such as settings, and ICS internals are vastly different to non-ICS code.
If you are a programmer and like to torture yourself with the challenge of it, then maybe its possible to back-port certain aspects and build the ROM yourself.

Matthew is correct, these controls are specific to the ROM. Many Cyanogenmod ROMs offer settings like these, but there will be no way to access them without being built into the ROM you're using.

not true. get xposed and there are a bunch of different tweak modules

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts. Could you elaborate on this? Where can we find this 'xposed' app?

And which are those "different tweak modules" solving the issue? Also, what is "not true"?

It's from the XDA forum and can "modify ROM". Quite useful and powerful.


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How can I see the calendar from Android work and private profiles together?
The organization I work at has added the option of using Android For Work (AFW) aka Android Enterprise (AE).  Under this setup I have two profiles: private and work.  These are completely separate spaces, so apps installed in one profile aren't available in the other, and files are kept separate.  Even Android's share functionality is separate, so I can't share a file I received at work to my private profile.
The only thing that I've seen that is somewhat shared is the phone app.  When I search for a contact, I get results from both work and private profiles.
The question is, is there any way to view my work and private calendars together?  While the profiles are separate, there is only one me, so I would like to be able to see all my schedule constraints in one place.  Is there any way to do this?

no, this doesn't help.  In my case I want the opposite - view calendars from two profiles on a single widget (or app)

See if calendar widgets from Izzy's list can help

It doesn't look like it would help, because all of those widgets are apps that are installed either in the work profile or in the private profile.  Apps that are in one profile can't access data from the other.

Yes. This issue has been raised last year in Google forums and apparently there is no way unless you can export to Gmail or have a common account provider for calendars https://support.google.com/calendar/forum/AAAAd3GaXpEUzTYjxDEQjs/?hl=en

You can share your work calendar with your private id or share your private calendar with work id. This way you can see both calendar together.
This applies if it is google calendar for both work and private use.
Please let us know if you have some other configuration in calendars.

I'm not sure I understand.  Are you talking about sharing my google calendar with another google user?

I guess you have one google id for your work account and one for your private account. So for Google your work email is one user and your private account is another user. You can share colander with yourself.

My work account isn't a google account.  I don't have the option of sharing my calendar outside the organization.

I have a Microsoft Exchange account for work and I use Outlook on Windows. I have a Android work profile calendar app on my phone. I used the following steps and was able to see my personal calendar events on my work profile calendar app on android phone.

On PC, go to Google calendar in browser. Click on Settings for the personal google calendar that you want to add to your work profile app.
Under "Integrate Calendar" copy the URL that said "Secret Address in iCal format". You can use public link for public calendars.
In Outlook on Windows PC, choose Open Calendar -> From Internet. Paste this URL and click "ok"
Sync Android work profile calendar app. It should start showing events from this new calendar added just now.

I cannot yet change the colour of this new calendar in the Android app (setting different colour in Outlook doesn't help). It would be ideal to see them in different colours, but I'll live with this.

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