text:
Space issues and rooting
I have a Huawei IDEOS u8150 running Froyo. Ever since I got this device, I've been running into low disk space problems (because of only 150 MB internal space). So I've had enough and moved all the apps I can to SD card. Then again, some were not movable.
So I did a little research and saw this article on loading apps to the SD card by default. It seemed to work rather weirdly, as some apps which couldn't be moved to the SD card before, now can be moved after using that trick. Still, the system apps and vendor bundled apps remained in the internal memory. Also, most of the moved apps still took some space on the internal memory.
The Froyo's app2sd rather seems to be behaving oddly according to me (though I've searched online and found this is normal, sadly).
What I want to know is :

Will rooting enable me to further enhance my Froyo's app2sd function?
Will custom mods be a better option with space management for my phone? If so, which ones?
Right now I have apps that I really need and use and I'm stuck with low disk space. (Please dont link me to anywhere; I've done all I can with cleared caches and I have no more apps to uninstall which I don't need.) I've heard that z4root takes 22MB+ internal space. Is there anything else to root using adb or something that wont require internal space? Or if I use z4root itself, can I remove the app fully after rooting and still have root? What about SuperOneClick's space cost?

I have never been a fan of the froyo apps2sd, I was a huge fan of the original "apps2sd" that used an EXT2/3/4 partition on your sdcard. I am not sure if any custom ROMs still support this. I know it is not "supported" in cyanogenMod. You will have to root to go the "apps2ext" route. but if you dont want to go that route, or can't find any ROMs that support it, I don't really know of any way you can really free up any additional space.
If rooted, you can delete any "bloatware" that is installed on the /system. You can remove z4root after you install it. Another thing to keep in mind, even if you install applications on the sdcard, they can still use the /data directory to store their data, which is located on the devices internal storage.

does app2ext have a function that moves /data/ to SDcard?

not that I am aware of.

ok,anyways, did you imply that the "original" app2sd (app2ext) was more effective than froyo's?

And actually, i'd like to keep my system apps but since its entirely on phone space right now, do you think it will be app2sd enabled once I root my phone? I really need to consider this as im in a dilemma of keeping my warranty.

just rooting it will not give you the "apps2ext" option, you will have to find a custom ROM or script that will enable it.

Some apps2ext scripts do have the option of moving dalvik-cache and /data/data/ to SD Card as well.  The most well known one is DarkTremor: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=715940  It's designed for the Nexus One phone, so I'd be careful and ask the developer if it will work on your handset.


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No Market on Honeycomb for NOOKcolor
I put Honeycomb on my NOOKcolor and the app market is not on it. Does anyone know how to fix it?

The nook devs site provides links and goes over downloading Google apps to your Nook color running honeycomb. Thissite lists the available Google app downloads from Cyanogenmod, explaining that they cannot come pre-installed due to licensing restrictions. The links at the very bottom of the page (and the first link) should help you find the appropriate applications.

Sometimes custom ROMs come without the Google apps (Gmail, Market, Maps, etc.) pre-loaded, in those cases it's a separate package that you need to flash over the ROM.  You should check with the ROM developer where you should get the gapps from.

source: Stack Exchange

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Is it possible to use an Android device as a second monitor?
Sort of like this iPad app.  Is there any way to extend your desktop onto your phone or tablet?  Not looking for VNC solutions.

I guess I should clarify: I don't want it to just VNC to another running machine, but to essentially use it as a new monitor. Comparable desktop app would be MaxiVista: http://maxivista.com (which does have an iPad app)

Could be possible, one might need to write a virtual driver for the desktop to interface with the android device and extend it as a extended monitor.. (not VNC)

All the apps below seem to just stream a portion of your desktop to the tablet. I want one that is recognised as a monitor within Windows. :(

iDisplay is now available for Android.
There's a review on androidcommunity.com
US$4.99 in Google Play.

Not to my knowledge.  Both of those solutions you've listed appear to use VNC as the service.

Early this year, arrived for Android:
Air Display by Avatron Software available for 3,79€ in Google Play.
Android 2.3.3 and up.

That's now £6.20, and apparently doesn't work with Win8.

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How can I change the Locale in the default browser?
I have a Nexus One with Android 2.3.3 and I use the default browser. My phone doesn't have "Swedish" as language setting, so I use English. But now when I use Google, I'm not redirected to the Swedish edition (google.se), probably because the browser doesn't use a Swedish locale. Is there any way I can change the locale for the browser? I have looked in the settings but couldn't find it. Any suggestions?

On the google website homepage itself in your browser, scroll down to were it says:
iGoogle Settings Help
press 'settings'
and turn off 'allow use of device location'
I have then found my browser always goes to google.com (were it was going to google.de)
EDIT
I've just seen you want the opposite. So perhaps turn this option on!

I'm sure for the android browser the locale is done on Googles side. Are you signed into google? I would set the location like I said. If your in sweden and the site is a good one you should get .se :-)


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Remove all contacts in phone that don't have a phone number
My mother just upgraded from a simple flip phone to a android motorola atrix 2.  It's her first smart phone and she is having a very hard time adjusting.  She added her email and Facebook accounts onto the phone, as soon as she did so, however, it added all the contact information from both into her phone contacts.  She already had the contacts imported in from her last phone and is now dealing with duplicate contacts (such as "Mike Smith and "Micheal Smith").  The worst problem is, she is having a hard time finding a contact that actually has a phone number.  She'll search for "Jane Doe" in the phone when trying to call her and only find her email there.
My Questions:

Why does the phone (app?) show contacts that don't contain a phone number?
How can I delete the duplicates (or merge them)?
What is the best way to make this work as smoothly as possible?

Is she linking the contacts to a Gmail account? The Gmail Contacts web app makes it really easy to deal with duplicates.

Also check out SIM contacts manager. I used this to remove the imported contacts from the SIM card that kept showing up in my Phone/Contacts app as duplicates along with Gmail contacts.

Most Phone/Contacts apps list all contacts, from all added accounts by default. There are several system and application options that could resolve this confusion:

From the Home screen, press the Menu key and go to Settings -> Accounts & Sync.
Under the Manage account section go through each account (by tapping on them,) and verify that the Sync Contacts option is only checked for accounts that you really want to have synchronized with the phone.
Open the Phone app and go to the "Contacts" tab. press the Menu button and tap the Display options button.
Check the box next to Only contacts with phones option to hide any contacts that don't have a phone number associated with them.
Under the Choose contacts to display section, expand any accounts that you've chosen to keep in sync in step 2, and select the groups you wish displayed in the Phone app by marking their check-box.

Keep in mind that some manufacturers have their own versions of Phone and Contacts apps, so the menu choices might be slightly different (or even missing altogether.)

I do remember the option to only display contacts with phone numbers on my previous phone, the HTC Rezound. However, that menu option is missing on the OnePlus X, though I don't know if it's the phone or the new version of the app.

I second Chahk's answer. Also, if you sync your contacts with your Google account, you can easily manage them online, including merging duplicates.

For the original "Questions", I would have added...
4. How do I either HIDE or GET RID OF contacts without phone numbers in the phone app?
Regardless, since this thread was asked and answered, Android Phone app now has different settings. In order to HIDE contacts without phone numbers...
Go to the Phone app
Click on the menu
Select "Settings"
Go to "Other call settings"
Turn on "Hide contacts without numbers"
Voila

This option is not available on the Google Phone app, so this might be an added feature done by the manufacturer/ROM maker. It might help to also mention the device model, Android version, and if not troublesome, the app's package name.

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archos 7 wlan receiver antenna
Do you know in which side the wlan receiver antenna on archos 7 HT is located? I'm just wondering if it will affect the signal strength received if we cover the "spot", e.g. with our palm.

Slashgear has an article with a set of pictures showing the internals of the Archos 7, Slashgear: Archos 7 Home Tablet clears FCC picture 6 on this page has the wifi module and antenna labelled, unfortunately as I don't have one I can't quite work out the orientation of the parts in that picture as to how they relate to the full device, you might be able to.
There are also a number of videos on YouTube and elsewhere on the web of it being taken to pieces by owners where you can see the internals, search for something like "archos 7 disassembled" to find them.

btw, it's on the right corner of the device.

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Shuffle Controls work with Android?
I've used an iPod Shuffle for the past year and have come to appreciate the control "pod" on the headphones. Here's a link to the Sony buds I use. The controls up by the ear work very well on long bike rides or even when lifting at the gym. Don't have to pull the player out of my jersey or shorts pocket to change volume or skip to next song.
Now that I'm using my Android phone for music, I'm wondering if anyone has spotted any little hacks or apps that would enable iPod Shuffle headphones to work with an Android?

So you've tried it and it didn't work?  I use the music controls on my Motorola S9 bluetooth headphones on my Droid as well as on other devices.  I know the bluetooth stack that controls playback controls is standard, it seems odd to me that the wired headphones would only work with iProducts.

Yes, I've tried it. No love. Since the headphones are sold specifically for Shuffle I won't be too surprised if they're not standard. But would be cool if some enterprising person figured out a way to get 'em to work :-)

That would be cool. Sorry I didn't have an answer, but you could always sell your ipod lovin earbuds on ebay and buy an Android friendly pair.

maybe I should start a new topic for this... but do you have a link to an android friendly pair that isn't bluetooth?

+1 @Matt for selling the ipod earbuds :) @Chris_K it looks like, at least currently, in order to have all the controls like volume, skip, pause/play, they have to be bluetooth. I haven't found any that do all that from the 3.5mm jack. The ones for the vibrant are "supposed" to answer call, pause/play & skip song, but the only thing I can get mine to do is play/pause.

Many earphones come with these controls near the V-split of the cables or elsewhere. I even have two pair that came with, respectively, my ADP1 and my Nexus One. Obviously they work. I guess yours really only were designed for Apple.

I have something that will help you control your phone with headphone buttons, but I am not sure it will work with your shuffle headphones. There is an app called Headset Button Controller on the market, and there is a trial version to try out first. You can set it to take commands from headphone buttons (for example, my headset has one button and I can set it to pause/play if i press it once, go to next song if i press the button twice quickly, etc) it is worth a try

Apps like Headset Button Controller are the most likely to do what you ask. That said the headphones you use have to be hardware compatible with the Android device you are using.
My Sennheiser  MM50's are designed for iPhone but work on my Google Nexus S and HTC Incredible S, so I'd expect the same to be true of other iPhone compatible headphones and Android devices.
That said, the MM50's do exhibit different behaviour on either phone (e.g. press on Nexus mutes the call as I'd like, but on Incredible it ends the call - Grrr).

Jays Headset control. Works perfdectly on my HTC Desire HD with House of Marley Exodus headset which controls are made for iphone-ipod - playing default music player, Poweramp, 3, DS Audio, Youtube, Tune In Radio, Jazz Radio, etc, etc. Wonderful! I have read in the review it also works perfectly on HTC One X, HTC Incredible S, HTC Sensation, SGS2, Sony Experia S.


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Only one account showing on Google+ Android app
I have two GMail accounts active on my Android 2.2. Let's call them Acc1 and Acc2.
Acc1 is the default account I set when I got my Android. I didn't know then, that I can't change the default address. My Acc2 is the main Google account I use everywhere.
When I launch the Google+ app, it only shows the default account but my 2nd account has Google+ activated. All other apps show me both my Acc1 & Acc2 accounts to select. I don't understand why Google+ app doesn't see my other account.
Is there a way set Google+ app to see my Acc2 account or a way to change the default android account without losing all my local data?
I hope I've been clear, thank you!

According to information on this question I think you're looking at a factory reset.

I think on some phones it's possible to go in and remove both accounts, then add them again in the reverse order, without doing a factory reset.  But that would probably do a "partial wipe", I expect it would erase all your data and just leave your apps.  Not sure, though.

The app was just updated. There's nothing about what changed in the Market description, but has it made any difference for you?

Version 1.0.2 is out, and appears that it's going to fix your issue.
From the release notes:

What's in this version:

Spiffy new profile icon on the menu screen
Handle multiple Gmail accounts on first sign in
Minor UI polish

(emphasis mine)
Unfortunately, I don't have my own invitation to Google+, so I'm not able to test this.

Great, it works now! I'll send you an invite, just drop me a DM via @edibudimilic on Twitter.

Let's hope they re-open invitation soon.

I was able to select a different account just by clearing the data for Google+ in Manage Applications. (HTC Desire Z running CyanogenMod 7.1 RC1)
I would really prefer to be able to switch accounts on the fly, though, much like the GMail app currently allows.
Also I'm reconsidering my Google lifestyle -- might try to consolidate my many accounts...

Version 1.0 didn't have support for multiple accounts. That was quickly rectified in v1.0.2. And now I have my Google+ invitation, so I'm off to the races.

It's not seeing the default account, just the first one listed, alphabetically.  It's a limitation of the app.  You can work around this bug by temporarily removing Acc1 account.

Go to Menu -> Settings -> Accounts & sync screen.
Tap on your Acc1 account, and tap the "Remove account" button.
Launch the Google+ app and it should see your Acc2 account and allow you to sign in with it.
Go back to Menu -> Settings -> Accounts & sync screen.
Re-add your Acc1 account.

Edit
Google just update the Google+ app to handle multiple GMail accounts.

I've tried that. It gives me an error: This account is required by some applications. You can only remove it by resetting the phone to factory defaults..

I've seen this error on MotoBLUR phones.  Which handset do you have?

I have Samsung Galaxy Ace with 2.2-Froyo. Can't remove the main account so I need to wait for a Google+ App fix from Google. Just found out on their groups they are aware of the problem and working on it now.


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Gingerbread has drastically reduced my battery life
I have a Nexus One, and since upgrading to 2.3.3, my phone lasts several hours less compared to 2.2.x. I've swapped out to a new battery, which didn't make a difference. In about 14 hours (of nothing more than texting), my phone is at less than 15%. When I check the Battery use under Settings, Android OS is always the top battery consumer.
What can I do about this? Every other update besides this one has been great, but Gingerbread is a total disappointment.
Update: This is 100% an issue with wifi. After disabling it, the battery usage of Android OS has dropped from 40% to 2%.  After 16 hours on battery, it's still more than half charged. I'll keep investigating...or revert, because I think Gingerbread just looks fugly.

FWIW, Gingerbread has also cut my Nexus One battery life (now about 2/3 of what it used to be). Be thankful you even get 14 hours. After my 8 hour day of mostly idle, I go to my phone to discover it has already shutdown.

That's 14 hours without doing anything ... The keyboard also freezes / crashes a lot. All around terrible update.

Unfortunately, I'd have to agree. Are you running the stock update or a 3rd party packaged one? I was having phone reboot issues running a 3rd party ROM. Stock is more stable. But both had poor battery life.

I installed this right from the phone, it said there was an update available, so I just did it. It wasn't from a 3rd party.

Same phone, same build, same problem. In fact, my phone sometimes runs hot! Battery consumption shows a huge amount of CPU being consumed by Android OS, sometimes, 3-4 hours out of 12hours.

Have you reduced the frequency of synchronizations? I reduce most of mine to the lowest possible frequency.

I haven't reduced the frequency of polling/synchronizations, because I really shouldn't have to. I've read about potential problems with wifi, so I've disabled that and will see if the battery lasts any longer than 14 hours today,

I haven't had any problem. I'm running ginger yoshi on my HTC Magic with a two year old battery and haven't seen any degradation.

@wsanville: instead of updating your question to say that this is fixed, please add an answer with that information and "accept" it as the solution.

As of 2.3.4 this issue is fixed. For other users on previous versions, I temporarily solved this problem by disabling Wifi all together.

Revert?  If the OS itself is not sleeping properly, you can't do much else besides install a kernel or ROM that behaves better.

I would have to root my phone to do so, correct?

I don't think so?  Maybe to prevent an OTA update afterwards.  You should be able to just download an update, name it update.zip, put it in the root of your SD card, and reboot.  The 2.2.2 update is linked here for example: http://www.androidcentral.com/nexus-one-android-222-update-pushing-out-build-frg83g

Alright, and if I want to go back to 2.3.3 (for some strange reason), I just do the same thing with the corresponding zip file?

Yep, exactly that.

If it is a Wi-Fi issue, have the stand by settings changed with the new installation?
Settings->Wireless & Networks->Wi-Fi settings
Menu->Advanced->Wi-Fi sleep policy
Has this setting changed from to Never (Which will keep the Wi-Fi on all the time)?

Thanks for posting how to get to the Wifi sleep policy, I read about that all over the place, but couldn't find it. It's currently set to "Never when plugged in." What I've read suggests there's a bug with the sleep policy, where it malfunctions when trying to sleep and conserve battery, but instead, drains it like crazy. So changing this to "Never" has helped some people. What would you recommend setting it to? I've just disabled wifi entirely, and that helps the battery last longer.

I'm in a different situation where I pay per MB for mobile data so I set Wi-Fi to never sleep.

Have you tried updating the battery statistics? It is said to help with battery life in some cases.

Charge the phone completely.
While still on the charger, boot into recovery.
In recovery, reset the battery statistics.
Reboot the phone.
When it has booted completely, unplug the charger.
Run the phone until the battery is completely flat and the phone turns off.


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The video file cannot be played
I have new android tablet (Archos 7) and lot of video files are not playable. The program ends with message "The video file cannot be played". The file type is avi, which is normally playble (I played many other videos). The videos which are not playble in tablet, are playble on my laptop (with Ubuntu). Is it possible to make the videos playble on tablet?
E.g. to convert them with ffmpeg to another form which will be playble, or is there some repair mechanism in Android?
I tried another player Act 1 Video Player, but that didn't help.
thank you for help

You can find a video player that uses ffmpeg itself to play on Android. Examples were given in answers to this question: State of VLC for Android / Media Player that plays AVI files

+1 As that question says, Rockplayer (http://rockplayer.com/ or in the Market at https://market.android.com/details?id=com.redirectin.rockplayer.android.unified.lite) plays a lot more formats than the built-in player - I've never had it fail me yet with videos from fairly random sources.

I just saw this article today and thought it would be helpful here.  It lists 8 of the best video players for Android according to MakeUseOf.com.  liori's answer is also a good one.


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With headphones plugged in, set incoming call ringtone to play through speaker
I use my phone to play music at work.  When I wander away from my desk, I often leave my headphones plugged in.  If someone calls my phone when the headphones are plugged in, the phone rings, but only through the headphones and I end up missing the call.  What I would like is to be able to set different audio to play through different outputs: my audio player through my headphones and my ringtone through my speaker.  I've looked through the sound settings and haven't found much that seems incredibly useful.
Are there any apps that currently support doing this?  Does the android api even support multiple audio output targets?
Phone info:

HTC Evo 4G (Rooted)
FreshEvo 3.5.1 (based on android 2.2)

I know CyanogenMod gives you the option to do this, but I imagine that it's implemented at the OS level rather than at the application level...

I use a stereo A2DP Bluetooth device connected to my phone and when the phone rings, the first second of notes actually sound on the phone and then it continues over the bluetooth :-) This is orthogonal from your point but I found it interesting that I would like to actually turn that off!

I am in the same situation: any solutions yet?

@Palantir CyanogenMod seems to be the best solution at the moment.  I haven't switched over since I've been listening to music on my phone less and less, but I would still like to find a more graceful solution than switching ROMs

I'm not sure if this will help you, but a habit that I have developed that helps with this issue is that I always pause the music by pulling the headphones. I started doing this on my iPod back in the days out of convenience, and I kept on doing it. Turns out, for smartphones it actually helps you avoid situations like this (and on the iPod, it helped you avoid battery drain from the iPod playing music all night).

I have the exact same need! For work, and for when i want to listen to podcasts in bed but need to hear sms and calls.

I was going to suggest CyanogenMod also, if that doesn't work or isn't something you are interested in, you should try Tasker
http://tasker.dinglisch.net/
https://market.android.com/details?id=net.dinglisch.android.taskerm
It pretty much can do just about anything you can think of without quite as much work as writing an app yourself.

So, how exactly does one do this in Cyanogen?

I had a similar issue at work. What i ended up doing was turning the "Vibrate" setting on in Settings/Sounds. My phone was bugging everyone else in the office before (which is why i started using headphones) but with that setting, the phone vibrates on receiving a call as well as ringing in the headphones. I didn't have to disturb anyone, and i still got calls when i forgot about my headphones!
Don't know if this would be practical for you, but it worked nicely for me, so i thought i'd share!

CM had indeed a persist.sys.ring-speaker property to do exactly this. I don't believe it was ever available outside of the android 2.3 tree though (and as of 2020, developers don't even seem to realize there is a need for "choice").
Then, while I think a "native routing selection setting" (like some vendors already independently offer) is the best solution, workarounds should still be doable. A phone dialer automatically switching/mirroring audio for you would be my second best idea, but unfortunately I'm not aware of any having such feature.
For this reason, the only other possible option is some kind of notification listener, re-routing the sound, or playing a new separate tone of its own, when a call approaches. In this thread "Shouter" was recommended, and I have to say it works quite neatly (a tasker recipe can also be found there, for more advanced users).
Take note, not all devices may like playing more than a single audio stream at once.


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How do you sync Jorte with an Outlook Calendar?
I am trying to convince my wife to switch from the Motorola stock calendar app to Jorte. Is there a way to synch Jorte with your Outlook calendar? If not, is there another calendar app that beats the pants off the stock one?

From Jorte's description, it looks like you can synchronize Jorte with Google Calendar. You can also synchronise Outlook with Google Calendar using Google Calendar Sync.
So if you're happy using Google Calendar as a "middle-man" then it would be possible to sync the two.

Thanks. I really would rather not route the Outlook calendar through Google Calendar. I was hoping there was another option for synching your Outlook Calendar and Google Calendar to the same calendar app.

Try the app MyPhoneExplorer. Free to download at Google Play. Easy to sync Outlook on PC to Android smartphone and Jorte. Works like a charm.


text:
Which uses more power/drains more battery: HTC Evo 3G or 4G?
I've read mixed reports online about which radio uses more power -- 3G or 4G.  Has anyone done any semi-scientific tests that would answer this question?

When constantly downloading data over the same period of time, which uses more battery (battery drain per second of download)?
When downloading the same amount of data, which uses more battery (battery drain per KB)?
Do both radios sleep with the same consistency?  Do they use the same amount of power when sleeping or is one better than the other?

I don't think this is a simple question since the different frequencies might take different amounts of power to transmit/receive, since 4G is faster and may get to go back to sleep sooner, since the process of holding onto a signal may be different, etc.
My city won't have 4G until the end of the year but I'd really like to know.

Anandtech did some testing with the Evo 4G and found the battery life to be the same when using 4G as when using 3G. http://www.anandtech.com/show/3791/the-sprint-htc-evo-4g-review/12 It is the only semi-scientific testing I've seen.
I find that in Portland, Oregon 4G coverage is spotty so if I leave 4G enabled the battery drains faster. My guess is that it takes more battery power to search for unavailable 4G networks.


text:
How to root HTC Desire (Froyo 2.2) without putting in a custom ROM (flashing)?
for research purposes I'd need to root a HTC Desire phone without flashing it. I did it already on the HTC Hero, where it was quite simple.
Basically all I would need is to get r/w access to the /system/app folder for copying my custom apk file there. Obviously this needs root access.
Is there a way to easily root the Desire without the need to completely flash and place a custom ROM on it?
Some details about the phone:

OS: Froyo 2.2
Software number: 2.12.110.4
Kernel version: 2.6.32.15

Thx for your help

See also: How to root a HTC Desire running official Android 2.3?

Unrevoked 3 will root the HTC Desire without replacing the ROM, however it does reflash the recovery ROM: http://unrevoked.com/#desire

What does it mean it does reflash the recovery ROM?

Does Unrevoked 3 wipe the phone during the process? Will I require to install and use a backup app before I do the rooting?

@Alastair Yes, apparently it wipes the phone and installs Android v2.1-update1

@Matt I got root access on my Desire, however also after successfully mounting /system with rw, when I copy an apk there, I get "cannot create /system/app/myapp.apk: not enough memory". Do you happen to know a possible solution to this? Booting in recovery and copying there just works fine...

Sorry Juri, I'm stumped.  Post it as a new question and hopefully some of the more savvy users will be able to help.

@Matt nop, posted it here (as future reference for others): http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/3852/copy-apk-file-to-system-app-getting-not-enough-space

HTC phones have an extra protection for /system


text:
Is there a Word Lens alternative/port for Android?
Any idea how we can do this in Android?
For those of you at work who can't watch the video, it's a demo of an iPhone app that came out today called Word Lens, which in translates language in real-time through the camera.  If you point it at a sign in Spanish, it doesn't just output a translated text, it makes it look as though the sign were in English.  Un-freaking-believable!
The closest thing I have seen is Google Goggles but I don't think it even comes close to Word Lens.  Am I missing anything?  Do we have any awesomeness like this yet?

Not an answer, just a comment - my coworker promptly downloaded the app on his iPhone4 and we started experimenting -- The OCR was very slow and unreliable and the text overlay was glaringly obvious when it was occasionally in the correct spot -- often it was randomly placed halfway across the viewfinder. In other words -- Don't fall in love with that demo just yet, it was clearly idealized. :) I found that Google Goggles, while not realtime, was far more accurate at OCR in our handful of informal tests this afternoon.

I actually have friends who worked on a virtually identical app.  I don't think it worked in real-time, though.  I'll ask them if they've seen this.

Google Goggles is pretty close, not real time, but I've had it translate a Japanese symbol for me before.

@Saiboogu: I suspected that might be the case.  Thanks for quelling my brief bout of iphone-envy.

@Matthew Read:  Was it an Android app or was it also for iOS?

@Matt Not sure, I'll check back when I know.

Looks like Google Goggles is as good as it's going to get for now.  From what I've read in the comments and around the web it sounds like that Word Lens video makes the app look a lot better than it actually is.  For now it looks like Goggles, while it may not be in real-time is a more accurate option.

There is slightly more about its translation capabilities on the official page http://www.google.com/mobile/goggles/#text and http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=181356&cbid=-1o9yv01p3rz4g&src=cb&lev=%20answer

Google acquired the company behind the app "Word Lens".
Now Google Translate incorporates the functionality of real time camera translation.

UPDATE:
CamTranslator seems to be a good app that can recognize and translate up to 14 languages, including Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Norwegian, Hungarian and etc.


text:
Is there a stylus-based notepad app for Android?
One of the things I assumed the Android OS could do was let me use a stylus and just record notes in my own handwriting (without handwriting recognition). The goal being that I could remove the need for a notepad and mechanical pencil on my desk.
I found that the Samsung Galaxy Tab sells a cheap stylus that does exactly what I need, but I need to know what app is out there (even if I have to pay for it) that lets me store long notes in my own handwriting. Have you heard of any?

Have you used the stylus yet?  I have one (a pogo) and have found that capacitive styli leave something to be desired.  They tend to be jumpy and weakly responsive.  Also, annoying, you can't write with your palm wresting on the screen like you would a notepad.

Closely related: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/2053/good-drawing-diagramming-app

Sparx's suggestions seem pretty good.  Here are a few more (also untested):

Genial Handwriting
MyLetter (this one seems if-y)
Graffiti for Android (very cool if it works because it converts the handwritten notes to text)

Seemed among all suggestions that Genial Handwriting would be most suitable. Maybe eventually in my Android programming I can get to a point where I can code some kind of notepad, and also make it not react to most people's handrests -- only working with stylus.

That would be a sweet app, although I don't know if it's possible to isolate the stylus from the hand in a capacitive screen.  How has the stylus worked for you?

Stylus finally arrived in the mail. Got a red Boxwave brand -- red so that I can find it easier if I misplace it. It came with a pin you push into the earplug socket if you want to keep it handy. Anyway, it works as designed, but not like a thin stylus. Ended up using Graffiti for Android to get what I want.

Genial is good, but looking for an input method, Graffiti is decent, but have to learn it's "language"

Untested by me, but check out:
Finger Letter handwriting
There's also HandwritingNote, but it seems a bit limited.
QMemo also seems like an alternative, based on what you require.

Old question, but still an important question out there and all these answers aren't satisfying (anymore). I searched for apps for a couple of hours (october 2017) and this is my list (roughly sorted, first ~= better):
Edit: I improved/sorted/group the list according to testing

Edit2 (Feb 2019): OneNote has improved - it now has a lasso tool. Also now Nebo app is in play store. The list should be still pretty complete, but i don't guarantee anymore for that, because i cannot exclude, that there aren't any other newcomer like nebo (i heared from none).
I myself now switched to OneNote as it is the only good crossplattform app (Nebo is following another concept -> ocr). I would really like to see MS word improved for digitizer/pens. But as ow now OneNote is the crossplattform solution.
Short comparison: What does android app imo really lack in comparison to onenote uwp app and onenote 2016 (last version with local storage saving):

No Forms (also no recognition)
No math formulars (also no recognition)
No Tables
No "insert space"
Only for 4 customizable pens (+2 markers)
Paperbackground quad paper size and color cannot be changed

Many things of that are nice to have. But with lasso tool android app now gives you basic editing features, which are sufficient for me (i first wanted to switch to surface only for better onenote software) as I need crossplattform (and lecturesnotes doesn't provide that).

My best apps for keyboard and handwritten mixture:

LectureNotes (first best)
FiiNote (second best)
MetaMoJi Note (third best)

If your focus is on handwriting, this apps might be very relevant for you as well:

HandWrite Pro Note & Draw
Quill
INKredible

Still other relevant apps:

Squid
Evernote
Genial Writing 2
Handrite Lite

I believe this list is very likely pretty complete to this date and contains the best apps for stylus-based (and maybe keyboard mixed) notes (if you nevertheless think you found a better app, leave it in the comments, I'm curious to get as best as it gets :D). Btw. surprisingly microsoft onenote is not part of my list. Stylus support is a joke. (oneNote for windows is good, but for android...).


text:
Is there any way to move apps to my SD with Android 2.1?
Is there any possible way to move apps to my SD card on my Droid Eris?  I keep getting that low memory icon in my notification bar and its really annoying.  I'm running Android 2.1

See also: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/3436/how-to-install-apk-files-on-sdcard

It's a built-in feature of Froyo, as long as the developer has built the app that way.
However, you're mostly out of luck, unless you're willing to root your phone and install Cyanogenmod and APPS2SD or jump through the hoops Bruce details in his answer.
If you do have Android 2.2 or higher, the app SDMove can be a big help in moving apps in bulk. SDWatch is also useful, as it monitors apps you install and alerts you if it can be moved the SD card. (There are, of course, other apps that do the same things. They're just the ones I've used.)

I can't find apps2sd on the market, is it part of the android sdk? or should I be looking somewhere else? Also, the market links to those sd apps is greyed out for my 2.1 phone.

I doubt APPS2SD will be on the Market, because it requires root. Also, the OS support for moving apps to the SD card came in 2.2, so obviously apps that use that functionality will not be available for for previous versions.

so, in short, there's no way to move apps to SD in 2.1 then? :-(

also FWIW, there are apps in the market that require root, the drocap2 screenshot app for example.

@travis: Not without rooting the phone.

@Al, I'm confused :-) So there is a way to do it with a phone that is rooted, but doesn't have a custom ROM? Can you point me somewhere that explains how? The only directions I've seen have installing Cyanogen as the first step. Thanks.

@travis: No, cyanogenmod would appear to be a pre-requisite. http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=Apps2SD

I've updated my answer to be clearer.

Actually, turns out there is a way for 2.1, no cyanogenmod required. =)

I've updated my answer.

Actually, there is way. It's not perfectly seamless, and it requires that you partition your SD card yourself. The steps below were provided by Sparx as an answer to this question.
It worked for me, and I'm running stock android 2.1 on a Motorola milestone.

Enter Link2SD - it's freeware and works with Android 1.6 and above.
You will also need a partitioning tool - I used the excellent freeware Easeus Partition Manager (EPM) to ensure no data was erased during the repartitioning / resizing.

First, download and install EPM.
Pop your storage card into your card reader.
Start EPM
Your card should be visible amongst the other drives/partitions in your PC.
Select the partition on your card - it should cover the entire length by default. Right-click & choose RESIZE/MOVE and then REDUCE the Partition Size (this is what shows in Windows) until the Unallocated Space size is of a suitable size. (The Unallocated space will be allocated as the partition on which your apps will be stored.) Click OK.

An aside - even though Link2SD supports the creation of the second partition (in which your apps will reside) in the FAT / FAT32 format, Windows only recognizes the first PRIMARY partition which is why this newly created partition won't show within Windows inspite of it being FAT / FAT32. We shall be using either ext2 / ext3 or ext4 as the file system in any case.
Onward...

Right-click this new Unallocated Space and choose CREATE. Click YES on the warning that describes what I've said above.
Now, in the Partition Label, type in a label like "AndroidApps" or whatever suits you.
This is CRITICAL - the CREATE AS should be PRIMARY
Choose File System as EXT3 and click OK.
Click APPLY in the main window's TOP LEFT corner (big blue check mark icon). EPM will carry out the operations. Congrats! You've just re-partitioned your card and without any data loss too. (Hopefully!)

Assuming you've installed Link2SD in your phone and the SD card has been re-inserted.
11. Reboot your phone.

Start Link2SD and it should detect your partition.
A list of apps is now displayed. Click the app you want to move to the card and then click CREATE LINK.

That's it.

has this method worked for anyone with a metropcs Huawei with Android 2.1?

There is titanium backup. It's description says:

You can move any app (or app data) to/from the SD card.
Requires Android:
      1.0 and up

It has a free version. It requires root: How do I root my Android device?


text:
How to remove Google Account after factory reset
I have been given a Huawei smartphone that needed a new screen, which I've just had replaced. I now want to sell the phone.
Am I forced to enter the Google account of the previous owner in order to complete the start up process after a factory reset?
Can I then delete the old Google account ready for the new owner?

If you have done a factory reset without removing the Google account first, then you have triggered FRP.
Although it is not nice, there are some tutorials on YouTube or WWW which work on some phones and help in bypassing the FRP. If that doesn't work, the Huawei customer service should have the tools to erase the FRP/persist partition and remove the requirement to add the previous owner's Google account.
Lastly, it is better to ask the previous owner to just come over and login once using his account. You can then remove his account and issue a fresh factory reset. Now it will be ready for resale.

Yes, I think this is the way forward, thanks!

If you have executed the factory reset properly then the phone is not asking you for a Google Account of the previous owner, it is asking you to provide your Google Account so you can best use features offered by the Android phone. If you don't have an account yet you can also create it with your phone directly providing that you have internet access.

properly means? enabled OEM unlocking in developer options and/or removed google account before reset?

I don't think this is true. Android remembers the owning user account even after factory reset. The account should be removed by the account owner, either through logging on, or by accessing the account on another device and removing it from the list of active devices on the account.

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


text:
Note 10+ not showing up in Device Manager while in fastboot
I'm trying to unlock my bootloader so that I can root my Samsung Galaxy Note 10 plus.
The problem is that fastboot devices doesn't show any devices, so I found out that I need to install new fastboot drivers.
The first step is to locate your phone in Device Manager while it is in fastboot, but my phone is not showing up in in Device Manager at all while in fastboot.
Usually when I plug in my phone (or any device) into my PC the Device Manager refreshes and I hear the sound Windows makes when a new device is detected, but none of those thing happen if I connect my phone that is in fastboot.
I know that the USB port and cable are working because adb devices and Device Manager work fine and actually show my phone when it's not in fastboot.
So how do I install new fastboot drivers without the Device Manager?
OR
How do I make the Device Manager detect my phone while it's in fastboot?

Even if you don't have any driver installed at least one entry should be visible in device manager. I would try it this way: boot to regular OS so that adb gets visible. Select this entry in device manager and switch view to device by connection so you should see the USB host entry you phone is connected to. Then reboot to fastboot made and check what device is now showed as node connected to the identified USB controller.

So, it turns out that Samsung phones have a different way to unlock the bootloader.
You need to power off your device, then hold both the volume up and down buttons and plug in your phone while doing that (I'm not sure if you have to plug it into a PC or if a charger is good enough). That will boot your phone to the Download mode splash screen where you can choose to unlock the bootloader if you have "OEM unlocking" enabled in developer options.


text:
How do I copy contacts from my SIM card to a Moto G8 Power?
Well there's not really more to say about my question apart from: Yes, I've looked for this feature on the Internet and on my phone.

You can copy all contacts from your SIM card using the Contacts app.
Open it, select the burger menu in the top left corner, open Settings -> Import ->  SIM card

Thanks a lot! I didn't realize the difference between the Contacts app in the Menu and the Contacts on the start screen!


text:
Hide notch on Android 11
I just got my Fairphone 4, and, overall the device is nice, but I can't get used to the notch.
Since the display aspect ratio is super tall anyways and I can use a bit more bezel on the bottom as well (for a keyboard attachment that I built and used on my last phone), I figured, I'd use wm size over adb to just reduce the screen's vertical resolution and thus create bezels on top and bottom.
But after I did that, this is what happened:

Sorry for the bad picture quality.
What happened is, it didn't remove the rounded corners and/or the notch, it just moved them farther down. So apparently, the OS doesn't seem to render the pixels behind the screen cutouts at all, and when I made the used screen area smaller, it just moved those dead zones with it. Even if I shrink the vertical resolution to 1000 pixel (which is less than half), the behaviour stays the same.
Is there a way to disable that functionality?
I want to end up with just a square display area.
It would be best if I can get that only with adb/onboard stuff. If you are recommending an app for that, it should be one that doesn't have ads/microtransactions.

Accidentally, I had a similar problem myself recently. I believe I see USB debugging is enabled on your phone. Go into developer options and scroll 3/4 of the way down to the Drawing section. In there you have a setting called Display cutout. Change that to hide.
Alternatively, you can root your phone and install Magisk. Inside Magisk you can install a module called None Display Cutout by MlgmXyysd. After installing, go to the same setting under developer options and select No display cutout. This module let's your phone think it doesn't even have a notch. You can play around with this but probably the first option will work best for you.

Nice, thanks, I will try it out! Hope it works here, because the Display cutout setting doesn't have the "hide" option at all on my phone...

The Magisk route worked! Thanks a lot!

No worries, happy to help :)

You can always use cmd overlay list in adb shell to see RROs and disable the cutout one.

Ah, thanks, that would have been easier indeed.


text:
Free system information for Android such as Everest for Windows
There is any apk that shows the system and hardware information about my Adroid phone??? I mean an aplication such as Everest (or msinfo32) does for Windows.

See also this older, and more specific, question: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/5320/is-there-an-app-that-will-list-my-phones-info-in-an-easily-copy-paste-able-forma

SysHard Info - show system and hardware information on Android
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.kinocat.andinfo

Quadrant also give me the same information that Android System Info.

Try Android system Info.
You will me amazed how much information this application provides.

Elixir is one of the most widely downloaded comprehensive system info app for android.

Quick System Info is what I use (and was preinstalled in my LeeDroid ROM)


text:
Where's the best place to report bugs with the GMail app?
I want to report a bug / RFE with the official GMail app, but I'm finding it hard to find the right place to do this - all the forums / discussion groups I've found so far seem to be moribund (eg not much activity since 2008).
What's the recommended place?

As per this comment, the place for bug reports seems to be via the About -> Send Feedback link within the GMail app - this links to this survey page:
http://www.google.com/m/survey/mail_ca

The official issue database for bugs/features/etc. of the Android OS can be found here.

Hmm, I found someone had already reported the issue I'd found, but someone said that's the wrong place: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=12373

As per the comment in the thread the GMail App isn't part of the Android OS project.


text:
How can I flush the DNS Cache?
How can I clear my DNS cache on my android phone? (Droid3, Gingerbread, rooted to be specific)
Ideally I'm looking for a command to run through a terminal emulator, something similar to
ipconfig /flushdns

On a windows machine.
What's the Linux version of this?

Do you need to do this for a system app, third party app or your app?

Third party I guess? I need it for when I ping a server via Terminal Emulator.

Please update your title to reflect that you want a CLI-based answer. This is ranking in Google and 99% of people searching this title do not have root or CLI skills.

Any update here? as @PJBrunet said, having root is not the usual case, moreover current phones do not allow to remove battery. I looking for flushing the DSN because doing it fixed my "ip failure" on windows, it is happening the same in my phone, but there is no shell on Android.

On a typical Linux system the cache is cleared by running /etc/init.d/nscd restart, but at least my ROM doesn't use nscd to cache DNS. You can check if yours does, but I doubt it. I've seen suggestions that clearing the brower cache would clear DNS cache too, but one sure way is to do a hard reboot (shutdown, remove battery for 30s, reattach battery and boot).

All of my googling also brings up the "hard reboot" suggestion.

I'm downvoting because the answer requires root and/or assumes shell access which is unrealistic for most Android users. The rest of the answer did not solve my problem. Also I believe Matthew Read should reconsider locking the question because this is absolutely not a "done deal." DNS is extremely complex and there will be more legitimate answers from people without Android accounts here yet, I'm an example of that. FWIW I do have 10+ reputation and still could not answer the question.

@PJBrunet To be accurate, you have 1 rep and 100 rep from association bonus, which does not count since you haven't earned it on this site. See What is a "protected" question? for more details. As for the question, I'll unprotect it for now.

Addresses are cached for 600 seconds (10 minutes) by default. Failed lookups are cached for 10 seconds. From everything I've seen, there's nothing built in to flush the cache. This is apparently a reported bug in Android because of the way it stores DNS cache. Clearing the browser cache doesn't touch the DNS, the "hard reset" clears it because it simply times out.
Can we ask the underlying reason for needing to clear the DNS cache? Perhaps there's another solution that's missed because we're not looking at the bigger picture.

Not sure about the OP, but I have a use case where my home network serves addresses like server.home.mydomain.com, but my ISP resolves *.mydomain.com (for any value of "*" this is not already mapped) to www.mydomain.com if my phone is on 3G/4G, so I'm sometimes unable to access my home network until the cache times out.

Looks like the forced 10-minute caching is fixed in JB — see this commit. For older releases the Java cache behavior could be tuned by networkaddress.cache.ttl and networkaddress.cache.negative.ttl in build.prop.

Fwiw, there are still some (perhaps different) DNS issues even in 4.3 - tablets on wifi may not get an IP address for names that Linux and Windows machines (on the network that hosts the wifi) can resolve.

The only way to do this in Android is to do a hard reboot. The necessary command-line tools are not normally available, however in my tests a hard reboot has always done the trick for me (Galaxy Nexus, and HTC Desire, various ROMs).
This is a pain, but it is quicker than the 10min cache timeout.

How does one perform this?

Hold down the power button
Choose "Power off"
Allow phone to fully shut down
Remove battery and wait 30s
Return battery
Power phone back on.

In my experience removing the battery is not necessary, but some have reported it doesn't work if you miss this step.

Removing the battery is nonsense. Reboot works. I suspect that the additional time for that simply allows some external DNS cache to time out.

There're also apps like Internet Booster promising to "clear DNS cache" (amongst other things). I didn't try it out myself, and furthermore there seems no way to do only that (just one "optimize" button which "applies improvements"); also its effects might differ between devices (says the app's description) -- but it might be better than a reboot. Btw: while not mentioning root as requirement, it might still be needed.
There are several "similar apps" listed on Google Play -- but be aware that most of them include Airpush ads and/or want excessive permissions, which is why I didn't name them here.

Another possible solution (not tested by myself) I found at MadPC, seemingly quoting user8522's answer before stating:

The last option but most intensive on the user themselves unless they want to just wait the update out: Have your users go into settings -> applications -> Network Location -> Clear data

Another short howto mentions a different easy way to flush DNS (again, I didn't test this myself): Simply switch to airplane mode (oops, no network?) and back (ah, there it is) should do the trick. Might sound stupid, but I could imagine when entering airplane mode Android does something similar to /etc/init.d/networking stop, which has a DNS flush as side-effect.

A very easy solution was supplied by dtumaykin in the comments below: simply switching to airplane-mode and back might already do it (of course with the side-effect of the network going down for a couple of seconds ;) Though it might not work on some devices, it's worth a try: no extra installs, and easily performed even by n00bs.
If anybody tried one of those solutions, confirmation (or the opposite) is surely welcome :)

There are shell commands ndc resolver flushdefaultif and ndc resolver flushif wlan0; they require root. There is also NetworkManagementService.flushDefaultDnsCache() method, which required just CHANGE_NETWORK_STATE before JB, but then was locked down to CONNECTIVITY_INTERNAL. So there apparently was a hackish way to clean DNS cache without root (after build.prop tuning to kill the Java-level cache), but it will not work in JB.

Thanks for the additional information, @SergeyVlasov ! Do you know if any of the methods you mentioned gets triggered by the two proposed solutions mentioned last in my answer (or if they do work, but for a different reason)?

Airplane mode on-off worked out for me. Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini and CM12.1.

I can't answer because Matthew Read locked the question. Please slap him for me :-) Hard reboot did not work for me, airplane mode did not work, clearing "location" (as per answer) did not work, waiting hours did not work either. In the past, I've simply solved this by closing the browser tab and opening a new tab. There is a "no root" 8.8.8.8 app (Google DNS) however, I can't grant VPN access because I already have a VPN app that I paid for. The solution for me was change the VPN's "virtual location" setting or the solution was to stop & start my  VPN. Assuming my VPN has its own DNS cache.

@PJBrunet I won't slap a mod (too dangerous, he might close my account ;) and besides, my arms are not long enough to reach oversea). But gaining 10 rep isn't too hard (ask a good question getting 2 upvotes, or write an answer getting 1 upvote); with that, come back here and write your answer :) Thanks for sharing!

@Izzy Yes, it's the painful part of StackExchange. All the rules. Comment conversations are frowned upon. In any case, the valuable thing is having a good answer to help people, which I can't contribute. My "VPN" answer is solid and arguably better than the accepted answer which requires root.

@PJBrunet then go post it, Matthew somehow felt the slap and removed the barrier :)

In modern versions of Android there is an option to clear Chrome's DNS cache under chrome://net-internals/#dns

didn't work for me, still had to do a hard reboot

In my case, I just had one domain name that I needed flushed. Suggestions such as toggling Airplane Mode, performing a hard reboot, or the actions in chrome://net-internals/#dns did not work for me. Instead I temporarily changed my WiFi settings to use Google's nameserver at 8.8.8.8.
These are the steps I took:

Settings -> WiFi -> tap current connection and note the current IP address
Long click current connection -> Modify network
Check "Advanced settings"
Change "IP settings" to "static"
Set "IP address" to the current IP from the first step
Set "Gateway" to your IP address but with .1 as the 4th number (This is just a guess. If you know it is something different, use that)
Set "DNS 1" to 8.8.8.8

After these steps, when I pinged the domain name in the console it resolved to the correct IP address and seemed to write over the old cached one. Presumably visiting the domain in a browser will have the same effect.
When I went back to WiFi and set "IP settings" back to "DHCP", the correct domain continued to resolve to the current IP address.
This is on a Sony Xperia Z3 running Android 5.1.1

On a Adroid 5.1 Mobile which has took wrong DNS as is switched to much between two WLAN;(
A question Mark on a WLAN Connexion.
i did not want to restore my phone as i did it once..
Engelsiz: DNS Changer fixed it;)


text:
Caller ID for SMS doesn't recognize contacts unless I add the country code to all
If I have a contact with the number 099123456, the caller ID doesn't recognize it, I need to change it to +59899123456.
My phone is a Galaxy S2. I have friends with other android phones (Galaxy S1, Nexus S) and the same carrier, but they don't have this problem. Could it be some kind of setting?

It's always a good idea to save numbers in canonical format, this ensures that you will be able to call the contacts if you are roaming in an foreign country.
You issue is surely related to the Android ROM you are using. You could try to use another ROM. But as I stated before, saving the numbers in a canonical format will be the best solution.


text:
How do I find out what wifi chipset my phone has?
I've got LG Optimus One phone (model LG-P500h). How do I find out what wifi chipset my phone has? Is there a general mechanism that will work for all phones?

I don't know the answer, but...This is an excellent example of the kind of questions we like here. It's asking how solve a particular problem and has applicability for future readers.

You can see the chipset model under 'Device' in CPU-Z application. Type that in Google and see if it gets you to a specification page that also specifies 'WiFi' connectivity.

I just run: getprop | grep connectivity
Which outputs:                       [ro.connectivity.chiptype]: [bcm43xx]                  [ro.connectivity.sub_chiptype]: [bcm4359]

Well without some specialized program, there's always dmesg.
Turn on wifi, then run dmesg in a terminal/adb shell/ConnectBot. Towards the end of the file you'll see debug statements about your wireless.
dmesg | grep -i lan can be useful if you have busybox installed.
I get lines like this:
TIWLAN: 1251 PG 1.2
tiwlan0: no IPv6 routers present

The first one isn't interesting on its own, but the second one screams "network adapter" due to driver naming convention for network adapters. "tiwlan0" is closer to OpenBSD's naming convention than Linux's (Linux native drivers would just call it wlan0) but...not unexpected.
A few web searches later - and yep, it's a TI wireless chip.

The sure fire method that will work for any phone is to crack open the case, write down the name and part number of the chips, and then research them individually.  That can be pretty intensive though, not to mention that you might damage your phone in the process.  Manufacturers typically do not publish the parts list for their products.  The product spec sheet may contain the CPU type (a Qualcomm MSM7227 in the case of your phone).  They may also list the GPU (Qualcomm Adreno 200 for your LG Optimus One P500).  No guarantee on that though.
The folks over at isuppli.com teardown hardware and inventory the parts.  Most of their reports you have to pay for, but some get published for free.
Most handsets use a chip from Texas Instruments, Broadcom, Royal Philips Electronics, or Atheros Communications.  Using those chip maker names as a filter may help you to zero in on the particular chip in your handset.

Use Wi Mark BenchMark Receptor from google play.
OR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQtxZ4MbaFA

Could you include some more details please? For one, where to find that app you mention (a link would be most helpful). And secondly: What is that Youtube link for? Not everybody can access it (e.g. because of firewalls or Chinese walls), so a few explanatory words should accompany it. In this context, also remember that links might die (and Youtube videos taken offline for "copyright" issues etc.).

Unfortunately I haven't found a phone yet whose wifi chipset it has detected.

I simply used the dmesg command in a terminal emulator and scrolled until I found anything named bcm432x... and wlan. Think thats it. I have lg p500.

I simply googled "what chipset is in galaxy j100" (my phone) done some reading and got answer..... fyi this one has chipset by marvell...
And yours, the LG has a Qualcomm msm 7227

I've deleted the duplicate answer you posted earlier. In future, if you want to add more information to your answer, you can edit it using the edit link. Don't just post a second answer, as that will lead to confusion.


text:
How can I connect to my home VNC server via its hostname?
as asked in the Android chat room.
At home I have a remote-access VNC server set up (running UltraVNC server). My current Android VNC app, called, funnily enough androidVNC will only accept IP addresses to connect to. This is fine when using it inside the home, but as I want to access it from outside, my external IP address is dynamic, so when I save the settings one day it may be different the next day.
I have a domain, home.example.co.uk that is set up for the web server also running on that machine. If I open the ports in my home router, how can I connect via the server hostname (home.example.co.uk:5900, or similar)? If it requires a new VNC client, so be it.

Android VNC viewer is free and works with host names, but I have not played around with it much, so I cannot vouch for quality. Alternatively you could use a hostname to ip resolver (either as an app or as a website) to find out the ip address and use that to connect. I just tried out DNS Lookup from the Android market, and it looks like a pretty decent solution (fast, long-press to copy ip).
If you have the time, send an email to the creator of the app you use for a feature request, I'm sure he would appreciate the feedback :).

This is the one I've been using, although I've been unable to get it to work with hostnames...might be something on my end though, as it does say you can do it in the documentation.

Very strange, I had tried it myself with a host name to make sure it works. Perhaps it is a DNS issue? Can you access the http server on your machine (or use SSH, ping, any other service) by host name from your phone?

I'm not 100% sure but I think it should work with VNC Viewer (paid app but worth its price).
I'll give it a try when I'm at home and edit the answer.

Instead of exposing your VNC server to the internet, consider using a VPN. This would secure and encrypt your remote connection. And as a side-benefit, you could save the internal IP address in your Android VNC client.


text:
Sync iTunes U and Android?
I am a huge fan of the podcasts on iTunes, as well as the iTunes U material. However, I'm having a terrible time finding a slick system to sync the two. Doubleplay never really worked all that great for me. Any other good solutions anyone has used?
I have a Droid Incredible running 2.2.

These guys recommend iSyncr as a solution. Cons: It's not free, and it won't sync copy-protected content.

I throw the podcast feeds into my Google Reader account, and then use Google Listen on my droid, automatically downloads the pod casts

Unfortunately, Google Reader is being retired and Google Listen has been killed.

Yeah, this sucks. Looking for a replacement without great success. Google Reader was exactly what I needed.

Alternatively I can recommend the iTunes U App “TuneSpace” for Android

Not bad, but it seems to be missing podcast search and other features.

Apparently that page was removed? Is TuneSpace still around?

TuneSpace is still around, but you need to download the APK file and install as a third party source.  As of this moment, you can get it at http://downloadapk.net/TuneSpace.html

Have you tried pasting the RSS url into Rhythmbox/Gpodder or another podcatcher, and transferring to device? After selecting the podcast in the podcasts section, simply drag and drop to the device on the left side of Rhythmbox when it is connected.
You may have some success with apps on the phone, specifically, I had seen something for subscribing iTunes podcasts in Podax. I was having a similar problem accessing my university media on Android, and rewrote the Tunesviewer app for Android access, which may work better for you depending on what you're trying to access.


text:
Change screen rotation sensitivity
I often find myself in the wrong screen mode (landscape vs portrait) and I find the switching delay quite annoying. I would like my phone to be much more responsive when I rotate it (iphone-like)...
Do you know about any apps/tweakings to achieve this?

What phone do you have?

Acer Liquid Metal (custom rom Metalounay 1.3 - Using ADW Launcher)

Update: I'm on Gingerounay 2.5.1 - Using Go Launcher: same "problem"

I have searched for the same thing, and unfortunately, have not come up with much of anything. What I have settled for is turning off auto-rotate, and only using it for apps where I really need rotation. I do recall there being an app which allows setting auto-rotate on and off on a per-app basis. I believe it is called Smart Auto-Rotate.

Part of what jlehenbauer wrote is correct in that ADW only gives you an option to have auto rotation or to keep your home screen in portrait or landscape mode. Depending on how many home screens and what widgets and types of widgets, folders etc you have on your homescreen it will determine the amount of memory your home screen requires and how long it takes to refresh it when it rotates between landscape and portrait and thus how quick it does it. The iPhone doesn't have widgets (the main cause) and thus it is quicker at doing this. Due to some widgets HTC Sense actually locks the home screen in portrait mode and doesn't allow you to change it.
Currently I am using Go Laucher where i have experienced what you say - the home screen refreshing on orientation, however as stated you can speed this up by removing widgets, especially any scrollable ones. Try setting up one of your home screens as blank, and then see how much faster it will switch between the two states. The only time I have sensitivity options and more than just portrait, landscape or auto for the home screen is on a cyanogen rom. However you would be looking at rooting. I haven't checked out every launcher app available, so its possible you might find a better alternative.
In regards to app killers - no longer necessary unless you have a rogue app (in which case would seriously suggest removing it full stop), all they do is drain your battery.

Really the only things you could do is lock the rotation of the screen from the "Settings/Display" menu, so you wouldn't have to deal with rotation, or start freeing up space on your device.
This process will be taken care of by the available memory, so if you have a lot of things running, it will be sluggish.
The iPhone was speedy at this previously because it didn't have the ability to run things in the background, and since gaining this ability has found a similar stumble. A good appkiller will help, and i find deleting old, unused apps every now and then helps system speed.

That's not an answer to my question...

you had asked for ways to make your phone more responsive. Freeing memory is the best way to do that all around, and will help the rotation function some. But short of flashing a rom that focuses on system speed, there's not too much that can be done.

"Change screen rotation sensitivity" and "I would like my phone to be much more responsive when I rotate it" are quite clear, I hope :)
It is just related to when I turn my phone and screen turns too from landscape to portrait or viceversa.

If you're still recommending appkillers then maybe you should go back to your iphone...

I wish I could downvote this a bunch of times (too bad I don't have the reputation to downvote it at all yet). First of all, this does not answer the question. OP asked how to tweak the delay in between rotating the phone and the screen STARTING to rotate. Secondly, do NOT recommend appkillers.
Also, neither the iPhone nor mid to high range androids are known to have a problem with the rotation itself lagging...


text:
What's the Android equivalent of /etc/fstab?
Sometimes I really wish they hadn't messed around with Linux so much! I know there's an /etc/fstab in there somewhere, but where?
I'd like to mount some partitions with alternative filesystems (because I don't like FAT32).

Don't think about Android as a heavily modified Linux distribution. Because it's not. The nearly only thing that Android shares with a Linux distribution is the kernel. And even this component is modified. Also other core components, like the libc, differ.
Android has no /etc/fstab
You don't need /etc/fstab to mount an partition. But there is IIRC no mount command either.dev_mount should work (root required). To answer your questions title: All startup system mounting is done with the/etc/vold.fstab helper script.

Guess I'm a wishful maemo user then really. Yeah it's pretty far away from linux I guess. Thanks for the pointer to vold.fstab !

Vold.fstab only has sd card stuff on my nexus one

I realize that this is an old topic, but some of the answers here actually hindered my efforts to learn about fstab and Android because they so strongly imply that the fstab situation in Android is extremely different from other Linux distributions. From what I can tell, it isn't.
However, reading different responses here made me wonder: what fstab-equivalent file or files are on my device?
Stepping back for a moment, noting that "Android has no /etc/fstab" is probably not helpful to the OP since they must have already known this. If this were untrue, their question (asking what the Android equivalent of /etc/fstab is) would not make any sense. On the other hand, we know @Flow was not trying to imply that there was no equivalent on Android, since they mentioned one of them, a "helper script" named /etc/vold.fstab.
All in all, I think the takeaway from @Flow's post is that on some systems, there is a file (possibly a "helper script" - I can't verify that on my phone) called /etc/vold.fstab, and on those systems, this file is the nearest equivalent to /etc/fstab.
Getting back to wondering about my own device, I am going to post my findings here for several reasons, in spite of the age of the OP:

First, I want to document all of the fstab-style files I can find on my phone, a Pixel 2XL.
Second, I want to show people, especially Linux/Android newbies, that it is fairly easy to find these files on your own device ("teach them to fish").
Third, it's helpful for me to write up my findings (bonus: I'll always be able to find it again here on StackExchange!).
Finally, Google is still serving this page up so there's a chance this will help someone other than me.

So let me try to sum up everything I have learned from all of this:
Android, or at least its variants that I have access to, does make use of fstab-style files. However, the exact name, location, and function of these files vary by distribution - meaning by Android version and device, and also by ROM if you use a custom ROM.
To find these files on your system, open up a terminal emulator like termux or adb shell and run something like this: find / -type f -iname '*fstab*' 2>/dev/null. The redirection of file 2 (stderr) to /dev/null will make your output much cleaner as you will be able to ignore the onslaught of error messages you will get from find, even if you are root.
On my system (a Pixel 2XL, code name "taimen"), I found three candidate files:
taimen:/ # find / -type f -iname '*fstab*' 2>/dev/null

/sbin/.core/mirror/vendor/etc/fstab.taimen
/vendor/etc/fstab.taimen
/data/data/com.android.omadm.service/files/dm/dmt_data/fstab

The first two are separate files in that neither is a hard or symbolic link to the other, but if you diff them you will find that they are identical. Looking a little deeper, if you run stat on the files you will see that they have the same Device and Inode values:
taimen:/ # stat /sbin/.core/mirror/vendor/etc/fstab.taimen /vendor/etc/fstab.taimen

  File: `/sbin/.core/mirror/vendor/etc/fstab.taimen'
  Size: 1326     Blocks: 16      IO Blocks: 512 regular file
Device: fc00h/64512d     Inode: 925      Links: 1
Access: (644/-rw-r--r--)        Uid: (    0/    root)   Gid: (    0/    root)
Access: 2009-01-01 02:00:00.000000000
Modify: 2009-01-01 02:00:00.000000000
Change: 2009-01-01 02:00:00.000000000

  File: `/vendor/etc/fstab.taimen'
  Size: 1326     Blocks: 16      IO Blocks: 512 regular file
Device: fc00h/64512d     Inode: 925      Links: 1
Access: (644/-rw-r--r--)        Uid: (    0/    root)   Gid: (    0/    root)
Access: 2009-01-01 02:00:00.000000000
Modify: 2009-01-01 02:00:00.000000000
Change: 2009-01-01 02:00:00.000000000

stat reports both of these filenames as regular files with only one link each (so no hard or symbolic links are involved). I'm not a filesystem expert but what has happened here is that the same device has been mounted twice. You can see this in the output of the following command, where the only differences between the two lines of output in are the mount points (the part immediately after "on"):
taimen:/ $ mount | grep vendor

/dev/block/dm-0 on /vendor type ext4 (ro,seclabel,relatime,block_validity,delalloc,barrier,user_xattr)
/dev/block/dm-0 on /sbin/.core/mirror/vendor type ext4 (ro,seclabel,relatime,block_validity,delalloc,barrier,user_xattr)

The third file is only visible to me if I login as root, so if you have a device identical to mine, you still will not find, or have access to, this file unless your phone is rooted. That file has to do with a service called Open Mobile Alliance Device Management, but that is a service I know very little about, so I will just mention it here, and you can Google for details about that if you'd like.

Old topic indeed, and since then things have changed quite a bit, to the extent that most devices I've built ROMs for would have a standalone fstab file in either /system/etc or /vendor/etc. Thanks for bringing in fresh info.

This is useful, however it appears to be useless because dm-0 cannot be remounted R/W in order to edit the fstab, and the only solution I found requires that you have a debug build, which is another rabiit hole I'm not going down.

Thanks for the comment, @Michael. I was just trying to give some background on how to find such files and scripts, which, while only part of the OP's problem, was the only question the OP asked.

@chris fair enough

The fstab file is in /.
It's called /fstab.$systemname.rc where $systemname is based on the handset's fingerprint property, either identified as category of chipset or handset itself.

That is dependant and varies from ROM to ROM. In AOSP its /etc/vold.fstab. :)

and while it's true for CM10 -- I have /fstab.p1c -- it gets overwritten on reboot by something I haven't yet figured out.

According to https://source.android.com/devices/storage/config.html, in Android 4.2.2 and earlier it's vold.fstab, and in 4.3 and later it's /fstab.<device>.

on my Moto E, this file is on read only mounted file system :(

You can remount your external storage to be executable by running
mount -o remount, rw /mnt/sdcard

this will remove the noexec, nosuid and nodev flags, but it will still be vfat fs. You can  make links to this fs but not from within. The remount does not survive a reboot, because the vold.fstab file will be read and they will be remounted at reboot with the noexec flags.
If you reformat any of your external storage to anything other than vfat, then they will not be remounted at reboot, and any apps that you have moved to any external storage will not be usable. If you don't intend to use external storage for apps then you can unmount your external storage and use busybox mke2fs DEVICE to make it ext2. Use busybox newfs_msdos DEVICE to return it to vfat and make it usable again.
Note busybox mkfs.vfat is broken, you will get something like

lseek: Value too large for defined data type

so don't waste your time. All of this assumes you are rooted, and have a working busybox binary.

I'm seeing conflicting information.  One resource says it's hardcoded, so not something you can change user-side:

Android-specific init programs are found in device/system/init. Add LOG messages to help you debug potential problems with the LOG macro defined in device/system/init/init.c.
The init program directly mounts all filesystems and devices using either hard-coded file names or device names generated by probing the sysfs filesystem (thereby eliminating the need for a /etc/fstab file in Android).

Elsewhere /etc/vold.fstab and /etc/vold.conf are mentioned.  I have them on my device under CM 7.1 but I'm not sure of how they are used.

It kind of is hardcoded, but it kind of isn't. There's an init.rc file that lives in your ramdisk, so you can pull your boot.img, extract your ramdisk, and then modify the init.rc and repack it again (briefly discussed here, and Tiamat's source is a good example of setting mountpoints in init.rc)


text:
What is the easiest way to add a new contact to an existing Google contacts group?
Let's say I'm adding a new contact and it's a long lost family members so I want to add them to my custom "Aussie Family" group within my Google account. There appears to be no easy way to do this. I have to log in on a PC to actually achieve the grouping.
I recall reading a similar question somewhere (which I now can't locate) which indicated it's not possible using the built-in contacts manager, so, if that's the case, I'm looking for the best way to do it via an app.
I'm using Gingerbread (2.3.3) on a Samsung Galaxy phone (kernel v2.6.35.7).

Thus far, there appears to be no answer. The best alternative appears to be that you can log into Gmail on a PC and add your new contact to an existing group. Will change the answer to this question if a valid answer pops up.

I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 running the default 2.3.3 Gingerbread and from within the phone/contacts app, selecting a contact and then scrolling to the groups section allows me to check and uncheck whichever groups I wish this particular contact to be a part of.
Naturally, make sure you're saving your contacts as "Google Contacts" and not simply "Phone Contacts".

I cannot follow these instructions on my phone. Can you provide a diagram or screenshots? Specifically, there is no "groups section" when I scroll through the details of my Goolge contact. Also, I don't have Galaxy S2, just Galaxy S.

Unfortunately, this may be particular to the S2 TouchWiz interface, then Lisa - sorry. I'll try posting screenshots later.

Supposely my phone already has the TouchWiz interface because that also comes with regular Galaxy S (per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_i9000_Galaxy_S infobox) but perhaps I'm mistaken

Different version of TouchWiz


text:
What does locking an SMS message do?
I have noticed that long clicking an SMS message brings up a menu containing a "Lock message" option. What does this do? I have a Nexus S.

Presumably it prevents you from deleting it, but you'd need to be clearer about what kind of messages you're talking about and what phone/app you have.

@MatthewRead: Nexus S. SMS messages

If you lock a message, when you delete a conversation with a locked message, every message other than the locked message will be erased from that conversation.

On most android smartphones there is a feature that makes the phone run faster. This feature is after a certain amount of messages(on mine it's 210)it begins to delete them,locking the message also prevents it from being deleted.

that means (normally on every phone) that it cannot be deleted, just like a locked picture on a camera. so, if you would like to keep a message safe, i suggest locking it so no accidents happen. although, when the time comes that it wants to be deleted, it can be unlocked and then deleted


text:
set song as alarm tone
How can I set song from my sd card as alarm tone ? i tried to change the tone but I cant figure out how to make the songs from my sd card to show up on the list.
I am using samsung galaxy ace with android 2.3.4

Did you try restarting your phone ?

Yes I restarted my phone.

I also faced the same issue with the Stock Alarm. Stock alarm was not able to recognize the SD Card songs. I vaguely remembered the solution. Couple of restarts and removing the SD Card from the phone and plugging it again solved the issue fro me.
But now I installed Alarm Klock which has the option to see all the Songs on SD Card by Author and Album wise. It has vibrating feature which doesn't there in stock Alarm.

There are a number of apps that will let you set pretty much any sound file (mp3, ogg vorbis, etc) as a ringtone or notification sound.  Tone Picker is just one example.


text:
Truecrypt on Android 2.2?
Has Truecrypt been ported over to Android yet?  If yes, where can I get it from as I can't seem to find it in the Market unless it's named something different.  If no, is anyone developing it? If no again, any reason why no one is developing it?

A lot of people are asking that question. Here's one.
Some people are offering bounties. Like at XDA-Developers.
Some people have suggested alternatives. AxCrypt looks like an alternative, and there's an alpha product that works with it (and Dropbox) called BoxCryptor.
But I've not found an actual port of Truecrypt to Android, nor any information about plans to do so.

Recent versions of Cryptonite include an actual port of the TrueCrypt code to Android. The following restrictions apply at this time:

No GUI - command-line access only.
Requires FUSE. Most CyanogenMod ROMs except of Motorola builds support FUSE.
Requires root.
Only works with local volumes. No cloud storage support.

It's available on Google Play as well.
To get started, select the "expert" tab, click "Start root terminal", then use truecrypt from the command line.


text:
Is the Google Nexus S capable of reading the exFAT file format?
If I backup, reformat the internal memory "disk" of my Google Nexus One (running Android 2.3.4) into the exFAT format (for storage of file sizes over 4GB) and restore the contents, will it spasm and die or will it go on as if nothing had changed?

Isn't it odd that the exFAT format, which was designed for mobile devices, isn't supported by a modern Linux-based OS such as Android? :-\

@aalaap exFAT is a filesystem from Microsoft, which means you have to pay Microsoft to use it commercially. Linux itself has only beta state support of exFAT. But the times where Microsoft could just set the standards and collect money for it are thankfully over. If they just had released it license free and opened the specs we likely had a portable and wide spread filesystem for mobile storage/flash cards by now

No.
As reported and commented on by various users, there is no exFAT support built in to Android, so the Nexus S will not read the disk.


text:
How can I make the phone automatically disable mobile connection when calling?
I recently moved from 2G network to 3G.
On 2G when I call somebody - the phone automatically suspends the mobile Internet (since it cannot send data and voice at the same time) and activates back when the call ends.
Now on 3G I just cannot call when the mobile Internet is active (no matter whether it downloads something or not) - the call is reset immediately. At the same time I can receive calls, i.e. if somebody calls me - the phone rings and I can talk.
If I disable the mobile Internet and use WiFi (or do not use any connection) - it works fine.
Changing the network type (auto, 3G, etc...) doesn't help.
Android 2.3.3. Go Launcher + Go Contacts Ex.
Two questions:

Is this an issue with the phone?
Is there something I can tune inside the phone to make it auto-switch the mobile Internet like it was on 2G (maybe 3rd party application or patch/fix)?

You may want to talk to your carrier about your phone or service because data is separate from  voice (if you are not on a CDMA network). Voice is using GSM/UMTS and data is HSPA. Your data network usage should never interrupt your voice call, even if you use CDMA. The voice should take priority and stop the data usage to make the call. There is either an issue with the network you are on, or the phone.


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

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

This happens when I'm running pretty much any app: browser, Google Reader, Gallery, GMail, File Manager HD, etc. Can't work out any pattern to i, sometimes  it happens every couple of minutes, sometimes I can go for 10 or more minutes without seeing it.
What's causing this (or how can I tell what's causing this) and how can I stop it?
Update
This does appear to only happen when I've got a network connection (mine's a Wifi only tablet) - after installing alogcat, I did a 40 minute commute on a train using Google Listen and playing Angry Birds, with no errors popping up at all (and therefore no way to catch anything in the log. Will have to wait until I'm home again to investigate further.

Any clues in the logcat?

After a lot of experimentation and backwards and forwards and disabling and enabling various things, I've got it to the point where I haven't seen that error popup for about a week now (which is a huge improvement over it appearing every 10 minutes).
Unfortunately Logcat never seemed to show any obvious, enlightening errors when the Force Close messages popped up, so there was nothing to work on there.
Various posts on web forums suggested that going into Accounts and Sync disabling sync on Calendars and Contacts, then clearing the data on the Calendar and Contacts app should help, but it didn't seem to for me.
In the end what I think solved the problem was:

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

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


text:
Apply manual update on Xoom without an OTG cable
So the ICS update came out for Xoom and applying it is straight forward enough - pretty much like in any other case. Except, it seems to require the OTG cable.
Would anybody know a way to do that without using such cable? I mean, applying the patch either from the internal memory or from the sd mount?

From what I have read, the Xoom will not update from a update.zip file from an SD card/internal storage. Without the cable you will have to wait for an OTA update.

In case it's a matter of not having a cable, you can buy one on ebay for less than US $1 (with shipping)

If you live in non-US country, then you can follow a guide for installing the US-based ICS on you Xoom that I've written up on my blog. The basic procedure is:

Install Android SDK and Motorola USB drivers on your PC
Download US honeycomb stock ROM from here
Extract all files from this ZIP file into platform-tools folder under Android SDK
Boot the device into fastboot mode.
Then from command prompt (with current directory ‘sdk/platform-tools’) run following commands-

fastboot oem unlock  (this is red pill, at this point your device warranty voids! welcome to matrix!!)
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash userdata userdata.img
fastboot erase cache

now reboot the device
go to settings -> about -> update, this will download subsequent ROM update and will install it, and then reboot
repeat step-7 until all updates are done (will normally need 4-5 update cycles)

Note that it will void your device warranty

I've edited your post to indicate that the website you linked to is your own blog. Please note the FAQ section on self-promotion in the future. Also note that I've summarized the basic premise of your blog post here. Answers with unexplained links are considered less useful due to linkrot and the like, so providing a summary rather than simply a link is preferred.

For anyone following this, note that the first step in step 5 (unlocking the bootloader) will likely wipe your device, make sure that you back up any data you care about on your device first.

Which version of the Xoom do you have? Motorola have so far only released an ICS update for the US Wifi version of the Xoom (the 3G version and the International version use different firmware and haven't had the update yet, applying this update to those models may harm them).
If you do have a US Wifi Xoom then Motorola are already actively pushing this update out and have been doing this in batches since 24th Jan. If your device is regularly connected to the internet and hasn't automatically picked up the update yet, then you can force it to go and check by going into Settings -> About tablet and selecting System updates it should then go and check for you.
In the future, if you want to have a chance of getting Xoom updates early, you can join the official Motorola Feedback Network, members of that group did reportedly get the ICS update a few weeks earlier than everyone else. Join it by signing up at the Motorola Forums and selecting the "Motorola Feedback Network" option.
If you do want to do this manual update, then you can pick up a USB OTG (aka Host Mode USB cable) very cheaply on eBay, I got one for connecting my camera to the Xoom for a couple of pounds, including postage from Hong Kong!

I do have a Wifi Xoom, though is the UK version (MZ604). Since you used "pounds" to get your OTG cable, I'd assume you are the same. Did you try the update? (Seen in a page from motorola, but can't find it now, anyway they didn't show any plan to update us to ICS OTA)

@flpgdt the non-US version is different, has slightly different software loaded and uses different drivers. The US version is a "Google Experience Device" the International ones aren't, this is why we've got some Motorola and other software pre-loaded (MotoPrint, Citrix Receiver, etc) and also why write access to our SD card was fixed before it was on the US version. I haven't tried the update on mine, as I've seen such mixed success from people trying US updates on their non-US Xooms with previous updates, as well as losing functionality (like the SD Card) when they put the US image on.

Hm.. I see. found this article might be of use. Although it requires to install US version, later you'd get ICS, which I reckon would make it up. http://futureproof10.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/motorola-xoom-wi-fi-mz604-ice-cream-sandwich-4-0-3-ota-update-in-non-us-countries/


text:
Where can I find a thorough introduction to Android?
I recently bought an Android product (HOTT MD500), with no English-language manual. I've used Linux for more than 10 years, so I generally have no difficulty adapting to various interface changes, but the conventions used on the Android interface are a bit alien to me:

How to close programs.
How to switch between open programs. Are they even open still?
How to properly shut the device down.
When to use the SD card, when to use the internal flash drive for storage.
What tasks it is capable of doing.
What version it is. How to upgrade. Or should I?
What its limitations are..
What not to do so that I don't break it.

Is there a good manual which provides an introduction to all of this?

Complete Android Guide is a pretty good introduction/starting point for free on the website, available as an ebook or an app on the market.
http://completeandroidguide.com/

Is it still true that the book is free on the website? In that case could you give me a direct link?

http://www.completeguides.net/01_The_Complete_Android_Guide

The links in this answer are no longer valid. You get 404 or equivalent errors when you attempt to visit them.

Google do actually publish Android manuals for each major version, unfortunately they do hide them fairly well.
Your phone's manufacturer and/or your network/carrier may also publish manuals for your phone that will include the major changes they've made from the base Android (for example a lot of manufacturers customize or replace a lot of the Android UI with their own version, such as HTC's Sense, or Samsung's TouchWiz interface, they may also modify/replace default apps to work better with their hardware or interface, the Camera app is often one of these). In your case it sounds like the manufacturer unfortunately probably doesn't have an English language manual, on the plus side they probably haven't done much customization to the base Android experience.
Google's Android manuals:

Android 2.2 (aka Froyo)
Android 2.3 (aka Gingerbread)
Android 3 (aka Honeycomb) tablets only, not available for phones
Android 4.0 (aka Ice Cream Sandwich) actually a Galaxy Nexus manual, but as that device is pretty much pure ICS, it should be OK

Thanks, it should be mentioned that even some localized versions are available, e.g. French, German, etc.

I don't know about a manual (I never found one) but ...

How to close programs.

You don't. I mean, if you want to stop running applications, that's under Settings > Applications but otherwise, you mostly don't.

How to switch between open programs. Are they even open still?

If you long press the "home" key you can move between the last few applications you had open.

How to properly shut the device down.

When you hold the power key for a few seconds, you should get a few different options, depending on your OS version. Powering off is definitely one of those options. That's the best way to shut it down.

What version it is. How to upgrade. Or should I?

Find the OS version under Settings > About phone (should show a Kernel version and a Build number. I'm pretty sure you can't upgrade without rooting it, but there are some good insights on rooting your phone right here (and no one definitive answer, for better or for worse.) How do I root my Android device?

When to use the SD card, when to use the internal flash drive for storage.

That's a good question, one worth asking / looking for answers to here.

What tasks it is capable of doing.

Google does have some good general material on this one.

What its limitations are..

There's no good answer to that one, unfortunately.

What not to do so that I don't break it.

Don't throw it from high buildings ...