text:
Widget to show alarm information on HTC Desire
Is it possible to have information about scheduled alarms always visible on the screen? Ideally, as a widget with the list of alarms, or at least just the time of the next alarm somewhere, so I could always know this information at a glance, without opening alarm settings screen.
For now, I have to regularly check my alarm settings by clicking on the clock widget, which is inconvenient. Also, there is an alarm icon in the status bar, which is rather useless because I have several alarms at different times and at least one is always enabled.

I use a widget called "Digital Clock Widget", free from the Market. It's a simple clock/date widget, which can be configured to also show the day and time of the next alarm.

There were many apps with the same name, but I found what I needed, thanks. In case somebody else will be interested, here is the link: http://www.appbrain.com/app/red.extension.DigitalClockWidget

Sorry for not being more exact, but yes, that's the one I meant :)

Alarm Master has a widget that shows the next alarm, but i think you need to set alarms from within that app, not the default alarm / clock app.
There's also Upcomings, which has a similar widget for showing the next event.

For the next calendar event the Desire (and all HTC I think) don't need a 3rd party app. The HTC calendar widget which comes with the phone has 3 different view modes, the third does exactly that.
Unfortunately it works only with calendar events and not alarms...

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


text:
How do I disable full-screen mode in Chrome for Android?
Some time ago, both Chrome and Chrome Beta started going full-screen. That is, I no longer see my status bar. This is a deal breaker for me, as I can no longer see what time it is or if I have notifications.
I have browsed chrome://flags and didn't see anything related to this.
Is it possible to disable this full-screen mode?
Chrome versions:

Chrome (30.0.1599.92)
Chrome Beta (31.0.1650.32)

My phone:

Galaxy Note 2
Android 4.1.2
Verizon
no custom rom or root

According to this post on SO, no... Deactivate “fullscreen” mode on Chrome for Android http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16962033/deactivate-fullscreen-mode-on-chrome-for-android

You can't scroll down just a hair to make your address bar and notifications visible again? (For what it's worth, my Notification bar stays always visible. It's just the address bar that disappears.)

I'm not referring to the address bar. The notification bar actually disappears, resulting in Android losing it's functionality and becoming more like iOS.

Not seeing that. Perhaps it's a property of the Note 2. Samsung loves to monkey with the UI.

I had the same problem, but I saw the exact moment it happened, a message appeared saying "switching to full screen mode". Then I couldn't switch it off. I deleted all data in Chrome, and the problem was fixed. There was no need to uninstall the app, just cleaned the data using the Android built-in Application Manager. It seems some website included code that caused this, and the Chrome for Android simply does not have the settings to revert this. Hope this helps.

Exactly the same thing just happened to me. Restarting the phone put it back to normal.

Excellent! Thanks for the suggestion - worked for me to bring my notifications back! Thanks!

So, occasionally I still get "switching to full screen mode" and lose my status bar. It seems that simply killing the task works as well.

I found that if you go to chrome://flags and click "reset all to default" that it will return your status bar. I wasn't able to find any other ways to do that.

The short answer is no. If you feel that this should be a feature then please file a bug on crbug.com/new and let me know. It should have no effect on scrolling as it keeps all the settings and state exactly the same, if you are seeing problems with scrolling such as events not firing then that is due to the way the compositor works.
The reason why not is that this is a feature on all mobile platforms and we have parity with their way of providing the user with more vertical real estate.

Hi Mike. I'm actually referring to the notification/status bar (with clock) disappearing. It's decidedly un-Android, and seems odd that Google has gone this way. I can enter a bug, but it doesn't seem like a bug. It appears that Google has chosen to "break" Android for just this one app. I'm stumped. Note: The amount of real-estate gained is so minimal, and the amount of functionality lost so great, that I can't imagine this is permanent. There should be some backlash soon.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Can I have different volumes settings for notifications and ringtones with Nexus 4/Android 4.2?
My old Gingerbread phone would let me have a low volume for notifications while having a high volume for ringtones (very useful at night). My new Nexus 4 seems to have these volume settings tied together. Is there any way to separate them?
I'm running Android 4.2.1 stock.
Have looked at a Nexus 7 running 4.1.1 and it has separate volume streams so this looks like a phone specific bug/feature.
Update
Tried various apps but couldn't fine one which separated the Ring and notification audio streams.
In the end I downloaded the Cyanogenmod notification sounds, selected the ones I liked and processed them to -10db and -15db versions. Then copied them to the 'Notifications' folder on the phone. (The phone looks at the title tag in the mp3 file rather than the file name so needed to change that as well.)
I now have the ringtone as normal but a quieter version of the notification sound that doesn't wake me at night or sound ridiculously loud in meetings.

It appears to be somewhat awkward in ICS and JB to get this functionality, several methods in order to achieve it are discussed here. I'll summarise/copy some of the better sounding ones (I added the links):

Try Audio Control, it's by far the best volume management app in the
Google Play store. There is both a notification and ringer volume for
ICS or Jelly Bean.

If you're willing to pay then this app has "Separate Notification and Ringer volumes for ICS/JB devices".

Google & download a silent MP3, use Profile Manager or
Tasker to change notification sound to silence mp3 when required.

Or alternatively (as the OP points out in the comments) use a low volume ringtone so you can still hear it. Someone points out that for this method if you have custom notifications for different apps then they won't be silenced/lower volume, only apps that use the default system notification will be affected unless you update all of the notification sounds.

Another option is to use a profile switcher like Tasker or Setting
Profiles (what I use) and make two profiles:

Silent - profile set it to silence your ringer
Ring - profile to set your desired ringer volume

Now make a rule to trigger your "Ring" profile based on incoming call
condition. The condition could be a call from a specific person, or
persons from particular groups in your address book. Use the *
wildcard if you want the condition to include calls from anyone. You
can piggy back conditions so that, for example, you can add a time
condition so the rule might only be activated at a certain time of
day.
So what you have now is 2 profiles, one that mutes ALL sounds (thanks
to ICS) and another that sets the ringer volume to a specific level.
Set the "Ring" profile to have a higher priority, that way when they
are both active at the same time, the "Ring" takes precedence.
Combined with your condition, the result should be, ALL of your sounds
are muted, but when a call comes in, it triggers the incoming call
condition, triggers the "Ring" profile, and both the mute and the ring
profiles are active at the same time, and the ring profile will win.
There might be a short delay, but it shouldn't be noticeable.
This would of course have the effect that certain calls will ALWAYS
ring and maybe sometimes you truly do want to silence your phone. To
that, you will just make another profile, call it "True Silent" for
example, and have it silence everything and give it the highest
priority (or at least higher then the "Ring" profile) and then when
you activate that profile, it will win over the others.

Both of these apps are again paid for applications however they have a grater functionality than Audio Control. Tasker is a particularly great one.

Ringleader allows you to
set up profiles that you can change any or all of your individual
ringtones to silent in one click.  It takes a while to configure. Once
you install it you have to set all of your ringtones and alerts again
using the Ringleader option for choosing alerts. If you set it as the
default ringtone chooser option it simplifies the process. Once you
have reset each one they will shop up in the Ringleader options list.
In Ringleader you then save a base profile. After you have a base
profile saved you can edit all of the alert sounds individually
through Ringleader and save new profiles. I have three profiles. One
is for normal use, one for phone calls only and one for silent. There
is a simple widget available for switching them quickly.

This is a free application however there's also a paid for version. Someone else in the thread mentions this working for them however the actual notification volume can't be set separately, the notifications can only be silenced while still allowing the phone to ring.
When Googling around I did see people mention Audio Manager as a solution to this, however I've tested it out and although you can set the ring volume independently of the system volume as soon as someone rings you the volumes change to the same level, even if you use the app to lock the volumes.

Thanks Peanut. I was hoping there was a setting somewhere that I'd missed :¬) I'll try and see if 'Audio Control' can do it in the 15 minute trial period otherwise I guess I'll try 'Tasker' (which I bought 2 years ago but was baffled by its interface).

... or add a low volume mp3 version of my notification sound and use that (as mentioned in your link).

Couldn't find separate volume settings in 'Audio Control' after 10 minutes so went for the refund.

Downloaded Sound Profile a free app, and now notifications and ringtone are separate!

Finally, with Android 14, we can have this option:

Additional details: Android 14 offering separate ringtone and notification volume sliders.

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text:
What does the new button on the power control widget do?
There are 6 buttons on my power control widget:

WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, ???, Data sync, Screen brightness.
What does the 4th one do?
P.S. I'm using an Orange San Francisco (ZTE Blade) with the 'Japanese Jellyfish RLS6' custom FroYo ROM, but I've seen this power widget in other ROMS.

Which phone and which custom ROM?

Dunno. Don't have it on my Droid.

Dunno. Don't have it on my Incredible.

Are you using an app like "Extended Power Controls" which modifies the widget?

It's either a mobile network data enabled switch or a 2G/3G switch, try it and check your data connection.
Edit: got confirmation, see comments.

Looks like it could possibly be for mounting/unmounting the SDcard also.

I doubt that because the rom release notes say that apndroid was removed due to this widget's new features, and apndroid controls the data connection.

Aha! Yep, it's the 'Mobile networks > Data enabled' switch (doesn't affect the 2G/3G setting). Do you want to amend your answer and I'll accept it.

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


text:
App for reading CSV files?
I use the free version of Documents To Go to open Excel and Word files on my phone, but I was disappointed when I tried to open a CSV file.  The only app I have that responds to the Intent for opening a CSV file displays it as plain text.
Does anyone know of a good free app for viewing CSV files in a grid/spreadsheet layout?

And, boom. A whole slew of essentially one-line answers with little information, and they just keep coming. This is why we don't like requests for app recommendations.

@AlE.My points on this SE site don't matter to me, but I'm curious why a legitimate question asked almost 4 yrs ago would cause you to downvote (comment and downvote activity at the exact same time == likely correlation).  IMO, StackOverflow and the whole SE network are being horribly affected by what looks to me like an obsession with negative responses (downvotes, votes to close, snarky response).

Focus changes I guess. Al is one of our most active "hunters", helping us to keep the site clean. I was no member back when this question was asked, so I cannot tell whether it was on-topic then. // Nevertheless, it's off-topic now according to the rules. But if you're still (or again) on the hunt for that office app: be welcome to take a look at my list of Office Suites and Text Editors (Al: No, I won't make that an answer ;) Instead, I'll throw in my VTC as well.)

Simple Spreadsheet is freeware and lists import/export of CSV as a feature.
Shead Spreet Lite also has similar features.
In the non-freeware category, see CSV Viewer and AndrOffice

Documento - office viewer can open and view CSV files. I believe it costs $1, though it can open other files as well.

Data Bee is the best. It can handle large files without problems. I has been using it for so many years.


text:
Enable data roaming only for specified providers?
I'm living in a country A. My mobile phone provider is located in country B. Unfortunately, I have to enable data roaming to work both in country A and country B. This doesn't costs my roaming costs, because the providers in country A and B work together.
Unfortunately, I'm living also very close to country C. And a lot of time (during shopping, working etc) I go to country C. I always have to explicitly disable data roaming then. Sometimes I forget to do so and then I causes a lot of roaming costs.
So is it possible to allow data roaming only for specific providers? From the Android OS I don't think so, but it should be possible to do it progamatically? Every time the provider changes I would check if it it in the allowed list and if not I would disable data roaming?
Edit: Does anybody know if there are already apps which can do that? Otherwise I would start the development of suach an app.

At the moment we have the same problem in the UK with the Orange/T-mobile merge...

Ok, so do you haven't found a solution yet?

What if you used tasker/locale with this plugin?  You could then turn off data using APNdroid.


text:
What kind of data is stored in /data/user directory?
It seems to store some kind of application data, but how is it different from /data/data directory?

ll /data/user/
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Jan  3  1970 0 -> /data/data/

/data/user was added in Jelly Bean as part of multi-user support. Each user on the device gets a directory in there named after their user ID, and that directory contains each app's data directory for that user. /data/user/0 is a symlink to /data/data.

This is not true.  See: http://androidxref.com/7.0.0_r1/xref/frameworks/native/cmds/installd/commands.cpp#135

@w3bMak3r What exactly are you claiming is not true, and how does that source code (which postdates this question and answer) relate to it?


text:
How to a flash the rom.zip file to my Android phone?
I extracted the rom.zip from the HTC RUU installation and I want to flash it to my phone.
In case it matters, it is an HTC Desire HD, rooted with Cyanomod and ClockMod Recovery on it.
All I want is to flash the original stock firmware back to the phone. Because the phone has now a different firmware RUU will not recognise it.
What I need to do?
PS. I tried to rename the file to PB32IMG.zip and use the update from zip option but it doesn't work.

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

How does it not work? Please provide details.

The general procedure for installing a new ROM would be:

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

Boot to Recovery Mode (hold down the Power and Volume Down (Vol -) keys at the same time under boot)
Select 'backup and restore'
Select 'Backup' and confirm
wait for process to finish and go back to Recovery main screen

Wipe and factory reset (this is important for stability! Especially when installing a different ROM, and not just an update. With an update you can usually skip factory reset):

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

Install ROM.

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

Where in the above process do you get stuck?


text:
My phone suddenly shows an SD-card notification
My Sony Xperia J phone was in my pocket and I wanted to read an ebook, so started my reader application. It showed a black screen and when I checked the shelf, all my books were gone.
I noticed a new notification icon that looked like a folded SD card. I checked its message that said: SD card is empty or its file system is not supported.
What? Half an hour ago I was using it.
I tapped the message and a question appeared: Do you want to format your SD-card? It'll erase all data from it.
What?? All my ebooks and media are gone just like that?
I restarted the phone, still no SD-card. When I got home, I removed the card and reinserted and fortunately now it works.
How does that so-called OS dare to lose my data? And the "recovery" solution is to format the card?
What could cause this?

This is 99% more likely to be a hardware issue (your SD card) than a software issue (the "so-called OS").  The suggestion to format the card is not a recovery suggestion, obviously.  It's saying the card needs formatting as it cannot be read (it appears unformatted, due to a fault with the SD card).

As Archer stated: it's rather your so-called SD card which very likely will give up on you soon. I'd backup its contents ASAP and get a new one.

My experiences with this so-called platform are very ambiguous. My phone keeps forgetting the sound settings, can't change from Wifi to 3G sometimes. It's like a bad joke.

@Nestor A word of advice, if I may.  Stow the negative attitude.  You're on a Q&A site for Android enthusiasts.  You may receive a more sympathetic response if you don't slate the thing that they love that has brought them here.  It's not constructive and you can post without it.  Not getting into a debate about it - just saying.  I hope you get your problem resolved :)

One of my family members had the same problem, SD card misbehaving, then working for a few days, on and off. After a week or so the phone did not read the card at all and neither did the PC. Fortunately I backed up the content of the card after the first problem. The card worked for about a month after formatting, but died eventually.
I do not know what causes this.
I do not know how to stop it.
I know what you should do: a backup.


text:
Tether from PC to android via USB
Is there a way to tether a PC's ethernet or WiFi connection to a Samsung Galaxy Fame using Jelly Bean 4.1?
What I would like to do is to be able to access the internet on the phone using the PC's internet connection, via USB or wifi. My PC runs Ubuntu and Windows (Dual Boot) so either of these operating systems will work.

Have you checked the other questions tagged reverse-tether? If so: what makes your situation so special that none of those matches? What have you already tried?

well that's the answer. Thanks to @GAThrawn for the tag - I didn't know it was called reverse tether.

You need to reverse tether your pc to your phone.


text:
Can't install skype on android 2.2
I'm using http://www.midoblesim.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=&products_id=483 and i can't install skype.It says that it's not matching, but still it is downloading it from the market. I gived you that link becouse this isn't an original, android phone, it's some Chinese stuff. But however, how can i solve the problem and install skype and run it correctly ?

According to the web page that you linked, your phone has the following specs:

mtk6516 416 MHz CPU
512 MB ROM
256 MB RAM
Screen HVGA 800 x 480

The Skype FAQ says:

What do I need to run Skype on my Android phone?
To run Skype on your Android phone, you will need a supported phone
  running Android OS version 2.1 or above with least 27MB of free memory
  space on your handset and 600Mhz or more processing power. The
  supported screen resolutions are 320x240, 240x400, 320x480, 800x480
  and 850x480.

So it looks like the app doesn't support your phone's CPU (which oddly seems to be slower than the very earliest Android phones like the G1).
There is more than one official Skype app, it's possible that the one you're using isn't compatible with your phone, but another one might be. See the links in this question to find the Skype apps Can I install Skype on my xperia?

It looks like a knockoff company stole the name of an LG device to trick people.

@MatthewRead oh definitely, doesn't even look like an LG Optimus 3D (and is very obviously missing the second rear camera lens that helps define the "3D" part of the real thing's name) the case reminds me more of a knock-off Nexus One than an Optimus.


text:
Android internet connection related problems?
We can USB tether and use android internet connection on PC but How to achieve following:
1. How to use pc internet connection on android device using USB cable on Windows machine?
I can use my android service provides internet connection to turn on WiFi hotspot but I stuck with following question:
2. Can my device access internet using WiFi and at same time can we convert it into WiFi hotspot? If yes How to do that? If not why it's not possible?

XDA developer capslock66 has developed a reverse tethering tool which is the simplest yet (and hopefully in future too). Only requirement is a rooted phone. You can download it from here-
Android reverse tethering via usb
It comes as a zip file with all the adb files and dependencies. Once you open the application, it will do all the settings on your phone automatically for USB data tunneling. And most importantly, the good thing is it now works with any app including Google Play/Market too. Google play earlier needed a WiFi, but now, it works with a reverse tethered connection too.

An android enthusiast called Mathieu Carbou seems to have achieved the reverse-USB tethering issue you'd like to explore, but on his Nexus One, 2.2. Here is a link for the same: Reverse-USB-Tethering. I won't guarantee any success, though you could try it and let us know the results. :)

Ofcourse, however, you'll need a rooted device, and superuser access as well.

Is it possible without rooted device(Samsung Nexus S) and on Windows machine?

No methods that I know of for un-rooted devices.

Is there any update for Android 4.0+ devices?

@fifth if you're asking whether Google has enabled the same for unrooted devices, then the answer is no. If your question tends to say that it doesn't work for ICS devices, then this comment might help you: Reverse Tethering on ICS - Comment #7

Well, I am currently using HTC Sensation. HTC Sense provides reverse - usb - tethering which is called USB pass through. But I know that this service requires HTC Sync application and its drivers on computer. Maybe you can take a look at flashing HTC Sense Roms to non - htc devices or getting htc sense applications to non - htc devices. There are bunch of documents in xda developers. http://www.xda-developers.com/

What are you suggesting, man... The success probability of HTC ROMs on non-HTC hardware is less than 1%...


text:
Lost huge internal memory while debugging application on device
I started developing Android apps recently. For debugging purpose I used my device. Debugs and all went good but lately I realised that 32MB of my internal memory is missing.
I have gone through all the applications, cleared caches but nothing helped.
Does anyone have any idea as to how should I get back the 32 MB's of Space on my Device.
Device: HTC Desire
Android Platform: 2.3.3

Not sure, as devices are setup differently -- but the word "debugging" suggests it:
If you are rooted, check whether the directory /data/tombstones exists. If so, there might be some "tombstones" inside. Being root, you can delete them (they are owned by system, and give no permissions whatsoever to other users).
Explanation: Tombstones
Tombstones are what the dead are covered with, and so it is here. On Linux/Unix known as "core dumps", this is what some apps leave behind when crashed to death: the process' memory dump for analysis by the developer. Only few applications throw tombstones, I guess they have to be explicitly enabled by the developer -- which might happen implicitly when toggling some debug flags.
Up to now, I didn't discover tombstones of that size (all I've seen was between ~30kB and ~250MB), but that doesn't mean they cannot be bigger...

What did I write there? That should have been 2.5MB max...


text:
Easytether and Gingerbread?
I use a nifty little app called Easytether to tether my Andorid to my Macbook Pro so I can use my Macbook's browser, and get full websites.  Will the Gingerbread upgrade affect the operation of this app?

What device and carrier?  Normally your carrier decides whether tethering is enabled on a device, and some have turned it off via updates.

@JohnFretz Just a note: Before Gingerbread, I had EasyTether, however my carrier would no longer allow me to update the application in the market. With Gingerbread, I noticed the market had another version of EasyTether (also by Mobile Stream) so I uninstalled the old one and installed the new one.

Nope, not at all. I use easytether pro on my evo4g, which has the gingerbread update, and I use it for my pc, and my ps3, If im over a friends house.


text:
How can I update the Market app on my device?
I have an HTC Desire S with Android 2.3. After I purchased my phone Google released an update for the Android Market, but I haven't receive this update. How can I update to the new version of the Market?

New versions of the Market are rolled-out by Google automatically (and there is a slight chance that you never see the new Market, but I don't think that this is true for the Desire S). So the best thing is to wait.
If you really can't wait you could try this market.apk, but I am not sure if it's the latest. Make sure that you have "Unknown sources" enabled. Source


text:
How can I play an .flv file on Android 2.1?
I would like to play an .flv movie file on Android 2.1. How can I do this?

Did you have a problem with the apps found with an Android Market search for "flv" or similar?  If I don't see a real problem here (required as per the [FAQ]), this is just an off-topic recommendation question.

There are a few FLV players available on Android, try among these: 13 Great Video Players for Android. The Mobo Player seems promising among them.
Here's a link for Mobo Player as well, just in case. :)


text:
Android display to TV?
I have an android device(tablet) and I want the screen that I see on my tablet to be able to see it on my TV. The TV has HDMI to which I connected but I only have the video playback or whatever. I need what I see on my tablet to be able to also see on the TV. I need this very fast. Any help is appreciated.
I understand it is possible but only for movies. Is there a way to see media other than movies?

Which tablet do you have? Plugging my Xoom into HDMI always mirrors what's on the screen.

I have 7 different tablet types(ranging from an lg phone with android 2.2.2 to iconia tab t500 android 3.2) and I need them all to work which they don't. So I'm thinking there is an options or a feature that you have to enable on the tablet for it to work.

It's also possible it just isn't supported. The HTC EVO doesn't do full mirroring without rooting and installing a custom app for it. This really depends on the device, I imagine.

I have both the Iconia A500 and the Transformer TF101. Both output just fine to TVs with HDMI.
There is a little bit cropped off the image in both cases and the home - back - recent buttons don't show on the TVs, nor does the notification panel, all suggesting that it isn't really an external monitor type feature, only to play back movies etc on the big screens.


text:
Is there some way to get the new APK from Google Play Store sooner?
For example, Pokemon Go 0.57.2 was available on apkmirror.com for 4, 5 hours now, but still it is not on Google Play.
Is there any way to get it from official source sooner?  I mostly trust apkmirror.com, but say, what if somebody hacked into apkmirror (which I assume will be less secure than Google Play Store) and target a country in the world and serve a modified apk, or target some IP, then it will be not secure.

Google has two mechanism that may be responsible for your observation:

A app developer can publish new apps only to a certain percentage of the users. In case of errors in the new app version the support is not taken down by a DDOS of all the users having problems.
Google allows to start beta-tests with closed groups (hand-picked) that get access to new versions while the rest of the users only get access to the previous version. May be the version uploaded to apkmirror is such a version.

In both cases you can do nothing to receive the update earlier.

If you are taking about

Pokemon go

in specific. Just for your information, app is still available in playstore.
Don't know from which country you are in. I'm in India. And I can find Pokemon Go in playstore
Below Link
Pokemon Go Playstore

If you talking about any playstore apps, I don't think there is any way you can download it apart from source(playstore).
If any website found which allows to download apks . I would warn you not download it and install. Those might be injected and can cause harm to ur details and your contents in your devices.

Note: there are some apps in Google Playstore that can slow down and bring harm.


text:
How can an Android phone acting as a local hotspot show how many people are connected to the hotspot?
Can an Android phone do that? Or even better, ask for permission whenever a phone tries to connect to the hotspot?
This is because with iOS, Mac, or other devices, they may "connect to this hotspot" as free Wifi, and transfer or download 500 MB, 1.2 GB of data as they please. But the hotspot uses cell phone data transfer (LTE or 4G), which means 1 GB of data will cost US$10 to US$15.
This is especially serious with Apple devices, because if you use one iPhone / iPad to connect to this hotspot, then all your other Apple devices will also get this hotspot (or Wifi) password through iCloud, and all automatically connect to this hotspot, and download the 3GB of app updates, system update in the background, and so all of a sudden, the 1.2GB of software update should have been free, but now is US$12. Multiply by 3 computers / iPhones and 2 times a month and that's like $80.

Yes, my phones (Galaxy S5, J5) do that. Every device is listed with its MAC adresses, which can be edited and replaced with a name.

@esQmo how are you able to see that?

The system provides those informations

It is very useful

You can even deny access to non-registered devices

Using terminal type ip neigh it show the clients connected to hotspot and their addresses

Yes it will tell you what devices are attached. You also set the security settings, including password, for the hotspot so only devices with the password can connect.

so I think the question is: where can you show that?


text:
Is there a way to force a new update to show up on Google Play?
Since apkmirror.com is not an official source, I would like to download directly from the Google Play Store.
But say, Pokemon Go updates have always been announced, and not available on Google Play but available on apkmirror.com
Wouldn't there actually exist a way to force a new update to show up on Google Play?  Maybe Google Play doesn't want a large amount of traffic to happen all of a sudden, so it does the release worldwide, region by region. But right now is 4am Pacific time. If it is open 4am in Pacific time, it really should not be too much traffic downloading it. If an update can be forced to show up by some advanced user during the non-peak hours (such as 1am to 6am), the traffic really should not be that much.

Try going to google playstore and search for the app (Pokemon GO) and exit google play, and reopen it and now go ahead search for it (like you want to install it) this time it show the update button (instead of open) I use the same trick to force update  some apps which delay , I guess its just syncing delays

hm, thank you, to me, this method still shows the open button only

Probably it may be that the updates won't be uploaded to google servers as yet, because apkmirror and some independent app sites get updates much earlier, since apk mirror is an official trusted store, you could alternatively get an which fetch these updates from apkmirror apk updater

APKMirror is, I would say, as safe as the Play Store. Never had an issue and well regarded to be safe! Other APK markets, not so much.

I think at least for Google Play, if anything happens, you have Google to stand behind it (and have Google to guard against it), so if it is backed by one of the top tech companies in the world, then the confidence level can't be much higher than that


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Does Google Play Store not want to support the bandwidth of download?
If an app such as Pokemon Go isn't available on Google Play store yet, and millions of people download it from apkmirror.com for three days, does that mean during this time Google Play store doesn't want to support or pay for the download bandwidth?
Or does it mean the app is still under verification and Google still has to verify the app? But if so, millions of people still download it regardless.
I am somewhat concerned because if it is the director or CTO / CFO or government officials thinking apkmirror.com is 100% safe and download the app, you never know whether the app is tampered and what the app can be doing. It gives a security hash but even that can be tampered or hacked. If it is Google Play store, at least you know you have Google to stand behind it.
P.S. Niantic announced the update on Nov 1, 2017, and right now is Nov 6 and the update is still not out on the Google Play Store yet. But it has been on apkmirror.com since Nov 1. It doesn't show how many downloads so far, but it could be hundred of thousand of people, if not millions, because the update has bug fixes and also said to allow users to power up Pokemon to level 40, which was affected by a bug since one year ago that only allowed people to power up to level 39. Well, the "bug fix", after one year, turned out, reported by other players, to only allow players to power up to level 39.5, but due to this fix, it could be many users already went the apkmirror.com route to download it.

No, it doesn't mean that at all. It just means the developer of the app doesn't want to launch it on Google Play yet. In the case of Pokemon Go, it's because Niantic want to have a closed beta period to limit the load on their game servers, but people are pirating the app through sites like apkmirror.com.
Unlike the Apple App Store, Google Play doesn't have a manual verification process on apps, so there's no week-long delay between the developer uploading the app and it being published. Apps on Google Play are published immediately when the developer chooses to publish them.

The above applies just as much to updates as to the initial version. When a developer uploads a new version to Google Play, they can choose to roll it out only to a list of chosen users as a "closed beta", or to do a "staged rollout" to a randomly selected subset of users (say 5% of users). Again, this is the developer's choice, not Google's.
Staged rollouts are good for developers of the most popular apps, because it exposes the new app to some live users in real-life conditions. If there's a problem it's easy to revert the update or just avoid sending it to the remaining 95% of users until the problem is fixed, depending on how severe it is. That way, most users aren't affected by the problem.
When a closed beta or staged rollout is happening, the majority of users won't see that there is an update at all, and they can't access the update through Google Play. A closed beta might last for a few weeks or a month, but a staged rollout is typically less than a week. After that, all remaining users get the update.
It only takes one user in the beta to upload a pirated APK file to a piracy site, which is why you'll see the update there before you get it officially.

it would seem weird that Niantic would like Apple to approve the new version ASAP, while holding back on the Google Play store... maybe one explanation is Niantic want them to go out at the same time for iOS and Android? But then, who can pirate it and put on apkmirror.com if Niantic never published it on Google Play store yet?

@太極者無極而生They did publish it on the Play Store. It sounds more like they aren't distributing it in your country, or your device is not compatible.

@eldarerathis Or the device has been modified, and SafetyNet cannot be passed.

@DeathMaskSalesman Yep, also a possibility. I forgot about that one.

Usually, the pattern is: (1) Pokemon Go is announced to be in the process of an update. (2) apkmirror.com will have it almost instantly or within the next few hours (3) two to three days later, Google Play store and Apple App Store will both have it. My device is an unmodified, top of the line Android phone... almost everyone is in the Pokemon Go community is experiencing this pattern

@太極者無極而生 but Apple is, and has always been, Apple-exclusive and developers have little or no choice except to use Apple for mass distribution of apps. For Android the system is a lot more open, and while (I assume) most devs distribute via Play Store, they can also distribute through Amazon as well as numerous other app platforms.

so we have to trust ThunderBoltDog and AlmightyDiamondLady or whoever running or uploading to apkmirror.com?

@eldarerathis I saw that page that it is "published" on Google Play Store, except the date is Nov 1, which is new, but the "current version" is 0.79, which is old, and in any event, right now is Nov 3 and I can't download it on my Android phone and it typically will need to wait 1 to 2 more days if it is like before


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Open source / trusted rooting app for Android / Motorola Defy?
I found a lot of compiled rooting exploits for Android, but not a lot of source code.
So, how can I trust an exploit able to take SU rights on my mobile device? How can I be sure there is no root-kit/bot/spyware inside?
I'm maybe a little paranoid, but this is a very serious issue for me:
My PDA contain a lot of private/secret informations (personal and professional), so, is there a trusted/secure way to root an Android device? (A Motorola Defy in particular)

[EDIT]
I insist on this last point:

is there a trusted/secure way to root an Android device? (A Motorola Defy in particular)

Does anybody know an open source or trusted rooting app for Android, and Motorola Defy in particular?

Perhaps a simple answer but if the author doesn't provide the sourcecode of the App und you know that it doesn't originate of a trusted source, you can't be sure that it's clean.
If it's a high risk for you you probably should not use it.

There are many devs who at least explain their methods though, so hopefully one could develop rooting software oneself from that.


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Does android switch to a different APN when in hotspot mode?
I've tried turning on the portable hot-spot mode on my nexus-one and got a message from my operator saying that my plan doesn't cover data traffic made through the web.operator.com APN, as opposed to mobile.operator.com (my "usual" APN). That made me curious. Does that mean that android switches APNs when the hot-spot feature is active? And if so, is this a built-in feature/configuration option or an operator customization?
Update No, the phone doesn't switch to a different APN, but I'm still not sure what triggered the message from my operator...
Update There's kind of a persistent rumor that European Nexus-One phones get tweaked OSes, see the xda-developers forum threads [1] and [2], or google nexus-one forums [1] and [2]. One of the most likely tweaks seems to be the tagging of hotspot traffic, in order to be able to charge for it differently.

Also see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=734138 for a discussion about how they might. Mechanisms other than APN change might include

Time to live
Request header
Data volume

Answer seems to be probably not.

Now that's an interesting read!


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Does Nexus S Wifi and GPS have issues?
So there I was, happily reading reviews about Google's/Samsumg Nexus S building my judgement whether to buy it or not after my Nexus 1 got stolen. Happily enough there were very few posts on issues with the phone and most reviews would state quite triumph for Samsumg for it's gorgeous screen and for finally getting rid of it's dreaded GPS bummer.
Decision made and finally got my own brand new NS. In general terms, the phone is pretty smooth, very responsive - haven't seem an android phone this smooth in a while. I'm pretty happy with it. However, there are two issues which are bugging a lot: the WiFi and the GPS. Since I've read these reviews I mention in the beginning I'm not too sure whether they design flaws or just I got (un)lucky with this one.
My GPS is definitely crap. I have that "GPS test app" and even when it has like 7 satellites in sight it still wont manage to get a lock as quick (if any) as other phones I've been comparing it. E.g. And old HTC Magic sitting next to my NS got a lock in like, 5 seconds while mine took almost 20 - then lost it. Also, after acquiring the lock, it has an average of 20-30 meters error while the HTCs and Nokias are like pin-point 5m<.
As for the WiFi, I'm not sure if is just a display issue or if the reception is really bad, but being in the same room as the router, about 4 meters away, the phone shows two strength bars only. I figure that the reception could be just fine and the display could be just bad parametrized so I've got the "WiFi Analyser" app it says my signal is at -78dBm (which with a little googling apparently means pretty weak).
What do you guys say? Are those known issues? Are there Fixes? Should I send it back?
I just reaaaaly don't want to root it get custom Roms and try and try.. This thing is brand new, should work as it is.

Yeah I am having the same issue. The GPS is crap and has errors as you said.

If nobody else is having the issue, I'd send it back for a replacement.  You probably just got unlucky.  Though you might also want to compare the WiFi signal strength with your other phone, and try some speed tests to see if it's actually an issue or if the number of bars is just misleading.

This link:
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google%20Mobile/thread?tid=72cde4a29b9021c3&hl=en
on the Google forums would indicate that there are some connectivity issues with the Nexus S


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HTC Desire HD Android 2.2 disable screen shut off when timer is running
I tried to use the timer for a countdown of 3 minutes. 1 minute in, the screen shut off and the phone locked, disabling the countdown.
After 4 minutes, I realised what had happened. Is there a way to disable the screen shut off just when the timer is running?

You may try to install KeepScreen application from Android market and configure it to disable screen timeout when your timer application is running.

The Tasker app should be able to do this as well.


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How can I install a CA cert on my Samsung Nexus?
I have the cert as a .cer file on my Mac, and my phone is connected via USB. How can I install the cert on my device?

Rename the file with an extension of .crt and place it in your SD card /download folder.
Put the SD card back into your device (or remount it, if internal) and navigate to SETTINGS > SECURITY & PRIVACY > INSTALL CERTIFICATE FROM SD CARD.
Hopefully that ought to do the trick, else try this online Certificate Installer tool - it gives you a link that you can navigate to using the Android web browser and install the certificate.


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Does any version of Android support ad-hoc connections?
I just bought a Lenovo Ideapad A1 which runs Android 2.3. It seems that connecting the device to an ad-hoc network is not possible.
Does any other Android version support this?

There are no Android versions that support the 802.11 ad-hoc mode (unfortunately).  To have ad-hoc working on an Android you need to root your phone.  This however does not fix the basic issue that the Android java API does not allow you to programatically control the wifi interface in ad-hoc mode - to do that you need to resort to native code which is not portable accross devices.
Android 4.0 however supports (and provides API's for) the new WiFi direct standard which offers some of the functionality of the 802.11 ad-hoc mode (+ a bunch of other higher level stuff).  One of the nice promises of WiFi Direct is that it will be backwards compatible with regular infrastructure mode WiFi (in the sense that a WiFi direct device will appear as a regular Access Point to non WiFi Direct devices).

Android-wifi-tether supports ad-hoc mode for rooted devices: http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/

While most Android OS versions do not support Adhoc, You do not need to downgrade or upgrade your OS to connect to your computer or use wireless LAN. Please use Connectify, its a software that creates Wireless Hotspots for your android or any other device you need.

Thanks for your answer. I exactly used that tool! (Windows XP / Free Connectify version) The tablet could not find the created hotspot. For what I know, Connectify creates Adhoc networks, does it? I'm only seeing the option >Settings >Security Mode: Ad-Hoc, Wep.

No I'm not sure it creates adhoc. It creates a wireless hotspot rather.

Are you using the PRO version?

@Tom: Connectify can only run in ad-hoc mode on XP and Vista. The infrastructure AP mode only works on Windows 7.

Thank you! So I guess there is no way to do it under Windows Xp, right? On my original question: Are there Android version supporting ad-hoc connections?


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How can I prevent my music apps from launching and playing on their own?
When plugging headphones into my Droid X, I can listen to music for a little while. The issue will start if the headphones rotate while in place. This somehow triggers an event and my Droid X will start to play the default player, sometimes it will play Songbird...sometimes both. Sometimes when it does this it just keeps playing and pausing music. It seems really messed up on the hardware level. I intend to keep the device, as the only real issue is the default players launching.
My question is this: How can I prevent the default player(s) from launching and playing music ever?

After doing some more research, I found a thread with a lot of users having the same exact problem:
Their solution is to use either Headset Blocker or Disable Autoplay apps. This seems to have sort of worked. Just make sure that taskkiller isn't disable either of these.
I am still experimenting on how to fix this issue...
Edit1: I still see the same issue even though both suggested apps are running. I believe the taskkiller app may be causing this issue. I am going to try disable it and seeing if this gets anywhere.
Edit2: Still no luck. I am going to try rooting my phone and installing the Autostarts app


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Can I delete the log files on my device?
I'm currently developing on an Android 2.3.4 device. I've got root access to the file system, and I'm looking for the location of the system log files (like /var/log) so that I can delete them, but could not find these files on Android.
Does someone know where these files are located?

Related: Where are log files located on Android? (I believe the answer is basically that there aren't any)

Shouldn't this be over at SO?

LogCat messages are not stored in files, but rather in circular memory buffers. You may clear these buffers using the following command:
adb logcat -c

Source: Using LogCat

The OP must have been referring to the files but not logs stored in memory

This wouldn't necessarily clear the Logcat.

On a Samsung *#9900#, this will take you to SysDump.
Select 2nd option(Delete Dumpstate/Logcat).

Yes, you can delete log files on your device...
Using the app SD Maid (Explorer tab) on a rooted Samsung Galaxy Note 1 (N7000), Android 4.1.2, LT5 Build, I found 900+ log files in /data/log.
After clearing the literally hundreds of dumpstate* files, I got my internal memory back from only 207mb up to 1040+ mb! Now I can complete all the missing updates. These files were dated back over more than 1 year and seemed to serve no valid function any more. Afterwards the device booted, was faster and no functionality was lost.
Looking at the dates of these files they coincided with some system crashes and SD card mounting problems I had received in the past.
But in order to even see these files you will need a rooted device.
Using the clean master app on a rooted device also found a lot of files which could be deleted.
Here are the links to the Apps in Google Play Store as requested

SD Maid: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.thedarken.sdm
Clean Master: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cleanmaster.mguard

It'd be nice if you could add links to the apps you mention.

+1 for pointing out to /data/log/ folder. These logs aren't created by LogCat but rather by system itself (and looks like dumpstate* files are generated because of some CM bug: http://android.stackexchange.com/a/48281/19059)

For me it solved my disappearing memory problem. I've been looking for a solution for ages without success. Only after rooting the phone and searching for log files and things did I find this. If you search for dumpstate* because you know about them you will find information but as a non rooted user, you will never see this name. The directory appears empty. I hope this information can help other users. Why the crashes occurred in the first case was because of a lost connection to the SD card or was the invisible SD caused by some other failure? I don't know. I'm at least happy at the moment.

Here is an old question on StackOverflow about the same thing. It doesn't look like there's any way to view them directly, but there are various apps that can do it.

Thank you, but sorry that doesn't help. I don't want to view it, I want to delete it.

@truell Delete what? The logs? Why? As far as I know, they don't persist for very long (reboot or max log line count, I think)


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How can I sync all folders from an Exchange server (not just the Inbox)?
I am using a Samsung Galaxy S2 (Android 2.3.4) and have set up the native email app to synchronize with an MS Exchange 2007 server. The problem I am noticing is that I'm only notified for a new email if it is sent to my Inbox folder. I have to sync my other folders one-by-one.
Is there any sync all option?

Do you have server-side rules that move mail automatically to other folders? Reason I'm asking: usually every mail should end up in your inbox folder first.
There are two cases where this doesn't happen: a) server-side rules or b) client-side rules that are enforced while the Outlook client application is running and checking for mail.

No the emails in the MS outlook are directed through the rules to the coresponding server. So when I have a new email to a folder other than inbox I have to sync the specific folder. It is not efficient in case of big number of email folders.

Not sure if you've made any headway on this. I was searching for answers for this today and got it figured out. I've got a Galaxy S4, running 4.2.2 I had to open the native email app.
Menu > Settings > Exchange Account with sub folders > More Settings > Folder Sync Settings. From there I think it should be self explanatory.
Not sure what version of Android you're running by now, but thought I'd share.

using 4.2.1 I do not have the "more settings" menu. Any one has an idea of how I can get to the folder setting then?

Unfortunately the native Android Exchange Client doesn't support automatic sync of sub-folders, as you have seen you can go in to the folder and sync it manually but that isn't much use.
This hasn't been improved much in Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The sub folders now sync but it doesn't notify you of new messages in them which isn't really any better.
I would recommend using a 3rd Party client like Moxier or Touchdown. Both have trials so that you can test them first.

I am using galaxy S2 with android 4.0.4. I am getting alert for sub-folders. You go to email client and select sub-folders from the menu. After reaching the sub-folder, select menu button and you will find sync option. You can select as automatic push. It gives alert immediately.

As Nuronv states,  in Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the sub folders are synchronized.  However, I have found in my case that only a partial list of sub-folders are synchronized.
I have server-side rules set up to sort all of my mail into very specific folders and the client is configured to save replies in the same folder with the email.  This allows me to maintain collections of emails and conversations with a specific client, vendor, or project.  I literally have hundreds of folders and sub-folders.
In my first experience synchronizing, it only caught 3 sub-folders on the 2nd level  (I have about 8), and in each of those folders, it found 3 in one folder that I have over 40, and 8 in another folder where I have about 15.  It does not seem aparent why this is happening.
I will take Nuronv's second suggestion and go check out Moxier or Touchdown.

UPDATE:  Neither Moxier or Touchdown seem to be a viable replacement.
After several months of testing and evaluating both products, neither of them have proven themselves to be a viable replacement.
The primary reason being, that neither of them integrate properly with the built-in contacts, calendar, or mail.  I have contacts in my phone, and want all of the contacts on my Exchange server, integrated.  Touchdown integrates, but the categories I have defined on Exchange, are disregarded and are replaced instead by "TouchDown Exchange".  That's useless.  All contacts in one group?  Seriously?

...additionally, each of them have their own dedicated calendar.  I want an application that displays the calendar items, right along side the built-in Google calendar, so I can elect to show those events or not, and compare my business events, side-by-side, with my personal events.
The built-in Exchange ActiveSync does both of these things very well.  It just doesn't alert on new mail in sub-folders.  That's really the only thing I don't like about it.

I just got a Note 8 and the sub folders that I use to organize my work emails were nowhere to be found. I went through every setting but no luck. I tried some of the other email apps that were recommended here and at other help sites. In the end, the only one that worked to show my sub folders was the Microsoft Outlook app. No settings to hunt for. It just worked. I was about to return my Note 8 before I found that this app solved my problem. Too bad Samsung can't fix there default app!

There is nothing wrong with the default email app, just have to find the settings.

Open your Samsung email app.
Next to the Inbox, click on the 3 line menu bar. At the very top you will find a gear(Settings).
Choose the account you are trying to sync all folders (Just click on the account) This will open the settings for this email account.
Scroll halfway down to the Section 'Exchange ActiveSync Settings' then choose Folder Sync
Be sure to hit the ^ on the Inbox to expand
Choose the folders you wish to Sync.
You will be cautioned on the amount of folders syncing as it will slow the sync process down.
Re-sync your phone and you should see all your folders now.

the best solution is to just replace the exchange server.
saves you a lot of headdaches.
You can try Zarafa, Zimbra, OpenChange, Communigate etc.
Or just Google Apps, which very nicely talks caldav and carddav and imap, instead of the propriatery mapi crap.

Replacing exchange server just to get your phone to sync subfolders is a really stupid idea - this is not a solution.


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Endless loading for emulator on low-end netbook
I'm trying to develop on my old netbook but the emulator never completely loads. It keeps working and sometimes it freezes but then it doesn't finish booting.
I'm not really skilled in Android development and I would like to know if I can tweak the emulator to require less computational power. I'm learning new stuff so I don't have to run big stuff, I just need to start the emulator and launch a simple application

I would say the simple answer is no.  The emulator performs fairly poorly on high-end computers, so even if you got it to start up the performance would be beyond horrible.

There is a minimum possible processor speed for Android to run correctly.  If you don't get that speed, part of the system thinks another part has crashed (it gives it about 5 seconds to finish initialising and panics if it doesn't) and terminates it, which leaves the system in an unusable state.  On the emulator, processors slower than about 2.4GHz Pentium 4s fail.  You can get it to work on slightly slower machines by turning off the boot animation, but even that isn't reliable.
When I needed to do some development on a machine too slow for the emulator, I used android-x86 in a virtualbox virtual machine.  It works nicely, unless you need to interact with text messages or phone calls.

I'm not really skilled in Android development and I would like to
  know if I can tweak the emulator to require less computational power.

There are a couple things you can tweak to make the emulator less resource hungry. The two most important knob is:

RAM: the emulator always allocates all of the emulated device's RAM into the host's RAM even if it's unused by the emulated device. If you specify the emulated device to have a RAM larger than the free RAM that you normally have on the host without running the emulator, then the host OS will have to swap and invariably causes trashing.
Screen size: use lower resolution screen, the default screen resolution for Android 3.x and 4.x is way too high to run smoothly in even high-end hardware.

I've been able to successfully develop several simple apps on my old laptop, a 1.8Ghz dual core with 1GB RAM. After proper tweaks, the emulator still feels slow and laggy, but it's usable.
Also, I haven't tried it yet, but you might want to try Android-x86 in VirtualBox or QEMU. The emulator that comes with the SDK emulates ARM architecture, therefore there is an overhead in translating ARM to x86 instruction; most Intel and AMD CPU used in laptop uses the x86 architecture and have support for x86 emulation to significantly reduce emulation overhead. If your app runs on Dalvik, and doesn't use the NDK, then theoretically you should have no problem using Android-x86.


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Is there a way to estimate building movements?
I wish to determine if, or how much, movement there is of the building in which I'm currently living. Is there any way for me to do this? Is it even possible at all based on phone hardware?

App shopping suggestions are generally off-topic, as per the FAQ.

Ooops... You are right. Should I delete this question or mark it in special way? Also, where Can I ask some application search related questions?

@Damian Are you really want to track the "movement" of a building (geological) or do you want information about in-house navigation?

@Flow "Movement" - if the building is moving when there is wind blowing from one direction.

You cannot track your building's movements with the GPS. Its accuracy isn't better than ~10m. If your house does move that much, you won't need any hardware to detect it.

I was thinking about phone accelerometers. Maybe they are sensitive enough?

@Damian Go and find out. Install an sensors App and place your phone on a table and see if the sensors catch anything.


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Galaxy Nexus randomly shut downs while streaming music with Pandora- how do I fix this?
While streaming music with the Pandora application (on the high quality setting) on a Galaxy Nexus over Verizon 4G, after any given time period the phone will completely shut down. This happens at unpredictable times. The phone doesn't get heated and no data/download limits are reached. I'm fairly certain this is a bug with the Pandora app on ICS or could be ICS in general, as it is not experienced during any other data streaming.

Has anyone experienced this random shut down while streaming with Pandora on their device, and if so..
Is there remedy for this type of bug?

Do you use bluetooth devices with your phone while using Pandora (whether they directly interact with it or not)?

@Mr.Buster No bluetooth devices at all.

For random shut downs, that's most probably a loose battery problem.
Stick some dental floss (I used Oral-B Glide floss) in the side opposite the battery connectors.  I used that floss because it's a bit spongy when you bunch it up but at the same time hard.  Used about 1.5 feet of it bundled up in my Nexus S phone.

When you push the battery in, make sure it is tight, but not too tight.
This will force the battery to remain contacted at the pins.  When the battery is loose and can disconnect from the pins (for even a fraction of a second), you get an open circuit and the phone shuts off completely (no power).


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Is it possible to update CyanogenMod from within CyanogenMod?
Is there a way to update CyanogenMod from within CyanogenMod without going though the whole flashing process? I'm looking a for one press update button.

Depending on the version of CyanogenMod ROM you have currently installed, this can be easy or impossible.
If you already have CM7, and simply want to try out the nightly builds, ROM Manager and ROM Manager Premium unlock automate the entire process.  With a single button tap, it can download the latest version of the ROM, reboot to Recovery, take a backup of the current system, flash the new version, and reboot back.
If you are on an older version of CM (4/5/6) this cannot be done in one click, because of the drastic differences between the ROMs.  A full wipe of the device will be required, which means all of your settings and downloaded apps will be deleted, and will need to be re-installed manually (or in batch via Titanium Backup or AppBrain.)

ROM Manager asks to update to Premium. Is there a free alternative?

I don't know of any as advanced as RM.  The Premium upgrade is only necessary if you really want the full automation "one-click-upgrade" feature.


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Why is the connection between the Android emulator and a PC so slow?
Host OS: Windows 7 x86
Android emulator target: 2.3.3
When I execute 'adb pull' or 'adb push' with emulator - transfer speed is about 70KB/s.
When I do this with real device it's normal USB speed. Why is this?

Because the emulator is buggy and slow and should be avoided if possible when developing. I'm assuming its because of the general problem with emulators, it is trying to mimic hardware functions on a software level which is extremely inefficient.

I agree with you that it's slow because it emulates arm architecture on x86, but it's not so buggy.

Now I use emulator for testing custom images. Yesteday I rooted standart Android 2.3.3 image and installed Android Market on it. To do so I needed to build system.img from /system fs with mkfs.yaffs2 and then pulling system.img from emulator and this was very long, because image is ~90MB size. Also I do not understand where is bottleneck in transfer, I think it's more an implementation detail or restriction.


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How do I remove an account for a phone I sold but did not factory reset first?
I had an HTC Wildfire phone which I stood on and broke the screen. I then sold it as spares because it wouldn't turn on and bought another one. When I went onto my Market account I noticed my new one is there and so is the one I sold, both registered to my Google mail address, and there is recent activity on both of them. I could not reset the old one to factory settings before I sold it because it wouldn't turn on. Is there a way I can unlink the old one from my account? Its beginning to worry me that someone else is using it through my Google mail account .

Possible duplicate of http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/16520/remove-google-account-from-older-smartphone

@roxan I agree there's overlap but not sure it is a duplicate as that question covers the situation where the phone is still accessible, in this case it's been sold and the OP can't get hold of it anymore. Also that question involves not disrupting the new owner any more than necessary, and this one the OP wants to unlink the account for worry that someone else may be spending their money, and presumably doesn't care about the other person.

If you go to the Market Account settings part of the Android Market webpage at https://market.android.com/account and click on the Settings tab, you should see a list of the devices registered on that Market account, clicking the Edit button lets you hide that old phone from the web interface. That's what you'd normally use to remove an old device from showing.
If you're worried about whoever renovated your phone using your account, then you need to go a step further than that. The easiest way to block the other phone out will be to change your Google Account password. Then your phone will prompt for the new password next time it connects to a Google service, as will your old one, but as only you know the new password it should stop them from using your account on the old phone.
To stop this sort of thing happening in the future you ought to think about setting up two-step authentication on your Google account, once you've got that set up you can log into your Google account's settings and revoke the access password for any phone or device one at a time once you don't want them accessing your details any more.

For what it's worth, every time I hide an old phone from Market's web interface, it comes back a few weeks later.

Change your password then revoke it's access.

Also, start using application specific passwords and 2-step verification if you aren't already.

This makes it easier to control what gets access where.
This should prompt who ever is using the phone to reauthorize your account (via password or 2-step), which they won't be able to.


text:
Upgrade and Rooting Motorola Xoom Paths
I have a UK Motorola Xoom, Wifi only version. It's currently running 3.0.1 and is rooted.
I'd really like to upgrade to 3.2 and stay rooted. What's the best path to take with this?
I can't download the official "over the air" update, because that clashes with the rooting process I have performed (I assume) as that bricks the device. I have been using it for a while and have many settings and apps in place. I assume there is no way I can do an in place upgrade and keep everything as it is?
I assume I will have to use something like Titanium Backup, then find a pre-rooted 3.2 image and flash that on, then restore my apps and settings? Can anyone confirm if this is correct or not?
Finally, if that is true, can anyone point me to such an image for my model tab?

The path I have taken is to install Wingray. This is a build of CM9 (Android 4.x ICS) specifically for the Xoom table. So I got to go strait to ICS and keep root. Just had to re-flash with this image!

Just a bit of nitpick: Wingray is a codename of Xoom MZ604. You installed SGT7 for Wingray.

You could try CyanogenMod 9 (there's a release candidate now):
CM9 has support for the Motorola Xoom (wifi), and the Motorola Xoom (Verizon) at this point.
Here's CyanogenMod's update guide from their wiki for the Xoom.
You have to backup your device in advance, of course (using TitaniumBackup for example).

I cannot find CyanogenMod any longer. The site seems down :(

Alas, CyanogenMod has shut down. You may find the info in the mirrors:
https://www.reddit.com/r/cyanogenmod/comments/5kfo0m/the_cyanogenmod_archives_full_downloads/ (see Browsable pages)

alternatively, have a look at the successor project site:
http://lineageos.org/community/


text:
Is it possible to run an app twice side by side on the MIUI?
It is said that with MIUI, it is possible to run the same app twice as if they are on two different phones. (example: WeChat or Line running with a work account and one running with a personal account).
Is it possible to run the same app twice, and side by side on an Xiaomi Redmi 4X with MIUI 8?  Or is it only possible to show them one at a time?
If it is only possible to show one at a time, you can't really play some games such as Pokemon Go and do the Raid Battle at the same time using both accounts (since you have to switch screen to one at a time and therefore not play at the same time).
And if it is possible side by side, can it be vertically or horizontally split on the screen, but won't the 2 apps be really small and make it not practical to play at the same time?
Could some screenshot / YouTube video be posted if you are possible to make it happen?

You can't play the same game simultaneously, while gaming the active window only will be active in split-screen mode (see the example below), but you can play while you're watching Youtube, because gaming isn't like watching or listening.

Your device has a 1.4GHz octa-core and 2GB, it's not a high end device where you can run resource consuming apps twice, your chances of getting things up and running are low.
The app cloning feature is good for WeChat,Line and other chat apps but not for gaming apps where your 5" device is not enough to run two instances in a split screen.
The following solution is almost for every Android Device with high end specs:

1. Force activities to be resizable
To force apps that doesn't support split screen feature, you have to enable this option from Developer Settings:

Goto Developer Options.
Scroll down and until "Force activities to be resizable" and activate it.
Restart your device.

Now, you can use split-screen with any app, even if it doesn't support split screen feature.
2. Install Parallel Space & Parallel Space - 64Bit Support

Note: Parallel Space has access to many dangerous permissions

Launch Parallel Space and choose the apps you want to clone.
Launch the cloned instance of your app.
Tap & maintain on recents button to split the screen.
Launch the same app from your recents or from your home screen.

3. Example: Two instances of Clash Royale
In the picture below I'm Playing Clash Royale and Clash of Clans (by default they don't support split-screen feature) in split-screen but not simultaneously.

This should be the accepted answer. Android Q is set to enable apps to be resizable by default in the future, but by now doing it this way and then using an app like Island works like a charm.

On MIUI, you can play both game simultaneously since they don't use the native splitscreen made by Google.
On MIUI installed on Nougat or Oreo, you don't need to install parallel space since it's native in MIUI but you still need to force activities to be resizable.

This good be a good answer if you explain how to do it.


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Is there a way to add "special effects", or "background photos" or "sticker" to the system so that the Facebook app can use?
Somebody was able to add the following three cats (on of the app's default photos) inside of the Facebook app to the photo before he posted to Facebook:

But I checked on both my Huawei Mate 9 and Redmi 4X, and both of them do not have the 3 cats, but just had 3 Minions, and Udemy and others:

I don't think Facebook added Udemy by default, so it looks like these kind of background or what it was called "special effect" photos can be added somehow? How can it be done?  (on the iPhone, there is no such thing but just "stickers", exactly how it works on a web browser such as Google Chrome on a Macbook).

What you're looking for is the Facebook Camera Effects

Example:
I added my simple draw, and I can see it on different designs, and also test it on my mobile before publishing (if you choose Preview on Mobile you'll get a notification in the Android Facebook app to test it).

Result:
I took a picture with my new overlay.


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How to use NFC Tools to write a 540 byte file to NFC Ntag 215?
It seems Tagmo is a tool to write NFC tags, but when I searched on the Google Play Store, NFC Tools came out, not Tagmo (and it has a 4.4 out of 5 rating), so I tried using it to write a .bin file that is 540 bytes:

Email myself in Gmail the file abc.bin, which is 540 bytes, using my computer
On my Android phone, use Gmail to read that email and download that file
On Android phone's NFC Tools, use "Write" -> Add a record -> File, which asked me to install NFC Tasks the app (to read a file, you need an app?)
After I install NFC Tasks, I could choose the file from the "Download" folder

But then NFC Tools reports it is "55 bytes", when the file is 540 bytes. When I tried writing the file to an NFC NTag215, it didn't react or waited 45 seconds and said "Write Error".
Is there anything wrong in the above steps?  How do you write a simple file to an Ntag? Is there a better alternative to NFC Tools?
P.S. It seems the 55 byte as reported by NFC Tools might be the "path name" of the file, which is file:///storage/emulated/0/Download/099 - Abcde (HHD).bin But why would I write the path of a file to an NTAG? Usually, wouldn't it be writing the "content" of a file to an NTAG?
P.P.S. And when I tried another file, it now reports "Writing 110 bytes" (instead of "Writing 55 bytes"). So what is this writing 110 bytes of file paths, instead of the 540 byte file content to an NTAG? How come it seems there needs to be a 20 page instruction to do a simple thing?)

Please edit your question and include links to apps you mention (e.g. to Google PlayStore).

is it very hard to find? It is play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wakdev.wdnfc

Yes, because depending on the country you are in the app name may be different (translated app name) or the app may be even not listed at all. A link to PlayStore is fixed and uniquely identifies the app.

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


text:
3G Modem sim on my Nexus S
I have a 3G modem, and have tried it's sim card in a couple different modens with success.
However, I tried to put in on my Nexus S and use wifi tether, but it didn't work - although it seemed to have network signal, the data was not working. My guess was it misses the authentication part (for each different modem I tried, I had to add the operator's credentials).
I was wondering how do I configure my smartphone so it would act like a modem?
I have a Nexus S with Android 4.1.1

4.1.x would be Jelly Bean, not Ice Cream Sandwich.

Are you asking how to normally setup an Android device as a WiFi hot-spot ("tethering"), OR how to achieve this with the SIM card you using?

I want to do this with the data-only sim card.


text:
Can USB charging (via mains adapter or from PC/Mac) of Android tablets be the main, primary method of charging? Or are there design issues?
Are there design issues with tablets being charged by USB not seen with Android phones?
I saw this on another forum, what are your thoughts on this with regard to my question?
http://forums.androidcentral.com/acer-iconia-a100/112270-charge-via-usb-port.html#post1696260

An important consideration in the design is the amount of current the
  usb connectors can handle. I figure the designers find that it is
  safer to design a separate charging and power connector because as the
  devices get larger they draw more current to operate and charge the
  battery. I think that is the reason they do that. Is there no 12 volt
  adapter for these devices? I don't own one yet, just leaning towards
  the acer 7 inch tablet.

I would prefer charging via USB (via mains or PC) when considering a tablet so that I don't have to carry around a specific charger.
Many Android phones use their micro USB port for charging - connecting the USB cable to a mains adapter or using the cable to connect to a full size USB port on a computer.
I see that some major brand Android tablet manufacturers (Motorola, Asus) as well as some smaller less know brands either use a separate power input (non micro-USB) or a dock.

Creating a generic "list of things" is typically not a good fit for Stack Exchange sites (and this one seems particularly prone to become outdated). They fall pretty squarely into the every answer is equally valid part of the what not to ask section of the FAQ.

Tablets have larger screens, and often more powerful CPUs, than phones, which vastly increases power consumption.   In order to provide the battery life expected, tablet batteries have much higher capacity than typical phones, and would charge at an unacceptably slow rate with a 5V, 550ma charge provided by a USB 2.0 computer port (some wall chargers are 850ma or 1-2A).  At 550ma and 5V, you are getting 2.75 Watts (Volts x amps), at 2A, you are as high as 10 Watts.
Charging at a higher voltage allows a faster charge while keeping the current down, which minimizes the need for heavier conductors in the cable, etc.
The ASUS charger used with the Transfomer series, for example, uses 1.5A at 15V, which provides 22.5 Watts.   I believe the iPad charger has similar characteristics.  Each of these uses a proprietary connector which provides a signal to the charger that it can safely output the higher voltage, which reduces the risk of damaging other equipment by connecting it to the higher voltage charger.   The ASUS will charge, albeit very slowly, from a computer USB port using the proprietary cable; the same may be true of other tablets.
EDIT:
An additional factor is the maximum current rating of the pins in the USB connector.   This article states that the maximum rated current on pins 1 & 5 of a micro USB connector is 1.8 amps for a total of 9 watts.   Currents beyond that amount run the risk of overheating the pins.

+1 Thanks @TomG your answer corroborates with others here including earlier poster Tom. Credit to you for providing the detail on power data to support the answer. Thank you !

Yeah, I opened the question last night and didn't write the answer until this morning, so I didn't see his, otherwise I would have just added the extra info as a comment.

I've accepted your answer now because of your points about the differences between tablets and phones and the power transmission challenges therein. Not something I'm comfortable with in this wonderful community in transferring accepted status, I seldom do it. But I feel that your answer is the most comprehensive, though credit to the other answer as they are all useful too.

The USB spec specifies that the power supplied over USB shall be ~5V DC, which is fine.
A single USB device (e.g. your tablet) may draw up to 500 mA of power in USB 2 and 900 mA of power in USB 3.  This is the issue - it's workable but not ideal.
Using a USB cable as a power connector between a tablet and the AC adapter that came with the tablet is a different story - they can do anything they want - but charging from a USB port is governed by the above limitations.

@therobyouknow, yes, I've seen devices that do that: allow you to charge via micro-USB port either quickly, when the cable is connected to the supplied AC adapter, or less quickly when same cable is connected to USB host.  I really like that arrangement.

+1 yes @Tom ! Indeed just today, I have received confirmation by email from Ergo Electronics that their GoTab Android Tablet range can charge via microUSB. They also provide a specific power port for charging with their own adapter. So, you can either charge them via the tablets' microUSB port from PC,  standard USB mains adapter or via the tablets' specific power port. Mains adapter options will be faster at recharging however.

+1. My primary goal is to not need a separate charger for the tablet, to be able to use any charger with micro-USB. The secondary goal to be able to charge off of a USB 2 or USB 3 host is also useful. Presumably, if the Android tablet detects the usual handshaking from the host device then it would know that it is being charged from a USB Host where the current is limited compared to from an adapter. In the case of attachment to a USB host then it seems apparent that the Android tablet can accept this lower current and just charge the battery slower.

@TomG expands on this, explaining the greater power demands of a tablet, so I'd like to make his the accepted answer. But I am keeping my upvotes on yours Tom too. I don't like to move accepted answers and appreciate your early response and don't want to disappoint (sorry about that). However I need to choose the answer that provides the answer that has the highest coverage of the issues in the question.

P.S. as a consolation I've also upvoted your answer on USB microphones as I'm interested in that area from a radio producer point of view. See also avp.stackexchange.com for audio/video production discussions.

@therobyouknow No problem - I don't mind you transferring the accepted answer.  I think that users should feel open to contributing new, possibly better, answers even if another answer is already accepted.

The Google Nexus 7 charges from its Micro-USB port. I'm not sure if it'll charge plugged into a computer USB port, but plugged into the wall, it works great.

+1 This is close to what I'm looking for, it satisfies my main requirement whereby at least this a specific charger is not needed for this tablet. The Nexus 7 is a nice tablet - powerful with 4-cores but a pity no microSD input for storage expansion or USB Host/USB On-the-go (OTG) for external storage. These 2 would be particuarly useful to me for backing up photos taken from my DSLR camera and audio recordings made on my Zoom recorder.

I love the fast bootup of an Android device compared to Windows but for it to be serious contender to Windows it needs to be friendly to content creators to connect devices to the tablet. So I couldn't buy the Nexus 7 for that reason, it remains predominantly a content consumption device.

Micromax Funbook, a clone of AllWinner A10 tablet has separate 5V DC input for charging through mains and a mini USB port for PC and interface connectivity. I am able to charge the device both using 5V DC input and mini USB (not concurrently ;) ). I have observed that charging the battery through USB doesn't heat up the battery as the other way do and it seems battery stamina is improved as well,

+1 Thanks @Narayanan good to be aware of another device that supports USB charging.

@Cornholio, FYI, my Nexus 7 (2012, WiFi) will charge, slowly, on a computer USB port while in sleep mode/turned off. With the screen on, but running more or less at idle, it tends to just maintain, or gain or lose charge level at a very slow rate. But if I'm doing anything with 3-D graphics, mid-to-high CPU usage, or active GPS, it will always discharge faster than the computer's USB port can supply it (even with the screen off). This can be a particular problem with certain apps that don't exit properly (I'm talking to you, Candy Crush!), preventing the tablet from ever sleeping.


text:
Looking for list of USB OTG/USB Host officially supported in Android devices (allow connect USB sticks, etc) NON-rooted
I'm looking for a definitive list of Android devices that officially support USB On-the-go (OTG) / USB Host (non-rooted).
USB OTG/USB Host means that they can be used in a similar way to a PC whereby USB devices can be attached to them for them to access. E.g. memory sticks and other USB storage (mass storage class).
I am not looking for rooted devices (I know that such procedure can make a device support USB OTG/USB Host if the hardware supports it). I am looking for official support, out-of-the box.
Some devices may require adapter cables if necessary (i.e. micro USB to female USB socket).
So far I know at least one device that supports USB OTG / USB host out-of-the-box (non rooted):
The GoTab GBT740R 7" Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich tablet, costing just 100 pounds or less in UK! This device has a full size USB female socket to support USB OTG / USB Host. A friend owns one, his USB memory sticks work in this - we can browse to the USB stick contents using Astro File Manager App on the tablet. (By the way, I don't work for GoTab). This seems to be a feature-rich device though for the price point: microSD and HDMI also supported.
Any more devices? usb.org doesn't seem to have a list, well I haven't found it yet, nor Wikipedia entries.

For a such device to support USB OTG, the mileage varies, depends on the kernel, but, expect a kernel v3.x.x upwards, combined with ICS/JB, then yes, there is a good guarantee that USB OTG would be available.

+1 Thanks @t0mm13b for your input. Assuming by Kernel you mean that in Linux then in what Android versions is this present? 2.3, 4? etc? Can the Kernel used vary with the Android version? I would guess hardware support needs to be present (i.e. not all USB hardware has OTG). Though I would prefer a definitive list of devices officially supporting USB OTG, perhaps with the extent as you infer, rather than making a guess myself given the OS version they are running.

Android version 4 upwards running kernel 3.x.x would be the best bet as google has incorporated new features relating to USB, including OTG mechanisms.

+1 t0mm13b this would help me compile a list myself in the event no-one else is forthcoming. Surprising that USB.org don't maintain such a list, surely people want to know what actual devices use this technology?

USB.org is a site governing the protocols, understanding the USB specifications and technical documents! It has nothing to do with listing devices that supports OTG :)

@RichardBorcsik well any list then. I've started one myself, as you can see. I don't think it's unreasonable for there to be a list of devices supporting certain functionality that the use might be looking for.

Chainfire (who make the USB Host Diagnostics app) have a list of the results of various devices and OS versions being tested for OTG support here http://usbhost.chainfire.eu/

@GAThrawn, how to search this list? Where to find ID?

OK, here's a start at a list (doesn't have to be definitive):

The GoTab GBT740R 7" Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich tablet, costing
just 100 pounds or less in UK! This device has a full size USB
female socket to support USB OTG / USB Host. A friend owns one, his
USB memory sticks work in this - we can browse to the USB stick
contents using Astro File Manager App on the tablet.
@Philip Sheard's (yet unknown) "cheapo tablet just £70" - see his answer (Care to enlighten us at to the make and model, Philip? May be it is the same as the one I mention? Or not?)
Update: Acer Iconia Tab A200 (includes full-size USB A connector, takes flash keys no problem). Thanks @Michael Kohne for your answer.

I'll try to update as I find more... (feel free to contribute)

I'm accepting my own answer though I have upvoted other who contributed, I will update this list as I find more devices.

Acer Iconia Tab A200 (includes full-size USB A connector, takes flash keys no problem)

I bought a cheapo 7" tablet for just £70, and that has USB host. It is also 2.0, so it is very fast. As a developer I am very excited about the future of USB host, and I plan to support it in my own app.

and would you like to tell me what make and model  the tablet you have is? (Thanks - I will +1 your answer if you do).

And yes I'm "very excited" about the future of USB host too, seriously! I think, to date, it was the top thing missing from Android to make the platform a proper alternative to Windows or other Desktop OSs. Because with USB Host there is the potential to attach devices as you can with Windows, Mac or Linux. Devices such as mass storage, printers, backup devices (optical) and other specialist devices such as audio. This increases the functionality of the device and also makes it a viable content creation platform, not just for content consumption.

Indeed Adobe already have such content creation apps - photo and drawing for Android (and iPad.)


text:
How do I copy pictures onto a folder on the home screen?
I have some pictures that I want to copy to a folder on the home screen, but I can't see any way to do that.  The home screen isn't a directory like all the others, so I can't copy files there.  Is there any way to do that?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S with Froyo.

The only things you can add to folders on the home screen are app shortcuts.

If you install a file manager app like Astro File Manager you can put any files into any directory you create, including pictures.  Then all you have to do is make a shortcut to that directory on the home screen.

I can already put any files into any directory without a special file manager app.  The question is, how do I make a shortcut to a directory on the home screen?

Just like I said in the answer, the app adds the shortcut action to the shortcut context menu.

gotcha! accepted!

I know an answer has already been accepted but I just wanted to add that you can also use ES File Explorer (I am not the developer I just know some prefer it to Astro) however you must download the ES Bookmark Manager in order for it to work.
In order to create the shortcut just long-click on a folder from within the app and select "Shortcut" from the context menu.  A shortcut to that folder will appear on your home screen.  If you don't already have the "Bookmark Manager" installed it will prompt you to download it from the Market
Hope this helps


text:
Blocking specific applications from accessing the network while not active or on screen
Is there any applications out there that can let me selective limit network access when i put a program into the background?

Hmm, difficult problem
Your only bet is rooting; and app like droidwall which is front end for iptables.
And then you would have to add rule that states block any app that is running in background.
That I'm not sure how to achieve.


text:
Is there a way to workaround the phone memory limit for installed apps?
..without rooting my phone.
Does this mean I really can't keep all the apps I want, and I have to clear data or uninstall apps when I want to install a new app that doesn't fit the phone memory?
Does anyone know if Google has any plans of doing away with this restriction?

See these older questions for help on clearing up your phone's memory http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/2065/what-can-i-do-to-manage-my-phones-internal-storage http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/3219/cant-receive-sms-on-my-motorola-milestone-when-internal-storage-is-almost-full http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/3359/how-can-i-free-up-more-space-on-my-android-2-2-froyo-phone

Your phone needs space for upgrades, temp files, and the like.  You can't fill it up to the brim any more than you can fill the hard drive a computer OS is on.  Google will not do away with it.
If you are out of space and your phone doesn't take an SD card, then yes you will have to clear up space for new apps.  If it takes an SD card and you have root or 2.2+, you should be able to move many of your apps onto it (search for how), and App2SD support is being encouraged.

You can only move to SD if you're running Froyo.

rooted phones can move to SD as well before Froyo.


text:
How do I change my Google Account in Beyondpod?
How do I change my Google Account in Beyondpod, the podcatcher? The one used to synchronize with Google Reader I mean.

From the feeds screen click menu > more > import and export feeds.  Once you are in there you should see the option to change the email.


text:
Sharing contacts on HTC Desire HD
I have a stock Desire HD using HTC Sense and am having trouble sharing contacts. When I choose mail as a method to send contacts it doesn't offer me the choice to use my Gmail account?
Anyone have any idea why?
Really wish there was an option to turn off sense without rooting :(

What options does it offer?

2 suggestions which are more workarounds than answers:

set up the Mail app to access (and send from) your GMail account via IMAP, or
send the contact to your GMail account using the 'Mail' option (i.e. from whatever account you do have set up) and then forward it on from there.

In the end, having tried a few things, I installed a free app called qr code (barcode for the app: http://db.tt/sNcfBdS) and used that to create and send a mail with it attached.
Again, a work around rather than a direct solution but thought I would share what I did. This has the limitation that you can't share contacts which you have lots of data stored for unless you only choose to share a couple if bits of info (which qr code lets you do).
The answer seems to be that you can't use your gmail unless you do so via imap, so i have marked matt h's as an answer.


text:
What can I do to increase battery life on my Android tablet?
Tablets have different usage profiles than phones. So many of the "Phone" suggestions don't apply.
So, what can I do to get better battery life on my Android Tablet.
(TechPad 7" Tablet from Chinavasion, S3C6410 Android 1.6;)
Works well, except something unexpected is consuming power; Just having the tabled turned on will drain the battery in 2-3 hours. Also, the power status shows 40% of my battery is always being used by "cell standby";
While this tablet has Wifi, it is disabled. It also has no built-in cell phone, so what could be draining the battery?

The key was to delete the Telephony application.  This tables has no phone.  After deleting the following built-in applications, TelephonyProvider & Phone, A new icon appeared in the top box, it was a signal bar strength icon with an X in it.
Now the "Cell standby" no longer appears, and the battery lasts 3-5 hours depending on what I am doing.

Try installing the app PowerTutor, it's a power profiling application that can measure the amount of power that applications and other phone's subsystem takes. Install PowerTutor, let the profiler run, and use the phone/tablet normally for a few days. PowerTutor gives a much more detailed power profile than the built-in Battery Use.
Using PowerTutor, I found that the biggest battery sucker in my Spica is the stock home app, Pantheon; I found a noticeable battery life improvement after replacing Pantheon with Launcher Pro.
The biggest drawback of PowerTutor is that, it is itself a power sucker, it is frequently showing itself as a top power hungry applications.


text:
Why won't FWDN see my cheap Chinese tablet?
I have a tablet here that appears to be a NuPad / HAIPAD M701.

I have downloaded a .RAR with FWDN. When I run FWDN the "Area Map" always shows "Unknown".
I have tried this on both a Windows 7 x64 and a Windows XP x32 machine.
I have run the VTC driver installer on XP (it doesn't work on x64).
What does it mean when Area Map says Unknown, and how do I fix it?

Nice iPad-like exterior :) .

I found the answer I was needing in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eQ7Z6_v_Fc
I was holding down the wrong side of the rocker switch when booting, ending up in "recovery" mode.


text:
How to access Android language dictionaries
Is it possible to access (programatically, using a text editor, etc.) each dictionary of the built in languages in Android?
The automatic word completion is really useful but it has a major problem when it comes to SMS messaging. I'm Hungarian and our alphabet contains special letters like 'á', 'ő', 'ú' and so on. As you can see each basic letter has a single or a double accent on the top of it (or a dot). If that accent leans to the right like this: 'á' then only 70 letters are allowed to send in a single SMS message. There is another version of that letter in Android when the accent leans to the left: 'à'. Using this will not reduce the 160 letters to 70.
Unfortunately all the built in Hungarian words use the wrong version of those letters so I have two options when composing a new SMS message:

Turn off word completion and use the basic letters like 'a', 'o', 'u'.
Use word completion but correct the wrong letters. This takes at least twice as much time to complete a text message.

So I'm wondering if it would possible to rewrite the dictionary of a language in any way?

I was having the same issue but in Spanish and i just disabled sms division on the messages option menu and problem solved, no need to hack around dictionaries
EDIT:
Go to "Messages" > Press "Menu" key > Press "Adjustments" (in spanish it says "Ajustes") > Uncheck "SMS Split"
BTW, this question is more suited for the android.stackoverflow.com site.

What Android version do you use? I don't have the "Adjustments" menu item neither the "Uncheck SMS Split" anywhere...

I have Gingerbread 2.3.4 maybe that option was disabled on previous versions

Maybe it's a feature of 2.3.4. I'm using 2.3.3 and unfortunately I don't have that option.

Have you tried using a different onscreen keyboard?  There are several on the market like SwiftkeyX that use their own autocompletes, and they have other languages available.