yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] wankingweiner:
ok yes i understand this, but im the type of person who'd obsess over this type of matter lol.

If there's no way to close other than with a task manager then im ok with that, and i think its great that android works this way. But i just want to clarify this whole back button issue..
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] weirdwilli:
Yeah, sorry I was talking about carrier unlocking :)
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] brummiesteven:
I beleive that apps do close using the back button I'm not sure thouigh it has never bothered me You can get taskmanagers with widgets. put the widget on your homescreen, press on it and it'll close everything apart from apps you have instructed it not too
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ohyeahar:
Hmm, I'm curious about this whole pressing the back button for closing applications business, too.

Pressing the back button doesn't close applications for me when running Android on my Touch Pro2. But then this could just be because Android is running on a device it's not meant for.

I launched the Android Market.

Pressed Back.

The application faded away and I'm taken to the Home screen.

The Android Market still shows up as a running process under Advanced Task Killer.

Can someone with a proper Android device confirm this? What does the Back button do when it's not going "back"? Does it minimize or close applications?
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] gogol:
I also curious about this and brummiesteven answered me few posts back.

The thing is ... the back button does NOT have certain absolute function that behave the same on ALL applications.

Some applications will close them self, removed from the memory. It won't appear in the task manager / killer.

Some applications will stay running in the background, not removed from the memory. It will appear in the task manager / killer.

Why? Because apparently, Android application developer can override the back button functionality as you can read here:

http://www.anddev.org/viewtopic.php?p=37833

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2000102/android-override-back-button-to-act-like-home-button

It is up to the app developer how they want to react when user press the back button.

I was living in the WinMo world for years, and this haunted me as well. I always check using task manager to kill running background apps.

I wish there is a setting on Android like this:

[ ] Back button always close application

So, I can sure how I want to close (I will use the back button) or not (I will use the home button).

Hope this help.
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ohyeahar:
Thanks. That's interesting. So it may or may not close the active window. Well, I guess that's fine since Android supposedly has much better memory management than WinMo (fingers crossed)...
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] DuncUK:
I have a few questions about internet access... I'm thinking of getting a Desire.

I am on PAYG and as such do not have unlimited internet access (UK). I'd still like to use the Facebook, GMAIL apps etc. Do apps such as these make opportunistic use of the internet when it becomes available (e.g. through WIFI) or will I have to manually prod all of them to update when WIFI is present?

Also, can the OS make use of a PCs internet access (if properly configured) when connected via USB / Bluetooth?
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] weirdwilli:
Can the Desire be unlocked?
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] shaneaus:
RE: Closing apps

This question has been gone over ad nauseum on many of the very early Android G1 posts. Most of you asking this question are probably coming from the WinMo frame of mind (as I did).

It takes awhile to get one's head wrapped around the difference in the systems.

In WinMo if one didn't shut down an app and the process was running in the background - many times that app running in the background was using resources which the user most likely needed for a different app running in the foreground. If each app wasn't closed then they would collectively eat up all of your resources and your phone would start acting up.

Android is completely different in this respect. When you leave an app in Android the app sorta "freezes" (this is my term). It doesn't have to "close" because it stops using any resources when you stop using the app. That is why you don't really have to "shut down" an Android app. When you go "back" (and leave the app) it just stops running. It will stay in Android's memory unless that memory is needed and then it is overwritten/pushed out. This allows you to go back to that app and pick up right where you left off if it is still in the memory.

Case in point - the browser. I can open my browser and navigate to a webpage. Let's say the webpage is half loaded and my wife asks me to check the weather. I pull down the window shade and open up weatherbug. Once done I long press the "Home" button (brings up the last six used apps) and select the browser (or, select "back"). The browser will pick up immediately where it left off and finish loading the page I was trying to look at when I left. If, instead of going to the browser after checking the weather, I continue to open other apps and they use memory then the space the browser memory took up will get overwritten. When I open up the browser again I will have start at the last loaded page in my history (depending upon the browser you are using).

It takes a long while for WinMo users to get used to not being ANAL about trying to close apps running in the background in Android. But, eventually, you'll get used to it and this won't even be a thought in your head as you use the device.
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ohyeahar:
@shaneaus

Excellent detailed explanation! I understand now. So background applications are essentially suspended. That's interesting.

Followup question. Going back to your browser-weatherbug example. Are you saying the browser actually won't finish loading up the page as you view other stuff? If so, that's going to take a bit to get used to.

(I often browse the web and as I wait for pages to load sometimes, I do something else like type out an SMS. When I return to the browser, the page is fully loaded and ready for viewing.)
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] gogol:
Hi shaneaus,

Is this behavior applies to ALL apps?

How about , let say Pandora?

Is it also frozen?

And satnav like CoPilot as well?
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] 69mws:
I'm also curious about apps 'hibernating' in the background. For example if you have an app for podcasts ('Google Listen' for example) and while you're in it, updating the feeds or downloading episodes, you get a message and switch to the message application. Will the feeds continue updating/downloading in the background or will the application freeze all ongoing tasks until you actively switch back to the podcast application?

Greetz,

69Mws
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] brummiesteven:
They would continue to download in the background apps like Music apps (Pandora as someone said above), podcast apps, GPS, some weather apps etc etc stay open all the time in the background and most of the time stay in the tray.
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] AudunXetrov:
+1

I'm also wondering this. I don't have an unlimited data plan yet, so I want to be able to turn off all syncing when not connected to WiFi, and then have it automatically sync when I connect to WiFi. Would this be possible?
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] irkan:
+1 here too, I dont have unlimited plan either, I mainly rely on my WiFi connection because its cheaper, faster and more reliable
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] shaneaus:
Questions:

Regarding the browser - yes, it stops loading while you use other apps. So, it does take some getting used to. I, also, was used to being able to do other things while the browser loaded in the background. I use Dolphin Browser - I think I'll contact the dev and see if he can't make it finish loading the current page in the background (it would have to be a setting the user could turn on/off).

Regarding certain apps running in the background - Pandora, Music players, etc. do run in the background until you "tell" them not to. So, it is something the devs make happen when they create the application. The dev makes this happen (or not) depending on the application. On some applications (like a weather related app) the user can set the update frequency. On other apps (like a music player) the app is in a suspended mode until the user tells it to play music (that is why you might see it in the "running processes" list in some task manager apps - it isn't actually running - it is suspend mode) then it will play until the user makes it stop whether or not the app is not in the forefront.

Regarding data being transmitted in the background - there are settings in the system which allow the user to turn off background data transmission. There are also widgets/apps one can put on the screen to easily turn on/off these settings.

One last thing: The difference between a widget and an application is minimal in Android. So, if you happen to speak to a dev about his application - just realize that almost ALL of the manners in which an app work are the same as the way a widget will work. Main difference is in how the UI interacts with the home screen (displays itself, how the shortcut is placed on the screen, and the size of the widget on the screen is more customizable.
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Kiiv:
You don't have to turn off syncing, you just have to turn off data phone connection. It's very easy with Sense, so I think you don't have to worry about that.
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] AudunXetrov:
Okay, and then it will automatically sync as soon as it detects a connection I allow it to use (as in when I get home and turn on the WiFi)?
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] brummiesteven:
Don't think so, you'd have to manually sync but I'm not 100% sure.
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] AudunXetrov:
Well, if I let it try to sync all the time, wouldn't it sync when it finally gets a connection (that connection being WiFi)? Though I guess letting it continously attempt to sync would drain the battery pretty quickly.
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Kiiv:
I can't confirm that, sorry. But I hope it will try to update each time it get a connection, even if it's a wifi connection. It's stupid if it don't... Try to ask in an already launched android phone forum (I only use android port on Polaris...).

About battery life, in a same way, it's stupid if the device try to sync while it have no active connection... I think it try to sync only if there is an active connection because I've never seen the sync icon when I have no connection...
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] K 7:
Aright guys... just a quick question...

Google Maps for Android, will they have same rotate function when u use compass in them, (I am scared to write like iphone).

I think that is a really cool feature.

K7
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Rutter:
And another quick question. Am I right in thinking that Google Maps turn-by-turn is now available in the UK? (I remember it being US exclusive).

Sorry if this is old news - I've only really started reading up on Android the past couple of days.
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] shaneaus:
Regarding turning on/off sync. Using this feature would be the easiest. There are NUMEROUS widgets that allow for one touch sync on/off. I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't some app out there now which allows you to schedule a time during the day to sync....

As far as leaving your WiFi on all the time - I don't recommend it. I have a G1 - the oldest and most memory restricted Android device. If I leave the WiFi on all the time my battery drains at an alarming rate. This is just my experience and may not reflect the experience of others or of different devices. I use Toggle Settings (very customizable and free) and with two presses I can have ANYTHING I want turned on/off. Very EASY! I leave my WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth off all the time and just turn them on if I want to use them. Doing this I only charge my G1 about once every other day. If I leave my WiFi on all the time I would have to charge it about 2/3rd's of the way through my day for awhile.
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] AudunXetrov:
Yes, I understand this. I didn't mean to leave WiFi on at all times (in fact, I plan to have all the three features you mentioned, as well as mobile data, disabled most of the time), I was just hoping it would sync automatically when I turned on the WiFi, but I guess it won't be much of a hassle to press sync or whatever when I'm already turning on the WiFi..
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] brummiesteven:
I think so yes but I don't have my G1 anymore to give you a 100% answer.
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] brummiesteven:
As far as I know it's still only US but if you've read differently on some site then they're probably right.

It can be unlocked for everywhere though just by installing a patched maps application from XDA (No you don't need root).
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] sonhy:
WM still has better quality apps for now...

I disagree - hopefully someone can prove me wrong.

Im a long time wm user and thinking of moving to android... BUT i don't think android has enough quality apps yet.

Below are the apps i used on WM that i cant seem to find android replacements:

1. PhoneAlarm: auto profile switching based on time; location (cellID, GPS, not bluetooth/Wifi yet); calendar events; phone battery status; etc. very customisable and very stable.

2. Pocket Informant: replaces WM crapy calendar app. very customisable. Nothing as comprehensive!?!?!

3. ACR auto call recorder - records phone calls 2 way - in and out going calls - loud speaker not required to be on.

4. blade wiki - personal wiki, uses camera to save pics, quick and fast. helps with kepping track of persoanl long-term projects.

5. Rar zip apps - pocketrar, pocket 7zip - cos i download mp3 from torrents (wmtorrent v3 client) on the phone and so need to unrar files.

6. Wisbar - quick fast program luancher app - like windoze start-button with cas-cading menu layout. also does task manager stuff, closes apps, controls themes.

7. ActiveKitten chronos timer - alarm, countdown timers, stop watch, everything to do with time. timers still work with phone screen off.

8. totalcommander/Resco file explorer - lets you copy/move file with overwrite/no prompts options

9. Trackypro gps off-road navigation - quite comprehensive and customisable

10. VirtualGPS - gets estimate location based of CellIDs - i use it in big buildings and area where gps singals are not possible. Pro version can work without internet connection - I believe apps should never have internet connection as a critial requirement at runtime.

Quality apps on android i have found:

1. android-scripting: like mortscript for wm

2. speech-to-text - is it fast enough?

3. live wallpapers - googlemaps wallpaper looks good - I hate how googlemaps for wm does not run unless it can detect an internet connection!

4. Igo my way - voice street navigation - same features as wm version??

5. TooDo - location-based reminders / smart shopping lists - will this app know not to sound an alarm if the shopping list has no items that are required to be purchased?

6. Pure grid/pure calendar - like pocketBreeze today plugin for calendar agendas. PB can show weather icons aswell, dont know about prue grid?

7. BioWallet - iris retina eye scan security ewallet app - SPB wallet is good enough now.

8. Run.GPS - very comprehensive exercise gps app - wm version works great.

9. motiondetector.mobi by MVA - uses camera to detect motion like spycams and then send sms or emails, can start/stop app remotely. Same as VIO motion detection for wm.

Is there any apps on android for - maritime GPS / Aviation GPS - like garmin bluecharts topologic charts for boats?
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Eddiemc:
Point 1. Alternative to phonealarm: (Also an alternative to locale, setting profiles, and more)

http://tasker.dinglisch.net/

I'd keep my eye on this one, you can basically make it do ANYTHING..

Just bare in mind that it is way more in-depth setup process.

-e
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] K 7:
As I had my Nexus One 4 only few days (I have sent it back 4 Desire), I could get the compass function/button on map but could figure out if it rotates or not...but again I'm a very new user 2 Android... Cheers 4 reply anyways.

K7
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] venelar:
how is a2dp quality on android?
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] cez10:
guys is it possible to save text messages mms onto the memory card as well as any downloaded stuff (excluding apps) or put onto the device through the usb?
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] brummiesteven:
There's an app called MYBackup that'll do that.

There's also an app called SMSBackup that syncs all SMS's into a Gmail Folder.
[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] szisz:
tons of questions ;-)

Hi all, this is the one thread to me! I'm right one step before ordering my Desire (currently using touch hd & winmo 6.5), so my questions:

1. Can I sync the phone's contact (with pictures) and calender with Outlook?

2. The photo application needs 3-5 sec to start on touch hd. Is it quicker on Desire? :confused:

3. Is there a native / 3rd party application to finetune the sensors (e.g. Gsen, Glight on winmo)?

4. How quick is the phone's address book and messages handling in the real usage? I've >200 contacts and many sms, and this slows usually pretty much the HD :confused::confused:

5. How easy is the switch between changing 3G and 2G mode (I've read that this may saves a lot of battery)?

6. On winmo / TF3D is sometimes hard to hit with my thumb the soft buttons on the bottom (like menu, phone etc - software buttons). Is it better on the android?

7. What about sound quality? My girlfiend's Nokia phone has about 3times better sound with the same ringtone... :(

8. Is application like S2U2 needed?

9. Can the phone share the internet connection? e.g. linked with my laptop

10. Can I set up more e-mail accounts at a time? I read some constraints about this in other topics (2 or 3 POP3 accounts)

11. The favorites in web browsers can be synced? On desktop I use Xmarks which is awesome! :D

12. Does anyone have experiences using GPS navigation on the system? I have Igo on the HD, but sometimes it renders the picture very-very slow (but no problem with calculating the route)

Uhh, lot of questions, but these are important to me. Many thx for your answers! ;)

Cheers

Gábor
[General Topics] gogol:
Hi,

I really need your input about Android. I am planning to move to HTC Desire, which runs Android 2.1.

I really know what's good about Android, I really do.

But ...

What are the known issues with it? Seriously, there must be some issues, right?

If you can come up with reasoning why I should NOT move to Android, please let me know.

At this moment, I am using HTC Kaiser with custom WM6.1 Rom.

Thanks,

Sincerely,

gogol
[General Topics] androidcues:
hmm

This will be a quiet thread.

theres nothin' wrong with the android. its perfect (or will be)
[General Topics] brummiesteven:
The only problem with the HTC Desire I can see is that when newer versions of Android come out, you wont be able to upgrade to them, you'd have to wait for HTC To release an updated version with Sense UI.

This wont effect you at all, being on XDA you'll just be able to download an updated rom with an updated version of Android as soon as it hits the AOSP
[General Topics] galaxys:
Just to compare, the Nexus Android 2.1 rocks with very few bugs that can't be fixed by XDA! Check out it's XDA forum for details, info, pro's, etc.
[General Topics] josefcrist:
There is really nothing that android can do that windows mobile cant.
[General Topics] Fallen Spartan:
Agreed, think this is why the HTC Desire will most likely be my next device
[General Topics] brummiesteven:
Surely this is a positive? You get all the functions of Windows Mobile in a nice easy to use interface, finger friendly, more supported and an app store with over 10000 apps?
[Droid Eris Android Development] joey3002:
works for leaked 2.1?
[Droid Eris Android Development] Amon_RA:
Yes, it should work.
[Droid Eris Android Development] edgeupgx:
what could this do for someone with leaked 2.1 exactly?
[Droid Eris Android Development] Raziken:
I think he ment non-rooted 2.1 leak, in which case, no, because to install recovery, you need root.

Awesome release, great to see you got it out so fast.
[Droid Eris Android Development] apreichner:
No, this is only for the rooted phones. If you are running the non-rooted leaked 2.1, you cannot flash this recovery. The developers are still in the process of working on a down-grade method from leaked 2.1 to 1.5 so you can root your device.
[Droid Eris Android Development] edgeupgx:
Hoping someone magically stumbles on something that will downgrade since I really dont think anyone will just figure out how to do considering root was stumbled upon this way.
[Droid Eris Android Development] GrdLock:
I don't see the carebear! :( Mine's showing an HTC logo background?
[Droid Eris Android Development] Amon_RA:
Could someone please try this version? ;)

It's not the same as the test version I posted earlier...
[Droid Eris Android Development] Amon_RA:
Lol, ok, I'll add carebear versions if you really want... which color should I add?
[Droid Eris Android Development] GrdLock:
green :)

the new recovery is working fine though
[Droid Eris Android Development] ch4sethe5un:
what is this used for?
[Droid Eris Android Development] hoban_eris:
BART not working

FYI, I just tried a BART backup and:

"Create BART backup?

Press Trackball to confirm,

any other key to abort.

Performing backup : .

Error : Run 'bart' via adb!"
[Droid Eris Android Development] Amon_RA:
Please provide log file as indicated in the first post!!
[Droid Eris Android Development] hobbiteer:
Tested

First off, thank you Amon-Ra for the recovery image. I appreciate it and I'm sure those who are trying it do too. I'm running another version on my G1 so good times.

I loaded it up and tested. I did a BART backup with no issues, Partitioned the SD card with no issues, and ran out of other things to do. Thanks again, working great.
[Droid Eris Android Development] 87jason:
so is this the same recovery tha was originally posted i know it has the same version 1.6.2 but was just curious as if it just had changes made to it
[Droid Eris Android Development] hobbiteer:
The one I got from the mirror looks to be the same 1.6.2. He mentioned in the first post that this was a carebear version but I don't have that. Mine also has the ext3 to ext4 options which were supposed to have been removed.... maybe I should have gotten it from the direct link on rapidshare....
[Droid Eris Android Development] hoban_eris:
http://pastie.org/874769
[Droid Eris Android Development] iloveandroid:
Is this the stock Vsnilla Android, if not could you please make one (A ROM with Vinilla Android)
[Droid Eris Android Development] apreichner:
Pink lol. And make it mandatory, no other options :).
[Droid Eris Android Development] kcasner:
+1, and I can't post a log as i'm a "new user" still apparently.

1. BART backup.

a. "Performing backup : .mount: mounting /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 on /system/sd failed: No such file or directory"

2. nandbackup + ext

a. "Warning: --ext2 specified but unable to mount the ext2 partition."

3. partition SD

a. After several re-partitioning to default working on the first 2 problems, partitioning filled the entire screen with "...." and never finished. I had to remove the battery, no key or combination of keys worked that I tried.

**Fix for #1 that worked for me:

1. Partition SD

a. Left swap at 32MB

b. ext2 partition I set to 2048MB.

c. SD:ext2 to ext3 (ext4 causes same error)

**#2:

a. Tried all types of filesystem's, same error was logged.

**Fix for #3:

a. Removed battery.
[Droid Eris Android Development] gohamstergo:
just to be sure...when updates are released to this recovery, I can simply overwrite it via the regular recovery flashing instructions right?