Database Develop

Phone tracking

Hi, I did a simple tracking application to know the phone location if I lose it or it gets stolen.
I'd like to have some thoughts and suggestions, so if someone wants to try it just download it here
Thank you!

post it and let us check it out man, so we can tell you if it is worth anything or not

Any tracking program is going to be easy to bypass...
Alt+W
Turn of GPS
Latitude is the same deal, if you wipe, you lose the log in information on the phone and therefore, it can no longer be tracked.
That being said, the only "true" way to have something like this work (regardless of sim cards/wipes) would be to somehow track the phone by IMEI/SN through a combination of internet usage, cell towers, and GPS. Even though the GPS being turned off is a possible work-around, it renders the phone much less useful. It would also need to be installed with an update so that wipes are useless.

well, personally i have rooted my g1 and installed the app in /system/app, so i think a factory reset shouldn't delete it (am i right?). and gps and network location are automatically enabled for a 60 seconds location scan, then taken back to the previous state.
if you want to check it out, i have put everything here.
all suggestions are welcome!

has anybody tried it? i only received some feedback via email

ajejee said:
has anybody tried it? i only received some feedback via email
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Says Installation Unsuccessful. Tries to copy over "Android System"
ADP1.1 RC33

interesting. i'll try to do a fresh install on both my g1 and the emulator.

What sort of unique features can the app offer?
Currently I'm using GPS Tracker, which is supplied by instamapper.com, and it allows me to have a website such as this: http://thrash-tracker.co.cc/
If my phone gets lost or stolen, I can just check that website.

I released an application on the Market called Phone Finder. It will email you at a custom frequency (default 1 day) with it's location.

tried it but it didn't work.
ADP1.1h.

I'll give it a try. I'm currently using Where's My Android... but sometimes it says that I don't have a data connection. Not very reliable.

ThrashWolf: about instamapper, a user who's trying my app said: "the thing tht I like the most is that if someone where to steal it they wouldn’t know its tracking, unlike the Gps tracker from Instamapper that lets them know its tracking".
However I'll try their service and see what they offer
Koush: i'm a klaxon user and i love it, will install your app as soon as i find it on the market!
mrjay: could you please be more specific? didn't install? thank you very much

i installed it, run it, got to the username/password creation window and after that nothing is happening. i restarted the phone and still nothing i try to run the application and no result. the screen is flickering for a second trying to load the application and that's all.

that's how it works! i designed it to be just a service that runs in the background, you install and it does its work without user interaction.
have you tried to login to the website to see your location and modify settings?

I added some features like activation via sms. Info&download, as usual, on www.trackdroid.org

now i get it. i logged in and watched last entries. looks promising

thanks! if you have suggestions about features to add, just let me know

i was using on my old WM phones this application and i really miss it. maybe you can inspire from this application.

Annoying FRF 91 problems

Hey guys i recently updated to FRF91 manually ( stock google update ) and i am facing a couple of annoying glitches.... the purpose of this thread is to have a centralized list of all the problems and workarounds hopefully:
Flash: Well before FRF91 i had FRF50B in which i had an option ( in the browser settings ) to turn flash off or on demand.... Now its missing in FRF91
Messaging: firstly in conversation threads my picture is not shown and i cant figure out a way to get it to show my picture ... by the way it was ok on 2.1
Market: Market is very very very slow even on wifi .... Plus whenever i uninstall or install an application it gets stuck on the progress bar ( when u go to an app's description page and click on install it shows the progress bar which shows the download progress and once downloaded it shows install progress and thats where it gets stuck, even after the application has been installed.
Browser: Browser also seems a bit patchy.
Any one of you all facing any of these problems ?????

Flash (or actually, browser settings): are just in the same place.
Messaging: I think it was mentioned on the forum, together with solution - but don't remember the thread.
Market: it was mentioned 10000 times on the forum, together with solutions. The easiest of them is to clear all Market data and cache in App management. It flies.
Browser is great and fast as hell. The only thing it's missing is the need to enter "about:debug" to get to UAString setting. I'm waiting for someone to recompile it, leaving the debug settings always on.

Thanks Jack. I really apologize for my ignorance.
I cant find the flash settings in brwser my friend help me out

I have sporadic issues where the images do not download for MMS.
It happens with a variety of people on a multiple incoming networks.
I didn't have the issue pre update

nadeemhasnaat said:
Thanks Jack. I really apologize for my ignorance.
I cant find the flash settings in brwser my friend help me out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Open browser, then:
Menu/More/Settings/Enable Plug-ins
Select Always on/On demand/Off

The issue with your picture not being displayed in messaging is down to your phone number being programmed on the sim card.
Go to Settings > About Phone > Status. If "My Phone Number" shows as unknown then the phone is unable to recognise your number against your Facebook profile hence why nothing shows.
My understanding is that the phone reads this info direct from the SIM card so perhaps a SIM update from your network provider will solve this. Alternativly inset your SIM card into a "dumb" phone and it should let you change the number programmed on the SIM card. Android cannot do this for some reason (although ive heard the iPhone can!)

dr9722 said:
The issue with your picture not being displayed in messaging is down to your phone number being programmed on the sim card.
Go to Settings > About Phone > Status. If "My Phone Number" shows as unknown then the phone is unable to recognise your number against your Facebook profile hence why nothing shows.
My understanding is that the phone reads this info direct from the SIM card so perhaps a SIM update from your network provider will solve this. Alternativly inset your SIM card into a "dumb" phone and it should let you change the number programmed on the SIM card. Android cannot do this for some reason (although ive heard the iPhone can!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok i have discovered another issue. The delivery reports dont seem to work. But that was a problem on FRF85B as well.... When you long press a text message and check delivery report it keeps saying "pending " even though the other person has already recieved it ... any work arounds ????
Also my market issue is still there

"I have a funny issue with my exchange. When i get a new mail, i get a notification on my N1. But even after i have read that email on my PC.The notification doesnt go away .... and when i check my phone after some time i think i have recieved a new email but its only notification of old one .... is there a workaround for that guys ?"
I have this same issue that you have, but on a HTC Desire with custom Froyo ROMs. I don't remember it being a problem with the stock ROM, but on a Desire this stock ROM includes HTC Sense which I think does its own Exchange stuff, rather than use the Android Exchange apps.

[Q] App for sending and receiving SMS from PC over 3G ??

I have seen few apps that are capable of doing this over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB. But I am more interested in something that can do it over 3G. At work my desktop PC is not on a wireless network; there is Wi-Fi but on a spate subnet with no easy access to the main network. I do have Bluetooth / USB on my main desktop but I work from different PCs therefore its not very convenient for me to pair/connect it each time I go to a different PC. And I don’t use Wi-Fi at home either.
Then there are other benifits to using 3G like I can still access the phone even if I forget it somewhere (i.e at home in the car etc). The new HTC Sense services for HTC Desire HD will have remote access to SMS, call and location information , which is exactly what I'm after. But for now SMS alone is enough.
I came across one App called SMS2PC which can connect to a computer over 3G. But from what I gathered, with that the phone connects to the PC and pushes notifications, not the other way around. This is not going to work for me because at work I am behind a corporate firewall, so my phone cannot access the desktop.
Any other solutions ??
EDIT : i know SMS backup can backup text messages to google, but I can't reply from there. So that wont help much. And I'm not in US, therefore I dont have access to Google Voice service, so replying through that is not going to work either.

Is Google Voice avilable to you (specifically, you will need a Google Voice phone number)? If so, that will be my recommendation. In addition to free SMS and visual voice mail, you can use your Google Voice anywhere that you have access to a web browser. It doesn't have to be your phone.

foxbat121 said:
Is Google Voice avilable to you (specifically, you will need a Google Voice phone number)? If so, that will be my recommendation. In addition to free SMS and visual voice mail, you can use your Google Voice anywhere that you have access to a web browser. It doesn't have to be your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No google voice is not available ( as mentioned in my last line , coz I knew some one would suggest that).
I wonder why no one has made such an app so far.
Maybe I'll have to write my own.. haven't done any android programing yet, guess its about the time.. waiting for a break from work to start playing around with it a bit...

PhoenixFx said:
I have seen few apps that are capable of doing this over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB. But I am more interested in something that can do it over 3G. At work my desktop PC is not on a wireless network; there is Wi-Fi but on a spate subnet with no easy access to the main network. I do have Bluetooth / USB on my main desktop but I work from different PCs therefore its not very convenient for me to pair/connect it each time I go to a different PC. And I don’t use Wi-Fi at home either.
Then there are other benifits to using 3G like I can still access the phone even if I forget it somewhere (i.e at home in the car etc). The new HTC Sense services for HTC Desire HD will have remote access to SMS, call and location information , which is exactly what I'm after. But for now SMS alone is enough.
I came across one App called SMS2PC which can connect to a computer over 3G. But from what I gathered, with that the phone connects to the PC and pushes notifications, not the other way around. This is not going to work for me because at work I am behind a corporate firewall, so my phone cannot access the desktop.
Any other solutions ??
EDIT : i know SMS backup can backup text messages to google, but I can't reply from there. So that wont help much. And I'm not in US, therefore I dont have access to Google Voice service, so replying through that is not going to work either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use smstools. It is in every major repo. However - from your non-technical wording - I assume that you use the gamerz OS (Windos). Worry not, you can easily compile the program yourself, or google for binaries.

HelloH said:
I use smstools. It is in every major repo. However - from your non-technical wording - I assume that you use the gamerz OS (Windos). Worry not, you can easily compile the program yourself, or google for binaries.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I use Windows mostly . Thanks for that link, but I don't think thats quite what I want either. That seems to use the phone as a modem to send and receive SMSs; which means I'll have to connect the phone to a PC locally (i.e USB, IR, BT etc..).
I'm looking for a solution that allows me to connect to the phone remotely over the internet (phone online on 3G) to access and send messages. A setup where there is a PC client which polls the phone periodically for new messages and a server running on the phone allowing the PC client to gain access to its messaging service. So I don't have to connect/disconnect every time when changing PCs, it will also allow me to connect even when the phone is not with me (left behind at home / car ).

Ah, I got it now!
Well, of course you could compile SMSTOOLS for your phone
Or take a look at RemoteSMS or similar apps!
Also possible to remote control your handset via vnc-server. That one has far more possibilities than remote SMS-ing...

HelloH said:
Ah, I got it now!
Well, of course you could compile SMSTOOLS for your phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I’m coming from Windows development side, so pardon me for my ignorance on Linux dev. But from the little I know, you can't compile Unix/C code to Android, am I wrong ? At least not in a straightforward manner... You can only develop apps using their customized Java (Dalvic) , right
Even if its possible, I think developing an app from ground up is far more easier than trying to integrate smstools in to android. Besides, that doesn't solve my problem at all, because accessing the phone from the PC is the issue, and I don't see how running smstools on the phone is going to solve that.
HelloH said:
Or take a look at RemoteSMS or similar apps!
Also possible to remote control your handset via vnc-server. That one has far more possibilities than remote SMS-ing...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
RemoteSMS only works over Wi-Fi and BT, no 3G support .
I guess remote desktop is one solution, but I prefer a much simpler app. Besides VNC will not send me any notifications, I have to manually check. ..
Looks like I'll have to write my own app for this . Havent done any android development yet, looks like this is going to be my first project..

Wifi Keyboard works on 3g (yes dumb but )
3G might be blocked by some carriers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So it's means it can be used over 3G

PhoenixFx said:
IAnd I'm not in US, therefore I dont have access to Google Voice service, so replying through that is not going to work either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need to be in the US to get a Google Voice account or use it for SMS. I am in Canada and use it for SMS all the time.
See this link. Note that despite the title this will work for any country.
http://www.wifitalk.ca/iphone/howto-google-voice-in-canada/

brunes said:
You don't need to be in the US to get a Google Voice account or use it for SMS. I am in Canada and use it for SMS all the time.
See this link. Note that despite the title this will work for any country.
http://www.wifitalk.ca/iphone/howto-google-voice-in-canada/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'll give it a try. Are SMSs free for international numbers as well ?
EDIT : I don't want to login through some unknown proxy server and give out my credentials. Besides, it is not a permanent solution. another dead end

Waiting for new ideas

exadeci said:
Wifi Keyboard works on 3g (yes dumb but )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PhoenixFx said:
Waiting for new ideas
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hum ..... Have you tried it ?

PhoenixFx said:
I’m coming from Windows development side, so pardon me for my ignorance on Linux dev. But from the little I know, you can't compile Unix/C code to Android, am I wrong ? At least not in a straightforward manner... You can only develop apps using their customized Java (Dalvic) , right
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Linux is a kernel, and Android is a Linux kernel based operating system. You can compile anything (that compiles for GNU/Linux for the given architecture) for Android/Linux as well. It will be native code however (as opposed to DALVIK, which is VM code). You have the option to cross-compile on your PC, or to compile code right on your phone. It is a command line affair... not some nice one-click task.
BTW I did not see in their own advert, that RemoteSMS would be limited to wifi... you sure? (Would be pretty weird move from them, since communicating over wifi and 3G is not really different from the programmer's point of view)

Found this today , posted on XDA : talkmyphone.
Exacly what I was looking for .

YAY!
Thank you! I have been looking for something like this because I am also behind a corporate firewall at work.

[Q] Lots of Captivate Questions

So after looking around through the forums I have learned a lot, and I have appreciated every piece of information I have been given, but there have been some things I have either not found answers to, or have not found complete answers (ie: someone only asked part of what I'm asking).
*Phone info listed in Signature*
When giving an answer, please number it according to the question and/or Quote the question, Please do not quote the entire post.
1. IMEI Device ID: Can I change it? and How?
- After Flashing and Rooting, my email exchange account no longer recognizes my phone and asks me to validate the Device ID. I did get Exchange to work when I had 2.1 and I'm not doing anything different from before. (Note: Android Device ID and IMEI Device ID are 2 different things)
Answer: Your IMEI Device ID is located on the back of your phone. You can find it by removing the battery and then it is the number above the first barcode. Your IMEI ID is something you neither can change nor want to. If a problem occurs trying to get Exchange to work again after messing with your phone, try connecting to the network at the location of your exchange account. Make sure your phone is registered, if it's not, register and wait a day before attempting to connect to exchange again. If that still doesnt work, contact their IT dept and have them manually add your phone. Also, see Post#4 or Exchange Thread
2. Android Device ID:
a)Is the number/letter sequence located on my battery, my Android's ID?
b)In the app "Android ID Changer", when I change it to said ID on battery and click "Save" nothing happens, the ID that the App gives me is still listed at the top.
Answer: If you flash and root with what I've given in my signature, your Android Device ID should be the same or there shouldn't really be anything you need to worry about that requires it. Your IMEI ID is the important one. Also Reference the Device ID Thread, and please make sure you write yours down before flashing and rooting!!!!
3. Sounds Sounds Sounds!!!!!: OK, so I know everyone wants to have their own custom tones right? Well, after looking around for a little while, I haven't really found full solutions as to what I want:
There are 6 Different Kinds of Tones, and a 7th Tone Type I would like added:
- Voice Call Tones: As main ringtone and per contact(As Title)
- Notification Tones: (Text Messages, Email, etc)
- Music: Your media, the only files that should show up in "Music Player"
- Alarm Tone: In the Default Clock App, under Alarm Creation
- Smart Alarm Tone: In the Clock App also under Alarm Creation
- Screen Touch "Pop" Tone (When you click an app)
- Reminder Tone: Reminds you that you have a text or missed call(Not included on phone currently)
a) OK, with that list, when I go in to choose for each one, you get a menu (for example Voice Call gives you: Silent, AT&T Tone, Bird loop, ..., Samsung tune, ...). I would like for my custom sound files to show in the Default list of each according Tone type as listed above. How do I do it?
b) How do I differentiate the Text message tone from the email tone? How do I make make text message tones & settings individual/separate from Notification Tones and Settings?
c) Reminder Tone: When I had a motorola back in the day, if my phone rang at me and I was too busy or not around it at the time to look at it, about every 5 minutes, it would beep at me telling me that something happened while I wasnt paying attention. Is there a way that I can add this feature to my Captivate?
4. ASTRO vs. My Files(on 2.2-Froyo): It seems like "My Files" has everything that ASTRO has, yet I've seen a lot of people saying to get ASTRO. Is there any reason to have it?
Answer: If you have enabled the Side-Loading of apps, there is no real difference between these two other than their appearance since you can bring up the .apk installer that's included in both programs. Other options to using these to programs are: Root Explorer
5. Default Samsung App: Daily Briefing: There has got to be something better than this out there, any suggestions?
- Also, I already have a big clock that has weather(Fancy Widget), so I dont really rely on Daily Briefing for it
Answer: If you are looking for something in terms of a
Widget NewsReader: try Feedr for news, Auto Express for Car News, and ScoreCenter for Sports News
Non-Widget news readers include: Google Reader, gReader, & NewsRob.
6. Tethering/I'm Tethered, What Now?:
a) I know that my laptop can access WIFI via MobileAP, but how can I connect with my Laptop via USB Tethering. I have Windows XP Pro SP3
b) Is it possible for me to use my Laptop to send Txt Msgs?
c) Assuming I have hundreds of Contacts, Is to possible to keep ALL Contacts on laptop while keeping only most used contacts on phone?
Answer:
a) USB Tethering can be accomplished through apps like EasyTether or PDANet, but most ROM's for the captivate do have it standard. It would be under Menu > Settings > Applications > USB Settings > PC Internet.
b)
c)
7. Removing the Default "Latitude" App (2.2-Froyo): I already have Maps, Navigation, and Places. Why would I need "Latitude"? What is the purpose of it?
I use Titanium Backup Pro to "Freeze" most of the default apps (freeze meaning hide them w/o deleting them) but I cannot seem to find "Latitude" in the list of Apps, is there a way to freeze it with Titanium?
8. Allshare Default App 2.2: What does it add to the phone? Do I need it or should I "Freeze" it?
I'm looking for a way to play my media from my computer to my phone, however Windows Media Player doesnt recognize my phone as something to share to, how can I change this? (I use Windows XP Pro SP3)
9. FM Radio: Is there a way I can listen to my favorite channel without using up any data? And if I listen to the channel for about an hour, how much data will I have used? (So far, I've only seen Last.FM and TuneIn Radio)
Answer: Best thing to do if you want to listen to the Radio on your phone is to do it via Wifi. Unfortunately for us, our phone originally had plans to have a FM Chip installed allowing us free FM Radio, but that's just not how AT&T rolls. Another App besides Last.FM or TuneIn Radio to try is iheartradio. Furthermore, if you are wanting to watch your Data Usage, I suggest trying 3G Watchdog, I don't know how accurate it is from month-to-month, but it is an App(and Widget) that does watch your data usage.
10. Is there a way to rename the apps in my App Drawer? Some of them have strange/long names which will break a work so that it is on both lines or the whole title doesnt fit. This bothers my OCD so I was wondering if there was an easy way to do it.
11. Random Reboots When I don't have an Alarm enabled, sometimes my phone seems to go and sleep/hibernate/reset. Meaning I pickup my phone and for some reason it has gone and turned off on me. What's the deal? Does anyone else have this problem and is there a way to fix it?
12. Save Texts: What is the best way to save your text conversations to your computer besides using KIES?
13. Save Contacts What is the best way to Export Contacts to your computer for editing and later Importing back onto the phone besides using KIES?
- I want to have a back up of all my numbers so that I can remove some from my address book, but still have them on my computer in case I need them later.
14. GPS 2.2: Many have commented about fixing the 2.1 GPS, does the 2.2 GPS also need a fix?
15. Editing the System: Where Can I find in-depth threads that tell me how to change things in the system(thread links accepted)? I would like some that cover it in general, but I'd also like ones that also include adding and removing custom ringtones to the default as well as SetCPU and other functions.
16. The Lock Screen: Is there any way in which I can change the Default Lock Screen so that it includes a message on it like "This phone belongs to _______"?
Is there any other themes for the Text Message "Puzzle" Lock Screen?
17. Contacts:
a) Sorting Method - First I would like to sort my contacts by Group, then by Alphabetical Order. Is there any way that I can do this? Basically I want my girlfriend listed first, then all my Family Contacts, then all my friends. Is there a way I can do this other than adding symbols or prefixes in front of everyone's name?
b) Once while on the facebook app, it gave me the option to set a picture to one of my contacts(without saving the image to the phone), however I havent figured out how to do it since, does anyone know how?
c)How do I sync contacts with Gmail? Ive tried clicking Sync Contacts in Contacts under Gmail, and it shows the refresh icon for about a second but when I go to my gmail contacts, nothing is there. What's the deal?
18. Way too Awesome: So we've all seen what phones can do in the movies, hacking into computers and whatnot. Is there anything that our phones can do like in the movies? I personally would love to have a phone that Tony Stark or Sam Flynn would die for. ......Is there at least a way I can use my phone to unlock my car? I'd enjoy turning my phone into a trapper-keeper lol.
19. Custom Sound Settings: Media Volume can only go down as low as 5% before going to 0%, is there any way I can make my phone lower that 5% like when it's late at night but I still want to hear an app's crappy music, just really really quietly?
20. Phone Accessories:
What is the Best phone case for Captivate that utilizes a belt clip (w/screen protector)?
In terms of a 2nd battery, are there any batteries out there that have more battery life than the stock one that comes with the phone?
If I had a 2nd battery, would it be safe to leave it in my car throughout the year in case I need it, or would temperature be a problem?
21. Data Plans: Any chance of AT&T Coming out with a plan that's between 100Mb, and 2Gb?
I'm on Wifi most of the time, so I don't use most of my 2Gb, but I can easily use 100Mb, is there any chance of there being a 1Gb plan?
As I get answers to my questions, if the answer isnt too long I will edit the OP with the answers or link a post below the question for people who might stumble upon this thread with the same question.
EDIT: (Last Edited 1/17)
Added Answers to questions: 1, 2, 4, 5, 9
Added Parts B and C to #6
Added Questions: 15,16,17,18,19,21

1.) IMEI ID is on the back of the phone and don't think you can change that.
4.) Astro also lets you install third party apps that are loaded onto your SD card. My files just lets you browse.
5.) If you dont' need daily breifing, don't use it. I don't use it either.
6.) PDAnet will let you tether via USB and there are a few others.
10.) when you add a app to your home screens, you have the option to change the name. Doesn't help with your app drawer OCD but keeps your home screens under control.
11.) There are multiple threads about random shutdowns. Read them all if you want. So far, increasing the sleep speed minimum to 2000 (in setCPU) has worked for me. Granted it's only been a few days but no shutdowns since doing that.
14.) Reading all the GPS threads will show you that it's not locked into a particular OS. Nobody really knows what the problem is. Some have great GPS, some don't. Some get it working better with fixes, some don't.

axis01 said:
1.) IMEI ID is on the back of the phone and don't think you can change that.
4.) Astro also lets you install third party apps that are loaded onto your SD card. My files just lets you browse.
10.) when you add a app to your home screens, you have the option to change the name. Doesn't help with your app drawer OCD but keeps your home screens under control.
11.) There are multiple threads about random shutdowns. Read them all if you want. So far, increasing the sleep speed minimum to 2000 (in setCPU) has worked for me. Granted it's only been a few days but no shutdowns since doing that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4. My Files has a package installer if you have enabled sideloading of apps and seems to work the same as ASTRO as far as I can tell.
10. I havent seen an option to change the name on the homescreen either, I usually just drag them from my app drawer though.
11. Could you define what the sleep speed minimum is?
EDIT: ANd big thanks on where the IMEI was. I was kind of avoiding taking the battery out, but the number on the back matched the number in the phone info so I was happy. And for some reason my phone now works with exchange. I think my phone was waiting till I knew what it knew lol.

Oh man. I'll see if I can answer them all. LET'S DO THIS!
1. Before you left 2.1 stock, shoulda backed up nv_data. If your Device ID and produce code get messed up, check out http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=881162 and http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=880223 Use these threads to try and restore it; but if that doesn't work you might be SOL without a nv_data backup.
As for exhange, check out http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=821297
I work for AT&T, so me and IMEI's are best buds. You can't change your IMEI as it's a number issued directly for AT&T. AT&T uses these IMEI's to determine what type of phone is on your account. Should you change the IMEI, it would appear to AT&T as "Unknown GSM", and you would cease to get data.
2. Read #1
3. It depends on the apps you use to accomplish said tasks. I would imagine very few of us use the stock e-mail client, i would imagine most of us use K-9 or something along those lines, in which case you can specify a sound file in said apps settings.
As for having them show up in the default menu, throw them into /system/media/audio/ringtones and they should show up in default.
I'm not sure about the reminder, although I can't see an app for this not existing. As stated above, some e-mail clients such as k-9 or SMS like handcent may have this feature. If the stock ones don't, what can ya do?
4. Don't get either, get Root Explorer.
5. If you already have a clock, I suppose all Daily Briefing offers is news and a calendar. There's plenty of awesome news readers for the Captivate. If you like the widget variant, i would go with Feedr. If you prefer non-widget news readers, Google Reader, gReader, NewsRob; all good choices.
6. It depends on the ROM. USB Tethering can be accomplished through apps like EasyTether or PDANet, but most ROM's for the captivate do have it standard. It would be under Menu > Settings > Applications > USB Settings > PC Internet.
7. Latitude is bundled in with Google Maps. Not sure how to remove it, or if you can..maybe.
8. You don't need it. It's just a global way to share pictures and videos to multiple sources. I never use it.
9. Connect to WiFi!
10. Aside from decompiling the APK, i don't think so. Maybe NinjaMorph can do it, but I don't think so. You can hide apps from the drawer though, or hide the text, with alternative launchers.
11. The captivate stock firmwares seemed to have a problem with randomly rebooting. I work at AT&T and I sell these phones daily so I can safely say it's just the stock, even the 2.2 stock seems to do it. You can use SetCPU profiles to work some magic, but it's easier to just install a Custom ROM, as I personally no longer have this problem UNLESS i am on stock. Use http://romkitchen.org from your phone, easiest way. Make sure to donate if you use it frequently, it's an awesome service!
12. Can't answer this one. I imagine there's an app to back up texts to files on the phone directly though, if not it wouldn't be very hard to make!
13. From your contacts on the phone, menu > (possibly More) > Import/Export. It will save EVERYTHING about your contacts(Ringtone info, pictures, birthdays, etc) to a .vcf file. These can be altered, edited and saved on the computer.
14. 2.2 stock needs a fix I'm pretty sure. Check out this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=881941 , all you gotta do is flash one file, so do it anyway just to be safe!
Phew. Hope this helps!

geokhentix said:
Oh man. I'll see if I can answer them all. LET'S DO THIS!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Big thanks
As for my Android ID, I didnt know about it until afterwards. The posts that inform people about flashing and Rooting should mention this, because I didn't see it anywhere until after I was worrying about my phone not being able to connect to my email, but for some reason this morning when I tried it miraculously worked.
As for #3, where is my system folder? is it: I:\media\audio\ringtones ?
with my "system" being "I:"
I recently discovered setting custom sounds for my email accounts, but I am curious about all the default tones.
Are all the ones listed in different setting all just the same file with the exception that they only play for "X" amount of type depending on menu your are in?
And can the captivate not play MIDI files?....you know, old school polyphonic files........
And how the heck do I change the text tone for while my phone is plugged into the USB? omg it is the most annoying sound in the world, why does it not use the tone I have my texts set for? (I forgot this one on my list)
Thanks for your answer to #11. My phone hadnt done it at all until I dropped it down about 10 feet at a concert screen down 6 days after I got it. The next day the phone did the reset thing and I just about cried cuz I was just like I know it's because I dropped it. On the bright side when I picked it up after it fell, it didnt have a scratch on it or nothin'.
How do you alter a .vcf file?

WandererTJ said:
Big thanks
As for my Android ID, I didnt know about it until afterwards. The posts that inform people about flashing and Rooting should mention this, because I didn't see it anywhere until after I was worrying about my phone not being able to connect to my email, but for some reason this morning when I tried it miraculously worked.
As for #3, where is my system folder? is it: I:\media\audio\ringtones ?
with my "system" being "I:"
I recently discovered setting custom sounds for my email accounts, but I am curious about all the default tones.
Are all the ones listed in different setting all just the same file with the exception that they only play for "X" amount of type depending on menu your are in?
And can the captivate not play MIDI files?....you know, old school polyphonic files........
And how the heck do I change the text tone for while my phone is plugged into the USB? omg it is the most annoying sound in the world, why does it not use the tone I have my texts set for? (I forgot this one on my list)
Thanks for your answer to #11. My phone hadnt done it at all until I dropped it down about 10 feet at a concert screen down 6 days after I got it. The next day the phone did the reset thing and I just about cried cuz I was just like I know it's because I dropped it. On the bright side when I picked it up after it fell, it didnt have a scratch on it or nothin'.
How do you alter a .vcf file?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, all Custom ROM threads should have a little blurb about it for people installing their ROM from a new stock device. But it seems to be fixable even if you didn't with a little work, so it's not too bad.
You can use Root Explorer to copy them to /system/media/audio/ringtones, but I think they may have to be in .ogg for them to work out of this directory. I'm not entirely positive, but all you would have to do to test it is push a non-.ogg ringtone over and try it. To copy your ringtones over nice and easy like;
Download the Android SDK and extract the android-sdk-windows folder to your desktop for easy copy pasta!
And enable USB Debugging (Menu > Settings > Applications > Development > USB Debugging)
Open a command prompt!
cd %USERPROFILE%/desktop/android-sdk-windows/tools
adb push [ringtone] /system/media/audio/ringtones
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's in a perfect world where it won't complain about permissions. if it does;
cd %USERPROFILE%/desktop/android-sdk-windows/tools
adb push [ringtone] /sdcard/
adb shell
su - at this point, accept superuser request on the phone; make sure the screen isn't locked when you hit enter, prompt should change from a $ to a #
mv /sdcard/[ringtone] /system/media/audio/ringtones/
exit
exit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure if the Captivate can play .MIDI files for notification sounds. Only one way to find out though, right?
And i have no idea why your text tone is different when plugged into USB...mine sounds the same.
Late edit: forgot to answer one of em, you can edit .vcf files in MS Outlook!

# 9 - unfortunately our phone doesn't have FM radio. Another one to try is iheartradio. They have a number of radio stations. Although you're still using data unless you're using wifi like mentioned above.

Are there any better phonebook editors other than Outlook express?
I am looking for something so that I can have multiple phonebooks such as one with all my contacts I've ever had, and another for just the contacts I want on my phone

if you have a custom ringtone set for something and you have the phone plugged into usb, the phone can't access the the SD card where the custom tone is stored, thus you get that annoying (and loud) built in tone.

Re: myfiles: it does indeed let you install apps, but I'd recommend estrongs file explorer. It allows you to not only browse you're phone, but your pc files too (assuming it's on the same network, of course.) And let you open, copy and edit between the 2 devices.
Re: allshare: out of the box this great app let me browse and watch all of the video files off of my PC. I didn't have to configure anything special, except that my PC was already configured to share media with my xbox 360.
But I didn't do anything on my pc after buying the phone. Just connected to wifi and everything showed up. I haven't tried sharing the other way though (watching media from my phone on my PC)
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I896 using XDA App

#12. I've used Wifi Android Manager Wifi, I think it backs up text messages. It seems to back up everything else, that's for sure.

Hey, I've been working on adding answers to the OP, it's going, but I'm not done
Anyways, UPDATE 1/17/11 - I've Added Questions 15-21, please try and answer these when you get the time.
Added Answers to questions: 1, 2, 4, 5, 9
Added Parts B and C to #6
Added Questions: 15,16,17,18,19,21

XT890 Android Expert Required! Donation offer!

Would anyone be interested in finding the solutions to the problems below as a "job" and giving me a price for the solutions?
(1 - Data Roaming Nag)
Recently upgraded from HTC desire running 2.2 (I think?) to Razr I which is now running 4.12, before if I'd be abroad I'd simply get a text from my service provider about the rates, I always had data roaming enabled as it's a business phone and only €2 for the first 50mb which is more than enough for a days use. So I set the razr up in much the same way, albeit on 4.12 but I had data roaming enabled and when I first got connected to a foreign network it prompted me about data roaming, which I thought would be just a once off for the first time since I already had it enabled, I clicked yes to acknowledge it anyway and continue using data roaming which was fine, but then it seemed as soon as I dropped out of coverage and came back, the notification would come up again. It actually got so frequent that the notification was on my screen almost every time I unlocked the phone and it got pretty annoying.
Has anyone else experienced this and found out a way to disable the popup? I'm not sure if it's android or motorolla related?
(2 - Enable USB Mass storage)
I've seen mods of this but I don't think they are compatible with 4.12, if anyone has a solution or could edit the settings.apk to enable it and post it that would be great
(3 - Contact Sync Issue)
My contacts are not syncing properly. I've over 2,700 contacts as it's a business phone. I save all to my gmail account under different groups (my contacts/business/sport) and never had sync issues on my old desire but I'm having issues with this. When I check the account in settings, sync is fine for everything (calendar, gmail etc) but contacts and the last successful sync is days and days ago. The error just reads "Sync is currently experiencing problems, it will be back again shortly", which obviously isn't the case. I've tried "contact sync fix" app and although it works, I don't like using such a solution and would of course much rather it to just work as it's supposed to. Also I'm getting a "Sync - too many contacts deletions" notification sometimes that I'm not sure what to do with, when I click it it comes up saying "Deletion limit exceeded" and then says there are 8 deleted items for contacts account [email protected]. What do you want to do?" giving me the options: Delete the items - undo the deletes - do nothing for now. I don't know what to do so just choose "do nothing for now" contacts seem to be still intact but I'm very worried about losing any.
(4 - Space between numbers)
I'm not sure if this is a new thing with the newer androids, a dialler issue or what, but the phone is automatically adding gaps between numbers when I try and save. I've a lot of numbers and prefer to keep them all the same formatting, which is, for example, +353871234567, if somebody rings me, sometimes it comes up as +353871234567 which is grand, other times it might come up as 0871234567 so all I used to need to do was delete the 0 and add a +, now when I edit the number, spaces are automatically added and it shows up something like 087 123 4567. This used to only happen with landline numbers and then sometimes if you tried to delete say the space between 3 and 4, it would delete the space AND the 3!
I thought it was an issue with Go Contacts/Dialler EX but it's happening on EX Dialler too even though I've clicked off the area code setting, so I'm thinking it might be an android issue? Anyone managed to sort it out? I may have found something to do with it from Android Development, but I haven't a clue if that can be changed as a mod for a specific phone?
http://developer.android.com/refere...I'm having on an otherwise pretty good phone.

#2 dont work on JB..since "moto" and "ms" had together trouble on the mass storage thing..

pangyaaaaaa said:
#2 dont work on JB..since "moto" and "ms" had together trouble on the mass storage thing..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for letting me know. Do you think there will be a solution, ever?
I think I solved the contact sync issue, I chose the "undelete" option and then I noticed 8 new "my contacts" groups in gmail itself (from desktop) so I deleted them groups from gmail and I think it's ok now. I also sent Go contacts/dialer to system app (because of a missed call issue) so I'm not sure if this contributed, I also deleted the "contact sync fix" app. Hopefully the issue doesn't resurface.

OP this>>>>Job/Payment offer! Is not what XDA is about, now you willing to "donate" for items you are looking to resolve it different. BTW moved as this does not belong in the Development Threads.

That's fair enough, thanks So, donations offered for solutions folks!