tharos4droid

Contest on Androidiani.com

2012-04-12T08:55:00.001+02:00

Hi guys let me tell you that you can win an extraordinary HTC Evo 3D on www.androidiani.com.
Here's the link

Ringtones reset after a restart

2011-07-26T16:14:00.001+02:00

Hi guys, today I want to share with you a tip to workaround a problem I had to face recently.
Since I sometimes use to change my default ringtone by using the famous Zedge app, I realized that after a restart I got my default ringtone resetted. What's the solution? Use your favourite File Manager and copy files from /sdcard/zedge/ringtones/ to /sdcard/media/audio/ringtones/.
Of course the same method can be used for wallpapers, notifications and alarms. They will have to be put respectively under:
- /sdcard/media/audio/wallpapers/
- /sdcard/media/audio/notifications/
- /sdcard/media/audio/alarms/

HTC Desire Back button fault and Keyremapper

2011-06-13T10:29:00.004+02:00

Hi guys,
since I know that many HTC Desire owners after a while have problems with their physical back button, I'd like to advice you another wonder from the xda-developers forum: the Button Remapper
This is an application to be used only on full rooted devices, but it will let you edit the key layout map file that Android uses to map the keys.
Following are the functions that can be easily reassigned:

"Power",
"Home",
"Menu",
"Back",
"Search",
"Volume up",
"Volume down",
"Camera",
"Focus",
"Endcall",
"Call",
"Media Play Pause",
"Media Stop",
"Media Next",
"Media Previous",
"Media Rewind",
"Media Fast Forward",
"Dpad center",
"Dpad up",
"Dpad down",
"Dpad left",
"Dpad right"

Of course this can be useful non other devices too and there are different versions available for differente devices. So check it out and let me know if this helped!
Credits go to my good friend Fabrizio who told me about the problem and the HTC desire problem

DEV - App Install Location

2011-05-25T12:52:00.002+02:00

Since API level 8 (a.k.a. Froyo), Google introduced the possibility for developers to let users move their applications to the phone external storage. A great opportunity especially for those who do not own a recent device.
Though this technology is a great improvement, it has lots of limitations which I realized they are not so evident...
So let's make a small list of what may not work when your app is installed onto the SD card (taken from the Android Dev Guide).

Alarm Services: Your alarms registered with AlarmManager will be cancelled. You must manually re-register any alarms when external storage is remounted.
Input Method Engines: Your IME will be replaced by the default IME. When external storage is remounted, the user can open system settings to enable your IME again.
Live Wallpapers: Your running Live Wallpaper will be replaced by the default Live Wallpaper. When external storage is remounted, the user can select your Live Wallpaper again.
Live Folders: Your Live Folder will be removed from the home screen. When external storage is remounted, the user can add your Live Folder to the home screen again.
App Widgets: Your App Widget will be removed from the home screen. When external storage is remounted, your App Widget will not be available for the user to select until the system resets the home application (usually not until a system reboot).
Account Managers: Your accounts created with AccountManager will disappear until external storage is remounted.
Sync Adapters: Your AbstractThreadedSyncAdapter and all its sync functionality will not work until external storage is remounted.
Device Administrators: Your DeviceAdminReceiver and all its admin capabilities will be disabled, which can have unforeseeable consequences for the device functionality, which may persist after external storage is remounted.
Broadcast Receivers listening for "boot completed": The system delivers the ACTION_BOOT_COMPLETED broadcast before the external storage is mounted to the device. If your application is installed on the external storage, it can never receive this broadcast.
Copy Protection: Your application cannot be installed to a device's SD card if it uses Android Market's Copy Protection feature. However, if you use Android Market's Application Licensing instead, your application can be installed to internal or external storage, including SD cards.

So all of you developers out there, be sure to check this list whenever you are developing an app which holds one of these features, or you may fall in the same situation I did: I was developing a BroadcastReceiver to start at boot time but my app had been installed on SD card and I lost at least a couple of hours trying to get the Receiver to start after a reboot. Quite disapponting indeed especially because I believed to have done some wrong coding in my app....

Eclipse - Content Assist Tip

2011-05-16T14:30:00.005+02:00

Hi guys, if you develop java or android applications and you own a fast pc you may encounter the same problem with Eclipse which made me go nuts!!!
Content assist takes a looong time to load. This is because of the content assist triggering timeout which is set on 200 millis by default. Thanx to my friend Fabio I finally got the solution.
You just have to go to Window - Preferences - Java - Editor - Content Assist and set a higher value for the Auto activation delay property (For me 400 millis is the right choice)
By the way, while you are on that window preference page you may choose under the Insertion property the Insertion overwrites mode.
Let me know if this was useful!!
Cheers

XDA AppInjector

2011-05-08T10:44:00.002+02:00

A new wonder has come from the amazing XDA team. It' the AppInjector.
If you own one of those devices with no access to the official market and developer tools disabled this is your way out!!!! Basically it's an exe file that lets you install apks by connecting your device through a usb cable.
More info here.

BREAKING NEWS!!! Native Google Docs app hits the Market

2011-04-27T19:46:00.002+02:00

Still haven't tried this one but I'm pretty sure that every Android user has been struggling for this for a looooong time, isn't it? :-)

According to the Market with this you can:

Create, edit, upload and share your documents with the Google Docs app.
Create, edit, upload and share your docs from your phone with the Google Docs app:
* Designed for Android to save you time finding your docs
* Edits to your documents appear to collaborators in seconds
* Make quick changes to spreadsheets
* View your documents, PDFs, images and more.
* Upload and convert files to the Google Docs format
* Take a photo of printed text and convert it to a Google document
* Share docs with your phone’s contacts

T9 style keyboard on HTC Tattoo (Click) with custom ROM

2011-04-27T09:08:00.007+02:00

Hi guys, I have a new tip for your HTC Tattoo (Click) owners. We all now that android standard keyboard is not that confortable for devices with small screens and the Tattoo is one of them...
What can we do if we have just installed our favourite custom ROM?
The usual xda-developers forum has the right solution for this problem and you can find it here.
Everything works fine BUT there's a little trick for non English people which may be useful to know. The post includes the HTC IME apk to install but this does not include any language support except the English one. So what can we do? The solution is do not select any language from the settings so the application will use the one you choose as default for your Android device!!!

Anyway if you chose by mistake the English language (which is the only natively supported) you can go to Settings --> Applications --> Manage Applications --> Touch Input --> Clear data and the work is done!!

How To Install CyanogenMod on HTC Tattoo (Click)

2011-04-26T16:26:00.006+02:00

Recently I got the chance to install the famous CyanogenMod on a HTC Tattoo (Click) device.
After some unsuccessful attempt I realized that CyanogenMod wiki about this device is quite incomplete and obscure. Since I finally reached the goal I'm here to tello you some advices you may find useful:

Obtaining root privileges

The easiest way to obtain root privileges is to use the famous xda-developers 1 Click Root apk.
You can find it here (by the way, if you own an Android device you HAVE TO be an xda-developers.com member. It's awesome! But I'm sure that all of you already know it!). The usage of this application needs no explaination. Just install it by using your favourite file manager, launch it and follow screen instructions.

Installing ClockworkMod Recovery

For me this operation was a bit tricky.... Wiki on CyanogenMod was quite incomplete and didn't work at all for me... So I had to try some other solution. First of all download ROM Manager from the Market. This is a great application and I recommend you to buy the premium edition.
Once you have it on your phone, launch it and choose the first option (Install ClockworkMod Recovery). After the recovery installation choose the second option Reboot in recovery. If everything was good your phone shoud reboot and you should see something like this:

Installing CyanogenMod

Now the work is almost done. Reboot your phone normally and rerun the ROM Manager application.
Choose the Download ROM option and then CyanogenMod. You will be asked what to choose wether to download Google apps too or not and the download should start. When the download is over you will be asked what to do about your data and if you want to clear cache and data. Choose the preferred option and the phone will reboot.
It will take a few minutes and after the wait your phone should awake to a new life!!!!

Feel free to comment and add if necessary any corrections.
Cheers

Here I am..

2011-04-26T14:27:00.000+02:00

Hi guys, you're probably wondering do we need another blog? About Android? I'll be honest with you: "No you don't"... Anyway I have a sort of more than little but fewer than everything knowledge (:-)) about the fantastic world of Android so I decided the time had come to share it with someone else.... just to spread the news and maybe with your help to learn something new!
So here's the plan: Anytime I got something interesting to say I'll do it... That's it...
Sincerely yours
Tharos