Answer My Query

Due to the software/hardware combination of not being able to install apps to the SD card and phones simply having inadequate amounts of internal storage, a weak point of Android has been that users often have run out of space for apps. One could think that the problem would be a thing of the past with Android 2.2’s apps2SD support, but many people running Froyo are still unable to install all the apps and games they want and need to prioritize. Since private user data never is stored on an external storage, apps installed to the SD card will nonetheless take up space on the internal memory. And some software, like widgets, live wallpapers and system apps may not function properly if they are installed on the SD card. But there are luckily ways to free up some precious MB of internal storage if you’re starting to get desperate.

Clear the Cache of Large Apps

By clearing the cache that some applications use, you can reclaim quite a few megabytes, at least temporarily.

• Go to Settings > Applications > Manage applications on your Android.
• Press the Menu button and select the Sort by size option. If you’re on Android 2.2, select the All tab first.
• To check if an application has a cache, select it in the list and it will be stated on the resulting screen. To clear a cache, simply press the Clear cache button.
• A couple of apps that may have a cache of several MB are Maps, Market, Internet and Gallery (called Photos on some devices).
• From the Application info screen you may also clear an app’s data. This will not only clear the cache, but also all the data the app has generated. Basically, you’re “hardresetting” the app. For example, I reclaimed 2MB by erasing the data for Media Storage. It forced my Gallery app to locate all my pictures again, but the associated data for Media Storage was still much smaller in size than before I cleared it.
• Do you use homescreen replacements such as LauncherPro or ADW Launcher and have no intention of going back to Sense or the vanilla launcher? Then you can likely free up a lot of space by clearing the data for HTC Sense or Home.
• An app that automatically will list all apps that have a cache is Quick App Clean Cache ($0.76). If you have root access, there are also apps on the Market such as CacheCleaner, CacheMate and MoveCache that automate this.

Remove Apps You Never or Rarely Use

This goes without saying, but it’s naturally a good idea to go through your software arsenal from time to time and uninstall apps you seldom use.

Got Froyo? Make Android Install Apps to the SD Card by Default

A few weeks ago we did a tutorial on how to let Android install apps to the SD by default on Froyo. I initially thought that this tweak merely would make Android install apps to the SD right away, so you wouldn’t have to move them manually. But after a hard reset, I discovered that it actually enables some apps to be installed to the SD card which otherwise would be locked to the internal storage. With that in mind, it’s highly recommended that you give this tweak a try if you want to avoid the “phone storage is getting low” message. The only downside is that you occasionally have to manually move some apps from the SD to the internal storage, such as widgets.

Move Everything That Can Be Moved

If your device is running Froyo and you have told Android to install apps to the SD, make sure that all apps that can and should be moved to the memory card actually have been moved. Apps that probably shouldn’t be transferred to the SD are widgets, apps with bundled widgets, live wallpapers and apps that run in the background and integrate with the system. There are several apps that make the moving process easier, and the best ones so far are Apps 2 SD and SDMove.

In the latest edition of Android Apps Alert, we highlighted an SMS Backup+, an app that can create backup of SMS messages to the user’s GMail account. In the event that someone accidentally deletes a message or has to wipe his or her phone, SMS Backup+ can restore the messages when necessary.

Then I realized something I should have spotted from the beginning: SMS Backup+ can be a great tool for reading your SMS messages online. Being able to read text messages on the desktop is one of my favorite features of Google Voice, so it’s great to be able to browse the archives of my default phone number. SMS Backup+ stores text messages under an “SMS” label in Gmail, so I can set the app to auto-backup incoming messages and then read that label to view new messages.

Here’s how to set it up.

1. Download SMS Backup+ from the Android Market
2. Connect it to your Google account. (The app uses XOAuth to grant access and can be disabled later if you no longer use the app)
3. Check the box marked “Auto backup”

From then on, all of your incoming messages should be added to your Gmail account automatically. There is a delay of a few minutes for synchronization, so don’t use this as your primary notification system for time-sensitive issues. However, it’s great if you just need to search for something or get a notification of message if you don’t have your phone next to you. Best of all, you don’t have to worry about losing your text messages if something goes wrong with your phone.

Keep in mind that you must Enable IMAP in Gmail for this to work.

LauncherPro has quickly become one of the most popular homescreen replacements for Android, and it’s easy to see why. The app is highly customizable, and since its debut on the Market back in May the developer Federico Carnales has managed to impress with each new update. About a month ago he decided to singlehandedly make his own versions of the HTC widgets one by one (for Plus users only) – a bold move, and so far he has been able to pull it off.

With all the extra functionality LauncherPro offers, it can however be somewhat difficult to know how make the most of the app, especially for those who are used to the HTC or vanilla Android launcher. Here are 11 ways to take advantage of LauncherPro’s growing number of features.

1. Utilize the Dock Swipe Gestures

LauncherPro lets you assign an action to an upward or downward swipe gesture over any of the shortcuts in the dock. For example, you can tell LauncherPro to take you directly to the screen where you keep your bookmarks widget when you swipe over the Browser icon, to add a new contact when you swipe over the Contacts icon, or dial a specific number when you swipe over the Phone icon.

I have always thought that it’s too inconvenient to pinch the screen to bring up the homescreen previews since it requires an extra hand, but with swipe gestures they can be accessed super quick with your thumb, which is what I like most about them. You can set a swipe gesture for a shortcut by longpressing it and selecting Swipe gesture action from the resulting menu.

2. Change the Dock Background

You can change the dock background (or remove it), from Preferences > Appearance Settings > Dock background. Custom images are supported, and there are sites dedicated to LP dock backgrounds such as LauncherPro Icons.

3. Use Three Docks

The dock at the bottom of the screen is scrollable to the left and right, and you can add two extra docks which you can fill with shortcuts to apps you use often. This is an excellent way to free up space on your homescreen. Set the number of docks from Preferences > Dock Settings > Number of docks, and be sure to use the Loop scrolling option as well.

4. LauncherPro Lets You Link to Anything

The LP Shortcuts feature that was introduced in the latest version of LauncherPro initially left many users puzzled, myself included, as Carnales failed to explain exactly why these new shortcuts were better than the existing ones. The app could already create links to activities, i.e. specific screens within apps, but the LP Shortcuts take this a step further.

Some screens within apps require extra info to be passed, and this is where the LP Shortcuts come in. They basically provide greater flexibility, since you can create a shortcut that opens X and proceeds to do Y. In other words they let you link to anything on your Android, at least in theory. Since LP Shortcuts are actual files, they can also be shared and stored.

To create LP Shortcuts you have to use the web-based LauncherPro Shortcut Creator tool, and they should be stored in a folder in the root of your SD card called lpshortcuts. This thread in the LauncherPro forum is dedicated to LP Shortcuts.

A few shortcut examples:

Go to the Facebook Wall (official app):

Action: android.intent.action.VIEW

Data: facebook:/wall

Add a new contact:

Action: android.intent.action.INSERT

Data: content://contacts/people

Compose new Gmail:

Action: android.intent.action.SENDTO”

Data: mailto:

Switch to a particular LauncherPro homescreen:

Action: android.intent.action.MAIN

Package name: com.fede.launcher

Class name: com.fede.launcher.Launcher

Add an Extra:

Type: Integer

Name: com.fede.launcher.extra.SCREEN

Value: the number of the screen to switch to

5. Resize Widgets as You See Fit

LauncherPro lets you resize any widget. Just longpress the widget you want to alter and release it. You will then see a gray border around the widget: grab the bottom-right corner, and when you’re done resizing, press the Back button to trigger the change. This is a great way to fit more shortcuts and widgets on your homescreen. In the example below, I have resized the default Android music widget so I can add the internal storage widget next to it.

6. Scrollable Widgets

Many of HTC’s widgets are scrollable, such as the Friend Stream, but it’s not supported in the Sense or stock Android launcher for regular widgets. LauncherPro adds support for scrollable widgets, such as Pure Messenger.  You can activate this option from Preferences > General Settings > Enable scrollable widgets.

7. Extra Eye Candy

You can control the speed of LauncherPro’s visual effects from Preferences > Advanced Settings > Opening speed. You may also activate the 3D drawer option from Preferences > Advanced Settings > Use 3D drawer. The 3D drawer is flashy, but perhaps a bit less useful than the regular one.

8. Hide Apps You Never Use

Got bloatware on your device that you can’t uninstall? You can hide undesired apps in the app drawer from Preferences > General Settings > Hidden Apps.

9. Use 5-Icon Homescreen Rows

This is one of my favorite features, since it enables an extra row for icons and widgets on each homescreen. Since the default launcher has so much white space, it doesn’t look that crowded. You can activate this option from Preferences > Advanced Settings > 5 Icon rows in homescreen. If you use this feature, you may want to enable the Stretch 4-row widgets option as well.

10. Increase the Number of Drawer Columns

With additional columns in the app drawer, you don’t have to scroll as far to reach your apps, since more icons can be displayed simultaneously. You can set the number of drawer columns from Preferences > Advanced Settings > Drawer columns portrait / landscape.

11. Remove Shortcut Labels

When you remove the icon labels (Preferences > Appearance Settings > Hide icon labels) you get a much cleaner and more stylish homescreen, but you naturally have to be able to identify shortcuts solely by their icons.

This simple function creates star field animation. You need MovieClip in your library with 'star' class linkage. If stars are not your thing, feel free to try it with any other image you make.



code ::

import flash.events.Event;
import flash.events.MouseEvent;

function starField():void {

var i:uint = 0;

    while (i < 30) {
        var a:star = new star();
        a.x = Math.random()*400;
        a.y = Math.random()*260;
        var size:Number = Math.random()*40+20;
        a.width = a.height = size;
        a.addEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE, getSpeed);
        function getSpeed(evt:Event):void
        {
            evt.target.speed = Math.random()*20-10;
        }
        
        a.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, onFrame);
        function onFrame(evt:Event):void
        {
            evt.target.rotation += evt.target.speed;
        }
        addChild(a);
        i++;
    }
}

starField();

addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP, onup);
function onup(evt:MouseEvent):void
{
    while(this.numChildren > 0) {
        this.removeChildAt(0);
    }
    starField();
}

*_*

When Google acquired the small Palo Alto startup company Android, Inc in July 2005, the team led by Andy Rubin surely both hoped and expected that the mobile OS they were developing eventually would power a vast number of devices of all sorts. But I wonder if they also predicted that Android would be the platform of so many phones that were originally designed to run an entirely different OS, namely the now archaic Windows Mobile.

Android ports have come a long way since late 2008, when I tried to run Android on an SE Xperia X1 and all I got was a non-functioning homescreen turned upside-down. An example of this progress is the Android Development sections that are available for many Windows Mobile devices at the gargantuan smartphone forum xda-developers. Lots of handsets based on Microsoft’s mobile OS are indeed finding new life as Android devices, as detailed in the Wired article DIYers Hack Windows Mobile Phones to Run Android.

If you got an old (or a new, such as the HTC HD2) Windows Mobile device lying around, chances are that you can make it up-to-date by letting our green Android have its way with it. The process may require some effort, though, but you could have Android running within an hour or two and you get to feel like a power-user on steroids.

Running Android on Windows Mobile Phones – an Introduction

Some Windows Mobile devices, like the HTC Vogue, have Android ports that can utilize the hardware to such an extent that ROMs have been compiled that entirely replace Windows Mobile with Android. But for the most part, Android on Windows Phones is launched through HaRET: a tool for booting Linux from within Windows Mobile. HaRET will not run Android on top of WinMo as one would think, since it shuts down Microsoft’s platform before booting Android.

If you’re one of the lucky few that have a WinMo device that has an Android port in the shape of a ROM, you can simply flash the ROM like you would normally do. You will then have the benefit of not having to start Windows Mobile in order to launch Android, and the entire port will likely be quicker and more stable. The advantage with HaRET on the other hand, is that you’ll get a dual-boot device that is capable of running two different operating systems. For beginners, this method is probably easier as well.

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How to Run Android on Windows Mobile Devices

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1) Download an Android Port for Your Phone

Visit the xda-developers forum, find your device in the list and enter the Android Development section. These phones currently have forums dedicated to Android ports:

• HTC Kaiser: Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III
• HTC Vogue: Touch CDMA
• HTC Blackstone: Touch HD
• HTC Polaris: Touch Cruise
• HTC Raphael: Touch Pro, Fuze
• HTC Topaz: Touch Diamond2, Pure
• HTC Rhodium: Touch Pro2, Tilt 2
• HTC Leo: HD2
• Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1

Developers are also combining their efforts on the project XDAndroid. Some of the phones the XDAndroid port is compatible with are the HTC Raphael, Rhodium, Diamond, Topaz and Blackstone. The port has also been modified to work on other devices, such as the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1.

2) Copy the Required Files to Your Phone / Flash Your Android ROM

If there is an Android ROM available for your Windows phone, just flash it the way you would flash a regular Windows Mobile ROM. There may be discrepancies, though, so look closely if there are any special instructions for your particular ROM. If you’re not familiar with the process of flashing ROMs, there are many guides available on the interwebs.

In case you have downloaded a port that requires HaRET, you should simply extract the files included in the port to the root of your memory card and then run HaRET.exe to boot Android. Your memory card should have the FAT32 format (that is likely already the case) and have at least 500 MB of free space.

These files are usually included with Android ports that are launched via HaRET:

Calibration	WLAN firmware
Haret.exe	Runs the Linux kernel and Android
initrd.gz	Initial RAM disk, needed for Linux to boot (phase one)
modules-Version-Number.tar.gz	Android WLAN driver
rootfs.img	Holds the files needed for Linux to continue to boot (phase two)
STARTUP.TXT	Contains various parameters for HaRET and boot options for the Linux kernel
system.sqsh	Holds all of Android’s system files
zImage	The Linux kernel
conf/*.user.conf	Android configuration files
AndroidApps/*.apk	Android applications, that are installed during start-up. Any Android .apk-files in this folder will be installed. You can add and remove .apk-files files as you see fit.

Source: vdelf at xda-developers

3) Boot Android

In case you have flashed an Android ROM, you naturally just have to start your device to boot Android. If you have the Android port located on your memory card, simply launch HaRET.exe with Windows Mobile’s native File Explorer and Android will eventually start.

You will see lots of seemingly random numbers and letters for about 5-10 minutes, but Android will launch much faster the next time you run HaRET. A file called data.img will be created in the root of your SD card that contains the information for your entire Android setup. To hardreset your Android configuration and start over, simply erase this file.

If your Android port can’t communicate with your phone’s GPS, it’s vital that you disable the GPS in Android from Settings > Location & security > Use GPS satellites, or your device may freeze.

It’s also recommended that you turn off your SIM card’s PIN protection in Windows Mobile, since many ports can’t handle PINs yet. The setting is located here: Settings > Personal > Phone > GSM/UMTS Services > PIN/PIN2 > Get Settings… > Require PIN when phone is used.

4) Some Important Links

There is much more to tell when it comes to running Android on Windows Mobile phones, but hopefully this is enough to get you started. Best of luck, and if you want further information, you can check out the websites below.

• Porting Project Help Center @ connect-utb.com
• XDAndroid thread @ xda-developers.com
• XDAndroid Wiki @ XDAndroid.com