[Q] Help Me Please, my Eris isnt a touch screen anymore!!! - Droid Eris Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Ok, so here goes..
Smart me decided to open up my phone to clean out all the grime and give a go at solving/fixing my headphone problem. Smart me also severed the touch screen connection to the LCD screen lol. Now, here's my few questions that I need help with.
1)Is there any way to enable Trackball Wake on CM7 w/o the touch screen? If I could enable that, I could use the phone no issue until I buy a new front plate. (I'm currently using GSB1.5)
2)How much is a replacement front plate for the eris?
Thanks in advance to anyone who reads this and drops some feedback or help!
PS- I DID fix my headphone issue, too bad it took breaking my damn screen!

$34 from Amazon

bftb0 said:
$34 from Amazon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may try to find one already mounted in the front housing to make life easier, but thank you, that's exactly it
Also, I was wondering if a nandroid backup of the same cm7 ROM with Trackball wake enabled would work on my phone?? My recovery is still up and running and usb still works so I can use my bros Eris and copy his nand backup. Sound like it'd work?

settlethestorm said:
I may try to find one already mounted in the front housing to make life easier, but thank you, that's exactly it
Also, I was wondering if a nandroid backup of the same cm7 ROM with Trackball wake enabled would work on my phone?? My recovery is still up and running and usb still works so I can use my bros Eris and copy his nand backup. Sound like it'd work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will work - but with his Gmail credentials - and his contacts, not yours - on your phone. There is a way to wipe those from an adb shell, but then how would you re-enter the values for your account?
I'm assuming that this temporary "touchless" phone you are proposing would be able to only answer in-bound calls, yes? Or maybe you are thinking that you will be able to bring up the dialer app by pressing Send, and then using the trackball to scroll through contacts to somehow dial that way?

Quick! Here's a different idea:
Edit and replace the XML file in your own ROM at
/data/data/com.cyanogenmod.cmparts/shared_prefs/com.cyanogenmod.cmparts_preferences.xml
look for the string:
<boolean name="pref_trackball_wake" value="true" />
You might want to do this in an offline mode (using Amon_RA), so you are sure the phone is picking up that setting during boot.

Alright, here's what I did..
1) Made a NAND on my phone and copied it into the nandroid folder on my bros phone (made a specific note on which folder to choose, so as not to confuse myself lol)
2) Made a NAND on his phone, then wiped data/dalvik, then NAND restored my backup onto his phone. Booted it up, changed the CM settings to trackball wake, booted back into recovery and made yet another NAND (also made a specific note on which folder to choose)
3) Copied that NAND to my phone again, did a full wipe and restored.
Eureka!...-ish :/
It works... I can now get past the lock-screen upon boot and access my phone/messages/app drawer/market/dolphin-browser.
Here's the problem now. I cant back out of anything lol, and its awful pesky (and prob not healthy) to have to reboot the phone every time I need to get back to the home-screen.
I tried looking in CM setting to see if there was a way to set up my volume up/down buttons as the home and back buttons but no luck.
Would anyone here happen to know if a button function re-routing is possible/fairly easy?
Thank all of you for the suggestions and help.
*Bftb0, thank you for your last post, I knew something like that was possible but I was already too deep into my NAND solution to attempt it. I appreciate the knowledge and help greatly

bftb0 said:
It will work - but with his Gmail credentials - and his contacts, not yours - on your phone. There is a way to wipe those from an adb shell, but then how would you re-enter the values for your account?
I'm assuming that this temporary "touchless" phone you are proposing would be able to only answer in-bound calls, yes? Or maybe you are thinking that you will be able to bring up the dialer app by pressing Send, and then using the trackball to scroll through contacts to somehow dial that way?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most likely the latter. Pretty much the only useful function w/o the keyboard is the phone. I can access messages and pretty much anything else through the app drawer, but without the keyboard and back/home button, its all useless. I can dial and call/end with the trackball, that's now the ONLY useful function lol

Ok, so Spare Parts held the key. The End button now serves as the home button. I still can't type or do other various things but that's all I need now to use a few more features.

If you spend another 2 days tweaking it, the replacement parts could be at your door.
Here's an idea - we'll all get together and write an app with a "SHAKE KEYBOARD".
If you shake the phone just right, it will type whatever letter/digit you want. LOL
You'll only need to learn how to shake your handset in 128 different ways.

bftb0 said:
If you spend another 2 days tweaking it, the replacement parts could be at your door.
Here's an idea - we'll all get together and write an app with a "SHAKE KEYBOARD".
If you shake the phone just right, it will type whatever letter/digit you want. LOL
You'll only need to learn how to shake your handset in 128 different ways.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
128? Bah! Why not set up the shakes in Morse Code format!?

roirraW "edor" ehT said:
128? Bah! Why not set up the shakes in Morse Code format!?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL .... .. ....... . . . .... ... .. ...... .... . . .....
^Not really Morse Code lol

lmao that's a terrific idea!
-/****/*-/-*/-*-
T/H/A/N/K
-*--/---/**-
Y/O/U
*-/*-**/*-**
A/L/L
!!!!!!!
On a side note though, can either three of you explain to me why we can't use the Eris trackball to access/type on the keyboard? I'm using GSB 1.5 atm, but I can swear that back in the days of Sense ROM's that the trackball worked on the keyboard...?

settlethestorm said:
lmao that's a terrific idea!
-/****/*-/-*/-*-
T/H/A/N/K
-*--/---/**-
Y/O/U
*-/*-**/*-**
A/L/L
!!!!!!!
On a side note though, can either three of you explain to me why we can't use the Eris trackball to access/type on the keyboard? I'm using GSB 1.5 atm, but I can swear that back in the days of Sense ROM's that the trackball worked on the keyboard...?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on xtrSENSE v4.6.5 right now. I tried all three of the keyboards that came with it just now, HTC_IME mod, Touch Input and Multi-touch keyboard, and the only aspect of any of them that I could control with the trackball was if it made a word or letter suggestion, then I could scroll between the suggestions. Otherwise the trackball only appeared to control the "Share" and "Cancel" buttons in the case of the Facebook app/widget's "What's on your mind?" text entry field.
Anyone else know anything about this?

roirraW "edor" ehT said:
I'm on xtrSENSE v4.6.5 right now. I tried all three of the keyboards that came with it just now, HTC_IME mod, Touch Input and Multi-touch keyboard, and the only aspect of any of them that I could control with the trackball was if it made a word or letter suggestion, then I could scroll between the suggestions. Otherwise the trackball only appeared to control the "Share" and "Cancel" buttons in the case of the Facebook app/widget's "What's on your mind?" text entry field.
Anyone else know anything about this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for trying that out for me bro, I really appreciate it! It definitely wouldn't have been worth it for me to flash a 2.1 ROM to check for myself lol Especially since it's taken about 2 1/2 days to get my phone to a controllable setup using only hard buttons and logic.
So far I've been able to make due using a combo of the Button Re-mapper app and Spare parts. All of my hard buttons can now take me into and out of any app, the menus, home and sleep. I can use the trackball to dial on the phone, so that function is still useful, and I can view texts, just no reply lol
Back in the day I used Handcent SMS on 2.1 and 2.2, and that had an option to speak out your reply to texts... used to work like a charm for me. So I downloaded this onto my busted phone but for some reason it wont work. It keeps saying "Recognizer is not present" when I hit the speaker icon on the SMS popup. Is this a CM7/GB issue on the Eris? I already have Pico TTs (Duhh!) and downloaded another TTs app on the market, enabled it in the settings, and still no luck
If I could figure this out though, my phone would be tops again, even w/o any touchscreen capabilities. Texting and calling are all that really matter to me until I either upgrade/replace the broken part. I'm tight on cash (who isn't?) and won't be able to do either until next week at the very soonest.
Any ideas? Are any of you using GSB and having the same issue with voice input?

Related

How To Disable The Annoying Notify Sound While In A Call

I am not responsible for malfunctions your phone may have from this. I am having no problems what so ever from it. This can be completely reversed after you do it.
(This may or may not work for other versions of the Touch Pro. I only have a Sprint one to try it on. Some phones, like Verizon, you are able to remove this annoying sound without having to do this mod.)
Ever find it really annoying when you are on the phone with someone and you get a incoming text message and your phone makes a really loud and annoying sound 3 times in a row to the point where you can't even hear your caller?
Here is how to disable that.
Download the attachment from the link:
www.megaupload.com/?d=1G0DC4CW
This will include Total Commander v2.5, a modified version of the "notify.wma" file which is basically silence, and a backup original version of the "notify.wma" in case you want to undo this mod.
Now, heres how you do it.
1. Open the .zip and put the tcmdpocketarm.cab (Total Commander) and the notify.wma files on your storage card.
2. Locate and Install tcmdpocketarm.cab (Total Commander)
3. Go to Start > Programs > Total Commander
4. Locate notify.wma files on your storage card, select and hold and click copy
5. Locate your "Windows" folder then tap and hold to paste.
This should overwrite your notify.wma file on your phone. When you get a phone call and receive a text message you will no longer hear the annoying loud sound.
Please let me know how this worked for everyone.
Thanks!
Damien
Why not edit it in the registy instead?
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
CONTROL PANEL
SOUNDS
INCALLBUZZ
Change Script so value is blank so DELETE P
or even delete the sound files name
Save wait a few minutes restart phone
Or you could even change it to a new sound that isnt so loud or annoying maybe something with one beep so you do know you have a text I find this feature useful
Both methods are sound. No pun intended.
I've used the same method RJM described already.
rjmjr69 said:
Why not edit it in the registy instead?
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
CONTROL PANEL
SOUNDS
INCALLBUZZ
Change Script so value is blank so DELETE P
or even delete the sound files name
Save wait a few minutes restart phone
Or you could even change it to a new sound that isnt so loud or annoying maybe something with one beep so you do know you have a text I find this feature useful
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow! Thanks!
I dont poke around my registry much so I never realized it was in there. Most of the time I dont know what the registry's do so I leave it be. Thanks for the tip!
daiviien said:
Wow! Thanks!
I dont poke around my registry much so I never realized it was in there. Most of the time I dont know what the registry's do so I leave it be. Thanks for the tip!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well if your into making your phone your own and personalizing it then the registry should be your new best friend. Thats where all changes get saved
sometimes its the only place you can adjust a setting you want
rjmjr69 said:
Well if your into making your phone your own and personalizing it then the registry should be your new best friend. Thats where all changes get saved
sometimes its the only place you can adjust a setting you want
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I understand that. IDK i just worried I will mess something up. Althou, i am going to try to ***** to sprint and get a new phone anyways cuz my screen likes to turn off on me WHILE im typing on it. Also randomly turns on. Only prob it dont do it enough for me to really prove it. I may have some tricks up my sleeves thou for that. Also I have a charging prob while talking on the phone.
daiviien said:
Yeah, I understand that. IDK i just worried I will mess something up. Althou, i am going to try to ***** to sprint and get a new phone anyways cuz my screen likes to turn off on me WHILE im typing on it. Also randomly turns on. Only prob it dont do it enough for me to really prove it. I may have some tricks up my sleeves thou for that. Also I have a charging prob while talking on the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't have to prove it. If your within your 30 days then it's no questions asked. After 30 days it may take a bit more but definitely NOT impossible. I made them take back my Instinct after 3 months and got a Pro to replace it.
smotrs said:
You don't have to prove it. If your within your 30 days then it's no questions asked. After 30 days it may take a bit more but definitely NOT impossible. I made them take back my Instinct after 3 months and got a Pro to replace it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I had my TP about 3 months...
Shooot man really you got them to trade an instinct in for a TP? DAMN! I canceled my instinct paid 200 ETF and bought a TP... I also got rid of my instinct at the 3 month point. That thing was cool at 1st then sucked.
smotrs said:
You don't have to prove it. If your within your 30 days then it's no questions asked. After 30 days it may take a bit more but definitely NOT impossible. I made them take back my Instinct after 3 months and got a Pro to replace it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same thing here got the diamond first though then the pro
daiviien said:
I am not responsible for malfunctions your phone may have from this. I am having no problems what so ever from it. This can be completely reversed after you do it.
(This may or may not work for other versions of the Touch Pro. I only have a Sprint one to try it on. Some phones, like Verizon, you are able to remove this annoying sound without having to do this mod.)
Ever find it really annoying when you are on the phone with someone and you get a incoming text message and your phone makes a really loud and annoying sound 3 times in a row to the point where you can't even hear your caller?
Here is how to disable that.
Download the attachment from the link:
www.megaupload.com/?d=1G0DC4CW
This will include Total Commander v2.5, a modified version of the "notify.wma" file which is basically silence, and a backup original version of the "notify.wma" in case you want to undo this mod.
Now, heres how you do it.
1. Open the .zip and put the tcmdpocketarm.cab (Total Commander) and the notify.wma files on your storage card.
2. Locate and Install tcmdpocketarm.cab (Total Commander)
3. Go to Start > Programs > Total Commander
4. Locate notify.wma files on your storage card, select and hold and click copy
5. Locate your "Windows" folder then tap and hold to paste.
This should overwrite your notify.wma file on your phone. When you get a phone call and receive a text message you will no longer hear the annoying loud sound.
Please let me know how this worked for everyone.
Thanks!
Damien
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you,
can you or someone modify the original file to make it softer? or upload any other good replacement file?
Also make sure that you aren't pressing the power button while you are typing that would do it too.
daiviien said:
Yeah, I understand that. IDK i just worried I will mess something up. Althou, i am going to try to ***** to sprint and get a new phone anyways cuz my screen likes to turn off on me WHILE im typing on it. Also randomly turns on. Only prob it dont do it enough for me to really prove it. I may have some tricks up my sleeves thou for that. Also I have a charging prob while talking on the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Swype with Voice button

On my Vibrant Swype, it had a voice button that was very convenient...I notice that the Swype app on the MT4G does not include this button.
Anyone know of a way to add this functionality? I used to swap out Swype versions on my Vibrant, but lack of root and a compatible app might be needed to make this change, just curious if anyone knows or has tried with any success. Thanks!
I had the same button on my G2, and now it's gone. How do we get this back?
I love swipe but this is the only reason I don't use it. That's the only thing missing on swype
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
I am wondering about this as well. I saw the demo at the store had it, but I couldnt find it here on my phone.
Hmm
I have a version with the mic, but can't figure out how to install it. I was using it on my n1. Can't over ride the system Version
as far as i know, the reason it is not being included is due to a security flaw. i forgot where i read it
I tweeted swype asking them if it was tmo and the genius button were to blame for no mic button and their reply was " yup "
you also cant see voice search (which no includes voice actions=similar to the genius button) in the stock launcher. If you use a replacement launcher such as adw you can use voice actions... waayyyy faster than genius button, sometime not accurate though..
anyway... SSSUUUUUCCCCKKKKSSSSSS to not have the mic button... bad decision TMO booo hisssss
Thanks for the reply, hopefully they work it out and add this back in...I used it all the time on my Vibrant, great feature...I noticed that I can't search by voice on the web browser either...they really want that keyboard to get used I guess!
EDIT: I just checked my wife's G2 and it has a voice icon in SWYPE and in the browser...so now I'm really confused why the MT4G doesn't have it...
EDIT2: never thought about the "genius" button as a reason...thanks for that!
So I rooted, deleted swype, installed G2 with mic button.. but not luck so far....incompatible... I requested a compatible version with the mic so hopefully they hook it up. If i figure out a way or find a version I will post a how to here.
worst case scenario, SlideIt seems on par with swype now, and have a mic (and you dont have to root to, just get it from the market)
Hey, not to be insulting, but when you installed the G2 Swype on the MY4G, did you replace both the APK and the libSwypeCore.so file (in system/lib)? I always had to replace both when I made changes before...sorry in advance if you already knew/did this...thanks!
thanks for the info.. i didnt know or try that, but it did not seem to help now that i have tried. ugh... stuck with slideIT for now. 8pen is free.. maybe ill try that again hehe. i did a nandroid first... but that first attempt to restore is always scary! especially without backup flashable roms hehe
*edit* god bless nandroid! wooo stock swype back... i think its time for some metamorph theming
I have a version I was using on my nexus with a mic on it, I'm rooted, backed up the one here, deleted, installed mine fine, but it doesn't work because it says it can find the English language pack. But now titanium won't put the original back. Ugh
Can someone upload the built in swype apk so I can push it back in?
"worst case scenario, SlideIt seems on par with swype now, and have a mic (and you dont have to root to, just get it from the market)"
Thanks for the idea, Kudos to you!
K9Healer said:
"worst case scenario, SlideIt seems on par with swype now, and have a mic (and you dont have to root to, just get it from the market)"
Thanks for the idea, Kudos to you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No prob, I found another solution.. I always was against this app but Handcent ..
Handcent gives you a mic in popup or by hitting menu a normal text.. so if you wanna stick with swype this would be your answer for now.. Handcent is highly customizable so you can keep it very close to stock if thats what you want.

[Q] End call button not working

Well, my HD2's end call button has finally given out on me. I can still get it to work if I push down on it VERY hard...
Anyway, I was hoping someone could help me replace it with an on-screen shortcut or widget for Android and Windows please. I just want to be able to get to the power off reboot menu...
Any help is much appreciated.
Any ideas? I tried to make a shortcut to my homescreen using anycut (in android) but couldnt figure it out. Is there anyone that has had a end call hard button that stopped working for them?
sactownsav said:
Well, my HD2's end call button has finally given out on me. I can still get it to work if I push down on it VERY hard...
Anyway, I was hoping someone could help me replace it with an on-screen shortcut or widget for Android and Windows please. I just want to be able to get to the power off reboot menu...
Any help is much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you are in a call on the droid os there is a softkey on the screen saying 'end call', just use it....simple beyond belief <----- DISREGARD THIS
Sorry about that, I see what your saying now, hmmm...check out the marketplace to see if you can find anything, I know there are a couple of apps there and if your lucky then you can get one free.
norodaigh said:
When you are in a call on the droid os there is a softkey on the screen saying 'end call', just use it....simple beyond belief <----- DISREGARD THIS
Sorry about that, I see what your saying now, hmmm...check out the marketplace to see if you can find anything, I know there are a couple of apps there and if your lucky then you can get one free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah Ive looked, mabey not hard enough, and I cant seem to figure out how to create the shortcut either...Thanks for the advice, Ill keep looking through the market for anything....
Have a read through the Themes & Apps HD2 section on here. I recall a few End Button programs - but have never had the need to try them out.

[Q] Stock SMS App - SalsaSense-1.3 Beta

Hi everyone.
I am using the SalsaSense ROM. I am unable to post in that thread because I am new here, so I'm hoping someone here will be able to help me.
In the stock SMS app there is the option to delete old messages once a limit has been reached. I installed the ROM, recovered my messages, and enabled the option in the stock app with the limit set at 200. But my old messages are not being deleted. With one contact I have 7k+ messages, and since enabling the option I have sent and received several messages with them. When I had Elelinux-7.1.0-Hero-v2.6 installed beforehand, following these steps was enough to provoke it to keep my inbox in check. But not now.
Is this a problem with the ROM, or the stock app, or am I just unlucky?
I'm hoping someone here may have come across this and can help me out.
Many thanks, BurnseyBoi
I think you've been unlucky. It sounds like a ROM problem since it's beta.
You could delete them using an app like SuperSMS Delete (I think it's that).
Yeah, guess I'll just have to wait for an update to it. I had a look round the market and found the app you were referring to. Worked a charm, thanks very much! Now my phone is a bit speedier.
Yeah i noticed this, unfortunately its a problem with the ROM. I've got a lot of issues to iron out so it takes me a while to solve each one, rest assured though it will be fixed
Sent from my Hero using XDA Premium App
Awesome, glad to hear it
I love this ROM! I forgot how much I missed the little Sense features and looks. My friend just got himself a Sensation, which is where I got the idea to browse around for a Sense ROM. Many thanks!
JieeHD said:
Yeah i noticed this, unfortunately its a problem with the ROM. I've got a lot of issues to iron out so it takes me a while to solve each one, rest assured though it will be fixed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm trying to follow the build.prop editing suggestion, but adb doesn't list my phone under connected devices. I've tried while the phone is on, and in recovery.
Is there another way of successfully editing it?
Yeah, you can use Root Explorer from the Market. ES File explorer may work too, look in the app's settings for Root options.
Navigate to the directory with the build.prop and long press and I think there's an edit option if you use Root Explorer. Then you can just edit as you would normally via the phone.
Thanks! I already had ES File Explorer, didn't realise it had root options though.
Made both changes that JieeHD suggested, then powered it off and back on. I've never seen my phone go from power button to lock screen that fast in the 2 years I've had it! I definitely notice a speed improvement from making those changes. Everything just feels sharper and more responsive.
Many thanks!
BurnseyBoi said:
Thanks! I already had ES File Explorer, didn't realise it had root options though.
Made both changes that JieeHD suggested, then powered it off and back on. I've never seen my phone go from power button to lock screen that fast in the 2 years I've had it! I definitely notice a speed improvement from making those changes. Everything just feels sharper and more responsive.
Many thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried them and can confirm they do speed things up.
Wish there was some option to use a standard notification bar, I think it would help.
hero_pt said:
I've tried them and can confirm they do speed things up.
Wish there was some option to use a standard notification bar, I think it would help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. I tried following the instructions in this thread but I couldn't get it to work. Has anyone else using this ROM been able to successfully do this?

[Q] Configuring Android for a Noob

Okay,
So, I finally upgraded from my old POS HTC TP2 and got a Samsung Siii, which so far is beyond description. However, being that I'm primarily a Windows Developer, and VERY used to the way windows operates, I am finding it rather difficult to adjust to system level configurations with the Android OS.
Like, in windows there's a Registry, which on the phone or on the computer if you know what you are doing you can configure manually and effect massive changes to the system. But I can't seem to find anything like that for the Android OS, which make some sense, but there are some things I'd like to change:
Screen real-estate.
So I go from this TP2 which had like a 2 inch screen, and 480x600 or something, to this SIII with a 4.6 inch screen and damn near double the resolution. but on my Tp2 I could see like 10-12 emails/texts listed, and with Cookie's Home Screen, I could have up to 25 apps on one screen.
Given Screen Dynamics, I should very simply be able to see 20 emails/texts on screen, and 60 apps, but like people who move from a 1280x1024 desktop to a 2048x1280, their resolution goes up, but they also increase the size of the icons and fonts so effectively their desktop real-estate hasn't changed. Working visual Studio (and most other editors not used for WYSIWYG documents like Word) my font size is like 7-8pt type on 1680x1050 resolution. I am not visually impaired here, so I can read small print on a big screen, yet I even with the smallest font setting the default applications and text are MASSIVE. I can see like 8 text conversations and 7 emails. When you browse to a website the size is tiny, and I can zoom to an appropriate level, which currently provides 10 times the amout of information than the default home and app screens provide. Instead of "Small,Medium,Large" etc, is there any low level configuration where I can define the icon/font DPI to say that true 7pt type is perfectly acceptable for me? Are there any Apps that do this?
Texts & Emails.
Not to say that I'm much of a nay-sayer, but do we have to have stupid little bubbles for my chat screen? I mean, simply list them out in text. It's called texting, not "comic book bubbling". the bubbles get in the way and I'd simply like to make them a simple line by line. Sure the emote icons can be drawn in, and with other graphics to indicate attachments and such, but can I turn off "bubble texting" and just so me a direct list. This (with the font changes) would allow me to follow two weeks worth of text history with any one contact instead of having to remember my bubbles are on the right theirs on the left. (of course a good starting point would be to be able to reverse that). Can any of this be done easily?
As for Email, well It was an "add on" to my old TP2, but I would like a simple one-click way to "Mark all as read". I do not use GMail nor ever will. I own two domain names and my emails come through there. So the GMail client is out. The default client, as aforementioned, only shows like 7 emails in either a categorized today,yesterday,etc view, or a conversation threaded view. I just want a list: Line 1: Sender and Date, Line 2: Subject. And a simple button to click at the top that says: Mark All Read. I shouldn't have to check each email and then mark read, and with the categories if any emails are already read, the option defaults to mark unread so I have to check, mark unread, check, and mark read to get them all. I have like 6 different email accounts, with multiple aliases, and I'm on many newsletters and other such things, so I get quite a few emails daily, but I don't always need to read them. So far i've looked around and haven't found much in the way of email applications that will do what I want, which Mozilla Thunderbird (and my old TP2) do quite readily.
Mostly, I'm looking for ways to truly manipulate this device to the max, so that I can truly treat it like a portable computer. I used my old tp2 (while it was functioning) is a primary universal communications device, and I know I will do the same with the SIII, but to make my experience more enjoyable I need some starting points to determine if I can easily configure this thing to work my way. (Nah, i'm not a control freak, )
Thanks
Jaeden "Sifo Dyas" al'Raec Ruiner
There is a way to make everything smaller. There is a build.prop file. If you open it You should be able to find line like lcddensity (just look for lcd or density). Default is 240 but if You make it smaller everything will be smaller. Also You can have more icons on Your laincher when You're using better launcher. I'm using adw launcher ex and it has this option. Also the sms bubble thing. Take a look for "go sms pro" on android market. It has plenty of options
Sent from my X10i using xda app-developers app
Thanks for the pointers. So i need a different launcher, and the sms/email apps to solve my other problems. Great.
As for the "build.prop" file. Is that something that I will have to use the sdk and like rebuild the OS (basically, "root" the phone)?
Thanks
J"SD"a'RR
JaedenRuiner said:
Thanks for the pointers. So i need a different launcher, and the sms/email apps to solve my other problems. Great.
As for the "build.prop" file. Is that something that I will have to use the sdk and like rebuild the OS (basically, "root" the phone)?
Thanks
J"SD"a'RR
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah root is required. If You have that You can just open it as normal *.txt file. Root Explorer is best for doing it
Sent from my X10i using xda app-developers app
JaedenRuiner said:
Thanks for the pointers. So i need a different launcher, and the sms/email apps to solve my other problems. Great.
As for the "build.prop" file. Is that something that I will have to use the sdk and like rebuild the OS (basically, "root" the phone)?
Thanks
J"SD"a'RR
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
root would be required, but in most cases, you don't have to start from scratch to gain root, only if you flash a new or custom rom, so, no rebuilding the OS in most cases. the build.prop tweaks and custom launchers are a great start, but you might want to research the custom recovery for your device, so that you can make a nandroid backup, and restore in the event that you change something that causes issues that you can't fix..it's a good precaiution at any rate if you plan on doing a lot of poking around.,
jakuburban said:
Yeah root is required. If You have that You can just open it as normal *.txt file. Root Explorer is best for doing it
Sent from my X10i using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yea, great. this is effing priceless. So I root the phone. I get a build.prop editor, I change the lcd density so I can get more info on screen and what happens. TouchWiz has stopped working.
Home doesn't work, nothing works. the phone is as useless as a paperclip as a paperweight. even better, the kies install still works only a 3rd the time (at best) so plugging it in via usb i can't even access the device. There appears to be no key combo command to tell the thing to use its internal flash recovery to restore factory defaults, and I can't access the build.prop file from my computer in order to change the file back to its original settings.
very helpful, i must say, winmo6.5 may have sucked, but it worked. this android crap really is NOT user friendly.
As a programmer I believe in "ultimate user customization". and yet I either have to suffer under google bird brained ideas of how things will work, or have a different phone. the very fact that I cannot just RESET TO FACTORY DEFAULT. albiet that woudl suck too, but so far it's all about this ODIN crap. why isn't the factory ROM on the phone itself? all i did was root it and edit one file. if that breaks android so easily, it really needs to be taken back to the drawing board.
[EDIT]
And now I've found the way to get to the factory restore...but it doesn't effing restore. cause I'm still getting the same error after the restore. at least my POS HTC tP2 when i RESTORED it, it flashed EVERYTHING back to factory defaults, including the system files I changed. I now have a brand new SIII that is worthless.
Jaeden "Sifo Dyas" al'Raec Ruiner.
Have a bit of patience with yourself mate. I too came from WM (Touch Diamond, Touch HD and then a HD2) and I'm a Windows developer by profession, so Android was completely alien to me. The Linux crowd are sorted but we've got a steep learning curve ahead of us
All you've told us about your current problem is that "nothing works". Can you tell us what actually happens when you turn the phone on? Is it booting okay and getting to where you'd expect to see a home screen?
JaedenRuiner said:
yea, great. this is effing priceless. So I root the phone. I get a build.prop editor, I change the lcd density so I can get more info on screen and what happens. TouchWiz has stopped working.
Home doesn't work, nothing works. the phone is as useless as a paperclip as a paperweight. even better, the kies install still works only a 3rd the time (at best) so plugging it in via usb i can't even access the device. There appears to be no key combo command to tell the thing to use its internal flash recovery to restore factory defaults, and I can't access the build.prop file from my computer in order to change the file back to its original settings.
very helpful, i must say, winmo6.5 may have sucked, but it worked. this android crap really is NOT user friendly.
As a programmer I believe in "ultimate user customization". and yet I either have to suffer under google bird brained ideas of how things will work, or have a different phone. the very fact that I cannot just RESET TO FACTORY DEFAULT. albiet that woudl suck too, but so far it's all about this ODIN crap. why isn't the factory ROM on the phone itself? all i did was root it and edit one file. if that breaks android so easily, it really needs to be taken back to the drawing board.
[EDIT]
And now I've found the way to get to the factory restore...but it doesn't effing restore. cause I'm still getting the same error after the restore. at least my POS HTC tP2 when i RESTORED it, it flashed EVERYTHING back to factory defaults, including the system files I changed. I now have a brand new SIII that is worthless.
Jaeden "Sifo Dyas" al'Raec Ruiner.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How much did You change the value? Some of the apps(very few) don't support even a small change, and if You changed it like about 30+ then launchers may have problems.(in this case it has). You can copy files from & to phone using adb commands, even when You can't do anything. You can install e.g. ADW Launcher (program in my description does that) that should work and would bring Your phone back to life. There is also other way to repair it, but I hope You made a backup (this is "must to do" thing if You change sth. in ROM, especially when somebody is a noob and doesn't know a way how to repair it) , or just a backup of build.prop (50% chances that it will work).
Making factory reset won't help. Samsung Kies was always a crappy thing and never worked. Try odin to reflash ROM (if You didn't make a backup). And one important thing. Is it a custom ROM, do You have flashable package somewhere on the pc or phone? If so don't use ODIN yet. And send me this ROM. (is this *.zip file, not *.img?) There is a chance to restore build.prop.
PS. I understand You have usb debugging enabled?
Archer said:
Have a bit of patience with yourself mate. I too came from WM (Touch Diamond, Touch HD and then a HD2) and I'm a Windows developer by profession, so Android was completely alien to me. The Linux crowd are sorted but we've got a steep learning curve ahead of us
All you've told us about your current problem is that "nothing works". Can you tell us what actually happens when you turn the phone on? Is it booting okay and getting to where you'd expect to see a home screen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After i changed the lcd_density, it rebooted and came to my lock screen. everything was smaller as I hoped, so i began punching in my PIN. then a small dialog popped up saying TouchWiz UI had stopped. I hit okay, and figured the lcd density I had chosen must be incompatible. So I pressed OK, figuring I would jump back in and change it back. I typed in the PIN and hit OK. My home screen background game up, but the bottom App row (5 icons) wasn't there. another dialog about the TouchWiz UI popped up. I pressed OK. Then a dialog saying System UI had failed. after 4 or 5 dialogs I could no longer press the OK button, like it either wouldn't recognize my touch or was "disabled" or something. so I tried to reboot the phone (holding the power button in to get to the reboot menu). It rebooted with the exact same behavior. Knowing that the phone was rooted I let it reboot, and tried plugging it back into my PC.
Now, even before I did all the advanced changes, when plugged into the computer, the SPH-L710 node in explorer only comes up a quarter of the time, so now, i plugged in and unplugged until the node appeared to allow me to explore the phone, figuring it is "rooted" now so I should be able to get to the build.prop file some how and change it. No such luck.
I played with the button presses hoping to find some soft-key combination that would "restore factory defaults". Took some intuitive leaps, and remembered power+VolDn+home lead me to download mode. and that when rebooting the guide had told me to use power+volup+home to get to "recovery". so I tried that, which lead me to the "Stock Recovery Mode" screen. (rather different than the ClockworkMod Recovery I used to root the device).
At this point I selected the third option, "wipe data/restore factory settings". (yes, I had backed up the device before i performed all this so I'm not "worried" just annoyed). the phone when through the process and claimed the restore was complete so in the menu I selected to reboot and it popped back up asking all the same initial questions it had when it was first turned on. thinking "yea" i'd solved the issue, it booted in asking for my name and yadda, yadda, yadda, when suddenly the SAME TouchWiz UI error pops up. again. skipping over the initial configuration stuff, it got to the psuedo lock screen, saying slide to unlock, and i see 4 icons at the bottom (not 5) and again the TouchWiz UI and System UI errors pop up repeatedly. I can't select any of the icons at the bottom, and I am now without a phone untill I can simply alter 3 characters in a text file, which I can't get to.
I get the learning curve and all, but if this build.prop file is so critical, factory reset should reset it too. it apparently does not, and so until i can somehow alter that file to set the lcd density back to 320 i'm screwed.
J"SD"a'RR
jakuburban said:
You can copy files from & to phone using adb commands, even when You can't do anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well first step is finding ADB. I downloaded the SDK but couldn't find adb anywhere in the sdk tree. once I do find it, using it will be amusing to say the least.
jakuburban said:
There is also other way to repair it, but I hope You made a backup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course i backed up the phone with my data. But unless I get it to boot in the standard home screen with the applications I can't restore the data.
jakuburban said:
or just a backup of build.prop (50% chances that it will work).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what purpose would this serve. the build.prop editor I used made a backup, but again untill i can get into the phone I can't restore this backup.
jakuburban said:
Making factory reset won't help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
which in mymind (as a developer) this is a bad design. any 'breaking' change should be repairable by a factory reset.
jakuburban said:
Samsung Kies was always a crappy thing and never worked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
needed it for the usb drivers, that's all.
jakuburban said:
Try odin to reflash ROM (if You didn't make a backup).
And one important thing. Is it a custom ROM, do You have flashable package somewhere on the pc or phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not custom rom or anything. I've had the phone for a week and was finally getting tired of not having certain things the way I wanted them. so I'd figured I'd dig around. I found many tutorials on the rooting of this phone and since they were all very similar I went with this one:
How to Root SPHL710
that part wen off just fine. seemed there was nothing for me to worry about. there was no ROM or crazy changes, just wanted to give myself root access. I then wanted to change LCD density, so I tried it and here I am.
jakuburban said:
PS. I understand You have usb debugging enabled?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it wasn't essential for what I was doing at the time. ODIN worked for the root process. *shrug* can't change it now, so I hope it isn't necessary.
J"SD"a''
JaedenRuiner said:
well first step is finding ADB. I downloaded the SDK but couldn't find adb anywhere in the sdk tree. once I do find it, using it will be amusing to say the least.
Of course i backed up the phone with my data. But unless I get it to boot in the standard home screen with the applications I can't restore the data.
what purpose would this serve. the build.prop editor I used made a backup, but again untill i can get into the phone I can't restore this backup.
which in mymind (as a developer) this is a bad design. any 'breaking' change should be repairable by a factory reset.
needed it for the usb drivers, that's all.
not custom rom or anything. I've had the phone for a week and was finally getting tired of not having certain things the way I wanted them. so I'd figured I'd dig around. I found many tutorials on the rooting of this phone and since they were all very similar I went with this one:
How to Root SPHL710
that part wen off just fine. seemed there was nothing for me to worry about. there was no ROM or crazy changes, just wanted to give myself root access. I then wanted to change LCD density, so I tried it and here I am.
it wasn't essential for what I was doing at the time. ODIN worked for the root process. *shrug* can't change it now, so I hope it isn't necessary.
J"SD"a''
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I see that You made a backup with some app (Titanium Backup?), not CWM or (whatever You have) recovery. That's crappy. (My bad, I could have told You about that)
Enabling usb debugging now is impossible so I think, all that's left to reflash with Odin. All the hope was in adb controlling, which REQUIRES usb debugging.
Sent from my X10i using xda app-developers app
jakuburban said:
So I see that You made a backup with some app (Titanium Backup?), not CWM or (whatever You have) recovery. That's crappy. (My bad, I could have told You about that)
Enabling usb debugging now is impossible so I think, all that's left to reflash with Odin. All the hope was in adb controlling, which REQUIRES usb debugging.
Sent from my X10i using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yea, I pretty much made that call yesterday, as all the ADB struff I tried didn't work. (but it was worth while for the learning process). I flashed with stock rom, and now i'm up and running. (guess I won't be messing with that setting again. ) as it is, i'm trying different launchers which has some of the features I want, and then I'll keep looking for different email/sms apps that shrink the info. (seriously on this size/res of screen, only seeing 8 emails is pathetic).
basically now trying the Apex Launcher, and then I'll do the ADW launcher. which ever is more to my liking i'll go pro. then handcent or gosms, k9 or others, or perhaps i'll even start writing my own clients that include font setting micro, .
thanks though, at least my first attempt to alter the phone is no different than my first attempt to write a program.
Cheers,
Jaeden "Sifo Dyas" al'Reac Ruiner
JaedenRuiner said:
yea, I pretty much made that call yesterday, as all the ADB struff I tried didn't work. (but it was worth while for the learning process). I flashed with stock rom, and now i'm up and running. (guess I won't be messing with that setting again. ) as it is, i'm trying different launchers which has some of the features I want, and then I'll keep looking for different email/sms apps that shrink the info. (seriously on this size/res of screen, only seeing 8 emails is pathetic).
basically now trying the Apex Launcher, and then I'll do the ADW launcher. which ever is more to my liking i'll go pro. then handcent or gosms, k9 or others, or perhaps i'll even start writing my own clients that include font setting micro, .
thanks though, at least my first attempt to alter the phone is no different than my first attempt to write a program.
Cheers,
Jaeden "Sifo Dyas" al'Reac Ruiner
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm glad to hear that Before messing with the system ALWAYS make a CWM backup, not some app backup (like titanuim backup).
PS. I use ADW Launcher EX. It's the best for me. Tried other but this one is the best.

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