[Q] New to android - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi everyone this is my first time posting on the forums. I just upgraded from my blackberry 9700 to a Razr HD from Fido. I've never had an android phone before so this it's all new to me. I have a few general questions about how the operating system works and i was hoping you guys can help me out.
My phone came pre-installed with a few apps from Fido, but they only link me to a website to buy games, music, etc, and only work when i am on their network. I tried deleting them but i can't, i looked it up online and the internet said the only way it can done is by rooting the device. I bought the phone replacement warranty from future shop and i don't want to void the warranty, but the internet also said that rooting the phone voids the warranty.
I also downloaded a game but it wouldn't load since i needed flash player for it to work. The game redirected me to the adobe website to get it, but i wasn't sure which version of android my phone has. My phone info only said 4.0.4, and the versions on the adobe site were 4.0.4xxxxxxx. I tried 2 of them randomly from the list but they didn't work. Also how do i upgrade my phone to the most recent version of android? When i checked for updates it said it had the most recent updates.
How secure is android, and do i have to be careful with what websites i browse or what apps i download from the google store. And is there any way to make sure an app or anything downloaded from a place other than the google store is safe?
The last thing is how do i close programs that are running? I know on my ipad i could double tap the home button and close/open apps, is there anything similar on android?
Thanks for any help you guys can give me. If you have any other general advice that would be great too.

The apps that come pre-installed can only be deleted by first rooting your phone.
Yes, rooting does void warranty, but nothing to worry about as you can unroot your phone and it will get your warranty back
About Flash Player... I really don't know.
4.0.4 is the latest update for the Motorola Razr HD. Although latest version is 4.2.1 Motorola has to work with the drivers and several stuff to get a stable version of Android working on it... Updates are not as fast as you might think but according to Motorola your phone should be getting 4.1 (Jellybean in Q1 2013)
I don't know how secure is Android, but I never had malwares or anything like that... Just try to download apps which have good comments and lot of downloads...
For Samsung Galaxy phones they all come with a Task Manager, where you can close all apps and background programs. You should download "Advanced Task Killer" that will close all the programs. and remember to not push the middle button if you want to close an app, as it will leave it running in the background, just press the backwards key.
I hope someone else completes my post :3

bruce671 said:
Hi everyone this is my first time posting on the forums. I just upgraded from my blackberry 9700 to a Razr HD from Fido. I've never had an android phone before so this it's all new to me. I have a few general questions about how the operating system works and i was hoping you guys can help me out.
My phone came pre-installed with a few apps from Fido, but they only link me to a website to buy games, music, etc, and only work when i am on their network. I tried deleting them but i can't, i looked it up online and the internet said the only way it can done is by rooting the device. I bought the phone replacement warranty from future shop and i don't want to void the warranty, but the internet also said that rooting the phone voids the warranty.
I also downloaded a game but it wouldn't load since i needed flash player for it to work. The game redirected me to the adobe website to get it, but i wasn't sure which version of android my phone has. My phone info only said 4.0.4, and the versions on the adobe site were 4.0.4xxxxxxx. I tried 2 of them randomly from the list but they didn't work. Also how do i upgrade my phone to the most recent version of android? When i checked for updates it said it had the most recent updates.
How secure is android, and do i have to be careful with what websites i browse or what apps i download from the google store. And is there any way to make sure an app or anything downloaded from a place other than the google store is safe?
The last thing is how do i close programs that are running? I know on my ipad i could double tap the home button and close/open apps, is there anything similar on android?
Thanks for any help you guys can give me. If you have any other general advice that would be great too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Questions should be asked in Q&A.
Welcome and read http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1466228
The flash player isn't supported on 4.x +. But there is a way to get it. I will link u to that. And talking about play store, the apps on play store are mostly secure. But make sure u check what permissions the app is asking for and also check the reviews before downloading.
There is a built in task manager on ics (4.0.4). Hold the home button for like 2-3 sec. U ll get it. Swipe it away to close em. Personally I don't prefer any task managers (other than the stock), Cuz they r just gonna be running in background, doing some Crap thus draining battery. (not that I'm telling all that the member above said was wrong, they r just my ways! )
Flash player - try
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1770480
Or http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1774336
Sent from the zombie world. No they aren't coming yet!

Related

Too many market apps not available, please help

First of all, my Photon is rooted and I used a couple of the updates from the photon android development forums.
It is getting to where there are just too many market apps that I can not download. Some come up as not compatable (while I'm 100% sure they are compatable) and others just straight up don't show. It gets real interesting when I go to the android market on the web and try to get the apps.
The android market thinks that I have 2 Moto photons. One of the 2 photons, it will in fact allow me to send some of these incompatable apps to and the one that google SEES me on is "not compatable". I guess the market thinks my phone became a new phone when I did one of the updates. But yet this new photon is not compatable with many apps.
I was using my Acer Iconia tab to help me get some of these apps to my Photon, especially some of the ones I purchased. But now, I have 2 Iconia tabs too (even though the second one is again, the same device.)
Is there anything I can do? I loved Android since the day it came out. But it's getting to where I almost don't want it. I need an outlet to get apps but I don't want to ask people to upload apks. I know about the amazon market but not every app is there.
Is this a brand based problem? Cause though I love the Photon, I would switch in a minute if this wasn't the case. But it's also happening on my Iconia tab and it's happening more and more and one thing I just won't do is start asking if anyone has apks.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
OK, this will take me a minute (if you want a real explantion, or just skip to bottom where I talk about App Brain). I am sorta like you, I'm well over 100 Apps and use SPB 3D Shell to keep them orgainzed.
As for usage:
My Music
My Radio
Pandora
YouTube
Work Adobe
Work Excel
Work PPP
Adobe (Work, IBM, Personal)
10 years of tax returns
Military Documents
Collget transcripts
High School Documents
Stocks
Investments...............
I use my phones and like to keep them tight. I had and Evo and co-worker turned me on to App Brain.When I got Photon, I was in your position. I went to Market and more or less, installed everything I got individually.
You Sync App Brain, and when you get new phone, like I just did, tell it to put it all back (You still have to go to SPB 3D Shell and orgainze it, but it give you a start!)
Want more protection? Root it and get Titaniaum Backup, paid version!!! Backup all your crap each monday at 3:00AM (you know my schedule now), hook the phone up to computer as HD and move backup to your computer or USB drive (its not small!). If something ever happens to your phone, get titaniaum from market and use THAT backup to restore. The good thing about the paid version, not only will it put your app's back, it puts them back with the last configuration!!! Done!!!
Thank you for responding. But I do not believe that this helps. I already use Titanium Backup of course. But App Brain is just a market browser that still ultimately takes you to the market to download apps does it not? And the market will still list them as incompatable.
This is not going to let me download new versions of, for example, Swiftkey X, LCD Density, and even the ChaCha app. I would have to go find a friend who has a phone that's listed as compatible (even though the Photon IS compatible) and then back it up and transfer it. This makes for licensing problems for apps that I have purchased and I'm certain are compatable.
Because I can get many apps but there are many that I can not get, there is something that many developers do that apparently makes it compable with SOME Motorola Photons as far as the market goes. This is why I could easily download Titanium Backup but I can not download SwiftKey X which I paid for even though it IS compatable.
Can anybody help? I need a way to get apps that are compatible to the photon like swiftkey x onto my photon and the ability to keep them UPDATED. What I do not want is a way to keep them backed up, I already have that. I will switch phone brands if I need to but I absolutely require a phone or a fix for this phone on which this problem does not exist. Otherwise, it's useless to me as apps are updated often sometimes and I want those updates without running onto the net and asking people to please post an apk. Please reply if you have a solution. I am going to scream if I see that banner that says this app is not compatable with your phone again when market.android.com will send it to my older photon (which does not exist by the way. The market just recognizes my photon as a second photon after an update I did from the developer forums). Grrr, don't even want my photon now that the droid razor is out.
have you tried going into manage applications and clearing the data and cache from market. I had some problems with apps that were bought on both amazon and google and this allowed the apps to update from google.
Yes. I have cleared data from the market under manage applications. This does not do it. There are still apps that the android market refuses to let me install. Any such apps do not have an install or download button. Instead, there is just that banner on the very top that says "Your device is not compatible with this item." for many apps ever since I installed one of the updates and since then, I have 2 Photons listed when I look online. One of them, the android market will send these "incompatible apps" to and the other, it won't. Unfortunately, the device that android market will send the apps to is the same device as the one that the market sees as incompatible. It's like after one of the updates, the market reregistered my phone as a different phone. Same thing happened with my Iconia tab.
Does anybody have any ideas?
enigmatl said:
Does anybody have any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You try going online and deleting the phones from your google account then log back into the app market and download a simple app so it can register
I've tried. As far as I know, you can't delete devices from your account on the market. You can only hide them from showing up on the menus. But yes, I've done that. It doesn't help.
never mind, i see now'
So is there anything that can be done?
First of all what ROM are you on, what mods(build.prop), and have you wiped google services data?
Sent from my MB855 using XDA App
found this.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1388070
balinger16 said:
found this.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1388070
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh thank you thank you thank you! (and thank clicked as well!) It was awesome of you to find that. Just to reiterate in case somebody else finds themselves having the same problem, to reiterate so it might come up in a google search for someone:
If you have a Motorola Photon (or many other phones), and over time, you notice that something isn't right with the market and some apps that you always ran are suddenly not compatible any more and perhaps the Android market sees you having several phones, if you changed your screen density with a program such as LCD Density Changer, the android market now will see you coming in with a different phone. For example, according to the Android market, I have a Moto Photon with a density of 240 and a Moto Photon with a density of 280. Perhaps because of the criteria that some app makers chose, some of their apps (like Messagease for instance) may be compatible with a Photon with a density of 240 but not a Photon with the density of 280 (even though they do in fact work just fine).
So, the solution is this. Change your density if you like. But, to get those programs that may become "incompatible", switch the density back to the way that it was out of the box.
Thank you very much for finding this information! It helped a lot!
Glad to help

[Q][Help]needed to find a wallpaper app

Hi,
Backstory:
I recently had my S2 serviced and lost all the apps I had installed.
For some reason, Marketplace didn't keep track of apps I downloaded, so I couldn't get some of the apps which I lost.
Problem:
There was a wallpaper app, I have been using from long time, but even after searching a lot I couldn't locate it. Thing is most of such apps have generic names and the search doesn't really help. I can't be sure whether its still hosted on the marketplace or not, been close to 6 months since I installed it for the first time.
This app has a water wave on the startup splash screen.
So silly it may sound, I am kinda restless cuz I'm not able to find it. Please help me here. Thanks and hope this doesn't get closed.
Have you tried checking your account on the market website?
I found apps that i had installed on my old HTC Hero that i had forgotten about listed under my transactions.
https:/ /market.android.com/
Dave, no it doesn't show up in my orders/transactions.
If it did, I wouldn't have open this thread.
There are two areas to the market website. One has only purchases. While the other has all apps on the other device or old device. I use that to reinstall everything on my phone after a flash.
Sent from my GT-I9100
^mate, it doesn't show in My library as well.
Found my wallpaper app, it has been removed from Marketplace.
Get it from here
h**p://***.traemcneely.com/2011/10/05/download-ogq-backgrounds-app-by-ogq-corp/

Google apps

Probably an easy question but when I go into my apps it lists everyone I ever downloaded. How do I get rid of them so I dont have to scroll or auto download?
Guess nobody knows?
It should only list the ones you paid for, and of course the ones you have currently installed.
Free apps that you downloaded, and then uninstalled should only stay there until reboot (I believe)
POQbum said:
It should only list the ones you paid for, and of course the ones you have currently installed.
Free apps that you downloaded, and then uninstalled should only stay there until reboot (I believe)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope lists everything I ever had. Sick of going through 10 pages of stuff.
Try going into settings applications and market (or google play if you have the updated one), clear cache and data then open the maket up again accepting the terms and conditions. Go to my apps again and it should have cleared them.
Sent from my XT910 using xda premium
I agree with clearing the market/play cache in app management.
Sent from my XT910 using XDA
Ok normally I can figure this out. Guess Im a little slow today but dont see that anywhere. I open google play , go to settings and dont have that option anywhere.
Go into phone settings not google play settings. Then applications then all tab at the top of screen. Find google play and tap it tap clear cache and clear data. Then start google play app as normal and accept the terms and conditions. Job done hopefully!
Sent from my XT910 using xda premium
Because he used the words "10 pages of stuff", I believe the OP is talking about the website, not the phone app. https://play.google.com/store does show every app you've downloaded. It'll also show old phones you may not even own anymore. No way to get rid of them afaik, and if you google the problem theres all sorts of talk about it out there.
Imadroider said:
Because he used the words "10 pages of stuff", I believe the OP is talking about the website, not the phone app. https://play.google.com/store does show every app you've downloaded. It'll also show old phones you may not even own anymore. No way to get rid of them afaik, and if you google the problem theres all sorts of talk about it out there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes that is correct as Ive flashed several Roms and anything I did have would have been cleared by now. Also yes to the webpage for google and it lists phones. That has changed several times. Guess I will google and try and find the answer. Thanks.
Post back if you do find a solution but the last I dug around on the subject a month or so ago, old apps and old devices are not removable from the Play website. Its something Google controls and there is nothing end users can do at this point.
Here's a good start for you with some relevant links: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1442148
While the link(s) above pertain mostly to removing old devices, the same goes for old apps. It seems Google is quite aware of it but does not want to give us control over removing such items.
The question of the day is, why?
Imadroider said:
Post back if you do find a solution but the last I dug around on the subject a month or so ago, old apps and old devices are not removable from the Play website. Its something Google controls and there is nothing end users can do at this point.
Here's a good start for you with some relevant links: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1442148
While the link(s) above pertain mostly to removing old devices, the same goes for old apps. It seems Google is quite aware of it but does not want to give us control over removing such items.
The question of the day is, why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nobody wants to give up control. When setting up a Rom I have had it try to use Backup Asst. and I dont want it. So when I set up google I use to get these texts from verizon. Some whack crap. Called and funny how one tech takes care of it and the other is plain out stupid. I had one say freeze/force stop backup asst which you cant do because force stop just restarts. One tech took care of it and the other put in a trouble ticket.

Can I stop my phone automatically installing apps?

Got a no mark S4 clone on 4.2, perfectly happy with it, got CWM and a new rom on it, its fine.
I have exposed and boot manager and once a day it has its icon telling me 'google play services' has auto installed, and every other day an app called 'recents' with a sort of C:\ terminal icon. Now, neither of these I want, I've deleted them so, SO many times, selected 'dont auto update' and also 'dont notify' from within google play, set my firewall to block anything google when on 4g etc...
Is there ANY way to stop it installing stuff I dont need?
robneymcplum said:
Got a no mark S4 clone on 4.2, perfectly happy with it, got CWM and a new rom on it, its fine.
I have exposed and boot manager and once a day it has its icon telling me 'google play services' has auto installed, and every other day an app called 'recents' with a sort of C:\ terminal icon. Now, neither of these I want, I've deleted them so, SO many times, selected 'dont auto update' and also 'dont notify' from within google play, set my firewall to block anything google when on 4g etc...
Is there ANY way to stop it installing stuff I dont need?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only way is to build a new aosp rom for your device. My advise is remember that you get what you pay for and clones never really have any of the hardware they claim they do. I think you will find you are better off ditching the device and buying a new one.
zelendel said:
The only way is to build a new aosp rom for your device. My advise is remember that you get what you pay for and clones never really have any of the hardware they claim they do. I think you will find you are better off ditching the device and buying a new one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That doesnt actually help me at all.
The phone is fine, no issue with it. Has a new rom on it, specs were as described, its a problem with google, and the play store auto installing, it did this on my old S2 and my galaxy tab stock, so its not the hardware.
There must be a way to stop the play store doing this apart from uninstalling the play store as I am currently doing.
robneymcplum said:
That doesnt actually help me at all.
The phone is fine, no issue with it. Has a new rom on it, specs were as described, its a problem with google, and the play store auto installing, it did this on my old S2 and my galaxy tab stock, so its not the hardware.
There must be a way to stop the play store doing this apart from uninstalling the play store as I am currently doing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then that will lead me to think it is one of the apps you have installed. Some shady apps like CCleaner will install other apps. I would wipe the device completely and then install your apps one by one until you find the issue.
zelendel said:
Then that will lead me to think it is one of the apps you have installed. Some shady apps like CCleaner will install other apps. I would wipe the device completely and then install your apps one by one until you find the issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmmm. I will try then, my tab is stock with different apps than my phones, and my phones only share a few similar ones as one is work, one home etc...
I shall keep searching for an answer, Ta.
Rob

Confused with some android things

Some handsome moderator told me to post this here.
Well, im new in this android thing... I am confused with several things:
- Im annoyed for when you "close" something, yet it is on the list when you click on the button with the "windows". I went to developer tools and selected "dont keep activities" yet they are still there. Do i have to do any more thing or I have to download an app for this? I mean i did this:
http://i.imgur.com/qCfk7hd.png
- App updates. I had the apps that came with the android i installed, google,youtube, chrome, etc. Google play store was set to auto update, yet it wasnt updating at all. I had to go to app store to "google services app", which it said it was already installed and the button said "update", which I did. I had to do the same with the youtube and chrome apps. Is there any way i can update all of them together? I suppose its like this because its the first time... But i dont want to go one by one. how can i do this?
- App updates 2. I did the update in google and start downloading 36MB. Tablet shut downs screen... I turn it on again and the app said no more that it was downloading. It just couldnt download those 36MB in those seconds. Same happened with youtube, chrome and adblock.
I find all of these downloads and apps things very confusing. i can never be sure that they are downloading or not, or i dont have any control to stop the downloads when I want. For example in my fathers phone there is almost always downloading one thing called "spanish woman" for google maps. Its ALWAYS downloading. I tried to set the mobile internet connection and wifi off yet it stills downloads.
Now... With smartphone... I have a Galaxy S I9001 and want to unlock it... Im trying the Galaxy S unlocked but it says that there are problems with busybox all the time, but busy box ins installed, with the root. I have cyanogen mod 12.1 from this page, maybe is that? Is there anything I can do to unlocking it without paying to get a code?
Thanks you very much

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