Yay my first post, lol.
So anyway, I've decided to move over from the iOS platform because the hardware simply does not stay up to date with Android anymore. I'm quite tired of worrying about jailbreaking; that aside I want to know how I would go about doing the simple things that I got out of iOS, even though I had to be a hacker to get my way.
Restoration (If I screw something up)
How do I restore my phone with a complete firmware file that will recover me from my own stupidity/adventures? With iOS I simply just entered recovery mode and pressed restore in iTunes. How does one download a stock i9100 restore firmware file for future use?
Themes
In iOS, I made my own themes and applied them into the rooted filesystem with no problems. I simply just replaced the files and rebooted, no problems. I've been lurking for a while now seeïng that people need to deoxdex files in order to view them or flash them or whatever. My question is this: can I simply replace system files and expect them to work? As for the many xml files in the apk's that I've been examining, I cannot seem to get a standard format of them. When I view them in various code applications, I get a load of garbage with a faint outline of what could included in the xml file. How can I convert pulled xml files to "normal" readable ones? (or do I need to use a special application that reads binary/encrypted xml's for me?) What is the proper way to replace system files for a theme (what is deodexing?), and is it possible to package my theme and put it on the android market to share with others?
Music
Do any of you guys use iTunes for your music? My iTunes library is meticulously managed to make sure that all my song info and album art are correct. Is it true that if I drag and drop from iTunes (on a mac) into the music folder of my sd card, I will copy over all the song data aswell? I highly doubt it because I cannot get this to work between my two iTunes libraries on different computers. Is there a way to make sure all my id3 tags and album art are added to all my songs so that I have an organized library in my SGS2/android?
Tapping the status bar to reach the top of a long page/form
Does this exist in android either through a tweak or android market app?
Deleting System apps that I no longer need
Is it okay to just delete apk's on my phone's system that I do not need? (Reader's hub, blockbuster, exe) I would assume that would work, but eh, I'm not making any assumptions on a completely different platform.
Launch Dæmons
On iOS, there was a folder in the system that housed all the plists of startup dæmons at booup. By deleting one, the service would completely stop and would free up RAM after the phone got rebooted. Does android have a similar place to house a bunch of services that are optionally deleted/stopped entirely to improve system performance? Things that come immediately to mind are things like debugging, syslogs, android developer tools, and other garbage that is unnecessary to certain users. (A famous example is the "CommCenter.plist"(baseband startup)/"DataMigrator.plist" (move contacts using SIM card) that always run in the background on iTouches despite not having a baseband and SIM card.)
System Button Mapping
Is there any tweak or android app that lets me set certain actions to different button presses or behaviors? For example in iOS I can use "activator" to let me swipe my statusbar horizontally to enter the camera app. I can also long press volume keys to skip/restart music being played in the music app.
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I know that's a lot of questions, but atleast try to help a newbie out =] When fist started out in iOS 4 years ago, I was the same way in nagging looking for ways to make things fit my workflow. Honestly, it doesn't take long before I start to help people out and grasp all the skills needed for a particular platform.
Hello, and welcome to XDA
I'll try to answer all questions.
First of all. The galaxy s ii is almost impossible to break. If you need to re wipe your phone. Get the firmware from samfirmware.com and also get odin v1.85 from there. That is all you need to fix a broken phone. It will just need putting into download mode. (Power + home + vol down)
As for theming. All apk files contain files with the images that it uses, so in theory all can be customised. The main files to theme are SystemUI (notifications bar) found in /system/app. And framework-res (anything else theme related, battery text colours e.t.c
As for editing the xml files. Most have to be edited in a hex editor (e.g. HXD). But there are guides to show you what numbers to edit. And its not that complicated once you try it.
With regard to the music. I recommend mp3tag. Its what I use and simply copying the tracks works well for me.
For removing system apps, look on the market for system app remover, or if you are willing to pay, get root tools. Great combination of tools and uninstalling is as easy as ticking a box.
And yes, there are some apps that when you remove them your phone will bootloop. Look in this forum. I'm sure I've seen a safe system apps to remove in the sgs ii section (will look for link in a mo)
Last bit, system button mapping. I believe it can be done. But it hasn't been done yet on this phone. Different launchers give you the option for swipe gesgures (did I spell that right, doesnt look it). So you can have swiping down on the screen opens notifications and swiping up opens app drawer. If you want that. I recommned searching for ADW launcher on the marketplace (others offer the same feature, but adw is the best)
Think I'm finished now?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
that definitely helped me a lot, thanks =D One thing that was not answered was the launch dæmons bit, does a folder like that even exist in Android? As for themes though, I'm going for a complete and total all out theme of all applications. I cannot stand the blackness of this phone's UI; I'm gonna put little pieces of artwork everywhere I can fit it like I did on iOS so it looks like just a collection of art and colorful things (backgrounds, splash screens, loading screens, exe). I'd love to know though if it's possible to download the firmware from where you described and premod it then just flash my custom ROM all at once...
As for system button mapping and custom button events, that's one thing I'm definitely going to miss ='[ I had a bunch of gestures set up so that while I'm bikeriding/horseriding I can just hit a button to control music without looking at the screen. In all respects, thanks a bunch for the help.
xxhorseriderxxx said:
that definitely helped me a lot, thanks =D One thing that was not answered was the launch dæmons bit, does a folder like that even exist in Android? As for themes though, I'm going for a complete and total all out theme of all applications. I cannot stand the blackness of this phone's UI; I'm gonna put little pieces of artwork everywhere I can fit it like I did on iOS so it looks like just a collection of art and colorful things (backgrounds, splash screens, loading screens, exe). I'd love to know though if it's possible to download the firmware from where you described and premod it then just flash my custom ROM all at once...
As for system button mapping and custom button events, that's one thing I'm definitely going to miss ='[ I had a bunch of gestures set up so that while I'm bikeriding/horseriding I can just hit a button to control music without looking at the screen. In all respects, thanks a bunch for the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Soon enough we will enable an init.d folder.
It's there on other ROMs, we just have to enable it in the ramdisk
pulser_g2 said:
Soon enough we will enable an init.d folder.
It's there on other ROMs, we just have to enable it in the ramdisk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's really cool, is there a github/thread where I can track the progress of this? In all honesty making my own custom gestures like longholding a volume button or the options button would be helpful (both volume buttons at once pause/play =D)
xxhorseriderxxx said:
Yay my first post, lol.
duleMusic
Do any of you guys use iTunes for your music? My iTunes library is meticulously managed to make sure that all my song info and album art are correct. Is it true that if I drag and drop from iTunes (on a mac) into the music folder of my sd card, I will copy over all the song data aswell? I highly doubt it because I cannot get this to work between my two iTunes libraries on different computers. Is there a way to make sure all my id3 tags and album art are added to all my songs so that I have an organized library in my SGS2/android?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use iTunes & smart playlists. iSyncr (free) & will let you sync based on playlists, genres, and chose where each playlist gets stored (default, internal or external SD). iSyncrWifi (cheap) then adds scheduled & wifi syncing. Then pick your music player of choice. Look to see if it updates play counts (if that is important to you) I think the pay for version of Rocket (also by JRT Studios) updates play counts.
Ed
Mother of god you had to wake up the dead??? its more then a year old!
Related
hello, i've got the htc hd2. overall i'm satisfied. but i've seen at a friends iphone that instead of having all the quick links out in the open, he has icons of their libraries such as: programs, games, extra, news and more. once he presses a library it opens another window bellow it and he can select the prog he wants to lunch. i beleive if this is somehow available in the hd2, maybe through cookies editor or something like that, it would be great - time saving, organized, easy to use...
does anyone know of this feature in the iphone? is it a 3rd party app or some setting? is it possible to be activated or installed on the hd2?
thanks guys.
guy.
justaguyh said:
hello, i've got the htc hd2. overall i'm satisfied. but i've seen at a friends iphone that instead of having all the quick links out in the open, he has icons of their libraries such as: programs, games, extra, news and more. once he presses a library it opens another window bellow it and he can select the prog he wants to lunch. i beleive if this is somehow available in the hd2, maybe through cookies editor or something like that, it would be great - time saving, organized, easy to use...
does anyone know of this feature in the iphone? is it a 3rd party app or some setting? is it possible to be activated or installed on the hd2?
thanks guys.
guy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
u can create subfolder in your /windows/startup folder and move there your start menu items
but i can't create those subfolders as quick links. it's as i would go and start file expolrer and look for the app i want, only in subfolders. i would like to have subfolders as quicklins...
justaguyh said:
but i can't create those subfolders as quick links. it's as i would go and start file expolrer and look for the app i want, only in subfolders. i would like to have subfolders as quicklins...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes u can, if u have a powerful file manager like resco explorer (not free) or any other free one around
check here and here, not perfect eye-candy, but works
the "latest" iOS feature of grouping in folders is a laughable attempt by apple to copy what windows mobile has had for AGES!
the iphone does not have a home screen. instead, it just throws all your program shortcuts on the home screen. the equivalent of this is the windows mobile "start" menu. one tap and you get the start menu to show off to your iphone pals.
the windows mobile "start" menu is more powerful because it offers n-level nesting and unlimited number of links within a "group" (lets call them folders because thats the correct windows mobile term!). finally, it offers mixing links and folders within a folder! not sure the iphone can do that.
as stated above, use a powerful file manager to create folders under your start menu, give them icons, and organize existing links under these new folders. add more than 12 links AND folders to a folder and throw that in your iphone pal's face!
ok. i like what you're saying... however, i am using the cookies home tab editor (i think that's the name) and i've removed everything (clock, tasks, calender...) from the home screen so i can have a picture of my beautiful wife and 4 icons of quick links at the bottom (not including the sliding bar of the windows mobile). so as a resault of this if i had folders on the main home screen i'd needed 4, the most important and that's it. and i have to tell you, i hardly use the START button. so, i'm still looking for something to help me place folders and not link to programs on my hd2's home screen.
justaguyh said:
but i can't create those subfolders as quick links. it's as i would go and start file expolrer and look for the app i want, only in subfolders. i would like to have subfolders as quicklins...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there is a way: You have to put a .lnk in that folder and then it will show up on quicklinks for cht.
You can pm watcher64. He made one for me for a movies folder
HybridByNature on irc asked for this, and I decided it as a demo for a HowTo I am writing. Look for my basic smali patching how to in the near(ish) future.
This is the CarCradle from Adrynalyne's (if anyone has previously patched it, lmk so I can add credits), with the Settings Button changed to launch Shazam. I did not change the icon, if someone wants to make an Icon for it, I will change it out.
Because the free version, and paid version have different package and activity names, I made two versions. You have to install the one that matches the Shazam version you use.
These are not recovery flashable zips, the APK must be pushed to your /system/app/ dir. If someone wants to make them a flashable zip, feel free to do so and pm them to me so I can add them (yes, I am lazy).
Feel like a donation, choose a charity
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=donate+homeless+youth
That sounds awesome. Curious, how difficult is it to modify a button in the Car Home apk? Better question, how difficult would it be to create a customizable button to replace Settings in the Car Home apk? I like Shazaam, but have switched to Midori SoundHound after the free/paid conversion of Shazaam. I can deff see usefulness of being able to select your own APK from the phone as the destination (Pandora, C:geo, Gesture Search, Subsonic, traffic cams app, etc etc etc).
Long time fan of your work btw.
ludionis said:
That sounds awesome. Curious, how difficult is it to modify a button in the Car Home apk? Better question, how difficult would it be to create a customizable button to replace Settings in the Car Home apk? I like Shazaam, but have switched to Midori SoundHound after the free/paid conversion of Shazaam. I can deff see usefulness of being able to select your own APK from the phone as the destination (Pandora, C:geo, Gesture Search, Subsonic, traffic cams app, etc etc etc).
Long time fan of your work btw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really easy, posting a how to later.
Thx
Forgive my ignorance here. I bought the GTab from Woot solely to learn about Android and tablets, I just got my ipad2 and thats the one I planned on getting the most use out of, but honestly I thought it would be good to have an Android tablet in the house.
Of course, the default OS was painful, so I put on TNTLite and ran some apps and was pretty happy. I haven't used it much since. I am still trying to find a way to stream video to the tablet (and hopefully someday out to my TV, to retire my laptop).....and am not sure which app to use. For Ipad I can use Air Video Server.
BUT ANYWAYS...
The default portal screen on TouchNTap was, I thought, pretty cool....weather, news links and time with your apps available on the bottom row.
Tell me, is there a similar type of portal app you can use on the Gtab? Is there a way to make it just be an alarm clock or a picture frame until you pick it up and want to start using it as a tablet?
TNTLite is cool, and I installed ADWLauncher (I think that is the name), but all I am seeing is now a windows desktop-looking thing. Can you use that front-end with TNTLite? Or is it just adding widgets to a "home screen" like a clock, calendar, web browser, etc.
Thanks!
Take a look at this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=854175
If you want to alter TNT Lite to your liking, it's actually fairly straightforward - once you understand the layout.
When that firmware is run, it layers on a 100% stock image first, then I make the alterations later. You can alter either the updater-script (where the deletions are) or the /system folder (where the additions are) to tweak it to your liking. For example, if you want to keep the TNT launcher, just delete this line from the updater-script:
Code:
delete("/system/app/HomeScreen.apk");
That would add the TNT homescreen back, on the next firmware flash. This is just an example.
Sideload and Switch Home Screens to Get Back Default
HeadRusch1 said:
The default portal screen on TouchNTap was, I thought, pretty cool....weather, news links and time with your apps available on the bottom row.
Tell me, is there a similar type of portal app you can use on the Gtab?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need a "similar" portal app unless you just want it. Just sideload (move the files from your PC to the sdcard via USB cable and then click/install the apks from the sdcard) the original HomeScreen.apk, Weather.apk, Clock.apk, and News.apk - then use the Home Switcher to switch to the Viewsonic HomeScreen - if you want that to be your default.
I've done this since TNTL 2.0 because I also like the look and the options.
Other apk's that will fit into the default HomeScreen package are GroceryList and TaskManager. MediaPlayer will also go into the Viewsonic HomeScreen.
In case you didn't back up the original VS default portal files - I've attached them.
Glad to see I'm not the only one who likes the original VS portal.
Thank you
I'm going to be messing with this to see if I can get it to work......however, I do have one question, and its off topic:
Is there any way to put the Gtab into sleep mode the way that an ipad goes to sleep, so you just tap the screen to wake it up? Or have it so that way it has a permanantly on clock display or a rotating picture frame function with clock?
I'd like to buy the dock for it, but not if I have to hold the power button to wake it up all the time, I realize its a little thing but it is somewhat an annoyance.
Hi all, wondering if anybody could help me!!
Google has turned up nothing so far so im gonna ask away!!
I am currently using nobodyatall's cm7 2.0 on my x10mini and am wondering where and how I can save pictures that I want as wallpapers.
Basically I don't want wallpapers to show up in my regular picture gallery, I want them only to show in the wallpaper gallery when i go to change wallpapers.
Is there a folder on the SD card or the internal memory, or is there a way I can open an APK in winrar or whatever and drop the pictures in there?
Regards
A
There are two ways that I can think of for you to do this. First, just create a folder in your SD card labeled wallpapers (or whatever you want). Then place all your wallpapers there.
Easy way: Use QuickPics. It has an option to hide a folder from the gallery. Just long press on the folder and you'll find the option.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.alensw.PicFolder
Still easy (just not automated):create an empty file in your wallpaper folder with filename ".nomedia" without the quotes. This will prevent the gallery from scanning that folder. This also works to prevent music files from showing in the player.
To change your wallpaper, if using QuickPic, just press your menu button > show hidden > enter the folder and click the picture > use as wallpaper. If you don't want to use QuickPic, use a file manager to go the wallpaper folder then select your picture from there.
Great sugestions, especially the hideden folder option, however what I'm looking for (I wasn't quite sure how to explain this properly before!!) is to be able to add images directly to the menu of wallpapers like when you long press the screen and it gives you options to change the wallpaper I get a list of options, cyanogen wallpapers, gallery, live wallpapers, wallpaper gallery and wallpapers.
I would like to be able to add wallpapers directly to one of these menus, so I'm looking for the folder in which they are all kept in. I found one in one of the internal apk's, but i'm not sure if I can just inject them into the apk and also whether i need to include thumbnail size png's as the ones included with cyanogen seem to have these to.
Thanks for a great comprehensive reply. If all fails, I'll be looking at the hidden folder option!!
Cheers!
That's a bit harder. Sounds like it shouldn't be but it actually is since you'll be modding an apk. Here are a couple of links to get you started if you're really interested in doing this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=646424
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2915198&postcount=4
http://androidcommunity.com/forums/f4/wallpaper-directory-11685/
leftAlone said:
That's a bit harder. Sounds like it shouldn't be but it actually is since you'll be modding an apk. Here are a couple of links to get you started if you're really interested in doing this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=646424
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2915198&postcount=4
http://androidcommunity.com/forums/f4/wallpaper-directory-11685/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks man, some great info, the first post really hits the nail on the head, I didn't think of checking the other forums (duh me, it's all android!!)!!
So it looks like I will have to take out the launcher.apk and recompile it after editing the xml file that contains the details of the names of the wallpapers. I'm guessing this is some sort of framework xml for the purposes of creating the horizontal table that you can swipe across to view the previews of the pictures.
This makes sense I guess, loading a table reather than using up memory to load a gallery style viewer that indexes the pictures seems much more streamlined seeing that is only for the use of wallpapers, however I do like the wallpaper gallery style that the xml framewrok brings.
I guess I'm going take the newer(and some older) wallpapers from other cm roms and rename them over some of the exisitng files. This way I shouldn't have to delve too deeply!!!
Thanks again for the help and info leftAlone, you are a star!!!
I tried to make the Subject Title as descriptive as possible, but am unsure how to explain what I mean in ~10 words.
Here is a post where I show my layout: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=20336122#post20336122
I use Launcher Pro Plus, Desktop Visualizer, MultiPicture Live Wallpaper, and Folder Organizer to create my 7 screens w/ different wallpapers, links, and widgets on each page.
What I would like to do is be able to click a button/link, or go into an app and select a "pre-packaged" 3, 5, or 7 page layout that already has all the wallpapers, links, widgets, etc in place, and it all just loads up instantly.
I have searched, but cant figure out a search string that finds me results. Anyone know of a way to do this? If I haven't been clear enough, let me know and I'll try to clarify what I want.
Thanks!
so you want the option to click on an icon, and move to a different homescreen right?
do you want to be able to share this or somthing as if so
if you are using adw
go into settingfs of adw and click backup
go into my files or whatever on sdcard then go down to two files called adw.... cant remeber what theyr called but start with adw
if somone puts your files in same place on there tab and then restore from backup they should get your layouts
adamski123 said:
so you want the option to click on an icon, and move to a different homescreen right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. Take my current "setup" - 7 pages using Launcher Pro, 7 walls w/ multipicture live, plus links, icons, and widgets... I want to create completely different "setups" different page counts, different wallapers, different links, different widgets, etc, and be able to load up a completely different layout, AND be able to switch back to the previous.
As I currently understand it, I can create a layout, as explained (and exemplified in the link I provided above) - but if I want to CHANGE it to something different - different page count, different wallpapers, different icons, widgets, links, etc... then I LOSE my current setup/layout as displayed in the link above. I don't want to LOSE it, but rather SAVE it so I can LOAD it back up.
But no, I'm not talking about how to do "hubs".
do you want to be able to share this or somthing as if so
...
...
if somone puts your files in same place on there tab and then restore from backup they should get your layouts
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't mind sharing them, but it's not a priority as what I create will definitely be very unique to me, my needs, and more importantly, the apps I've purchased and use.
I'm a photographer and use my tab for business situations, but it's 80+% used for personal use. So I want to have my 7page layout for daily personal use, then quickly switch to maybe a 2 page layout that only accesses my portfolio and web for when I hand the tab over to a client to browse. I want to have a fun layout for myself but be able to switch over to a more professional/limited layout very quickly.
Hope that all makes sense. Thanks.
BroBot175 said:
do you want to be able to share this or somthing as if so
if you are using adw
go into settingfs of adw and click backup
go into my files or whatever on sdcard then go down to two files called adw.... cant remeber what theyr called but start with adw
if somone puts your files in same place on there tab and then restore from backup they should get your layouts
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DevonSloan said:
I don't mind sharing them, but it's not a priority as what I create will definitely be very unique to me, my needs, and more importantly, the apps I've purchased and use.
I'm a photographer and use my tab for business situations, but it's 80+% used for personal use. So I want to have my 7page layout for daily personal use, then quickly switch to maybe a 2 page layout that only accesses my portfolio and web for when I hand the tab over to a client to browse. I want to have a fun layout for myself but be able to switch over to a more professional/limited layout very quickly.
Hope that all makes sense. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, so I'm not sure about Launcher Pro, but as Brobot stated this is possible with ADWex. In ADWex you simply backup your ADW settings and your desktop configuration. This will place 2 files in your /sdcard folder (adw_ex_launcher.db & adw_ex_settings.xml). Then it would just be a matter of saving them somewhere else (their own folder perhaps). When you wanted to switch "layouts" just move the files into your sdcard directory and restore them. A warning though, this is certainly not a perfect solution. This does not really work well with certain widgets like Desktop Visualizer and Minimalistic Text. Which is why I rarely use Desktop Visualizer anymore and instead incorporate the graphic/icon/whatever into the wallpaper and then place invisible icons over them. Seems to run a whole lot smoother in my opinion too.
Sounds like you want different user profiles.
I just read about this, you might want to try it out:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1475890
SwitchMe lets you log into separate user profiles with completely custom setups for each user.
Oh, here's the market link: https://market.android.com/details?id=fahrbot.apps.switchme
Thanks union, but sounds very clunky and not too quick of a process.
dmmcd said:
Sounds like you want different user profiles.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This sounds right. I'll check that out, thanks. I remember on my HTC Hero I was able to create different profiles and switch back and forth, but 4 Android handsets and a tab later, I forgot about that. Maybe it was a feature of Sense. Thanks for the heads up on that app.