Showing posts with label Handhelds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Handhelds. Show all posts

23 February, 2012

Uninstalling Some Android Apps

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA - FEBRUARY 02:  The Google A...Image by Getty Images via @daylifeSecure digital card usb-adapterImage via Wikipedia
21-Feb-2012

I need to free up space on my Android Phone's SD card, even from the device memory space, so I am uninstalling a lot of the apps that I have downloaded and installed some time back, which I thought are nice to have, but I haven't had time to play with them and explore their capabilities. A lot of these are dictionaries and encyclopedias, and boy, encyclopedias easily take up as much as 130MB! And of course, it is the small, small things, when they go by the number, that would come almost unnoticed, but they end up cluttering the Apps Drawer and taking as much space as they can, not to mention the battery drain and data usage spent whenever they get an update.

Well, this time I am removing the apps that I am not using, but will definitely take them up again when the time comes.

Photo Editors
LittlePhoto
Photo Editor Ultimate Free
PicsArt
PicsArt Kids
PicSay

I am retaining Photoshop Express for now.

Notes
FreeNote+
Note Everything
Simply Notes B/W

I retained ColorNote, which I prefer to use for now.

Misc
Funny Facts Free
Today In History
Offline Dictionaries
Inspirational Quotes
Gingerbread Keyboard
mVideoPlayer
plan B


After all the installing and uninstalling done, you might be asking, is there a safe way to uninstall android apps? I'd like to present my method in my next post.

Till then!

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01 February, 2012

Some issues I encountered with my Android Phone

English: see filename. Taken with Canon EOS 50...Image via Wikipedia01-Feb-2012

After rooting my Samsung Galaxy R phone, and my daughters' SE Neo V and LG Optimus SOL phones, I played a lot with my SGR, installing, evaluating and uninstalling all those free and not-so-free apps from the Android Market, and from the Android Black Market, if there is any color to it, and after many days, and still not tired myself, the phone seem to have been caught in some cycle of self-reset.

I cannot use it anymore, and I have to take out the battery just to stop it from its endless, useless, cycle.

I read through the forums, and I came across some articles saying that it can be due to Dolphin Browser HD, which, incidentally, I have just installed.

I uninstalled it without hesitation, and it worked. Or so I thought.

Half a day passed, and the excruciating self-reset cycle resumed.

So what now?

I decided to remove SPB Shell 3D, or what's left of it after I switched and tried LauncherPro, ADWLauncher EX and GO launcher EX, and not without a reason: it seems slow to 'rebuild' the pages, or the panels, after going to home screen, coming from some applications or screens.

And I thought that also fixed the problem. But it didn't help. SPB Shell 3D isn't the culprit, and to my relief, because I like SPB's products, then in Windows Mobile, and now, in Android phones.

What could really be the problem?

Not really knowing what the problem is, I went to desperate modes, and when I searched on self-reset problem for the android phone, I came across the many others who lament the same sad story, their own, and what was the last resort? factory reset.

And with a rooted phone, that recourse is STRONGLY NOT RECOMMENDED.

So the problem was aggravated, knowing that something could probably help, but at the same time, that step cannot be taken. And no, I didn't force the issue, I didn't do factory reset.

I calmed down a bit, and I observed the phone, and I was able to catch the error msg being thrown out before the screen blacks out, and it has something to do with Activity Android System being non-responsive, and what's more, it is when the phone is completing the indexing of the SD card.

The process error, and the media card scanning process, finally  brought me to some other forums, who not surprisingly, are also swamped with many users and android phone owners who experience the same: issue with the SD card media scanning process, which is just when the phone executes its self-reset.

What was the thing being observed? moving the apps from the phone to the SD card, or having some corrupted media files (video, mp3, etc).

I didn't have problems with my media files, but I have been, like a child freed into a mysterious playground, installing and installing and installing apps, one after the other, as much as my phone memory and external card can take... or so I thought.

So with each brief moment that my phone stays alive, first, I uninstall those that I believe were installed simply by impetus, not need. Then, I moved many apps from the SD card, back to the phone.

After moving about 15 apps, the phone showed some stability, and a longer 'up' time. Then some 10 more, and the phone has snapped out of its self-reset limbo.

I continued to move more of the apps back to phone, until finally, the free space was about equal, both for the phone and the SD card. And it's not even the external SD card we are talking about. It's the phone internal SD card.

Summary:

  1. Android Phone entered into self-reset cycle; have to remove battery to turn off.
  2. Uninstalled Dolphin Browser HD; momentarily gave relief, but self-reset resumed.
  3. Uninstalled SPB Shell 3D, but problem still persisted.
  4. Uninstalled other 'unwanted' apps, many apps.
  5. Finally, moved remaining apps from (internal) SD card to phone.
  6. This is what solved the problem.
So what's the message? Moderation. Actually, it is a kind of caveat, and a caveat emptor, this Android Phone. But I still choose it over the iPHone.

Till then!
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08 December, 2011

The iTunes saga: unable to copy movies and music to iPhone

Image representing iPhone as depicted in Crunc...Image via CrunchBaseEnglish: Original iPhone 8GB, iPhone 3GS 16GB ...Image via Wikipedia08-Dec-2011


I am one who wouldn’t go for the iPhone for my own use – I wouldn’t die just to get an iPhone. However, somebody dear to me wanted it, and so she got it.


Here comes the nicer part: I didn’t bother ‘learning’ this gadget, so I didn’t know anything about it when my wife asked me to go and configure it, something that I would usually do with my phones (since I started using one back then in 1999). I have zero knowledge of iPhone, so I didn’t know what to do.


Natural thing, I checked from the web. There is no manual, and sort of everything that you do with and about the iPhone is by trial and error method. And since I was keeping the acquisition of the iPhone a secret, and I was quiet about it, I cannot any longer, for I have to ask those before me, before us, who are using iPhones and have already done much configuration on their units.


That’s what we did.


But the natural thing to use is, I thought, the iTunes. Or so I thought.


I actually keep on messing up the movies that I would attempt to copy over from the computer to the iPhone, and sometimes succeeding, but at many times, and with much frustration and headache, fail. I would even be erasing, accidentally, what I have already copied over.


What?!


All the while I thought that iTunes is the problem, especially that when Apple team released an upgrade, that some features were disabled, some were taken out due to security and vulnerability issues, etc., etc., so I thought that iTunes IS the problem.


And I was wrong.


You see, I found one forum, where users are having the same problem like me, exactly. And you know what? It was a very simple solution. I mean, if I were a user smart enough, I would have figured it out myself. But sometimes, you could trip over a pebble…


There is a section entitled “LIBRARY”, and there is that section that pops up and disappears, as and when a device (meaning your iPhone unit) is plugged in or not. By way of nature (I mean my natural way), I would copy the files (movies) into the Movies folder under the Device node. And why not? That's where I want them appearing, right? It doesn’t matter actually whether the checkbox “Automatically sync…” is ticked or not. For my case, it is unticked, so whenever I click on ‘Sync’ button, what I put in the Movies folder are immediately wiped out, to my surprise!


Then, I found out it was being put in the wrong place…


I have to put it in the “LIBRARY” node, in the Movies folder. I did that. I even added in some mp3 files in the Music folder, and, as was suggested in the forum, make sure that the files I wanted to copy over are ticked.


So now I have the movie and music files put in the LIBRARY node, in the Movies and Music folders, respectively, and when I clicked on Sync, the transfer was a success!


What I did next is to tick the ‘Automatically sync…’ box, and while my device was disconnected, I added in some more files, in the LIBRARY section, (for where else, since the 'Device' isn't present, not available; it is disconnected) and unticked some of the files already inside, and when I plugged in my device, naturally, the sync process was immediately triggered.


Happy now?


Yes! At least I know now how to manage files on the iPhone. But I’m still not getting an iPhone for my own use…


Till then, my friends. 
“…to the audience we’ll never have…”

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14 May, 2010

The iPhone Manual

If there is one great gadget, many will say that it's the iPhone. Well, I don't own one right now, and I'm not crazy about it. Really!

And while many are enjoying that cute gizmo, many who wanted to try it out are turned off with it, because when you open up the box, all you get is that cute gadget - nothing more.

So where's the manual?

Many years ago, I remember one supplier trying to sell their product to our Facilities team, a software monitoring tool for building management. It was cute and nice, will all the nice icons and buttons and all those functions that I can consider quite advance that time.

Well, the guy did the demo very well, and the Facilities guys were impressed, and as by default, they would usually want to try it out - on their own.

The question was asked, "Where's the manual?"

"Their ain't none," was the answer.

Immediately you would know that these guys were turned off. They turned their back slowly, and one by one they left.

Fast forward to today. I have a colleague who bought the iPhone, and she don't like it. She's used to a Windows Mobile phone, and making the switch to an i-, i-, i- and all others i-'s drives her nuts.

It's worse. There's no manual, and she doesn't know what to do, how to make it work, what buttons to press, whether to slide up or down, etc., etc., etc.

So, for me, I take that as a warning. But hey, nobody is telling you not to buy an iPhone. It's a cool gadget, but the learning curve isn't just that steep since you have to do things by trial and error - basically by self-discovery, either by you, or by others.

Would you rather have an iPhone manual coming along with the unit? And if there is none to come in the decade or so, would you want one to be drafted and made official by all the ipHone users the world over?


Want to contribute now? That would be great! Looking forward to it, then.

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02 August, 2009

How To Hijack 'Every iPhone In The World'

:Image:IPhone_Release_-_Seattle_(keyboard) cro...Image via Wikipedia

Is this a prank, or is it really true?

Could it be some flaw in the design, or has someone really found a way to do it?

I wouldn’t want my iPhone to be hijacked! (but I don’t own one now).

If you do, read this one.

How To Hijack 'Every iPhone In The World'

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10 July, 2009

iPhone 3GS doesn't disappoint

Image representing iPhone as depicted in Crunc...Image via CrunchBase

So they say, the iPhone 3GS is one good phone. From 3G to 3GS, the additional "S" stands primarily for ssspeed! And if that isn't enough, another of the "S" thing is that is doesn't disappoint.

So much for the hype, read the review here.

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18 June, 2009

LG S-class phone

I am trying to evaluate this LG phone, if it will live up to its promise, I might just take this one instead of the much-adored iPhone, 3G or 3GS...











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