Related
With previous versions of Android, you could long press on a link in the browser and pick Share Link. This also worked when you long pressed on an image. But it doesn't seem to work in the ICS browser.
You can however, go to a page and pick the menu option then Share Page. But that is not a good solution for everything. For example, if you have a list MP3s on a page, there would be no way to share those links with another app since you can't open that link as a page - it would just start playing.
Is this a bug, or was there some decision to remove that ability?
There's a copy url option, which means you have to open gmail or whatever yourself...
Yes, but that is a step backwards I think and isn't really what I'm looking for. One of the best things about Android is that different apps can work together by sharing functionality - like using the Share function.
I'll give you an example. I'm the developer of Juice for Roku, which lets you send music, photos, and video (in certain formats) from your phone to your Roku player. I also added Share functionality so if you were in the gallery app, for example, you can long press a photo, pick Share and pick my app - which would send it to the Roku.
I'm just now adding the ability to accept URLs from whatever app wants to share them. So for previous versions of the browser, you would be able to long press a link to a music, video or photo and pick share, then pick my app. Now you cant do that in ICS. It's just disappointing.
I agree, this is a step backward, and it's not the only one, either...
Interesting to hear about the Juice though - never heard of it, but I will be taking a look. Have you ever looked into dlna implementation? A serious drawback to the Roku...
Just picked up a request from the DEV IDEA POOL
danchar4 said:
I have a very simple app request to target unlocked phones. Basically a one button switch between primary LiveID accounts based on sensboston's work: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1335240
1. Launch app
2. app asks for email address
3. user types in email address or selects email from list of last-used addresses
4. app asks "Are you sure?" with suitable warning
5. app writes selected email address to following regkeys:
Code:
[HKCU\Software\Microsoft\ActiveSync\Partners\{B2830118-7BC6-4A74-8C9A-3D8B9CEF88E0}]
"Email"[email protected]
"User"[email protected]
[HKCU\Software\Microsoft\IdentityCRL\Environment\Production]
"DefaultID"[email protected]
6. app automatically reboots phone
Simple enough, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here it is!
Because I made no test on myself please give me feedback if the registry values get applied
ne0cr0n, unfortunately, "my" method has some important cons (you should list 'em) - after that change you'll be not able to upload pictures to SkyDrive, also some accounts like Twitter will be non-functional I've tried to find some workaround but without success...
sensboston said:
ne0cr0n, unfortunately, "my" method has some important cons (you should list 'em) - after that change you'll be not able to upload pictures to SkyDrive, also some accounts like Twitter will be non-functional I've tried to find some workaround but without success...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but you can revert it back, right?
The new LiveID could be associated to a different market zone, which you could use to buy some apps with your correct credit card infos, then revert back to your main LiveID, and regain all regular functionalities like auto uploads to skydrive, twitter integration, etc.
Am I right?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=25500576#post25500576
kevyn82 said:
Am I right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm so sorry but I can't confirm - just never tested this way. I've researched that hack 'cause damn Verizon blocked and deleted my very-very old email ( @verizon.net) what I've used during 11 years, and also as my LiveID email.
Wow dude thanks for writing the app so quickly. What is the etiquette for sharing apps? Are you supposed to share source code too? I don't want to be rude by asking you for the source
I don't use twitter, but I was able to upload a photo to skydrive just fine after swapping LiveID's. Steps:
reset my phone with my own liveID
download bunch of apps from appstore
dev unlock/interop, etc
manually edit registry and change to my wife's LiveID (she has zunepass on her ID which is why I wanted to swap to hers)
reboot phone
take picture
upload to skydrive
login to skydrive app and see that picture is there on *my* skydrive account, not my wife's
So skydrive integration with picture hub/camera obviously stored my liveID and credentials somewhere other than the regkeys I edited. Most likely Twitter is the same way.
I presume the credential data is stored encrypted in some weird GUID key with no obvious pattern. Too bad there is no regmon/procmon tool like on Big windows, otherwise I could figure it out in a few seconds... Although somehow I doubt that you can use provxml to import export those keys to re-write encrypted credentials. That would be a pretty bad exploit.
So I ran IDSwitch and it gave me the error "no root access". Hmm. So I went into WP7 Root tools and switched on "trusted" for the app.
So a pre-requisite for running the app is to have WP7 root tools? I'm kinda new at this so perhaps that is an assumption of any app that is going to do interop/native stuff? In order to get it to work you have to set it to "trusted"?
Anyway the app let me type in the new liveID and rebooted the phone, but upon booting up, it appears that the old LiveID is still there in the 3 registry settings. I ran it a second time and the app remembered the address I typed in so thats cool. BUt again after rebooting, it failed to modify the registry entries.
Can you post up a debug version with some breakpoints or console spew? I could try to attach a debugger on my end (not sure I know how to do that, but I can try to figure it out)
sensboston said:
ne0cr0n, unfortunately, "my" method has some important cons (you should list 'em) - after that change you'll be not able to upload pictures to SkyDrive, also some accounts like Twitter will be non-functional I've tried to find some workaround but without success...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info. I will add a warning and how to use message when launching the app for the first time.
danchar4 said:
Wow dude thanks for writing the app so quickly. What is the etiquette for sharing apps? Are you supposed to share source code too? I don't want to be rude by asking you for the source
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will do that, but the code is kind of ugly xD
danchar4 said:
Can you post up a debug version with some breakpoints or console spew? I could try to attach a debugger on my end (not sure I know how to do that, but I can try to figure it out)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I uploaded the source. Should make things much easier
I tried it on Samsung Focus Mango updated with WP7 Root Tools. Even though it reboots but it does not change the primary id. After reboot when I open the app again, it shows the primary id as the old id and not the id to which I wanted to switch.
Found the bug. I used the content from to current ID textbox not the new ID textbox -.-
I guess nobody tested it or I am getting a different result. Here is what happens :
1. ID A which is primary ID in my Account with No CC.
2. I switch from ID A to ID B. ID B does not have a CC.
3. When I access Marketplace, The region used is according to ID B.
4. Next I Move to buy an App and it asks me to signin with ID A instead of ID B.
5. For free apps, I can easily download it without going to login page ever which is pretty obvious.
Today Evening I will try out to buy app by signing with ID A when it sends me to login page of ID B by first sigining out and then signing again.
Few things I noticed :
1. Facebook, Twitter, Skydrive all was working.
2. It takes a while for the OS to realize the ID is new and hence may take around a minute or more to change marketplace.
3. I downloaded a free app with the swtched id and used it without any issues.
4. I even updated a free App which was bought using the primary ID with the new ID.
5. Email ID A stopped working. It did not show any email nor it gave an error of wrong password which is pretty odd.
My Thoughts :
1. This will be useful for parents who have kids carrying a Windows Phone who do not want to give them credit card access but using this they might buy apps for kids.
2. I still need to test but this will work for IDs which are in same region. For example I have a US id to which if I want to add a CC, the country is fixed and hence I cannot use an Indian CC with it.
wpxbox said:
1. Facebook, Twitter, Skydrive all was working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to share pictures from camera to SkyDrive...
wpxbox said:
2. It takes a while for the OS to realize the ID is new and hence may take around a minute or more to change marketplace.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to reboot after LiveID change.
Just tried it out and it worked. The file was uploaded to Skydrive account of the primary Live id.
Wait... What "primary Live id" and what are you tried? New one or the old one? Have you tried:
- change LiveID to new one
- reboot handsets
- go to pictures hub and share picture to the SkyDrive ?
When I said Primary Live Id I mean the ID with which the phone was configured.
1.Phone configured with ID A
2. Change to ID B using the app, Reboot
3. Upload to Skydrive and it was stored in ID A Skydrive Account.
He-he, it's exactly what I mean by "not working". For example if you change first (original) LiveID email to the new one (as I had to do), you'll be not able to upload pictures to SkyDrive, and can't login to the Twitter account. So please do not confuse people.
sensboston said:
He-he, it's exactly what I mean by "not working". For example if you change first (original) LiveID email to the new one (as I had to do), you'll be not able to upload pictures to SkyDrive, and can't login to the Twitter account. So please do not confuse people.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh Ok I understand now what you said by breaking. The new ID cannot be used for Skydrive or Facebook or Twitter etc in short, anything connected with old Live id.
Basically its not a true switcher and can only be used to buy apps with the new account connected with CC
Hi all
The whole idea of this app is JUST to let you assign an account that will give u the ability to buy apps from marketplace using CC, if your original ID have problem with adding CC information. So it is not to change you ID permanently. You can read my thread if u want. Anyway thanks op for making the app.
I can confirm this works. Just bought an app using a different account and it works. Editing a video on this so will be up in couple of hours.
As promised, Here the link to the video we made http://youtu.be/2H7dr7ZzJZs
I have a couple Email Digital Certificates (.p12) that I use to sign and encrypt emails from my desktop. I would like to start using them on my phone, but cannot seem to find any options in the native HTC Email app. I got them installed in the security settings on the phone, but just cannot find an option to use them in my emails. I have also tried using K-9, but cannot find an option within that app either.
So, is there any way to digitally sign and/or encrypt emails within the native email app?
If not, are there any reputable, trustworthy 3rd party apps in the app store that have this capability?
Oh and not sure if it actually matters, but I have the VZW variant One M8....
Thanks in advance,
Kratos
king kratos said:
I have a couple Email Digital Certificates (.p12) that I use to sign and encrypt emails from my desktop. I would like to start using them on my phone, but cannot seem to find any options in the native HTC Email app. I got them installed in the security settings on the phone, but just cannot find an option to use them in my emails. I have also tried using K-9, but cannot find an option within that app either.
So, is there any way to digitally sign and/or encrypt emails within the native email app?
If not, are there any reputable, trustworthy 3rd party apps in the app store that have this capability?
Oh and not sure if it actually matters, but I have the VZW variant One M8....
Thanks in advance,
Kratos
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I finally figured this out. Android (for some very strange reason) doesn't actually support digital signatures or encryption with email natively. Therefore, one MUST use a third party app to process encrypted or digitally signed emails.
I have checked out R2Mail2 as a possible solution and am thus far liking it. There were a couple other options (but only a couple I could find) and they either had very low reviews or were requesting permissions that just didn't make sense. In fact one of them actually tried to explain why they needed permissions to view call logs, but weren't convincing enough for me so I skipped over it.
I also have a Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 and it supposedly supports certificates natively (something Samsung added themselves), but I guess it doesn't support S/MIME with the .p12 extension as it continues to tell me that there are no files found on my device.
If anyone has any other solutions that are better than having to use (and pay for) a 3rd party app, please do tell.
Thanks Kratos
king kratos said:
I think I finally figured this out. Android (for some very strange reason) doesn't actually support digital signatures or encryption with email natively. Therefore, one MUST use a third party app to process encrypted or digitally signed emails.
I have checked out R2Mail2 as a possible solution and am thus far liking it. There were a couple other options (but only a couple I could find) and they either had very low reviews or were requesting permissions that just didn't make sense. In fact one of them actually tried to explain why they needed permissions to view call logs, but weren't convincing enough for me so I skipped over it.
I also have a Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 and it supposedly supports certificates natively (something Samsung added themselves), but I guess it doesn't support S/MIME with the .p12 extension as it continues to tell me that there are no files found on my device.
If anyone has any other solutions that are better than having to use (and pay for) a 3rd party app, please do tell.
Thanks Kratos
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No one has any ideas about native S/MIME support?
Kratos
I've been looking into this for a while... and I think you already found the best solution. R2Mail2 handles both S/MIME and PGP. I haven't seen any other good options for S/MIME. K9 + APG can give you PGP. There used to be a simple native mail app that would do PGP, but it looks like thats been pulled by Google.
I just spent 45 minutes on tech support trying to find out how to manage my photos on my new tablet. After allowing smart tutor control, I was told that the new Tab S won't allow me to use Kies to direct my photos into various folders, nor is there any way to move them once loaded. I am a photographer, and had expected to have over a thousand images for demos. I can't have them all in one huge folder.
Please save me from having to return this and get an Apple - I have to be able to organize my photos. How do I do it?
thanks in advance
Keivn
option 1: The tablet should have Google+ installed, if you set that up and open the photos app (which is separate from the gallery app) you should be able to upload photos to google plus automatically, allowing you to organize and share photos inside google's online photo manager
option 2: You could do basically the same thing with Dropbox, uploading photos you have to their servers and then organizing them on your computer either in the photo manager on dropbox.com, or manually with the file manager on your mac/pc
option 3: use a USB cable to plug the tablet into your PC and copy photos from it manually periodically. If you have windows this should be easy, if you have a mac, you'll need android file transfer which is a program that communicates with the MTP protocol modern android devices use.
thoughts/comments/concerns?
Thanks
I didn't want to use an online method, because I am often in places with poor or no signal, which is a non-starter. I had tried running through simple Windows file manager, and had not been able to see it as anything other than single folder, with no ability to see discrete folder structures in it. However, when I tried that this am, I could see the folders on the Galaxy, so transfer and file management is easy. I'm not sure whether the Samsung tech changed a setting or what else might have changed, but with visibility into the folders via File Manager, this is now straightforward.
Thanks for the help. It's sad that Samsung help couldn't give me this simple fix.
Kevin
There are a lot of simple ways to manage photos. The simplest (but not most efficient) approach is probably just to plug the tab into PC with a USB and use a file manager to manage. Alternatively, you can also use one of several online services like Picasa and a third party app. Many of of the third party apps like PicsPro for Picasa, for example, have an option to keep a local copy of photos on the tablet so you can still view photos without an internet connection.
KevinDonnelly said:
I just spent 45 minutes on tech support trying to find out how to manage my photos on my new tablet. After allowing smart tutor control, I was told that the new Tab S won't allow me to use Kies to direct my photos into various folders, nor is there any way to move them once loaded. I am a photographer, and had expected to have over a thousand images for demos. I can't have them all in one huge folder.
Please save me from having to return this and get an Apple - I have to be able to organize my photos. How do I do it?
thanks in advance
Keivn
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi, I can easily do that within the default Gallery app.
I have the T705 version btw. But this shouldn't matter.
in the Gallery app I can simply create new folder(s) and move (or copy) selected photos form any folder to that new folder. I use this all the time. I'm not a professional photographer but I like to take loads of pictures. but I don't like them all together in the default "Camera" folder. I never organized my photos via PC (not on my phones, nor on my tabs).
10-3-21: As of late September 2021, Google has denied login access to devices older than Android 3 (Honeycomb). That pretty much puts the kibosh on the presence of GApps on the NST/G. You get login errors for existing accounts every time you connect to WiFi. Even Maps misbehaves. If you have a pre-GApps backup you can get rid of GApps easily. If not...I'll be working on a removal strategy and will post it in this thread when I get it done. I have removed all the linked downloads and instructional material from this post. No point encouraging people to mess us their devices. It really is over.
Removing GApps from your NST/G
The easiest way to do this, as mentioned above, is to revert to a pre-GApps backup. If you have one that does not mean you would be happy to go back there because a lot may have been done since then. That is my case, so here's a guide to manual removal. You'll need a good file manager with root access (ES File Explorer is what I used) and you may want sqlite, although I don't think it is absolutely needed. More on that later.
1. Navigate to /system/app. Remove this entire list of apks (you may not have all of them, but remove those you do). If your file manager allows you to multi-select files for an operation, I encourage you to do so. Otherwise, at least one of the removals is likely to cause a soft reboot.
GoogleApps
GoogleBackupTransport (may cause soft reboot)
GoogleCheckin
GooglePartnerSetup
GoogleSettingsProvider
GoogleSubscriberFeedsProvider
gtalkservice
Maps
NetworkLocation
SetupWizard
Street
Vending
2. Navigate to /system/framework and remove:
com.google.android.gtalkservice.jar
com.google.android.datamessaging.jar
(you can also remove the jar file related to Maps, if you wish, but this is one of the files needed to run any of the Tasker-generated apps I have made, so I left it. It does nothing if you leave it there, but Tasker--or a "kid" app--always looks for it and will not install without it.)
3. Navigate to to /system/etc/permissions and remove:
com.google.android.gtalkservice.xml
com.google.android.datamessaging.xml
(same deal as above on the xml file related to Maps)
4. Navigate to /data/system/sync. Inspect the file "accounts.xml". It's just plain text, so try to do this on your device but otherwise copy it out to your PC to have a look at it. It should be "empty", looking like this:
Code:
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8' standalone='yes' ?>
If there's anything else there, delete it until your file looks like above. Be sure to save any changes.
Delete "pending.bin" if it exists.
[Wishing you just reverted to a pre-Gapps backup yet?]
5. Navigate to /data/data and remove all the folders listed. Again, you may not have every one of these, but remove those you do. Note, if you installed either Maps or Street as user apps, these can just be uninstalled with the App Manager.
com.android.setupwizard
com.android.vending
com.google.android.apps.gtalkservice
com.google.android.apps.maps
com.google.android.apps.backup
com.google.android.apps.gm
com.google.android.apps.googleapps
com.google.android.apps.location
com.google.android.apps.partnersetup
com.google.android.apps.providers.gmail
com.google.android.apps.providers.settings
com.google.android.apps.providers.subscribedfeeds
com.google.android.apps.servercheckin
com.google.android.street
6. Navigate to /data/dalvik-cache and remove all the files there corresponding to ALL of the apks and jars you removed in steps 1 and 2.
7. Reboot.
After I had done all of this I was surprised to see zero-byte "ghosts" in the App Manager for the system apps I had removed (and in the user app section!). So I went through and "uninstalled" them all. You cannot, in case you are wondering, just change the filter on the App Manager so you can see the system apps and uninstall them that way. There is no "uninstall" option for system apps.
Optional
When GApps was installed, patched copies of two files: services.jar and framework.jar were copied onto the device (/system/framework). These were patched mainly to establish device ID's and allow the SetupWizard to work. These minor changes seem to have no other effects. You may find that during GApps installation the original files were renamed as "service.jar.gappsorig" or similar. If that's the case, you could delete the patched ones and rename the old "gappsorig" ones. If you do this, you should delete the entries in the dalvik-cache as well and reboot.
Finally, accounts.db still holds information about whatever Google accounts you had on the device. Again, this probably is not really an issue. If you want to remove these entries, you will need a copy of sqlite3. Check /system/bin. If you have it, you're good to go. Otherwise, you need to download a copy, move it into /system/bin, set permissions to rwx r-x r-x and reboot. Sqlite is accessed within the adb shell. So establish an adb connection with your device (USB or WiFi, doesn't matter) and execute the following:
adb shell
sqlite3 /data/system/accounts.db "DELETE from accounts WHERE name LIKE [email protected];"
.q
reboot
Of course you substitute your account for "myacct".
Mea culpa
When I put together the update package for NTGAppsAttack I just assumed that the patched jars for FW 1.2.1 (framework.jar and services.jar) would be the same for FW 1.2.2. And, in fact, I've not had any issues yet.
But in tracking down an, as it now turns out, unrelated issue, I had cause to look more closely at the jars from the two firmwares. They are close, but not identical. This made me a little nervous because I don't want to mess up peoples' devices
So, with guidance from @Renate NST I have patched the jars from FW 1.2.2. These can now be found at the attachment section of the first post in this thread.
The good news is that you don't need to reinstall GApps. You can just "hot swap" these files:
Code:
adb push framework.jar /system/framework/
adb push services.jar /system/framework/
After I had done that I deleted the dalvik-cache files for the same two jars (found in /data/dalvik-cache near the end of the listings), and then completely shut down. Boot on powering up is alarmingly slow, but it does happen and then everything is back to normal.
As always, you might want to make a back-up first if doing this makes you a little nervous. Or, you could just ignore the whole thing. It may not matter.
Changes added to first post.
nmyshkin said:
It's ironic that I picked up this project since I've been posting about the death of GApps for the NST/G and telling people who ask that calendars, contacts, etc., won't sync--never mind the loss of the old Market. Back in 2013 when @straygecko brought GApps to the NST/G in a nice, neat package minus the hand-waving of previous schemes it was a great thing. But time and Google have been unkind to the package.
I thought about the issue only a little, although each time someone asked about some feature or described some ill-fated attempt to sign in I wondered a little what they were experiencing, unwilling to sacrifice my installation to find out. Then I got my second NST.
NTGAppsAttack is back.
Well, maybe it should be called NTGAppsSkirmish. In my wanderings I was lucky to come across an old CM5 ROM as well as several sets of GApps for the HTC "Passion" device. I spent a lot of time reading in the Nook Color forum (Eclair was the initial OS) and this forum. I tried a LOT of things. Some worked. Some didn't.
What works
Upsync (from the device to Google) for Contacts and Calendar (and, of course, Gmail)
Downsync (from Google to the device) for Contacts and Calendar (and Gmail)
Network location
Maps and Street
Potentially other apps that work with Google account sync and/or use NetworkLocation
What doesn't work
The stock contacts app (yes, I found one--finally)
Autocompletion of email addresses in ANY mail client I tried (Gmail, K-9, stock)
Market
Google Books
Google Drive
Just about everything else
What can be worked around
Go Contacts EX 1.0 works fine as a contacts replacement but only for the principal Google account.
Yalp Store makes an excellent replacement for Market (really, it's better).
Edit: Yalp Store appears dead as of June 2019. Word has it the developer has abandoned the app.
The stock calendar is really pitiful. Hard to believe anyone ever thought that would be useful. aCalendar works and looks great.
How to update NTGappsAttack
The biggest hurdle seems to be getting the custom addon installed properly on the NookManager card. Lots of questions about this in the original thread. I have to say it was not clear to me as a noob years back and even when I recently returned to it I had to scratch my head a bit. So here's what to do:
1. Download NTGappsAttack.zip from the original thread.
2. Insert your prepared NookManager card into the card reader slot of your PC.
3. Unzip the NTGappsAttack file with the destination being the root of the NookManager card.
(In other words, don't copy the zip file to the card, don't unzip to your PC and copy the result to the card. Don't do anything except let your PC unzip the file and dump the contents onto the NookManager card without your intervention. This allows the folders/files to merge on the card and sets things up where they belong.)
Once the original NTGappsAttack is installed onto the NookManager card, you can update the GApps files:
1. Download the zip attached below which contains additional/replacement/optional GApps.
2. Place the NookManager card in the card reader slot of your PC.
3. Remove the following GApps from custom/files/NTGAppsAttack/gapps/system/app:
--Calendar
--GenieWidget
--Gmail
--GmailProvider
--MarketUpdate
--Talk
--TalkProvider
4. Replace/add the following apps from the zip file I have provided (the ones marked with * are optional)
--Gmail
--GmailProvider
--Maps*
--NetworkLocation*
--Street*
Of course, Calculator in the original package is also "optional".
If you are installing GApps on a FW 1.2.1 system, the patched jars that came with the package are fine. However, if you have previously patched your framework.jar for full spectrum audio recording via USB Audio, the patched jar from GApps will overwrite your file. To address this, I have attached below a copy of framework.jar with both patches. You can copy this into custom/files/NTGAppsAttack/1.2/system/framework, overwriting the file already present.
If you are installing GApps on a FW 1.2.2 system, the patched jars for FW 1.2.1 that came with the package are similar but not identical to the jars from FW 1.2.2 (especially framework.jar). I initially used these old files on a FW 1.2.2 system with no problems, but as I have prepared a set of patched files for FW 1.2.2, you might as well replace the ones on the card with the ones provided in the zip file below. Copy them into custom/files/NTGAppsAttack/1.2/system/framework, overwriting the files already present. The framework.jar in the zip is also patched for audio recording. If you never use USB Audio, it doesn't matter, but if you decide to someday, it will save you a step.
Installing NTGAppsAttack and signing in
BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP!!!!
DID YOU MAKE A BACKUP?!
1. Start WiFi
2. Shut down NST/G
3. Insert NookManager card with NTGAppsAttack
4. Power on NST/G
5. No to Wireless
6. More
7. Custom
8. Install NTGappsAttack
9. Back
10. Back
11. Exit
12. Wait for reboot (long time...so long it goes to screensaver...gave me the heebie-jeebies the first time...)
13. If Wifi does not start, start it, being careful not to touch rest of screen.
14. Touch Android
15. Begin
16. Next
17. Skip (no sign-in or new accounts)
18. Google Location options: YOU MUST CHECK BOTH
19. Next (Setup closes)
21. Open Gmail
22. Using Menu button access "Accounts"
23. Add account--the primary Google account you want to use for the device
24. Sign-in
25. Gmail closes and you may catch "signed-in" flashing by at the top of the screen; sync arrows show in status bar
26. If you have a second (or more) account to add, sign in. You'll see the various sync options. Check/uncheck the ones you want. If something fails to sync, uncheck it and check it again until it syncs. (Anytime you want to check an account for sync options, just add a "new" account but make it the same one. It won't add again, but you'll see the sync options. Make sure all you want have synced. Might as well check the initial account you started with while you're there. Make sure everything you want synced.)
27. Exit Gmail.
*Ignore the Market app. I left it in because during my testing I noticed the system wondering about it (logcat) when I had left it out. So it's there, but just to keep the system mollified.*
Getting things working
Contacts
Install the Go Contacts Ex 1.0 app I have attached below. It's the only thing I could find that syncs in both directions and doesn't crash. However, stay away from the Backup and Recovery/Account Sync settings. These will cause a reboot because of the tight security around accounts.db that B&N built into the device. Gmail is the only way into those settings.
If you enter a new contact or edit one on the device, upsync is almost immediate. Downsync is another matter. This is the most reluctant of the apps to sync and the only one that does not have a manual sync option. A solution under "Sync" below.
Calendar
I'm not a calendar user myself, so I can only go on what is pleasing to my eyes and what seems to behave logically. I think aCalendar is good (attached below). It will pick up the calendar from your primary account as well as holidays, etc. It also seems to want to sync contacts although I'm not sure what the calendar wants with those. Like Go Contacts, upsync of events you generate on the device seems to be nearly instantaneous (and "silent"--no sync arrows). Unlike Go Contacts, there is a manual sync option if you're in a hurry.
Gmail
Settings for Gmail are pretty much like those of the stock email app, although there is no "check mail" frequency setting since Gmail is supposed to sync at random when mail becomes known to the server. Supposed to... It has a manual sync ("refresh") option. You can set a signature for each account. You can decide which mail folders are synced and how many days worth of mail is synced. Unlike the version in the original GApps package, this one appears to be OK, continuing to send mail reliably.
Reading through the Nook Color forum it is clear that autocomplete of email addresses in the To: field bedeviled the early hackers. They suggested a lot of kludges, none of which worked on the NST. With FW 1.2.2 there is a teasing grey bar that appears when you type two or three letters of an email address that is in the contacts, but nothing happens when you tap on the bar. With FW 1.2.1 there is no grey bar. So that's a project for someone. I used up my spare little grey cells on this particular issue. You can, of course, open your contacts and choose one to send mail to.
Maps and Street
When I first discovered a NetworkLocation app in one of the GApps packages I thought "oh, that will never work". There was also a Maps app so I just put them into one of my test batches and...it worked! That's actually pretty amazing. The location accuracy is perhaps not the best (I've gotten anywhere from 30 to 100 m reported), but it's still pretty crazy. The first Maps I tried was nice in that the streets actually had names, unlike the version of Maps you can still get for Android 2.1 from the Yalp Store. But this version was so old that Places had not yet been integrated. Also missing was the ability to pre-cache map areas for off-line use. So I went searching.
I finally came up with a good version with visible street names, Places, and a Labs option for pre-caching (and these don't expire, unlike in the current PlayStore Maps version). Directions also work.
The first Street app I had didn't run at all and I had pretty much given up--I mean, it's pretty silly--until I came across one more package and decided, what the heck? Sure enough, it actually worked.
Edit: some people have expressed frustration with Street, indicating that it is often greyed-out or simply gives a black screen. I recently discovered two things: 1) it does not have to be installed as a system app, i.e., you can install as a user app, and 2) it never fails to show starred (favorited--is that a word?!) places. I'm not sure whether that is intentional or just the vagaries of all these disparate GApps trying to work together, but if you add a place as a favorite and then call it up from your favorites list, Street will not be greyed-out and will actually show what you want to see. Who knew?
Maps can be pretty CPU hungry. It likes to annoy with messages like "Application Maps is having a hissy fit. Do you want to wait or force close?" (paraphrase ). I have a "solution" that, while somewhat draconian, works well: turn it off when not using it. I've written a little toggle app that alternately disables and enables/launches Maps. So you need to remember to tap the icon again when you are finished with Maps, but if you can get into the habit you will have the use of Maps without the annoyance of Maps. Attached below, "Google Maps". Use this to launch Maps (which may in fact disappear from your app drawer when disabled, but will return when enabled).
Sync
Now we get to the make-or-break part. Upsync from contacts, calendar and Gmail (sending) works like it should. It's "silent" (no arrows) and appears to be nearly immediate. Downsync is reluctant, at best. I've seen it happen on its own, perhaps twice in one day, but not always. The app Quick Sync (attached below) is a one-touch app with no settings that forces a manual sync of all accounts it finds on the device. I tried a variety of other apps (Synker is popular) but none worked as reliably as Quick Sync. Still, it's kind of lame, right? Wouldn't it be better if the NST/G behaved like the big boy's (and girl's) toys and did a quick sync when Wifi started? Yes!
I've made two apps to address this. Download and install one or the other. The attached app WiFiSync runs the Quick Settings dialog just like normal but adds an auto-run of Quick Sync after an appropriate pause. Use NookTouch ModManager to assign the app to "Clock" (that's the absolute last entry of the various buttons that can be reassigned). This generally updates everything although occasionally contacts are sulky and you may need to tap on the Quick Sync app and give it another go, but typically not.
The WiFiMenu_Sync is a special edition of my WiFi Menu app and functions as described in the link but also does an auto-run of Quick Sync. Also best when assigned to the "Clock" using NTMM.
*Even if you decide later not to use it, you should install and run WiFiSync or WiFiMenu_Sync at least once, if only by tapping on the icon. On first run it sets the AutoSync flag just in case it didn't get done in all the previous to-do. There's no other way to access this setting.*
Edit: one more option, my Quick Tiles app includes a WiFi/sync option.
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I am going to use this in my office for the calendar feature to access my appointments quickly via the awesome, low energy, easy on the eyes e-ink of the nook. Thanks so much for everything you do!
---------- Post added at 07:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:27 PM ----------
@nmyshkin If I want to keep the stock calendar app, will that cause any problems? If I don't like it, can I remove it without issues?
ALinkToTao said:
If I want to keep the stock calendar app, will that cause any problems? If I don't like it, can I remove it without issues?
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You can try out the stock calendar app without any issues. As long as the calendar sync app is enabled, it should work OK. If you decide against it later, simply remove the app from /system/app and reboot. For complete cleanup, also delete the stock app folder from /data/data/app and also the cache for the app from /data/dalvik-cache
Thanks, man.
@nmyshkin I've been playing with this, and it's working really well for my purposes. Paired with USB host and a keyboard, it's a great energy efficient and distraction resistant tool for the office. The only issues I've seen so far are these:
1. I just installed the GoContacts app. (I didn't install it at the very beginning). For right now, it doesn't seem to want to sync. I tried forcing sync with your app. I feel like it will eventually work. Or perhaps maybe I should have installed it at the very beginning of this process?
2. The calendar works great-mostly. I use it in my office to quickly see my schedule at-a-glance for patients that are coming in. For some reason, it syncs 80 to 90% of the calendar entries from my google calendar, but not all of them. There will be holes in my schedule that aren't actually there. Every week there are often entries of 35 or more appointments. Perhaps there is a limit as to how much can be synced at once. The stock calendar app seems to work the best for my purposes. I have the aCalendar app as a back up as its features are different and still useful.
Thanks again for all the work you did on it. I'm definitely enjoying the benefits of it.
ALinkToTao said:
@nmyshkin I've been playing with this, and it's working really well for my purposes. Paired with USB host and a keyboard, it's a great energy efficient and distraction resistant tool for the office. The only issues I've seen so far are these:
1. I just installed the GoContacts app. (I didn't install it at the very beginning). For right now, it doesn't seem to want to sync. I tried forcing sync with your app. I feel like it will eventually work. Or perhaps maybe I should have installed it at the very beginning of this process?
2. The calendar works great-mostly. I use it in my office to quickly see my schedule at-a-glance for patients that are coming in. For some reason, it syncs 80 to 90% of the calendar entries from my google calendar, but not all of them. There will be holes in my schedule that aren't actually there. Every week there are often entries of 35 or more appointments. Perhaps there is a limit as to how much can be synced at once. The stock calendar app seems to work the best for my purposes. I have the aCalendar app as a back up as its features are different and still useful.
Thanks again for all the work you did on it. I'm definitely enjoying the benefits of it.
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Click to collapse
I'm afraid I'm not going to be of much help here. For me, contacts and calendar were an exercise to see if I could get things to work, given Google's abandonment of Android 2.1. I don't really use either, although I occasionally will use contacts to start up an email address I can't recall.
First, let me remind you that Go Contacts only will sync with contacts from the principal device account (so the first Google account you logged into GMail with). I just created a fake contact on my PC this morning as well as a fake calendar entry. Neither of them was picked up by just a simple wi-fi connection. Both were immediately picked up with a tap on QuickSync. I can't speak to the stock calendar app. Besides finding it difficult to read, I vaguely recall other issues. There were so many things to test, it's all pretty much magic now. So I settled on acalendar which I had seen someone recommend and found it to work as far as my testing went. Its manual "synchronize" function also brought up the new calendar event without the use of QuickSync.
As to multiple events, well I just didn't try whole bunches, so I just don't know.
Does Go Contacts not bring up anything? For settings, I have only Google accounts showing, but if you have contacts without phone numbers you'll need to include that also or you won't see any. I'm not sure about the "phone contacts" setting. Mine is unchecked. You just want to stay away from most of the other settings. Generally when I have installed the app it's already got all the contacts picked up by the time I get around to looking at it. I'm sorry I can't be of more help. The whole GApps thing is pretty weird in that anything works at all, but it's not of much use if it's not consistent for you.
nmyshkin said:
I'm afraid I'm not going to be of much help here. For me, contacts and calendar were an exercise to see if I could get things to work, given Google's abandonment of Android 2.1. I don't really use either, although I occasionally will use contacts to start up an email address I can't recall.
First, let me remind you that Go Contacts only will sync with contacts from the principal device account (so the first Google account you logged into GMail with). I just created a fake contact on my PC this morning as well as a fake calendar entry. Neither of them was picked up by just a simple wi-fi connection. Both were immediately picked up with a tap on QuickSync. I can't speak to the stock calendar app. Besides finding it difficult to read, I vaguely recall other issues. There were so many things to test, it's all pretty much magic now. So I settled on acalendar which I had seen someone recommend and found it to work as far as my testing went. Its manual "synchronize" function also brought up the new calendar event without the use of QuickSync.
As to multiple events, well I just didn't try whole bunches, so I just don't know.
Does Go Contacts not bring up anything? For settings, I have only Google accounts showing, but if you have contacts without phone numbers you'll need to include that also or you won't see any. I'm not sure about the "phone contacts" setting. Mine is unchecked. You just want to stay away from most of the other settings. Generally when I have installed the app it's already got all the contacts picked up by the time I get around to looking at it. I'm sorry I can't be of more help. The whole GApps thing is pretty weird in that anything works at all, but it's not of much use if it's not consistent for you.
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Thanks, I tried changing it to Google only, and it still isn't syncing. No problem, man. I really appreciate it. I'm seeing which functions are working smoothly and keeping those only.
Is there any version of Google books with syncing that works?
And also gDrive?
And does it make a difference if it's UK version or US version?
Thanks
frittahubris said:
Is there any version of Google books with syncing that works?
And also gDrive?
And does it make a difference if it's UK version or US version?
Thanks
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No, and no, and no. Sorry.
That's a shame. Are there any eReader apps that have syncing that work with this mod? Otherwise I don't see much use for this unless it's your only reading device.
frittahubris said:
That's a shame. Are there any eReader apps that have syncing that work with this mod? Otherwise I don't see much use for this unless it's your only reading device.
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I know that FBReader can use your Google Drive to sync books. I have tried it recently and it works. It's all handled within the reader app so you don't actually need a functioning Google Drive app on the device. I believe that AlReader also has this function.
Edit: here are instructions that worked for me with FBReader: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3957311