Related
Engadet just posted how you can push links to android 2.2 running Froyo.
ONLY FOR ANDROID 2.2 FROYO
Full story:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/31/how-to-push-chrome-firefox-links-to-your-android-2-2-froyo-de/
1. download the Google Chrome to Phone Extension application here. Make sure Settings > Applications > Unknown Sources is checked if you're installing over USB
2. Download the latest version of the Chrome to Phone extension from the same page, or get the Firefox version here.
3. In your web browser of choice, log into your Google Account.
4. On your phone, start the Chrome to Phone application
5. In the app, add the Google Account you'd like to share with.
Click on "Register Device" to link your account to the Google Chrome to Phone service.
Finally, open up that web browser, find something you'd like to share, then click the new icon in the toolbar to beam it to your phone. Now you're cooking with fi--we mean, now you can continue your browsing sessions, share YouTube videos and get those Google Maps.
dose anyone think WOW i nead this feature?
i didt.. am i missing somthing?
using push means apps don't longer have to make a connection to the server in order to check for updates. Making updates doesn't come immediately (depends on the update interval) and draining the battery more. Pushing means that the server 'pushes' the changes to the apps when there's an update. So people will receive their updates immediately.
copex said:
dose anyone think WOW i nead this feature?
i didt.. am i missing somthing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you are.
Froyo brings the "cloud to device" functionality to 3rd party apps, essentially allowing application developers to use a lightweight "push" notification service rather than having to do their own thing.
Whilst this particular use of the service may not be of interest to you, I can assure you that this is going to be tremendously useful in the future once developers start getting to grips with it.
Regards,
Dave
copex said:
dose anyone think WOW i nead this feature?
i didt.. am i missing somthing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
one simple example, you are in hurry to go to a company that you don't know where it is, so you just browse their website in your pc, find the location in google maps, and push it to your phone.
I know that we can do that also from the phone, but no matter how good a phone is, for now it is still easier to do that in a pc rather than in a phone.
boge said:
one simple example, you are in hurry to go to a company that you don't know where it is, so you just browse their website in your pc, find the location in google maps, and push it to your phone.
I know that we can do that also from the phone, but no matter how good a phone is, for now it is still easier to do that in a pc rather than in a phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
maybe its just the way i use my phone, i would just pop the post code in google maps on the phone, or use the voice navigate to feature.
i understand cloud/push tech, and when we finally get Firefox on android with Firefox sync i can see me making use of tab syncing.
but the whole push a webpage to my phone - but i am sure there will be other great cloud/push apps.
the firefox extension link is broken - this is working from chrome though. Any idea what happened to the firefox extension?
I'm guessing the Firefox plugin is this one:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/161941/
copex said:
dose anyone think WOW i nead this feature?
i didt.. am i missing somthing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Features
- Send current page with address bar button
- Right click on any link/image to send to your Android phone
- Highlight any text then click address bar button to send to clipboard your phone (Max. 265chars)
Very bloody useful if you ask me!
does anybody know if it also works the otherway around, so from phone to pc?
Chrome To Phone is a feature of Froyo that works with the Chrome browser (and possibly FireFox) that allows you to send links from your desktop to your Android phone.
Currently, it only seems to work on 2.2 but I was wondering if anyone has figured out a way to get it working on 2.1?
I've got the "LinkPush" app, but it doesn't work as well (seems to only work via google talk for me.)
If not, I guess I'll have to wait for a Froyo release that supports the cameras.
Sirchuk said:
Chrome To Phone is a feature of Froyo that works with the Chrome browser (and possibly FireFox) that allows you to send links from your desktop to your Android phone.
Currently, it only seems to work on 2.2 but I was wondering if anyone has figured out a way to get it working on 2.1?
I've got the "LinkPush" app, but it doesn't work as well (seems to only work via google talk for me.)
If not, I guess I'll have to wait for a Froyo release that supports the cameras.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
most every website has a "share" or "send" button as well as google maps just "share" or "send" it to yourself via email, it takes like almost no time whatsoever...then you can just open the email and follow the link on your phone...
Freelancerx said:
most every website has a "share" or "send" button as well as google maps just "share" or "send" it to yourself via email, it takes like almost no time whatsoever...then you can just open the email and follow the link on your phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At the risk of being yelled at, I think you are missing the point of the question.
Yes, it's possible now to just email a link to myself or something, but it's a rather cool feature to just _push_ it to the phone, and not have to worry about manually navigating through several other steps in the process.
Having said that, I've heard nothing about 2.1 getting that function, and I think it's probably more of a priority to most people to just get 2.2 versus 2.1 with a few hacked functions of 2.2. However, that's my opinion. Yours may vary.
blakejohnson86 said:
At the risk of being yelled at, I think you are missing the point of the question.
Yes, it's possible now to just email a link to myself or something, but it's a rather cool feature to just _push_ it to the phone, and not have to worry about manually navigating through several other steps in the process.
Having said that, I've heard nothing about 2.1 getting that function, and I think it's probably more of a priority to most people to just get 2.2 versus 2.1 with a few hacked functions of 2.2. However, that's my opinion. Yours may vary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no i understood the question the fact is that we probably are not going to be seeing that in 2.1 well at least not right now, i mean you never know, and frankly if clicking on a link and adding your email address and then clicking send, then just dragging the notification panel and opening the email link on your phone is too much work for you....then... lol i mean its 5 steps haha
Usually with developers, we look for the way to do it how we want (ex. How he was asking). But I am sure he appreciates the HowTo on sending an email.
On a real note, I actually haven't played around with the feature to much but Ill atleast look into it for you. It's a good idea to suggest things while we wait for the 2.1 official or atleast dealing with the half and halfs of cook-ups
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Freelancerx said:
no i understood the question the fact is that we probably are not going to be seeing that in 2.1 well at least not right now, i mean you never know, and frankly if clicking on a link and adding your email address and then clicking send, then just dragging the notification panel and opening the email link on your phone is too much work for you....then... lol i mean its 5 steps haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my problem is that not every site has the link, and with google maps it sends you a link to the maps.google.com page. Chrome to phone sends a command to your phone that opens up the map in the google maps application, not the browser, so from there you can navigate and such.
Thanks for looking into it rathfon..
Yeah, I know you can email links back and forth, but that's not really what I'm looking for. Any phone can do that, I'm looking more for Google's Continuous Client idea. Pushing a map link opens in maps, pushing a link to an android app opens it in the market, a browser link in the browser, etc. It's just a better way of doing things that I've wanted for a very long time. I thought of it almost 3 years ago with the first iPhone, but I didn't/don't have the know-how to do it.
LinkPush is working fairly well for me at the moment. It's a small android icon located next to the address bar, just a click of the icon sends a Google Talk message to my phone with the link, or I can open the LinkPush app and it lists the link on the top.
It's not as seamless as Google's method, but it works in 2.1 and below, and it's instant with almost no "work". I guess it's a good compromise for now until we get a working Froyo release.
mrono said:
my problem is that not every site has the link, and with google maps it sends you a link to the maps.google.com page. Chrome to phone sends a command to your phone that opens up the map in the google maps application, not the browser, so from there you can navigate and such.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
actually for google maps link when you click on it, it gives you the option to either open it in your browser or the actual map app....if you tried it out you would see. if it doesn't give you the option then go to your internet browser in the applications manager and clear your default, thats probably why it wont ask you to choose a program.
Sounds like a good idea
I like the idea. I guess everyone has moved on to getting Froyo working.
Hey guys, new to Android and G2, my G2 just arrived today and I'm in the swing of things. Been doing some app picking up on the Market and it's really just awesome.
A few questions though.
What's with Browser? It lets me select a homepage but when it opens, the Homepage doesn't load. Instead it's the last page I visited. Not a fan of that.
What's the best Video Player out there? I'm using RockPlayer, it's great, but I'd like to lose the ads. If there's no alternative, I wouldn't mind paying the ten bucks, but... if I can avoid this, I'd rather do that.
Also, the Music Player is okay, but I can't seem to get the music to stop. I can pause it, but it doesn't just close out completely.
Thanks for your help, sorry about the noobish questions, but please go easy on me, I'm new -.-
The browser goes to the last page visited because you haven't closed out of the browser completely. You might have just pressed home to get out of the browser, unless you pressed back several times to go to the original page from all the pages that you have viewed, then it will finally go back to the home screens. It will go to the new home page if you press menu, windows, and new window.
I don't have a problem with the stock video player, so I have been using that.
Also, I'm not sure since I don't have a stock rom, but on CM6, if you hold the back button, it forces the apps to close out. You could give that a shot.
The question 1 & 3 are the same actually. The browser and the player still runs in the background, like u just minimize them. They are not closed yet.
To close them the simplest way is to install a thread killer software like ES series or some others.
Q2, I found no better video player [email protected]@
I'm sorry, stock video player? Where's that at? :/
And thanks for the answers on 1 and 3, I'll give both a shot now.
MnemonicSyntax said:
I'm sorry, stock video player? Where's that at? :/
And thanks for the answers on 1 and 3, I'll give both a shot now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You know, if you have a video file in your memory card and you click on it using a file browser or if its in a directory where the gallery app picks it up (folder named 'videos' etc), it plays automatically.
MnemonicSyntax said:
Hey guys, new to Android and G2, my G2 just arrived today and I'm in the swing of things. Been doing some app picking up on the Market and it's really just awesome.
A few questions though.
What's with Browser? It lets me select a homepage but when it opens, the Homepage doesn't load. Instead it's the last page I visited. Not a fan of that.
What's the best Video Player out there? I'm using RockPlayer, it's great, but I'd like to lose the ads. If there's no alternative, I wouldn't mind paying the ten bucks, but... if I can avoid this, I'd rather do that.
Also, the Music Player is okay, but I can't seem to get the music to stop. I can pause it, but it doesn't just close out completely.
Thanks for your help, sorry about the noobish questions, but please go easy on me, I'm new -.-
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use Dolphin HD as web browser, powerAMP as music player..
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
G2 cm6.1.1
I'd recommend u root the phone and install "Ad Free", it solves the annoying ads on your phone
There are a ton of video players in the market. I've tried the ones that seem to be most commonly used by XDA folks: ArcMedia, Rockplayer and vplayer. Rockplayer is my favorite so far. It is able to play every video I've tried (might have to toggle hardware decoding to play a few) and has the most usable interface of those I've tried.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
tazz9690 said:
The browser goes to the last page visited because you haven't closed out of the browser completely. You might have just pressed home to get out of the browser, unless you pressed back several times to go to the original page from all the pages that you have viewed, then it will finally go back to the home screens. It will go to the new home page if you press menu, windows, and new window.
I don't have a problem with the stock video player, so I have been using that.
Also, I'm not sure since I don't have a stock rom, but on CM6, if you hold the back button, it forces the apps to close out. You could give that a shot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is that a function somewhere? Or is that just on the Home Screen and applies to all Apps?
I'm not really trying to stop anything from running, as opposed to having a certain webpage open everytime I open the Browser and no music playing when I open up Music. For those two Apps, I don't want to be where I "left off."
Also, I did root it and put on CM 6.1.1. For the first time doing something like this, I think it went rather well.
Thanks guys, for any help provided.
Dolphin browser is the one I use and I have no complaints.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2
Android decides for itself whether to leave an app running when you move away from it, or whether to close it. It usually does a pretty good job.
Most people want the browser to stay at the page they were using so they can go straight back to it. There are task killer apps for Android but it's normally recommended that you stay away from these, since they can cause their own problems.
Sent from my HTC Desire Z
Right, I'm not looking to close any apps really. I guess it'd be nice to be able to close an app out, say a game, Browser or Music, but only if you wanted to. If you instead just pressed Home, those apps would stay open so you can go back to them later. But if you were finished with say, surfing the web, you could exit out, it would take you Home like normal.
I don't know, I understand totally about Android and it's ability to multi-task. I'm not really even looking to close things out completely, but if that's the distinction between opening an App from where you last had it to opening an App to it's "home screen" then so be it.
Yeah, it's kind of a different mentality. Pressing the phone's home button is really more of a "show desktop" than an exit. This means a better user experience for the average user though (since as was said before, everything is back to the way they last had it and the programs will load faster since they weren't removed from memory to begin with). Whenever I want to leave the browser on its home screen, I simply close all of its windows before leaving the app (just like opening a new window, closing the last open one will make it go to the home page).
With a custom rom, you can do more of what you are saying. I know with CM, you can assign a long press of the back button to exit out of the foreground program (so now pressing home will leave the app running and long-pressing back will completely exit out of it). I believe the MIUI rom allows that as well. Alternatively, you can use a task manager to do the same thing (though maybe not as conveniently---not sure if any of the task managers have a similar shortcut key feature).
Thanks. This is what I was looking for. I have Cyrogen 6.1.1 on my phone now. Could I ask for some assistance in setting up the long press of the back key? Thanks much!
Sure. It's under Settings->Applications->Development. The last option in the list.
Thanks again so much Quinn. I am very happy now! Just a few more questions and I think I'll be good.
1) I'd like to be able to set my Quickkeys to Back, Foward, and Home. Is there a way to do this, preferably without an App? If not, at least a way to clear out the Quickkeys area.
2) What does the Google App package come with exactly?
3) How do I uninstall some of the Apps like Twitter and Facebook? I don't see a way to uninstall those the normal way.
Thanks for all the help!
MnemonicSyntax said:
1) I'd like to be able to set my Quickkeys to Back, Foward, and Home. Is there a way to do this, preferably without an App? If not, at least a way to clear out the Quickkeys area.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can do this by editing your keymap files. An example of an edited one can be found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=837002. The QuickKeys are mapped to user1, user2, and user3. I know you said you didn't want to use an app, but there is a simple one to use called ButtonRemapper (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=850464). You may be able to install it, use it to quickly edit your keymap file, and then uninstall, but I'm not positive on that. That app page also has a link to a great guide about how keymap files are structured.
MnemonicSyntax said:
2) What does the Google App package come with exactly?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm assuming you are talking about Google Addons for CM6? You can unzip the file and look in the apps directory, but here's a listing for convenience: CarHomeGoogle, CarHomeLauncher, Facebook, GenieWidget, Gmail, GoogleBackupTransport, GoogleCalendarSyncAdapter, GoogleContactsSyncAdapter, GoogleFeedback, GooglePartnerSetup, GoogleQuickSearchBox, GoogleServicesFramework, googlevoice, HtcCopyright, HtcEmailPolicy, HtcSettings, kickback, LatinImeTutorial, list.txt, Maps, MarketUpdater, MediaUploader, NetworkLocation, OneTimeInitializer, PassionQuickOffice, SetupWizard, soundback, Street, Talk, talkback, Twitter, Vending, VoiceSearch, YouTube.
MnemonicSyntax said:
3) How do I uninstall some of the Apps like Twitter and Facebook? I don't see a way to uninstall those the normal way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can delete the appropriate APK from your /system/app directory. Alternatively, you can simply disable the app with a "pm disable" command in the terminal (see here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=809231). This is usually the safer route---disable the app, make sure your phone is still running properly, then uninstall it if you still want to. If you want a nicer interface for doing all this, you can download TitaniumBackup from the Market (I believe the free version allows both uninstalling and freezing/disabling apps).
Enjoy your new phone!
Dude... open market, click the search button, enter "firefox". Install that. Yes, genuine firefox. Its in beta and still has a few glitches, but ITS FIREFOX!! DO IT!
There are no edit function in gallery tab...can someone confirmed that..
Edit how? Wouldn't that be outside the scope of a gallery app?
Edit: oh and confirmed, no edit in stock gallery. ?
Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk
Hmm, that's strange. Every device I've owned on Android has had the edit function (even if it asks you to open it with another app)... Have you tried Quickpic?
Yeah, usually the gallery app itself will integrate with edit features...Is it because of lolipop??
I'm sorry as this is the 1st device that i used come with lolipop..lol
faizalotai said:
Yeah, usually the gallery app itself will integrate with edit features...Is it because of lolipop??
I'm sorry as this is the 1st device that i used come with lolipop..lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I want to say no... I have the Nexus 6 right next to me and I use either Photos or Quickpic and they both have the edit option built in... Maybe the edit functionality in "Gallery" is 100% manufacturer, and not Android related...
faizalotai said:
There are no edit function in gallery tab...can someone confirmed that..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes they are
On my LG-H815, firmware V10a-EUR-XX in stock gallery there is edit icon, when pressed it opens photo editor, similar to Snapseed
My T-Mobile variant default gallery app has edit function. Open up a particular pic you want to edit and has a pencil with line underneath.
But I prefer google photos to manage my pics.
Sent from my LG-H811 using XDA Free mobile app
That pencil IS Google photo. (only when there are other image editor apps installed it will ask what to do).
Incase this is coming up for anybody, I've had this happen on both my G4 phones (one was lost and I had to replace after a year). If this happens to you, you will have to do a factory reset, as others have stated. But there is a way (as of right now 08/20/16), to actually have both work on your phone. When setting up your phone, with email info and google address and such, but make sure you do not enter into the area that states you want google photos with "great" enhancements (which it shouldn't go that far yet). Exit if possible.
- First and foremost (before customizing or adding any apps to your phone), make sure to get into your camera take a photo and click the gallery or the photo that shows up in the circle and click the edit tool. This will prompt you to download the "stock" editor (thru LG G4 phone). Download (first time only). Try out the editor make sure it works.
-Then take another photo, click on the round photo you just took. If you entered an address in the google setup (but not the google photos) you should be able to pick which app to use. You can chose the Google photo app, BUT IT'S VERY IMPORTANT, to click "just once" and NOT "always", just incase it tries to change your editor again. It should allow you to use the stock LG G4 editor and still store it within the google photos "cloud" as well.
- I always choose which editor every time, I never choose a default "always", since I use other online apps and I want to have those options given to me as well. It's important to NOT update the Google photo/editor if it asks, otherwise it will try and give you the "enhanced" photo edits.....which I can say the editing tool for LG G4 blows the Google editor out of the water. Hope this helps.
Tried it
Crissyclr said:
Incase this is coming up for anybody, I've had this happen on both my G4 phones (one was lost and I had to replace after a year). If this happens to you, you will have to do a factory reset, as others have stated. But there is a way (as of right now 08/20/16), to actually have both work on your phone. When setting up your phone, with email info and google address and such, but make sure you do not enter into the area that states you want google photos with "great" enhancements (which it shouldn't go that far yet). Exit if possible.
- First and foremost (before customizing or adding any apps to your phone), make sure to get into your camera take a photo and click the gallery or the photo that shows up in the circle and click the edit tool. This will prompt you to download the "stock" editor (thru LG G4 phone). Download (first time only). Try out the editor make sure it works.
-Then take another photo, click on the round photo you just took. If you entered an address in the google setup (but not the google photos) you should be able to pick which app to use. You can chose the Google photo app, BUT IT'S VERY IMPORTANT, to click "just once" and NOT "always", just incase it tries to change your editor again. It should allow you to use the stock LG G4 editor and still store it within the google photos "cloud" as well.
- I always choose which editor every time, I never choose a default "always", since I use other online apps and I want to have those options given to me as well. It's important to NOT update the Google photo/editor if it asks, otherwise it will try and give you the "enhanced" photo edits.....which I can say the editing tool for LG G4 blows the Google editor out of the water. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried this step by step, but after taking a photo, when I go to edit, it goes directly to the google photos editor. It didn't prompt me to download the LG editor.
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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