Unable to send email using gmail app

Lately I was unable to send emails using the gmail app on both my Android phone and Xoom tablet. They happened at different times but happened after installing a rom or updating to a newer software version. I presume this problem is pretty widespread.

I tried re-syncing as well as deleting my gmail account and re-adding. Nothing worked. Finally I tried going into settings -> manage applications -> gmail. I selected clear data and voila, it worked!

Note: once you clear data any emails in your outbox that were not sent will get deleted. You should copy the text or try saving the email before clearing data.

Transfer files...without wires

I love the openness of Android and one great example of this is wireless FTP file transfer. Without using any cables you can wirelessly transfer files between your computer and phone. Its really easy too...

1. Download SwiFTP server to your phone
2. Download and install any FTP client to your windows, mac, or linux computer. I recommend Filezilla Client
3. Turn on WiFi
4. Open SwiFTP and enter any username and password of your choosing [click save]
5. Start SwiFTP server
6. Open your ftp client on your computer and connect to the address and port displayed under Wifi URL. Enter the username and password entered earlier and connect. 
7. You should now be able to navigate to your SDCard and drag and drop files from your computer to your phone over wifi! 

Try doing that on your iPhone!

Launcher Pro Screen Redraw

I've been using Launcher Pro homescreen replacement for some time now and absolutely love it.  Recently I've been having a problem with the homescreen redrawing, that is having all the widgets and icons disappear and then take about 5-10 seconds to re-appear. This happens sporadically but can range to one or twice a day to once an hour. Regardless it was getting very frustrating. Here are some tips I've tried and have had limited success:

• Change memory usage from moderate to medium or high - Go to Launcher Pro settings -> Advanced Settings -> Memory Usage Settings -> Memory usage preset
• Keep in memory - Launcher Pro settings -> General Settings 
• Motorola Droid hack - Launcher Pro settings -> General Settings 
• Free up system memory 
• Verify internal storage memory. You should have 50+ MB free.  You can install a widget like Mini Info widget to easily monitor your memory. 
• Uninstall unneeded applications
• Clear cache from browser, gmail, etc apps/ move apps to SD card.
• Install ADW.Launcher - I have read that Launcher Pro takes up more resources than ADW. I just installed it and will see how it compares. 

ADW.Launcher

Using Notification sounds for your Alarm

The alarm sounds that come stock on android are not pleasant. Your choices are pretty much a bell, buzzer or rooster; none of which are pleasant to wake up to in the morning when using the alarm clock feature. Android does offer some pretty decent notification sounds built right into the OS but by default they can not be used for an alarm. With a very simple tweak we can make the Notification sounds available to use for an Alarm. Here are the steps (you will need Astro file manager to do this; Its a free download available in the market):

Note: If your phone is plugged into the USB drive the alarm sounds will not be available. Make sure your phone is not plugged into computer at night or you may not wake up. 

Create a folder on your SDCard called "alarms". It can go anywhere but I decided to organize mine under the /media/audio folder. My directory looks like /sdcard/media/audio/alarms (tip you can create this folder using Astro or via your computer with your phone plugged into USB)Unplug phone from usb (if not done already), open Astro file manager, and navigate to /system/media/audio/notifications. Menu click and select Edit -> Select AllChoose Copy  from menu barNavigate to your newly created alarms directory /sdcard/media/audio/alarms and menu click; select Paste 




All of your notification sounds will now be available anytime you select an alarm sound.  You could also add additional sound files such as mp3s to this directory.

Enjoy!

Verizon Wireless Text Message Delivery Confirmation

I've always wondered why I sent text messages to Verizon Wireless customers from my Droid I never received confirmation of the delivery. All my previous phones would display an extra check mark or some indicator that the message was successfully delivered. As it turns out, Android also has this capability, although its not turned on by default. If you go into Messaging -> Settings -> Delivery reports and check the box you will see a mail icon with an arrow once the message is received. Also, if you long press the text you will have an option for delivery report. The report should show Pending for non Verizon Customers and Received for those with VZW.

Whats new with 2.1

You upgraded to Android 2.1? Now What. Here are a list of tips, tricks and features to get you started.

1. Live Wallpapers - Menu Click -> Wallpaper -> Live Wallpapers

2. Speech-to-Text in all input screens

3. Google Earth available in Market

4. Pinch Zoom enabled in Browser, Maps, and Gallery
5. News and Weather Widget. Long Press Homescreen -> Widgets -> News and Weather


6. Updated 3D Gallery  

Swype Tips and Tricks [video]

As a follow-up to my previous post on Swype, I decided to make a video showing some tips and tricks. Its my first video so comments are greatly appreciated. 

Reader DCuTiE17 posted a question asking how to delete a word from the Swype Dictionary. If you watched the video above you remember that I added a word "hffvug". All you need to do to remove it is write the word and click the swype icon in the in the bottom left of the keyboard. You will then be prompted to remove the word from the Swype Dictionary.  

Android Quick Tips and Tricks

5 quick tips and tricks for new Android users. For battery life tips and tricks see my previous blog post.

1. Hold down the Home button to bring up a list of the 6 last run applications  
   
   
   
   
2. Hold down the search icon to bring up Voice Search 
3. Slide your finger downward over the virtual keyboard to hide it
4. Long Press the URL bar in the browser to quickly copy the URL or share it. You can then paste the URL in any text input by long pressing and choosing paste.
   

5. When using the virtual keyboard hold down certain keys to bring up additional keys

Have additional tips and/or tricks. Leave them in a comment below.

Droid Battery Life Tips and Tricks

Lets be honest, the droid is an awesome phone, but the battery life is not it's best feature. I think it does fairly well considering the computing power and mutli-tasking capabilities. Because of the less then stellar battery performance some people are saying smartphone users need to rethink how we use our phones by charging more often and "making compromises" like running less powerful apps. With this being said there are other ways to conserve battery life and reduce time between charges. Here are a few tips I suggest to help keep your Droid charged longer.

• Add the Power Control Widget to your Home screen. You can do this by long pressing your home screen, select Widgets, and choose Power Control. From here you have the ability to turn on/off Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS, Auto-sync, and screen brightness.

Power Control Widget on Android 2.0.1

• Turn down brightness when indoors or you don't need the screen blinding you. This is one of the most efficient ways to conserve battery.  
• Turn off  Auto-sync when you don't need realtime email updates. You can always go into the email/gmail applications and pull down your email. I typically turn off auto-sync when I'm at work when   and sitting in front of my computer. You can also turn this off by going to Settings->Accounts & sync
• Obviously turn off GPS/Bluetooth/and Wifi when you do not need to use these features. 
• Add the Battery Use shortcut to your home screen. This allows you to see what is eating up your battery; be it the screen, music player, browser, etc. You can add the shortcut by long pressing the Home screen and selecting Shortcuts -> Settings -> Battery use. You can also get to this screen from  Settings -> About phone -> Battery Use

Battery use screen on Android 2.0.1

• Download a free Task Killer application such as TasKiller. This app will allow you to force close any application you do not want running. This is especially useful when you first power on your phone and the Android OS starts a bunch of non-needed applications. 
• Put your phone in Airplane mode if you do not have good reception. It takes a lot of battery power to keep switching between no-service/service. You can do this by going to Settings -> Wireless network settings and checking Airplane mode (or as matt said in the comments, hold the power button as a shortcut to airplane mode)
• If you have a wifi network available use that over 3G. Wifi uses considerably less battery then 3G.