Android Phones and Applications » Android How-To

Install Android 2.3 Gingerbread on Nexus One – Step-by-step Guide

Droid — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 05:00:54 +0000

Can’t wait for a taste of Gingerbread (Android 2.3) on your Nexus One? Nexus One will more than likely be first to receive the update, but if you really can’t wait, thanks to Chris Soyers you can manually install Gingerbread to your Nexus One.

Please take heed to the following, this is a working version, and yes, there will be bugs. There are no Google Apps available, or gapps as we call them in the Android community. This is a no frills version of Gingerbread with missing Google luxuries, such as Android Market access. Many apps may not work, like your camera, as you will see in the YouTube video below.

Follow the instructions:

Download the Gingerbread build from Mr. Soyers. (link) Copy it to your Nexus One’s SD card.
(If you have custom recovery already, skip to no. 5) If you’re running a stock Nexus One, you’ll need a custom recovery to flash the Gingerbread build. Easiest thing to do is to download Amon Ra’s recovery (link), then copy it to the /tools folder in your Android SDK directory. (You’ve already downloaded that, right?)
Reboot the phone into the bootloader (turn off, hold trackball and power) and plug into your computer. Make sure your hboot verison is 35.0017. (If you have the latest OTA, you should be good. But double-check.)
Type fastboot flash recovery xxxxxxxxxxxx (where xxxxxxxx is the exact filename of the recovery image, including extension).
Now enter the recovery (from choose “bootloader,” then “recovery”).
Wipe data and cache (always a good practice)
Flash gingerbread_passion.ctso.zip
Reboot

How to add a signature to your mobile Gmail

Droid — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 19:09:44 +0000

Signatures can be handy to let the recipient know that you’re working from a phone, and so the response might not be as long as it would be if you were working from a desktop. Adding a signature in your Android smartphone’s Gmail account is easy. Start your Gmail application. Press the menu button. Choose “More”. Choose “Settings”. Tap “Signature”. Type the statement of your choice. Click OK. Send e-mail.

Nexus One Multitouch

Droid — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 07:52:54 +0000

If you are a lucky owner of Nexus One and want to enable multitouch visit Gizmodo for detailed instructions. The phone supports multitouch, but it is not enabled in the software for some reason.

How to change default ringtones and sounds

Droid — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:23:57 +0000

Until recently I didn’t know that Android allowed for any music file to be set as a ringtone. Actually, I thought that it was forbidden. However, it turns that it is very easy to do. If you want to set your favourite song as a ringtone or an alarm, all you need to do is to create some folders on a memory card and copy the file to a corresponding one. You can then select it.

Create the following folders:

Alarm Clock – /sdcard/media/audio/alarms/

Events - /sdcard/media/audio/notifications/

Ringtones - /sdcard/media/audio/ringtones/

Interface Sounds -/sdcard/media/audio/ui/

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