[Q] Interested in importing a Relay to Europe, some questions - Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G

With the shortage of decent QWERTY phones especially in Europe, this one seems the best choice (Some phones don't even have GSM radio, Moto Droid 4 has outdated specs, Moto Photon Q has SIM soldered on). So I'm planning on buying a Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G off eBay.
But first, a couple of questions.
1. Is the phone operator locked? Can I simply insert my GMS SIM card and start using voice and data or do I need to operator unlock it first?
2. TouchWiz and operator bloatware are a turn-off especially for an European user. Can the bloatware be removed after rooting? Is there a stable CM9/10 port suitable for for day-to-day use?
3. In Scandinavia we have some special keys, Ä and Ö, which I'd like to use on the physical keyboard. I read that keyboard can be remapped to switch the lower left chat and email keys to something more useful. Can I map them to ä and ö keys with the caps working too? So that when I press shift, Ä ja Ö characters are printed?

First of, there are some threads already which cover this, but I'll sum it up for you.
1. Yes, it's locked. But you can unlock it easily with this method. I've used it myself.
2. Yes, you can root your phone very conveniently following those steps - you can flash cm10.1 right after that. I'm currently using build 165 - no problems at all.
3. Yes, you can map everything to your liking. I created a german key layout for myself - I bound the "umlaut" function to one of the unnecessary buttons, thus enabling to put umlauts above a/e/i/o/u/y etc - klick here.
I would recommend using borderlinx.com - they're very reliable and you can access all items that offer US shipping only (and it's cheaper than USPS international mail). Bought mine via eBay using borderlinx.

Related

Best SMS input software?

Hey guys,
As we all know with using a mobile phone, SMS has played an integral part of out daily lives. The problem with the XDA is that unlike a mobile phone, there is no way for us to input SMS messages like a regular sony ericsson or nokia (which i swtiched from). I have been actively rummaging for some sort of software that would be able to enable such a feature. I don't need the T9 or predictive text. I just need the regular 12 big buttons, with their corresponding letters. (ie. 2 (pressed once) = a, 2 (pressed twice) = b, etc.). Is there any software out there that could do this? Preferably so I could just text using 1 hand?
If not, does anyone have any suggestions on what the best SMS input software might be? I've looked at TenGo, Full Screen Keyboard and Jetkey, as well as 1HandSMS (which apparently no one has, taken off the pocketbeam website due to infringement?) so far. Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks in advance!
I thinking about to write an SMS like input panel.
But wheel I no time, I am only thinking about it..
1HandSMS
Can somebody please upload 1HandSMS?? wanna try it.
There's a software DesignLab - SMS Writer. You can write only SMS with it.
But take a look to my project:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?p=56239
I don't understand. The biggest advantage of the XDA over a phone is the ability to use handwriting instead of being limited to 10 buttons, and you want to go back to the old way...??
Carlos said:
I don't understand. The biggest advantage of the XDA over a phone is the ability to use handwriting instead of being limited to 10 buttons, and you want to go back to the old way...??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sometimes the SMS-like writing is better, for example if you take a phone converstation (With line-phone) and like to quickly search a contact with half hand. Or when you travel with a public transport and the bus shake you, you can't use lettter recognizer...
Any other case, the handwriting is good. But IMHO SMS-like writing neither slow.
Other thing, in my surround, who has a PDA everybody use soft-keyboard in stead of the letter recognizer. Don't know why...

Life after TyTN

Hi all,
Well, it seems that come July, I will be forced to move on from my Hermes. I will be changing work locations to an area that allows PDAs, but not with cameras.
So, I'm looking for a new phone with the following:
- No camera
- 3G
- WM6 (at least can be flashed to)
- built-in GPS (for cycling)
- bluetooth
- full keyboard (I'm thinking I want front kbd or slide-down over side-sliding)
- enough interest on this forum to make life fun with hacks and tweaks
I don't really play games or watch movies, but plan to use it for audio a bit.
Any recommendations out there?
jcolley said:
Hi all,
Well, it seems that come July, I will be forced to move on from my Hermes. I will be changing work locations to an area that allows PDAs, but not with cameras.
So, I'm looking for a new phone with the following:
- No camera
- 3G
- WM6 (at least can be flashed to)
- built-in GPS (for cycling)
- bluetooth
- full keyboard (I'm thinking I want front kbd or slide-down over side-sliding)
- enough interest on this forum to make life fun with hacks and tweaks
I don't really play games or watch movies, but plan to use it for audio a bit.
Any recommendations out there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think its gonna be hard tofind one without a camera.. What about buying one with camera and then take the camera out of the phone ?
Unfortunately, if it looks like it had a camera at any time, it will probably be confiscated (military installation).
Looking around, the Kaiser seems to be the only option.
Does anyone know if they plan on making a Polaris or Niki w/out camera?
I don't think you will find a phone with that spec, without a camera, and tbh I don't think removing the camera will suffice, as it can easily modified to take pictures again. But I don't know of all the security restrictions your work place has.
I presume that you are on AT&T. While not readily available at retail locations you can order all sorts of devices with out the camera. For instance...
The AT&T 8525 has a model with no camera... 8500 (I think)
AT&T Tilt... 8900 maybe 8920 either way they are just a slight model number adjustment.
What phone would you like? Call AT&T customer support and they can advise which devices are available sans the camera option...
://wjones

[Q] Japanese Email system and language change

Ok first off if this is the wrong place to post this I apologize but I tried searching and can't find anything about my phone.
I just purchased a Toshiba Regza phone from AU in Japan. I have changed the regional settings to English and all the menus and mostly everything is in English but the problem I am having is that the email program that everyone uses here to send instant email back and forth is still in Japanese. I have contacted AU KDDI about this and they say there is no way to change the language to English from within the email program itself. My wife is Japanese and she has looked at every setting within the email program itself and cannot find any language settings.
As far as I have found out, the "email" system here in Japan is actually a MMS messaging system on steroids that uses an email address instead of the other persons phone number like in the US. I think a very long time ago some of my friends in Japan had email addresses with there phone number(at)docomo.ne.jp
I have looked on the marketplace and I can't seem to find anything that will work with the AU system.
Does anyone know if there is an app that can replace the stock email program to send and recieve email with my xxxxxxxx(at)ezweb.ne.jp? If there is where can I find the settings for AU's email system? Do they use IMAP. POP or because it is MMS it is totally different?
I love this phone, the camera is awesome the screen rez is really great watching 1 seg TV and the video quality is great. I really don't want to have to do anything to it that will brick it because it's brand new and my wife would kill me LOL Only thing is I cannot use the email program to it's fullest extent.
thanks for taking the time to read this and for any help you might provide.
Unfortunately there is no fix or alternative, as carriers in Japan have their mobile mail services tightly locked down and you require their express authorisation to develop an application for it.
The mail application for the IS04 is as bad as it gets, as are various other software related aspects of the phone... which is a shame because otherwise it's quite a capable device.
Hopefully issues like this one will be addressed at the same time as the rather late 2.2 update, but I wouldn't keep your fingers crossed.
I've been trying to extract the carrier mail application from other the au android devices and modifying it so it can install/communicate with au's servers on the IS04, but I've gotten nowhere with the security.
In case you run into any other trouble, other problems people have had with the IS04 include battery charging issues (phone runs off battery once it reaches 100% and never starts charging again, even while plugged in), contact list problems (multiple and non interchangeable contact lists for different applications), various settings resetting themselves (aforementioned mail application mainly), lost emails/contacts and weird memory restrictions (for storage).
For the record, DoCoMo's version of the Regza phone (and their other Android devices) use a relatively decent universal phone mail application, while au has gone with letting the manufacturers put together their own. I'll let you work out which decision turned out better.
In the meantime, I suggest having your wife translate the settings so you can have it up and running the way you like, and then just memorising the basic navigation and functions.
Edit: To answer your question, correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the weird MMS system for all three major carriers in Japan is still using the I-mode transport protocol.
just FYI:
2013 is around the corner and with Android 2.2.2 now (still) on the Regza IS04 nothing has really changed much.
The mail app - and other default apps - are still in Japanese only and will not be changed.
The general feedback from their tech support is: Learn Japanese or get lost (though said very politely, with smiles and bows and not in such a direct manner )
Have a great 2013 all

[Q] Switch between keyboard layouts

Hi,
I already read about the option to remap some keys by editing the keyboard layout file. Is it also possible to switch between keyboard layouts as you type (using a hotkey) - e.g. I need to be able to quickly change between Cyrilic and Latin keyboards.
Thanks.
I think you're talking about hardware keyboard.... But keyboard apps like swiftkey allow for 3 allow for 3 languages simultaneously.
Sent from my ICS Splashed MT4GS using xda premium
Oops haha double post
Hi indeed, I was talking about the hardware keyboard, if it is not possible to use both cyrillic & latin keys and quickly switch between them, this would decrease the benefit of the keyboard for me and I might decide to go with a non qwerty phone in the end.
Thanks for you insight though.
nickexel said:
Hi indeed, I was talking about the hardware keyboard, if it is not possible to use both cyrillic & latin keys and quickly switch between them, this would decrease the benefit of the keyboard for me and I might decide to go with a non qwerty phone in the end.
Thanks for you insight though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In this dev thread: Hardware Key Mapping | Flashable zips & Requests
...user Paitor has come up with and explained how to implement swedish language support for the hardware keyboard.
Given what Paitor has figured out how to do, it is absolutely within our ability to sit down and make exactly what you are asking.
All it takes is someone willing to sit down and invest the time into actually making it happen.
I would volunteer, but I have a lot on my plate already and realistically it's just not feasable for me to do this and keep up with my other projects on this device.
I will however be willing to take a finished keymapping and turn it into a flashable zip file and update the first posting of the key mapping thread with the result.
(and I always credit the author both in the installer package and thread post)
We still have to write in hardware keyboard language support for other languages, and I invite anyone else who wants to use alternative languages to read that thread and see about putting some time into helping us make that available for everyone. What you want to do is not exactly a small project, but pushing what we know to the next level is the reason for XDA's existence.
So, short answer is yes, what you are asking for is completely possible - you can make a key map file that has all of the keys in the languages you would want.
This is XDA, where you can get exactly what you need right down to the last little detail - if you want to put the time into making it happen. We'll be glad to help out where we can along the way.
--------
Edit:
If I were to tackle this project - this would be my approach:
Some apps, like Drocap2 or soundhound, pop up in the list when you have the Genius key remapped to 'search' and long press it. If there is nothing else that utilizes this shortcut function it will default to the only app that does ( in the case of a stock installation or on my ROM, voice search ).
So what I would do is write in each hardware keyboard layout that I wanted, then design an app that utilizes that Genius shortcut function to run - and the sole purpose of the app would be to switch between hardware keyboard layouts.
To me, that seems like the most elegant and refined approach to your problem without making one monstrously cumbersome key-mapping.
You could just press the Genius button to access the app wherever you happened to be, and then have it just show a menu as an overlay to swap between whatever keymappings you wrote in.
--------
My time is being invested in my ROM - then once that's set to my satisfaction, on to kernel work on overclock/undervolt leading into GPU work in conjunction with TV-out, and then on to bluetooth work for controller support on a Sense device.
These are big projects and very time consuming undertakings, so as you can see a project like this keylayout issue is a long time coming before I can get to it - but i'm happy to help where I can for anyone who wants to dive in and do.
Figured i'd throw out what my approach would be to give someone an idea on where to start - and while certainly not the only solution, is something to consider.
I think I have very good news for you!
There's a keyboard called "AnySoftKeyboard" (search for it in the Market and click Dev Website if you want more info) which supports hard kbd mapping (and switching bet layouts by pressing Alt + Space), they have a Russian language pack (Cyrillic & Phonetic), and it is all free.
I have never used it, but remembered coming accross it a while back and decided to check it out for you.
Hope it works
Hey guys, thanks for your replies!
I will definitely check this application - i am not sure it supports all hardware keyboards in general (or just the g1/droid as written in the description), but I will give it a try if I get this phone
And yes, I will gladly help in creating a layout for a Bulgarian keyboard. Unfortunately I cannot create an application for switching between the layouts myself, as I am not a developer.
thanks again.
AnySoft does work
Got my phone and installed AnySoftKeyboard. It does allow for switching bet layouts on the MT4Gs, but does seem a bit quirky so far... (that's with Hebrew & English, you might want to experiment yourself)

[Q] SM-P900 'Red Underline' Spell Check?

IMPORTANT UPDATE: I HAVE RESOLVED THIS ISSUE BY DOING THE FOLLOWING:
1) Root the SM-P900 using ODIN. (it's a breeze to do - just follow the directions!)
2) Install TWRP recovery and then do a full TWRP backup of your device.
3) Download & Install the new "Hyperdrive Note Pro 12.2 KK RLS1.1" ROM from here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-note-pro-12/development/rom-hyperdrive-kk-rls1-tab-s-t2986949
Follow the directions for installing this ROM very closely. As recommended, FULLY WIPE your device - everything except the external SD card - BEFORE installing the new ROM.
4) Download the AOSP "MAIL" APK and "Exchange Services" APK from here: *SEE NOTES BELOW
http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google-inc/exchange-services/exchange-services-6-2-1158763-apk/
http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google-inc/email/email-6-3-1218562-apk/
These are "Exchange Services 6.2-1158763" and "Email 6.3-1218562", respectively. (These are the last stock, Android versions before the forced upgrade/merge to Gmail)
5) Install (side-load) the Exchange Services APK and then Email APK - from whatever folder you downloaded the files to.
* NOTES:
A) Side-loading is necessary because the Play Store will recognize that you have an SM-P900 and won't allow the install. It has nothing to do with compatibility, but rather agreements made between Samsung and Google (and likely Apple, as well), to prevent you from doing this.
B) Replacing the Samsung Email with AOSP Email is required for a complete fix because the Samsung app seems to side-step the re-enabling of the red-underline spell-check. In other words, your new, working spell check will work nearly everywhere - except inside the stock Samsung Email app!
C) These are NOT the most recent versions of Exchange and Mail, but they are the last ones before GMAIL swallowed MAIL - and I prefer the stock AOSP MAIL. If you install a higher version, you will be forced to 'upgrade' to the GMAIL app during installation. It's up to you, of course.
I'M SURE YOU WILL BE AS HAPPY AS I AM - FINALLY!
PLEASE DONATE TO THE DEVELOPER, sbreen94 - HE'S DONE SOMETHING REALLY GOOD AND INVESTED A LOT OF TIME FOR A VERY ESOTERIC DEVICE - THE P900 - WITH A SMALL USER-BASE.
THE ROM PROVIDES MUCH, MUCH MORE THAN A SPELLING-CORRECTION FIX - THAT'S JUST MY THING. OUT-OF-THE-BOX, THIS ROM IS STOCK TOUCHWIZ - EXACTLY WHAT YOU'RE USED TO, INCLUDING FULL S-PEN SUPPORT AND ALL THE SAMSUNG APPS (OR WHICHEVER ONES YOU WANT - YOU CAN CHOISE DURUNG JNSTALL).
HOWEVER, IT 'UNLOCKS' TW AND ALLOWS YOU TO TWEAK MANY VISUAL AND FUNCTIONAL ASPECTS, TO YOUR LIKING. AS THE DEVELOPER SAYS ABOUT THE ROM...
"Touchwiz how I think it should be: The latest Samsung Tab S Software features as well as a Fully Customizable User Interface on the fly as well as excellent performance and battery life."
LASTLY, BE AWARE THAT THIS ROM IS SPECIFICALLY FOR THE SM-P900 NOTE PRO 12.2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm desperate! I can type faster and with fewer mistakes on my puny, 5-year-old iPhone 3GS than I can on my HUGE Note Pro 12.2 horizontal keyboard. Predictive text is retarded. I'm tired of fighting with auto-replace. All I want is a little red line under each of my misspelled words, like in the old days - before Samsung crippled Android. I've tried Anysoft, Hacker's, Google,... as Gordon Gecko once said, "different dog, same fleas".
I've stock-rooted the tablet with CF. What next? I'll install any mod or keyboard that does this simple thing. I don't care about the warranty, or if the UI ends up looking like Windows 1.0 and sharp pins jump out at every virtual key-press, puncturing my fingertips as I type - just show me the misspelled words before I click 'Send'!
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Pretty sure that apps handle misspelled words like MS Word does using Windows. So you need to find a android word processor that handles spell checking. Maybe someone here has a recommendation for you.
Proper keyboard spelling check....
treetopsranch said:
Pretty sure that apps handle misspelled words like MS Word does using Windows. So you need to find a android word processor that handles spell checking. Maybe someone here has a recommendation for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your timely reply. In the context of a Windows PC, for example, I would wholly agree with you - that spell check is provided by the host application; however, it seems that in the mobile world, a different approach was taken, with the 'keyboard' providing a unified spelling correction that behaved identically within all applications. This is very evident in iOS, and is well documented as a mysteriously disappearing keyboard option ("Underline Misspelled Words") in fairly recent Samsung distributions of Android. KitKat seems to be where the trouble really started, and some claim that this was among the casualties of the Apple-Samsung patent wars. Placing a red line under an unrecognized word, after the spacebar is pressed or navigating away from it, seems well within the means of a keyboard app. That simple red line is all I'm looking for.
Other (non-Samsung) Kitkat devices appear to still have it....
...Owners of HTC devices, running KitKat, claim to still have the 'Underline misspelled words' option in their keyboard options.
No underlines for you!
treetopsranch said:
Pretty sure that apps handle misspelled words like MS Word does using Windows. So you need to find a android word processor that handles spell checking. Maybe someone here has a recommendation for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've always understood that if I failed to ‘fix' this deficiency, I would have to find an email client with its own spelling correction, "like MS Word does using Windows", either utilizing its own dictionary or one of the two already installed in the tablet - stock Samsung or Anysoft.
Last night, I did some research and landed on ‘MailDroid', having a true spell checker among its many other impessive features. So, I installed the ad-paid version to test it out, fully prepared to fork over $22 for the ‘Pro' version. Email is my main concern, so I was getting excited! Installation was a breeze and within 2 or 3 minutes I was up and running with 2 accounts. And, yes, misspelled words were immediately underlined in red!!! Yipppeeeee!!!! Such a feature-rich, $22 app surely comes with its own dictionary, right?
So, just for fun, I disabled WIFI and tried to compose an email, offline. Then I felt something happening around my feet. I looked down and saw a Google API flopping around on the carpet, gasping for air. It was tring to say something, so I got closer and I could hear it muttering "feed me, feed me".
When I bought this tablet 6 months ago, I just expected it to work at least as well as my 5-year-old Apple 3GS. For a couple of months, I just figured that I wasn't understanding something, that I just needed to find that one setting - it was just hiding somewhere in unfamiliar Android territory. Some folks would say things like "No, it's not like that. Just play with the auto-replace and word prediction settings, or try another keyboard." Well, I did all of that and I'm sorry - Apple does a way better job with automatic correction - even identifying and separating words that are both misspelled and conjoined with errantly typed letters from the bottom row! And the few mistakes that do get past this magic are UNDERLINED IN RED! All applications that require text entry enjoy this unified writing tool... and all of it works even in ‘Airplane Mode' - offline!
There are two installed, accessible, LOCAL dictionaries on my tablet - including stock Samsung... Asking why an email client ]needs to go online for a dictionary is entirely rhetorical - especially when Google is involved.
One of the reasons I bought an Android tablet (and ultimately rooted it) - as well as being a protest vote against Apple's authoritarian control over what I do with MY mobile device - was to gain at least some control over unnecessary permissions, personal data leakage and data mining...
But, it feels like there's a trap - or a beaten-down conformist holding a sign that says "That's just the way it is" - everywhere I step. :crying:
WOW! You did a great job explaining this android dictionary stuff to me. I suspect the app 'Maildroid' didn't have a dictionary installed because of memory concerns. Dictionaries take up lots of space in memory. But, Hey, Word had one for XP in the days when we had very little memory on our machines 10 years ago. So that is really no excuse. A major fault for android devices in my book.
swiftkey keyboard app
Phuyuk said:
I'm desperate! I can type faster and with fewer mistakes on my puny, 5-year-old iPhone 3GS than I can on my HUGE Note Pro 12.2 horizontal keyboard. Predictive text is retarded. I'm tired of fighting with auto-replace. All I want is a little red line under each of my misspelled words, like in the old days - before Samsung crippled Android. I've tried Anysoft, Hacker's, Google,... as Gordon Gecko once said, "different dog, same fleas".
I've stock-rooted the tablet with CF. What next? I'll install any mod or keyboard that does this simple thing. I don't care about the warranty, or if the UI ends up looking like Windows 1.0 and sharp pins jump out at every virtual key-press, puncturing my fingertips as I type - just show me the misspelled words before I click 'Send'!
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Swiftkey key board app allows you to use a physical bluetooth key board and still have spell check for the win. AWSOME!!! Get the app at play store for free.
Swiftkey? Are you serious?
samsunggoliath said:
Swiftkey key board app allows you to use a physical bluetooth key board and still have spell check for the win. AWSOME!!! Get the app at play store for free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Swiftkey? You think i haven't already tried that? And adding a physical keyboard - defeating the purpose of having a physically-simple, stand-alone communication device - to this [email protected]!%& top-of-the-line, most-expensive-Android-tablet-in the-world - that I paid over $800 for with a memory card? Really?
I have a better idea: Invest not one more penny in this mistake, cut my losses, and get a different kind of keyboard - one that comes with a screen and does what it was designed to do, correctly.... and I will not have to patch it up with goofy solutions because it will also have Windows or Ubuntu built-in- at no extra cost! Wait a second... I already own one - this isn't going to cost me a cent!
BTW, since I first posted on this topic, I bought - directly from China, a new Android Kitkat phone - made by Foxconn. I had it in 5 days and Including shipping, it cost me less than $200, has a lovely 5" 300ppi screen, quad-core Snapdragon, all of the sensors known to mankind, a decent camera (front and back), and a real FM radio! Oh, and you know what else it has?!? Oh, c'mon... you know what's coming.... AN INTEGRATED, UNIVERSAL, ANDROID SPELLING CHECKER WITH RED LINES UNDER EVERY SPELLING MISTAKE! I don't need to get a keyboard or pay for more software because it already does what it's supposed to do! I can type an error-free paragraph, with confidence, more than twice as fast on that little phone than I can on this overpriced piece of TouchWiz.
And that is the problem - TouchWiz. Samsung lost a lawsuit and quietly crippled the OS with Touchwiz. Sadly, since this tablet is so overpriced to begin with, not many people bought it, not many accessories have been made for it, and more importantly, no front-end, TouchWiz-replacements have been developed for / ported to it as has been done for nearly every other Samsung device.
Like I said in an earlier post... it feels like there's a trap - or a beaten-down conformist holding a sign that says "That's just the way it is" - everywhere I step.
Problem FIXED!!!
Please read the EDITED FIRST POST in this thread.
-

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