The Android device sticky thread...

[Steve A.]

Saving webpages to MHT files rather than PDFs...

I have been archiving webpages as PDF files since I first bought the Pro version of Adobe Acrobat in 1999. The conversion can be a bit touchy and the file sizes quite large. Back then if you wanted to save a webpage as in HTML format you had to save all of the associated files as well such as any other HTML files and graphics. The MHT format which saves a webpage in a single file has been around for many years but I never found it very easy to use, at least until I learned about UC Browser for Android and its Save Page add-on.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ile.intl&hl=en

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...pagesave&hl=en




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Once MHT file has been saved you need to open it...



Steve Ahola

P.S. The UC Browser also has a Web to PDF which used to work great in the past but I have not been able to get it to work recently.

[Steve A.]

All-In-One Toolbox

I installed All-In-One Toolbox to make sure that the APK files load but have done no cleaning with it yet.*** There are many different versions on Android Drawer but the ones higher than All-In-One Toolbox_5.1.4.2(67).apk are infected per Google. I would not recommend the versions on or after 6.0 because they seem to be overly aggressive and apparently cater to those users who want a one click cleaner. In any case the 5.0 to 5.1.4.2 versions look like they might be good alternatives to apps like Clean Sweep.


Steve Ahola

*** I will test how it works on one of my rooted devices after performing a full nandroid backup in case I don't like the results. If a brave soul here wants to try out All-In-One Toolbox before then go for it!

● Reviews:

All-In-One Toolbox keeps your phone up to speed [App Review] | AndroidGuys

A huge toolbox for your Android smartphone - TechRepublic

All-In-One Toolbox (Cleaner) Review | Android App | Playboard

All-In-One Toolbox (Cleaner) - 29 tools to speed up your Android - AndroidTapp


● Link to latest version (yuck!) at Google Play:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...e.toolbox.full


● Sites with APK downloads of older versions (yeah!):

All-In-One Toolbox (29 Tools) APK Download - AndroidDrawer.com

All-In-One Toolbox v6.2 for Android - Download


● DROPBOX: Zipfile with 8 versions:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wvpcmwmyk7...olbox.zip?dl=0


● DROPBOX folder of various versions:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0zqcgi991...U4JhwCBba?dl=0

[The Dude]

I posted this in another thread, but am reposting here. It's more likely to be seen by those who might want to know about it.

It's a mixed bag. I sometimes use it and sometimes not, depending on the device and how I plan to use the forum. There are some things better and some worse. You'll have to try it, but FYI, at the bottom of this page, there is a box that says "vB4 Default Style". If you click the arrow next to it, there is an option for "Default Mobile Style". If you are using a tablet or phone, this might be useful to you.

[Steve A.]

Instapaper for archiving articles on websites

I just learned about Instapaper for archiving articles on websites. It has been around for years as a program and an app but it certainly does the job well, stripping out all of the ads and extraneous listings and delivering just the article and accompanying pictures.

It works great as an intermediary between the webpage and Evernote, stripping out all of the extraneous bullshit so I don't have to do that myself manually.

https://www.instapaper.com/android

Steve Ahola

EDIT 11/15: I forgot to mention that Instapaper is great for reading articles without all of the distracting BS on most news sites (a concern brought up in previous posts here.) Not just the ads but a typical page on a news site might have dozens of hot links to other articles or videos, all of which take up bandwidth.

I like how it is almost like reading a printed article in a newspaper or magazine.

[Steve A.]

I posted this in another thread, but am reposting here. It's more likely to be seen by those who might want to know about it.

It's a mixed bag. I sometimes use it and sometimes not, depending on the device and how I plan to use the forum. There are some things better and some worse. You'll have to try it, but FYI, at the bottom of this page, there is a box that says "vB4 Default Style". If you click the arrow next to it, there is an option for "Default Mobile Style". If you are using a tablet or phone, this might be useful to you.

Pretty slick... thanks for the heads up!

Steve

[dmartn149]

Where can I buy mp3s for android? I was thinking of getting an I-tunes card as a stocking stuffer for my wife, but I'm not sure it would work for her android phone. Where else can you buy mp3s?

[Steve A.]

Where can I buy mp3s for android? I was thinking of getting an I-tunes card as a stocking stuffer for my wife, but I'm not sure it would work for her android phone. Where else can you buy mp3s?

The more I looked into this the more confused I got, mainly because of the issue of Digital Rights Management (DRM.) I don't usually buy MP3s- I rip them from CDs I already bought so that I can copy them freely with no restrictions.*****

Here's one suggestion: buy a 1 year subscription to Amazon Prime for $99.99 which includes the free streaming and off-line listening of two million songs...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/dmusic/promotions/PrimeMusic

... not to mention other benefits like free 2 day shipping and thousands of free movies and TV shows...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/getstarted

Or you could give her an Amazon gift card to allow her to choose MP3s from their entire library:

https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Amazon.../dp/BT00DC6QU4

Steve Ahola

P.S. The Google Play Store also sells MP3s.

***** Technically speaking I rip my CDs to lossless FLAC files which are roughly 58% the size of WAV files and then convert the FLAC files into MP3 files as needed for my various portable players.

A person could convert their entire CD library into FLAC files and then sell the discs with absolutely no loss of fidelity. If a disc was needed to feed a CD player it could be burned to CDR media.

Here's what I started writing before I gave up:

MP3s are MP3s. If you still have a desktop or laptop computer you should be able to access iTunes to buy MP3s. I haven't used iTunes for years so I'm not sure if they have DRM protection to keep you from copying the MP3s freely...

[dmartn149]

P.S. The Google Play Store also sells MP3s.

Oh yeah! I don't know why I didn't think of that. I really never have downloaded mp3s. Everything on my player is from cd.

Thanks!

[Steve A.]

Cool Reader for Android version 3.1.2-92

I used to use Cool Reader with my first Android tabet which was a rooted Nook Color e-reader running CyanogenMod back in 2011. It was great how you could fine-tune the entire user interface to your liking. However it was discontinued a few years ago because it wasn't that stable with the newer versions of Android and replaced with the less-customizable Cool Reader GL app.

I've been downloading PDF and ePub files of the two local newspapers to which I subscribe for off-line reading. It is hard to beat Adobe Reader version 11.7.1 for the PDF files but I searched high and low for a good ePub reader. Cool Reader GL lacked all of the controls of the original app which unfortunately was very prone to crashing on my Samsung Tab 4 7.0 running KitKat, usually after just a minute or two.

So I dl'd all of the older versions of Cool Reader from the UpToDown site and have been installing them one at a time in order of release date. (With an unrooted Android device I have not been able to downgrade to earlier versions without having to first uninstall the app which usually clears all of my preferences. Hence my stepping through releases for the magic version that works best for me.)

In any case I finally found one version of Cool Reader which hasn't crashed yet (knock on wood!)... Ver 3.1.2-92

Here is a link to the APK (you need to configure default Android settings to "sideload" apps which means not installing them from the Google Play or Amazon stores.)

https://cool-reader.en.uptodown.com/...ownload/264151

Steve Ahola

P.S. I had cancelled one of the local papers because its on-line web interface had changed to HTML 5 (whatever that means!) which did not work well on my mobile devices. I had been able to hack my custom URL to access the older interface for about 8 months but that finally stopped working.

I did resubscribe when they made me an offer I couldn't refuse... $19.99 a year including delivery on Sundays*** and they threw in a one year digital access subscription to the Washington Post for free.

In any case while the on-line HTML 5 mobile interface sucks I download the PDF and ePub versions of the paper which work great with Adobe Reader and Cool Reader.

P.P.S. The other local paper I get is the SF Chronicle and they, too, changed their on-line interface earlier this year. I had considered cancelling them, too, mainly because their new interface makes it a real pain to read the comics... but it works great if I download the PDF.

For articles the ePub works well because you don't have to skip ahead to Page 7 to read the rest of the article as you do with the PDF version which is an exact replica of the printed newspaper.

*** The local papers often offer great deals for 24/7 digital access plus delivery on Sundays which can be less than the price for just the digital access. I suspect that the reason is that the Sunday delivery boosts their certified circulation figures which presumably increases their advertising rates. For newspaper junkies it never hurts to ask... and they usually offer you the best deals after you have cancelled!

[Steve A.]

A really cool way to set the time and date!

A really cool way to set the time and date! I just discovered this in the Android app for Android (version 6.0.2) The vertical slider sets the date very quickly while the circle fine-tunes the time.




On a similar note is there a good calendar app for Android that someone would recommend? Google Calendar is a real tyrant... whenever it sees a date in, say, the Android email app, it tries to create a calendar event. No sirree, Bob, if I want to add a calendar event I will do it myself manually. (And stop reading my email! ;-) )




Steve Ahola

P.S. On the PC I use Lightning, which is an add-on calendar module for my email client, Mozilla Thunderbird. (No Outlook for me — Microsoft is a real tyrant, too!)

[Steve A.]

FIND MY MOBILE app

I had left my first Samsung Tab 4 7.0 tablet in a Fry's shopping cart 4 times. When arriving home I noticed that it was missing and went back to Fry's to retrieve it (usually around 10:30PM after store had closed.) The first 3 times it was still there... whew! Unfortunately the last time that happened (around 5:00PM) when I returned it was gone. Bummer.

The tablet itself needed a new battery so that wasn't a really big loss but I had disabled the screen lock on the wi-fi only tablet for my convenience. So anyone could turn it on and have access to most of my accounts for which Google had stored and would automatically use my password. Yikes!

So I had to go and reset ALL of my website passwords... Whatta f*cking hassle! ***

Someone told me that their device had a "FIND MY MOBILE" app which sounded great. It turns out that my Samsung tablet had that app but I never noticed it under SETTINGS which if activated would have allowed me to locate the tablet as determined by Wi-Fi (not very precise) and remotely lock and/or delete all of the data.

Like closing the barn door after the cows got out, I have now turned on that feature on my other Samsung tablets.

https://findmymobile.samsung.com

Steve A.

*** As for using asterisks in cuss words I do that so that I can write as I speak (I am very uncultured!) without actually rubbing it in someone's face. I normally refrain from using those words around people who could be offended or corrupted but sometimes they just slip out.

"F*cking sh*t!" was my most frequent cuss phrase for many years but has now been replaced by "B*tch!!! F*ck you, man!" whenever I knock something over or stub my toe.

[Steve A.]

I disagree with Khan's assessment, also, but I think it depends largely on how you use your device. It's my understanding that when you use an app, much of it's info stays in memory even after you close the app so that next time you open it, it opens faster. If you use that particular app often, that's probably a good thing. If you're like me (a casual user), probably not. That app, which is "semi-open" is using memory and storage, checking for notifications, etc., slowing the device down. [from September 2016]

Android handles RAM quite differently than Windows. When you close an app it is closed but there are many settings that allow it to use resources even when it has not been run that session (like those damned notifications you mentioned!***) With some apps you really can't turn off the drain on resources but with a rooted device 3C Toolbox Pro allows you to "crystallize" an app so it should be completely inactive until you — or another app or process — create a demand for it to run. You can also completely disable the app so that it is still installed but not active.

With my unrooted Samsung tablet I will use 3C Toolbox Pro to back up my installed apps and archive them on Dropbox. If I decide to uninstall them I will be able to "sideload" the archived APK file later (eat yer heart out, you iOS junkies out there!)

BTW to make apps load faster, etc., many of them use a cache which does use available storage space reducing what is available as RAM to run the device which can slow it down. For many apps (like Dropbox) there is no way to turn off the cache but there is a button to clear the cache. For some apps (like UC Browser) there is no button to clear the cache but if you find its location you can delete it manually.

Windows is so damned complicated with its Registry and hidden or protected files while Android is so much simpler, and with a rooted device there are no protected files... so you can screw them up royally! But with an alternate recovery like CWM or TWRP you can make a full backup of your device even if you don't root it (at least I think so...)

Steve A.

*** Another similar drain on resources involves data syncing. Turn off all of the automatic syncing that you don't need. (The default seems to be that data sync is turned on for all apps which can be a big drain on your bandwidth as well as system resources.)

[Steve A.]

My Samsung Tab 4 7.0

I love my circa 2014 Samsung Tab 4 7.0 tablet (AKA "SM-T230NU") because it has some special features listed below*** but my big gripe has always been that it has only 8GB of internal storage space; with the KitKat restriction of not being able to write freely to the external SD card the available storage space will drop too low to operate properly (I will often get error messages referencing that when trying to install new programs at the Play Store.)

One thing that I had not really noticed in their Application Manager is the option for many apps to move some of the internal storage space for data and/or the application itself to the external SD card. After doing that for all of the supported apps the maximum available RAM has doubled from ~750MB to 1.5+GB (with many downloaded files and running apps that figure could drop by 300MB which used to bring it down into the "Danger Zone" under 450-500MB.)

I have posted before about the various tactics I use to manage the storage space used by all of the files I download or create such as uploading them to the Cloud (mainly Dropbox) and clearing caches every few days. While most people just view interesting content that they find on the internet, being a "born collector" (the polite term for being anally retentive) I have always saved clippings from newspapers and magazines, and now do that digitally.

BTW one of the first tricks I mentioned in this thread involved finding and deleting a file or folder named ".thumbnails" — if it was a file replace it with a folder with the same name, if it was a folder replace it with a file. For some reason that would fool Android into not saving an ever-increasing collection of thumbnails. (I suspect that Android does not allow a file and folder to have the same name in a particular location.)

*** I have several different Android tablets but only the Tab 4 7.0 works well for me for browsing and saving content. Here are features I have found to be necessary:

● While Android tablets might use only "soft" buttons which are a part of the display screen most Samsung devices have 3 permanent button outside of the display area, one which is a physical button to return you to the Home screen along with software buttons to go back and to display all of the open apps.

On my other non-Samsung devices the lack of permanent buttons can reduce the functionality of many apps.

● Many Samsung devices have an expanded clipboard but I have found the one in the Tab 4 7.0 to work the best for me. Rather than having just one Clipboard entry inserted by clicking on a Paste button the SM-T230NU has 20 entries inserted by using the special Clipboard button on the Samsung keyboard, 10 of which can be stored permanently and used as keyboard macros to insert common phrases or boilerplate text (many of mine are for the BBS codes I use frequently here at MEF.)

On my non-Samsung tablets I can use apps like Clip Stack which is not quite as easy to use as the Samsung expanded clipboard but there is no limit to the number of entries you can save, and with the option to store them permanently.

https://androidcommunity.com/clip-st...clip-20150310/

Without an expanded clipboard entry I could copy just one URL or text selection and then switch to Evernote to paste it into a document before returning to my browser to copy the next one. Whadda hassle!

Steve A.

EDIT: One other use for the expanded clipboard... the Samsung keyboard lacks the em-dash ( — ) so I use one of the 10 permanent entries to insert it into text. Question: does Android support special key combinations to insert upper ASCII characters like Windows does? My Samsung Tab A 8.0 tablet has a CTRL key but I haven't looked into it yet...

[Steve A.]

Cool tablet!

I've been raving about my circa 2014 Samsung Tab 4 7.0 tablets for several years now but just ran across another oldie but goodie that is pretty slick: the LG G Pad 8.3 VK810 first sold in late 2013. It was deemed a Nexus 7 (2nd Gen) killer with the same 1920x1200 resolution, a 1.5 (or 1.7) ghz quad processor but with a larger 8.3" display (w/ Corning Gorilla Glass just like the Nexus) and a micro SD slot which the Nexus lacks.

I got this tablet for a very specific reason: to do HD 1920x1200 screen captures of music song books on SCRIBD. I *had* been using my Tab 4 7.0 to do this but with the lower resolution (1280x800) the printouts were not very legible- you could almost read the lyrics and chord symbols but forget about reading the actual sheet music.

With 2GB RAM (vs 1.5GB for the Samsung) and a faster processor (1.5ghz vs 1.2ghz) it is much snappier than the Tab 4... I can do 20 or more screen captures per minute compared to maybe 4 or 5 for the Samsung. Added bonus: like the Tab 4 it has an expanded clipboard (LG calls it the Clip Tray with 20 slots some of which can be saved permanently as keyboard macros.)

The G Pad 8.3 comes in 3 versions... the VK810 was sold by Verizon for $199 with a contract ($299 w/o) so there are a LOT of them out there often selling used for under $75. It is easy to hold the G Pad w/ or w/o a cover... the 8" Samsungs I've seen tend to be a bit wider. The Tab 4 7.0 has a narrow bezel so it is very hard to use when holding it w/o a case, not to mention the hypersensivity of the keyboard: you don't even have to touch the screen for your keystrokes to be registered! My theory was that it was designed for women with long fingernails... There is a 3rd party app that allows you to adjust the sensitivity:

Samsung Touch Screen Booster.zip

But there are still many tasks that I like to use the Tab 4 7.0 for... it is great for general browsing and especially for browsing news sites and archiving articles with Instapaper and Evernote. It is small enough to fit in my pants pocket and perfect for typing up posts for MEF and FB, or notes for future reference (who needs pencil and paper when you have one of THESE?!?)

Steve A.

P.S. As for the HD 1920x1200 screen resolution on the LG G Pad 8.3 I am now tempted by the 2,560x1,600-pixel resolution (WQXGA) on some tablets*** for even better sheet music screen captures.

*** Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 or the Google Nexus 10 from 2012 (also made by Samsung.)

[Mark Lavelle]

P.S. As for the HD 1920x1200 screen resolution on the LG G Pad 8.3 I am now tempted by the 2,560x1,600-pixel resolution (WQXGA) on some tablets*** for even better sheet music screen captures.

*** Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 or the Google Nexus 10 from 2012 (also made by Samsung.)

I can vouch for the Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014) -- I "won" one for filling out an evaluation of something or other. It's definitely a nice display, but too large/heavy for convenient holding with one hand. The pen capability is interesting, but I haven't found it very practical for anything I want to do...