One of the newer devices in Verizon’s Android offerings is the Droid X2. Sporting the same sleek form factor as its older brother the Droid X, this device sports a dual core 1GHz Tegra 2 processor, 1Gb of RAM, 960×540 pixel high resolution screen, and much much more.  However it also sports the customary bloatware and tripe that has become standard with carrier branded Android phones.  This, among several other reasons, compel users to root their devices.  While I’m not going to get into another comprehensive discussion on why to or why not to root your device, I will provide a quick and easy solution for rooting your X2.

The X2 can easily be rooted through Gingerbreak, the one-touch solution for many 2.1, 2.2, and 3.0 devices currently in the wild.  As with any rooting solution or other exploit, be sure to back up your data before proceeding, just in case.  To run this exploit simply:

• Turn on USB debugging on your device (menu > settings > application > development > USB debugging)
• Download the Gingerbreak.apk file to your phone. I just downloaded it onto my laptop and transfered it over to the SD card
• Install and run the .apk
• Select root
• Enjoy

For more details about the exploit, including how to manually perform it, what devices it works on, and much much more, check out the following XDA-Developers thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1044765

In the world of computing there are always going to be bad guys.  And by rule of thumb, the number of bad guys for any given platform are proportional to the number of people on said platform.  So its only natural that as Android has increased in popularity, that bad guys have come knocking.  As an end user,  you have to take steps to protect yourself in the digital world.  A large part of this is to remain informed and to exercise common sense.  In light of these two points, I’m going to discuss a newly found Android exploit (informing you) and discuss how this exploit should never have worked en mass (the common sense part).

Security experts Lookout have recently written a blog post about a new Android Trojan GGTracker. This trojan spoofs the Android market (damningly well, btw) and tricks users into manually installing their malware application.  Read Lookout’s blog post for full details on the exploit; here’s a summary of what this app is and how it works:

1. User gets directed to a malicious website, usually by clicking on an advertisement link
2. Website advertises an innocuous free application… say a wallpaper app, a ringtone changer, or a slideshow of sexy girl
3. To install this application, the app instructs the user to download and install an .apk file.
4. User installs app and gets nailed with spyware, SMS charges and all sorts of ugliness.

Android Market Trojan Spoof

Now that we’re informed, lets point out some common sense things about Android that will save you from malware every time. Google has done a pretty good job locking down the platform with reguards to security, while leaving it open and flexible enough to support a wide range of applications. Most (I daresay all) malware attacks occur from user error, a.k.a. an end user installed the malicious app on their device. Malicious apps take many forms. Remember those old ‘free smiley’ IM plugins that used to (and sometimes still do) be advertised everywhere? Most were really viruses with a nice face in front of them. In the same way, there have been apps on Android promising ‘free sexy wallpapers’, ‘free ringtones’, and in this case ‘free battery widgets’ which are really malware in disguise. Never manually download an app that you weren’t looking for first. This the same reasoning that drives the advice that you are to never give your account information to a ‘bank rep’ who calls you or otherwise initiates the contact.

In the same vein of be careful what you install, note that the Android Market and Browser Applications are two totally seperate programs. If you see a ‘market page’ with a URL at the top (like the screenshot above), STOP. You’re about to do something wrong. If your browser downloads an .apk file and instructs you to install it, Don’t do it unless you absolutely know what you’re installing. Frankly the only apps that are not going to be in at least one of the Android markets (Google, Amazon, GetJar), are going to be application betas or specialty apps that you’ll seek out (like the custom Google Voice .apk for tablets we featured a few weeks ago).

Even when going through legitamate means (a Market), still be wary about some apps, especially if you haven’t heard of it before. Usually you’ll find reviews for most legit apps on your favorite Android site(s) [including yours truly Droidweb of course!]. A quick google search will save you a lot of headache. As always, check out the permissions needed for that app. A unit conversion app shouldn’t require access to text messaging services. If something seems suspicious, don’t download that app; do some research before you proceed. One of the benefits of having such a tight knit community of fellow Android enthusiasts behind you is that you can ask around and expect to get a response about just about anything, including “has someone downloaded this app before? Is it legit?”

As always in the digital world, be sure to excercise caution. However, don’t be afraid to experiment and explore the capabilities of your device as long as you know what you’re doing and you’ve got some information on hand to help. To all our readers: Be safe and Happy Androiding!

• ‘Performance fixes’
• Updated App Switcher
  • It scrolls!
• Widgets are now resizable (Applause ensues)
• Dock update
• New apps:
  • Zinio Reader
  • Movie Studio

Get the update via either of the mirrors below:

Multiupload
Megaupload

How to apply update:

1. Move update.zip to SD card. See Moving files onto Android 3.0+ devices if you need help doing this. NOTE: The update must be placed on an external card, not internal memory.
2. Plug Transformer in (Skip step if you have 50%+ battery power left)
3. Power off
4. Power on by holding power key and volume down key at same time.  Hold until ROM boot screen comes up
5. Press volume up button within 5 seconds of boot screen popping up to begin update.

After applying update and rebooting, a keyboard update notification should pop up as well.  Follow on screen instructions to apply this update as well.  Enjoy!

If your’e a proud owner of an Honeycomb Android device, you’ve probably noticed that plugging the device into a usb port of your computer no longer brings up the “select to copy files to / from your computer” entry like it used to.  This might leave you wondering, “how do I copy my files to and from my Android device?”.  No worries, the process is still simple.  Honeycomb uses a protocol called Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) to transfer files to and from the device.  This is great news if you’re running a Windows box; just plug and play and you’re ready to go.  However what does this mean for the rest of us running Macs or Linux?  Here’s a quick guide to get you up and running:

Mac

If you’re running a mac, you’ll need to download an intermediary tool from Google at their Android website: http://www.android.com/filetransfer/.  Read and follow the instructions on this page.  This essentially will have you install an Android file transfer application as you would any other mac application (download .dmg, mount it, drag and drop enclosed file to /Applications folder).

Once this tool is installed, plug your Honeycomb device into your computer and open the application. Voila! You can now explore your device in a modified finder window.  Enjoy!

Linux

As usual, us linux users have to do a little more digging to get things to work.  But that’s part of the fun of it, no?  Here’s what you need to do (Commands for Ubuntu Linux; other distros should be similar):

$ sudo apt-get install mtpfs

$ sudo mkdir /media/transformer

$ sudo chmod 775 /media/transformer

$ sudo mtpfs -o allow_other /media/transformer

You should be able to access the contents of the drive at this point.  If not, then you might have to add a ‘rule’ in order for the device to become visible:

$ sudo vi /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules

Add the following line to the file:

SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0b05", ATTRS{idProduct}=="4e0f", MODE="0666", OWNER="<your user name>" #<Tablet Name>

Save the file and then make it readable:

$ sudo chmod a+r /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules

And there you have it!  You should have a mounted Honeycomb Tablet.

Instructions courtesy: XDA-Developers

It has taken a whole month, but finally we’ve got a hold of an ASUS eee Pad Transformer here at Droidweb. One of the first things I noticed was a disparaging lack of tablet support from some of my favorite applications. In some cases the application developer has yet to update their application for tablet sized devices (likely due to the lack of developers with test tablets on hand), or in others Google has blocked access to that application in the market from certain devices. To my surprise, Google’s own application Google Voice is in this second boat. Since I use Google Voice extensively for texting, this was something I had to deal with immediately.

As usual, it was XDA-developers to the rescue (what can’t these guys do?). A hacked version of the Google Voice .apk can be found there that should run well on your Asus tablet. Jump on over to XDA to grab the file in question by clicking the links below:

Post w/ link
Thread in question

One of the biggest battery drains on the new HTC Thunderbolt is the LTE (4G or something like it) service.  To turn this service off follow the following easy step:

Dial *#*#4636#*#* from the phone application. Then you are taken to a hidden menu that allows you to switch from “CDMA + LTE/EvDo” to “CDMA auto” thus disabling the LTE radio.

Now enjoy your extended battery life!

One of the stock applications that got a facelift from Google when 2.1 (Eclair) dropped was the Gallery app.  This stock application quite simply shows off the pictures stored on your phone and allows you to share them with the world through various channels.  However, if you notice, this application shows pictures from all across your SD card, which means a lot of images won’t be appropriate for the gallery view.  Take for example my gallery page:

Note that only one two of those categories actually have pictures that should be in the gallery.  The other four have icons and artwork downloaded by other applications.  Lets clean this up shall we?

In order to do that, we will make use of .nomedia files.  If you place a blank file titled “.nomedia” in a folder, Android knows to automatically skip that folder when doing scans for media such as pictures and .mp3′s.  All we have to do is identify the folders our unwanted images are coming from, create the blank file, and viola!  The files will magically disappear.  Lets take a look at my gallery now:

Ahh.  Much nicer.

Got any Android tips you’d like to see here?  Post ‘em in the comments or give us a shout out via our @droidweb twitter account.

We’re back with more advice for pimping out you Android device.  Before we move beyond apps, I’ve got two quicks apps we here at Droidweb felt should be shared with you, the reader.  Without further ado:

NoLed

One of the big features of the Android operating system is its use of LED notifications. With these notifications, one can quickly determine what type of messages or activity is on their phone through a simple glance at the device without even powering the screen on.  However, some Android phones (notably the new Samsung Galaxy) do not come equipped with LED notifications.  To make up for this, NoLED was written.  This project started out as a small project on XDA-developers (most Godsends for Android come from there) and has grown ever since.  This application displays a black screen and adds an icon in a random spot on the screen when you have notifications.  The beauty of the application lies in the fact that the Galaxy’s AMOLED screen doesn’t make use of a backlight to display a black screen, so this app uses very little power at all.  If you’re on a Samsung Galaxy or other phone sans LED notifications, give this app a try.

You've got notifications!

Get this app

Screebl

Every now and then there comes an application built around a brilliant idea.  One such application is Screebl.  This application runs in the background, and makes use of your phone’s accelerometer.  Ever been reading a long e-mail or pdf and the screen automatically shut off mid-sentence?  Well this application is meant to fix that annoyance.  When the phone is in certain orientations (usually angled between 0 and 90 degrees), this usually means that the phone is in use, and the screen shouldn’t shut off.  To further explain this program, the developer has put together an introduction video for his application.  Check that video out below.

Get this app

And the community has spoken:

While we’ve been running this series, I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from fellow Android users about what applications they use the most. I have compiled those lists into one nice list of Android applications worth checking out:

• Apps Organizer
• Astrid
• Beautiful Widgets
• Bedside Dock App
• Catch
• Crush the Castle
• Documents to Go
• Dolphin HD Browser
• Easy Money
• Evernote
• Facebook
• Folder Organizer
• Fruit Ninja
• Home Switcher
• Hungry Shark
• Jorte
• Launcher Pro
• Mint.com
• Movies
• MyBookmarks
• Noodles
• NPR News
• Our Groceries
• Pageonce Personal Assistant
• PhoneMyPC
• Power Control Plus
• PowerAmp
• Pro Zoom Camera
• Pulse
• Rom Manager (more about this later)
• Score Mobile
• Sheep Launcher
• Skype
• Solitaire
• Spades
• Spare Parts
• Sudoku Daily
• Swype
• Tapatalk
• The Weather Channel
• Tweetdeck
• Vlingo
• Weatherbug
• Winamp
• xScope
• Zeam Launcher

Are there any other Android applications you use daily?  Let us know in the comments below!

Now that we’ve wet your whistle with a few useful Android apps, what’s next?  More of course!  There’s always room for more.  Lets launch into some more really useful applications to have for Android.

Handycalc

Handycalc is an advanced calculator tool for Android.  There’s a bit of a learning curve, but after you master the system you’ll be glad you did.  Handycalc supports advanced features such as:

• Graphing
• Finding roots of an equation
• An intuitive entry method
• Support for advanced math (trigonometric functions and more)

Get this app

Astro File Manager

An essential for any computing device is a file manager.  Whether you want to poke around in your phone’s internals or you want to do general file management in your Android device, Astro provides a solution. Featuring a slick interface and a comprehensive set of file management tools, Astro is one of the more complete file management solutions for Android.  It is definitely one of the first applications I download when I have a clean Android installation to work with.

Astro at work

For a listing of the Astro’s full feature set, check out the Astro Quick Start Guide provided on their page.

Get this App

Dropbox

Oh Dropbox.  This might be my favorite Android application.  I get a lot of mileage out of this, since I already use Dropbox on both my macs and my Linux install.  Dropbox allows you to sync folders between all your computers and phones.  Here’s the introduction video to get you acquainted with Dropbox.

Doesn’t that sounds supremely useful? Believe me; it is. Stay tuned to Droidweb.com for some cool things you can do with Dropbox.

Get this app

Other apps

We’ve covered quite a few applications over the past year and a half here at Droidweb.com (Just check out Application Reviews tab).  Here are some other notable apps we’ve come along and have reviewed before:

• Live Hold ‘em Poker
• TweetDeck
• AudioManager Widget
• Cestos

OK, so its Christmas day.  You’ve unwrapped your gifts and, Behold! You’ve got a new Android gadget! Whether it is a tablet or a new phone, you want to know what’s next? The beauty of Android lies in the fact that you’ve got a new device that you can make your own through infinite possibilities of customization.

How do you customize your device?  Well that’s where Droidweb comes in to help. In the next couple of days we’re going to be posting about how to customize your device.  We’re going to start with apps and work our way up to rooting and other hacks.  Come along for the ride and learn a lot about your Droid!

Must-Have Applications

First thing’s first: To get the most out of your ‘droid you need to download some applications. If you have an idea for something you want your phone to do, most likely there’s an app out there that will oblige and likely that solution is low cost or even free.  Here are some must-have apps we here at Droidweb wouldn’t be caught dead without:

Handcent

Handcent SMS is a free SMS application that makes the Android texting experience more complete. It includes pop-ups for when text messages come in, adds an updated (and customizable) UI, and includes several perks and features the stock SMS app just doesn’t have.

Custom UI and Text Popup via Handcent SMS

Get this app:

Ringdroid

One of the early great apps for Android was Ringdroid.  This app allows you to take the songs on your phone, chop them and turn them into ringtones for your device. Its definitely a must-have for personalizing your phone.  Now you can have that song hook that’s always stuck in your head as a ringtone!

Here’s an example of a ringtone I made using Ringdroid.  Feel free to use it on your own: I Feel Better Ringtone.mp3.

Get this app

Barcode Scanner

This is one of the most useful apps Android has to offer in my opinion.  This app turns your phone into a mobile shopping center, helping you do price comparisons and become an all around smarter shopper.  With it, you simple focus a barcode in the viewfinder of your phone and, viola!, the barcode is scanned and you will be presented with links to find out more about that product including reviews, prices at local and Internet retailers, and other valuable information.

In addition to being able to scan barcode, this application also picks up on QR-codes (those black and white squares whose function you’ve always wondered about).  This is quite useful for quick downloads of Android applications and displaying small snippets of digital information.  Seveal apps are built on top of the functionality of the Barcode Scanner, so this app is definitely a must-have.

Get this app

Angry Birds

Of course Android is for more than just work.  Have a little fun with the premiere gaming title, Angry Birds. In this entertaining game, take revenge on the green pigs who have stolen the Birds’ eggs by destroying the… erm… structures in which they live.  With almost 200 challenging levels and several expansion packs, this puzzler is sure to keep you occupied for countless hours on end.  Check out the trailer below for some sweet snippets of in-game play:

Get this app

Those are a few apps that should hold you over until we complete our next post in which we feature a few more must have applications. Stay tuned, and as always, if you have an app or suggestion you’d like to see on Droidweb.com, comment below!