Top 5 widgets for Android 2.2

This is a list of top 5 widgets for samsung galaxy ace running on android 2.2.  All of these are available for free download in the android market.

Widgetsoid2.x

This is the best system widget I have used so far. It brings virtually every setting to the home screen as a toggle widget and is customizable in a lot of ways. Read the full review of widgetsoid2.x.

Battery Widget

Battery indicator of android phones in general and samsung galaxy ace in particular is erroneous.
Battery widget provides a way to see the actual battery power remaining in exact digits rather than assessing from a graphical representation. Read the review of Battery Widget.

Power Control

One of the best comes-with-the-box widget of samsung galaxy ace. Power control widget provides easy one click access to GPS, Wifi, Bluetooth, Sync and Scree Brightness.

Program Monitor

This small widget gives info on all opened programs and their processor usage status.

 

Flashlight

A small widget which enable to use the mobile screen or the flash as a torch light. It is a nice and simple widget that does the job perfectly. 

Solve Error in SMS Unread Count - Android

Scenario 1 :  SMS unread count shown on the SMS app is a wrong number.

Scenario 2 : You got notification for a new SMS, you went to inbox but no message inside inbox bears an unread marking( in red on my samsung galaxy ace). SMS unread counter in the SMS app still showing an unread SMS (number in a red circle). Even if you open up all the threads, the unread count will remain the same.
If another message comes the combined number will be shown unread. If you read the latter the number goes back to the 'stable' one.

Problem: This is an annoying bug in the android OS SMS app. The actual unread message remain hidden in the inbox so opening up the threads and deleting the messages won't work.

Solution: There is a specific free app for resetting the unread message counter developed by Kamosoft.
This app shows the unread messages and lets you mark them as read. The unread counter will be reset.

In my case the app identified the unread message and brought it to the surface. but the counter was showing unread count even after marking it as read. But a restart solved the problem completely. If just marking as read does not solve the problem for you, do a restart and you will be fine.

The reset counter app is completely free and you can download it from the Android Market using the link below.


Reset Unread SMS Counter - Android Market

Battery widget for android user review

A perfect definition for battery widget for android would be "A simple battery indicator applet with additional power control options".

The battery widget for android is created by 'geekyouup' and is available for free in the android market. As of writing this, the app is just 55.94kb in size.

Functions

Besides being a good battery level indicator on the home screen occupying only a 1 x 1 space, the app provide additional buttons to control wifi, bluetooth and GPS. The picture below shows the options available for the app shown when you tap on the battery widget on home screen.

Of the above buttons only wifi is a toggle button(wifi on/off button) others are links to their settings menu. Battery button provides link to see which all app used the battery from the point of disconnection from the power source. GPS button opens the location and security settings and BlueTooth button named as BT open up the wireless and network settings.

Battery Use

This app uses negligible battery. There was no apparent difference in battery life with and without battery widget.

Popularity

This is one of the most popular apps in Android market. By the time I am writing this the app has received 99,820 ratings and is at more than 4.5 stars rating.

Compatibility

This app is compatible with almost all android phones including Samsung Galaxy S, galaxy S II, HTC incredible, EVO 3D, galaxy ace etc.

Solve ''Couldn't install on USB storage or SD card'' error in android 2.2

Solution: Unmount the SD Card from Settings >> SD card and Phone Storage . Install the apps you need from the Android store.After the successful installation re mount your SD card to move the app to SD card. For that go to Settings >> Applications >> Manage Applications and click (touch) on the application you want to be moved. The details of the selected app will be shown. Select Move to SD card option. Your app will be moved to SD card.

Note: If the app vendor did not enable app2SD while programming the app , you will not be able to move it to SD card or install to it in the first place.

This error occurs in phones running on android 2.2, most notably samsung galaxy ace, samsung galaxy pop and motorola droid x. When you try to download and install an app from the android market, the app will be downloaded completely but installation will fail showing "Installation error Couldn't install in USB storage or SD card". 

 

As the download is completed everytime when you try to install something, and nothing gets installed, its a complete waste of time and bandwidth.

Update : Found a permanent solution for the installation error in samsung galaxy ace - do the update to Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread. After I updated my samsung galaxy ace there was no further occurrence of this installation error.

The following solution worked for me for some time but again came back and got increased to a point where none of the apps were getting installed without unmounting SD card first. Anyway its better to be able to install apps than not hence here is the solution.

Step 1 Unmount the SD Card from Settings >> SD card and Phone Storage .

Step 2 Install the app you need from the Android Market. As the SD card is unmounted, the installation will complete without errors.

Step 3  Now re-mount your SD card to move the app to SD card. See the tutorial to move an app to SD card.

The moving to SD card will work only if the developer of the app enabled moving to SD card while coding it.

Further installations can be done with the SD card mounted.

Story of my samsung galaxy ace

Samsung galaxy ace comes with a nice set of pre-installed apps but just the variety of apps in android market always lure you to it. So I straight away started downloading apps once I got my phone. Apps began downloading with out any hint of an approaching glitch.

Upon completion, an error popped up saying the installation is unsuccessful because the phone "Couldn't install on USB storage or SD card". I tried two or three times, but every time after the phone completed the download, same error showed up.

I searched internet for a possible solution, to my surprise, found several. Most of them were asking to delete a temp file smdl2temp1. I checked for the file with my file manager but couldn't locate it. So my search continued and somewhere in internet I found a suggestion to unmount the SD card and then to try an installation. I followed it and the app installed successfully.

After installation I moved the app to SD card and the process was completed successfully. Now after two successful installations I re mounted my SD card and tried another install. This time installation completed successfully and the app installed to SD card without showing any errors.

This method worked for some weeks at first and then the "Couldn't install on USB storage or SD card error" started to come back in a seemingly random fashion. It gradually increased in frequency to a point where none of the apps were getting installed with the SD card mounted, until I got the ultimate solution, an upgrade to gingerbread.

Note: The installation might be unsuccessful also if the memory available in the phone is too low.