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[Q] android parental control / config lock

hi,
No parental controls on android, but I'm giving my phone sometimes to kids and, i don't want them to mess up with eg calling people in my list, starting messaging, reading email, going to porn site, installing new apps etc.. basically just let them play the installed games
Is there any ready made app or script anyone knows of that achieve that?
Basically, replacing the launcher by a launcher where i choose the apps, and which needs a password to exit (it has to also change the home button not to show task manager on froyo etc)
So not hacker proof but enough for regular 10y olds not to do bad stuff
Any idea? I'm nearly thinking of a quick of dirty bash script moving all apk's away and back...

How to: Optimize stock ROM

Hi all,
I thought I'd share the steps I did to improve my experience (speed, battery life,...) with the stock ROM of the SK4G, and hopefully get some additional tips from you guys. There's nothing really *new* here, but hopefully it is helpful to some newer people (who don't want to mess with ROMs).
The steps in short:
1) Install the latest firmware.
2) Turn off or configure all automated syncing which you don't use.
3) Remove and/or freeze all apps you don't use.
4) Remove everything from your home screen which you don't need.
5) Disable apps that run on startup, but shouldn't.
6) Replace stock apps.
1) Install the latest firmware.
The latest firmware, currently KJ2, is a real improvement. I was previously using the KG2 firmware which seemed to have some memory leak. In simple terms, every minute the device was on, the system itself was taking up more memory, leaving less and less memory for the apps to run. This resulted in a device getting less responsive with time, the home screen being refreshed regularly, the device completely locking up, ... It was so bad that I made a habit to restart the sidekick at least once a day.
With the new firmware, this seems fixed. I don't think I have even seen the home screen refresh since I updated. Everything just seems more responsive! It also had a positive result on my battery life.
You can either wait for the update to happen automatically, or you can do it manually using Kies. It's a matter of installing Kies, connecting your Sidekick and pressing update. You can find a guide here.
2) Turn off or configure all automated syncing which you don't use.
It's a smartphone, you expect it to sync some stuff. Just check for each use case if you need the syncing and how frequently the syncing should happen. A lot of apps let you configure this kind of stuff. Some even allow you to only sync over wifi.
So just take a look at all installed apps and see which ones use some form of syncing. Some might do it without you being aware of it.
3) Remove and/or freeze all apps you don't use.
This is self explanatory for apps you've installed yourself. With the sidekick you also get a lot of apps that might be completely useless to you, but you can't remove since they are pre-installed. With root however, you can! (See the bottom of this post on how to root.)
Before I go any further, let me explain the difference between removing and freezing apps. Removing an app does exactly what it says, the app will be gone "forever". Freezing however is non-destructive: the app will be disabled and gone from your app list, but you can easily unfreeze it to restore it.
An app that's often mentioned that allows this is Titanium Backup. It is however not free. So instead, I used the free AntTek App Manager, which has worked wonderfully. You get a list of all apps, select one, choose "freeze" and it's gone! In case you want to undo your action, you select the app in the "frozen" list and choose "unfreeze". It's as simple as that.
Note that some apps should not be frozen. For example, I tried to freeze Wifi Calling. As soon as it was frozen, I got "force close" popups. Off course, since freezing is non-destructive, I could simply unfreeze the app to solve the problem.
Here is a list of everything I froze:
- com.amazon.mp3
- AllShare
- com.tmobile.apppack
- Backup (I'm not on T-Mobile)
- DriveSmart
- DriveSmart System
- Group Texting
- Media Hub
- My Account (Only the com.tmobile.selfhelp one)
- T-Mobile Device Carbon
- T-Mobile TV
- Video Chat
- SNS (Social networking)
- SNSAccount
- SnsComposer
- Visual Voicemail (I'm not on T-Mobile)
- Gallery (I use QuickPic instead)
- Swype (I use the samsung keyboard in portrait mode)
- Tips & Tricks
- Email (I use gmail instead)
- Accounts & Sync
- Files (I use ES File Explorer instead)
- Web (I use Dolphin HD instead)
- TeleNav GPS Navigator
- Talk
- Mini Diary
- com.google.android.apps.books
- Task Manager
- Messaging (I use Handcent instead)
4) Remove everything from your home screen which you don't need.
Again, quite easy. What I noticed in the beginning was that I used the home screens to list all apps I actually used, so I didn't have to open the app drawer and search for the wanted app between all apps I didn't use but couldn't remove. However, now that I removed/froze all useless apps (see step 3), the app drawer is quite a clean list of apps, so apps that I use sparingly don't need to be on my home screen anymore.
By the way, it is possible to order the apps in your app drawer. Just open the drawer, choose "menu / View type" and choose "Customizable grid". Afterwards, you can choose "menu / Reorder".
5) Disable apps that run on startup, but shouldn't.
I'm using an app called autorun manager for this. I disabled some apps that I use sparingly but that shouldn't be started when turning on the phone.
6) Replace stock apps.
It might be interesting to look at alternatives for the stock apps, depending on your needs. This is especially handy if you are able to remove/freeze the stock app you're replacing (see step 3).
Some stock apps you can replace:
1) Messaging --> Handcent.
The main features which made me choose Handcent were an incredibly handy popup window if you receive a message and great customization (both the interface as well as the configuration, for example not automatically switching to mms if your message is longer than 3 sms messages was handy for me).
Another nice replacement is Go SMS Pro, but when I tested it, it couldn't work with the led indicators of the sidekick.
2) Default launcher / home screens --> LauncherPro
I only tested this briefly before reverting to the default one, but it seemed very responsive. (I personally didn't like the spacing of the icons on the home screen)
3) Web --> Dolphin HD
I personally love the interface of Dolphin with tabs on top, gestures, efficient use of the screen space, ...
Other replacements are Opera, Skyfire, Firefox, ...
4) Gallery --> QuickPic
I find QuickPic to be a lot faster, and you can easily include/exclude folders.
Root
Rooting the sidekick is actually an easy process. It's a matter of connecting your device to your pc, installing the samsung drivers, running SuperOneClick and clicking "root". That's it. And if you want to undo this change, just go through the same process but click "unroot" instead.
You can find a guide here.

thanks a lot, man. though i'm still considering if i really need root.

Great little guide.
New users that just want a quick way to improve their phone's performance and stability should take note.

What verizon apps are safe to delete!

Hey, guys, when I get my S3 on Wednesday, I'm going to root it ASAP.
I want to remove as much bloatware as I can without losing the cool and useful things Samsung has added to their UI. Like S-voice the eyeball watching thing, the gestures etc are all things I want to keep.
What I don't want is verizon nag screens and useless apps and adware that they put on.
Any suggestions or point me to a thread where this is already talked about?

Geez No response yet? I would like to know this as well....

Id like to know to. In the mean time, I just hid them. There was only 4 apps from VZ and the only one that I use is the mobile hotspot app.
VZ mobile, apps, and nav are hidden and never seem to show up in my running apps.

I've froze in titanium backup without issue so far...
Allshare (All 3 of them)
Amazon Kindle
Apps 3.05.78
ColorGoogle+
Guided Tours
Keis air (Both)
Media Hub
Music Hub
S Suggest
S Voice
Samsung Account
V Cast Tones
Voicemail
VPN Client
VZ Nav
Yahoo (both)

Do either of the Kies apps need to be enabled in order to receive OTA updates?

I would recommend using an app like Titanium Backup that has the capability to freeze applications rather than deleting them, so you can play around with it and disable what you don't use or don't like.
I also recommend using the standard ICS application disabling capabilities first, then using a solution like Titanium Backup for those apps that cannot normally be disabled.
For the record, on my Verizon S3 I have roughly 30 applications frozen/disabled.

I actually worked in the opposite direction. I flashed the stripped version onto my phone and then manually added back the apps that I wanted to keep via Root Explorer. The only apps that I added back were Divx, Video Player, and Music FX. The phone runs fast and battery life has been GODLIKE.
Stripped ROM thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1759642

[Q] what can i remove thats not necessary??

Hi peeps...
I'm currently running the hexagon stock modified rom and i was wondering what stuff i can remove without screwing it up???
I pulled a few bits n pieces out like the weather stuff and google maps and gmail using link2sd and it ran fine for a while then something went wrong and the phone would lock up if the screen went off...
I would like to strip everything down to the bare minimum... I use my kindle fire for 90% of stuff now... All i want is basic phone functions, a twitter client, skype and emails... Plus tethering and gps.... And play store for updates
I'm considering changing sense for something else too if theres anything smaller and quicker...
Any tips would be welcome! Thx in advance!
Almost forgot... Can i delete the internet browser and install firefox to replace it rather than install it alongside?

shugs81 said:
Hi peeps...
I'm currently running the hexagon stock modified rom and i was wondering what stuff i can remove without screwing it up???
I pulled a few bits n pieces out like the weather stuff and google maps and gmail using link2sd and it ran fine for a while then something went wrong and the phone would lock up if the screen went off...
I would like to strip everything down to the bare minimum... I use my kindle fire for 90% of stuff now... All i want is basic phone functions, a twitter client, skype and emails... Plus tethering and gps.... And play store for updates
I'm considering changing sense for something else too if theres anything smaller and quicker...
Any tips would be welcome! Thx in advance!
Almost forgot... Can i delete the internet browser and install firefox to replace it rather than install it alongside?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can delete usually many apps like weather, stocks, mirror, calculator, browser, facebook, even search, mail,dictionary, gmail and talk. However, some apps are linked with others like contacts is merged with messaging so removing one might affect another. I will not delete any app that you can not see in app drawer and neither delete an app which i think might be integrated with another one!
You can also remove camera

Which Dual/Parallel Space app do you use, and why?

I was on OOS and recently switched to crDroid. Probably the only thing that I really miss is the utility called Parallel Space which allowed me to have two copies of the same package. It worked seamlessly. However, ever since I have switched to crDroid, my options are limited. Any dual space app that i try from the Play Store are either clumsy or bloated. I am looking for a worthy replacement for OOS' Parallel Apps. The best app I could find was 'Island'. But it is more of a sandbox app. To use one app in Island (ex. WhatsApp), I need to add more apps to Island (Adobe Reader to view pdf, Contacts apps to access contacts, etc.)
So I want to know what apps are you guys using, and if possible also tell why. Thanks.