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[Q] Need to trick AT&T into thinking I own a better phone

Just got this new AT&T Avail (android 2.3), which I'm really happy with but its not on the list of supported devices to use with the AT&T Address book. Which I wouldn't give a damn about, if the Address Book wasn't needed to access AT&T's "My Messages" app.
So what do I need to do here? Change the IMEI? Yes, I read the sticky, and no, I will not need lube because I am in the legal right of way, because my device is on the list of supported devices for the My Messages app.
I'm not sure if I need to convince the app ( https://market.android.com/details?id=com.voxmobili.attaddressbook&hl=en ) that I own a supported phone, or if I need to convince the server side that I own a supported phone. From my search here on XDA, it doesn't look like installing that app is going to be a cakewalk either. Even people who do have supported devices have a hard time re-installing this app.

Google does all that for you in contacts!
Just search the market for a good messaging app.
IMHO.
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium

rbeavers said:
Google does all that for you in contacts!
Just search the market for a good messaging app.
IMHO.
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Acquiring a functional AT&T address book* is a prerequisite to getting AT&T's cloud service (aka My Messages). What it does is when you get a phone call or sms, you will also be alerted to that phone call or sms via desktop and tablet. The only way to do this with Google is to use Google Voice. The problem with that is the phone calls are routed through Google voice servers and there is a noticeable depreciation in quality.
I spent quite a bit of time looking for messaging app that will perform a similar function. After lots of searching I found android-notifier. Which isn't a cloud service but that's not the main problem. The main problem is that even though it has an .apk, that .apk is only used to broadcast to your desktop receiver. There is no .apk to receive notifications on other android devices (ie: my tablet).
*For further clarification, AT&T address book is a cloud based app. It can also be accessed from the desktop browser. Same with My Messages

The model of phone in in the build.prop in the android software and can be changed. Sorry not a Developer.
It looks like AT&T should update their app for all their phones.
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium

[Q] No contact image in Handcent with ICS.

Hi, first of all, i'm using the Android Revolution HD rom.
My problem is that though my contact picture does sync and show up both in contact and stock messaging apps, they don't show up in Handcent sms... Though if I click the empty picture, contact details (with the options like "call, mail, etc") show up, including the pictures (can upload a screenshot if this is not clear)
I've tried rebooting, reinstalling handcent, i've also tried this fix as well as fixing permissions from recovery. Nothing seems to work.
I've been googling like crazy for the last hour looking at least for people having the same problem as me, but all the posts i've found are from january-february, which makes me wonder if it is supposed to be a fixed issue. I've also read a few of the thread on these forums referencing ICS bugs, and haven't found this particular issue.
I've also tried flashing the stock HTC rom, though to be honest i didn't spend as much time trying to fix it there, since it wasn't the rom i wanted to use.
Thanks to anyone who will be able to help, even if only to confirm that i'm not the only one having this issue...
[EDIT] Fix found, please read this thread.
Thanks to Chronic404 for providing us with the link.

I'm having the same problem, don't show in whatsapp or go sms pro
Sent from my HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio using XDA

I was having the same problem with go sms pro and it was driving me nuts.
Found that if I went into the stock 'people' app and re-chose the contact pics for people they then showed up in go sms.
Not ideal and quite time-consuming but couldn't live without the contact pics showing up!

beautyfiend said:
I was having the same problem with go sms pro and it was driving me nuts.
Found that if I went into the stock 'people' app and re-chose the contact pics for people they then showed up in go sms.
Not ideal and quite time-consuming but couldn't live without the contact pics showing up!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip, though i don't seem to have the stock people app on my rom, is it also the case for the HTC stock rom, or is it just because i'm using ARHD ?
May i ask what rom you are using ?

Hello. Download terminal emulator and do the following to get contact pictures.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=21648094&postcount=47332

JustinRawr said:
Hello. Download terminal emulator and do the following to get contact pictures.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=21648094&postcount=47332
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said in my first post, I did try this fix, but it's still not working...
Sent from my HTC Sensation using XDA

Oh sorry I don't read much, can you tell? but I had the same problem and that fixed it for me. Must be handcent.

JustinRawr said:
Oh sorry I don't read much, can you tell? but I had the same problem and that fixed it for me. Must be handcent.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, I want to apologize, my previous post was coming off as a bit rude, didn't realise it as I was typing on my phone
It might be Handcent, i actually have no idea how to check that since i don't know any app with uses contact pictures, save for the two mentioned in this post: go sms pro, which seems to require to install quite a lot of things, and whatsapps which, as far as i understand it, would require someone to chat with, but i don't think i know anyone who uses it...
So if you have an idea for an app that would use my contact pic tu check whether or not it's a handcent bug, i'd gladly take it.

It's okay I'm not easily offended!
Have you ever tried kik messenger? Once you install it and make an account it'll ask you if you want to add the people from your contacts list that also have it.

JustinRawr said:
It's okay I'm not easily offended!
Have you ever tried kik messenger? Once you install it and make an account it'll ask you if you want to add the people from your contacts list that also have it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried it, but apparently none of my contacts use anything else than sms, so still not sure of anything.

I've tried the terminal message also but to no avail.
I've just flashed the MIUI rom so I'll be sticking to that for the time being but if you solve the problem please post the method!

Same problem here i'm afraid.... No contact pictures in handcent app...

+1
I am UK Orange Sensation XE User running ARHD and also have contact images everywhere except in Handcent, despite trying the Root Explorer and Terminal Permissions fixes.
I have a small number of contacts where the contact image is a photo rather than from Facebook, and these DO show in Handcent.
Perhaps one of the techy types can use this info to diagnose the problem?
I've also tried uninstalling and reinstalling Facebook and Handcent, have cleared the Data caches from both and reinstalled, still no joy.
Please post the method if you find a solution!

Contact Photos
Hi There, I had the exact same problem with Gosms and Cabbage which I use constantly. I tried Android Revolution HD and Elegancia (which i love). the only way I could fix the problem was the following.
Downloaded syncmypix and ran it, then deleted the Facebook account. The contact photos now appeared in Gosms and cabbage (even unticking facebook avatars in Gosms didn't work). I then re input Facebook account details but chose not to sync any details at all. This worked perfectly for me and somehow or another the photos and FB details still appear and update in contact details.. Weird but great.
I hope this helps as I am totally anally retentive about photos for contacts which is why I loved the Sensation to start with.
Cheers
Johnner2

Johnner2 said:
Hi There, I had the exact same problem with Gosms and Cabbage which I use constantly. I tried Android Revolution HD and Elegancia (which i love). the only way I could fix the problem was the following.
Downloaded syncmypix and ran it, then deleted the Facebook account. The contact photos now appeared in Gosms and cabbage (even unticking facebook avatars in Gosms didn't work). I then re input Facebook account details but chose not to sync any details at all. This worked perfectly for me and somehow or another the photos and FB details still appear and update in contact details.. Weird but great.
I hope this helps as I am totally anally retentive about photos for contacts which is why I loved the Sensation to start with.
Cheers
Johnner2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's an interesting method but honestly, I would rather a cleaner solution. Sounds very suspicious that although the FB update is off, the pix continue to update... VERY weird... Seems we have to wait

I have tried Johnner's fix, and it has fixed some of the contact images in Handcent
What i will say though is that SyncPix confuses some of my contacts so i have the wrong images for some contacts, and not all contacts can be "found" by SyncPix for whatever reason...

Johnner2 said:
Hi There, I had the exact same problem with Gosms and Cabbage which I use constantly. I tried Android Revolution HD and Elegancia (which i love). the only way I could fix the problem was the following.
Downloaded syncmypix and ran it, then deleted the Facebook account. The contact photos now appeared in Gosms and cabbage (even unticking facebook avatars in Gosms didn't work). I then re input Facebook account details but chose not to sync any details at all. This worked perfectly for me and somehow or another the photos and FB details still appear and update in contact details.. Weird but great.
I hope this helps as I am totally anally retentive about photos for contacts which is why I loved the Sensation to start with.
Cheers
Johnner2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for the tip, though i kind of agree with GorgiGR that I was looking for a somewhat "cleaner" fix, i'm especially afraid that it would just confuses things for when the issue will receive an "official" fix.
About the facebook update still working while Facebook sync is off, I'm no specialist, but it might be because although you deleted your facebook account, the Facebook for HTC Sense app is still working.

I am using Haxsync from the Play Store to sync all my facebook photos to my contacts. It works great. The only downside is that it is a paid app. But it was money well spent!

I have just used this fix, and it works!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1620878

Chronic404 said:
I have just used this fix, and it works!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1620878
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, i had kinda lost hope that it would be done without using a paying app
Problem fixed for me too then, i'll change the title of the thread.
[EDIT] Well apparently you can't change the title of the thread after creating it... So i'll edit my first post to point to the solution.

Google Knows Best

While I'm a huge fan of Google products and services, there attitude of ignoring the masses when it comes to certain features that everyone wants/needs in the name of 'it's better' the way we designed it gets frustrating.
I'm hoping someone here knows a solution to this:
My contacts [not even the same name] keep getting merged/linked together automatically. It's happened on every Android device I've owned, and it's always happened to completely different names. I keep my contacts meticulously organized, and would never have a duplicate that would even need to be linked together. I've sent emails to Google asking how to disable it, etc. and they tell me it's a feature that everyone likes basically.
The most recent linking disaster was it linked my current girlfriend 'Lisa' with my ex-girlfriend 'Elizabeth' with TOTALLY DIFFERENT last names...WTF? So when I hit the dial button on the contact clearly labelled 'Lisa', and with her picture...I was actually calling my EX! Needless to say this led to a long argument that there was no way I could accidentally call me ex when trying to call my girlfriend, and blaming it on Google is ridiculous.
It's done this with a contact 'David', my then boss...and a contact labelled Dad...so when I tried calling work at 2AM (when I start) I actually woke up my dad in the middle of the night. There is no way of knowing when this happens unless I manually check every contact to see if there has been any merging or memorize everyone's phone number so I can see if it's really dialing the right number. It even linked my friend Charles, with Les Schwab Tire store once before.
Anyway, everything I've searched on the subject says that there should be some sort of notification asking me if I want to link/merge contacts, and to make sure to select 'NO'. I've never been notified though, and just get surprised at least once a month when my phone calls someone else, when I select a contact to dial.
Whoever knows the answer will save my life!
Thanks

JVogler said:
While I'm a huge fan of Google products and services, there attitude of ignoring the masses when it comes to certain features that everyone wants/needs in the name of 'it's better' the way we designed it gets frustrating.
I'm hoping someone here knows a solution to this:
My contacts [not even the same name] keep getting merged/linked together automatically. It's happened on every Android device I've owned, and it's always happened to completely different names. I keep my contacts meticulously organized, and would never have a duplicate that would even need to be linked together. I've sent emails to Google asking how to disable it, etc. and they tell me it's a feature that everyone likes basically.
The most recent linking disaster was it linked my current girlfriend 'Lisa' with my ex-girlfriend 'Elizabeth' with TOTALLY DIFFERENT last names...WTF? So when I hit the dial button on the contact clearly labelled 'Lisa', and with her picture...I was actually calling my EX! Needless to say this led to a long argument that there was no way I could accidentally call me ex when trying to call my girlfriend, and blaming it on Google is ridiculous.
It's done this with a contact 'David', my then boss...and a contact labelled Dad...so when I tried calling work at 2AM (when I start) I actually woke up my dad in the middle of the night. There is no way of knowing when this happens unless I manually check every contact to see if there has been any merging or memorize everyone's phone number so I can see if it's really dialing the right number. It even linked my friend Charles, with Les Schwab Tire store once before.
Anyway, everything I've searched on the subject says that there should be some sort of notification asking me if I want to link/merge contacts, and to make sure to select 'NO'. I've never been notified though, and just get surprised at least once a month when my phone calls someone else, when I select a contact to dial.
Whoever knows the answer will save my life!
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never noticed this...what version of Android are you on and what phone do you have?

In haven't seem it either...are you talking about the "merge duplicate" feature? Did you happen to leave the first or last name blank?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app

electricpete1 said:
In haven't seem it either...are you talking about the "merge duplicate" feature? Did you happen to leave the first or last name blank?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's happened on my Atrix running GB, also on my Note running ICS. It's happened to 3 other people's phone I know.
I think you might be on to something...it does seem to happen most often to names where I have no last name entered. It merged 'Lisa' with no last name to "Elizabeth" with a last name. It has merged 'Dad' with quite a few different names beginning with D.
They are not merged/linked when viewing contacts on the web in gmail...they are still separate there. It just merges them on the phone only. The most recent one I can't figure out the algorithm behind thinking these were duplicates and merging them automatically was: [Lowe's] and my friend [Lana], Hit her picture from my favorites menu, and got the Lowe's Home Improvement store. Her picture was displayed on the dialing screen and everything. Had to go into contacts, choose 'un-link', and sure enough it had automatically merged to two contacts after sitting separately for years.

This isn't Google. This behaviour is of the stock contacts applications by Motorola and Samsung. Each one modifies the Google contacts app in their own way, especially with regard to linking of contacts and social networking. You'll be better off asking in your device forum to see if others are facing this issue, and contacting Motorola or Samsung about it. It doesn't happen on AOSP Android ROMs, and on pure Android devices like the Nexus line.

trenches oriedto
sashank said:
This isn't Google. This behaviour is of the stock contacts applications by Motorola and Samsung. Each one modifies the Google contacts app in their own way, especially with regard to linking of contacts and social networking. You'll be better off asking in your device forum to see if others are facing this issue, and contacting Motorola or Samsung about it. It doesn't happen on AOSP Android ROMs, and on pure Android devices like the Nexus line.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is definitely the best advice. I had this problem when I got the original Evo which was running Sense. Your phone might be trying to link similar contacts as well as facebook contacts if you've logged into the facebook app and let it sync contacts. I recommend going directly to your Google Contacts and doing a bit of organizing and cleaning. Once you have that cleaned up it will hopefully not mis-link your contacts again, even when you log into facebook or something like that.

h0phead said:
This is definitely the best advice. I had this problem when I got the original Evo which was running Sense. Your phone might be trying to link similar contacts as well as facebook contacts if you've logged into the facebook app and let it sync contacts. I recommend going directly to your Google Contacts and doing a bit of organizing and cleaning. Once you have that cleaned up it will hopefully not mis-link your contacts again, even when you log into facebook or something like that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right. I did that when I first got my phone. I named all my contacts properly (First name, Last name) so the Sense Facebook sync linked my Facebook contacts correctly. If you want to keep nicknames rather than formal names, then adding all your contacts' email addresses from Facebook will also link them correctly regardless of name. Even if your email addresses and contact names don't match with Facebook, you have an option of manually going through all your contacts and linking them (in HTC Sense). You'll only need to do that once as Sense stores an '< HTCdata >' tag in the 'Notes' field of each contact indicating which Facebook contact it is linked to, so any future sync will immediately link the contacts based on this tag. The best Facebook sync app for AOSP ROMs, HaxSync, also makes use of these tags.
Organizing your Google contacts just once in your life goes a long way.
Sent from my Desire HD using xda premium

[App] Google Talk requires root

Hangouts doesn't show online/offline/busy statuses, and I use Google Talk for chatting, so Hangouts is fairly useless to me. I rooted, used Titanium Backup to uninstall Hangouts, and installed the attached APK. I imagine if you allow it to update, you'll end up with Hangouts again, so don't allow it to update.

patrickoneal said:
Hangouts doesn't show online/offline/busy statuses, and I use Google Talk for chatting, so Hangouts is fairly useless to me. I rooted, used Titanium Backup to uninstall Hangouts, and installed the attached APK. I imagine if you allow it to update, you'll end up with Hangouts again, so don't allow it to update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do realise that this will stop working shortly. They were only keeping the old talk api's onl;inme for a few months. Hangouts does show who is online and offline btw. The icon is greyd out if offline, not if online, simples.

IIIIkoolaidIIII said:
You do realise that this will stop working shortly. They were only keeping the old talk api's onl;inme for a few months. Hangouts does show who is online and offline btw. The icon is greyd out if offline, not if online, simples.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes but it isn't sorted, it should be sorted by online/offline of friends who you've actually chatted with THEN everyone else. Hangouts doesn't do that and is inferior hence why most of us are hanging on to gtalk. I'll probably just switch full time to trillian if they don't sort out the sorting issue on Hangouts.
Sent from my VS980 4G using xda app-developers app

Ok, get your point, though it's not really a big issue. You do realise that trillian will stop working the same time as G talk does as they will close of the protocol it uses.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

IIIIkoolaidIIII said:
You do realise that this will stop working shortly. They were only keeping the old talk api's onl;inme for a few months. Hangouts does show who is online and offline btw. The icon is greyd out if offline, not if online, simples.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the heads up, I was unaware of that. I'll continue using it until it stops working, I'm sure others prefer it as well.

patrickoneal said:
Hangouts doesn't show online/offline/busy statuses, and I use Google Talk for chatting, so Hangouts is fairly useless to me. I rooted, used Titanium Backup to uninstall Hangouts, and installed the attached APK. I imagine if you allow it to update, you'll end up with Hangouts again, so don't allow it to update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was also disappointed about not seeing the status when I switched to Hangouts. Apparently, so were many people and Google definitely got the message. It looks like the new Hangouts brought back (or is bringing back) the feature, though I haven't checked it out yet.
http://thenextweb.com/google/2013/0...ntact-categories-and-option-to-hide-contacts/

Watch out
patrickoneal said:
Thanks for the heads up, I was unaware of that. I'll continue using it until it stops working, I'm sure others prefer it as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By the way, there are very recent reports (within the last day) of a problem using the old Google Talk. Supposedly, it has been resolved, but the issue was basically that it may have been sending messages to the wrong recipient. (Yup, that's a bad one.)
So, "...it appears to largely affect Google Talk users who have not yet upgraded to Google’s new Hangouts service."
http://rootzwiki.com/news/google-talk-comes-back-vengeance-misdirects-hangouts-messages/

So i created a backup of hangouts, then uninstalled through titanium back-up and then installed your APK however it wouldn't show up in my app drawer anymore. Is there a reason for that?

[Q] Gmail does not display full message

Evening all
Have just got a Smartwatch 2 and although I'm loving certain things about it, there are a few things that are proving to be frustrating.
I have paired mine with my Galaxy S4 and sadly the stock email app is not supported on the device. So I migrated my Hotmail account into Gmail (which is supported) but having done so, I can only see the first line or two of any email message. This is the case in both alerts and when I try to read the message.
I've tried K-9 but don't like the look of it on either my phone or the watch, so ideally I'd like to stick with the Gmail app if I can get it working properly.
Anyone else had this issue or know of a fix?
Cheers

tjjpowles said:
Evening all
Have just got a Smartwatch 2 and although I'm loving certain things about it, there are a few things that are proving to be frustrating.
I have paired mine with my Galaxy S4 and sadly the stock email app is not supported on the device. So I migrated my Hotmail account into Gmail (which is supported) but having done so, I can only see the first line or two of any email message. This is the case in both alerts and when I try to read the message.
I've tried K-9 but don't like the look of it on either my phone or the watch, so ideally I'd like to stick with the Gmail app if I can get it working properly.
Anyone else had this issue or know of a fix?
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not wanting to bump my own thread, but could anyone let me know if this is a common problem or just limited to me (and some reviewer who mentioned the same problem)?
Thanks

Try Watchit
tjjpowles said:
Not wanting to bump my own thread, but could anyone let me know if this is a common problem or just limited to me (and some reviewer who mentioned the same problem)?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's the same for me with my Samsung Galaxy S2. However, via the app WATCHIT, I can read the whole text of the email. Watchit is supposed to only give the notification but it actually puts the whole text, while the specific app of gmail only shows 2 lines...
I am about to uninstall the Gmail App

Can tell me everyone what is the difference between 'toasts' and 'notifications' in the App WatchIt!? Sorry, I'm German and don't know what toasts in this way means. Thanks.
sblock.de - Galaxy Note 2 & 10.1 - Tapatalk 4

tjjpowles said:
Evening all
Have just got a Smartwatch 2 and although I'm loving certain things about it, there are a few things that are proving to be frustrating.
I have paired mine with my Galaxy S4 and sadly the stock email app is not supported on the device. So I migrated my Hotmail account into Gmail (which is supported) but having done so, I can only see the first line or two of any email message. This is the case in both alerts and when I try to read the message.
I've tried K-9 but don't like the look of it on either my phone or the watch, so ideally I'd like to stick with the Gmail app if I can get it working properly.
Anyone else had this issue or know of a fix?
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, same for me with a Nexus 4.

gargamel26l said:
It's the same for me with my Samsung Galaxy S2. However, via the app WATCHIT, I can read the whole text of the email. Watchit is supposed to only give the notification but it actually puts the whole text, while the specific app of gmail only shows 2 lines...
I am about to uninstall the Gmail App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great tip, thanks for this!
Watchit now installed, Gmail uninstalled and I can now see the full message. Bizarre that this needs to be done but it works!

The gmail app is only supposed to give you the first few lines of the email. It has always been like this - even on the previous smart watches.
Watchit will give you the full email but there is a limitation. If you do not read that email on your phone before getting a second email, you will not get the full email on your watch. Watchit appears to give the same text as what appears in the notification bar on your phone. Receiving more than 1 gmail without clearing the notification will result in watchit not providing the full email to your watch as the information is not available to watchit.

Notifications appear in your notification bar on the phone, meanwhile toasts are those little messages that appear at the bottom of your phone on top of everything and disappear quickly

gargamel26l said:
It's the same for me with my Samsung Galaxy S2. However, via the app WATCHIT, I can read the whole text of the email. Watchit is supposed to only give the notification but it actually puts the whole text, while the specific app of gmail only shows 2 lines...
I am about to uninstall the Gmail App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi gargamel26l
Do you have problem on your hp when you activate accessibility to use WatchIt? Whenever I activate accessibility, all video will be very laggy. Any idea how to go about this. Thanks.