Android Stuff

Although the files created by SMS Backup & Restore and Call Logs Backup & Restore are XML files, they can be easily viewed in any Web browser (like Internet Explorer or Firefox) and can also be opened in MS Excel.

There are multiple ways to view the files:

• Use a Backup Reader
• Open it in a Web Browser
• Open it in MS Excel.

Use a Backup Reader (Only for SMS at this stage)

Matt at XtNetworks is working on a Java based Viewer for the backup files which is probably the easiest way to view the files on a computer. The program now works with displaying threaded conversations on
Windows, OSX, and Linux and it can also export messages to text files. More information is available at his site: http://devadvance.com/sms-backup-reader/

View the backup data using a Web Browser:

To be able to view  the files on a computer, the first thing to do is to make sure that the preferences for “Add XSL Tag” and “Add Readable Date” in the Preferences of the app are checked before taking a backup.

• Copy the backup file to a folder on the computer.
• For SMS Backup & Restore:
  • Copy the sms.xsl file to the same folder. (This file can be found in the same folder where the backup file was created by the app).
• For Call Logs Backup & Restore:
  • Download (right click on the link and select “Save Target As” or “Save Link As” or equivalent on your browser) Calls.xsl (for Call Logs Backup & Restore) file and store it in the same folder as the xml file.
• Open the xml file in the browser. The browser will now display it in a friendly HTML format.

 

Threaded view for SMS Messages:

BlueChip has put together a nice stylesheet to display the SMS Messages in a threaded view. Currently it only works on Opera and Mozilla Firefox.

• Make sure that the preferences for “Add XSL Tag” and “Add Readable Date” in the Preferences of the app are checked before taking a backup.
• Copy the backup file to a folder on the computer.
• Click here to download the ZIP file containing the scripts and style sheets required.
• Once downloaded, extract the files from the ZIP file into the same folder as the backup XML file.
• Open the XML file in the browser. The browser will now display it in a friendly HTML format with a threaded view.
• You can also change the style/theme by changing the option in the drop down.

View/Edit messages using MS Excel:

MS Excel can also be used to edit these files if you are not comfortable in editing them in a text editor. Here are the steps involved to do that:

• Open Excel and select File -> Open and then select XML Files (*.xml) in the file type dropdown.
  
• Press OK.
  
• Press OK.
  
• To view the date in a human understandable format, enter the following value in a new column and then copy it to all the rows:
  =([@date]/86400000)+25569
  
• Format the new column as a date/time.
  
• Done.
  

Most users of the 3 Mobile service in Australia who use the data services would know that if the phone starts Roaming on the Telstra network and you use the data then you get charged 50c/mb for the data and its not covered in the cap allowance.

There is a setting in the Android phones to Disable the data usage while the phone is roaming but due to the way 3 have implemented the “Roaming” arrangement with Telstra, the phone actually does not detect that its “Roaming” and hence keeps using the data.

If your phone has some apps running which are using data in the background or for instance you are listening to streaming radio or watching youtube videos, you would not know if the phone has gone into roaming and it can result in potentially hefty roaming charges in your next bill.

This App runs as a service to monitor the current network operator and changes the APNs if the phone goes into Roaming, hence making the phone unable to access data (due to invalid APN settings). When it detects that the phone is back on 3, it’ll switch the data back on. It also displays a notification icon after it toggles the data access to make it easy for the user to identify if the phone is roaming or not.

Recently 3 has started merging with the Vodafone 2G network so 3 users can now roam to Vodafone 2G without being charged for data access. This access is not allowed everywhere but has more coverage area compared to 3′s network. 3 has sent over-the-air updates to their sim cards so now most phone will not see ‘vodafone AU’ as a separate network in the list of networks but will appear as just ’3′ or ’3 2G’, although it may not work on all phones and you may still see vodafone in the list. You may also need to enable the option to allow Roaming Data to use it as most phones seem to think that they are actually Roaming. This app now supports the phone connecting to the vodafone network and also has an option to disable it just in case.

NOTE: Uninstall with internet access enabled, otherwise you’ll be offline, needing to change APNs manually.

Android 4/Ice Cream Sandwich: Ice Cream Sandwich disabled 3rd Party app access to write/change APN settings, so this app won’t work any more.

 

To use it, download and install it on your Android phone. When you run it it’ll show you a screen which has 4 buttons:

• Start Service – Starts the service which monitors the network and changes the APNs.
• Stop Service – Stops the service if its running.
• Refresh Status- Refreshes the display which has information about the current operator, status of the service and data.
• Donate – If you wish to donate via PayPal.

Menu:

• Help – Displays Help.
• Preferences – Opens Preferences Screen.
• APN List – Displays current APN List.

So, to get started, Click on the “Start Service” to start the service that monitors the network operator.

Download:

Android app sites because they list apps available in US while Stop 3 Data Roaming is only available for users in Australia.

 

How to identify which network is the phone connected to?

Connected to 3 (3G or HSDPA) – No extra charges

 

Stop 3 Data Roaming’s notification icon displaying that the phone is connected to 3.

 

 

Connected to Vodafone 2G (GPRS or EDGE) – No extra charges

 

Stop 3 Data Roaming’s notification icon displaying that the phone is connected to 3.

Connected to Roaming (Telstra) – Extra charges for Data Access

Stop 3 Data Roaming’s notification icon displaying that the phone is connected to Roaming.

 

Change Log:

1.2 (10/04/2010)

• Another fix for ‘vodafone AU’.

1.1 (08/04/2010)

• Now allows data if the network appears as ‘Vodafone AU’.
• Added a Preferences screen.
• Changed the way preferences are stored.
• Changed the Layout.

1.0.5 (04/01/2010)

• Fixed a bug where stopping the service while Roaming would result in a misleading notification that the phone is not roaming anymore.
• Added the option to not disable MMS APNs.

1.0.4 (27/09/2009)

• Minor changes to the notifications displayed.
  

1.0.3 (13/09/2009)

• Now tries to recover if the service crashes for some reason.
  If you’ve had problems with the service crashing earlier then make sure you keep the Logging enabled in the app. If the service recovers from a crash, it will display a notification requesting you to send the log immediately, resulting in more information about the circumstances in which it crashed.
• Added a Donate button if you wish to donate via Paypal

1.0.2 (07/09/2009)

• Fixed a bug where the app could crash if the phone was started while in a Roaming area.

1.0.1 (17/08/2009)

• Fix for a problem where the app may crash if there were too many APNs defined on the phone. More of a problem in rooted ROMs which have APNs defined for a lot of operators/countries. These APNs are not visible in the list of APNs on the phone as they are not applicable for the current SIM operator. The list of APNs in the app (Menu -> More -> APN List) would show the list of APNs it would update.
  

1.0 (04/08/2009)

• Added Icons for the App for the Launcher, and for the Notifications.
• Added a menu for the App.
• Added Help Screen (Menu -> Help)
• Moved the APN List to a menu (Menu -> More -> APN List)
• Added option to turn logging on/off (Menu -> More -> Enable/Disable Logging)
• Added menu to quit from the Activity screen.
• Starting the service now checks the operator immediately and disables data access if needed.