Android Stuff

A simple App to backup and restore Call Logs, useful when doing a factory reset or installing custom ROMs. The backup is stored in /sdcard/CallLogBackupRestore folder.

This App is a must if you need to keep a history of all the calls you’ve made from or received on the phone since Android only keeps a history of the 500 latest calls and any calls older than that are automatically deleted from the phone.

Please report any problems you are having with the App here in the comments section or email me with the details as I cannot respond to problems in the Android Market. My email address is on the market.

Features:

• Backup Call Logs / History in XML format.
  • Choose a scheduled time to automatically backup everyday.
  • Choose the name of the file to backup to.
  • Option to add and XSL style sheet to the XML file, so that the file can be opened with a browser for viewing easily.  Click here to download a sample XSL Stylesheet for Call Logs. Copy it in the same folder as the Backup XML file and then open the XML file in a browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox.
  • Option to add the date in readable format.
  • Backup format is independent of the Android version so the calls can be easily moved from one phone to another, irrespective of which version of Android it has. Tested with 1.5, 1.6, 2.01, 2.1.
• Restore Call Logs
  • Option to select the backup file to be restored from the folder.
• Delete all Call Logs on the Phone.
• Email a backup file.
• Delete existing backup files.
  • Option to delete old files automatically after specified number of days.

Download:

This app can be downloaded from the Android Market, search for it or scan this QR code with a Barcode Scanner app:

User Interface:

The screen has 5 buttons:

• Backup Call Logs: Backup all the Call logs on the phone to the xml file.
• Restore Call Logs: Reads the xml file and creates a new Call log for every entry found in the file. Duplicates are checked based on number, duration and date/time of the call.
• Delete Backup Files: Allows selection of backup files to be deleted.
• Delete Call Logs: Deletes all the Call logs on the phone, so that a Restore can be performed.
• Donate: If you wish to donate for the App via PayPal.

Menu Options:

• Help: Help information about the App.
• Preferences: Opens the Preferences Screen.
• Send by Email: Allows you to send the backup file by Email.

Preferences:

• Use Scheduled Backups: If automatic backups should be performed everyday.
• Time of Backup: When performing automatic backups, at what time should the backups be performed.
• Days to Keep Old Backups: When performing automatic backups, backup files older than these many days will be deleted after the backup is performed. To keep an older file rename it so that the file name starts with _ (underscore).
• Disable Vibration: Disables the vibration on completion of an operation.
• Add Readable Date: Add the date in human readable format.
• Add XSL Tag: Add Xsl tag to view backup file in browser. Click here to download a sample XSL File. Copy it in the same folder as the Backup XML file and then open the XML file in a browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox.
• Add Contact Names: Add the name of the contact to the backup file.
• Filename Date Format: The format for the auto generated file name.
• Enable Logging: For troubleshooting purposes, logs any errors encountered to the system log.
• Do not show Ads: Removes the Ads from the App.

Known Problems / Issues:

• If you are running any “Task Killer” app that kills apps on a schedule (like Advanced Task Manager), make sure that you exclude SMS Backup & Restore from it, otherwise the Scheduled Backups may not work properly. This App displays a notification every time it backs up with the details of the backup, make sure you are getting those notifications.
• Android only keeps a log of last 500 calls and the app can only backup the calls which are in those logs. If you have configured the app to automatically delete the backups after a few days then you’ll loose that call history.

Change Log:

v1.6:

• Added preference to backup Contact Names as well.

v1.5:

• Scheduled Backups.

v1.4:

• Added Scheduled Backups (experimental).
• Added Preference screen.
• Fixed rotation bug.
• Lots more

v1.3:

• Added button to facilitate selection of files to be deleted.

v1.2:

• Fix for the wrong month in the auto-generated file name.

v1.1:

• Support for multiple backup files:
  • Backup asks to input a file name.
  • Restore asks to select a file.
• Added Menu option to send the Backup file by Email.
• Added prompt during restore to confirm if duplicates should be checked.
• Faster restore when not checking for duplicates.
• Backup xml is now properly indented.
• Now does not ask to delete (and does not delete) calls before restore.

v1.0:

• Added warning before overwriting existing backup file.
• Minor bug fixes when writing the file.
• Now Ad supported.

v0.1:

• Initial release.

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APN Backup & Restore is a simple App to backup and restore APNs. The backup is stored in the /sdcard/APNBackupRestore/ folder.

Please report any problems you are having with the App here in the comments section or email me with the details as I cannot respond to problems in the Android Market. My email address is on the market.

The screen has 4 buttons:

• Backup APNs: Backup all the APNs defined on the phone to the xml file.
• Restore APNs: Reads the xml file and creates a new APN for every entry found in the file.
• Delete Backup Files: Allows selection of old backup files to be deleted.
• Delete APNs: Deletes all the APNs defined on the phone, so that a Restore can be performed.

Menu Options:

• Help: Help information about the App.
• Send by Email: Allows you to send the backup file by Email.
• Donate: If you wish to donate for the App via PayPal.
• Enable Logging: For troubleshooting purposes, logs any errors encountered to the system log.

MMSProtocol: It seems its an optional setting, the G1 doesnt even have the setting for it in the APN screen. By default the value for this setting does not appear in the backup xml because “WAP2.0″ gets displayed even if nothing is selected in the APN Setting screen. If you go into the details and explicitly select a value then it will be correctly backed up and restored.

NOTE: If you have deleted all the APNs by mistake and want to go back to the defaults then you can always do so by going to Settings -> Wireless Controls -> Mobile Network Settings -> Access Point Names, then press the Menu button and select “Reset to default”.

Backup format is independent of the Android version so the messages can be easily moved from one phone to another, irrespective of which version of Android it has. Tested with 1.5, 1.6, 2.01, 2.1.

Change Log:
v1.5:

• Fixed bug with Send by Email.

v1.4:

• Support for multiple backup files:
  • Backup asks to input a file name.
  • Restore asks to select a file.
• Button to facilitate selection of files to be deleted.

v1.3:

• Backup xml is now properly indented.
• Option to send backup file by email.

v1.1:

• Minor bug fixes, now handles missing SD Card while backing up.
• Now Ad supported.

v1.0:

• Now handles invalid APN settings (missing MCC & MNC) in some custom ROMs (CyanogenMod, MyHero etc)
• Added menu option to enable/disable Logging.
• Added button to donate via PayPal.
  

v0.4

• Now asks to delete existing APNs before restore.
• Checks for duplicates and overwrites any existing APNs based on Name, MCC and MNC
  

v0.3

• Now handles the missing mmsprotocol setting on the G1.
  

v0.2

• Changed the xml tags a bit, not compatible with the previous version.
• Better handling of null values.

v0.1

• Initial release.

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A simple App to backup and restore SMS Messages, useful when doing a factory reset or installing custom ROMs. The backup is stored in /sdcard/SMSBackupRestore folder.

Features:

• Backup SMS Messages in XML format.
  • Choose a scheduled time to automatically backup everyday.
  • Choose the name of the file to backup to.
  • Option to add and XSL style sheet to the XML file, so that the file can be opened with a browser for viewing easily. Click here to download a sample XSL File. Copy it in the same folder as the Backup XML file and then open the XML file in a browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox.
  • Option to add the date in readable format.
  • Backup format is independent of the Android version so the messages can be easily moved from one phone to another, irrespective of which version of Android it has. Tested with 1.5, 1.6, 2.01, 2.1.
• Option to choose the format for the auto-generated file name.
• Restore SMS Messages.
  • Option to select the backup file to be restored from the folder.
• View Messages in the backup files.
• Delete all SMS Messages on the Phone.
• Email a backup file.
• Delete existing backup files.
  • Option to delete old files automatically after specified number of days.
• Import SMS Messages from Windows Mobile.
• Import SMS Messages from Nokia.
• Import SMS Messages from Sony Ericsson.
• The backup files can also be viewed on the computer and edited using MS Excel.

Please report any problems you are having with the App here in the comments section or email me with the details as I cannot respond to problems in the Android Market. My email address is on the market.

Answers to some Frequently Asked Questions can be found here.

Download:

It can be downloaded from the Android Market, search for it or scan this QR Code with barcode scanner:

Click here to view on Cyrket

Click here to view on AppBrain.com

Click here to download from SlideMe.org

The screen has 6 buttons:

• Backup SMS Messages: Backup all the messages on the phone to the xml file. Existing file is overwritten.
• Restore SMS Messages: Reads the xml file and creates a new message for every entry found in the file.
• View SMS Messages: View the SMS Messages in the Backup files.
• Delete Backup Files: Allows selection of backup files to be deleted.
• Delete SMS Messages: Deletes all the messages on the phone, so that a Restore can be performed.
• Donate: If you wish to donate for the App via PayPal.

Menu Options:

• Help: Help information about the App.
• Preferences: Opens the Preferences Screen.
• Send by Email: Allows you to send the backup file by Email.

Preferences:

• Use Scheduled Backups: If automatic backups should be performed everyday.
• Time of Backup: When performing automatic backups, at what time should the backups be performed.
• Days to Keep Old Backups: When performing automatic backups, backup files older than these many days will be deleted after the backup is performed. To keep an older file rename it so that the file name starts with _ (underscore).
• Disable Vibration: Disables the vibration on completion of an operation.
• Add Readable Date: Add the date in human readable format.
• Add XSL Tag: Add Xsl tag to view backup file in browser. Click here to download a sample XSL File. Copy it in the same folder as the Backup XML file and then open the XML file in a browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox.
• Add Contact Names: Adds the name of the contact to the backup.
• Enable Logging: For troubleshooting purposes, logs any errors encountered to the system log.
• Do not show Ads: Removes the Ads displayed in the App. Needs restart of the App to take effect.
• I have Donated!: Stops the reminder about donating.

Known Problems / Issues:

Fields in the XML File
A lot of people have been asking me about the details of the fields used by the application. Here is some description of the fields:

• protocol – Protocol used by the message, its mostly 0 in case of SMS messages.
• address – The phone number of the sender/recipient.
• date – The Java date representation (including millisecond) of the time when the message was sent/received. Check out www.epochconverter.com for information on how to do the conversion from other languages to Java.
• type – Sent = 2, Received = 1.
• subject – Subject of the message, its always null in case of SMS messages.
• body – The content of the message.
• toa – n/a, default to null.
• sc_toa – n/a, default to null.
• service_center – The service center for the received message, null in case of sent messages.
• read – Read Message = 1, Unread Message = 0.
• status – Always -1.
• readable_date – Optional field that has the date in a human readable format.
• contact_name – Optional field that has the name of the contact.

All the field values are read as is from the underlying database and no conversion is done by the app. As you can see there are some fields which are not used and probably can be removed but I have kept them for compatibility reasons.

Change Log

v3.4:

• Fixed the Illegal character problem on Android 2.2.
  Thanks to Juan and Justin for logs and testing.

v3.3:

• Attempt at fixing the Illegal character problem on Android 2.2

v3.1:

• Updated to Android 2.2 SDK.
• Minor Bug fixes.

v3.0:

• Added Progress Bar to be displayed during Backup and Restore.
• Updated the contact list in the message viewer.

v2.9:

• Added a basic message viewer.

v2.8:

• Bug fix for blank numbers in SMS resulting in error when retrieving names.

v2.7:

• Bug fix for Scheduled Backup resulting in Force Close in some cases.

v2.6:

• Fixed a bug where the Restore would fail in some cases.

v2.5:

• Added preference to Add the Contact Name to the backup.

v2.4:

• Removed the Location permission requirement.
• Updated the Admob Library.
• Added tags specifying that low resolution phones are supported.

v2.3:

• Fixed the option to choose the file name format.

v2.2:

• Ads are back, with option to remove them
• Scheduled Backups
• Better handling of screen rotation

v2.1:

• New (and hopefully better looking) Icons.

v2.0:

• Scheduled Backups – Experimental till March 31 – Use at your own risk!
• Fixed an Xml parsing error which resulted in “PI must not start with xml” error message.

v1.9:

• Removed the Ads.
• Added a BIG Donate button .

v1.8:

• Added Preferences Screen with:
  • Option to disable Vibration.
  • Option to add Readable Date in the backup XML.
  • Option to add the XSL stylesheet in the backup XML.

v1.7:

• Fixed a bug where restoring more than 1000 messages did not work properly.
• Added a partial wake lock so the backup/restore/delete operation continues even if the phone goes to sleep.
• Now vibrates after a backup/restore/delete operation is finished.

v1.6:

• Fixed the bug where the selection of file during restore did not work properly and resulted in an error. Thanks Shawn for pointing this out.

v1.5:

• Added button to facilitate selection of files to be deleted.

v1.4:

• Fix for the wrong time stamp in the message threads after the restore.

v1.3:

• Fix for the wrong month in the auto-generated file name.

v1.2:

• Support for multiple backup files:
  • Backup asks to input a file name.
  • Restore asks to select a file.

v1.1:

• Added Menu option to send the Backup file by Email.
  

v1.0:

• Better handling of special characters in messages.
• Added prompt during restore to confirm if duplicates should be checked.
• Faster restore when not checking for duplicates.
• Backup xml is now properly indented.

v0.3 BETA:

• Now does not ask to delete (and does not delete) messages before restore.

v0.2 BETA:

• Fix for the duplicate check during restore.

v0.1 BETA:

• Initial Release.

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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.

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.

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:

To download the app from the market either scan this barcode using the Barcode Scanner or search for “Stop 3 Data Roaming” in the market. This app is not visible in Android app sites because they list apps available in US while Stop 3 Data Roaming is only available for users in Australia.

It can also be downloaded directly by clicking here.

Change Log:

1.2

• Another fix for ‘vodafone AU’.

1.1

• 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

• 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

• Minor changes to the notifications displayed.
  

1.0.3

• 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

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

1.0.1

• 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

• 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.

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An App to get better control over which network operator is used for data. Useful when you roam into other networks and get charged for using data. This is a sort of generic version of “Stop 3 Data Roaming”.

This App runs as a service to monitor the current network operator and changes the APNs if the phone goes into a network which is not allowed, hence making the phone unable to access data (due to invalid APN settings). When it detects that the phone is back on the allowed network, it’ll switch the data back on.

Most users do not need this app and its only needed for some network operators where the phones can automatically connect to other networks but get charged for using data.

NOTE: Uninstall with internet access enabled, otherwise you’ll be offline, needing to change APNs manually.
This app is currently in beta and you may get undesired results.

To use it, download and install it on your Android phone. When you run it it’ll show you a screen which has 5 buttons and 2 checkboxes:

• Start Service – Starts the service which monitors the network and changes the APNs.
• Stop Service – Stops the service if its running.
• Refresh View – Refreshes the display which has information about the current operator, status of the service and data.
• Allowed Operator – Specifies the operator for which should be allowed. Use the Change button to change the operator.
• Auto Start Service on Phone Restart – Specifies if you want the service to start automatically on phone restart.
• Display Notifications – Specifies if you want to receive notifications when the service disables the data access on roaming.
• Donate – Opens a webpage if you wish to donate via Paypal.

So, to get started:

• Click on the Change button and enter the operator name that should be allowed. Your current operator is pre-populated if that’s what you want to use. Once entered this value is saved untill you decide to change again.
• If you want the app to generate a notification every time it starts/stops data usage then check the checkbox for “Display Notifications”.
• If you want the service to start automatically when the phone gets restarted then check the checkbox for “Auto Start Service on Phone Restart”.
• Click on the “Start Service” to start the service that monitors the network operator. 

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