All Locked Up

Well, it happened on the iPhone 3G, the iPhone 3Gs, and the Samsung Infuse 4G I had for only 29 days. And this morning, yep you guessed it, a lock-up happened on my Samsung Galaxy S Captivate. I was browsing through my gallery of pictures on my phone and deleted photos that were already uploaded. The pictures began displaying and then... nothing. So, I waited, waited, 4 - 5 minutes later - nothing! I held in the Power Button for more than 5 seconds - nope.


Has your Android phone locked-up?


Fix: hold down the "Power Button" and the "Volume Up" button simultaneously for 5 seconds. This should turn off your Android OS, clear the locked application/process, restart your phone, and then relaunch the OS (operating system).  If lock-ups or crashes happen too often it could be a bad install of an app, malware (bad app again), and a poor OS installation.




http://www.samsunggalaxysforum.com/tutorials/how-what-where/msg3068/#msg3068

Customization of those four buttons

If you would prefer to use different buttons to other applications than phone, web, e-mail, and applications here is how to modify that original set:
1. click on the Applications button
2. click on the Menu button
3. View Type, and choose "Customizable Grid"
4. click on the Menu button again and choose "Edit"
5. Now, long-press any of those bottom four app shortcuts and drag them off the bar. Now you have an open slot for another of your favorite four. Okay, really, it is only your favorite three because, the "Applications" button is static. In the Firmware version I am using now, 2.3.3, there is not yet a way to take that button off the Main Menu.

MyBackup Root Application

July 1st, 2011 - another day in the life of owning an Android phone, and a good one! There is a new release for the Android OS 2.3.5 found on: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1127578
This adds the following new features:
Cognition 5 Beta 3 Changelog (6/29/2011)
FULL WIPE
Google Talk w/Audio & Video chat
Hacked Camera (Power Takes Picture, any battery level, thanks to rafalense)
Removed power options header

Cognition 5 Beta 2 Changelog (6/20/2011)
FULL WIPE
ClockworkMod Recovery v4.0.0.5
Rom Manager OTA Support (not in rom manager yet)
/sbin cleanup script (fixes busybox issues and some other crazy stuff)
SIP enabled (thanks to stangri for the tip!)
Remove boot sound (for real this time)
Remove AT&T boot animation (for real this time)
Remove shutdown sound (for real this time)


Step 1: Launch the "MyBackup Root" application on your phone
Step 2: click on the "Backup" button, and choose Applications & Media - wait for it to finish...
Step 3: click on the "Backup" button, and choose the "Data" options - wait for it to finish...
Step 4: connect your phone via USB to your favorite workstation or laptop and copy the "Cognition5-Beta3.zip" file to your phone's internal or external SD memory
Step 5: long press the Power Button and choose the "Recovery" option - your phone then boots into a quasi DOS screen with orange colored font...
Step 6: use volume keys to select "install zip from SD card"
Step 7: the new beta 3 installs on your Android mobile device! It took about 4 minutes to update
Step 8: go through the Menu options, back, back and choose "wipe data/factory reset" - then select "Yes - delete all user data"
 Note: this enabled the new update to function aright with your pre-installed and custom installed applications.
Step 9: [optional] wipe cache partition
Step 10: reboot system now


Restoration
Step A: skip the initial setup
Step B: click on the Market Icon
Step C:Sign into your Google account with your sweet Gmail account
Step D: browse the Android Market and re-download and install "MyBackup Root"
Step E: choose the restore option to re-install all of your backed up settings and applications