April, 2009 - Archive

How to change fonts in Android?

This HOWTO talks about how to change the default fonts in Android mobile. The system fonts are available in /system/fonts directory. DroidSans.ttf is the main font used in most of the applications. Overwriting the fonts in this directory with your fonts will change the fonts in the Android mobile. This involves two steps. One is to get the /system/fonts directory in read-write mode and another one is transferring your fonts to /system/fonts directory. 1. Make /system/fonts with read-write pe...

Tamil Font support in Android?

What about the Tamil font support in Android? I just analyzed the stuff behind this. Tamil like any indic language needs complex script support, which is most important for complex characters in indian languages. This is provided by Pango library in linux systems. Most of the latest Linux desktop/server has Pango library installed by default. Android is NOT. I just tried installing a tamil font in Android and confirmed this. Though the tamil characters are visibile to some extent, most of ...

Mounting /system partition in read-write mode in Android

Any hacker needs full access to the system files to play with the system. Andoid /system partition is read-only by default. Here is an HOWTO to mount it in read-write mode. It is assumed that you have installed android SDK in your workstation. We use adb tool in tools directory of SDK. 1. Identifying the /system partition device file: Follow the sample session. C:\android-sdk-windows-1.1_r1\tools>adb shell $ su # mount rootfs / rootfs ro 0 0 tmpfs /dev tmpfs rw,mode=755 0 0 devpt...

Google Android Screenshots

Here is the screenshot of Google Android mobile applications for your viewing pleasure.How idd I take screenshot in Mobile? It is simple, man. I had connected the mobile to my development system Ubuntu through USB cable. From Eclipse with Android plugin, it was able to detect my mobile. There was an option just above the device name in the Android view. Just clicked it to take screenshot.

My shiny new Google Android Dev Phone 1

Today, I have got my Google Android Dev Phone 1. It is powered by Google Android Operating system which is an open source OS. This phone is SIM unlocked and boot loader unlocked. This version of phone is meant for developers to play with the real device. For more information on phone you may please visit this site. I am living in India. Right now I am in San Jose, USA on a official work. Since shipping cost is too high to order this mobile from India, I ordered here in USA to save this cost. ...