Android Google Play Download Error (911)

2014-03-04: After my phone bounced a number of times on the blacktop I got out an old one that wasn't being used. Turns out it was the one I used to write this post. It was a good opportunity to see if there still was a problem with downloading large games from Google Play. Had heard rumors that it had been fixed in a newer version but to my surprise I had NO ISSUE installing Defense Zone. I had noticed that they had reworked their program a little too and now used Google Game. May need to update my post on Google Play Movies too:-)

Wow!!! I finally got a phone with some great specs and to go along with it a huge and  fast SD card to hold anything I want. My first ever Android ran out of memory but not this one - a 16GB class 10 card should do the trick.
First test was with movies - my favorite app for this is MX  Player by J2 INTERACTIVE.  It supports hardware accelerated graphics too and I've used it more than a few times while deployed in Afghanistan but the real reason was for games.
Gaming on Android is in its infancy and my taste for games is very narrow. I've had only a few games on all my previous phones,  solitaire and a drag racing game that I play sparingly but with my new phone,  I was in search of something that would tax my new hardware.
Oh my - I found it on Google Play, Defense Zone HD by ARTEM KOTOV. Like alot of the programs, there was a free demo version so it founds it's way onto my phone. The graphics are great and the game play - well it satisfies my desire for stratigic analysis. Played the demo over and over until I finally decided to buy it.
My purchases on Play are few -  I only purchased one other program called SwiftKey Keyboard by SwiftKey. They nabbed me in the same way, free demo and an awesome program. After I woreout the free levels on the hardest setting I decided to buy it - no easy task for me but I had to have it. As I anticipated playing my new game and watching the progress bar, my excitement soon turned to frustration - what the @&#+!
At the end of the download - after reaching 100% there it was AN ERROR - "Defense Zone HD could not be downloaded due to an error. (911)." I was in disbelief and tried two or three more times with the same results. Google Play support however is alive and well, they credited my account but the only explanation was - not a certified phone. I was very disappointed but once the initial shock wore off I used my uncertified Android phone with official Google search to look for an uncertified fix.
Took a while but finally found a reference for a similar problem on a custom Android ROM. There are many download errors but I was looking for (911) and this was a numerical match. The article indicated a Google Play problem with all programs over 50mb so I tested this theory. It was TRUE, at least with my uncertified Android phone but I wasn't buying it. My uncertified phone has two SD cards that seems to give most programs problems.
Could I fix my uncertified phone simply by changing some settings? My Neobox Tuna 2 runs Android 4.0.3 but under the settings menu is a selection for storage. Not sure about all Android phones but mine shows two SD cards but with only one slot. My guess is that the internal memory uses an inaccessible SD card slot for reduced cost but it seems to give some programs problems.  Other programs however read both with no problem and work as they should,  my immediate thought was a program issue that I could fix using the storage setting options on my phone.
The demo game I liked so well was under 50mb while the paid program was over so I had to find a demo over 50mb to test my theory. There are two settings for my phones storage that I thought would affect the download - one is the "preferred install location"  and the "default write disk". The preferred install has three choices: internal storage, sdcard,  or Let the system decide. Didn't even hesitate - selected internal storage. The default write disk has two choices,  sdcard and sdcard2. It's intuitive to think that the sdcard is the system card and from browsing it previously I knew this to be true - select. All I needed to do now was to find a demo - found it.
Defense Zone HD was created using a platform called Unity - Google found the website and I had a prospect: Shadowgun By MADFINGER Games. Found it quickly on Google Play and it downloaded NO PROBLEM. Opened it up and played it - NO PROBLEM. Couldn't believe it could be that easy so I un installed it,  changed the settings back and tried it again. There it was - the error, changed settings to internal and sdcard - installed. It seems like the Google Play 50mb download limit issue is actually an internal system issue. Even after all this I hesitated to download the game I actually wanted.
Thought about reasons why it wouldn't work for a couple of days. Played the demo as I thought about it until I wore out and mastered the levels. Kinda gave me a reason to try out my easy solution. Even after poking holes in my system settings experiment I still had doubts but they were only uneasy feelings. Defense Zone HD downloaded flawlessly on the internal sdcard settings and I'm still entertained.

New Android phone transfer exchange - backup and restore.

I liked my Neobox Tuna Android 4.0.3 phone so much that when the new model came out, with a dual processor and 4.0.4 OS,  I figured out a way to justify the purchase. After all,  I just had to have it. Those cheap, open root phones from Hong Kong are cadget heaven and satisfy my need to tinker. They are more like a tiny computer than a phone.

After fixing a small issue with the G-Sensor,  I noticed how improved the phone was. I had planned to give the first phone to my girlfriend and use the second one but it's hard to start ALL OVER without a little apprehension. Since I had actually planned this little swap I started looking for tools that would make the transition easier.

I've always used a custom home screen launcher and the introduction of Android ICS coinsided with a new one on Google Play called Holo Launcher by MOBINT Software. It allows for customizing menu's and icons, that's a must for me - it also has a backup for the settings and desktop shortcuts. I also use a note program called ColorNote by NOTES and Bookmark Folders by DYNAMICG and both of these have backup solutions also so getting back up and running wasn't going to be too bad.

Initially I downloaded App Backup and Restore by INFOLIFE LLC,  it worked great. It backs up all your apps as they are installed. Restoring them was easy also - so I had my plan.  Backup everything to my SD card and then, after a factory reset of my new phone,  start reinstalling. Just one more thing before I start, look on Google Play one more time. I was glad I did.

Having a rooted phone is the way to go - there are just so many options. As I looked through all the choices I came across Titanium Backup * root by TITANIUM TRACK,  it seemed full featured and got good reviews so I downloaded it too. The reason I chose this program was that it promised to backup programs and all their data. It also indicated that system information would be backed up also. This all inclusive backup was what I wanted - after all I had a few games that I wanted to save my progress on.

Titanium Backup is a little intimidating - system warnings popped up continuously even after I set the usual debug and installation location settings. There is just an over abundance of options and menu's and I really only end up using a couple of the batch commands. It does try to get you to use a donate version and a pro version but I'm not sure what they do. My experience was simple, I set the settings on my phone based on the warnings and at the main screen labeled ALL,  I selected my phones menu button,  which brings up the Main Menu. Then selected the  Batch Actions - ALL  menu that has a number of command groups, I used one command under "Backup"  and one under "Restore".

The Batch Actions - ALL  menu lists the commands in groups and each command contains the number of affected items scanned and listed on the right. Since I wanted to move everything to my new phone I looked for the highest number located to the right of "Backup all user apps + system data". I then selected the "RUN"  button to the left. The program then began backing up all my data to the directory that I had set on my SD card.

I had done some practice runs on my new phone so I did a factory reset, transfered my sim cards and memory card to my new phone. Since I still had "Backup and Restore" program backups, I installed the Titanium APK file from its backup directory and launched the program. I insured the settings on my new one reflect the same settings as on my old phone then went back to the Batch Actions - ALL  menu. I went directly to the "Restore"  category and found the highest number again on the right - it was next to the "Restore all apps with data" selection. I chose the "RUN"  command and set back to wait.

Wow - it did not disappoint. Everything looked just like my old phone and worked just like my old phone. My games retained their levels and there was no setup to do on anything. The only thing that did not transfer were my VPN network selections - no big deal. Since I had so much time not spent on reinstalling all my apps and settings I downloaded Open VPN and setup all my servers. The most amazing thing - even my old wallpaper was there.  Titanium Backup is Awsomeness!!!!

TerraGo - secure when you need it.

TerraGo Awarded Patent for Automating Alignment of Vector Datasets and Imagery

Tried their products and liked their functionality - great static maps.

Peace Greeter's

"There was a time in history when our soldiers were not thanked." - VFW Leader

One of the stops on the way home from Afghanistan for R&R was a small airport in Portsmouth New Hampshire. As we walked off the plane, like we had done a couple of times,  was a hallway full of people forming a gauntlet of well wishers from the local community. I walked as always with the confidence of my military experience but this group knew what that meant.

It was small airport but it was packed full of people,  our plane had at least 200 people on it and it seemed that they matched us. Veterans from the local VFE and their families and a local church group with a good group of young children. Of all the people who have greeted me because of me being a soldier and a veterans, the ones I enjoy the most are veterans and children. Veterans because" they know" and children because of their innocent curiosity. The veterans were in front greeting us with a smile and strong handshake while the children were behind them with their hoops,  hollers, and low fives as we walked by.

Didn't know where we were, they told us our stops but I did not commit them to memory. However, now I was interested,  who were these people serving us pizza and snacks, treating returning soldiers with this much respect. They even knew how the Army had changed,  including the deployment of Army Civilians and asking us questions with genuine interest.

After milling around for a short time, eating pizza and chatting with a very young WWII veteran, who personally gave me a "star for our troop" (safe.mn/7fWc) ,  we then moved to a large hall were we lined up for pictures, speeches and singing from the children. The VFW leader spoke: we began doing this in 2005, when a planes with soldiers began departing our country,  we did not want soldiers to leave alone or arrive alone so we began meeting them to honor, respect,  and love them.

The VFW leader then handed the mike to the pastor who was there with the children's group. He said a prayer and then introduced the children,  the "Peace Greeter's". The name struck me so I committed it to memory. Turns out that Portsmouth New Hampshire was the home of the Portsmouth International Airport at Pease that use to be a combined military civilian Airforce Base before the base was closed. Pease Air Force Base was closed in the early 90's. The name play was intriguing to me when the greeter's were announced.

We were then told the plane was ready and that we had to leave.  It seemed too fast but the group of "Peace Greeter's"  were ready,  as we filed out the door we went through another gauntlet of well wishers - they gave us a plastic grocery bags and as we went by stations maned with who I speculate were the veterans wife's, they put gifts in them for our trip,  various candies and nicknames. The thing that touched me the most however was the flag star. On the back it reads: "I am part of our American flag that has flown over a home in the U.S.A. I can no longer fly. The sun and winds have caused me to become tattered and torn. Please carry me as a reminder that you are not forgotten." The entire experience was definitely "Good Stuff".

Geospatial News

Mapping technology driving India's economic growth | ZDNet: safe.mn/7ccT

Love seeing how Geospatial technology is making a difference. Although ESRI is an American company modern Geography is a European invention. My guess is this integration of geo capabilities is based on a European model of integration.

Calibrate accelerometer (G-Sensor) on Android 4.0.4

Received my second Neobox phone from a different Hong Kong vendor this time . Both were good deals with good specs when I bought them and both had the newest operating system at the time. However,  both had sensor issues that I found after  testing all their features. Could it be due to the long shipping distance and various mail sytems they traveled through?

My first phone,  a Neobox Tuna with Android 4.0.3, had an auto rotation problem caused by the accelerometer also. However,  after rapping hard on the back cover with my knuckle it began working and has ever since.  On my second phone I was not as lucky.

Just as the first, it's a Neobox Tuna also but with a duel core processor and Android 4.0.4. The auto rotation function was the first thing I checked and it worked erratic. I installed a  number of programs from Google Play to check the sensor and even tried a few that with a calibration option but nothing worked. It was very disappointing - these phones even have root access so fixing them is usually pretty easy.

Nothing! Couldn't find a fix but there were alot of people having the same problem. I then found a blog page describing a similar problem with an Android 2.2 device, he used a built in boot process called "FastBoot" but I kept looking anyway. I compared the sensor readings with my previous phone and it seemed to work fine but it needed calibrated.

I had to decide whether to keep it or send it back. It was a nice phone and the new version of Android had fixed alot of small issues. So I decided on a factory reset. The reset went through a nice setup process that I had never seen before that reminded me of a Windows process (rebuilt many a system), but it did not fix the problem. So I finally decided to try the "FastBoot".

Here is a description of the exact process I used to adjust the sensor:

1. Power down phone.
2. Hold volume down button down while turning power on.
3. Wait for black screen with light blue text with yellow text as highlight with blue background.
4. Screen title: Factory Mode with selections,  Full Test,  Item Test,  Test Report,  Clear eMMC, Version and Reboot.
5. Select Item Test using the volume up and down button then push the Home button.
6. There is a very long list of items: selected the G-Sensor Calibration > home button.
7. There are four items: Clear Calibration,  Do Calibration(20),  Do Calibration(40), and Exit.
8. Select Clear Calibration > Home button.
9. Lay on flat surface and do not touch while calibrating.
10. Select Do Calibration(20) > Home button.
11. Select Exit > Home button
12. No selection on this screen used Back Button.
13. Select Reboot > Home button.
14. This reboots back into regular interface and complete.
This calibrated the accelerometer and fixed the problem with the auto rotation. I was very happy because I did not have to return it and the auto rotation is such a great feature.