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Frequently Asked Questions
Problems Downloading Apps?
If you are experiencing problems downloading
apps from Google's Paid App Android Market system
please click this link for more
information and guidance.
Installation Problems?
If you are having trouble installing or getting one of our
apps to run, please follow these generic
trouble-shooting guidelines. They will resolve the problem 95% of the
time. If they don't please write to us.
SMSpeaker:
Comment: If you are having trouble installing or
getting SMSpeaker to run properly,
please follow these generic
trouble-shooting guidelines. They will resolve the problem 95% of the
time. If they don't please write to us.
Question: Why, when we try purchasing Android Market
applications, do we experience delays, timeouts and other problems which prevent
us from actually downloading and installing the software we just purchased? We
are then forced to cancel our orders and are not pleased about the situation.
Response: We, as well as many other Android
"Paid App" developers, are asking Google the same question. The
robustness, functionality and quality of their "Paid Apps" system leaves much to
be desired at this time. We have been told that these system issues are being
worked on and will be resolved just as quickly as possible. No one is more
anxious to have Google's system issues identified and addressed than we are. -
Comment: I'm interested in
SMSpeaker. However why does it need access to dial phone numbers if it is reading my
messages? Please justify the functionality for me.
Response: SMSpeaker allows you to immediately reply to an SMS by calling back the
sender of the SMS by hitting the call button. We implemented this feature
because one of the common scenarios for using SMSpeaker is when you are driving
and receive an SMS; we wanted to enable you to very easily call back the sender
of that message from your hands-free in-car setup without having to fumble
through your phonebook. That action requires the permission for dialing
numbers.
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Comment: If I have my Bluetooth
headset on will it read it off to me. When I had my DASH from T-mobile w/
windows 6.0 it would do what SMSpeaker does and also read off
the text to my Bluetooth headset. Any info would help.
Response: Each Bluetooth headset is slightly different. Let us
know if it works, and the model and brand Bluetooth headset you are using, and
we will post it to this FAQ!
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Question: Does this work with ChompSMS?
Response: In technical terms...
SMSpeaker works with anything that produces the standard SMS received broadcast intent and which accepts the SMS intent (when replying to
an SMS). In lay terms: Yes, SMSpeaker works with ChompSMS.
Question: How do I delete a spoken SMS so that new ones will come through?
Response: Simply back out of SMSpeaker. The next
time you receive an SMS message it will be spoken. -
Question: I get old reads of
the previous message when new messages come in. Can that be fixed?
Answer: To read new messages, after hearing the old message, press the
BACK button to get out of SMSpeaker. When you get another message, you will
hear the new message.
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Question: Can the voice be
made better like in the bubble level program?
Answer: The voice is from Google's Android Text-To-Speech. The TTS does
short numbers very well, which is why the bubble level sounds good. But when
you give it an arbitrary string of text, it doesn't sound as good. You can
test this out by sending yourself a message like "123" or "777".
Unfortunately, this is an area where we will have to rely on Google to improve
the quality of their TTS. If this is important to you, we recommend that you
contact Google about it.
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Question: Why
doesn't the name of the person who is sending me a message get read out loud?
Answer: In order for someone's name to be spoken they need to be a
person in your contact book. If you don't have that person in your contact
book, the app will default to speaking only the telephone number.
Speaking Pad:
Comment: If you are having trouble installing or
getting Speaking Pad to run properly,
please follow these generic
trouble-shooting guidelines. They will resolve the problem 95% of the
time. If they don't please write to us.
Download Problems:
Question: Why, when we try purchasing Android Market
applications, do we experience delays, timeouts and other problems which prevent
us from downloading and installing the software we just purchased? We
are then forced to cancel our orders and are not pleased about the situation.
Response: There appears to be a significant
amount of lag between the time people buy their first app and the time it
actually downloads. After the long first wait, all subsequent purchases should
be faster. This is a Google issue and will happen regardless of what paid
application is being purchased and downloaded. As such it can only be resolved
by Google. We have contacted Google and alerted them of the problem, as have
other developers and users. We hope they will resolve this issue soon.
Anecdotally, we've found that the best thing you can do is sit tight and just
wait it out. If you have the patience, let your download remain in the "starting
download" state (ie, don't cancel the download just because it looks stuck). If
the issue is not resolved after 12-24 hours, you should contact Google for help.
A good place to start would be to
post a comment to this forum.
Installation
Problems:
First, check the basics:
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Is the sound on? If not, turn up the volume. If this does
not resolve the problem go to step 2.
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Did the application ever work? If yes, go to step 4. If
not, go to step 3.
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If the application has never worked, turn on WiFi and retry
the application. If this does not resolve the problem, go to step 4.
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Unplug the phone from the computer, remove the SD card, put
the SD card back in. If this does not resolve the problem, go to step 5.
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Install the latest version of the TTS from Market. Run the
"TTS Service" app to enter the configuration manager for the TTS. Click on
"Listen to a preview". If this does not work, then it is a problem with the TTS
itself and the issue should be sent to the author of the TTS service at:
clchen@google.com
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If Step 5 works but Speaking Pad still refuses to work, try
restarting the phone once.
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If that still does not solve the problem, document and
e-mail to us a detailed description of the results of each step above.
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