On Fri, Oct 21, 2011 at 4:34 PM, Greg M. Johnson <[email protected]> wrote:
> In starting the cyanogenmod process I had two fears:
> i) They suggested that one also download a Google apps pack.  But um,
> wouldn't I  just be able to download those in the Market, even if somehow
> the phone got wiped?   Anyone given a trouble trying to use Cyano with
> Netflix.   I guess I've already "lost" everything I had to lose at this
> point, but just wondering.

The official Cyanogenmod images can't legally include Google
applications which are not part of the Android Open Source dumps.
This includes Market, Gmail, Maps, etc.  If you look around you'll
find where to download the appropriate zip file containing these apk
files for your phone type.  You install Cyanogen then you reboot back
into ClockworkMod Recovery and use the provided patch functionality to
install the contents of the Google apps zip file on top of Cyanogen.
It's trivial.

With most phones you root the OS then install ClockworkMod Recovery.
You should use the built-in "nandroid" backup functionality of
ClockworkMod to do a backup of the OEM OS image before you replace it.
 You can backup and restore images at will.  You may need to switch
back to the Sprint branded OEM image once in a while to update your
PRL files.  Cyanogen didn't have this functionality at least on the
Hero.  If you're short on SD card space you can always move the backed
up image to a PC and then move it back when you need it.  It's
probably a good idea to update your PRL files a couple times a year.

Netflix support up until recently was limited to specific phones from
OEMs willing to include DRM in the OS.  On Honeycomb tablets this
involved the presence of a DRM patched version of one of  Nvidia
Tegra2 video driver library files.  On my tablet I copied over a copy
of this library file I believe taken from a Xoom and Netflix worked.
Supposedly Netflix just released an update that works on ALL Honeycomb
tablets even ones without this special DRM.  I haven't backed out of
the DRM change to test yet but lots of people claim it's working for
them and is installable directly from the Android Market like a normal
app.  I have no idea why Netflix changed their mind on that but it's
good news at least.

> ii) I'm really ignorant about wifi calling.   Google Voice on a WinXP
> desktop implies it could call landline phones. But so far the options I've
> seen in Google Voice in Android don't allow for an outright wifi call, just
> for have GV take over on incoming & outgoing calls to a real live 3G
> network.   Is there some true wifi calling option in android?
> thanks.

Google Voice mobile apps do not do VOIP.  GV on cellphones uses
cellular voice.  It just hides the details.  If you want to do VOIP
then you'll need to find a SIP provider or similar.  The base Android
OS from 2.3(?) on-wards includes a native SIP stack but this is almost
always disabled by cell carriers.  Cyanogenmod has it enabled and will
expose it to you.  Apps are also available in the market for various
VOIP providers.  It's an area I've been meaning to play with but
haven't gotten around to it yet.

-- 
Bruce A. Locke
[email protected]
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