Android bits and pieces..

Sorry! The application Settings (process com.android.settings) has stopped unexpectedly!

I had a most annoying issue trying to add widgets to my CCT (Cheap Chinese Tablet) desktop, I'd get the message..


I Googled like crazy and came up with a few theories that proved, at least in my case, to be dead ends. The most commonly proposed solution was to remove Google Maps updates! Apparently it worked for many, but not for me and my pad.

Thinking about what changed recently, I headed to /system/apps/, remembered I'd renamed a few system packages..

It turns out to be "Launcher.apk" (aka. "Home"). I discovered (using logcat) that when throwing up the list of widgets, Android makes calls to it. Alternative launchers might, theoretically, rename the package, or Android hackers might, folk looking to gain performance (by using, for example, the excellent "LauncherPro"), and of course the Google Maps installer might do something …

I renamed it back and then went ahead and installed the latest Google Maps update, just to see. The widgets chooser still works perfectly, albeit with its usual delay. It's definitely Launcher.apk. I'm leaving mine factory-named for now; I like my widgets.