Have you tried doing a factory reset (you'll lose all data)?

Steps to do a factory reset are found here.

1. Power off the G1
2. Hold Home Key + End key for 20
seconds or until you see a "triangle with an exclamation point
and a picture of the G1"
3. Open the QWERTY keyboard and hit Alt+W
4. Restored!


Is it possible to mount .iso files (virtual optical drive) on Android?

Underneath Android is Linux kernel. So if you install a custom rom with a custom kernel on any of tablets you can do that. The kernel should have loop device support + CONFIG_ISO9660_FS module or built-in. Then you will need root+busybox. Install some terminal emulator and type this commands:

su
cd /sdcard
mkdir mountpoint
mount -t iso9660 image.iso mountpoint -o ro,loop

Also if your iso contaions UDF file system you will need kernel UDF support.


Unbricking a phone without being able to access recovery

You can flash a new recovery image with fastboot.
The command is:

fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

where 'recovery.img' is the name of the image.

If you enter fasboot on the command line with no options or parameters you will see the usage, which is:

fastboot flash [partition] [filename]


Is it possible to modify files on sd from PC without unmounting?

Ahh, I should have known, ssh is the solution. Therefore install an ssh server e.g. SSHDroid then you should usually have sftp and ssh to your phone. As command line tools like sed echo and basename are available even renaming is really easy :D.

The really great thing is you even don't need a wifi around, you can make your own with wifi thetering and SSHDroid will still work, though you have to disable the presence of a network in its options first.

You don't need to root the phone.


The leap second was not implemented in Lollipop or any other Android version. If you are really concerned with having 'atomic clock' accuracy, use ClockSync, which synchronizes your device's clock with an atomic clock.

If you have root access, this is done automatically. Without root, a countdown assists in you manually synchronizing your clock. That will get you the one second back if you don't have network-provided time.


How to recover photos from facotry reset S6?

Sad to say but if it factory reset your stuff is gone. only way if possible would be to use some recovery tools in kali linux but then again a phone is not same as a PC hdd. i'd just count your loses and start backing up. stupid samsung :(


What is EastworldService running from the Play Store app?

The "Eastworld Service" is an integral part of the Google Mobile Services (GMS).

From it's code it seems for example to collects some device statistical data like app (un)installations, available Playstore updates, screen on-times, charging times...

BTW: The GMS core package also contains a "Westworld" service and other funny names. Also the Thunderbird service is mentioned here, seems to be related to Google Cloud Messaging (better known as Push Messaging system or "Firebase Messaging").


Check out in the settings tab of google play store, there you'll find 'Auto Update Apps. There are three options,
Do not auto-update apps,
Auto-update apps at any time. Data charges may apply,
Auto-update apps over Wi-Fi only.
So you can make auto update off.


Skype Android: how to remove skype online status from notification?

Sorry, because i cannot upload screenshot at comment so i upload the screenshot at answer box.
Go to Skype setting, select Notification and turn off Skype status notification.


I would recommend installing a custom ROM with support for the language you need. I think CyanogenMod might be a good try since it's usually very stable and close to "stock" ROMs of Android. You can find the stable CyanogenMod version for HTC Desire S here.

Rooting and flashing ROMs on your device might require some work on your device if it's not rooted, or if it's rooted it might be quite simple. Since you don't offer any information on whether you are rooted or not, here's some resources for you to look up:

Installing a custom ROM on the HTC Desire S [HD] Step-by-step tutorial
How to S-Off and Root the HTC Desire S, Sensation, Wildfire, Evo, Flyer HD - A step-by-step tutorial

All of this is of course assuming that your current Android version does not support changing the language. You might want to look in your menus just to make sure. If it's not there, you need to get another ROM.

If you have any questions, please comment on this answer and I'll try to expand on it accordingly.


No external storage available - Storage gone

It looks like the phone can no longer connect to the SD card. Since this survives a reboot, it's most likely a hardware failure.

If your phone is rooted, adb shell su dmesg should contain messages that confirm this.

The “external storage” in a Galaxy Nexus is actually some non-removable flash storage. I don't think you can replace it (but I could be wrong).

It is possible that the filesystem is merely corrupted, in which case reformatting would work. You need to have a rooted device for that, and to install some additional tools from a Linux distribution.


How can I prevent services from running in the background?

You'll need to decide on a case by case basis. Generally, apps which run in the background need to do so to function, so if you don't want that, then uninstall it. If it's optional, they'll usually include a preference to disable it within the app.

You can kill any background service from Settings -> Applications -> Services, but that only kills them once, it doesn't prevent them from starting the next time you boot up your phone. It is a useful way to see what's running in the background, though.

Finally, a lot of apps that seem to run in the background actually don't. I have an app that provides background notifications about certain events when they happen, but it does it by scheduling recurring system alarms, where the phone will start my app up to perform the task and then the app will close. So it's open for brief periods of time only, which is much less of a battery drain.  Make sure you check the background service list I mentioned above to see whether something is really on in the background.


Google Play Authenticate to complete purchase, multiple accounts

After some searching through the Github issues I found this issue regarding in-app purchases using Android/Google Play. Neto Martin, developer at Google, states the following regarding multi accounts in combination with the in-app purchases:

  The purchases are always related to the user that was selected on Play Store app when you installed the app.
  So, if an user A installs the app, all purchases will be done on it's account, even if you have the account selector in your app.

Knowing this I knew the only solution for my problem was to reinstall the app (which was my last resort as I would lose some data), making sure my primary Google account was selected, which fixed the issue for me, the app now prompts me to authenticate using my primary Google account.


Why can I download Kindle books from amazon.com but not from amazon.co.uk?

It's an artificial geographic restriction that Amazon have put in. Essentially the .com Amazon Kindle store is accessible to any Amazon customers worldwide (except for customers who's account has an address in a country that has its own Kindle store). Country specific Kindle stores, like Amazon.co.uk's Kindle store are only accessible to Amazon accounts that have an address in that country.

So, the Amazon.co.uk Kindle store is only accessible by UK devices, based on a UK Amazon account. The Amazon.com Kindle store is accessible to everyone worldwide who has a non-UK Amazon account. The same thing happens for the newly launched Amazon.de Kindle store, only users with German or Austrian addresses can use it. It's based on your account's home address/billing address, not on which website's account you use. You can apply to Amazon to have your Kindle account moved from .com to the country-specific site, if you created your account before your country's site was available, but you can't use two sites at the same time.

Presumably when more countries have their own Kindle store, they'll be locked out of the .com store, and other countries will be locked out of their country-specific store.


How to move apps to external SD card on a non-rooted Android 4.4.2?

With Kitkat your chances for a "complete solution" without rooting are pretty much zero: the Android project has definitely screwed up here. No apps get full access to the external SD card, which rendered a lot of them unusable:

file managers: you cannot use them to manage your external SD card. In most areas, they can only read but not write
media apps: you cannot retag/re-organize your media collection any longer, as those apps cannot write to it
office apps: pretty much the same

The only place 3rd party apps are allowed to write on your external card are "their own directories" (i.e. /sdcard/Android/data/<package_name_of_the_app>). The only ways to really fix that require either the manufacturer (some of them fixed it, e.g. Huawei with their Kitkat update for the P6) – or root (see my list of Other storage media tools for examples.

If you do not want to go the latter way (rooting), and the former way (fix by manufacturer) is not available, you can only do minimal things on Kitkat:

use app2sd (which seems to be available on your device) to swap-out parts of your apps. This requires the corresponding apps to explicitly support App2SD, and only will "swap out" parts of the apps themselves; other parts of the app, including all its data, will remain in internal storage
set your "default install location" to your SD card (see: Installing to SDCard by default). This will automate App2SD for all your new installations.

Apart from that, you could only hope and wait for a Lollipop update – which will not completely fix the issue, but at least slightly defuse it.

As long as you don't hit any storage limits, you might be mostly fine. Nevertheless, I recommend you already familiarize yourself with potential solutions for the day your data "hit the roof", so you won't be forced to "act in a hurry" then.

Further readings:

Other Questions with answers on "kitkat sd-card write" on our site, especially: Workaround for Android 4.4 not being able to write to SD cards?


Google Nexus 4 suddely stop even battery is not empty

If the your phone crashes even after flashing a fresh rom, It's probably a hardware issue. Does your phone heat up?


What is a "synthetic password" and how is it used by Android?

First. You need to understand, two gatekeeper enroll processes are involved in synthetic passowrd.

Here is  the process:

generate synthetic password, it's just a random number
use real password to enroll a fake id. and get sid(secure_id)
use keystore to generate an AES key, and bound it to sid. and use it to encrypt synthetic password
use synthetic password to enroll the real user_id.

So you will see, in order to unlock real user, you need to know synthetic passowrd. However it's encrypted by keystore, so you need real password to unlock the keystore first.

To understand it , you need to first understand how gatekeeper works (eg. what is secure_id? how it works?). That's another topic

00000000000.handle: return value of gatekeeper first enroll by synthetic password derived password.

handle.pwd: second gatekeeper enroll by real password with a fake userid (eg. user_id+10000)

handle.secdis: Actually a random number. used to encrypt synthetic password

handle.spblob: encrypted synthetic password

/data/misc/keystore/user_0/XXX: keystore key. used for encrypting synthetic password.


How to compute all space taken up by an app and its associated files

Later versions of Android do not count cache data when showing the app size. So you can f.e. see that Instagram takes 150 Mb of your storage while there are more than 2 Gb of Instagram cached data (true story!)

As for Whatsapp, the size of media sent and recieved via Whatsapp (images, videos etc) is not shown in Settings. But since these media are stored in Whatsapp folder, their size is counted when you look at folder properties in any file manager.


Rooted, cyanogenmod. How to get back Sense UI from Titanium Backups?

It is impossible. You can only use  Sense UI  on a ROM that incorporates it. To regain it you will either need to return to your stock HTC ROM or see if there are any other ROMS that support Sense.


I found the answer myself. Downgrade the firmware to 2.22.40.53 then upgrade back to 54. Now your root is long gone. Then 54 will detect the lollipop firmware. Upgrade it and wipe cache from recovery mode. =)


How can I see which websites use up most of my foreground data?

As I discussed a similar issue here: Android app to show what apps/processes are currently using data. The same workaround is applicable in this case too.

I will focus on this specific part however:

  How can I track website data usage on chrome?

It is still possible using the mentioned tool: Network Connections

To get website specific usage just open the app and navigate to Current Connections Tab.
The log is given in two formats i.e IP address or hostaname. If you want the Ip address resolved to hostname simply tap, Resolve IPs to Hostname option.

It should appear like this:

I produced this log, when I was browsing StackExchange website, and from the screenshot you can see it gives the data usage associated with the website an if you open another website it also shows data usage specific to that hostname and sub-hostname associated to that particular website.

Only part that I am not sure is giving a very finer log on per website basis that can be stored as a seperate log, AFAICT you could periodically start live capture of traffic and see the sites which generate a lot of data usage.


Have you purchased a map direct from us on our OS MapFinder app? If so, there's advice in the FAQs on syncing downloaded maps between devices that are using a linked Google Play account: https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/shop/mapfinder/mapfinder-android-faq.html

If you've purchased an Ordnance Survey map from one of our partners rather than direct from us, you'll need to check with them on how their apps and services work though.


Changes made in developer options revert back to default after turning off developer options

In order to keep developer options running, simply don't turn developer options off. That's the only possible logical way.


What is "Easy mode" (during initial phone setup) and are there any problems with it?

The primary purpose of Easy Mode is to make the customization and use of a smart phone simpler and easier (usually for a first-time smartphone user or non-techy user). Easy Mode Vs Normal Mode for Android is quite similar to Apple vs Android --> Apple is often simpler, but less customizable.

If you just want to use your phone, Easy Mode will be easier for you. You won't have all of the same home screen customization options (but then again, you might not need them). Easy mode gives you 3 default home screens, a simpler settings menu, and a simpler camera interface.

If you love customizing the crap out of your phone, don't use easy mode. You'll then enjoy a full settings menu, fully customizable home screens, the full camera interface, and more.

Here are some resources I found for you on google ;)
http://www.samsung.com/us/support/howtoguide/N0000003/10091/120408
http://www.digit.in/mobile-phones/understanding-easy-mode-on-the-samsung-galaxy-s4-14698.html


How to get rid of "SD Card blank or has unsupported filesystem" notification

SD Card blank or has unsupported filesystem means your SD Card has corrupted data.

The only way is to get it normal is to Format it.

Now what about the Data on SD Card ?
If you are using Linux Machine then there is something called TestDisk. Install it on your PC. Now connect your phone with SD Card inserted to you PC. Run TestDisk and follow the options that it shows. Backup the Uncorrupted Data to your PC and format the SD Card from your Phone.


Why does viewing an .htm file in Android dropbox folder show broken images?

I have DropBox installed on my Moto DROID v1 (Android OS 2.2.2).  I placed an HTML file that referenced an image in a DropBox folder.  The image was in a sub-folder.

DropBox\Folder\index.html
DropBox\Folder\img\image.jpg

I first downloaded just the index.html and opened it in the HTMLViewer.  The image link is broken.  I then downloaded the image.jpg file, then returned to index.html and viewed in HTMLViewer.  The image now appears properly.

I'm not sure if it has anything to do with it, but you may want to try switching your file extension to .html, and verify that the doctype of your file is set properly:

<!DOCTYPE html>


How to turn off sound for Google+ notifications?

Start up Google+

Goto top left corner,  to the overflow button (3 dots).

Tap on settings

Tap on account settings for which account you want to change notification settings.

Tap on notification.

Change sound file to an empty sound file. (To do that start voice recorder app and record a second of silence,  then save and use).

This can be done on all devices with Google+.


Why doesn't Huawei provide just the USB driver to use ADB?

Drivers are not distributed as standalone package in order to increase market penetration of the HiSuite software. It's quite popular marketing strategy: you can get what you want only in bundle with something you don't actually want, but need to get the primary item is big enough to make you buckle in and get the whole package.

Nevertheless, you can circumvent the bundling yourself:

download the HiSuite installer.
open the installer .exe with 7zip and extract its content preserving internal folder structure (a trick that works on most installers)
find something that looks like the driver
run/install it, preferably on a disposable system first, to prove it's what you want.

In HiSuite version 5.0.1.300 it was \$_OUTDIR\Driver\all\DriverSetup.exe. Works with P8 Lite and Mate 7.


That's just the new Google Camera app.
You can uninstall the update and use the stock version instead if that bothers you.


Get the game directly from Gameloft (or if the free version is missing, get it from p2p).

On Linux/Mac, use wget to resume your download. On Windows, use a freeware from snapfiles to resume your downloads.

The problem then will be to transfer the game from your computer to the android device.


How to get rid of Emotion UI which is drastically slowing down my Huawei Y330-U11?

Flash custom recovery (mine is CWM) with SB Flashtool.
Reboot your phone into recovery mode.
Flash root.zip.

Google for more details on flashing.


Borked my Cyanogenmod installation - please help! (LG Nexus 5x)

Flash it again using twrp. Also you can do a hard reset with twrp to


Can't get out of airplane mode: option is greyed out

If you either go to airplane mode each night, you might want to try out some automating app like Timeriffic (free) or Tasker (~EUR 5) which could switch on airplane mode at night, and automatically switch it off in the morning. This way you do not get stuck with a grayed-out menu item -- and in case you do and need to get out of it, you may just need to play with some profile in this app.

Another alternative would be using some toggle-switcher (e.g. Elixier or Power Toggles), which provide you with widgets to switch airplane mode and more.

Also, on many Android devices, there's a pre-installed widget available which usually also includes airplane mode -- mostly called something like "Power Widget" or "Energy Widget"; just check the lists of widgets available to be added on your device.


All apps (root or not) have a default data directory, which is /data/data/<package_name>. By default, the apps databases, settings, and all other data go here. This directory is "private" to the app – which means no other app and not even the user can access data in it (without root permissions).
If an app expects huge amounts of data to be stored, or for other reasons wants to "be nice to internal storage", there's a corresponding directory on the SDCard (Android/data/<package_name>).
Apart from that, all apps can store data anywhere on the SDCard, as there are no restrictions -- and many apps do so. They can use directory names freely (and they again do), which is what often makes it hard to decide what all that "junk" on the card is intended for, and what of it can be deleted.
Though, as Tom pointed out, root-apps could store their data almost everywhere on your device, they usually follow the same rules as other apps.
You can find a general explanation of the Android directory hierarchy in my answer here. For your specific question I might add some more details on the /data/data/<package_name> (and corresponding SD-part):

databases/: here go the app's databases
lib/: libraries and helpers for the app
files/: other related files
shared_prefs/: preferences and settings
cache/: well, caches

There might be several more directories in this place, or fewer -- it all depends on the app. In its own "home directory" (and that's what it basically is, spoken Linux-wise) they can place files where they want. Usually, these files and directories are only accessible by the app itself (and root, of course) -- other than those stored on the SDCard, which are accessible by all apps.


Getting all MP3s on Android and be able to listen to them

While I can't confirm it, I'm pretty sure Google Play Music needs to recognize the song to be able to show it in its web interface, much like Spotify does.

So instead of using Google Play Music, I plugged my phone into my Windows PC with its USB-C cable.  Here, I could see the phone as a drive on the PC.  It's a Samsung Galaxy s10e, and fortunately both the phone and the SD card were formatted to show some typical folders, including one called Music.

Using File Explorer, I copied my MP3s from my PC to the phone into the Music folder (on the SD card, but the Internal Music folder would have been fine as well).

Then I chose one of the many MP3 player apps.  I did try VLC first since I've used it for years for other purposes and trust it.  Because I wanted to do more with the music (e.g., create playlist), I opted to go with Musicolet.  Both apps offer to scan your phone and SD card.  When you give the app access, it pulls in the files, and then you can go from there.


My Nexus 7 isn't being detected by Windows. No OS on Nexus 7

The answer is something quite strange although seemed to work for me. I used a different computer and used Wugs Nexus Root Toolkit to flash stock (after driver install on other computer) and it worked without any failure .


How do I remotely unlock Google Device Manager remote lock when I know the password?

There is no method for unlocking in google device manager, but, you could try setting the password to password, and setting the text as, 'the password is password'.

However, if you can't contact the phone, it is probable that they have wiped it an set up their own google account.

There isn't much you can do, except, tell the police your IMEI number, they probably have a database of lost and stolen phones.


Unable to upgrade firmware on Vidonn X6 bracelet

Got the same issue on my OnePlus, unable to upgrade firmware, my smartband had some issues (screen not working). After long search, found it : uninstall vidonn2.0 app , download vidonn tool.apk and firmware https://goo.gl/BZYGsQ (read the text file) then install it, reboot phone, launch Vidonn tool then flash firmware. You can also try to flash the firmware in the Vidonn2.0 directory on the phone.


How do I make the priority menu disappear

I think you have to tap an empty space on the screen; if the screen is full of touch-sensitive stuff (homescreen) you can open Recents/Overview and swipe there, then close it again. Not ideal, but the best you can do.


As long as the material of your clothes or bag contains no metallic element that could block the GPS signal then your phone should be able to receive a GPS signal fine while in your bag or pocket.

I use the HTC Desire almost daily to record GPS tracks, and generally keep it in my jacket pocket and have noticed no problems with the GPS positioning. Those problems I do have are related to travelling through built up areas or in buildings.

You should remember that GPS can be less accurate in dense urban areas as the receiver may be able to see some sky, but that patch of sky may not contain enough GPS satellites for a direct fix. The signal may also be affected by weather, particularly humidity.

Have you tried any other applications, as it could perhaps be the app that is causing the poor performance you're seeing.

For recording running I can particularly recommend Runkeeper, I've been using it for six months now and it works really well, plus has some really good online features. For general GPS recording the My Tracks app is also pretty good. I would suggest trying a couple of different apps and comparing the results. If they are all showing gaps or jumps in the GPS track then it may well be something to do with the way you are using your phone (or the area you are in).


Mysterious heavy battery drain during device sleep since update to M

I didn't manage to pinpoint the actual source of the drain, however it was finally resolved by replacing the stock kernel that came with the rom with idlekernel. Back to losing about 10% change in 24 hours on my modest usage pattern.

Update: several weeks into using the phone with that kernel and I noticed some things were not working properly. This led me to investigate the matter further, to finally arrive at the conclusion that the drain was the product of old firmware. After updating the bootloader and modem the drain has disappeared, most likely it was the modem, now battery usage is normal even without the custom kernel.


How to prevent characters from repeating when entering text with a Bluetooth keyboard?

Based on what I've read so far, this may be a bluetooth issue.

Some people have fixed the issue by:

using only 1 BT device. If you have connected both a BT keyboard and BT mouse, disable one of them.
disabling Wi-Fi. Having both Wi-Fi and BT seems to trigger a repeating key issue.
using External Keyboard Helper Pro. It has a do not repeat option. Link to app.

At the end of the thread, it mentions that BT was re-engineered in Android 4.2. So if you upgrade to 4.2, that should fix the issues you are having.


My solution, which seems to be working so far, is quite related to what was proposed by t0mm13b.

That proposal was to adjust the DHCP settings. However, my router is quite limited in functionality and it's impossible to adjust wifi settings on it. Insane, I know. So, I set my phone to use a static IP address instead of using DHCP. So far, so good.


Chrome reopens previous tabs even after shutdown

I too want my Chrome browser to open without the previous tabs. There should be an option to turn this feature off, or a prompt on startup asking whether to open previous tabs as it does on the desktop. When I'm done with browsing, I just swipe the browser off. I don't want to have to close each tab separately before exiting to stop those tabs from reopening when I open the browser again.


Can I disable MTP mode and just have a regular USB connection?

I'm not 100% sure. But IIRC, the problem with normal USB storage is Android has to partition your phone for internal storage and USB storage. Your computer can then umount the USB storage from phone and mount it in your computer. So in many phones without MTP, even though the internal storage had capacity like 16GB, only 1 or 2 GB was available for app installation. While some phone gave up to 8GB for app, that space was wasted for people who didn't need that much for app but needed space for music and photos.

With MTP mode, there isn't separate partition but a whole single partition. So if you have 16GB internal storage in your phone, you can use whole 16GB for apps, music and photos.

MTP mode is available from Honeycomb and I don't think it's an optional component. I mean I don't think you can say I don't want MTP mode, I want USB storage mode.


Add DuckDuckGo to search engines list in Chrome

This is now possible in Chrome 57. Just visit DuckDuckGo, perform a search (search for anything), then visit Settings > Search engine and DuckDuckGo should be listed at the bottom of the page.

After doing the DuckDuckGo search, if you still don't find DDG on Chrome's Search Engine page, you may (as I did, using Chrome 61) have to go to DuckDuckGo.com and then do the following:

Tap DDG's three-line symbol (≡) in the upper-right corner of the webpage.
Tap Other Settings.
Scroll down to the Install DuckDuckGo section, and make sure "Show links to instructions . . ." is set to On.
Tap Save and Exit.
Back on DuckDuckGo.com, tap the Add to Chrome button if you see it; if you don't see it, scroll down to find the Add DuckDuckGo to Chrome button, and tap that.
A "Take Back Your Privacy!" message should pop up. Follow its instructions:

) Tap the Google app's three-dot symbol () in the upper-right corner of the browser window.
) Tap Settings, then tap Search engine.
) Now, DuckDuckGo should be there at the bottom for you to select; at least, it was for me.

I hope this works for you too!


How could I sync ONLY my calendar with Gmail (optionally when a WiFi connection is available)?

EDIT: To only sync the calendar you first have to switch off everything else:
Go to Settings -> Accounts -> YOUR Google Account
and un-check all the sync targets you don't want (Chrome, GMail, Drive, Contacts, ...)
/EDIT

Then you can take care of when to have it sync.
Generally, this is left to 3rd party apps.

You can always pick your favourite 3rd-party app to get that feature, and there is a ton of it. Some samples:

JuiceDefender (free/plus/ultimate/beta, you'll probably have to buy ultimate for the feature you want)
Tasker
Llama (not sure if it supports your use case)
or just search Google Play for 'profile sync schedule' (or similar)

The latter two examples are somewhat complicated to set up but are very powerful. I'd try JuiceDefender.


How to do connectionless UDP broadcast using Wi-Fi?

Yes, it's possible, but you must learn IEE802.11 Datagram very well. There are two ways, the first provides two-way data exchange, the second only broadcasts to receivers:

use the beacon frame and Probe request/response frame to send data from AP to clients without connection

Broadcasting Information in Variably Dense Environment Using Connectionless Data Exchange (CoLDE)

use the length field in the data frame to broadcast only. You should develop a communication protocol with the encoded length. The receiver should:

enter Promiscuous Model
switch channels
Provide a 100ms timer interrupt at least.


tts or some other notification sounds not playing at right time when screen is off

Android suspends its tts service when screen turned off.


How do I unlock bootloader and root LG Optimus Zone 3 (VS425PP)?

You cannot unlock the bootloader on the LG Optimus Zone 3.

However, you can root the device using a system-wide root strategy -- thus avoiding the inevitable risk of modifying the boot image, KingoRoot is the best method -- however, you must be running an older firmware build such as vs425pp2.

To downgrade to vs425pp2, you will need a KDZ or TOT firmware package and LGUP Dev Edition.

Once the root is established, you may use SuperSU-Me Pro to substitute the KingoRoot binaries with SuperSU root binaries. Then you can use FlashFire to upgrade back to a more recent firmware build, maintaining root with the EverRoot feature.


Select from screen - text recognition is gone

It's the new Google Assistant that replaced the old Google Now on Tap. There are few hacks around to remap your middle button back to Now on tap, but all of them will fail eventually as Google starts depreciating the old feature.

One temporary way is to go in Google settings and change your language to something other than US English (Maybe UK, Aus or Ind?)


The problem was the difference in unlocked bootloaders between e610 and e612. Finally I ended up using the few seconds before the reboot to write the backed up bootloader and recovery back via dd. Wow I hardly often do backups, but this time it was quite helpful.


Possible to create offline (local/non-synced) contacts in Android Oreo 8.1?

On Android devices without an option to save contacts locally (either to the phone or the SIM), you can use FJ Software's MyLocalAccount (which you can choose to sync to your Google account or not as you wish).


managing multiple contact sources as gmail contacts

KADlancer - check out http://www.fullcontact.com. (Full disclosure: I work for them, so I'm a bit biased. But the issues you mentioned are exactly the issues we're trying to solve).

We currently have a web app in private beta that pulls in contacts from various Google Contacts/Gmail sources, as well as Facebook, Foursquare, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. It then adds social profile data to each, normalizes & de-dupes them, and syncs them back in real-time.

Within the next month we plan to roll out our public beta, which will support the linking of all of the above sources - meaning you can unify contacts across all your social networks/Google accounts and have all your contacts in one place, automatically up-to-date. Because we offer two-way sync in real-time, changes made in Google Contacts sync to FullContact, and vice-versa - meaning that your data is your data, and stays where you want it (no walled gardens).

Again, I work for them, so you'd probably be right to take what I'm saying with a grain of salt. But based on what you posted, it looks like the FullContact Address Book will do almost everything you're looking to do (with the possible exception of Xing, which is currently not supported, but on the roadmap). I'm not aware of any other app out there that does quite what we do, save Smartr - which it sounds like you've already tried.

Good luck!


How to manage a screencast with two Android devices?

If both devices are rooted, you can use AirDroid, which offers an...

  Realtime Android screen (experimental feature, root permission required)
  View your Android's screen, take a screenshot, or even record a screencast.

As you connect to the device using a web browser, you can just have two browser windows open - et voila, both devices should be shown simultaneously.

Alternativ solution: droid VNC server (and other VNC servers). Again, requires rooted device -- plus a VNC client on the computer.

There are several more solutions, but they mostly fall in either of the mentioned categories.


I assume from your posting that resetting the phone fixed the problem (temporarily).

If you want the problem fixed for good, you can help by trying to narrow down the problem further. This will allow you to address the right people with a very specific request of what needs to be fixed. You should:

Try to reproduce the problem. Install the apps you previously had on your phone one by one until the problem re-occurs.
If you can't reproduce it, there is not much chance of getting this anywhere further. If you can reproduce it:
Try the offending application on a different type and brand of phone.
If the problem exists on all phones, contact the author of the application about the problem and consider raising an issue with Google on their Issue tracker.
Otherwise try the offending application on a different phone of the same model and brand. If the problem occurs there too, contact HTC telling them which application has that effect and on which phone is does have that effect. Also consider filing and issue with Google as above.
Otherwise, if only your phone is affected, it's probably save to assume it's a hardware defect with your phone. Return it for repairs.


After turning the phone on, you will be prompted to enter a password. If prior to the theft, you had the phone locked with a code, you should be able to enter that code to get in.

If your phone had no lock prior to the disappearance, you will have to enter the code that you chose when locking using Google find my device.

As you can see in the screenshot, being that this phone doesn't have a code lock, it asks me to choose one when locking. Does this screen seem familiar?


Delete a spreadsheet cell in Google Drive for Android

I am using the latest version of Drive. I know there was a big update not long ago and I see this question was asked before the update.

Anyway, just go to the cell/column/row and highlight it. Then tap on it again.

Options will come up for "Clear" if it is just a cell or range. If it is a row or column "Delete" will be one of the options.

I hope this helps.


How to turn off the camera shutter sound on LG G2 mini?

You need to be rooted to do this!

Download and open any root browser. (I am Using Root Explorer for these instructions, ES File Manager works also)
Go to System
Go from Read Only to Read/Write
Find Biuld Prop
Open with text editor
Find ro.camera.sound.forced
Change the 1 to 0
Save Changes
Reboot

SOURCE: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2051384


How can I disable the softkey backlight?

You can try Screen filter app in google play.


what is the GPS accuracy for android phones?

According to Qualcomm (who makes the SoCs used by the GS3 i747 (also the CDMA and T999 versions.) and the Nexus 4), under optimal conditions, the combined GPS/GLONASS lock is capable of being accurate to 2 metres.

To determine actual possible accuracy in use is more complex and depends on time and location, as the number of satellites visible varies due to their orbits.  This Silverlight app will allow you to determine this (Be sure to only select GPS and GLONASS under the satellite library.  The GS3 and Nexus 4 are not capable of using the other constellations.).  The important bit is the DOP (Dilution of precision).  Multiply the DOP reported by the app (if greater than 1) for the relevant time by that 2 metres to determine the actual possible accuracy.

Note that this is only the possible accuracy.  Obstructions (trees, buildings, etc.) that block the view of the sky may also block the view of some satellites.  If you know the obstructions, you can enter them into the app and it will include them in its work.

Also, some apps, like GPS Status & Toolbox, will give you your error on the fly.


Can't reset Android tablet into factory setting

You can reset your device from Settings->Backup & Reset.
Or otherwise if your device is in 'locked' state and you have forgetten PIN
you can use your google account on the device to unlock it. you will only need you google account password for that. There is no maximum attempts to unlock the device.


ICS App Drawers, how to give them a name?

If it's done like on the Galaxy Nexus, just open the folder, tap the text Unnamed folder and write your own label :)


Why do I need to confirm my phone number to send a group SMS?

Had the same problem, I know my phone number is on my SIM because enabling DSDS and toggling on eSIM displayed my phone number under the right carrier.  I turned this all off, but at least I knew my SIM wasn't messed up.

I used dialing code *#*#4636#*#* to look at Phone Information.   Even this menu showed my phone number as unknown!

I used the ellipsis menu on the Phone Information screen to Select Radio Band and set it to United States, which seemed to kick the connection to my carrier and now my phone number is showing up and messages doesn't nag.


This is the setting of Firefox on Android and not android itself
Follow these steps:

Open Firefox and in address bar type "about:config"
Search For "browser.download.preferred.audio/mpeg" (just "mpeg" does the same)
Press on the reset button
From now on, if you download any mp3 file in Firefox, it asks for available apps capable of playing the file. You can again choose once or set it as default.


Deactivate Viber account on different device

Refer to Viber's official guide on how to Deactivate your Viber account (Mobile):

  Open Viber
  Enter the More Options menu
  Select Settings
  Select Privacy
  Select Deactivate Account

  Deactivation can only take place within the application. If you have
  uninstalled Viber and would like to deactivate your account, you will
  need to re-install Viber in order to do so.


Is there a way to completely disable the dialer including emergency calls to make an old phone a "tablet"?

If you root the phone, go into Manage Apps and you can disable the dialer, it will remove it from the home page. Contacts can also be disabled. There are also numerous ways to put the phone in Airplane mode so it's persistent after restart.

Click image for larger version

NOTE: disabling dialer does not disable the emergency dialer, but airplane mode does.


google play service has stopped and google process gapps has stopped

1) Simplest solution - reboot your device. This solves most of the common issues.

2) Try updating Google Play Services to the latest version.

3) If that doesn't work,
clear the Google Play Services cache.
You can do this by going to Settings > Apps.
Swipe to All apps (or select Show System from the overflow menu at the top-right corner if your device is rooted and you're running CyanogenMod) and then scroll down to “Google Play Services” app.
Open the app details and tap on the “Force stop” button.
Then, tap on the “Clear cache” button.

4) If that doesn't work either, try clearing the Google Services Framework cache.


"USB Storage damaged. It may need reformatting" error message in status bar

Solved it myself after hours of Googling.

I really only needed to run error checking on the internal storage (CheckDisk) in Windows. Since I couldn't get Windows to mount the drive normally, I tried booting into ClockworkMod recovery mode and then connect USB.

Ran the error checking (Right click on drive, Properties, Tools, Error-checking), rebooted phone and voilà! Life is beautiful once again.


How do I make JB use my external sd card (/storage/extSdCard)

If you're rooted, a simple, though kinda brute force, solution is simply to swap the mount points around.  Root External 2 Internal will do this automatically at boot for you.  This app is strictly intended for the GS3, but reviews report success with the Note 2 also.


Bypass Pattern lock without minimum or no touch of mobile

I found the solution for this problem.I purchased a OTG cable and connected my mouse. I easily unlock the pattern and can do all things with mouse from typing to call etc.

Now i can access my cell with mouse till i get confirmation from service center about availability of touch combo :)


Do any google apps have any special privileges that normal apps don't have?

Google's apps don't have any special privileges just for being from Google.  But certain permissions are only available to apps that are preinstalled on the device (as opposed to installed later by the user), so some of Google's software gets special privileges by virtue of being preinstalled.  On something like a Kindle Fire, which comes with Amazon's services installed instead of Google's, Amazon's software would get those special privileges instead.


Unable to install .apk from /system/priv-app

I think you misunderstand the whole process. You are not supposed to use install command or the likes of it anywhere in the process I mentioned. You simply:

mount the system partition in rw mode
copy-paste the apk into the location,
set the appropriate permissions using busybox's chmod and chgrp or through inbuilt tools:

adb shell su -c chmod 644 APK    # replace APK with your apk's absolute location, such as /system/priv-app/xyz.apk
adb shell su -c chown root:root APK   # replace APK as said above

do a reboot.

Follow those instructions religiously. You can altogether avoid the commands using a file manager app such as Solid File Explorer, ES File Explorer, etc.

During the following boot the Android would detect the apk and install it automatically.


How to change Gmail sync frequency in ICS?

If you use the Gmail app the mail is pushed instead of synced and therefore you cannot find the sync frequency setup.

However, if you set up your Gmail account in the Android Email app, where you can have your non Gmail accounts (POP3/IMAP/Exchange), the mail is synced and you can set the frequency in the Account settings, inside the Email app.


Android Jelly Bean 4.1.1 on Galaxy Nexus showing droid

That screen means your device is in "download" mode, which allows it to be reflashed using Samsung's Odin utility (or the open source alternative Heimdall). It's accessed by holding the volume down button when powering on your Galaxy Nexus.

Also, to clear up some confusion, this is not Fastboot mode - that is different. You access fastboot mode by holding down both volume up and volume down while powering on your device, and it also gives you access to a bootloader menu which you can scroll through using the volume rocker. The image on the screen is also different, and your device will not respond to fastboot commands in Odin mode. This is what the fastboot screen looks like - as I noted, you can see that the most obvious difference is that the background image is not the same:


Finally I found the way:

Turned it off and then connect it to computer, adb found it as recovery then i ran adb reboot recovery and then it reboots to recovery.

I found that volume up and down keys are semi broken and for this reason it could not to load recovery mode.


Why is there :nopm: in some photo file names?

This is not related to AM/PM as the screenshot shows. This issue appears to happen due to Google Hangouts. I have heard from a few Moto G owners that this happens a lot on that device, and can cause issues moving to SD card, however, it really seems to be down to Google Hangouts.
Here is a mention on Reddit, and on an unrelated thread the same issue crops up.

Upon reading this issue on Github:

  google hangouts produce [sic]images of this form image_timestamp.:nopm:.png

There is no easy fix at present, but I will investigate.


Go to Settings, Language and Keyboard and see if there is another keyboard you can enable and use. If there is one, check the box to enable it. Then go out and open something that requires text input like an text message. Long click on the text field and choose Input Method. Then change to the keyboard you just enabled. See if it has the microphone.

If you only have one keyboard to enable you could try a third party one like Swiftkey Beta. I use it and it has a microphone option for speech input. Plus the keyboard rocks with all kinds of great features.


How to show the battery percentage remaining in numbers?

if you use cyanogenmod, there's an option to show numeric battery percentage, and numeric signal strength in dbm on the status bar


How can I fix muffled sound on my Samsung Galaxy S?

Pop off the back cover and make sure there's not a sticker or anything over the speaker or mic.
You could try Voodoo Sound.  It's a custom kernel for SGS devices but if you don't want to mess around with that you could just try the Voodoo Control app, it can do some improvements without the kernel.  (If you do use the kernel you really need the app as well.)
Otherwise, I would assume it's a hardware problem and you should get a replacement.


Are my phone contacts notified when I install WhatsApp?

Are all of these contacts then notified about this, or is this strictly just a convenience on my end, while remaining quiet to other users?

No contacts are not notified, they are notified only if you message them, however if they view their WhatsApp contacts then they can view your name there.


Is there a cache memory in android smartphone as there is in laptop/desktop?

Look at the Wikipedia disambiguation page for different definitions of cache.

Speaking of cache memory: yes there is, in a similar way to desktop processors. Take Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 as an example:

  L1 Instruction Cache per Core:    32 Kbyte I-Cache

  L1 Data Cache per Core:   32 Kbyte D-Cache

  Total L2 Cache:   1536 Kbyte L2

As for the "lrucache" you talked about, it's merely a part of memory space allocated to store content (in that context, bitmaps). It's much more similar to the other caches e.g. Web Cache on the page, in that it's purely software based - no dedicated software, dynamically allocated and released on storage. Different concept.


How do I remove the screen lock that I placed on my device from the online android device manager?

I had the exact same issue. Totally frustrating! I finally figured out the solution. Go to "Settings." Find the tab or section that shows your lock screen options. Mine was found under the "Display" tab. Choose "lock screen." Type in the password used in Android Device Manager. You should now be asked what Screen Security option you want to use. After selecting this option, you will be free from Android Device Manager's grip!


Installing Plan B on Samsung Galaxy Ace 3

Plan B is only available on Android 2.0-2.3.

What you can try is Android Device Manager. It's mostly preinstalled and enabled on more recent versions of android.


I went to a uBreakiFix location. They flashed the OS for me for free. This was great since I didn't have to re-setup my phone. They have an agreement with Samsung to help with this. I don't have any affiliation to uBreakiFix other than as a customer.


Good news! As of May 13, 2015, Google Fit was updated to show more kind of data: calories burned and distance. Note that the distance is approximated.

On the main screen, select the right drop-down list to change from active time/steps to distance, or tap/slide the big circle diagram to the second point.

You can also set the units to kilometers/miles in the settings.

(Image courtesy of Google)


Do I have to charge my phone before I use it the first time?

All newer phones use Lithium polymer batteries.

Why is it Partially Charged?

To decrease their aging they are intended to be stored at 40% charge. This means when you receive your phone it should be at 40% charge, otherwise they will have aged your battery for you. (you are probably used to the effects of aging, like a 2 year old phone seeming to have very short battery life). When you get your phone you can use it until it is discharged, but they normally say 'charge it' because people will not notice the partial charge.

Do Not Fully Discharge

You should not fully worry about fully discharging, this is superstition to earlier battery technologies. Fully discharging a lithium battery is one of the best ways to make it fail. below a certain charge they will have their overcharge protection circuitry fail and you cannot charge it at all. I have seen studies that show that this makes up more than 75% of "failed" lithium batteries.

Lithium Battery Aging

Lithium batteries have a set number of charge discharge cycles before they fail. This might be a number like 500 cycles. You actually get more like 1000 cycles if you only discharge to 50% before recharge. Lithiums really do not like a deep discharge, I cannot stress this enough.

If you would like more information about lithium battery technology let me know, I can get you many links, just drop me a comment. I have a few answers on the electronics and robotics stack exchange about it.

 Can I leave it plugged in all the time?
Yes, and no. This is very dependent on whom makes your device.

For example, my Lenovo laptop will not apply a charge to the battery unless it is under 97%. When it does charge the battery it charges directly to 100%, then stops until the battery sags below 97%. Many laptops did not do this, on most just applying charge if it is not 100%. This would put the battery through thousands of charge cycles in a week when you are not using the battery. This ages a battery quickly.

If your phone maker took the time and paid the extra cash then your phone will stop charging once it reaches full charge and just power the system from the wall outlet. It is significantly more likely that your phone is charging your battery on a short cycle and aging it thoroughly.

Myths

Some people have some confusion from some of the myths that go about. The primary one is memory. As Battery University will say, this is mostly extinct, and actually applies to nickel-cadmium batteries. As was stated in a comment about crystals Battery university has in reference to nickel-cadmium:

  With memory, the crystals grow and conceal the active material from the electrolyte. In advanced stages, the sharp edges of the crystals penetrate the separator, causing high self-discharge or electrical short.

Now, talking about Lithium batteries, which your phone uses, there is even more difference. To quote them battery university directly from their simple guidelines:

  Avoid frequent full discharges because this puts additional strain on the battery. Several partial discharges with frequent recharges are better for lithium-ion than one deep one. Recharging a partially charged lithium-ion does not cause harm because there is no memory. (In this respect, lithium-ion differs from nickel-based batteries.) Short battery life in a laptop is mainly cause by heat rather than charge / discharge patterns.

I understand how this may go against what you have been taught, but I am someone who not only has researched this, but uses lithium batteries in my day to day work as an engineer.


Can developers build applications for unsupported Android versions?

You are free to build any app for unsupported versions of Android. However, you won't be able to publish on Google Play Store (if you intend to).

From an article published when Google ended support for ICS:

  First, Google won’t allow developers to publish apps that support the API level for ICS — that’s API 14 and 15. That means the oldest supported version of Android in the Play Store is Android 4.1 Jelly Bean (API 16).


Epic 4g Touch: Choose to route calls through Google Talk or Sprint

He had other problems so he has now switched Google Voice to use his Sprint number.


Many Android phones can be booted into a recovery mode and factory reset from there. In the case of the 6T you power it off then hold down volume up at the same time as pressing the power button. That boots it into recovery mode, and from there the phone can be reset by selecting the appropriate option. Your child must have managed this without meaning to.

There isn't any way of retrieving the data from the phone. OnePlus or the FBI might be able to do it but there's no way for you or I to do it. However if you go back through the setup and choose the option to restore your data from Google you will get back anything that has been backed up to the cloud.

Reading the data from a factory reset phone would be a serious security flaw. It would mean anyone who stole your phone could reset it to wipe your phone lock then read your data off the phone.


Understanding RAM, SD Card and Device Memory of an smartphone

RAM - Random Accessed Memory - When running an application on your phone, the application is loaded from your device memory into the RAM, just like on a computer, the main purpose for this is access speed is far greater in RAM. You can clear the apps that is in the RAM on your phone depending on your smartphone (Samsung for example hold home button down and click ram manager > clear RAM - this will clear what's in RAM however most background apps will automatically be loaded back into the RAM hence the free space decreasing straight away
As you mentioned SD Card is a external memory card which you can switch and swap with a variety of different sizes if needed
Device Memory is your phones built in memory, just like SD Card has memory however this one cannot be swapped or taken out of the phone. It will hold all of your phones files that make it work, just like a PC, as standard you cannot edit these files as they are read only, however through rooting your phone you may access these files and change if needed.

These files as mentioned take up space on your smartphone, so you may have a 16GB device memory or Device Storage, but you could actually only have 15GB free (for example not exact) to use as 1GB is used for the files I mentioned above

Hope this clear it up for you, and I'll happily provide links for further reading for you if needed

Addition Note:

Modern Android phones (4.0+) use an "emulated SD card" for their internal memory. Which means that your phone tricks the OS into seeing the internal memory as an SD card, which can cause some confusion as to the difference between SD memory and internal memory.


How do I transfer data from a android phone to a mac?

You can send emails containing the videos on your phone and then download them on your Mac.

Or you can use bluetooth to share from phone to mac.

Or you can transfer with an app that can connect phone to Mac without USB.


Found the recovery location in /sbin directory.


Samsung Galaxy S4 not getting software updates of 4.3 or 4.4

Sometimes OTA (over the air) upgrades are very late to turn up.  Also, your carrier can delay things, which is nice of them.  You should try installing Samsung's Kies software and upgrade that way.


From the list of when phones will get 2.3:

HTC Wildfire (buzz)

OTA: never (source: official mail from HTC support; cause: doesn't meet the min. requirements, eg. 1GHz)
Unofficial:

2/15/2011 (CyanogenMod)


You have to flash the firmware of your device with ODIN to reload the operating system and apps. Go to this and this thread to download the firmware as per your device. If you didn't find it, please provide more information about your device so that I can show you the right way.


Does Wunderlist store data in the server in encrypted form?

Wunderlist is safe for all kind of data storage.

Data is encrypted in transit by 256-bit SSL encryption.
Passwords are encrypted through the same protocol in transit and at rest.
Data put into Wunderlist is stored specifically on 6 Wunderkinder servers, operated by Amazon Web Services in Ireland.
As such, 6 Wunderkinder abides by EU and German data/privacy protection requirements, traditionally stricter than US requirements.
Those maintaining the servers operated by Amazon Web Services are trained and screened to the utmost standard. Their site on compliance: http://aws.amazon.com/compliance/
Lastly, 6Wunderkinder’s practices passed through a 3rd party audit, performed by Stratum Security in 2013.
If you have any more questions, especially regarding industry-specific compliance, please reach out to use via business@wunderlist.com


Why is my Galaxy S4 still not appearing as a device in Mac OS X

Answer: I was using the cable that Samsung provided with the phone

Solution: Go get a USB<>MiniUSB cable that was provided with a digital SLR a few years back and use that instead. The S4 now appears in the adb output and in Kies just fine.

<sarcasm>Thankyou Samsung</sarcasm>


Help me identify this tablet Vivax TPC 8150

This is a partial answer and may give you a head start, by way of correct product model details

Retail Branding: SK Telesys
Marketing Name: ITP-R208W
Device:  rk30sdk
Model: ITP-R208W

Source: PDF at this link  List of all devices supported by Google Play

Seems to be a Chinese product called "Thinkle"

This Russian site points to github source when I googled for custom ROM


Can I move up and down an on-screen page by voice command?

According to my knowledge and my researches it seems you can't.
If you want to see all the voice commands you can use check this site below:

https://www.google.it/amp/www.greenbot.com/article/2359684/android/a-list-of-all-the-ok-google-voice-commands.amp.html


Okay, I got hold of the developer and learned that the binary isn't compatible with Android ICS or earlier. Simple as that.


how does disabling 'password at startup' works before file-based encryption?

Actually Android 6.0 had Full Disk Encryption as specified in the Android 6.0 Compatibility Definition Document - Section 9.9 Full Disk Encryption with exceptions if the hardware was insufficient to perform the operation.

So your case of a not specified lockscreen password is actually called out:

  If the user has not specified a lockscreen passcode or has disabled use of the passcode for encryption, the system SHOULD use a default passcode to wrap the encryption key. If the device provides a hardware-backed keystore, the password stretching algorithm MUST be cryptographically bound to that keystore. The encryption key MUST NOT be sent off the device (even when wrapped with the user passcode and/or hardware bound key). The upstream Android Open Source project provides a preferred implementation of this feature based on the Linux kernel feature dm-crypt.

So there 'SHOULD' be a default passcode in your scenario, however individual manufacturers may avoid it, most probably on hardware with poor encryption performance which were released with a prior version of Android.

If you are asking what happened before Full Disk Encryption was introduced in Android 5.0, the answer is that the manufacturer would have had to modify Android to support encryption. Samsung would be an example as they have their own Knox API for device management going back to Gingerbread/Honeycomb (2.x/3.x)

Update regarding boot sequence for Full Disk Encryption

I think your question is

If the disk is encrypted, how does it boot?

The Android framework documentation on Full Disk Encryption does actually cover the on boot behavior:

  In order to encrypt, decrypt or wipe /data, /data must not be mounted. However, in order to show any user interface (UI), the framework must start and the framework requires /data to run. To resolve this conundrum, a temporary filesystem is mounted on /data. This allows Android to prompt for passwords, show progress, or suggest a data wipe as needed. It does impose the limitation that in order to switch from the temporary filesystem to the true /data filesystem, the system must stop every process with open files on the temporary filesystem and restart those processes on the real /data filesystem.

From what I recall, for devices with Full Disk Encryption, upon boot once the user password/pin was entered, the device took a while for everything to get setup. This is implied by the fact that all of the running processes had to switch from a temp filesystem to the encrypted filesystem.


Atrix will boot up but unlock screen is unresponsive

i had the same issue with screen not coming to live after proximity sensor has turned it off once. I tried to boot in safe-mode and the phone is working perfectly  and there is no such issue in safemode. I know this is not permanent solution (there must be some limitations of safemode, though i have no idea about them), but it atleast points us that this is not hardware problem and some application is messing up with the proximity sensor.


Andriod 4.4.2 "optimizing app x of 50 android" after flash Gapps

I guess you have a stock firmware, this might lead to an incompatibility with the existing Gapps.

Try downloading the minimal Gapps,  nano or pico package from here


Go to settings for Gboard → languages ↠ English (or the language you are having trouble with) and deselect "Multilingual typing"


Partial Wakelock - Android System *backup* = NO deepsleep/doze mode

I had the same problem, but it occured after I had restored my phone from google backup. More precisely the "backup" wakelock appeared when I unplugged the phone from the charger. Thereafter the wakelock kicked in and remained doing so until I restarted the phone. But whenever I plugged in the charger, the wakelock came back again and another restart was a must-do.

How did I solved that? I just disabled the "back up my data" under "backup & reset", restarted the phone and enabled the "back up my data" again. At least for now the wakelock has not appeared again.

This was my trick.


I managed to flash the phone with SPD Upgrade tool and now all is back to normal.
The damage has been repaired.


Change default in-call & out-call ui or theme

There are several apps available on PlayStore like this or this one. However, you can't change the full "Theme" as such on Kitkat. You can change the look and feel of your home screens, caller screen, etc with the help of launchers (Nova Launcher, Themer, etc).


How to create a shortcut to some file in another folder?

"Shortcut" is a purely Windows concept. It's an ordinary file (with .lnk extension) which contains a reference to some other file or folder. Windows Explorer and other programs know how to open the actual file by reading reference information from shortcut file, just like as they know how to open a .pdf or .mp4 file. Other operating systems do not know what a .lnk file is, because phenomenon of mounting partitions and hence file paths are different across different OSes.

At filesystem level, Windows' NTFS supports junction points, symbolic links and hard links (1). But FAT family (including exFAT) supports none (2).

Android is based on Linux kernel. Linux's native filesystems (like ext4) support hard links and soft (symbolic) links. For non-native filesystems (like FAT) it depends on the filesystem driver. exfat driver (for exFAT filesystem) supports symlinks, but FUSE based exfat-fuse does not. So is the old vfat driver (for FAT[N] filesystems). New sdfat driver (for FAT[N]/exFAT filesystems) from Samsung does have optional symlink support for FAT[N] filesystems as well. After MS open-sourced exFAT, mainstream Linux driver is also based on sdfat (3).

However that's not the end. External SD cards are usually formatted as FAT32 or exFAT, so they may support symlinks depending on the driver being used. But Android does not expose actual filesystem to apps, instead it's emulated using FUSE or sdcardfs. Emulation is another twisted story (basically a permission-less filesystem to make sharing files among different apps/UIDs possible), see detail in Android's Storage Journey and What is /storage/emulated/0/?.

FUSE drivers may support symlinks (if the underlying filesystem does), but Android's FUSE implementation does not. So is the in-kernel sdcardfs implementation.

So in short, for the most cases, you cannot create symlinks on external SD cards as well as internal SD card. You will get "Operation not permitted" or "Function not implemented" or similar errors. On rooted devices a commonly used alternative is bind-mounts. See details in How can I make a symlink (or equivalent) inside /storage/emulated/0?


Is the Samsung Health App as a whole ending? Or is it just the Together Community tab/program?

Samsung Health is still alive so yeah the together tab I guess.


How do I exclude album art from the gallery?

rename the album cover to "folder.jpg", and it will be skipped. You can save the rest of the album art in a nested folder with ".nomedia" inside it.


Where does Android ICS store the cursor graphic?

Mouse cursor graphics can be located in the framework-res.apk. Specifically, res/drawable-x/pointer_arrow.png inside the APK file where x (suffix of drawable) is pixel density class of your device.


What does the /data/system folder store and its significance?

data/system folder contains system configuration files critical to maintaining device's state. Access to the directory is restricted by the system apps only, so if the device is not rooted the folder content can't be seen.

Below is the list of files residing in the directory with a brief description. Note that the list is not completely full and also may vary depending on the OS version.

appops.xml - a configuration file used by the AppOps service which controls application permissions;
called_pre_boots.dat - a file used by ActivityManager to hold pre-boot broadcast receivers;
batterystats.bin - a binary used by the BatteryStats service to keeps power statistics of application installed;
gesture.key - lockscreen pattern;
inputmethod/ - a directory used to store IME configuration. Contains subtypes.xml with IME locales, keyboard layout sets etc;
locksettings.db - a SQLite database containing the lock screen settings;
netpolicy.xml - a configuration file used by the NetworkPolicyManagerService;
netstats/ - a directory used to hold NetworkStatsService statistics;
packages.list - a file used by the PackageManager service containing the list of all packages (apks) installed in the system (same as executing pm list packages within shell);
packages.xml - a file used by the PackageManager service to hold metadata of all installed packages, like UIDs, requested permissions etc;
profiles.xml - a configuration file to keep metadata of device profiles including sound mode, airplane mode, vibration etc.;
password.key - password hash;
usagestats/ - a directory used to store files for the UsageStats service. Contains usage-history.xml that holds info on all apps and its components with the last time a user used them;
users/ - a directory used for multi-user support. Contains userlist.xml which keeps info on all users in the system (0 - is a device owner/primary user); e.g. a sub-directory users/0/ holds info on the user account (accounts.db), widgets (appwidgets.xml), wallpaper (wallpaper_info.xml) etc.


minimuize ring volume at certain times of day

Sound & notification > Do not disturb. You can set specific time intervals


It looks like the company has signed in on Android using another Google account different from yours. Follow the instructions here to add an account (so you enter the account you have always used on your phone) and switch it.


How can I check if busybox is working properly?

"How do i know if I have busybox?"

  Open Terminal Emulator and type "busybox". If it gives you a giant list of command options, it's installed. If it says "Command not found", it's not.

edit Rather than putting this in the comments: you could also try su to become root followed by busybox, busybox --version, busybox --help or anything that will give you some feedback and some clues as to what's going on.


Is is safe to remove the stock email and calendar app on Cyanogenmod or AOSP?

YES, you can delete the stock Email (Email.apk) and stock Calendar (Calendar.apk, CalendarProvider.apk) app. For a list of other apps you can delete on CyanogenMod, see the expandable list at the bottom of the CM wiki.

I'm not so sure for AOSP though.


.odt stands for "OpenDocument Text", a format primarily used with OpenOffice and its derivates (StarOffice, LibreOffice, NeoOffice), but also supported (at least via filters) by other office suits, even Microsoft's. There are several viewers available for Android, but unfortunately no (free or cheap) editors – though the LibreOffice team is working on an Android version for over a year already.

You will find a list of Office suites for Android in my German Overview Office-Pakete und Text-Editoren (after all, for the list you don't need to know the language). I also marked those (partly) supporting OpenDocument formats, watch out for the keywords "OpenOffice", "LibreOffice", and "OpenDocument".

I have not tested them, but it seems there is one supporting reading and writing of OpenDocument formats: Office 2012: TextMaker Mobile (for texts), with separate apps for Calc and Presentation. Each of the apps is about USD 9, so they don't come cheap (compared to other Android apps). Coffice only supports reading those documents, but comes for free, same applies to OpenDocument Reader.


How can I remove a blank homescreen page once I've moved all the apps off it

Go in your home sreen, push the settings button for 1-2 seconds or try to zoom, and then all your pages will appear, now you will be able to delete the pages you don't need anymore by clicking on delete or maybe there is a button in the top right corner.

Hope it will help.


How to root my Oppo N1 (with Custom Recovery)?

1) Download:

First download the following files:

oppown.apk
TWRP

2) Installation:

Install oppown.apk and download SuperSU
Connect your N1 via USB to your computer and get access over ADB

3) Clean-up:

adb uninstall uninstall com.qualcomm.privinit

4) TWRP install:

fastboot flash recovery twrp-X.X.X.X-N1.img

5) Successfully rooted!


How can I send music from an app to one BT device, but keep all other sounds on another BT device or on the phone?

Buy a samsung.
There hasn't been an answer for nearly 2 weeks, so this flippant one will have to do. Still looking for a better answer.


what is the meaning of the output of the users list command

The structure of the output is as follows:

  UserInfo{id:name:flags}

Flags are basically bits of information describing the data model's level of access and/or permissions.

You can read some of the code comments on the flags defined in the UserInfo class here:

https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/master/core/java/android/content/pm/UserInfo.java


GetJar is where they first posted it and it got hammered. They got it on the Android Market pretty quickly, but Rovio's complaint (and why they went with an alternate market in the first place) is that a lot of people complained they couldn't find the beta in the Android Market.

A few people who were able to get it set up mirrors, including a Torrent. A quick web search should find an alternative download location for you, if you haven't already got it.


How do I quickly change the default action of a contact in the favorites widget?

Finally tried this, it's quicker to do the following:

Select the contact name from the Favorites widget (the icon performs the action, the name shows you their details).
Select Menu > More.
Select Set widget action.
Select call, text, etc.


What does it mean if a "device administrator" can "change the screen lock"?

It enables the app to change the lock code and lock you out of the device. In general trustworthy apps wpuldn't abuse this unless you request it. Like android device manager changing the code when you request it because of lost and stolen. Be careful with such a permission.


Getting a Galaxy Note 3 N9006 to work like a normal phone

Problem solved! I flashed CWM to the phone using Heimdall for Mac, then loaded a gapps file from a zip I had copied to the phone. Works like a charm. Thank you RossC for all your help.


change time format from mm/dd/yyyy to dd/mm/yyyy

Go to Settings -> Date & time -> Choose date format -> Select 31/12/2020.


How do I get the Android Kindle/nook apps to recognize .MOBI/.EPUB files on my SD card?

Mirrored on gist.

Custom ebook files can be read on Android devices by employing a collection of software, detailed below.

Both Android and iOS devices can simply use iBooks or Stanza, and connect to Calibre.

A more manual method employes Astro for browsing Android files manually. For any ebook file format, if an appropriate app is installed, Astro will be able to open the ebook. See Wikipedia for a table of ereaders vs ebook file formats supported.

Secondary software will be required to actually get the ebook files onto the mobile device:

SugarSync

Dropbox

Each ereader app looks for books in a different directory. A good compromise is to store all ebooks in /mnt/sdcard/Books, organizing ebooks at will through folder hierarchies, and using Astro to navigate to and open individual ebooks.

FBReader

Autorecognition: /mnt/sdcard/Books
Custom browsing: FBReader library -> File tree

Kindle

Autorecognition: /mnt/sdcard/Kindle

nook

Autorecognition: /mnt/sdcard/Nook/MyDocuments

Adobe Reader

Autorecognition: /mnt/sdcard/Download/Adobe Reader
Custom browsing: Documents -> All PDFs -> Folder View


Acer liquid e600 won't start after rooting

Try pressing Volume up and power button at the same time for 15 seconds.


Do Gallery or Google Photos create extra copies of media from other apps?

You will have only 1 copy of each media files on your device.
The media files will be stored in the default location i.e:- File Explorer.

The media files will also be stored on the google server since you have completed the backup. But it will be virtual for your device.

Note:- Gallery application is only used to display the various files stored in the memory.


You can try to use adb logcat command from the terminal/command prompt to examine continuously your device log. On your device has to be enabled USB debugging in Settings -> Developer options section.

Or after the random reboot try

su
cat /proc/last_kmsg > /mnt/sdcard/last_kmsg

from a terminal window on your device. You can download terminal app from Play.

For the su command your device has to be rooted.


Does rooting an android phone effectively also unlock it from network

Unfortunately not. Rooting gives you access, unlocking allows you to use a phone with other networks.

http://www.howtogeek.com/135663/htg-explains-whats-the-difference-between-jailbreaking-rooting-and-unlocking/


Process List of Charging Powered Off Device

Just figured it out, pretty easy actually.
If the bootloader is unlocked and the device is powered off and plugged into your computer, you can just use ADB.

Typing >adb devices will result in

You can then run adb shell "ps" and it'll output the process list while in charge mode, like seen below:


Rooting is the easiest part, but it still may be impossible. Some of the methods I would try:

You can try to log in through ADB, see if you're already logged in as root.
You can also try universal root exploits, one of them may work.
Also you can try to obtain an original ROM for the device, root it on the PC and flash it on the device.

What is very hard (handfuls of experienced developers are spending months with each device) is porting custom ROMs (CM, Ubuntu Touch) to a previously unsupported device. Since you've found no existing recovery for it, let alone a ROM, you will have to do the porting yourself which will take a lot of time and if you aren't careful, you can easily brick your device.


Recover bricked "Asus Transformer Pad TF300T"

If you can get your device to show up in your PC, or if not, there is luckily a way to revive your device. Before we begin, I present you with this firmware file. Download it, and keep it safe. we may need it.

Alright, so here is the method. If you can make your device appear in a PC, in recovery (teamwin) then just move the above file to a folder on the Transformer's SD card. Then on your device, pick "install update from sd" and find that file. Tap it, then wait. If it succeeds, you WILL be on CM 10.2 (Android 4.3) now, but its better than the alternative.


Samfirmware.com or XDA are your best bets.  If you need instructions for flashing with Odin or recovery, we have lots of questions on that so just do a search :)


Goclever Hybrid 3G Update will I lose any factory apps and settings

That very much depends on the update. The manufacturer/vendor might have made only "bug fixes" with this update -- but he might as well have decided to replace the entire system. In neither case you end up with an "empty shell" (I wish that would be the case!), as manufacturers/vendors are rather known to add stuff nobody really wants (see: bloatware) rather than to remove apps that ship with Android by default -- but it might very well be that some apps got replaced or will simply be removed.

What surely will be gone, according to the description you gave, are all your data and the apps you've installed yourself, as obviously the update implies a factory-reset. If your device is already running Android 4.0 or higher, you might wish to take a look at Full Backup of non-rooted devices for how to make a good backup. At least apps+data should be restorable to a newer version of Android then; for other things (SMS, call logs, etc.) you might rather prefer some dedicated tool -- or rely on your Google-Cloud-synced data and pray they will restore automatically (if they start to, don't interrupt them: you cannot re-start the restore, which is one thing making it so unreliable). See also the backup tag and especially its tag-wiki for details on available backup methods plus hints for recommended readings on this topic.


With the phone powered off, press and hold the Volume Up button and the Volume Down buttons.
Continue to press both volume buttons, and press and hold the Power button until the phone vibrates.
Release the Power button, continue to hold the Volume keys. You should see  a "No command" prompt. (You can release the Volume keys now.)
Press and hold the Power button, tap Volume Up to enter Recovery menu.


Do external booster antennas help with 4G reception?

It's hard to say without knowing what specific model(s) you're thinking of, but by and large the antennas you're thinking of are probably designed for 3G/EVDO, in which case the answer is no. Sprint's WiMAX network operates on a completely different frequency than it's 3G network, so the antenna for one will not work for the other. The EVO itself has two antennas in it for this very reason. Basically, if it doesn't support the 2.5-2.6 GHz frequency range, then it won't work.

There are WiMAX repeaters/antennas out there, but I've never seen one from a major manufacturer (or Sprint/Clear). Someone over on Android Forums also managed to make his own WiMAX antenna.


Allowing a computer to connect to wifi from android  already connected to wifi. A unique situation

What you're referring to is called tethering - using the data connection of your phone to share internet connectivity to another device.

Look for tethering options in the settings > Wireless menu or other locations in case your manufacturer has placed it elsewhere.

Failing that, consider using an app like FoxFi or some other tethering app.

Also, a search on Android.SE reveals a number of similar questions - please use the provided functionality. Here's an answered question that might be relevant - Can I use my Android device as Wi-Fi Adapter for my PC (i.e. Tethering to PC through USB, but using Wi-Fi not Phone Network)?


How to define a preferred Mobile Network?

TL;DR: you cannot do that, at least not without root.

Now the reason for this is due to security concerns there are not public APIs to actually do that software-wise. The closest you can get without root is using this software: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kmshack.autoset but it can toggle almost anything (after providing adb permissions) besides the network operator, again due to security reasons.

The preferred network list is defined by the operator (see Preferred Roaming List) so you cannot really influence it. You can however enable/disable network roaming in the menu or alternatively if you have root do it programmatically with xposed: http://repo.xposed.info/module/net.caze.roamingcontrol. You can also use the hidden android menu *#*#4636#*#* where you can control how your phone will determine which network type (not operator type) to prefer, still this is in regards to the networks in the preferred list set by the operator.

You still have the option to ask your operator to disable roaming for you, which might be a solution, however that would really require you to ask them to enable it again if you travel elsewhere ...

And finally you can try the macro route via this: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.joaomgcd.autoinput


How do I enter a new line in a cell in Google Sheets?

Easiest way:  add an extra letter at the end of the line. Select that letter. Hit enter. The letter will be replaced with a new line.


How can I transfer all carrier settings from an existing phone to a new phone?

You should be able to go to settings, find your settings for you sim (APN) settings and from there be able to copy these settings to your new phone.

I am assuming your current device is an android device. On my phone (OPO5T) I can simply go to settings->Wi-Fi & internet->SIM & network->(My sim card)->Access Point Names.


Lock screen is probably the most discussed topic since release of jellybeans.

Well currently there is only one solution to yours problem if device is not rooted. install another lock screen which will provide you that slider shortcuts and which will then be followed by stock lock screen with pin/password. one software is widget locker available in market. however this will be a waste of memory using dual lock screens.

 Alternatively I'm looking for a solution for a rooted device. I will post once found.

Most custom roms comes with this feature as stock like AOKP and MIUI.


"No language is installed in your default TTS Engine"? What should I do?

You need to install the speech synthesis data for the TTS engine.  You can find it on the play store here.

Edit : The installer seems to have been removed from the Play Store for some reason.  It can be found here.


How to make my Android device forget a PC?

There are two possibilities to forget the connection setting:
USB Charging/MTP
You can change the default behavior your phone uses when connected via USB in the Android settings app.
As far as I know by default there is no entry in the settings list to configure the default USB mode, however if you use the settings search field and search for usb you should get an entry named USB settings
Note that this setting is disabled by default unless your device is connected via USB to a second device (PC, power bank, ...).
Android Debug Bridge (USB debugging)
The option to "forget all PCs" that were authorized to use adb is in the Developer Options right below the entry for enabling/disabling adb. It is called
Revoke USB debugging authorizations


Getting mount's usage suggestion when attempting /system remount

So apparently the problem was that I needed to specify the target as per the answer to this other question:

mount -o remount,rw /system /system


How to send .gif files recorded in our device thro some chatting Apps to be specific ( WhatsApp, Hiken)

Use the app GroupMe with it you can send gifs and the other person will receive it with no problems.
Android GroupMe


Do all android phones store videos with rotational metadata?

Videos recorded using mobile devices contain a lot of metadata.
One piece of such data is the rotation metadata.
This data is used by browsers such as Chrome and Safari and by video players like VLC and QuickTime to display the video the way it was shot: portrait or landscape.
The rotation metadata is stored as an integer, it represents degrees, and has 4 possible values: 0, 90, 180 and 270. Here are the values for each device orientation for both iOS and Android:


This is generated by the Appodeal advertisement SDK integrated in some of your installed apps, likely to act as some sort of flag.

As for telling which app generated it, aside from going the hard way (installing and starting the apps one-by-one), you should also be able to use tools like MyAndroidTools to check the services and broadcast receivers an app possesses. Apps with ad SDKs will likely have services and receivers dedicated to maintaining the SDK.


Unable to remove Google Account from Sync

Auto Sync should be enabled for checkboxes to appear. Without Auto Sync on, the checkboxes didn't appear.


Asus memopad7 170C, unlocking bootloader fails

Ok, I searched for it a lot, tried everything and here is the final solution:

The propper rooting tool for ASUS tablets that use a x86 processor is "RootZenFone", the old fashioned way "fastboot oem unlock" and replacing the the recovery with something else DOES NOT WORK (As the time being).

If you have bricked your tablet (as I did!) you can perform a full recovery by following the instructions in this page. (Remember to install the USB drivers, provided in the same page)

If you are encountering the "Unfortunately Asus Demo has stopped" over and over again (even after a full ROM recovery), you need to run the RootZenFone (I tried version RootZenFone-1.4.6r.apk and it worked) after a fresh ROM recovery (using the link I provided above).

And it's really important to remember to "Forget each WiFi network" And "Disable the WiFi".
If you are getting "Unfortunately Asus Demo has stopped" error, you NEED to disconnect the USB cable before you proceed to root the device using RootZenFone.

Just follow the instructions and you are good to go :)


Which process is responsible for capturing (mobile/WiFi) data usage?

DataUsageController (a component of Settings app) collects data from NetworkStatsService (1) which is part of Android framework i.e. system_server and depends on (2) TrafficController (a component of netd native service) which in turn uses libqtaguid to tag network sockets on per app/UID basis. Previously qtaguid kernel module was used to track tagged sockets (by reading “/proc/net/xt_qtaguid/stats” (3)) which is being replaced with eBPF framework. Now data usage will be available in a virtual filesystem (“/sys/fs/bpf/traffic_uid_stats_map” (4)).

Network policy restrictions (Data/Battery Saver and Background Data (5)) and Data Limit/Warning are implemented mainly by NetworkPolicyManager and NetworkManagementService. At back end netd inserts/deletes iptables rules (6) to enforce restrictions in kernel space.

Both qtaguid (7) and quota2 modules are part of only Android kernel (8) while owner is part of mainline Linux kernel.

RELATED: How to view network traffic requested by a specific app?

REFERENCES:

1. The one we can access with dumpsys netstats
2. Through NetworkStatsManager / TrafficStats / SocketTagger, JNI NetworkManagementSocketTagger, libcutils (qtaguid), NetdClient, Netd's FwmarkServer and possibly others
5. Can be read / set by dumpsys netpolicy and cmd netpolicy
6. Using modules owner and quota2
7. Based on owner module and depends on socket module


After researching more online here is the answer:
1. Download the Android SDK
2. Extract the zip archive and locate 'android-sdk-windows\SDK Manager.exe'
3. Launch that exe and select 'Android SDK Platform-tools' and at the bottom under extras select 'Google USB Driver' then click on install packages
4. After they have finished downloading, locate 'android-sdk-windows\extras\google\usb_driver\android_winusb.inf' and right click it then select 'Install', click OK on the next couple of windows
5. Plug your android in and turn on 'Usb debugging' from the developer options in settings (On your android)
6. Go back to your pc and open the start menu and search for 'Device Manager' (Windows 8 users can right click the start icon and click on device manager)
7. Now locate a device with the name 'MTP' under 'Other devices' (It could have a different name)
8. Right click it and select 'Update Driver Software' then 'Browse my computer for driver software' then 'Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer'
9. Click Android Device, Then 'Android ADB Interface' then click on next
10. Check to see if it works by going to 'android-sdk\platform-tools\', hold down shift and right click and then select 'Open Command WIndow Here'. CMD comes up, now type adb devices, If your device appears then its working, if not, then repeat steps 3-10 again


Where does Android store fingerprint data?

try removing these files also

/data/system/users/0/fpdata/user.db
/data/system/users/0/settings_fingerprint.xml

Instead of removing files, appending the filenames with some random extension would be better. So, if anything goes wrong we can revert the changes.
eg: user.db -> user.db.xyz or xyx_user.db

I faced the same error too and this worked for me.


Can I convert a Google Drive spreadsheet to Excel format from my phone?

seems the only way to do it was to open up the document through the browser, selecting desktop mode.

Then "View spreadsheet mode" right at the bottom.
Then it'll load it up like it would if you loaded it from a computer. Then you can select File -> Email as Attachment.

Bit of a crappy process...


Notification Bar and Home button not working

Please follow the troubleshooting steps

Ensure the device is powered off, and unplugged
Press and hold the Volume Down button and Power button (located on the right edge of the device) for approximately 3 seconds then release.
From the "Boot Mode Selection Menu" screen, select Recovery.

Note: Use the Volume Down button to scroll through the menu options and the Volume Up button to select.

From the "No Command" screen (Android figure lying on his back), press and hold the Power button then press and release the Volume Up button to display the menu options.
Select "wipe data/factory reset".

Note: Use the Volume buttons to highlight and the Power button to select.

Select Yes -- delete all user data.

Note: Allow several seconds for the factory data reset process to complete.

Select reboot system now.

Note: Allow several minutes for the reboot process to complete.


Is the maximum size of the SD card for the S9+ really limited to 400 GB?

I can now confirm that the S9+ supports a 1 TB μSD card just fine.
After a colleague had outfitted his phone with a 512 GB card, I decided to give it a try, because it was already above the limit Samsung claimed was supported but well below the limit one should expect for SDXC (see my question).

Edit (February 2021): Due to the other answer which appeared here, I wanted to update the screenshot and also wanted to state which model I use: Sandisk Extreme (not Extreme Pro, though).
Also note: I have meanwhile read in several places that phone manufacturers indeed specify the "supported card size" based on the SD cards available at time of the release of a phone model.


No piece of software that you install on any hardware of any form is 100% safe unless you are the author or you've read all of the source code, verified its safety, and built it yourself. Okay, so this may be something of an oversimplification, but it's actually not too far off in most cases.

Custom ROMs are no exception to this. Yes, a ROM author could put spyware, a backdoor, or just about anything else they wanted into a ROM if they wanted to maliciously exploit it. With AOSP ROMs I suppose the possibilities are somewhat magnified since the Android source itself could be modified to contain some kind of exploit or spyware.

It's also worth noting, however, that running a manufacturer stock ROM isn't necessarily a safer option if you're concerned about privacy.

The question "is Android safe by default" is in some ways kind of a meaningless question. Is it designed to be safe? Well yes, data is protected at the application level and apps are sandboxed. Any OS is intended to be safe, but all of that goes out the window when you run a ROM that's not pure AOSP. On top of that, the nature of code is that it has bugs, with Android being no exception. Custom ROMs and manufacturer ROMs alike can absolutely have the potential to introduce (either intentionally or unintentionally) ways for your data to be sniffed or stolen.


Transferring files between PC and Android Sony Z1 Compact (KitKat) without needing app (i.e. via standard USB mass storage)

The program that your phone ask to install is PC COMPANION. You can skip the PC Companion installation.

If you need to connect in MSC mode

In Settings-> Xperia Connectivity->USB connectivity->USB Connection Mode-> MSC


How to verify an ADB backup file is complete and in a good state?

If you're on Linux, Adebar contains a tiny little shell script to convert ADB Backups (.ab) to tar files, which you then easily can investigate with any archive manager. Only limitation is: it doesn't work on password protected backup files.

The basic command it runs (everything else mainly is a wrapper for command line options and syntax) is:

dd if=$1 bs=24 skip=1 | openssl zlib -d >${1%%.ab}.tar && gzip -9 ${1%%.ab}.tar

A command I've found here on SE some time in the past (full disclosure: I'm the author of Adebar) – see here.

As you can see in the quoted command, it requires openssl and zlib to be available.


Music Folder Player (free / full) has a built-in pre-amp option.
Also you can use PlayerPro Music Player (free / paid) and PlayerPro DSP pack


How can I stop the Skype notifications from re-enabling?

Skype running in background annoys me so much that I keep it signed OUT when not using.
To turn of notifications of SKype on Android :
Tap the menu icon (three vertical lines), tap Settings > Notifications, then tap Notifications to turn them off.

what you have been doing is , you were telling your android to mute the notifications its better to tell the app itself


How can I enable haptic feedback on my keypad?

It seems somewhat buried, but on my HTC Droid Incredible I navigate to Settings > Language & Keyboard > Touch Input > Text Input. Under Other Settings I can set "Vibrate when typing."


Best way to update to latest versions of custom ROMs?

If you upgrade your CM10 to a newer build of CM10 you can just flash it right over the existing one, and you are ready. There is no need to backup all of your apps.

The newest builds of CyanogenMod have an updating system build-in however so you don't have to do it all by yourself. It is under System Settings - About Phone. It still downloads the complete zip of the newer build but handles the updating by itself.

There is, however, a new method to update your CyanogenMod. CyanDelta is an app that calculates the difference between your build and the newest build and will only download and update this difference.


Update to Android 5.0 Lollipop on Nexus 7

First of all, you get updates to your device from google on the basis of the date on which you bought the device. That is if you bought a tab 5 months ago and one yesterday the one which was bought earlier will receive update first. So don't worry when you have upgrade chance you will be notified.

Did your tab notified you that you have a upgrade available?
If yes did you actually download the upgrade for 5.0?


What is the difference between USB Mass Storage and USB Debug mode?

An Android device in "Mass Storage" mode behaves just like a USB flash drive: It presents itself as a block device that can be mounted (i.e. "used") by the host PC. Just like a USB stick does.
Additionally "USB Debug Mode" can be enabled, which creates a new USB endpoint for the Android Debug Bridge (adb). This allows a user to get in-deep access to the connected Android device and furthermore it allows the debugging of apps. This is the reason why you should never attach an Android device with Debug Mode enabled to an untrustworthy PC. As USB is able to provide more than one endpoint per USB device, these "services", Mass Storage and adb, can be used simultaneously.


How to fix a Nexus 9 that bootloops after an official update?

You should still be able to sideload an official OTA update from the stock recovery. You can get the official OTA images here: https://developers.google.com/android/ota

Download the latest OTA image for the Nexus 9 from that page
Reboot into recovery mode
Press the volume up and power keys at the same time to activate the hidden menu
With the volume keys, highlight “apply update from ADB” and press the power button to choose it
From your computer, execute adb sideload otaFilename.zip