Install custom Android version on a foreign phone

Installing Play Store and other Google Apps requires functionality not give to ordinary use apps thus these apps need to be installed in the system partition.

However, the system partition is inaccessible to unmodified phones without root (admin) permissions. Also installing Play Store requires to perform some modifications to the system which cannot be done when Android is running (regardless of Android version). Thus these tasks are done by a special mode known as the recovery mode. The default recovery mode shipped with the phones are designed to prevent modifications to the system and thus the Android Modding community has created custom versions like (CWM, TWRP, Philz, etc).

First you need to configure you computer to connect to you phone via ADB (Android Debug Bridge).

Download ADB and Fastboot drivers (Windows | Mac) and install it on your computer. This will also install the drivers.

Then you need to install a custom recovery:

Download TWRP recovery for your device here.
On your device, go into Settings -> About and find the Build Number and tap on it 7 times to enable developer settings. Press back and go into Developer Options and enable USB debugging.
From your computer, open a command prompt in the folder you specified when installing the drivers and type: adb devices. You should see an entry like: <Sl. No.>    device.Note that you might see a prompt on your phone asking for permission, if so, accept it.
Type: adb reboot bootloader. Your phone will switch on and will be in the fastboot mode.
Your device needs to be unlocked before it can flash custom images. To unlock your device type: fastboot oem unlock.
Rename the file you downloaded in Step 1 to twrp.img and copy it to the folder you specified when installing the drivers and then type fastboot flash recovery twrp.img followed by fastboot reboot.

Now to install Play Store:

Download Google Apps from here after selecting ARM64, 6.0.1 and pico (I assume you are on the stock ROM).
Store it on your phone in an easily accessible location and type: adb reboot recovery on your computer.
Let the recovery start and when presented with the options press Install.
Navigate to the location where you save the file in Step 2, select it, and swipe across the slider to confirm.
After it is done press Wipe Dalvik cache followed by Reboot System.

That's all you need for Play Store.


How to launch recent apps menu in Android 8.1(AospExtended)?

Try this

  Configuration > Extensions > System (last tab) > Buttons > Scroll to bottom and menu button > Single tap > Recents

Reference Link


Backup to Google Drive - Disabled by your admin. Why does my device show is? It's preventing me from restoring my backed up apps.

From Google Product forums , this has been widely reported by Nougat users and is a false alarm

Reply from Google help yesterday (08 Aug)

  We just received a feedback from the Android team. The error that you are encountering is actually being displayed by accident for some Android Nougat users. It has no effect on your data being backed up or not. The status of backup being on or off is correctly captured in the first 'Backup & Reset' screen, and can be controlled by the user. For now, you can safely ignore the error message until a fix is rolled out by the Android team which should be around September 21, 2017.

(Emphasis Supplied)

Other users have reported that they have been able to restore despite the warning


How to get camera and gallery working for android 5.1

Extracting them from a firmware is dependent on what is the file extension for the firmware. We have a variety of firmwares:

Fastboot Imaged Firmwares
Full Over the Air zip Updates
We have Odin tar Archives
LG kdz Firmwares
Spreadtrum soc Firmwares
Recovery Flash zip Firmwares
Raw binary Firmwares

So if you may want to extract from Fastboot .img firmware, you should know that img files are specially extracted and edited by repacking. Especially for true boot and recovery images. But hope for you is: /system is not a true imaged partition but its a file system. Though named as System.img in ROMs, it is natively a .tar archive that you can extract using WinRAR on computer and locate the app and extract it. The structure is arranged just like the /system partition of Android.

Recovery Flash zips and Over The Air zip updates, as the name suggests are zip archives which can also be extracted with a method similar like the above

KDZ and SOC Firmwares are also archives. But since you don't want to take a lot of time researching what types of archives they are, just open WinRAR on any device you feel convenient and use it as your file explorer. Navigate to the ROM you downloaded and click on it. This will actually do auto-detect the compression algorithm used and it will open it. It will show what type the archive is in the file name of archive. Find your files and copy them.

ODIN tar is a tarball archive. Just extract it with RAR or any other app you find convenient.

You're only locked to flash a whole ROM if your phone has a RAW binary file which can only handled by certain preloading binaries which understand them natively.

Lets come to laying the file back to rest on your file system. Android Nougat always is simple to lay the apps to system. The containing folder obviously had two or one folders in it. One for .dex classes named OAT for easier preparation by the Dalvik Virtual Machine which takes care of all application preparation. And one for libraries used by application named LIB.

They go here: for example the Camera app

/system/app/Camera/lib/arm/lib_camera.so

That's the library

/system/app/Camera/oat/arm/Camera.dex

That's for the Classes

/system/app/Camera/Camera.apk

That's for the application

After copying them. Fix the permissions to

chmod 0644

For all files

chmod 0755

For all folders

I hope this is all you need. As per your question
But if they don't, just flash the whole phone and be ready to go again.

Be sure to review, vote or mark this answer if it helped you. Waiting to hear from you buddy


What's a secure way to message/talk to someone in CM9?

I found the following but I don't think this is a definitive answer though it looks close to what I need, secure end-to-end encryption with no chance of snooping/sniffing/MITM.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Off-the-Record_Messaging#Phone_apps

I wasn't fully aware of OTR though I had heard the term used elsewhere but didn't know the full implications. I think OTR is what I'm looking for.

Still looking for further input though.


Because you don't have Google play it is safe to assume that you are rooted. In this case you can just flash a "gapps" package from the internet.

Or, you could also install Google Play from the internet (via downloading the .apk)
It should auto update if its not the latest version.
You can find an .apk here:
http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google-inc/google-play-services/

You may also be able to install Google Play Services from the Play Store.
Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.gms&hl=en


How can I automate some processes on my phone

Try using Utter + Google Now. It can add tons more voice commands to Google Now, which can be activated while your phone is off just by saying "Okay Google".

http://thenextweb.com/lifehacks/2014/05/17/mastering-voice-control-android-going-beyond-google-now/

You can also try a different app called Commandr for Google Now.


Power Button + Volume Up
Volume Up, select recovery mode
Open with Volume Down
Volume Up or Volume Down to select wipe, then Power Button to execute


How to Check if a Bootloader Allows SD Card Booting?

Given that we first understand that there is not a such a thing as the

  Android Bootloader

and that all device producers actually can freely decide how to get the system to boot the Android OS's linux kernel it is hard to suggest a way that will allow you to test that for all devices.

Instead the way to go would be to use the information you have about the device (i.e. its name, model number etc etc.) and search the web.

Often the Bootloader is guessable by the used CPU Manufactorer. For example the Allwinner CPUs are mostly using U-Boot as the bootloader and to my understanding also have hardware dongled support to load from SD card (http://linux-sunxi.org/U-Boot)

Observe that I was hinting on CPU Manufactorer, i.e. to make understand that the bootloader pecularities of Android devices (that most often run on an ARM architecture) depends highly on them. That is that with Qualcom, Texas Instruments, Samsung etc... even though ending up with a comparable CPU (in terms of instruction set i.e. ARM v7) many things i.e. like the bootloader type/code can be quite different.

To answer you question I hence suggest you and all other people that face the same question to become aware that the Bootloader is the CPU and Device producer thing, not a standardized Android thing.

In other words, the Bootloader is not like "windows" (on a PC), not even like the NTLDR (on a PC), but rather it is like the BIOS/EFI on a PC. And as with the BIOS/EFI it is not the OS-guys (i.e that would be Microsoft, Redhead, GNU on a PC) but the Mainboard-Hardware-guys that provide for the BIOS.


How can I move a system app from one phone to another?

There are many apps which can take backup of system app like AndroZip (it can save .apk file of system app in sd card) then you can transfer it to your new phone via bluetooth etc.

Steps To Backup App Using AndroZip.

Open AndroZip
Go To App tab.
Check Music Player you want to get apk.
Click Backup.

apk file will be in app_backup folder in sdcard.


Huawei Ascend P1 is sending SMS automatically everyday

The list of apps in your screenshot includes "Rayman Jungle Run". This doesn't have any reason to send SMS messages, and the genuine game listed on Google Play doesn't require that permission.

It seems likely that you've been taken in by a fake or trojan that pretends to be the game you wanted, but in fact sends SMS to premium numbers behind your back, to make money. This is commonplace if you try to download commercial games from game piracy sites. There are also sometimes quite convincing fakes on Google Play.

Uninstall the app immediately. If the messages stop, and you're convinced that was the culprit, you should report it to the site you downloaded it from. If you downloaded it from Google Play, then you can report it directly within the Play Store app, and Google will remove it.

If your country has a government agency responsible for policing premium phone and SMS services, you should report the app and the number it sent messages to to that agency. They'll want to know that the SMS number has been used for fraudulent purposes, and may be able to shut down the company that originated the scam.


Where is Privacy Guard in Cyanogenmod 10.1? The setting seems to be missing

The Privacy Guard is not available on stable builds, only on nightlies.

Source:

  Privacy guard probably won't make it to the stable build until the
  next major release (10.2).


Can I set Calendar default reminder to "none"?

I have a Nexus S running 2.3 and when I go to Calendar -> Menu -> More -> Settings, I see this screen.  If you click the Default reminder time you have the option of None.


How to get 2 android apps working simultaneously?

That's a really good question! Thank you for asking it though.
On Android Programming, There is something we call, Activities LifeCycle
Imagine, when you pressed the home Button, The current Activity is going to onPause() method which it stops the Activity and it's not longer active because this is the Android Activity's lifecycle.
So, for better underestanding, The developer or those Application's programmers have to use something like Services which it can perform long-running operations in the background and does not provide a user interface.
And after that, you should be able to use those features together.


Is there a way to move my Google Play music to my SD Card?

Just announced: Google Play Music Now Lets You Specify Where Your Music Is Stored

A new Google Play Music update is rolling out now, and it brings with it a number of small but significant new features — one of which is the ability to specify where your downloaded music is stored.
You cannot choose a certain folder, but you can choose between internal storage and an SD card, which lets you free up space on your device itself.
This option won’t appear on devices without SD card support...


The following method will only work rooted Android devices.

Linux:

adb pull /data/data/com.google.android.apps.authenticator2/databases/databases /AFolderOnPC

Windows:

adb pull /data/data/com.google.android.apps.authenticator2/databases/databases C:\AFolderOnPC

Note that the folder on the PC has to already exist.

This will copy the authenticator database files with the main keys, from which the One Time Passwords are generated, to the PC. The file can then be restored to the same location, on Android devices, or read with an sqlite database viewer to extract the keys.


Lost root when upgrading from CM11to CM12.1

Open the development menu in your main settings(to enable it go to About menu and keep pressing the build info until is enabled) and check there that Apps have administrative privileges.


Why are Zygote and Whatsapp asking for root?

It is unlikely for WhatsApp to need root privileges, and impossible for zygote to ask for it.

Zygote is an essential system component that is started by init process itself while booting, so it does implicitly inherit root privileges.
Matter of fact, zygote is responsible for starting every other app, be it system apps or other apps.

Having said that, these two apps (installed in your device that asks for root access) are strongly MALWARE.

If you have ADB, issue the command adb shell ps | grep zygote. (Or from Terminal Emulator as ps | grep zygote)
I believe the output will be two processes: one is the real zygote, and the other 'zygote' is part of a package name, which is a malware.


You can use SwipeUp Utility to change the behaviour of the search action (swiping the home button) to launch a different app or shortcut.

I've contributed to this app (I helped the author fix a bug) but I've no financial interest in it.


How clean master measure device temperature

if there is no hardware support (sensor) is present in device

That's your mistaken assumption. Even dumbphones contain digital thermometers, to allow them to protect themselves against overheating when charging. Most smartphones will contain more than one temperature sensor: one in the battery, to detect if the battery is overheating, and one attached to the SoC, too see how warm it is getting under load. The SoC temperature is needed for the phone to be able to power-manage correctly, and to underclock the CPU and GPU if they're getting too hot.


How to start the kiwi browser always incognito mode?

The method might not be optimal but it works for me.

Open the app drawer, Long press on Kiwi browser icon.
Two choices will appear: New tab and New Incognito tab. Long press on New Incognito tab to create a shortcut.
Optional: If you there is a Kiwi browser on your home screen, delete it. Edit the shortcut name from Incognito tab to Kiwi Browser if your launcher allows it.

Caveats: If you open Kiwi Browser from the app drawer,  it will open a new tab not a new incognito tab.


Where can I get Android 2.2 for HTC Desire

I just got the update notification (unbranded Desire, Germany).

So the answer to "when" is: Now.


If the message has a single tick it means the message is sent and it's waiting to be seen by the user.

When the message has been seen by the user, the message will show a double tick.

For example : WhatsApp & Viber


Enabling WiFi Monitor Mode on HTC Inspire 4G

I had an android for a long time before I got my windows phone (still prefer android), and I used an app called Network Monitor.

Here's the link to it:

http://www.androidzoom.com/android_applications/tools/network-monitor_biuf.html

I had a htc inspire as well, and it worked perfectly.


How can I configure Telegram to open links using Opera Browser instead of Chrome?

Install Better open with, reset all defaults and use that to select the Telegram link to show an option to open with other browsers ( I don't have Opera installed but you can see other browsers in the screenshot below). You can set it by "always open with" or give you the choice to select (it has a timer option for selection)

click to enlarge


Using slow dns a VPN Over DNS Tunnel android app

If looking for a free openVPN app, you can check this FeatVPN, and get the free openVPN bundles right here: VPNbook bundles.

These bundles have custom DNS therefore can bypass your ISP which may have been slow. Alternatively you can get DNS Overrider (if you are rooted)


Removing a deleted account that's still on Galaxy S4

Just remove the account from the device.

Go to Settings > Accounts > Google, then click on the account, click on 3-dots ⋮ > Remove account. You'll get rid of the notification.


How can I prevent the signal and 3G icon from turning it to white icon when my connection to Google server is lost?

You have to edit your Framework-Res.apk. Its a bit complicated and differenct on every phone. So I can't simply provide a guide.

But I suggest you, to ask in your phone forum on xda-developers.


Unable to flash official Indian JellyBean ROM on Samsung Galaxy Note GTN7000 SHV-E160l

Infact your phone is not the international Note 1 GT-N700.
You have the korean version SHV-E160L which is converted to N700.


How do I change the theme, (iconset) on a Galaxy S3 default launcher?

Download Apex launcher--

It has full support for themes and transitions, icons, etc-

For Icon packs, "ADW Icons" is a good keyword to use- since Apex will use ADW icons.


How do I enable a keyboard if I can't open Settings?

Yes you can enable an installed keyboard from the Terminal emulator (ime enable/set xxx), but you still would have to type something and you said you don't have a keyboard...
Get a hand on an OTG adapter, this way you can directly plug a physical USB keyboard and type what you need.
You could also install a keyboard like SwiftKey (from Google Play desktop). You should be able to open its app by clicking in the notification tray then it will help open the part of the setting screen to enable this keyboard (if this part doesn't crash).


Use Charles Proxy to monitor traffic from an android game

Online games usually use UDP (and sometimes also raw TCP and/or HTTP(s)) traffic, but Charles is a web proxy that captures only HTTP and HTTPs traffic. Therefore you will only see a small part of the traffic.

The in-game ping usually bases on the UDP traffic, therefore using a pry will also not help you to get your ping time. AFAIK PUBG has a built-in ping time viewer that can be enabled in-game.


How to disable Google Talk on Android Prestige ZTE

Root the mobile, search on XDA forum on how to root your particular device. Every device rooting technique is different... Go through comments, reviews before rooting..
Once you have successfully rooted, download application eg: "system app remover" or similar apps. Open the app and now you uninstall your google talk app.

It is not possible without root because it is a system app & you require sudo permission to uninstall it. In upgraded version of mobiles these days there is option to disable system apps.


Copy contacts from iCloud to Android phone

Assuming you still have the iPhone in order to get the contacts off of it - There are free applications such as "my Contacts Backup" for iPhone that will export all your contacts. This particular one exports them as .VCF (i.e. vcards) and / or .CSV and then emails them to you. I'm sure there are other apps out there too to use, but I went with this one as it's free.

You can then import the vcard file into your Google / Gmail contacts via PC and then sync your contacts from Google onto your device.

Shouldn't take more than 5 minutes end to end.


You can use Handcent app as the default ringtone picker. To set Handcent as default ringtone picker, go to

  Settings | Applications | Manage Applications | All | Android System
  (Sound picker for SE phones)

Click 'Clear Defaults' button.

After this, When you are choosing a ringtone, You will be presented with a dialog box asking you to select one of the application as ringtone picker. Enable the 'Use by default for this action' Check-box and select Handcent. This will set Handcent as your default ringtone picker.


Is there a Google play store apk available somewhere?

I think they are wrong, since the .apk file are found on various apk hosting sites. You can grab one from APKmirror, and can always update it once it is installed.


Try Android x86 as a virtual machine on Virtual Box. this is by far the best working android I have seen...

It has the basic, default Android UI.
It is fully functional.
It works 4 times faster than my HTC Sensation

Android X86 ISO files: http://code.google.com/p/android-x86/downloads/list

How to install it: http://dev.blogs.nuxeo.com/2011/10/speeding-up-the-android-emulator.html


After OTA system update, does the device install OS to both partitions? Or install to only one partition.

and

whether the device continues to same(current) android version until reboot manually?(after installing version update). Or whether it updates current to latest version overnight.

It installs only to the inactive partition, which becomes active on reboot after update. Figure explains clearly

When normal reboot(not after update), how can a user identify whether device is booted to which slot (A/B)? Else, will the device continues to current slot on normal reboot(for example if it is A)

On a normal reboot, it always reboots into the currently active partition. You can verify by running this command pre and post normal reboot
fastboot getvar all | grep “current-slot” (On Linux)
On Windows, fastboot getvar all and search for current-slot
Edit : You can see current slot using apps like Dev check

If any one slot got corrupted, Is it possible to use other slot only.

If you mean by corruption , the update has failed,

....the device will roll back to the working build on the other slot....Your data is kept perfectly intact, even if the update is borked, as there is only one partition (userdata) which houses your data.

From How A/B Partitions and Seamless Updates Affect Custom Development on XDA and for more technical details see A/B (Seamless) System Updates
Edit: Here is a  more detailed picture from Android Police


AutoVoice and Tasker: Speak recognized Variable says "percent varname"

I found an answer/ got it working now: I needed to create the Task direcly from the Create Profile screen after defining the Profile. Assigning an already existing task didnt work, whyever.


Why can't a keyboard on the Samsung Galaxy S3 collect passwords?

As a programmer I find this interesting.  Password fields can be (and usually are) treated differently than normal text boxes.  Given that Android is open source I guess it's possible that Samsung has at least attempted to include code that prevents a password field from passing information typed in it back to the keyboard application, but like others have stated I am skeptical.

In order for a keyboard application to collect your data it has to include the extra step of capturing your input, storing it somewhere, even if it's just temporarily in an instance variable, and then sending it on to a third party.  I would be interested to hear what Samsung says about this and how they supposedly prevent it, but I'm guessing that's an answer we aren't likely to get.


How to remove a "Private Protection Password" on an ANDROID MT6592, please?

Oh! Its very simple. Try to press volume- & power key at a time the will  display a factory reset settings and click on rest and your mobile will be unlocked.


How to mute an email thread in Google Inbox on Android?

Yes. You can mute an email conversation in Google Inbox. You need to open the email and long press "Done" on your phone. Remember muted conversations will pop back if a reply is addressed to you and no one else, or if you're added to the "To" or "Cc" line in a new message. You may refer to "Mute all replies to an email" section of this help center page: https://support.google.com/inbox/answer/6067561?hl=en


How to boot the Mele A1000 in recovery mode

Once the encryption screen comes up, Android may have gotten far enough in the bootprocess for the adb server to start. If you have adb set up on the computer, check and see if the computer can recognize the phone by typing adb devices. If you see device with a serial number, then just simply type adb reboot recovery. (If you don't have adb, there are several guides that can be found via Google that explain how to get it set up.)


Lost Android with no internet connection

I may be misunderstanding your question so sorry if I am.

Most Android devices have Google Play Services preinstalled. If you have the Play Store, you have Google Play Services. Assuming you have Google Play Services, you can use Android Device Manager to locate your device. Android Device Manager works on Wi-Fi and Mobile Networks. It is also important to note that this can be enabled/disabled through the Google Settings app (or within Settings iteslf in Android 6.0+). I believe it is enabled by default, but if need be you can enable it by going to Google Settings > Security > Remotely locate this device (should be toggled).


How can I disable a stock app that has its Disable button greyed out?

On some Android versions you can use adb to disable apps that you would otherwise not be able to deactivate via the UI. The Debloater app linked to above automates and simplifies this process. This answer will explain how to perform the same process manually.

WARNING: Disabling the wrong app or using the wrong commands can leave your device soft-bricked. Please make sure you know what you are doing before proceeding.

Make sure you've got Android debugging set up correctly, then drop into an adb shell:

adb shell

Get a list of all installed packages by using pm

pm list packages -f

Identify the packages you want to disable and make a note of them.
Disable each package individually by running one of the following commands:

if you are on Kitkat: pm block <package_name>, e.g. pm block com.motorola.motocare
if you are on Lollipop: pm hide <package_name>, e.g. pm hide com.motorola.motocare

The app should now be disabled and disappear from your launcher. In case of a background service it will permanently stop running in the background.

To reverse this procedure you can use one of the following commands:

if you are on Kitkat: pm unblock <package_name>, e.g. pm unblock com.motorola.motocare
if you are on Lollipop: pm unhide <package_name>, e.g. pm unhide com.motorola.motocare


Most android devices now have monitors built within their software. I'm not familiar with the G4 so I can't say for certain it has the feature but my Samsung S5 does so I can lead you to it based off of that.

If you go to Settings there may be an item labeled "Data Usage". If not, look for "Mobile Data" and see if its in there. Within there it will show what apps are using data and how much data they're using. It's a great way to monitor your device.


Are there any video players with commercial skip for Android?

It's not an actual 30 second button, but MX Player has a feature to slowly adjust forward and backward (a full screen swipe typically does ~45-60 seconds), making it very easy to precisely navigate a video.


How do I find the right GApps for my CM?

I think there's no need if you use chrome or Firefox as internet browser then OpenGapps will try to automatically determine your Android version.

If that fails then

Go to settings
About Phone
There will be - Android version or version

Select that on OpenGapps website and download the suitable package....

Hope it will be helpful....


Samsung galaxy 3 says charging paused. Battery temperature too low

Get yourself a heating pad, set it to low and slowly increment the temperature until it begins charging again. If this works, your easiest fix is to buy a battery charger and interchange batteries.

If your battery is dead, below operational then get it recharged for free at a battery store near you.

If you want to resolve the problem, then inspect the charging ports for corrosion or damage. If you have a soldering kit you may want to replace this part, if damaged, at your nearest radio shack or electrical parts store.

If the problem goes beyond that then call Samsung tech support higher levels and pick there brain of what parts on the motherboard controls the battery temperature and if they can give you a replacement part number you can order. This may be a lengthily process but would help others with this same problem.

Always recycle, your trash is another person's investment.


Rooting modern Moto devices is quite simple, and there are not many variations.

You must unlock the bootloader using Moto's Unlock site. This will give you the pre-requisites needed to root, also be aware this will completely erase all your data

Next download the latest TWRP for your device (Moto E original model linked) and SuperSU.

Flash TWRP, backup, flash SuperSU, reboot. Done, you will be rooted.

For more specific information, XDA is your best source. http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-e


How can I disable notification for a specific gmail account during certain hours?

Toggling the syncing of Gmail for the account is the best option.  Turning of Gmail sync on a Google account in Android does not prevent you from fetching mail for that account via a method such as "pull to refresh" when you are viewing that account in the Gmail app.

I use Synker to integrate with Tasker, though I know there are other apps that expose Tasker control of specific sync settings on an account by account basis.

The basic outline I have is as follows:

A profile named "Work" whose conditions are a combination of a time, 9am-5pm, and a Date, Mon-Fri.  It has the same entry and exit task.
A task named "Work" that has two items: one to set the sync options of my work Google account to have Gmail sync on that is conditional on if %PACTIVE ~ *Work*, one to set the sync options of my work Google account to /not/ sync Gmail if %PACTIVE !~ *Work*

If I want to read work email when sync is not on for that account, I just open Gmail, switch to that account, and swipe down ("pull to refresh"), fetching the messages from the server.


What do the names means in settings > application manager > current app?

Total = Application + Data

Application = Size of APK file of the app

Data = Space consumed by /data/data/<Package_Name_of_App> (it contains data stored by the app)

Other stats details:

If Force Stop button is active, it means the app is running in background. You can use this button to stop the app from running.
Cache section shows how much data the app has stored in /cache partition.
If Clear Defaults button is active, it means the app is set as default to complete an action like sending email, open URL etc. You can tap this button to clear default(s).
On the same page, you can get list & small description about Permissions the app has. If you need explanation of Permissions, check this article out.


Micromax Unite 2 A106 updated to Lollipop version and no network or sim detected

me and my sis using this phone for almost 10 months...
First my sis upgraded her phone by downloading the official fota upgrade file from her phone and installed it. She also got same network issue.
Then I went to nearest service center and ask them about that issue and they had told me not to install by your own because it will delete the IMEI registration.
Then i had upgraded mine and my sister's phone to lollipop 5.0 in nearest service center.
Hope your problem will be resolved soon...


Receive VoIP call via Google Voice => IPKall => Sip2Sip => Android?

You can use sipdroid, released under GNU GPL v3, also available from Google Play Store and save yourself a lot of trouble.

  sipdroid is a free SIP/VoIP client for Android.

As for a SIP provider, Sipgate for example gives good results for both outgoing and incoming calls.

From version 2.0

  For Google™ Voice users, Sipdroid can now create a new, free PBXes account that is automatically linked to an existing Google™ Voice account. The new feature requires Android 2.0, or above, and Google's app connected to your Voice account.

Download the current version Sipdroid-2.7.apk available since May 21, 2012.

SHA1 Checksum:   a261e14ba592c8a86e8d0f07374108c6d768e1d4


Preview download size of app on Play Store

On the application page, press the green dialog, then scroll down to the bottom, and you will find all the infomation there.


ClockworkMod Recovery makes corrupt backups

You may have a bad SD card, try a new one (they're cheap anyway).

The MD5 sums are generally computed after the backup has been done (assuming everything went fine).

I.e. the process up to CWM 5.x is (CWM 6.x is different due to dedupcication):

CWM generates a backup and stores it
Then md5sums of all of the above files are computed
The md5sums are also stored in a single file

The hard work is all done in (1), steps 2/3 are just a single md5sum computation per file and a final store of those in another file.

If the MD5sums mismatch the backup files there must be a problem with your storage eventually (most probably). What is also possible: Don't rip out the battery and reboot, use CWM's reboot option (files may have not been written do disk fully yet).


Remove Lollipop status bar tint over color?

If you can use Xposed Framework (needs root), try any of the following Xposed apps which can theme your status bar:

Flat Style Colored Bars
Tinted Status Bars
Material Status Bar

They do it by taking a sample from the app's action-bar and colors the status-bar accordingly as per some mode settings, which include Gradient, Flat (which you want and the unpaid default), L and custom.

(Note: some features require an in-app purchase.)


Can I stream video from PC to an android device over USB?

You could turn on "USB Tethering", then run some media server like VLC carefully configured with RTSP streaming on your local server. Then open up the stock browser on android, type in your local ip (prefixed with rtsp:// protocol instead of http) of the pc followed by the port number as set in VLC or equivalent. The Android media player should launch if all is set and should start to play the video.

The local ip must be the ip of the PC running VLC or equivalent media server. You'll need to find it through right clicking the active LAN connection (of usb tether) > status > "IP address : "..

Do disable firewalls or add exclusions appropriately for this to work, also, set the VLC with proper video transcoding format that your android can play.

Warning: you might want to disable data pack when enabling the usb tether to avoid incurring unwanted costs.


Can you install vanilla Android on any phone?

In theory, it should be possible to compile Android from source, with proprietary blobs for the specific device.

In practice, however, this is largely impossible, with the exception of Nexus devices and those from community dev-friendly manufacturers like Sony.

Samsung, in particular, is notorious for providing terribly (un)organized sources, and even the talented hackers of Cyanogenmod team are frustrated, and many have sold off their devices and moved to Sony and Nexus devices.

So, your only realistic option is to install a community ROM like CM10.1. Again, it is not bug-free or fully featured as stock firmware.


Cannot install from market applications I used to have

Fixed it.

I'm writing my fix if other people will encounter the same problem.
Also, that I must stress that this fix will work only for Cyangenmod users!

The problem is that there is not enough space in /cache/, so when the market wants to download a "too large app", it throws an exception saying "there is not enough free space".
You can see that error if you have the android SDK and you run "adb logcat", and try to download an app (you will get "not enough free space in internal download storage").

So how to fix it?
The easiest way I found is to download an app called "S2E". You can try to download it from the market. If you can't, look for the APK, and install it from the SDCard.

Once you installed it, you can choose directories that will be moved to the sd-ext instead of the phone's internal memory. Check "Download cache Location: /sd-ext/download". Than click on "menu" and than "Reboot".

That is it! :-)


My photos disappeared from my Samsung S5 sd card. Trying to recover photos or find hidden files

You can goto My Files, settings, check Show Hidden Files. Now you can see hidden folders beginning with "." (say .hidden) in your device explorer. Check you sd card for such folders beginning with . that may contain your files. If not then you can connect you sd card via card reader to your pc and run the windows app "recuva" (search recuva by piriform) to search for deleted files.
Hope this helps :)


Samsung "My Files" Downloads folder corrupted on non-rooted phone

There is an app named Media storage in Android OS that stores the database of files and folders in the storage of your device. Looks like there is some problem with this app, so you need to clear it's data and cache.

To do that, go to System settings->Apps, click on the menu button (3 dots) then click on Show system. Then, in the apps list, you can find an app named Media storage. Click on it and clear it's data and cache. See this screenshot :


Red notification light on Nexus 4, won't power on, device unresponsive

This does not necessarily mean your phone is dead. Your phone will flash the red LED light briefly when the battery is completely drained. When I got this I left the phone in the charger for a while, and eventually the white "charging battery" icon appeared again. Upon turning on the device it had 0% battery. It was in fact so drained that it died while on the charger (at 0%), so I left it to charge for longer. After it regained 30% of it's battery I took it to work and it seems to be draining, charging and working normally.

I'm not sure why lots of sites claim this means your phone is dead, lots of them just say "what else would a blinking red light mean", but definitely leave your phone plugged in for a while and attempt to turn it on again before you attempt to get your phone repaired.

Also if a normal microUSB doesn't seem to be working, try the original charger + wall wart that came with your Nexus 4. My dad had this issue with the N4 and other chargers didn't seem to work. Not sure if the volt/amp/something just isn't enough from other cables or what, but Google recommended it and it seemed to work.


The cookies, for the default android browser, are stored in /data/data/com.android.browser/databases/webview.db. The problem is that other applications, for security reasons, do not have access to files that do not belong to them, like the database file.

In order for what you are asking to be possible, the Browser application would have to implement this functionality.


How to transfer contacts in my outlook pst to Samsung Galaxy S II (or - any android phone)?

The process is pretty straight-forward.

In Outlook, export your Contacts into a coma-delimited text file (.CSV).  Depending on the version of MS Outlook you are running, the location of this feature may be under a different menu item.
Open up a browser, go to Gmail and login with the same Google account you use on your Android phone.
Click on the "Contacts" link, then click on the "More actions" button and select the "Import" option.
Now navigate to wherever you have saved the CSV file from step 1 and select it.
After the import process completed, your Gmail account should now have all of your Outlook contacts.
On your Android phone ensure that your Google account is set to synchronize the contacts by going to Menu -> Settings -> Accounts & sync, selecting your Google account and ensuring that there is a checkmark next to "Contacts".
Also make sure you are allowing background data and auto-sync on the Previous screen.
Again tap on your Google account and un-check/re-check the box next to "Contacts" to force an immediate sync.
Wait several minutes and check the Contacts app - all of your exported contacts from Outlook should now be on your phone.

Keep in mind that this is a one-time, one-way sync.  If you want to have any changes you make in Outlook to automatically sync to your Android phone, you will need a 3rd-party application on your Windows machine that will auto-upload your changes to your Google account.


Is it a good idea to force stop apps after using them?

TL;DR:

No, it's not a good or advisable idea.

Explanation and some background:

Force-stopping apps is not intended for "routine use", but for "emergency purposes" (eg. if an app runs out of control and cannot be stopped otherwise, or if an issue causes you to clear cache and delete data from a misbehaving app). Generally spoken, it's neither a "performance booster" nor a "RAM optimizer".

In many cases it won't save battery life either, but rather deplete the battery even faster. Apps don't only start when you tap their icon, they can also get started via intents or broadcasts (eg. on battery low, network changed, USB device connected – but also on many more). So when you "force-stopped" it, on its next start it will have to do a "full init" (loading from the storage(s) and the network) instead of just going back to its "last state" still stored in RAM (unless the system had to clear it out – see our oom-priority tag-wiki for details on that process) – what Andy described as "will increase loading power consumption / time" in his comment on your question.


Is GPS replaced by A-GPS in Android latest version (4.4, 5.0)?

If you go to the location settings on your device you have the options of:

Off
High Accuracy
Power Saving
GPS Only

Where Off and GPS only are obvious, Power Saving uses Wi-Fi & Mobile networks only and High Accuracy uses both GPS and WiFi/Network information. (I am running 4.4.2 on my Galaxy Note 3).

The reasons for the multiplicity of choices are the balance between accuracy and battery life,

GPS can give good accuracy anywhere so will work even if you are out of range for all calls or on holiday with roaming turned off,
Network information depends on the availability of towers &/or WiFi with the geographic information set up but will be either be connecting to towers or querying WiFi both of which have some impact on battery life but not much more than being able to receive calls,
Both uses the most power but will produce faster, more accurate, more reliable, results than any single method.

So now the user of the device has the choice and if your application relies on one specific method it should query the available information and if it is not enabled prompt the user.


What is the red joystick icon that is on some of the screenshot of Android phones?

It's Game Genie included in ZenUI for the Asus ZenFone.


USB OTG support on Samsung Galaxy Chat B5330

Based on the testing of other users on Chainfire's USB Host Diagnostics site, there's NO USB OTG support for GT-B5330.

See also: How can I determine if my device has USB Host Mode (OTG) support?


Where are the download images for Android?

It seems like for Samsung devices the image download servers are available but there is no user interface to select an image for download. According to XDA blog there is a new Python based command-line tool that allows to search and download Samsung factory images:
https://github.com/nlscc/samloader
As the download information and the firmware images are original downloads from Samsung servers they can be considered trustworthy.
The original article from XDA:
https://www.xda-developers.com/samloader-download-updates-samsung-galaxy/


There is an app called LagFix, which can let you trim your device literally.

It can only run if the device is rooted, and since your device is already rooted then it is perfect for you.

And here is the thread on Xda developers about LagFix.

I hope it helps.


Should I change the battery of my Samsung A7 (2018)?

Try other battery. If phone work properly than you can change battery.
Use code *#*#4636#*#*. go to battery information. If health is not good. Change the battery.


This is a hardware related problem. The touchscreen sends your system a touch event for every finger you touch it with. If the touchscreen's touch resolution is not that high, it will merge two touches to one.

You can't change the touch resolution of your touchscreen but it is possible to send custom touch events to the Android framework using some commands (I don't know them now but I used them and it is working. It is also similar to Windows' event system.)


lock ES File Explorer or similar options

There are many apps on the market that allows you to password-/PIN-/pattern- protect other apps, see: https://market.android.com/search?q=app+lock


Samsung galaxy SIII is there a way to add a new call ring?

In System Settings -> Sound you should be able to select Pick Ringtone. If you don't find the ringtone you want, you can use any MP3 or OGG. Just put the file on your sdcard in /sdcard/Ringtones/. Media scanner will classify anything in this directory as a Ringtone.


I uninstalled an app,but did not clear space

Cleaning apps like Clean Master will find and get rid of residue files if there are any present on the device, you can then uninstall it when your done if you don't want all the advert notifications.


Can Android be used in IPv6-only networks? What level of IPv4 faking is necessary?

So after some more testing, using an especially made Brouter using a Raspberry Pi Zero W, I now know from my tests that Android 5.x, 6.0/6.1, and 7.0 in fact do support IPv6-only networks. However, the caveat is that as soon as Android neither gets an IPv4 address nor an IPv6 global address, the network manager will declare this network unusable and will disconnect from it.

The reason why I was experiencing such disconnects was because I was connecting my Android devices to a test network, where I shut down the link-local router from time to time for fixing, and only after some delay restarted it. And during these spans without IPv6 RAs advertising global prefixes and without IPv4, Android declared my network dead and disconnected.

Some more background information gained over time:

Some Android versions are allergic to ULA DNS server addresses, and only deem GUAs proper. However, the same Android versions happily accept ULA prefixes. The symptom then is that these Android devices keep connected to an IPv6 network using ULAs, but cannot resolve any DNS names after some seconds. Using one of the better diagnosis apps I notice that these Android versions first learn the DNS server address, then remove it after around 15-30 seconds. It seems as if newer Android versions 7.x are less rigid in their expectations at the moment.
Some Android versions react allergic to documentary addresses, that is, the 2001:db8::/32 address range. They are ignoring these addresses, especially for DNS servers. More recent Android versions 7.x seem to be tolerant of using the documentary address block in networks.

In the end, the safe side is as follows, unless you can avoid especially Android 5.x, but also some 6.x releases for sure:

ULAs fc00::/7 are evil ;) Please note that this includes the fd00::/8 often taught as "best practice" in IPv6 courses, so be careful.
documentary IPv6 addresses 2001:db8::/32 are evil too.
stick to real global addresses, even if they're faked.


Can't open menu in apps without a menu button or physical key

On most devices with softkeys for home/back/task-switcher, long-pressing the task switch button (right-most button, see below) will simulate pressing the menu button.


Does the Samsung Galaxy S2 support DC-HSDPA

After some testing over the weekend with a service provider who provides DC-HSDPA I can confirm that the Samsung Galaxy S2 does not support the protocol.


ls -l /dev/block/platform/dw_mmc/by-name/

to find the path to user data partition. Then

mount -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p10 /data

Check the correct file system type as well as mmcblkXpXX from first command.

If successful, /data should be mounted correctly


There is no general, automatic way to find out a human-understandable reason why an app failed to install/run/work.  It is definitely not true that Windows apps always fail with a sensible error message.

  if an app needs a specific android version

Apps contain explicit information about what versions of Android they target and support.  This information is displayed in the Play Store and other app stores, or you can find it using one of the tools listed here.

  what gpu works with it

Ideally this would be published by the developer/app store as well.

  it is not an original

Don't pirate apps.

To get other errors/logging or stack traces, you can use the logcat command from ADB or a local shell on your device.  There are also apps like aLogcat to provide a graphical interface.


How do I turn my Android into a USB Webcam?

I finally found a way using USB debugging support on the Android. The steps are quite involved, but here they are: http://www.dev47apps.com/droidcam/connect/

Careful, your phone can overheat when doing this for awhile. Also keep in mind that 4k is not supported, just 1080p. Both on Wifi & on USB the framerate alternates between super fast (>30fps), and super slow (<4fps) in both OBS & iSpy. Not sure why. I think it's the app since native video recording works.

I'm going to do native recording and use a clapping trick to sync audio between an external mic and the internal one from here on out.


Google+ app does not launch live video hangout

Not sure if this is it. From Google Support:

  The YouTube app won't work with Hangouts On Air. So if you use
  Hangouts On Air, your viewers will only see the video call, not your
  playlist or the videos.


Is there any way to find out which application if any uses the camera?

All Android Apps on the Google Play Store have a list of Permissions they use which includes the use of the camera.

It is tedious to look through the permissions of each app manually from the Play Store.

Instead try using an app that lists the app permissions and list apps using the Camera/Microphone permissions.

Eg. Permissions Observatory (I have no connections with this app, I found it randomly, and I don't use it)


Google app displaying temperature in Fahrenheit

The other answer on this question didn't work for me. My phone was already on English (UK) and changing it to US and back did not help.

Instead what fixed it for me was:

Open the Google app.
Scroll down to the Weather card.
Press the menu button on that card.
Press "Change temperature units to °F".
Press the menu again.
Press "Change temperature units to °C".


Any phones that support multiple concurrent bluetooth devices?

Yes, most devices support up to 7 devices connected at once. I don't have a Galaxy S4 to test on, but it seems unlikely it would only support one. More likely, there's a particular problem with one of the devices involved.

You should post a new question about why Bluetooth isn't working properly for you, giving full details of the devices you're using, what steps you take, and what happens.


Substratum themes not applying (6P, DU12.1)

Switching off PlayProtect (apperently there is some kind of issue with the recent version of Play Service) and switching on Firebase did the trick.


You must have uninstalled "google" app. Install that and then in settings go to languageand input option. There you have to select google keyboard and Google Voice.


How can I monitor and log the connections to my phone's wireless hotspot?

On a rooted phone with super user terminal client like ROM Toolbox Lite(from play store) you can check connected clients using netstat

netstat -ntu | grep ESTAB | awk '{print $5}' | cut -d: -f1 | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr

Checks on ESTABLISHED connections instead of all connections, and displays the connections count for each IP.


Site sends costly sms without asking for permission

It sounds like they tried to force you to send SMS messages through a rogue telecom operator, which is essentially stealing money through text messages.

This exploit, it's not out of the question, necessarily. There was an article not too far back about how you can 'jailbreak' an iPhone by clicking on a link. The vulnerabilities are different, though, and I'm not really sure how they manage to find a hole to send a text message with.

Ideally, you should try to update to Android Marshmallow or Nougat (when it launches in earnest), or an equivalent version of Cyanogenmod, so you can get permission-by-permission control on your applications.

I can't say this is explicitly an answer to whether it's possible or not. At best, you've found an exploit that's already been patched. At worst, you've found an unpatched exploit that's being taken advantage of.


How do I get an android media player without going to the google play store ? I will transfer the media player to the smartphone using bluetooth

On your notebook, look for a FREE app (in your case, a media player) in Google Play.
Copy the link of the app in Google Play.
Paste the link on APK Downloader, and download the APK file to your notebook.
On your phone, make sure you allow external APKs to be installed. On my Samsung Galaxy S4, this is on System settings > More > Security > Unknown sources.
Using bluetooth, transfer the file from your notebook to your phone.
Once download is complete on your phone, look for the APK file and install it.


How long does the Android browser keep its history files for?

To my knowledge-- all Android stock browsers will keep the history forever.
Until the cache is manually wiped or wiped because of an OTA update -- since I'm pretty sure the updates wipe the cache before booting-- Even still, I'm pretty sure the browser's cache isn't touched in that process.

I'm quite certain you have nothing to worry about in terms of losing history.

If you are running 4.0.x (I think it's exclusive to that version- you could check), you can get the Chrome Beta browser, which keeps your history in sync with your Google account-- along with your bookmarks, and of course the history from any other machines you run Chrome on.

Pretty neat.


Replying to the original tweeter in a retweet in TweetCaster?

Some Twitter apps allow you to "retweet with comment" or "quote & reply" in which case you can remove the original username before retweeting.  If your friend chose to do that before retweeting, you won't be able to see the original username.

TweetCaster Pro has the "retweet with comment" option.


How to reduce power consumption? - Honor 7

I'm happy to root my phone if it's needed to turn off certain stock apps for example.

If the problem is related to apps then the battery drain will not be instantaneous as in your case .

It looks like a battery problem to me, try replacing a new battery and it think it should fix the problem


Send file via NFC from Galaxy S2 Plus and Sony vaio with Ubuntu OS

You can try Airdroid as it available even for Ubuntu OS. It is one of the easiest way to transfer from PC to mobile or vice versa.

Go to Google Store and look for Airdroid and have it in your mobile.
On browser type - http://web.airdroid.com
Put in your user name and pass -> Boom you will have complete control of your mobile from your system.

If you like to know Airdroid's feature then you can check this out - Airdroid Features


If it's an OS <4.4, you can likely just sideload towelroot on it and do it that way.


l2_hsic prevents my device from Deep Sleep. How to fix it?

As Flow already pointed out in his comment to the question, that is a known bug. However, if you're affected, there's at least a kind of "ugly work-around", as described in the article How to solve battery issues after ICS update in your Galaxy Note. Their conclusion states:

  Anyway, this is a kernel bug in ICS, we have to wait for new update. The solution for this is: shutdown your Note, peel off the back cover, remove the battery; hold the battery for more than one min, put the battery back, put back the back cover; start the phone. Then, everything goes back to normal. Reboot your phone will NOT solver this issue, at least for me.
  Next time, when you encounter this issue again, try the procedure again.

They further write that, if you once encountered this bug and worked-around this way, it seems it is hard to hit the bug again -- so with some luck, you will only have to do this once.

And yes, I saw that article refers to the Galaxy Note. But talking about a kernel bug in ICS, and your tablet being from the same manufacturer, chances are pretty good this solution will apply to your tablet as well.


How to delete Home and Work address from My Places?

Open Google Maps on your phone, press the white rectangular button with three horizontal lines. It's located in the bottom left corner in Google Maps. Choose Settingsand Edit home or work.

Hope this helps you out.

--UPDATE--

You could also try to log in to google.com from a computer and choose google maps from the app-list (a small icon at the top-right corner with 3x3 dots). Next, click the settings-cog-wheel at the bottom-right corner in google maps and choose my places. Finally click on the drop-down next to my home and my work and click delete.


How to retrieve photos from stolen phone

If you never backup your photos online, the only place those are stored is Phone storage which is stolen. So, the only way to retrieve those photos will be get back the phone with the storage. Otherwise, its a No


What parts of the regular Linux graphics driver architecture is used in Android?

Noveau is a driver for the X.org graphics system so it definitely couldn't be used verbatim. The one part that I'd expect to possibly be useful would be the code that actually talks to the hardware. The same is true for any other X.org driver.

But in Noveau's case, most of the work is in reverse-engineering the hardware interface as Nvidia refuses to release the documentation. This work could definitely be reused in a hypothetical Android Nvidia driver.


What are the *technical* reasons preventing connection to 4G? How can I diagnose myself?

While I'm not intimately familiar with Sprint's 4G or your phone (sorry) I have found in my own CDMA troubleshooting that the built in HTC diagnostic tools can be very useful. I found this guide over at XDA as one of the better lists of Sprint CDMA diag codes (even though it's not for your phone specifically). I recommend trying ##33284# or ##3282#, one of these should bring up a utility that lists very specific information about your cellular network connection.


Done. No need to root. It's now an option in my app: powerCall. Let me know if you run into issues.


How to create a copy of a file immediately when it's created?

You can achieve this using inotifywait from inotify-tools. Your kernel must be built with CONFIG_INOTIFY_USER=y for this to work. You can confirm with:

~# zcat /proc/config.gz | grep INOTIFY

Or the existence of /proc/sys/fs/inotify directory. /proc/config.gz may not exist on all devices depending on kernel build configuration.

Let's say /data/data/com.xyz/files/ is the directory you want to watch.

~$ mkdir -p /sdcard/backup/
~# inotifywait -rm --format '%w%f' -e create /data/data/com.xyz/files/ |
while read file
do
    [ -f "$file" ] && cp -av "$file" /sdcard/backup/
done

-e create is the event that reports that a file/directory is created in watched directory, --format is to get filename with complete path, -m is to watch continuously and -r establishes watches recursively. -d can daemonize the process i.e. run in background.

All newly created files in watched directory or in any sub-directory will be copied to /sdcard/backup.

You can also use busybox inotifyd for simple use case as explained here. For more options see inotifywait(1).

RELATED: How to identify the app/process which re-mounts partitions R/W, creates files and changes file permissions?


"What is it precisely that resets the battery stats?"

Quoting from an old post by a Google engineer

  ....it is reset every time you unplug from power with a relatively full charge (thus why the battery usage UI data resets at that point)....

Relatively full is not defined AFAIK but from experience 90% charge does the trick of resetting it. IIRC on KitKat reboot also did that

Location of batterystats.bin file is /data/system/batterystats.bin

I can't point you to the code
Battery usage statistics in Android is poor though it has improved considerably in Oreo. Without specifying the Android version and an accompanying screenshot your question about interpretation cannot be answered fully, but here's an example. Suppose you charged fully (100%) and used only YouTube and Chrome till it dropped to 70%. In app usage of it shows YouTube used 60%, it means 60 % of the drop (=30%) is used by it. In outlet words, 60*30 =18% of battery capacity is used by YouTube. Similarly for Chrome and other  apps. The total will never exactly match up. If you install GSam battery monitor, you get more meaningful interpretation


Will existing users be able to update the app if the app is blocked in their Play Store country

Probably, because in my country I have no access to some Google apps when I install custom ROM and want to download them, but if I use stock ROMs that come bundled with them, I can normally update them as I have them under "My Apps" in my Google account.

Think of it also from security reasons. It would be very bad if someone shipped an app with a security hole and then can't update it because it isn't available for that market.


How to use GPS/Maps without an Internet connection?

Note: many of these applications use map data from a really cool free map project called OSM (OpenStreetMap), which anyone can contribute to. OSM is constantly improving, but in many areas it may lack information like house/building numbers.

Free:

Google Maps

Google Maps does have some offline functionality (including offline navigation as of version 9.17), but the size of the area you can download is limited (you can't download an entire US state, for instance) and some countries or areas aren't available for download. See here for instructions: Download a map and use it offline

HERE Maps

Unless you're looking to support OSM, this is probably the best free option out there. It works offline, has maps in nearly 200 countries, and turn-by-turn navigation in over 100 countries. Features include full street addresses, points of interest, alternate routes, traffic, public transport, and speed limits. Notable features that are missing: ability to add multiple stops to a route, lane assist, rerouting based on traffic, and ability to navigate to contacts' addresses.

OsmAnd

Open-source, uses data from OSM.  Currently only has 2D navigation, but one of the better free options available.

MapFactor

OSM-based offline navigation.  Fairly basic but promising. TomTom maps available as an in-app purchase.

Navmii (formerly NavFree): North/Latin America, elsewhere

Ad-supported. Allows you to download maps for offline navigation, also OSM-based.  OSM has maps for the whole world, but for some reason Navmii only has maps available for certain countries, mostly in Europe and North America.

Many others based on OSM here: Android - OpenStreetMap Wiki

Paid:

CoPilot Live Premium: USA, elsewhere

CoPilot Live is a very nice, full-featured app, which will let you download maps ahead of time and use GPS offline. I ended up using it because the US version was so cheap compared to the other paid navigation apps, but I've been very pleased with the quality, features, customer support, and free app and map upgrades. It has all the features I could want in a GPS app, the only downsides being you have to have a paid subscription for traffic data (the paid app includes a free one-year subscription), and you will have to buy new maps if you travel outside your purchased area.

Other paid apps that I haven't used:

Garmin viago
Magellan SmartGPS
NDrive
Scout (formerly Skobbler): USA, elsewhere
Sygic
TomTom

There are detailed reviews of many Android GPS apps here: Android Sat Nav Apps


Can I make a flashable ZIP containing one or more APKs

This simplified example is inspired by this xda-developers thread.

It is handy to use adb but you don't need to.

Get a Java signing tool and keys

Your packaged ZIP needs to be signed. If you have a Java signing tool, great. If not, then you can consult the Google sources for signapk or download a ready-made signapk.jar from here, or here.

The latter also contains sample signing keys that you can use but you can make your own with OpenSSL:

$ openssl genrsa -out key.pem 1024
$ openssl req -new -key key.pem -out request.pem
$ openssl x509 -req -days 9999 -in request.pem -signkey key.pem -out certificate.pem
$ openssl pkcs8 -topk8 -outform DER -in key.pem -inform PEM -out key.pk8 -nocrypt

The following discussion assumes that you have a signapk directory containing signapk.jar, private key key.pk8 and certificate  certificate.pem(which contains the corresponding public key).

Prepare the ZIP contents

Create a working directory (the name is irrelevant):

$ mkdir apkzip
$ cd apkzip

Create the required structure

$ mkdir -p META-INF/com/google/android system/app

The next step is to create a file called updater-script that contains a script written in something called edify. A simple script that serves the requirement is shown below:

# META-INF/com/google/android/updater-script
mount("MTD", "system", "/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/system", "/system");
package_extract_dir("system", "/system");
unmount("/system");

The third parameter to mount is the block device path for the system partition. You can (optionally) verify this with:

$ adb shell grep system /proc/mounts
/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/system /system ext4 ...

You can embellish the updater-script with comments and progress bars, as illistrated by may examples on the web but it isn't necessary.

You also need to provide the interpreter for the script which is a file called update-binary that you can obtain from whatever rom you're using, such as CyanogenMod or ResurrectionRemix. Find it in the ROM's Zip file at the location META-INF/com/google/android/update-binary and copy it into the working directory tree at a similar location and alongside the updater-script created in the previous step.

Finally copy in the .apk files that you want in your ZIP. They need to go in individual directories like system/app/<app-name>/<apk-file> where <appName> is a directory named after the app (I don't think the name is relevant) and <apk-file> is the .apk file. There should be one .apk file per directory.

Your file hierarchy should now look similar to this:

./META-INF/com/google/android/updater-script
./META-INF/com/google/android/update-binary
./system/app/SomeApp/com.some.app.apk
./system/app/SomeOtherApp/com.some.other.app.apk

Create and sign the ZIP

Now create the signed ZIP (the -r recurses subdirectories):

$ zip -r /tmp/apps.zip *
$ cd ../signapk
$ java -jar signapk.jar certificate.pem key.pk8 /tmp/apps.zip apps.zip

Apply the ZIP to your device

Push the signed ZIP (the apps.zip created in the current (signapk) directory) to the device, choose a location that your recovery can see:

$ adb push apps.zip /mnt/media_rw/sdcard1/

(You don't have to use adb - you can use another method such as placing the SD card in your computer, etc).

Now reboot to recovery and flash or, in the case of a locked bootloader, use FlashFire or whatever method is prefferred for your device.

Other notes

You can read more about Edify:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/Edify_script_language
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=994940

It may be possible to replace update-binary with a shell script. An example of this can be seen in the OpenGApps ZIP files but I have not tried this.

The above works provided that the apps have no native libraries in them. If they do, then they must be be manually extracted from the .apk package (which is itself a ZIP file) /lib directory and placed under /system/vendor/lib in addition to placing the package in /system/app/....

As commented by @DeathMaskSalesman, signing is not required by TWRP, CWM or FlashFire so you can skip the signing steps if you prefer.

I have produced a utility that works on Linux or Android. Get apkzip here.


Samsung elected not to include all the texture compression formats when they integrated the Mali-400 GPU into the Exynos chip that powers the Galaxy S II. This is because some formats are patented and would require Samsung to pay a fee to the patent-holder to support them.

Because the S II was the first high-end phone not to support these formats, most game vendors weren't ready to use alternative texture compression formats in their games, and such games will draw with missing textures, like in your screenshot. Also, at the time the S II came out, Google Play made it very hard to support multiple texture formats with one app: you had to include all the formats in one APK file, making it unnecessarily large.

It's now much easier to build for different compression formats and automatically select the right textures for the device you're running on.


Cross device save as explained by Boggartfly, is to be enabled by the game developer to use Google Play Services.

However, if the game does not support the feature, you can always sync the game's data saved in /data folder of Android across the devices. Unfortunately, that tends to be a root-only option, since reading/writing from/to /data folder requires root access.

If you are willing to root your device, DataSync allows syncing of data across devices over WiFi/Bluetooth/Google Drive/DropBox/NFC. It is easy to use once you have understood the mechanics of it.

This applies to all the applications on your devices not just to games.


How to install Widgetsoid in system/app folder?

With ADB connected to the phone:

Mount/system in read-write mode.
Run the command adb push Widgetsoid.apk /system/app/Widgetsoid.apk
Remount /system as read-only.
Reboot your phone.


External usb bluetooth do not work in android 4.0.4 kernel 3.0.8+

I don't think that android supports external bluetooth adapters. From this Google+ post it seems like CyanogenMod is adding support for it soon. Depending on what device you have you may be able to root and install this.

If this is not an option then you would need to provide more details on what device you are trying to use the dongle with.


Android 5.1.1 no "move to SD Card" option

First I need you to tell me that you only are able to move a few apps. Often apps which include Google Play Services need to be in internal storage.

Check out first if any of your apps are able to be moved using the system (often games or apps like wikipedia). If not, just go to the Google Play Store and get an app which do that for you.


How did can I find important partions of any android devices?

You might want to take a look at this answer or, even better, at Android Folder Hierarchy, which most likely gives you the necessary details.

Using that information, your best approach to backup via ADB might be:

# find the device for the partition
mount | grep system
# from the output of the above (data from your screenshot), now back it up
# using "dd":
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p12 of=/mnt/sdcard2/system.img bs=1M

if is the device to back up, of the target (I just placed the image file in the root of your sdcard, you might wish to adjust that). Take care not to mix up the two, or you might destroy your system! (this is why dd sometimes is backronymed "data destroyer"). bs defines how much data to read/write in a single operation, my example uses 1 MB; you might play with this and e.g. use "8M" to speed things up, but do not set this too high.

Above example just handles the /system partition. Repeat it similarly for any of the other ones listed in the linked question which you want to have backed up.


Opening google hangouts or another voip based sms app from browser links

Answering my own question, but still welcome other better/easier to implement solutions.

There is an app - xvoiceplus that can make third party apps use gv for sms. This should do the trick for me however it requires xposed framework which in turn requires the phone to be rooted.

Installation instructions here


The Android Wear watch has a feature called: OK Google... your_command. To use it download Google Now on your android phone. You can talk to your watch anytime you want and use commands like:

set an alarm
set a timer for 10 minutes
call Steve
text Steve, how are you?
open <your_app> //example: open Google Maps
take a note, buy cat food at the supermarket.
remind me over 10 minutes, buy cat food at the supermarket.
hello //use this command to see a list of available commands.

Hope my answer helps you!


How can I translate Chinese and Japanese text without typing it?

You can use Google Translate app, you can take photos which contain texts using the app and it'll detect it and translate it.


What's the difference between a factory image and a ROM?

The factory image is just the ROM that's on the phone when it leaves the factory. It sounds like you might be thinking about different kinds of ROMs.

When you download a stock ROM from the phone's manufacturer (or elsewhere), it usually includes the image for the system partition and one for the stock recovery. In contrast, when you download a custom ROM, it usually just includes the image for the system partition, and it's expected that you already have CWM, TWRP, or some other third-party recovery installed.

Obviously you need fastboot to flash the recovery - you can't overwrite the recovery when it's running - so you need fastboot to flash a factory image (when it includes the recovery and the system image), but not necessarily if you're just flashing the system image (from a custom ROM).

A ROM can be a custom ROM or a stock ROM (aka factory image). The difference only comes because of the different ways that first- and third-party ROMs are distributed.


Can't update Nexus S. Stuck at "waiting for download"

Restarting your phone should resolve the issue.


The hardware is different on each device. In addition there's added value software like more advanced camera functionality from the manufacturer which needs to look good on the new release.

LG has features loke knock-code.

Samsung has skins and special hardware like a wacom digitizer on the note series.


Wheel behaviour for HTC Desire (setting alarm)

On my Desire with InsertCoin 1.1.0 (CM7 + Sense) the "smart scroll" feature is only active on the scroller for specifying the appointment time in the calendar.


How to browse files on my PC from my Android phone via USB?

It is matter of "master" and "slave". The master can see what is inside the slave but not the countrary. When you plug your phone to the PC, the PC is the master and the phone is the slave. Consequently you cannot explore what is inside your PC with your phone.


Recovering the contacts, SMS and call log from SD card

Your assumption that Contacts, SMS and Call Logs are automatically saved to the SD Card was incorrect. They are indeed stored on the internal memory of the device. /data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/ is the most likely storage location. That can change though, depending on Android OS version, manufacturer/carrier modifications, or even 3rd-party apps that you use in place of built-in Contacts/Phone/Messaging apps.

Unless you synced your contacts to your Google account, backed up SMS and call logs, they are now lost after a factory reset.


Is there a reasoning to how often and long the notification light blinks?

Some apps will use the LED to indicate that there is a notification. For instance, the LED blinks green for me when I've received an e-mail message and blinks blue when Twitter has a message for me.

There's no consistency as to how to manage these, however. For instance Google Voice has it under Menu | More | Settings | Sync and notifications | Light, but no way to choose the color. Gmail doesn't offer any way to control it.


You can use these 2 recovery softwares to recover data from a damaged partition table if this is the case:

http://www.recovermyfiles.com/data-recovery-software-download.php

http://www.piriform.com/recuva


Galaxy S3 GT-I9300 Stuck at Samsung logo with no recovery and no download mode

Does your volume up button work? If i'm not wrong, Download mode never fails to boot into.
Let's assume it is not working and in this case, you'll need a way to force boot in download mode.
There are two methods I could find:

Using a USB JIG (and here)
Using a software called Samsung 300K Tool (Video)

After that, flash stock firmware and everything should work now.

Other solution would be replacing the volume buttons flex cable or making jumpers from the volume contact to the motherboard. Schematic below:

And

Source: gsmhosting.com


How can I make Google Maps speak the street names when the voice is set to a foreign language?

The best answer would be for GOOGLE TO PLEASE FIX IT so we can have an option to turn street name speaking on or off regardless of the chosen system language and the chosen Google Maps spoken language (they should be functionally separate).

However, this is the only current work-around I have been able to discover:

the solution is simply to change your entire phone language to the foreign language you want spoken, as apparently the street names can only be spoken in the phone's default language. This is dumb.

Anyway: main phone settings --> System --> Languages & input --> Languages --> Add a language --> choose the one you want (ex: French) --> tap and hold the hamburger icon (3 horizontal bars) next to this new language and drag it up to re-order this language to be on the very top (it is now your default system language).

That's it! Now, back in your Google Maps navigation settings you'll see that the default language (French) is now chosen, and under it it says what it used to say for the English default language: "Prononce les noms de rues" (Speak street names). It now speaks street names in French, just like it used to do for English. However, the down-side is that my entire phone is now in French instead of just the audio for my Google Maps, like I wanted. Google, please fix this!


Where to report a bug in a keyboard app?

If you're using the stock Android keyboard, you can report it on the central Android bug tracker. Be warned that there are already more than 25000 reports there, and many never receive any response from Google.

If you find a bug in a third-party keyboard you're using, visit the keyboard's page in Google Play (either through the Play Store app or on the website) and click Email developer.

Lastly, and this definitely isn't applicable in this case, if you find a bug in a device manufacturer's keyboard (such as the Samsung Keyboard found on Samsung phones), the answer will depend on which manufacturer, so you should contact their product support in the first instance. Hardware manufacturers tend not to have publicly-accessible bug trackers.


What is the baseband and do i need to update mine?

The way I understand it is that the baseband or radio partition is firmware used by the baseband processor, which is physically different from the application processor. The BP also has its own RAM and communicates with the android kernel via a process called the RIL (Radio Interface Layer).

When you install/update a new ROM this should not touch the baseband. So if your android ROM is having trouble communicating with the cellular hardware, the RIL part of the kernel might be to blame. This may be because the newer RIL expects  a more modern baseband version.

So basically your baseband becomes an outdated dependency if you upgrade your ROMs long enough. To fix either downgrade the ROM (Kernel) or upgrade the baseband. Note there are risks involved with flashing the baseband. See also What is radio.


What's the difference between real dual-touch and fake dual-touch?

The difference between real dual-touch and fake dual-touch has to do with how the screen is built. Real touch screens have an additional layer to allow for additional inputs. There are ways to emulate dual-touch with software. This is helpful in the case of your particular phone.

This XDA forum page has a list of updates for particular ROMs including 2 stock ROMs which enable fake dual touch.


How to tweak tablet settings to install TextSecure?

It seems possible if you have (another) phone number

According to Wikipedia on Signal (the new name: "In November 2015, the TextSecure and RedPhone applications on Android were merged to become Signal for Android."):

  Signal requires that the user has a phone number for verification.
  The number does not have to be the same as on the device's SIM card
  [...]. A number can only be registered to one device at a time.

How to register

Basically the FAQ states you can register with a different number:

  Request a call for the verification number after the two minute timeout.

(Which phone number is shown as sender is also explained in the FAQ.)

How to build from source (& install)

According to an old issue on their site, it was only three commands build and install from source:

git pull
ant release
adb install -r bin/TextSecure-release.apk

How to download APK (& install) - this maybe risky(!!)

According to this Github-issue:

  multi-device support is on the roadmap

But in the meantime, one can try downloading the APK from other websites, e.g. (same issue):

  You can try sideloading the app via https://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/.

This is a user response, I do not know if/how trustworthy this site is!!!  But, based on the present Playstore-link for Signal that link would be: https://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/?id=org.thoughtcrime.securesms .

Why no APK-download or ...store

I do not know, why Signal does not allow installing to a device without SIM (yet), and they may (see quote above). I do know, why they did (do?) not distribute their APK-s for 'wild' installation, see this issue:

No upgrade channel for effective security
No app scanning (possible malware problems)
No crash reporting
No stats to prioritize development and platforms
Not a privacy win
To not encourage "allow 3rd party APK-s" by 'naive users'
It is still possible to install by building from source for 'power users' (only)


Camera - Using the flash to illuminate in camera mode?

The built-in camera app (on vanilla Android and every other device I've personally seen) doesn't support this. The flash will only come on as the picture is being taken, and you cannot set it to provide continuous light when taking a picture.

There are two potential options, depending somewhat on the version of Android you're using. One option would be to use the video mode (with the flash enabled) and capture images as you're recording, then discard the video at the end. You should be able to do this on newer versions of Android by tapping the screen while video is recording. I believe this only works on Jelly Bean (or later), but manufacturers have implemented this themselves in a few cases (ex: The Galaxy S3).

A second option would be to use a third-party camera application. Camera MX, for example, allows you to put the flash into "torch" mode while taking pictures. Simply tap on the lightning bolt icon until the small infinity symbol appears on top of it:


How to remove an app from recent apps list?

As mentioned in the comments the way to close individual apps in the Samsung One UI is to simply "swipe" that app away.

The two gestures I have here are swiping up on the app to close it or swiping down to maximise it.


How can I identify the cache if I see its name? One name is suspicious

First, I have no affiliation with the app SD Maid.

Without root the app SD Maid can show you the emulated path and name of its public cache of user installed apps.

Within the apps settings menu
Go to AppCleaner
then press the green circle at the bottom right corner to start the scan.
Next press the circle on the right with the i in the center of it.

This will show the path and name of the apps public cache.

Edit: Thanks to darken who is the app developer whom suggested:

  "Enable 'Show Systemapps' within in SD Maid's AppControl settings"

  "After a scan just search for "buzz", if it is a distinct app it should find something."

  "The search will look for both packagenames and app names of all types of apps except maybe instant apps if you don't have root."

I was also playing around with settings.

within the AppCleaner settings select show inaccessible items
next start a scan within the AppCleaner
scroll down and select the i if suspected app shows up

This will broaden the scan to show inaccessible app caches. This possibily will help narrow down the probable malicious app.

That is about the best you are going to be able to get without root.

Root access is need to access the apps private cache which is stored within /data/data/.


HTC One (m7ul) not found by ADB + formatted filesystem = bricked?

Woah! I'm not entirely sure what happened, but it suddenly started working again - I now have CM 11 up and running.

Here are some notes on what I was doing which will hopefully be helpful for someone else who has the same problems I did:

First off, I was running Windows 8 in a Parallels VM. I don't know if either Windows 8 or the VM was the culprit, but either way, it was silly and probably didn't help things. Getting ADB and FastBoot up and running in OS X seemed to make a difference.
Also, there is a chance that there were some problems with directory partitioning/formatting - it suddenly started working after I wiped the system a few times with TWRP (Wipe > Format Data) and rebooted. Obviously you'll lose everything, but better to lose a few files and get your phone back!

Other info that I found that wasn't relevant to me but might make a difference:

Apparently USB 3 can cause issues - try different USB ports, particularly USB 2 over USB 3.
Windows 8 may not play nice - try Windows 7 or XP (or Linux!)


Moving applications from the Internal Storage to my SD Card

i achieved that, with you diferent way, one was with the aplication ES File Explorer that allow you move files manually and it give to you more options that the configuration of the android, and the other way that i use was download a apk of the app i really dont know why with the apk app allow me to change the Location and with the official not.


So, to do this I went to the mounts and storage and used the format /data and /system option. Apparently the other options by themselves (/data and /system) do a different thing. I have a feeling this rebuilt my partition table.

As Izzy suggested I had a look at manually formatting it but it seems that that route is a little short-lived. I'd reccomend for anyone reading this to make sure they try the /sdcard format on the recovery.

in CWM is has these options format /data format /cache and one that says format /data and /data/media (/sdcard) the latter works the former doesn't.


How do you remove Facebook birthday from "My Calendars"?

This was reported in the Android Central forum here with a link to LifeHacker. It sounds like it will allow you to sync your Facbook calendar without the birthdays because you're exporting the events directly from Facebook. First, you may want to undo the sync that you have going on now. Hope it helps.

Quoting the post from Android Central:

  just go to your google
  calendar thats linked with your google
  account on your phone and then follow
  this article.

  Add Your Facebook Events to Google
  Calendar

  In Facebook, go to your EVENTS page.
  At the top of that page click EXPORT EVENTS
  You'll get a pop up window with a URL, copy it.
  In Google Cal, on the bottom left you'll see ‘Other Calendars' and below
  that a link to ADD. Click ADD
  One of the new options you'll be presented with is ADD BY URL, select
  that
  Paste the URL from Facebook where it asks for it.

  and thats it! when your phone calendar
  syncs with your google calendar, all
  your facebook events will show up too
  and no birthdays.


Titanium backup : restore from Rootbox to a Samsung stock based rom

There are multiple things to be considered.
First, you're absolutely correct: you should avoid restoring system apps. There might be some exceptions (as e.g. SMS, contacts, calendars are maintained by system apps as well), but let's postpone that for now.
Second, user-apps should be safe to restore, including their data.
Third, just to be sure, before restoring anything on a different ROM/device, you should take some pre-cautions: Go to TiBu's settings, watch out for the "Troubleshooting" section, and enable "migration mode" as well as "use system SQLite" (this combination saved my day more than once). While in "normal mode" e.g. SQLite databases would be simply replaced (which might cause the "owning app" to crash if the structure had changed), with "migration mode" TiBu attempts to only merge the data.
Forth, with above precautions taken, you could carefully try to even restore some of the relevant data (SMS, WiFi APs, etc.). To be on the absolutely safe side, a dedicated backup app for SMS etc. would be the better idea; contacts e.g. could be synced via Google or exported to .vcf using the Contacts app itself, similarly calendars (sync or save to .ics using a 3rd party app).
Last, just in case and to be on the sfe side: Restore your apps/data one by one, and check for possible side-effects in between; continue with the resp. "next app" only when you're sure everything is fine. Once running into trouble, remember which app that was; then factory-reset and restore all up to where you got allright (in case it was a system-app) or simply uninstall the troublemaker (in case of an user-app), skip the "trouble app", and continue carefully with the next.

After-thoughts from the comments:

the above applies to system apps and user-apps (the "one-by-one" especially applies to system apps, as you cannot uninstall them it something fails; though in most cases it suffices to "delete data" for the affected app in Settings→Apps – if you still can go there, that is)
the above applies as well when restoring a backup on a different device (as basically, that can be called a "different ROM" as well, right?)
possible side-effects might include force-close-loops of the affected app, even on device start – which again would require a factory-reset if it was a system app (or a user-app which wants to start at boot). With some luck, a start in safe-mode is possible in those cases, and you might be able solving the issue from there.
example case for a failed restore (from my own experience): I once restored the SMS from a different ROM (didn't know about the migration option then). Results were I couldn't open the SMS app at all (force-close). Other apps accessing the same database crashed when trying to do so (e.g. contacts). "Delete data" didn't solve it back then, so I had to factory-reset.
worst cases (at least if you left out system apps themselves; their data is OK) are always solved by a factory-reset. Really worst-case (you restored some system apps and broke it) is solved by re-flashing the ROM.


How to root HTC Desire (Froyo 2.2) without putting in a custom ROM (flashing)?

Unrevoked 3 will root the HTC Desire without replacing the ROM, however it does reflash the recovery ROM: http://unrevoked.com/#desire


Compiling and running java applications from android terminal?

I found an app on the play store that let me answer this question. Below are the steps I used to get javac and java running.

Install Terminal IDE

Go to the play store and install Terminal IDE, this supports everything needed to write and run java applications: vim, javac, and java.

Once the app is installed, make sure you open the app and go to Install System to install everything needed.

Compile and Run Program

Now press the Terminal IDE button to open the terminal.

Use vim to write and save your hello world program.

Then to execute it has to be compiled to a JAR file:

# javac hello.java
# dx --dex --output=hello.jar hello.class
# java -jar hello.jar hello

Pitfalls

When I first tried to compile and execute I got

UNEXPECTED TOP-LEVEL EXCEPTION:
java.lang.RuntimeException: hello.class: file not readable

This issue was fixed by compiling and running as superuser. Here's the full terminal output of my issue

terminal++@192.168.1.30:~$ javac hello.java
terminal++@192.168.1.30:~$ dx --dex --output=hello.jar hello.class

UNEXPECTED TOP-LEVEL EXCEPTION:
java.lang.RuntimeException: hello.class: file not readable
        at com.android.dx.util.FileUtils.readFile(FileUtils.java:63)
        at com.android.dx.cf.direct.ClassPathOpener.processOne(ClassPathOpener.java:139)
        at com.android.dx.cf.direct.ClassPathOpener.process(ClassPathOpener.java:113)
        at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.processOne(Main.java:247)
        at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.processAllFiles(Main.java:183)
        at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.run(Main.java:139)
        at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.main(Main.java:120)
        at com.android.dx.command.Main.main(Main.java:89)
        at com.spartacusrex.spartacuside.external.dx.main(dx.java:14)
        at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
1 error; aborting
terminal++@192.168.1.30:~$ su
# dx --dex --output=hello.jar hello.class
# java -jar hello.jar hello
Hello world
#

More Information

Everything you could possibly want to know can be found in the Help section of the Terminal IDE app, especially in the Java sections of the Tutorial.


Can I mute sound notifications, but allow chat heads on Facebook Messenger?

The trick is to look in the Android settings for this, rather than in the Facebook messenger.

In Settings -> Notifications it will list all of your applications, and the notifications settings they have.

Some applications will have several notifications tfor the given app.

In the 'chat and calls' notifications - you can disallow sound. The downside here is that this will also prevent Messenger calls from making a sound.


Assuming you don't protect your wifi with a password, then its likely that your phone automatically scans for open wifi connection and connects to 'nearest'. However, this only happens if you are no longer connected to or out of range of your desired network. So

Disabling auto scan for open network may ensure that you only connect to the active one.
Once you are done with the other networks, always remember to press "forget" on the wifi option

On the other hand if you have a password, then obviously you have stored the password of all the connection and using the "forget" option would mean entering the password each time.

So it may be that the strength of your desired connection is too weak or lost and the phone decides to connect to the nearest one, in which case there is nothing you can do but to make sure you are connected to the "right" network.

Hope it helped...


Cannot root Verizon Galaxy S5 with towelroot

The vulnerability towelroot used has been fixed within Android 4.4.2. Check your version.
Plus, as you can read here, geohot, developer of towelroot, now works for Google, so probably there won't be updates.

I wouldn't recommend any other root method: it could invalidate your warranty. See this article.


Can I boot into other OS (such as Ubuntu) from an Android OS tablet that have a USB host?

Short answer: No.
Longer answer: The thumb-drive version of Ubuntu is for x86 processors. There are ways to run Ubuntu in Android, all of them requiring a Ubuntu port with an ARM architecture. Search for Complete Linux Installer in the Play Store for basic stuff. It will rum on top of Android in a virtualized environment, and you can connect to its environment and everything. Just download the image and put it on your flash drive instead.


what to do for VOLTE in India's jio network?

If you want to flash a new ROM then you should collect essential information from XDA forums about your device. Flashing a new ROM is a risky task so you must create a backup or something to fix your handset.

If you don't want to risk anything then use Jio4GVoice https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jio.join&hl=en . You can Call, SMS, etc without a VoLTE enabled handset.


What is the difference between system memory and internal storage?

"System Storage" is where the OS and the System Applications are installed. This could also be considered where the User application are installed (based on your question). User installed applications are installed in /data/apps, settings and app data is stored in /data/data, and then application cache data is stored in /cache. These are all part of the "System Storage".

Internal Storage is an area that is used like an sdcard. As far as the Android OS is concerned, it is an sdcard. Some applications may save data to it, but it is mainly used as direct storage for your stuff. Like pictures taken with the camera, music, ringtones, things like that.

You cannot just adjust the size of system memory. Is it technically possible, yes. But doing so could require you to have knowledge of linux tool, rooting, custom roms, recoveries, and even possibly having to compile your own linux kernel and ROM or other information that I am not thinking of at the moment. Which is well beyond the scope of this site.


How do I enable birthday reminders or view birthdays as events in Calendar on Nexus 4

..., but if it is not possible, do you know of a simple reminder app that does not ask for full Internet access?

The topic is also discussed in the Google forum for the calender application and indeed there seem to be only workarounds.

There is also an app mentioned, which does provide the notifications for the birthdays and does not need Internet access: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.noyer.consulting.contactevents.pro

That is a paid app for a small amount, but there is also a free version with Internet access for advertisements: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.noyer.consulting.contactevents.free

If you just want to try the free version if it works for you, you could perform the following steps:

Download the free app in the Play Store
Turn your device into flight mode
Start the app
In Android 6 or higher: Grant access to adress book at first start
Check the app, widget etc. (Notifications are only raised at midnight)
Uninstall the app
Turn off flight mode
Decide if it worth to get the Pro version