Trying to flash CWM but fastboot hangs at "writing 'recovery'..."

Use towelroot.apk to get root this app isn't available on the play store though. fastboot can be activated by simply removing the battery and pluging the USB in but is only really needed for flashing a new rom but once flashed you need a pc with adb to access the recovery menu to do a factory reset or your fone will fail to start the latest kitkat rom can be found on the yulong site but you'll need to translate the site as it is in Chinese and root is possible with kitkat 4.4.4 but I've found the rom for this phone to be a bit stuttery really I want to reflash 4.4.2 as it runs smoother and can clock down to 300mhz where as 4.4.4 only goes as low as 787mhz there is flashing software for this phone provided by yulong but can't remember what its called


Why does the YubiKey Neo only use Firefox, not Chrome?

Have you tried clearing your defaults for your browser? If you have Firefox set as your default browser, anytime anything on your phone makes a request that needs to be handled by a browser, Firefox will start up by default with no other options.

You can easily tell if Firefox is set by default by tapping a link in another application, such as email or Facebook.  If you are presented with a list of apps to choose from to open the link (e.g. Firefox or Chrome) and 2 buttons - one to use the chosen app every time to open links moving forward, and one to open the link with that app just this one time only - you have no default browser set.  If instead when you click on the link Firefox opens immediately, Firefox is set as your default.  This could be what is happening here with your YubiKey.


Can't get Cyanogenmod onto internal root

CWM shouldn't have put your phone into a loop.  In any case, you can use adb push from your PC to put the update.zip file onto your internal storage at /sdcard.  (ADB is include with the Android SDK Tools.)


Is there a way to remove everything in my Android phone Contacts and then transfer everything in Gmail contacts into the phone contacts?

If you only want a particular contact group to appear in the contacts app on your phone, then you can achieve it pretty easily by using the Contacts to display option in your Contacts app.

Open Contacts app.
Tap on the 3 dots at top right, choose Settings.
Select Contacts to display > customize.
Expand your Google account and uncheck all the other groups and keep only My Contacts.

Do note that when performing a search within contacts, it will still search within all the available contacts. But under normal display it will only show your 97 contacts stored under My Contacts group.


You can't do anything. The Nexus 7 3G doesn't support voice calls.


Is it possible to flash CM for Samsung S3 I9300 on different version?

Simply no.

i939 is a China Telecom variant, and has a CDMA baseband, along with other minor differences (there's a variant of i939 itself that even differs in dimensions). Unless the build was specifically marked as compatible with multiple variants (e.g.  S3 Qualcomm versions, aka d2lte, share a single CM build), the build will be limited to that model only. It's even more obvious considering i9300 is a GSM-only device.


USB Drivers for Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo Duos GT-I9060I?

Try ADB drivers and see if it works.

The download link is here - http://adbdriver.com/downloads/


How to change default username in Google Play?

You can try adding another gmail account through the "accounts & sync" (or whatever your manufacturer calls it) section of the Settings.  You may be able to choose that other account when you visit the Play store, depending on your specific device.  In many cases, however, the gmail account you used when you activated the device for the first time can only be changed by performing a factory reset of the device.


How to get search of different location?

You can use applications like FakeGPS.

Using which you can mock your device's location. Hope this helps you


Instagram Login Error - sorry there was a problem with your request instagram

I had the same problem few weeks ago and i figured two ways to get over it.

This option is for people who have a different phone in handy. You just have to login to your instagram using a different phone(and the irony is that it allows you to login there). Then you link your instagram with facebook. Logout from instagram and then log back in to instagram using your original phone with facebook.

Now, if you don't have another phone with you or you don't have a facebook account, you can try option 2.

This option requires you to download an app called parallel space. this app basically clones all the apps present on your device. And then using this app you can successfully login to your instagram.


What actually gets backed up, how many times?

Q1:Are both apps using the same physical copy or are there two copies?

They are both the same copy. Both apps scan the location the photo is stored, and the location contains only 1 copy of the file. If you have 5 copies of the same file, in the same folder, both apps will show you 5 photos, not 10.

  Q2:Is this a special arrangement between Google and WhatsApp, because I cannot see anything regarding this in https://drive.google.com.

I presume yes. On Android, WhatsApp uses Drive for backups, while on iOS, it uses iCloud.

  Q3:Does this mean that my WhatsApp photo B is backed up to my Google Drive in account Y as well as the special WhatsApp backup in Google Drive in account X?

Yes. Although the accounts are differents, both apps have been configured to access the same folder (in this case, WhatsApp Images). Thus, when backing up files, they both backup the same files in both accounts.


Nexus 7 stuck at Google logo, and system recovery, and OEM locked

This sounds like a common bug that has been reported on recently by Android Police. To summarize:

  Affected units stop booting at the "Google" logo screen.   Attempts to
  unlock the device through fastboot fail at the "erasing userdata..."
  step, leaving the devices locked.  Some users report successfully
  flashing factory images on unlocked devices, but this still doesn't
  fix the problem.  There are mixed reports about starting up in
  Recovery, with some users complaining that the Nexus 7 freezes, and
  others being able to get in to perform some maintenance.

There are no know solutions at this time. Sorry to bring bad news. I hope I'm not right.


adb pull says it pulled all of the files from my Android phone into my Windows PC but in reality it didn't

Just pulling all files via adb to a WIndows computer has multiple problems:

Android/Linux allows multiple files in one directory that just differ in their case.
The file-system on Linux allow characters in file- and directory names that are disallowed on Windows
Some file-names are completely disallowed on Windows which are just regular file-names on Linux/Android
There is a path limit as you have already mention that may cause trouble

Hence the best solution to create a full backup of the sd-card is to pack all files into one tar archive as all file-system limitation of Windows can bypassed using this method.

Via adb you create a full backup of the sd-card using the following command:

adb exec-out "cd /storage/emulated/0 && tar c * -" > sdcard.tar

This command creates the tar archive on the device and directly streams the data of the tar archive through adb to your PC and saves it there as sdcard.tar.


There are several applications available that will read the log. In Android there is only one major log, where everything is written to.

Per application a different Tag is used in the log. So to find out information about the WiFi, you have to find out what the exact tag is. That way you can filter out all these messages, for me it was something like "WiFiStateMachine" for WiFi.

Next to the application mentioned by Abhishek Sha (Log Collector), there is also aLogcat. I have used this application multiple times, and always helped me to find the problem.


Permissions and owners of /system/etc/hosts

Those are the correct permissions and owner/group for hosts.

Beyond that, you would need to add additional information to your question for further assistance.


How do I root my Huawei S7-961wd aka PLDT Telpad QS?

Tick Unknown Sources
Download Master Root APK for Android 4.1.2 +
It's in Chinese, just follow through then click the RED button.
SuperSU will be installed automatically
Enjoy!

You can watch this video for more information.


How to Have Google Keep Button in Chrome of Android?

Press Settings icon (three dots at the top-right corner) > Share > Google Keep. After once done it, you will get Google Keep icon directly in Settings > next to Share such that you do not need not go deep again and again


How can I prevent my HTC Desire from overheating?

[I also have a HTC Desire]

Your device overheats because its hardware is strained a lot during heavy use such as turn-by-turn navigation. This is compounded by the fact you probably have plugged it in the car charger as well, which is also known to generate some amount of heat (you probably have noticed this yourself when charging your phone normally).

There doesn't seem much that you can do to alleviate the problem, except turning off turn-by-turn navigation and only use the map to show you the route. You might also want to check whether there are other apps and services that strain unnecessary the device (frequent syncing could be an issue, as well as Bluetooth and mobile internet).


How to change the home dock icons on TouchWiz?

The way it works on my SGS2 Android 4.0 is

Click on applications,
Click menu button, select "edit"

Now the screen shows several app icons you can change, but at the bottom are also the home buttons. All home buttons except for the most right one ("start page" or "home page") can be dragged and dropped, and you can move other app icons to the row with the home buttons.

Note that this only works if at step 1 you are in grid view, otherwise change to grid view in the menu first.

If this doesn't work, there may be some additional carrier software that prevents it.


Root using PC - One Click Root via PC
Root using app - KingRoot

Use the first method first for safer rooting. There are chances of bricking the phone while rooting. Warranty will be void if applicable. No guaranty is implied that it will work on the device because each device follows a particular procedure.

Note: Enable Developer Options > USB debugging in Settings before doing anything. This option might help you recover/repair phone if any mishap occurs.


Retrive data from Broken + Locked Screen Samsung Galaxy S Duos

The problem is not with the phone, but with the charger!

I've experienced this as well with cheap crapware (possibly Chinese-made). The reason they cause this behavior is the cheap design that doesn't provide a sufficient decoupling of the voltage and also a bad ripple current.

Furthermore, they do not meet any safety standards. The one I used blew the fuse of my house. Thankfully, no other devices damaged. Also, a Chinese woman has reportedly been electrocuted by using a cheap charger.  Whether it's true or not, I strongly advise against using those chargers. It doesn't have to be from the phone manufacturer, but it's for sure a good idea to get some quality (and none-fake!) charger.

Once you use the original charger again, your phone should be working again normally.

PS:
Read this article for an in-depth explanation at the example of fake iPhone-chargers
http://www.righto.com/2012/03/inside-cheap-phone-charger-and-why-you.html


How do I mount a Synology remote folder on Android 8.0?

No specific configuration beyond the availability of published shares is required.

Sometimes issues arise due to the stability and capabilities or lack thereof of Android apps to mount the shares. The following apps have been tested and were able to reliably and successfully access SMB shares from the Synology server (at 2 June 2020) using a simple combination of (server) IP Address, username and password:

LAN drive, Cx File Explorer, X-plore, File Commander


android phone not connecting to the internet

Can you see The SSID of available network's. When you click on the SSID does it say connect but no internet? Press and hold the SSID and select forget this will disconnect then reconnect make sure the password is correct if no password the you may need to agree to the terms


it probably is a bug, try to install the old firmware, then install android 2.0, pheraps it risolve your problem


My internet doesn't work on my phone any more

I have an Android phone on EE that experienced the same issue, you could try the following steps (below are for Vodafone UK):

Tap the Menu button
Tap Settings
Tap Wireless and networks or More... (depending on your version of Android)
Tap Mobile Networks
Tap Access point names
Tap the Menu button
Tap New APN
Enter the following data into the onscreen form, without changing any other settings;
Name - Vodafone Internet
APN - internet (PAYG - pp.vodafone.co.uk)
Username - web (PAYG - wap)
Password - web (PAYG - wap)
MMSC - http://mms.vodafone.co.uk/servlets/mms
MMS Proxy - 212.183.137.12
MMS Port - 8799
Authentication type - PAP
APN type - If given a choice, select internet+mms, if the keyboard appears enter *
(As a check, the image below shows blue text in the fields you should have completed)
Tap the Menu button
Tap Save
Enable the newly-added APN by ensuring the line is ticked, or the radio button is lit by tapping on it
Check the notification bar for 4G, H, 3G, E or G with up and down arrows beside it, which will indicate your connection is working

These instructions are from http://www.geeksquad.co.uk/articles/vodafone-apn-settings and their EE ones worked for me.

Good luck!


Why does my device shows a resolution other than that advertised?

You haven't specified the Android version, but on tablets the difference is generally because the system bar (or "combined bar") is 48px (specifically, 48dpi, but in your case that's 48 real pixels) and the apps are only considering available screen space when they report the resolution:

Portrait = 768 x (976 + 48) = 768 x 1024
Landscape = 1024 x (720 + 48) = 1024 x 768

Some references:

What is the true available resolution of a 10.1 Android tablet?
Asus TF101 tablet status bar steals 48 pixels
Metrics and Grids (from developer.android.com; explains why 48 dpi was chosen for UI components)


Why do apps stop supporting older Android versions after some time?

There are two ways to support old Android versions:

Build one app that makes use of compatibility patches to supports old Android versions (down to a specific version) but also support all modern Android versions.

Build two or more apps each for a set of Android versions.

The second option is of course very costly as you have to develop maintain each app app version independently (or at least large parts of the app). This way is often not used or only if the app has been completely rewritten for new devices and for old devices the old version remains with minimal to no support.
Therefore the common way is option 1 – one app that has all compatibility fixes included. The main problem is that newer Android versions include interesting new features that are not (fully) available using the compatibility system Google provides. Therefore if you want to make use of them and the functionality is not optional in your app, app developers may decide to drop support of older Android versions in favor if being able to use new features of new Android versions. Decreasing the number of supported Android versions simplifies the app as old workarounds can be removed and don't have to be maintained anymore. And of course it removes the necessity to test the app on such old devices which can be a problem if you want to test your app on physical devices (not emulators) as old devices break and are more and more difficult to get.


Yes and no
It does take energy to reboot, but it isn't the phone rebooting that takes this energy. The energy is lost through hystersis which the battery algorithm is accounting for.
Krexington_III, who worked for a summer as a fuel gauging engineer for a major cellphone manufacturer in northern Europe and says:

Hysteresis is simply the fact that once we've got the battery
discharging, if we stop discharging it (say, by turning the phone
off), it will keep on discharging by itself for a short while.

(Paragraph 3)
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1qrdc9/eli5how_do_digital_devices_know_how_much_energy/
Phones need time to tell how much energy the battery has, and don't keep track of the battery while it is off. Your phone was programed to estimate that 2% was taken away while the phone was off due to Hystersis. Your other phone does not make this estimation (the user won't notice).
I suggest reading Krexington_III's post for (a lot) more information on how phone batteries and their algorithms work.


Permission denied on /system/xbin/su when trying to unroot Sony Xperia L

You have to remount read-only partitions with a permission of read and write first.

# mount -o rw,remount /
# mount -o rw,remount /system

Now, you can do anything.


Cannot install ip webcam app on Nexus 6p

One thing I forgot to mention was this phone was stuck in a drawer for over a year. Ended up I had to update all of the apps in the play store and I guess some system app was also updated along the way. after that it installed fine.


Follow the steps below:
I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU DAMAGE YOUR PHONE AND THIS WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY

This will root your phone and install a custom recovery.

Windows is required

Install the Samsung drivers. (links at bottom of the post)
Download the s7562 Rooting Kit.
Extract The kit, and open Odin.
In Odin click on PDA and choose the Recovery.tar
Now, on your device:
 a. Switch on USB debugging
 b.Put Cwm_SuperSU or Cwm_SuperUser, just choose one, I prefer Cwm_SuperSU
 c.Turn your device off and boot it in download mode ( Hold Vol_Down & Home & Power until you see light coming out from the device, then if you see warning click Vol_Up.
Connect your phone to the windows pc and you should see this in Odin: Com:****
Make sure to Have : Auto Reboot & F. Reset time & Pda Checkedd after you done Step 5 & 6.
Remove the back Cover of your phone ( you must do that )
Now Click on START in odin
You should see a Blue bar in the download mode on your device
Wait till it's finished.
When it finishes. When you see the samsung logo, remove your battery
Remove the Usb cable from your device, and reinsert the battery
Now you changed your Stock Recovery, With CWM_Recovery. Now you want to go to your new recovery, by pressing Vol_Down & Vol_Up & Home & Power release the buttons when you see the samsung logo.

Note : Your touchscreen is disabled here , move with your Vol_Up / Vol_down and choose with Home button and go back with back button.
Optional Make a backup in CWM recovery to external Sd-Card.
now choose Install Zip from sdCard and go to Choose zip from Sdcard Or From internal sd Card ( Depends on where you put your Cwm_SUperuser)
Now go to where you have put your CWM_Superuser / Cwm_SuperSU and click on the home button, and click yes and now wait till it has finished.
Now go back and choose Reboot System now.

Now you should have root:-)

Files:
Samsung kies : http://www.samsung.com/us/kies/
Droidzer Rooting kit : http://d-h.st/BtL

Hope my answer helped.


Restoring purchase of premium features after reinstall

Applications often have a Restore In-App Purchase option in the settings.

Other applications may ask you to "buy again" the item, but you're not actually spending any money again.

It is often mentioned how you can restore your purchases in the application's description on Google Play or in the help category of the application (if any). You can always contact the developer for more information.

(Note that we are talking about Non-consumables purchases, it means purchases that are permanently associated with one's google account. More Information.)


Transferring a specific app from one Android device to another

You'll need to do a full backup of that app, i.e. including its data. That usually requires root, but there are some solutions for this specific case to make it work without root – see Full Backup of non-rooted devices. The two candidates you should look at:

adb backup -f <appname>.backup -apk <package_name>
Helium Backup (an app which does this on-device, but will need to be initialized via ADB)

Basically, there's no way around adb for this. For details, see the linked question with its answers, and our adb tag-wiki.

Note: As Death Mask Salesman correctly pointed out, apps can opt out of ADB backups (developers can include a flag in their apps' Manifests advising the system to not permit ADB to back it up). So if your app falls into that category: bad luck without root.


How to keep Apps, that are banned from the offical market, up to date?

Try using aTrackdog, pretty sure that'll be what you're looking for!


How can I prevent my parents from tracking my Android phone or fake the location?

if you believe that your parents are tracking you with your android.do this

1:backup your favorite apps.
2:factory reset the phone.
3:encrypt your phone.(this way nobody else can access your phone)
4:for extra protection you may add pin so that you can lock down parents from accesing your settings.
5:if you are going a step further you can lock down your phone in kiosk mode with the help of any
custom launchers or anything like that.

but i think you should probably talk with your parents.


What exactly is the advantage of 11 pin MHL connector in Samsung Galaxy S3

USB OTG stands for USB On-The-Go. This allows your phone to use USB devices (e.g. mice, keyboards, external USB drives) through a MicroUSB to USB adapter.

The MHL adapter allows your device to connect via HDMI to a TV or monitor. The statement that it can power the device just means that it can both charge/power the phone and allow HDMI output via the MHL adapter.  To get that power, though, it requires your power cable to be connected, as HDMI does not provide power. Not all MHL adapters can do this.


Not able to send media on Whatsapp...Moto X

This can be dependant on the app itself being compatible with your version of android, or the phone itself. Without more information, this is a hard question to answer. I've heard that Whatsapp doesnt like Android 4.4 (KitKat) just yet, or it could be a simple problem with the app that the developer hasn't fixed yet. If all else fails, give it time for the devs to fix the app, make sure settings on your phone allow it the app to work right, or just try reinstalling the app and restarting your phone.


Revisiting this after several years, I've found a solution that works across all my devices (GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, Android): Syncthing

It provides free (as in speech, and as in beer), secure, and easily installed peer to peer file synchronisation.  Literally does everything I want, out of the box.


Nexus 7 came with Superuser & ROM Manager pre-installed

Did you purchased it directly from Google? Very likely you simply got a returned tablet, i.e. a tablet that already had a previous owner, which installed these apps. I doubt that Google pre-installs SuperUser and ROM Manager.


Configuring DHCP client on my Android board

enable the ethernet port and then use setprop command to enable dhcp. Then start dhcp client.


How do I get a ROM onto my ICS (Android 4.0) tablet?

There's probably tons of ways to do this, but here's what I can think of offhand:

If you have adb set up on your computer then use it to push the ROM file over: adb push /path/to/ROM /sdcard
Upload it to Dropbox, Box, or any other cloud file storage service and then download it via the associated Android app
Upload it to a file sharing service like Mediafire and then download it in your browser
If you downloaded the ROM from somewhere, visit that site in the browser on your tablet and download it directly
Install a file manager or other app that supports FTP and send it over via a wifi LAN connection (one example)
Try Kies Air - I think it supports wireless file transfer


Unable to add restricted profile on Xperia Z2 tablet

I turns out that LTE versions of the Xperia tablets (tablets with a SIM slot) are treated as if they are a phone, so the option is disabled:

https://talk.sonymobile.com/t5/Xperia-Z3-Tablet-Compact/missing-restricred-user-profiles-on-android-5-0-2/m-p/956279#M455

I opened an issue at Google:

https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=180281


How do I prevent apps from blocking a second screen?

Try xPrivacy.

You might be able to limit the permissions of the all4 application you mentioned in such a way that it cannot tell if Google cast is running.

The Github page has the full options on what is available.


How can I change the language on my phone?

On the Nexus S go to Menu -> Settings -> Language & Keyboard -> Select Language.


Change the default app in "Open with" dialog

I had the same issue with a widget.

For me the following worked:

Go to Settings->Apps and click on the menu button (the three dots in the right top) and select Reset app preferences.

This resets a lot of stuff, but I was able to select Alwaysfor the right app again.


I agree with Irfan Latif's suggestion in the comments that taking a screenshot is the quickest way. That said, I'm suggesting a little bit sophistication on this, so as to justify this answer!
My suggestion is that you add up a quick tile in your Quick Settings. Preferably, among the first four or five tiles that shows up when you swipe down from the status bar. Customize it in a manner so that whenever you would tap/press that quick tile it would log the then datetime in a text file. Whenever you feel the need to look the time log you can see it by opening the file in any text editor. Better, if you append the file instead of overwriting it, you would have all the timelogs at your disposal.
I'm suggesting MacroDroid automation app for this, primarily because it is free (price) to try and test the solution.
Instructions:

Install the app and launch it.

In the main window, scroll down until you see a box/tile titled Quick Settings Tiles.

Tap on it, and do the following:

In Macrodroid tile 1 field enter this text : Log time.
Tick Button.
Tick Collapse on Press.
Turn the slider rightwards to make it Enabled

Edit your Quick Settings to add MacroDroid tile named Macrodroid tile 1 in the visible quick tiles. This step may differ depending upon your ROM. If you need help do a web search such as "How to configure/customize quick settings in" followed by the name of your device.

In the main Macrodroid window, click on the box/tile Add Macro.

Set Triggers, Actions and Constraints as follows:

Trigger: Macrodroid specific → Quick Settings Tile → Log time → Toggle On/Button Press

Action: Files → Write to File:

Use pencil icon to choose location for your text file, or leave it to default location /storage/emulated/0 (this is the internal storage / sdcard location that shows up when a file manager is started)
in the filename field, type logtime.txt
in the Enter text field, type [month] [dayofmonth], [year] - [hour 12]:[minute]:[second] [am_pm]\n
tick Append to file

Constraints: leave them untouched

Name the macro to whatever you want.

If you have not done this already, make sure to exempt Macrodroid from battery optimization settings, or it won't work reliably! This step may differ for your ROM. If you have difficulty getting the app battery optimization exempted, do a web search.

At this point everything is ready. Swipe down from the status bar to access  Quick Settings and tap/press that Log time tile you had added. Now, go into your file manager to the location where you intended the text file to be saved (in step 6). It should be there. Open it, and the datetime would be noted there. It should look something like this:
May 20, 2021 - 12:01:10 PM

New datetime would be appended in a new line every time you would tap/press that quick tile. If you don't want the file to be appended, untick "Append to  file" option in the action for your macro.
Tip: you can add another action in your macro to give you a audio/visual or both of the hints that the macro has run. For example, after the file writing action, you can add another action that should play a sound or show a notification. Such actions are available in Macrodroid.


Absolutely cannot reset my Moto G 2nd gen tracfone

I have the EXACT same situation (had it since Christmas, had all the same issues you listed when I updated to Marshmallow, and my mom has the same phone and factory reset hers with no problem). I just did this so I'm not sure if it's just a quick fix, but I got my notifications and lock screen back (home button still doesn't work though).

Go into settings and click "users"
Switch to your guest user (if you don't have one set up, you can probably set it up)
You should get any notifications that are for the whole phone (ie if there is WiFi available or if your storage is close to full; app notifications shouldn't come up)
Go back into settings>users and switch back to the owner account on the phone.
Your lock screen should return, along with any notifications you missed. The drop down settings menu is accessible as well.

Like I said, the home button is still unresponsive for me, and I'm not sure if this is a long term solution, but at least it's something!


How do I install live wallpapers I get from outside the android market?

Check if on your phone you have the following option: Menu -> Settings -> Applications -> Unknown sources.  Make sure it's checked to allow non-Market installs.

On older (and newer) Android OS versions this option could be under a different menu, or be absent altogether because some carriers disable this it.

Once the option is enabled and you have some Live Wallpapers downloaded from elsewhere, you should be able to side-load them.  Just copy the APK file to your SD Card, then use any one of the free file browser apps from Market to "launch" the APK from the SD Card.  This should invoke Android's built-in package installer and complete the installation.


Should I get A1 or A2 spec'd Micro SD card for my phone?

TL;DR: Get an A1 card unless you know for sure that your workload greatly benefits from Command Queuing (CQ) and your host hardware supports CQ.
Long answer:
After looking around a lot it seems that the A2 specification could allow better performance but actual hardware implementations are slow enough that A1 is better choice nowadays (year 2019).
Thomas Kaiser has collected info about A1 and A2 rated SD cards and says

Application Performance Class 1 (A1)
This performance class requires at least 1500/500 read/write IOPS (IO
operations per second) with a 4k blocksize (small data chunks) and at
least 10 MB/s sustained sequential write performance. No special host
requirements are needed, the card simply has to exceed the performance
requirements on its own.

and

Application Performance Class 2 (A2)
A2 promises even better performance with 4000/2000 read/write IOPS
minimum but there's a problem since as outlined by the SD Association
A2 cards show "much higher performance than A1 performance by using
functions of Command Queuing and Cache".
Cache and Command Queuing require host (driver) support since the host
needs to activate those new features first. The cache feature on A2
rated cards makes use of volatile RAM on the card [...] involving the
risk of data losses [...]

Another user wrote about real world performance between Sandisk Extreme A1 and A2 cards:

I did some searching online and found a few other SD card benchmark
results where A2 cards performed worse than A1 cards, so my results
seemed to be what others were finding as well.
[...]
A2 cards not only require special hardware and/or software for maximum
performance, they actually perform WORSE than A1 cards without it
[...]
[Sandisk fine print about A2 cards]: Up to 160MB/s read speeds,
engineered with proprietary technology to reach speeds
beyond UHS-I 104MB/s, requires compatible
devices capable of reaching such speeds
[...]
As far as I can find, the only "compatible device" is the SanDisk
Mobilemate USB 3.0 micro SD card reader

James A. Chambers has tested A1 and A2 cards with Raspberry Pi:

A2 is not supported by Raspberry Pi yet (or almost anything else
really) so A1 is the important mark to hit.

So the current status seems to be that A1 is strictly about card hardware speed and A2 is about card + host hardware/firmware/software solution. The only bit about A2 which in fact could improve performance is Command Queuing (CQ) which allows card to process some requests slower and still allow higher average troughput even for small I/O operations. And if you care about worst case latency (QD1) then any queuing is never worth it so you do not even want this feature.
However, it seems that with current hardware (year 2019) of A2 cards the latency for any single request has been increased from A1 cards. I guess this is caused by too slow embedded processors inside the cards that try to do a bit too much. The firmware is probably optimized for benchmark throughput (the card can handle lots of requests in paraller but execute each request a bit slower) and as a result, the latency for any single request has gone up. As a result, if your host device doesn't support CQ feature of A2 cards, you get the worst of two worlds: the latency will go up and overall throughput will suffer.
In the end, if your host does not support A2 feature, get an A1 card. And if you care about QD1 performance, get an A1 card even if your host hardware/firmware + software does support all the A2 features.
According to latest benchmarks I would recommend either SanDisk Extreme A1 cards or A-Data Premier A1 cards. According to StorageReview benchmark, the A-Data Premier A1 card has highest random 4K performance: 2971 IOPS for 4K read, 1190 IOPS for 4K write. The SanDisk Extreme A1 cards is better known, though, so it may be a safer bet. The SanDisk Extreme A1 is already hard to find because SanDisk prefers to sell A2 variants now especially for bigger flash sizes.
I wouldn't be surprised if current crop of A2 cards were cheaper to manufacture than A1 cards because the manufacturers can use lesser spec'd internal processor to achieve the A2 minimum random access performance thanks to more buffering and queuing. I can only wish more benchmarking sites would focus on request latency over throughput.


When is a free app removed from your google account?

Only the paid apps you've purchased will be listed under the "Not installed" category indefinitely.  I believe it takes a few hours (or sometimes days) for the Market app to sync with Google servers to refresh the list of installed apps.


You cannot do screen recording on apps which restrict taking screenshots and recording. Your only solution will be root access, I believe.


I locked my phone from android device manager, now i'm not being able to remove the lock screen password

Different Devices have different options to go into recovery mode. Specify your device I will tell you how to go into your device's recovery mode! After going into recovery mode try

Wipe Data/ Factory Reset
Wipe Cache Partition

And then reboot your device. It Will Work!!


I had a similar problem and was able to un-root (and later re-root successfully) using the Kingo Android Root (PC Version) which runs in Windows and roots/unroots via a USB cable to the phone with a different process than the on-phone apps.

I hope you were aware before you started that there's always a chance that root will "break" your phone, rendering it useless from then on.  (Hopefully this isn't the case for you.) There are also a lot of downsides to rooting; certain apps and features that become unusable (not the "free for all" I was originally lead to believe.)


Buy yourself a USB OTG cable. You will be able to access the phone using a mouse.

Sources:

1990clb suggestion
personal experience
Update:
You should make sure your device actually supports USB OTG first.


How to trace/track my stolen Samsung Galaxy Ace 2

I strongly recommend you take a look at the lost-phone tag-wiki, which contains a lot of first-aid hints. As you write your SIM is still in the device, there's hope it's also still connected to your Google account and has a network connection -- so hurry up trying solutions like Plan B or Android Lost, which you can then push to your device via Google Play's website. Find more details in the linked tag-wiki, plus on the apps' page at Google Play.


How to make alternative app markets perform automatic updates?

None of them other stores will be able to auto-update your apps unless you are rooted.
Other apps cannot install new apps without root access.

If you do have root access,
1Mobile(1mobile.com) store has this feature. Mobogenie is out there, too, but it has more ads.


Are there better alternatives to talk to exchange servers than native Mail app?

I used TouchDown (30-day trial, $19.99) before Android had built in Exchange and was very happy with it. I'm now using the native client without many problems (I'm not very demanding of it), but I've heard many people mention that it is still worth buying over the native client because of the more advanced feature set. With the 30-day trial, no reason not to give it a try.


Default email app's notification is disabled on Samsung Galaxy S4

I had the same problem and this is what I did...
Start at your home screen and swipe down from the top to display your notifications. At the top right, tap the gear/wheel (which is settings). Then, tap accounts. Next, email. If you have more than one email on this app, you have to do the following for each email address--I have two on mine.

You will have a screen that has an accounts heading and common settings heading. Tap settings, then, on the next screen, tap the email you would like to adjust. Sync settings will come up. check the email notifications box and then select a ring tone that won't make you crazy every time you hear it! lol! And that should do it!

p.s. you can also change your signature here as well, to personalize your outgoing messages by tapping signature and turning that function on..  :)


Dark caller ID picture for incoming call

Connection status may be the reason: dark picture for not established connection (incoming call not answered yet) and bright picture for established connection on your side (incoming call answered or outcoming call). Android 6.0.1 has the same configuration and it seems can't be changed through stock software.


Play Services 8.3.0 crashing - Android 4.4.4

Well, that is custom rom, so first chect the theme of that rom if you found it on the forum, maybe it is a known bug for rom. And maybe, just maybe you flashed the wrong gapps package, did you tried flashing another package of gapps for that rom?


It's possible on a rooted device with Xposed module Per app hacking

  Allow set a fake time to fake an app to a specific time just like time machine. Time format is YYYY-MM-DD HH:MI


Alternative market app without country limitations

I think SlideMe is the best Android alternative market available right now. There's an app that you need to install in order to buy apps directly via your phone.

There's also GetJar - a number of devs are releasing their products on GetJar before or along with releasing them on the Android Market.


After a few days of research I discovered that the problem it is a conflict between some Android devices and some 3G networks. (In my case, in Brazil)

Bug report (English): https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=81140
TecMundo News (Portuguese): http://www.tecmundo.com.br/vivo/102386-sinal-vivo-interferindo-gps-celulares-afirmam-usuarios.htm
Forum AndroidPit #1 (Portuguese): http://www.androidpit.com.br/forum/650921/motorola-moto-x-2014-problemas-no-gps-do-moto-x-xt-1097
Forum AndroidPit #2 (Portuguese): http://www.androidpit.com.br/forum/654679/motorola-moto-g-2014-estranho-sinal-gps-cai-quando-ativo-3g-no-chip-da-tim
Problem demonstration (Portuguese): https://youtu.be/CXkJUN8G83k
Forum OuterSpace (Portuguese):
http://forum.outerspace.com.br/index.php?threads/moto-x-e-moto-g-com-problemas-no-gps-tim.382402/

Sorry about the portuguese content, but I could not find more details in english communities.

I contacted Motorola, I will send my devices for repair. I believe it is difficult to be a solution, but I will update my answer whenever I have news.

## UPDATE 17 Out 2016

My Moto X2 was sent for repair and returned with the same problem, I'm trying a new contact with the manufacturer.


Is it possible to assign a static IP address without a DNS?

First, without DNS the network connection won't be much helpful to you: you will need DNS to resolve host names to IPs – or entering something like www.google.com into the browser's address bar will just give you an error.

Which does not mean you cannot use a DNS server other than Google's.

From your homescreen:

Press the Menu key, select Settings
Go to your WiFi settings, where your list of known/available networks is displayed
Long-Tap (tap-and-hold) the entry for your AP
Select Edit
Tap Advanced

Now you will see a form allowing you to override things: you can disable DHCP, then specify a fixed IP plus the related network settings – mask, default route, and – Tada! – DNS servers.


How do I convert videos for Samsung GT-i5503?

I highly recommend Handbrake Video Converter. It can convert all common video formats to mp4,mkv that the samsung video player supports. Choose the iPod Profile which is supported by most phones or you could also create your own profile. I always use Handbrake to convert videos for my Galaxy Ace. The Samsung GT-I5503 shares many similarities with the Galaxy Ace and as Samsung is using the same Layer of Software on top of android (TouchWiz with all the Apps such as Music,Video etc..) the same settings should work for your phone.


How to emulate any android version in linux?

There are few things you can try.
Anbox:
Anbox is a wine-like android compatibility layer for Linux. It is not an emulator.It is based on android marshmallow I think.
Geny Motion:
Geny Motion is an android emulator with a cross-platform compatibility. You can install any android version you want.
Android x86
It is a project aims to port android to x86 processors. You can install it as a standalone OS. There are various distros available for this project such like RemixOS(discontinued),Phoenix OS, Prime OS, Bliss OS etc
Android studio Android Emulator
If your purpose is programming you better install the emulator provided with android studio.


How to copy the entire contents of an android device to a linux PC

The correct reference would point to our nandroid tag-wiki, as a Nandroid backup is what covers all content. However, this is only available via custom recoveries.

An alternative to that would be the dd command ("Disk Duplicator"1).

Disclosure: the following describes an application I wrote and maintain:

My tool Adebar is able to generate you dd scripts for all partitions your device holds, which you then can cross-check before execution. While doing that, Adebar tries to figure out what each partition is used for, so you won't end up just with cryptic names on the disk-images. To get to the content, you still had to figure the file system used on each partition (to be able to mount it as a Loop Device). But for the "worst case", you should be able to use these images to restore your device to the state it was in when you've created them (though I must admit I've never tried that yet).

files pulled/generated by Adebar (click image for larger variant)

Adebar is mainly written in Bash version 4, and utilizes adb to communicate with the device. It definitely runs fine on Linux. I have not tested it on other systems, and so far got no feedback from users maybe having tried that.

1: careful: it's nick-named "Disk Destroyer", as if you use it the wrong way around (i.e. swap source and target), you can end up with a "disk without content"


Shutting down 2012 Nexus 7 without touch

Just tested on my Nexus 7 2012. When I hold the Power and Volume Up. It powers down. Had to hold the power button to get it to turn back on, So I can only assume it powered all the way down.


How to add a contact on the device only?

On some devices, the "local phonebook" simply doesn't exist. But you can add it, e.g. using an app like MyLocalAccount. Here's this app's description from Google Play:

  This app does represent a local contact account. This is helpfully for devices without local contact account (f.e. Nexus series) if you don't want to sync your contacts with Google servers. These contacts can be synced then f.e. with MyPhoneExplorer to your PC.

If you wonder why MyPhoneExplorer is mentioned here: the app is from the same developer, so a well-known one. It wasn't updated for a while, but I've not yet found an alternative to it. Worth a try at least – it's free.


Change auto-brightness levels without rooting

It is perfectly possible or you can use one of existing solutions on Google Play (for example Lux)

EDIT: OFC it works with 4.4, using it myself.


Android 6: Can't save text files to external sd card

To write to an external drive you need to add the necessary permissions to your manifest. To write you will want to add:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />

To read from the drive you should add:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />

You should be able to get away without the read permission but if you want to futureproof your app and make it so users don't run into bugs add it in. Google's API explains the proper guidelines for handling datafiles here.


You need to link your two devices together with a Google account. Done, hope this helped!

Okay, I'm not going to be that guy...

Here's how to really do it:

Open your Settings app.
Scroll down to find an option called something like Accounts and tap on it.
Now find an option that says Add account.
Now click the type of account, in this case, a Google account.
Now sign in with the same info used to initially buy the app or game.
When you're done, go into Google Play and swipe right to enter the options for the app, or click on the three-line-symbol in the top left.
Click on your current account to switch it out, now click on the account you just added.
Find the application you previously bought, and it will say Purchased.
Download and complete!


WhatsApp chats disappeared after Android Operating System Update

The only one that can help for this kind of issue is WhatsApp. You may want to contact support@whatsapp.com (Source: https://www.whatsapp.com/contact/) and see what they can help you with.

  I just can't afford to lose my three years' important data.

This is the root of your problem. Any important data that you can't afford to lose shouldn't be stored as instant messages, you should have copied over any important data elsewhere.


Termux closes window immediately on Android 10 and 11

This is a problem that came with version 0.105 of Termux and should be gone with 0.106.
In the meantime this workaround helped me to solve the problem with Android 10 and 11.
Basically it involves the following steps:

Install Termux
Get access to the home directory inside Termux (for instance with a file manager)
Create the directory /home/.termux
Place an empty file named termux.properties inside of /home/.termux/
Start termux


There is no Fastboot Command that does this.

However you could try holding the power button down until the screen goes blank and then letting go off the power button before the device starts to boot (before the vibrate). This is the only viable way... The list of available Fastboot commands are:

usage: fastboot [ <option> ] <command>

commands:

  update <filename>                        reflash device from update.zip

  flashall                                 flash boot + recovery + system

  flash <partition> [ <filename> ]         write a file to a flash partition

  erase <partition>                        erase a flash partition

  format <partition>                       format a flash partition

  getvar <variable>                        display a bootloader variable

  boot <kernel> [ <ramdisk> ]              download and boot kernel

  flash:raw boot <kernel> [ <ramdisk> ]    create bootimage and flash it

  devices                                  list all connected devices

  continue                                 continue with autoboot

  reboot                                   reboot device normally

  reboot-bootloader                        reboot device into bootloader

  help                                     show this help message

options:

  -w                                       erase userdata and cache (and format

                                           if supported by partition type)

  -u                                       do not first erase partition before

                                           formatting

  -s <specific device>                     specify device serial number

                                           or path to device port

  -l                                       with "devices", lists device paths

  -p <product>                             specify product name

  -c <cmdline>                             override kernel commandline

  -i <vendor id>                           specify a custom USB vendor id

  -b <base_addr>                           specify a custom kernel base address

  -n <page size>                           specify the nand page size. default:

2048

  -S <size>[K|M|G]                         automatically sparse files greater th

an


lg v20 firmware update -now looking for any connection

I fixed it myself. I held the button down for a while to try to turn it on.  Finally, the screen changed where I could toggle and select power off to stop the cycle.  It worked and the phone powered down.  I turned it back on and good to go.


Link2SD: mounting /dev/block/vold/179:66 on /data/sdext2 failed: No such file or directory

You can use application "Apps2SD" mount a 2nd partition (after remove it and use Link2SD). (Don't use it if you only use 1 partition is sdext2) If you use android 6.0 and use both 2nd partition and "Adoptable storage" use "Root Explorer" go to path "/etc/apps2sd-mountscript.sh" edit it. Because use 2 partition, so default it use if create is "dev/block/mmcblk1p1 /data/sdext2", you change it to "dev/block/mmcblk1p2 /data/sdext2" (I use Sony M4 aqua dual)


How to power-off Motorola phone without screen

I can't be sure that this is the optimal way to power-off the phone, but it seems to work.

Press and hold power until it buzzes or about 15 seconds, then
release.
Press and hold volume-down and the power button for 20
seconds, then release.
Press and release the power button once.

This procedure is demonstrated in a you tube video https://youtu.be/x_jx5u7dXK4

Tip: Even though the broken phone has no display functionality, if you view the phone with another camera, you can check activity of this phone by looking at the infrared emitters at the four corners of the device.  Before power-down, these dots will be flickering.  Afterwards, no flickering.


Nexus 4 - suddenly lost access to all Google sites

Is it only Google services or all HTTPS sites? In any case, make sure the clock, date, and time zone is set correctly on the device.


How do I automatically save pictures to my SD card? (Samsung galaxy s3 mini)

Go to settings > storage then select default writing disk to sd card.


What does the second tick mean in Telegram group-chats?

Same as in normal chat. One person read message.
  -- DrKLO (github.com)

Source: https://github.com/DrKLO/Telegram/issues/397


After using K9 Mail for couple of months, problem resolved itself, stock email client stopped crashing.

This only confirmed my theory that stock email client on 2.2.1 has issues with overlapping message UIDS


Is there a way to download applications from the Android market for offline installation?

Using backup applications such as Titanium Backup do this exactly. They basically extract the .apk (installer) and back it up to the SD card. Then, when you 'restore' using Titanium Backup, you can select which apps you want to restore and it will reinstall them using the backed up .apk.


If you unlock the developer options (if not already unlocked with Cyanogenmod), there is an option "Stay awake" that will keep your screen turned on when plugged in.  You can try using that and see if it will revert any settings that the app might have changed.

See this website for a brief explanation on how to enable developer options.

If that doesn't work, you can "remap" the power button back to the power button.  Check out this guide to remap the buttons on your phone.  Hopefully it won't come to this though


Why can't i see any files from SD card in Android System Recovery

I have had issues flashing from an external SD card due to the format of the card.

I was unable to detect a card when it was was NTFS.

After reformatting as FAT32 there was no issue. So try that, if possible.


What is the difference between the email app and the gmail app?

The Gmail application speaks Gmail's own proprietary protocol back to the Gmail server, whereas the Email application speaks open protocols such as POP3 or IMAP, as well as supporting ActiveSync.  The Email application also has somewhat better support for multiple accounts.

If you are only using a single Gmail account then it is better to use the Gmail application, but if you're using multiple accounts, or non-Gmail accounts, you'll want to use Email.  Personally, I use Gmail for my Gmail account (which I only use for Google-specific purposes) and Email for my IMAP.


Is a ROMs data (/data) from Nougat compatible with MM?

From one of my earlier answers:

  Older version of an app might not recognize the data created by the newer version of the same app. Although user apps are rarely affected, crucial system apps might be, and on error might constantly throw "*** has stopped" dialogs that effectively prevents you from using the phone.

Also, some newer ROMs have alerts in their updater-script that detect different /data formats and, if detected, throw error about it, and will not proceed unless you perform a wipe.


I'm posting an answer for the benefit of others that might end up in a similar situation.
Download Stock firmware
This was the first hurdle. There are many sites and many versions. Finally I used the firmware from sammobile.com for the gt-I8190 for Italy.
Boot in Download mode
Next step was to boot in download mode by pressing Vol-, HOME and Power until it vibrates. Then release the buttons and connect the USB cable to the PC.
Flash stock firmware
I'm using Linux so I installed heimdall, opened the heimdall GUI and flashed: Kernel (boot.img), Kernel2 (recovery.img), System and Cache. (Windows users would have to install Samsung drivers and ODIN from what I read but never actually used.)
First boot
The first boot informed me of the same problem that the custom ROM had found about encryption of the Data partition and asked for a reset. This time the reset worked perfectly and on the second boot I was presented with the initial setup screen.


The hub's power should only go to the hub's slave ports, not through the master port back to the phone

But even if the hub uses an odd design, the most it would do is feed the phone 5V and however much amperage it will accept, same as with any bog standard wall charger.

So in short, there's no risk to your phone.


How to get android device model number connected to a PC via USB?

I don't know how to get it by the adb command.

But you can get it programmably with the SDK. There is a class Build which have many information of the current running phone, such as you wanted model number can be got by the Build.MODEL.


Go to "Widgets" folder, there should be an S Memo widget in it. Push and hold it. It will give you an option to move a generic S Memo note onto one of your home screens. Once you've done that, you can open it and choose between making this shortcut an existing note and creating a new one.


How Can I Check the Location of a File (e.g. Cluster or Sector #) in the Internal Storage?

I assume by saying cluster you mean Windows' allocation unit, commonly called block in Linux world. It's a unit of data storage a filesystem uses. A cluster/block may consist of or correspond to multiple sectors on underlying storage media (HDD or flash storage). Sector is the minimum atomic unit of storage an OS can read or write. Block size is decided at the time of filesystem creation i.e. when we format a partition (high-level formatting). Partitions and filesystems make it easy to categorize and organize our data on the physical storage device.

HARD DISK DRIVES

"Sector" may refer to a physical sector or logical sector. In early days of HDDs there were only physical sectors created by dividing clusters/tracks on rotating disks into small parts. Cylinder/Head/Sector (CHS) has been a popular method of addressing before the Logical Block Addressing (LBA) was devised. Instead of directly dealing with physical sectors, OS now talks to disk controller firmware (through SATA/SCSI commands) referring an LBA number. Firmware in return maintains an LBA to CHS mapping itself, which includes ECC, G-list (disk's defect table) etc. This mapping (1:1 / sequenced / linear) (ref) is created during low-level formatting of disk drive when manufacturing, which never changes except if some sector is marked bad and remapped to some spare sector. So the OS / filesystem is aware of the physical geometry of the disk, which is propotional to the geometry of LBAs.

FLASH STORAGE

On flash media (SSDs, eMMC, UFS, SD cards etc.) there are no rotating disks and hence no cylinders. NAND flash is made of silicon cells, each cell consists of one (Single-Level-Cell), two (Multi-LC), three (Triple-LC) or four (Quad-LC) bits. Cells are grouped into pages (e.g. of 4KB) and pages into erase blocks (e.g. of 128 KB). LBAs to Physical Block Addresses mapping is fully controlled by Flash Translation Layer; a part of flash controller firmware. OS knows nothing about it, it can see at maximum the LBAs, not what's happening below it. Not even the ECC of failed memory cells, and that's why we don't realize the bad health of eMMC unless it fails, except by reading EXT_CSD (requires root) using mmc-utils or from /sys/class/mmc_host/*/*/life_time (if driver supports).

Since a page of memory can't be just overwritten unlike HDDs, a whole EraseBlock has to be Erased first before being Programmed (written). A side effect is that a number of pages are erased/re-written and the physical mapping changes even if a small file is edited. This unnecessary read-modify-write (RMW) is called Write Amplification. On HDDs, files aren't physically replaced unless shortened or elongated. OS is aware of these physical changes on HDD, but not on flash memory.

WHAT IS SECTOR?

So after all what we are concerned with is logical sector. Storage media informs the OS of its logical sector size but “the default of 512 covers most hardware” because HDDs have been using 512B from early days, though things have changed with 4Kn format for HDDs too. 512B is the size what OS sees, in actual it's a bit larger to make some room for header, ECC etc. Physical sector size on flash storage is of no use to us.

Your queries:

  I would like to know if a certain file moves on the Flash memory (internal storage), between writes/updates to it.

It depends on the definition of “move”. On flash storage, even if you don't write to a file, it may keep on changing its true physical location due to background Garbage Collection; a phenomenon controlled by FTL internally to reduce WA, to achieve Wear Leveling and to provide high write throughput (Program operations) by deleting invalid pages in background (Erase operations).

  Is there some way I can get the file's location on the Flash memory (Cluster Number, Sector Number etc.)?

Yes you can get the filesystem block addresses of a file which have a linear mapping with LBAs of underlying block device (partition). But these addresses aren't the actual/physical file's location on the Flash memory. However usually one isn't concerned with true physical location unless some forensics or data recovery is involved.

EXAMPLE

~# cat /sys/block/mmcblk0/queue/logical_block_size
512
~# blockdev --getss /dev/block/by-name/cache
512
~# tune2fs -l /dev/block/by-name/cache | grep 'Block size'
Block size:               4096

So the sector size here is 512B while filesystem block size is 4KiB. Let's create a test file:

~# echo foobar >/cache/test_file
~# cat /cache/test_file
foobar
~# filefrag -sv -b512 /cache/test_file
Filesystem type is: ef53
File size of /cache/test_file is 7 (8 block of 512 bytes)
 ext:     logical_offset:        physical_offset: length:   expected: flags:
   0:        0..       7:     307200..    307207:      8:             last,eof
/cache/test_file: 1 extent found

* debugfs -R 'stat test_file' /dev/block/by-name/cache can also be used in place of filefrag

Created file (of 7 bytes size) occupies 1 filesystem block. -b 512 converts block size (4096B) to sector size (512B). "test_file" should be at 307200th sector, same for partition and filesystem because filesystem occupies whole partition:

~# blockdev --getsize64 /dev/block/by-name/cache | awk '$1 /= 4096'
65536
~# tune2fs -l /dev/block/by-name/cache | grep 'Block count'
Block count:              65536

Let's read the file directly from partition:

~# dd if=/dev/block/by-name/cache skip=307200 count=1 | head -c7
foobar

It's there. Now locate the file from the start of eMMC:

~# readlink /dev/block/by-name/cache
/dev/block/mmcblk0p25
~# cat /sys/block/mmcblk0/mmcblk0p25/start
7471104
~# dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0 skip=$(( 7471104 + 307200 )) count=1 | head -c7
foobar

So even if filesystem and partition are deleted, you can read the file (provided that it's not overwritten).

Let's do some more digging:

~# rm /cache/test_file; sync; echo -n 1 >/proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
~# dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0 skip=$(( 7471104 + 307200 )) count=1 | head -c7
foobar

File is deleted from filesystem, but physically still there. Let's ask FTL to delete it permanently:

~# fstrim /cache; sync; echo -n 1 >/proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
~# dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0 skip=$(( 7471104 + 307200 )) count=1 | head -c7

And it's gone. But most probably it's still there somewhere in Over-Provisioning Space, scheduled to be Erased in next GC, just we don't know where it is.

Note:

dd on naked partitions is a killer. Be cautious!
tune2fs and filefrag are part of e2fsprogs. filefrag isn't shipped with Android, build from source or try this one. fstrim is a busybox applet.

RELATED:

When should fstrim run?
What makes recovery of deleted data difficult / impossible?


Does anyone know, or know how to determine, the dimensions of the Samsung Galaxy S6+ screen in pixels?

Samsung devices allow, under Developer Options, the ability to mark screen locations.

See Settings > Developer Options > Input

Select
Show Touches,
Show pointer location

Move to the points desired, and note their coordinates.

If you find the constant coordinates undesitreable, turn OFF the options after the operation is complete to your satisfaction.

To turn on Developer Options if needed:

Go to app drawer and open Settings
Go to bottom and tap About device
Tap repeatedly Build number 7 times. Starting at 3rd tap, you'll see a toast saying You are now X steps away from being a developer.


Analyse performance / profile Android System? Why is the system slow?

If you truly want to dive into the slowness issues of your Android device you can use the Android SDK and developer tools to analyze what the device is doing exactly, but that's not for the average Android user.
Something I found out just recently is that the Battery Optimization functionality on my Nexus 5X was really slowing the system down to the point of becoming unusable.
I manually disabled this feature for each and every App and OS element and that made a huge  difference.
And I haven't experienced any obvious battery drainage since.
If you want to try this, the steps are described here


How I can upgrade my device to latest Android without SD card?

To install the custom rom you need to have ClockWork Mod installed on the tablet/phone. ClockWork Mod is the software tool that installs the custom rom. See XDA Developers for information on how to install ClockWork Mod.


Root "Nexus 5" Android 4.4 kitkat to install custom rom?

It was actually very easy to root and flash a new rom or stock rom to it.

First thing is rooting your device by doing the following:

Make sure your Bootloader is unlocked so u can flash a new one to it. (fastboot oem unlock)
Install JDK and Android SDK to get access to the command "fastboot"
Download the superuser.zip file to your SD card on your phone
Download the CWM (clockwork recovery) or other recovery image
(http://www.teamandroid.com/2014/06/19/root-nexus-5-android-444-ktu84p-kitkat/2/)
Flash the recovery image to 'fastboot flash recovery asdfasdf.img'
Reboot to RECOVERY MODE and install the superuser.zip file
Flash the new rom image by getting the zip file and doing a "fastboot -w update romfile.zip"

Note: You might have to also flash the proper bootloader version and radio version or else it will throw an error. these files are usually along with the package...


Why can't Wi-Fi be enabled in Android-x86 inside VirtualBox?

If you're running Android within a VM, I suspect the VM software is not allowing the Android VM to interact with your WiFi hardware directly, meaning that Android does not actually see that there is any hardware available for accessing WiFi. If you check your internet connection on the Android VM, does it show you're connected to the internet via ethernet?

There may be a way in VirtualBox's settings to give the VM direct access to your WiFi chip, but I highly doubt that would work based on the nature of running Android via a VM on desktop or laptop hardware.


Reliably accessing public Wi-Fi "Agreement" page on Android

You can create a home screen shortcut that will do what you want. First bookmark your “hp.com”. I use “this.com. Then go to your bookmarks and long press the one you want. At the bottom of the pop up menu should be the option to “Add to Home Screen”. Select that.

Now, when you need to sign in on public Wi-Fi, just start your browser from the shortcut on your home screen. For me… Works every time!


S7 Edge RAM usage is extremely high, why?

I'd say that is absolutely normal. Because: What benefit would you have if your RAM is empty? You have RAM to be used for caching and hibernating apps. Unused RAM is useless. :-)

Do you experience performance issues? Any lag? No? Then the S7's memory management works as it should. :-)


How to add a contact to People from Hangouts?

View the Hangout of the unknown contact
In the lower left hand corner of the Hangout screen, you'll notice a small icon to the left of the text box. If you tap that, 2-3 options will be available: "Hangouts," "Mobile (via SMS)," or "Mobile (via Google Voice)."  Select "Mobile (via SMS)."
Open the overflow menu (three dots in the top right corner) and select People & options
At the bottom of the people & options menu, you'll see "People in the hangout." The phone number should say 'touch to add to contacts'. Touch it.
Either search for an existing contact and add the new number for that contact or you can add as new contact by using the three dot overflow menu.


How to prevent download from being stopped if network got disconnected?

Well, you need some kind of internet connection to download files. From what you said, the download stops when you disconnect from your network.

If you meant that the download doesn't work over mobile data, check the list of apps with restricted background data access for Download Manager or, of course, Chrome. If one of those apps have restricted background data, disable that option. If it still doesn't work, try a different browser and tell me whether that worked.


Change pattern lock to Thin Pattern Lock like in ICS

Try "Go Locker"
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jiubang.goscreenlock

Gives you a wide variety of lock screens to choose from.


S3 (i9300/i9305) Is it possible to install CM10 after installing the 4.3 OTA update?

Yes, the reason you can't downgrade official ROMs is not a technical one; it's just a decision Samsung have taken.

There's no reason at all why you can't go backwards and forwards between versions of Cyanogenmod as long as you have the appropriate recovery. And CM10.1.3 and CM10.2 are currently much more stable than CM11 on the i9300.

Consult the Cyanogenmod site (http://www.cyanogenmod.org/) or XDA-Developers (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2382573) for full details before actually flashing a new recovery.  (Personally I'm staying with CM10.1.3 (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2035141) as I found the camera unstable on CM10.2)


How can I copy a NFC badge to my (rooted) Android phone for Daily Usage

Depending on the type of card used in your school, copying is not a simple task: The data is may be cryptographically protected and you need to emulate the UID, an ID which gets transmitted by the card early in the communication process. Here are some tips:

At first you need to find out which type of NFC Tag our card is. You can use this app from the Google Play Store
If the card is a MIFARE Classic Tag you might be able to clone the data on it. These cards have had some security problems in the past.
Emulating the UID is not possible by default on Android (related)

But we developed an App which is capable of emulating the UID on some Android devices, for more information see the first answer here
It is also possible that your badge only uses its UID to know who you are. In this case there is no data saved on your card. If this is the case the app for emulating the UID could already be enough to have a badge on your smartphone ;-)

I hope this helps.


I want to use an old phone for making calls only, does the OS version matter?

If you use it only to make and receive phone calls, then no, the OS version doesn't really matter. You might still want to keep up with updates, the latest official version of the OS usually bring improvements to battery life, bug fixes, and other little improvements; but keeping up with updates is much less important if the phone is just used as a basic phone. The protocols serving basic phone functionality (GSM, SMS, MMS, etc) is pretty well standardized and the carrier had all kind of incentives to maintain backward compatibilities.

You might want to turn off mobile data if you're not using it.

If you are using the phone's browser regularly and/or running apps, then is crucial to get the latest version of the OS and the browser. The latest version of the OS and apps also provides security fixes, so running an outdated OS or app can be a risk to you, your data, and to your other devices.

If you are running social apps (e.g. chat, social media) or other apps that relies on an external service (e.g. news feed, sync folder) then it is pretty crucial to keep the apps up to date. Some apps are better than others, but these apps, as they rely on external services, may regularly break functionalities for people that doesn't keep up with updates, as the service evolves. For these apps, it's easier if you keep up to date than to wait until things start breaking before updating.

For purely offline apps, like many stand alone games, keeping up to date is less crucial. You may choose not to update them as long as the current functionality works for you.


Update to Marshmallow cyanogenmod, swipe down shows no options and no settings

Turns out, we had an old version of Gapps (2 months old). We wiped everything and then installed the latest version of Gapps. That worked!

We now have the swipe down menu again and settings gear icon.


BusyBox `ln -s`: How do I create symlink to a directory on external SD-card?

The rootfs (/) as well as /system have to be mounted with rw permissions.

So, to check for that execute # mount |grep -i rootfs and # mount |grep -i '/system'

If you don't see rw for the permissions, do # mount -o remount,rw / and/or # mount -o remount,rw /system


Device stuck in a "bootloop". Resolved after re-inserting battery

I got stuck in a similar bootloop last Sunday on my Samsung GS4 (i9505G), except instead of rebooting, it would power off.  Pulling the battery did not resolve it.  I had to plug it in to a charger.  The battery was at about 25% at the time.

Sadly, I do not know why that resolved the problem, but I wanted to post my reply in case it helps someone.


Is incoming/outgoing call screen customizable?

To do so. Root the phone. Extract, and recompile these apps:

/system/priv-app/TelephonyProvider/TelephonyProvider.apk
/system/priv-app/Telecom/Telecom.apk
/system/app/InCallUiNext/InCallUiNext.apk
/system/app/telresources/telresources.apk
/system/framework/framework-res.apk

And this file also:

/system/framework/telephony-common.jar

After changing their drawable elements, return them where they were and set these permissions.

chmod 0755 for folders
chmod 0644 for files

This will work very well for you but always keep a backup of them incase something goes wrong. This is for editing the app but if the dialer is freezing after ending a call, then what you need to do is:

 1. Open Settings
 2. Click Apps
 3. Press the options icon
 4. Tap Show System
 5. Clear Data and Cache for Dialer and Telephony Provider

If still this doesn't work if you have TWRP Recovery installed:

 1. Press Wipe
 2. Advanced Wipe
 3. Check Dalvik Cache and Cache partitions
 4. Swipe to clear them
 5. Reboot System

Note: The in-call popup never changes no matter what dialer you opt for. Deleting it for example means the Telephone Service is tampered with. And you won't receive any calls. All other apps can offer adress book, blocking and dialer but on call dialing is then commanded to Telecom app which then manages the calling services and renders UI for call until the end. It offers the native service that is for calling and communicating to the phone gsm radio. All other apps can't do this. Just like in a media player, a media decoding library or a codec, so is the Telecom app essence and purpose. It is the core handler of telephony. Unless you modify it or redevelop it by code. It's one of the essential apps alongside SystemUI and Framework. That's why it won't be a walk in the park replacing it. It is integral to many system apps

This will solve your issue very well. Please let me know if it helped you


Not as straight-forward as listing packages. Here's an except (Bash code) on how my tool Adebar does it (for all apps on a device, spooling results to a file as pm disable comands in the way your question quotes it), to be found in lib/scriptgen.lib:

  local comps
  local myline
  scriptname="${OUTDIR}/deadReceivers.sh"
  echo "#!${BASH_LOCATION}" > "${scriptname}"
  echo -e "\n#\n# Disabled components for ${DEVICE_NAME} as of $(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M')\n#" >> "${scriptname}"
  for pkg in $(adb ${ADBOPTS} shell "pm list packages 2>/dev/null"); do
    pkg=${pkg//[$'\t\r\n']}
    pkg=${pkg##*:}
    [[ "${pkg}" = "android" ]] && continue
    comps=$(adb ${ADBOPTS} shell "dumpsys package ${pkg}" | grep -E -A99999 "disabledComponents:" |grep -E -B99999 "enabledComponents:")
    if [[ -n "${comps}" ]]; then
      echo >> "${scriptname}"
      echo "# ${pkg}" >> "${scriptname}"
      for myline in $comps; do
        myline=${myline//[$'\t\r\n']}
        [[ "${myline}" = "disabledComponents:" || "${myline}" = "enabledComponents:" ]] && continue
        echo "adb ${ADBOPTS} shell \"pm disable ${pkg}/${myline}\"" >> "${scriptname}"
      done
    fi
  done

In short: You'd have to parse the "disabledComponents" section from the output of dumpsys package <package_name> ("comps" in above code fragment). As you can see, that segment is followed by a list of enabled components, in case you want to know where to find those.


This comes from Action Launcher 3.

Those icons are features of the launcher called  Shutters and Covers. As described here,

  Both Shutters and Covers are indicated by small shapes in the corner
  of your icons.

See corresponding screenshot:

The equals sign means there's a widget associated with the app and you can swipe up on the icon to display its widget in a popup folder window. These are "Shutters"

Another main feature is "Covers" which is similar. It is basically just folders, but when you tap the icon it launches the first app instead of opening the folder. To open the folder you swipe up.

Source:

Do you use a launcher other than Nova or Google? Why do you think it is better?

Update

Action launcher received a major update sometime ago, and has been renamed just Action Launcher (the 3 dropped).

According to Android Authority,

  Not only does it have a bunch of new features, it also includes a new
  logo for the app and a new name... The app is dropping the “3” part of
  its name and it will simply be called Action Launcher from now on.

Additionally you'll notice the shutters and covers have a new polished design with smoother edges, than previously before.


How to make screen 'unsensitive' on incoming calls?

The way I solved the issue to my satisfaction was to buy and install the WidgetLocker Lockscreen app.  This is an awesome little app that basically allows you to replace your lockscreen (and incoming call screen too) with something customized.  I just have one horizontal slider to unlock the screen now, and it has completely eliminated accidental screen unlocks, as well as accidental accepts/rejects for incoming calls!  :-)

I would highly recommend WidgetLocker Lockscreen in any case, because being able to customize the lockscreen is really nice.


How to extract default ringtones from Android device?

You probably need a file browser on the phone to access (need root), or adb pull
The built-in ringtones are located in
/system/media/audio/ringtones

... instead of your Internal Storage.
You can also extract them from a ROM .zip file downloaded from elsewhere without looking into your phone. Just navigate to the same path above and take all files out there.


Which android internet browser can download a specific file by clicking on a specific button?

It sounds like your problem may not be with the browsers, but that Android doesn't have any app willing to support the specific download.

You could try downloading an app which has an option to support all downloads, such as ES File Explorer. It should then offer to open the GPX file when you click on it to download.


Tablet sending Message automatically to a fixed number (everyday)

Try to force close the particular app/service that is causing this problem (That is the app/service that is sending that message).

And if possible, uninstall that app.

If uninstalling is not possible, you may need to root your phone to either

uninstall/stop it from starting on bootup/stop it from sending message.


Download apps that are listed as being incompatible with my device in the Play Store

Market Helper works perfectly, if your device is rooted. It can spoof another device on a different carrier.


Updating Droid X running leaked Gingerbread to official release without root

There should be someone who has the official release that you can download and just upgrade like you did with the leaked version.  Like this post here.  It says it's for rooted users, but I don't see anything in the instructions that should require root.


Mount script cannot be created. mount: No such file or directory

Wat are you using to create and format your partitions? I ran into a similar error when I used Paragon Partition Manager (https://www.paragon-software.com/) in Windows. The phone wouldn't correctly recognise the partition.

I then used (I think it's the 'official') the SD Formatter program in windows to format my partition but it only seems to make use of the entire sd card and not really give you an opportunity to have multiple partitions.

You should really try GParted. It's pretty fool proof. Just make a bootable USB, pop on GParted and create and format you partitions in that. Good guide here for a GS4 but should work for your phone too: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2285221


If I can access bubble of Messenger like apps from home screen then does it not mean any other app can also access that app? Is Android safe then?

Messenger bubbles are an overlay. Messenger isn't actually interacting with the app running in the background, it's just drawing over it. Even this is a permission that can be denied.

Android as an operating system is secure, but like all systems, it's as secure as the code running on it. Android sand boxes apps and only allows them to interact with each other through the system in predefined ways ( ex: intents to share or open with another app), and has a robust permissions model to boot.

However if you use an app that wants permission to read your messages (like an SMS app), and you grant it that permission, then if the app does something malicious with that data, or the app itself is not secure, then it's not really the operating systems fault.

Like I said, a system is as secure as the code and applications you choose to run on it.


Phone connected as USB storage but PC can't connect to SD card

It looks to me you need the USB driver on your pc. Search Huawei site for "USB driver". Also set "USB Debug" on (on your phone, that is. I don't know if this alone would solve your problem, though).


How Do We Set the Default Camera App in Android 11?

I am on Android 11 (Pixel 4a) and was searching to do this and I recalled this question (had posted an answer and deleted, not being correct) . Here's the answer from Android 11 Changelog — Full List of All 50+ New Features

You Can't Change the Default Camera
To prevent malicious apps from capturing your location, Google has removed the ability to set a third-party camera app as default. You can continue to use the third-party app as usual, but if an app requests to use the camera app, it will use the preinstalled one. But the change isn't as dramatic as it sounds — you can still use the cameras that are built into apps such as Snapchat and set shortcuts to third-party apps.

As Andrew said in comments(now deleted)
, the release notes do not include that sentence to the effect that third party apps can be set as default camera app.


Prepaid plans or cards for Android PHONES?

You can get the LG Optimus V from Virgin Mobil for $150 (total) and pay $25/month for unlimited data and texts and 300 minutes/month of talk time. There are three drawbacks. (1) The screen is a bit small. (2) The internal memory is only about 200MB, so you are limited as the number of apps you can have (even moving apps to the SD card). (3) Virgin Mobile uses the Sprint network which seems to be more limited than say Verizon.

Later this month (I think) Virgin Mobile will also off the Motorola Triumph with 2GB internal memory and a larger screen and a faster processor and a front facing camera (which the Optimus doesn't have, so maybe that's four drawbacks). I plan to switch to the new phone as soon as I can.


It's possible by OpenRecoveryScript

Official command guide: https://twrp.me/faq/openrecoveryscript.html

Official TWRP App, TWRP Manager and Lineage OS Updater use this approach.


Apps don't work with IPv6 enabled in router

Solution- Keep IPv6 turned off.
Reason- ISP not providing IPv6 connection so while it's on in the router settings it somehow stops my access to certain apps only on my redmi note 3.
Yeah IDK but it's good enough for me.


Is there a way to disable access to certain Settings components?

AFAIK, the Settings app is just a regular app but with a protected system permission level (normal apps are not allowed to request system permissions). Android is open source so you can download the source, create a modified Settings app, and install it as a protected system app (which is needed so it can obtain system permission, needs root). To be precise, for the system to grant system permissions, the app must be installed in the /system/app directory as opposed to the normal app install directory.


These are called dialer codes, so naturally try typing it into your Dialer as if it were a phone number.  I just did it on my Vibrant and got this:

WlanTest Engineering Mode
Status...
Unloading Normal Driver and Loading Mfg Driver

Driver loading successful


Yes, you can use multiple accounts -- did you try it?  I use 3.  Add them like any other account through Settings -> Accounts and sync -> Add account.


Is there a 'User manual' for Android 2.1?

This Nexus One user manual seems to be basically the same document as you linked, but specific to that phone and Android 2.1. Since the Nexus One was a "pure" Android experience, the vast majority of the document should cover what you're looking for.

(That link seems dead, but this link from the Internet Archive Wayback Machine seems to be working. There's also this link from T-Mobile.)


MP3 player, that remembers current possition in all playlists or folders

Yes, there is.
MortPlayer Audio Books and Smart AudioBook Player have both been verified by me to have asked feature implemented.

Some details:

MortPlayer Audio Books is completely free (it displays ads, but these can be... disabled in settings), but offers an enormous number of options, settings and preferences, which can overwhelm many of fresh users; it is also based on skins, with many skins having... well... not to good UI, look & feel,
Smart AudioBook Player is much simplier and offers more clean, standard UI, but it is not free. It comes with 30-days trial offering all options, after which it must be purchased for $2 or will block most extra options and features.

Both players have the most desired option. You can jump between folders or around media library and every time you open up a folder (book), that was opened by you before, you will always start listening from the position, you left it, not from the beginning.

There are probably many more audio players for Android, that supports these feature. Only, to find them,  one must search for audiobook player, not for MP3 player, as I did previously.


Device fails to install provisioning app

Had the same problem and it was because the App I was trying to install was self-signed.  I signed it with a real certificate and then the problem went away.

It should also be noted, that I'm using QR codes instead of NFC as the tablet I'm working with does not have NFC.


You could try to download your music in MP3 format from Google Music through your PC and then put it on your phones SD-card. Then you should be able to set the MP3 as an alarm sound.


Is it possible to select default contact picture service?

Try Contacts Dialer. That is the only dialer app that I found that offered Facebook support, seems reliable, and offers a ton of extra features and settings (that you'll actually use). I just started using it myself and it looks promising. The user interface is fantastic and very user friendly. I also just noticed that it does allow you to choose which picture you want to display. Hope this helps!

Note: You should consider opting for the full version too. It's only $2.90 and unlocks many features. Well worth in imho.


CyanogenMod 12.1 on Samsung i9500 intl caller echo

I have the same problem with the same rom just lower the call volume two notches down from the max and it works fine


Prevent music player from closing while closing all apps

When you clear the "recent list", all related activities are "kindly asked to terminate" (see: What actually happens when you swipe an app out of the recent apps list?). So what you ask must basically be converted into "how to exclude an app from being removed from the recent list" – which I know no answer for.

In principle, "closing all apps" rarely is a good idea (except when shutting down the device, of course). It does no good to your battery (or anything else), as many of those apps will just "silently restart". If you have "performance issues", you should track them down to their cause (see e.g. How do I identify apps or settings that cause performance problems?) – and then stop the one app hogging those resources. Chuck-Norris-Roundhouse-Kicks in this case are like using atomics to kill a flie.


Android suddenly refuses to play ANY videos in any app on my galaxy tab s2

See the version of Android. If it is not the newest version, there may be a problem.
My phone, which before the major update a few months ago stopped playing Audio and lagged, and when i updated it all got fixed.
But another thing is, and i am not trying to scare, there may be a very bad software issue, or there could be a virus.


If you didn't back up your contacts before you factory reset, they are gone. They will only be on google if you synced them to google. your phone will sync automatically if you allow with the settings for backup and restoring.


Yeah, I had a similar problem with my Samsung Galaxy Nexus after downloading some apps I had developed without testing them on an emulator first (whops). Take a look at this question:Phone restarting over and over after rooting Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830i. I know there is not an accepted answer but you might have some luck with it. I had to reset mine and that seem to do the trick but if not I would recommend the safe reboot described in the linked question. The actual problem is probably caused by an over load maybe of to much memory required for the graphics (as it was in my case). I would just be careful when downloading apps not from Google Play, especially any sort of game that uses a lot of ram and CPU. Hope this helps. Cheers.


Android Market applicatin top, filtered by country

You can use AppBrain.

Up right menu. Press "More" -> "Popular in ... (I'm not sure translation)" -> country

Example for Poland http://www.appbrain.com/apps/country-poland/


If you are talking about the OTT M8 follow these instructions (Source):

(Click image to enlarge)

The reset button is located in the A/V port on the back of the device.
Using a jewelers screwdriver, place it in to the port until you feel a click
Hold the reset button down

Insert the power cord while continuing to hold the reset

Once you see the screen below, it is then safe to release the reset button


Will android tablets from US work in the UK?

This may depend somewhat on the device, so I would try to narrow down which one in particular you want then try to figure out what other people are saying about it. Having said that, I know lots of people on XDA are using US Verizon Xooms in Europe without any problems (minus 3G, of course, which you said isn't a problem). There's a thread about this here. Some have also noted that you can flash European firmware onto the VZW Xoom without any problems, but I'm not sure what the caveats are and I don't know if that would work on other devices.


Does the Eee Pad Transformer TF101 support the APT-X audio codec?

I doubt it, since it's proprietary; Android by default only supports these codecs.  It's not required for the speakers to work though, as far as I can tell.


Backup and Restore with Holo ( ADB ) from N4 to another N4 - some questions

Restore via Holo Backup didnt worked at all. Nothing happened on my phone no matter what kind of backup i tried to restore.

Restore via adb from commandoline worked... well not the full backup!! it stucked at an app called "Tasks".

But backup only from app and system data worked fine! So i just let google restore all my apps.

Apps and Folders on the Homescreen were restored. eMail ringtone too (hangouts sms not).
alarms were also restored.

I just pulled and pushed my whole sdcard0 folder manually.


Yes it is perfectly safe.
But u should be rooted to remove it.

I have removed play-store on my Galaxy Fit a long time ago, reason being it always triggered the installation of Google play Services.


Tethering using bluetooth via Galaxy Nexus to Galaxy Tab 7(P1000) tablet

Android 4.0+ officially supports bluetooth tethering in both directions (and allows bridging to whatever the internet connection is (wifi/usb/3G)).

You need:

1x device as tether host running Android 4.0+ that has wifi/3g/usb internet
1x client device running Android 4.0+
both devices are bluetooth paired
enabled 'bluetooth tethering' setting on the host device:
settings => wireless & networks: more => tethering & portable hotspot => bluetooth tethering

You then can connect to the tethering profile:
settings => bluetooth => paired devices/GN => profiles/Internet Access

The GNexus fulfills all of that, however your P1000 cannot officially upgraded to Android 4.0 though, so you're out of luck or you have to install an aftermarket firmware (e.g. CyanogenMod9, which is based on Android 4.0.4)


Solution was to restore a backup of /efs and write a backup of the modem firmware to /dev/block/mmcblk0p10, this device file may be different on a different deivce though. But on my N7100 it worked.


how can I transfer nokia lumia 8 data to samsung galaxy 3

You can Use this app to share your contacts.

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-in/store/app/qontact/e3404be4-324f-46e3-b47d-5561c676cad6

You Can Also Sync your Contacts between Lumia 820 & Galaxy S4 using your Hotmail ID. Just login your Hotmail ID to your galaxy S4 and Sync.

You Can Export Your Contact from https://people.live.com using your hotmail id in *.csv format then import in your Phone or Google Account Which you are using in Galaxy S4.

From Microsoft Answers


How can I know the exact number of downloads for an app on Google Play Store?

In order to see a number of downloads, you need to login to Google Play Developer Console. All information is there.


Delete backed up photos on Samsung S4 mini

If there's no option to delete, then they're already gone from your device. Google keeps a thumbnail available for you so that you can see the photo, share, etc., without taking up a ton of storage on your phone.

If you want them really gone, you'll need to go to Google Photos and delete them from there. (Actually, they'll go into the Trash, where they'll be auto-deleted in 3 days, but they'll get removed from your photo gallery on your phone.)


How to actually merge/join the internal storage and external SD card!

You can try link2sd, use the first partition on SD as internal storage.

I had many issues with link2sd, mostly related to app failing installation/upgrade


How to transfer a Clash of Clans Village into an old Android device without Google Play services?

Read this, the bottom half is for android users, https://gamesupport.supercell.net/hc/en-us/articles/421682-Can-I-transfer-my-village-to-a-new-device-
This doesn't require Play Services, but does require G+. You should be able do this w/o Google Play Services

Good luck!


How to avoid showing many processes on DDMS?

DDMS shows the running apps which have the "debuggable" flag set. If the built-in apps are also debuggable, it suggests you're using a debug build of the ROM. Switch to a release build. If the custom ROM you're using doesn't have a release build, switch to a ROM made by people who know what they're doing.


Prevent dark mode from activating during battery saver

According to the source code file

frameworks/base/core/java/android/provider/Settings.java

there is a global setting in the user profile called battery_saver_constants, which can hold several comma separated parameters. These parameters are applied when battery saver is on. Here's the list:
/**
 * Battery Saver specific settings
 * This is encoded as a key=value list, separated by commas. Ex:
 *
 * "vibration_disabled=true,adjust_brightness_factor=0.5"
 *
 * The following keys are supported:
 *
 * <pre>
 * advertise_is_enabled              (boolean)
 * datasaver_disabled                (boolean)
 * enable_night_mode                 (boolean)
 * launch_boost_disabled             (boolean)
 * vibration_disabled                (boolean)
 * animation_disabled                (boolean)
 * soundtrigger_disabled             (boolean)
 * fullbackup_deferred               (boolean)
 * keyvaluebackup_deferred           (boolean)
 * firewall_disabled                 (boolean)
 * gps_mode                          (int)
 * adjust_brightness_disabled        (boolean)
 * adjust_brightness_factor          (float)
 * force_all_apps_standby            (boolean)
 * force_background_check            (boolean)
 * optional_sensors_disabled         (boolean)
 * aod_disabled                      (boolean)
 * quick_doze_enabled                (boolean)
 * </pre>
 * @hide
 * @see com.android.server.power.batterysaver.BatterySaverPolicy
 */

On recent Android's, the global settings configuration file has XML format and is located here

/data/system/users/0/settings_global.xml

So you can add this new parameter called battery_saver_constants with its value enable_night_mode=false like this:
<setting id="9999" name="battery_saver_constants" value="enable_night_mode=false" defaultValue="enable_night_mode=false" package="android" defaultSysSet="true" />

Notice the id parameter, it can be any number but should be unique in this configuration file.
P.S. You need root to edit this file.


"Incompatible with other application(s) using the same shared user ID" when installing Google Play services

The steps which I followed (when it happens to me) :

1.Backup all the data and apps you already have on your phone as we are going for a factory reset.

( To backup current version apks of the app use root explorer and copy all apks from /data/app and some apks from /mnt/asec/ )

2.Downloaded latest signed Google-Apps for your Android version (like Jellybean, Ice Cream Sandwich, KitKat etc).

Turn off your phone.
Boot phone in recovery mode and Wipe data/factory reset. (This is why you need to back up everything).
Flash the latest signed Gapps downloaded earlier.
Wipe Dalvik cache and cache partition then reboot.
Download the latest version of Google Play Store and install it.
Update all the Google-Apps via Play Store.
Then install Google Play Services and done!

Note:- Alternatively, At step 7 you can open the Market (Play Store) and tap agree. Then press home and leave it for a while. After the Play Store is updated, open it and tap agree again. The new Play Store should download Google Play Services and install it.