I have the same problem here in Brazil. Last year, I bought a Galaxy S, and the photos had that red color in the center. I went to the store and exchanged it for another one, which had the same problem. I went to the store and returned it. I decided for an iPhone 4. Now, I got bored with iPhone 4 and this week I bought another Galaxy S, it has the same problem (red color in the center of the photo), but I decided to keep it anyway.

For what I see in your post, the red color is a general problem. I just don’t understand why the Samsung has not already corrected that problem.

I have made some tests with the camera, and noticed that the problem occurs in low light conditions, especially under incandescent light, but outdoors the picture is normal.

Maybe the problem could be correct by some software or an update for Samsung.

I looked over in the internet and didn’t find any solution.

So, if somebody knows a solution, please post it here.


Can I restore an app I removed from list on my Droid Razr?

You probably haven't actually deleted the app, as that would have to be done via the Play Store or Settings menu. Remove From List should only remove an app from the multi-tasking list, or at most close the background process.

Check the list of apps in your task launcher and you should still find it available.


Device with fake IMEI number that doesn't belong to me is shown under my Google Dashboard

A very possible reason is probably you have used your Google Account in another mobile also for downloading apps from Google Play or for accessing Gmail or whatever. Don't panic about such things if you've logged out from that devices.


Restoring contacts after X10 mini pro upgrade to 2.1

Well, this Sony Ericsson sync tool seems to work, specially if you want to move contacts from another Sony Ericsson device from your new one (They claim you can also synchronize your data from other devices, as long es they support SyncML).

But I personally use Gmail's contact management, which is easy to use, practical and safe. Obviously is a good idea to auto-synchronize it, as you did, even if you weren't aware ;).

After reading your post I've been playing with the Backup & Restore tool, and I realized they warn something like:

  Contacts synchronized using other services are not included.*

*I don't know if this is the actual English message, cause my phone is in Spanish, but should be somehing like that, shouldn't it?

Regards.


Rooting A Nexus 5 and Concerns Regarding Over The Air Updates?

If you root the device on the stock ROM, it will still offer to do OTA updates, but they won't work. OTA updates only apply to a completely clean system image that hasn't been rooted.

To apply an upgrade to your rooted device, you have to download the ROM image from the official Google site and follow the instructions there to flash it.


How can I make my photos automatically geo-tagged?

As long as you have GPS switched on on your phone (on a Galaxy S the easiest way to do this is from the buttons that appear when you pull the notification bar down from the top of the screen) and have GPS switched on in the camera, you should see the "satellite receiver" GPS icon appear and start flashing when you open the camera app. As long as you see this then your phone is trying to geo-tag your pictures.

Be aware that even in the best of conditions your phone can take 30 seconds or more to get a decent GPS position locked, so wait a bit after you open the camera app before you take the picture.

You can also speed up the GPS lock by making sure that you have the assisted GPS features switched on, see this previous question for details on how to switch those features on.


There are obviously some serious issues with your configuration and possibly (the battery issue) the device. If you cannot access the device with the pattern or your Gmail login, you will need to factory reset it. With all the other issues you are having, it is probably your best option anyway. Plus if you send it for repair, that will be the first thing that gets done to it anyway.


The Android Device Manager application has access to many device permissions. Some of those allow it enable GPS capabilities in order to find out the device's current location.  Once you enable it on your phone, you can log into ADM's web site, and provided your device currently has Internet connectivity, you can send a request to your phone to retrieve this information and send it to Google's servers.  Google then displays see this information on a live map.

As described in the Help section of ADM's website, you can also choose to provide the phone number to dial once you lock the device remotely (it can be any number that you currently have access to.)  This information is then sent to the phone, and is displayed on the lock screen with a dial button.

You can also choose to wipe your device, in which case Google will remotely instruct the ADM app that is installed on your device to perform a full factory reset (including wiping the contents of removable storage.)

In terms of privacy issues, it's definitely a trade-off.  By using apps like Android Device Manager (there are plenty of alternatives as well,) you are trusting that application's developers with your location data.  In return there is a small chance that you will be able to retrieve a lost or stolen phone, or at the very least erase your private data off of it.  In this case you place your trust in Google, since they are developing ADM.


Location based Wifi apps such as  Wi-Fi Matic will remember the cell tower ids of your mobile network operator and link it with the connected wifi network. The cell tower id is area dependent, and wifi network in most cases is area dependent. So, it works.

These apps or services constantly monitor the cell tower id of your phone's connected network. And if they find the matched cell tower ids, they know that phone is in/around known wifi network and turn the wifi on.

Similarly, when the cell tower id doesn't match the ones linked with remembered wifi's, it just turns off wifi.
And monitoring tower ids doesn't require data connection. There is no reverse lookup of location here. Just known cell tower ids linked to known wifi networks.

In recent versions of android, there is an option in Wifi advanced settings, called Scanning always available. If you turn on this setting, background scanning always happens even when wifi is off, knowing the access point names of detected wifi networks. Such apps can also use this data to turn on/off wifi based on saved networks.


How do you encrypt your device running CyanogenMod 12.1?

There are low(er)-level commands that can be used in a shell to encrypt your user data partition. Disclaimer/Warning: the following instructions will wipe your data, ensure that you make a backup if needed.

Following these steps, you should be able to wipe your data partition and have it encrypted afterwards (similar to a factory reset):

Boot your phone normally (either recovery does not work anymore, or I ran into a different issue).
Ensure that USB debugging mode (adb) and  Root access for ADB is enabled.
Enter a root shell with adb root followed by adb shell.
Optional: watch logs by invoking adb logcat in another shell.
Enter this command, type your password and press Enter. This will actually set your password. This command reads one line of input (head -1), strips the trailing newline from Enter (tr -d '\n') and converts it to a hexadecimal representation (hexdump ...). If it looks scary or if you are not sure what this command does, see below.

vdc cryptfs enablecrypto wipe password $(head -1 | tr -d '\n' | hexdump -ve '1/1 "%.2x"')

If everything goes okay, your device will set keys and reboot to complete the encryption.

The above vdc command ("Volume Daemon Client") communicated with vold (Volume Daemon) has some subcommands like cryptfs for encryption. The enablecrypto subcommand has two modes: wipe (clear /data completely) and inplace (supposedly applying encryption while copying your original /data inside the container).

Then, four options are available starting with Android 5.0, one of them is password which accepts a single hexadecimal sequence as key. Thus if your password is foo, then the hexadecimal representation is 666f6f (f is 66 in hex, o is 6f, see http://www.asciitable.com/). The command for this is:

vdc cryptfs enablecrypto wipe password 666f6f

This was tested on a Nexus 5 (code name hammerhead, running cm-12.1-20150814) which has a separate partition for storing metadata. It is important that the userdata partition has the encryptable flag set followed by either the path to a partition or the special string footer. An (abbreviated) line from my /fstab.hammerhead file:

  /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata     /data           ext4    ...,check,encryptable=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/metadata

When the special string footer (encryptable=footer) is present, then 16 KiB at the end of the data partition is used to store encryption metadata.

For further reading, see:

https://source.android.com/devices/tech/security/encryption/

Appendix: logcat excerpt from the moment I executed the encryption command until it finishes and reboots (omitting unrelated graphics messages at the end). Note that this Nexus 5 has hardware-accelerated crypto (QSEECom).

--------- beginning of main
08-16 12:57:15.459 W/DrmManagerClientImpl(Native)( 2108): DrmManager server died!
08-16 12:57:15.459 I/ServiceManager(  184): service 'drm.drmManager' died
08-16 12:57:15.467 D/Cryptfs (  186): Just asked init to shut down class main
08-16 12:57:15.470 D/Cryptfs (  186): unmounting /mnt/shell/emulated succeeded
08-16 12:57:15.599 I/ServiceManager(  184): service 'media.audio_flinger' died
08-16 12:57:15.599 I/ServiceManager(  184): service 'media.player' died
08-16 12:57:15.599 I/ServiceManager(  184): service 'media.camera' died
...
08-16 12:57:16.695 D/Cryptfs (  186): unmounting /data succeeded
08-16 12:57:16.695 D/QSEECOMAPI: (  186): QSEECom_get_handle sb_length = 0x2000
08-16 12:57:16.696 D/QSEECOMAPI: (  186): App is already loaded QSEE and app id = 2
08-16 12:57:16.697 I/Cryptfs (  186): keymaster version is 3
08-16 12:57:16.697 D/QSEECOMAPI: (  186): QSEECom_dealloc_memory
08-16 12:57:16.697 D/QSEECOMAPI: (  186): QSEECom_shutdown_app, app_id = 2
08-16 12:57:16.697 D/QSEECOMAPI: (  186): QSEECom_get_handle sb_length = 0x2000
08-16 12:57:16.697 D/QSEECOMAPI: (  186): App is already loaded QSEE and app id = 2
08-16 12:57:18.058 D/QSEECOMAPI: (  186): QSEECom_dealloc_memory
08-16 12:57:18.058 D/QSEECOMAPI: (  186): QSEECom_shutdown_app, app_id = 2
08-16 12:57:18.058 I/Cryptfs (  186): Using scrypt with keymaster for cryptfs KDF
08-16 12:57:18.208 D/BootAnimation( 2683): Use save memory method, maybe small fps in actual.
08-16 12:57:18.208 E/QCOM PowerHAL( 2683): Failed to acquire lock.
08-16 12:57:18.691 D/QSEECOMAPI: (  186): QSEECom_get_handle sb_length = 0x2000
08-16 12:57:18.691 D/QSEECOMAPI: (  186): App is already loaded QSEE and app id = 2
08-16 12:57:18.692 I/Cryptfs (  186): Signing safely-padded object
08-16 12:57:18.797 D/QSEECOMAPI: (  186): QSEECom_dealloc_memory
08-16 12:57:18.797 D/QSEECOMAPI: (  186): QSEECom_shutdown_app, app_id = 2
08-16 12:57:20.056 I/Cryptfs (  186): Using scrypt with keymaster for cryptfs KDF
08-16 12:57:20.690 D/QSEECOMAPI: (  186): QSEECom_get_handle sb_length = 0x2000
08-16 12:57:20.691 D/QSEECOMAPI: (  186): App is already loaded QSEE and app id = 2
08-16 12:57:20.691 I/Cryptfs (  186): Signing safely-padded object
08-16 12:57:20.796 D/QSEECOMAPI: (  186): QSEECom_dealloc_memory
08-16 12:57:20.796 D/QSEECOMAPI: (  186): QSEECom_shutdown_app, app_id = 2
08-16 12:57:21.429 I/Cryptfs (  186): Enabling support for allow_discards in dmcrypt.
08-16 12:57:21.429 I/Cryptfs (  186): load_crypto_mapping_table: target_type = crypt
08-16 12:57:21.429 I/Cryptfs (  186): load_crypto_mapping_table: real_blk_name = /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata, extra_params = 1 allow_discards
08-16 12:57:21.431 I/Cryptfs (  186): Making empty filesystem with command /system/bin/make_ext4fs -a /data -l 13725837312 /dev/block/dm-0
08-16 12:57:21.447 I/make_ext4fs(  186): SELinux: Loaded file_contexts from /file_contexts
08-16 12:57:21.447 I/make_ext4fs(  186): Creating filesystem with parameters:
08-16 12:57:21.447 I/make_ext4fs(  186):     Size: 13725835264
08-16 12:57:21.448 I/make_ext4fs(  186):     Block size: 4096
08-16 12:57:21.448 I/make_ext4fs(  186):     Blocks per group: 32768
08-16 12:57:21.448 I/make_ext4fs(  186):     Inodes per group: 8144
08-16 12:57:21.448 I/make_ext4fs(  186):     Inode size: 256
08-16 12:57:21.448 I/make_ext4fs(  186):     Journal blocks: 32768
08-16 12:57:21.449 I/make_ext4fs(  186):     Label:
08-16 12:57:21.449 I/make_ext4fs(  186):     Transparent compression: none
08-16 12:57:21.449 I/make_ext4fs(  186):     Blocks: 3351034
08-16 12:57:21.449 I/make_ext4fs(  186):     Block groups: 103
08-16 12:57:21.459 I/make_ext4fs(  186):     Reserved block group size: 823
08-16 12:57:21.465 I/make_ext4fs(  186): Created filesystem with 11/838832 inodes and 93654/3351034 blocks
08-16 12:57:21.465 I/make_ext4fs(  186):     Total files: 0
08-16 12:57:21.465 I/make_ext4fs(  186):     Total bytes: 0
08-16 12:57:42.926 D/Cryptfs (  186): Successfully created filesystem on /dev/block/dm-0


Okay, I figured out how to set the good ol' Voice Commands app as the default voice commands interface.  It has to be done while not connected to a hands free device via Bluetooth.

Tap into the Phone app
Tap the Phone app's microphone icon

In my case a prompt appeared asking me to select the default app to handle voice commands.  Thereafter, it's used the correct Voice Commands app when connected via Bluetooth.

For those who wanted to know how to disable Google Now, here's how it's done:

Swipe up from the Home icon to activate Google Now
Scroll all the way to the bottom
Tap the Overflow menu (three vertical dot icon)
Tap Settings
Tap Google Now
Tap the OFF/ON switch in the upper-right to disable Google Now


blocking individual numbers & text messages for Android phones

Anti SMS Spam works great, also see Mr. Number for good call management.


Block incoming and outgoing calls and texts

Miui has a built-in call/message filter, perhaps confusingly called Firewall, since there is also an actual internet firewall within the, also confusingly called, Monitor application (a comprehensive call and traffic  logger ). Works great though. To password protect it just use the Guard application, also within Miui.


How can I do usb tethering with Mac Os X (using gingerbread Acer Liquid Metal & snow leopard)?

EasyTether i think would be your best option. The free version is full-figured, and paying for the full market version will get you https:// sites. And the drivers for it are available on their website for download.

P.S. it's only $4.99 right now in the Amazon Appstore ;)


The best practice is to store important contacts to SIM card so that even if you change phones for some reason the contacts remain with you.

Doing this you can distribute the amount of memory, taken up by contacts, between SIM and phone memory.


How to restore internal flash storage after reformatting?

Why is the internal storage no longer visible in Thunar? How can I restore it to its original state?

  I do not know how to adapt these instructions to my model of MID

First of all you need to get adb working (Android Debug Bridge if you want to learn more). Specific information regarding this is available at ADB for Android Developers (ARCHOS Internet Tablet) as linked in the answer you provided.

When you have adb ready, you should be able to run adb shell. This will give you the ability to give commands to adb and we can start accessing the device. I'm quoting the answer you linked here:

  If the connection is OK, it will start a server and after e few seconds show the '$' prompt. this means you are connected to the tablet and have direct access to the linux shell. If you type 'ls' you will see a list of folders that contain the operating system and all supporting files that make your tablet work. Now navigate to the folder containing the Flash file system by typing:

cd ./dev/block/vold

  If you now type 'ls' again you should see three or four folders that have numbered names. One of them is '31:8'. This is the folder that points to the internal flash. Now we can fix our problem by recreating the MS-DOS (FAT32) file system on this partition. Type the following:

mkdosfs -F 32 /dev/block/vold/31:8/

  This will fix the FAT32 filesystem. Now leave the shell by typing 'exit', disconnect the USB and restart your tablet. On my system this made internal storage re-appear, and after that it also mounted the sd-card. Problem solved.

Please follow these steps and report if it works or not, please supply any error messages and I'll try to help you further to the best of my abilities.

Is that normal that “Internal Flash Storage” is reported as “0”? Will this give me any problems?

This is likely just due to the fact that the internal storage isn't detected by the device. It doesn't necessarily mean that it's broken or lost forever.

I'd also like to add as a final point that messing with the partitions on the internal storage is usually a very bad idea. Don't do it unless you know exactly what you're doing and why. You should always assume that messing with partitions can lead to data loss.


Adding  any number of duplicate SSID's is possible if you have a unique IP address.

In lay man's terms SSID is nothing but just an identification given to that particular network given to distinguish that network from others for simplicity. What defines that network is it's IP Address.If you have a conflict between an IP address then it may be a real problem.

For some devices(like Samsung) you need to check the to Display open Network connection if available in order to view open connections and for some devices it shows by default.

Ex:-Let's say you have two network's with SSID as Test.
Test1 has an open connection available for public use and Test2 is for personal use and is encrypted. Your mobile device will simply connect to a network whose signal strength is good. As the IP address is different there will not be any conflict and you can do your browsing.

In case there's any  conflict(same signal strength) then the device will ask the user to select the desired network or search for a new network.

Caution:-Browsing an open network for reasons related to finance leads to severe security threats browse at your own risk.

An IP address serves two principal functions: host or network interface identification and location addressing. Its role has been characterized as follows: "A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A route indicates how to get there.

The most simple definition for IP Address I could give is-

IP address act as you house address to which the shipment has to be delivered.If you have two same addresses then to whom will the shipment be delivered.
For further details about IP read this


Is it okay to use USB 3.0 cable with USB 2.0 wall adapter?

USB devices are designed to use a wide variety of voltages ranging from 500mA to 1500mA and have been standardized for quite some time. You can generally plug any USB device into any USB cable and into any USB port, and nothing will blow up. Using a more powerful charger should speed up battery charging, while using a less powerful one will just charge slower. A good resource for this topic can be found here.

As noted in that article, the only real concern is when charging an older phone with a newer charger, as the battery might not be able to handle the higher current. In your cause your using an older charger with a new phone, so your all good.


Is a 16gb class 4 micro sd card enough for hd gaming on Xperia Neo V GB?

According to the specifications your phone has 512MB Memory, which is quite close to the lower limit for actual 3D games like N.O.V.A.3. Because the OS must read the game data into the allocated RAM for the game-process (a lot less than 512MB). The game-data is propably bigger than the total allocated RAM space so Android starts to cache the stuff internally (Internal Flash space, not SD Card).

So after loading the game the SD-Card class/speed isn't the most important part. A faster SD-Card will probably just speed up the loading progress but not the gaming experience itself.


Where is the trash that the stock camera/photos app moves to?

According to How can i find my recycle bin on Android? - Google Photos Community

... trash bin and the files inside it are not actually present on your Android device, which is why you can't find the files.

(Emphasis added)
By implication, they are stored on cloud  and that is where you restore them from if needed. You can locate them at https://photos.google.com/trash as mentioned in How to recovery the google photos deleted from trash - Google Photos Community.
I guess if you turn off sync for photos, deleted photos should be directly deleted without moving to Trash and obviously you won't find them at the location linked above.


I Need Help Getting Contacts from Broken Android!

There is no way to get your contacts back, for a number of reasons:

You would have to have been rooted [AND]
You would have to have USB Debugging enabled [AND]
You would have to individually go through the contacts app database, and get the contact data. They aren't stored in vcard format.


How to upgrade to Android 2.2 [Samsung GT i5800]?

You could uninstall Kies and the drivers completely, and then install the UK version of Kies from here.  (Make sure to select the UK as your location during install).  This should allow you to perform the update, although it might not give you the language you want.  This worked for me to get Froyo on my Vibrant before it was released in the US.  Alternatively you could try another European country that has had an official update released.

You could also try flashing the latest European firmware via Odin.  XDA has a guide on this (see the UPGRADING section).  This is risky if you don't follow the instructions closely and will void your warranty just like rooting, but I've used Odin dozens of times on my Vibrant with no issues.


Well you cannot hide names in WhatsApp at all. As you know it wont accept a blank as profile name.

1.Coming to the blank names beside the contact number is shown because the other person has saved you in his contact but his number is not saved(with a name) in your contacts list. Due to this the app will show only the contact number but not the name.

Update-  Try saving the contact with a name and then refresh your contacts in whats app for this first force stop the app then clear the cache (this works most of the time irrespective of the make or mode of internet )

2.You may be using an older version of the application.(you have not specified the version so it can also be the problem).

3.You could be blocked by the other person so you cannot see his name initially(later last seen and then the display pic)

If the above still do not solve your problem then try reading the faq 1 and faq 2


Is it possible to specify multiple home pages for the default android browser?

No, it's not possible.

How did I get such result? As always I started to google this possibility but found nothing interesting. So I decided to check Android Browser source code. If you want you can download it by typing in console:

git clone https://android.googlesource.com/platform/packages/apps/Browser

After 5-10 minutes (I'm not new in programming) of looking repository I found 2 facts:

1) The homepage is saved as one String (Java type).

2) The homepage is opening by calling this function (in Controller.java):

@Override
public Tab openTabToHomePage() {
    return openTab(mSettings.getHomePage(), false, true, false);
}

So as you see (If you know programming a bit) it returns one tab, not several (like List<Tab>).


Outlook Android no longer synchronizes Office 365 contacts

Well, it seems, they restructured how the contacts are synchronized.

I checked my Outlook on my computer, and it has 2 separate contact store options:

  Address book - mycompanyemail@mycompany.com

  Contacts - mycompanyemail@mycompany.com

All my company coworkers were in the Address book and my Contacts were empty.

I copied them to Contacts and now they are all synchronized - even appear in the new Contacts tab of Outlook Android.

So to draw a lesson: always check your online Contacts and see what it contains.


What shell is running on the phone? - You can find out with ps

I seem to remember having this issue a while ago (but haven't run in to it recently on my current phone) when logging in to plain sh, executing bash or ash immediately after connecting was a simple workaround


My Nexus One cannot connect to Wi-Fi being broadcast by a Windows 7 laptop

It sounds like you're trying to broadcast a wireless signal using your laptop so that your mobile devices can connect to it. If you set this up via the standard Windows 7 networking tools it would have created an ad-hoc network, and Android does not support ad-hoc connections out-of-the-box.

You can, however, use a "softAP" (that is - software access point) to broadcast a signal as an AP instead of in ad-hoc mode. Connectify works great for me, and I would recommend giving it a try. A list of their supported wireless cards can be found here.

Additionally, you can try to "enable" ad-hoc networking on the Nexus One using the steps described in this forum thread. These steps will require that you have rooted your device, however.


How to Increase font size on LG optimus g pro notepad, not the whole phone

[Phone needs to be rooted] In case you're interested in an app solution, try Xposed Installer and App Settings.

What is Xposed Installer?

  Xposed is a framework for modules that can change the behavior of the
  system and apps without touching any APKs. That's great because it
  means that modules can work for different versions and even ROMs
  without any changes (as long as the original code was not changed too
  much). It's also easy to undo. As all changes are done in the memory,
  you just need to deactivate the module and reboot to get your original
  system back. There are many other advantages, but here is just one
  more: Multiple modules can do changes to the same part of the system
  or app. With modified APKs, you to decide for one. No way to combine
  them, unless the author builds multiple APKs with different
  combinations.

What are some of the things that App Settings can change?

DPI: Changes the DPI used by this app both when loading resources (some might be DPI-specific) and also when rendering them.
Font Scale: Scales the font up or down, similarly to the system-wide "Font Size" setting.


What system app stores the cellular network settings?

I would think that the following would probably be likely candidates:

TelephonyProvider
SettingsProvider (maybe)

Does the data network work if you reboot?
What if you restore with the "old sim", then put in the new sim?


I found out that if i get a dongle, and attach the dongle to the USB-C, and attach a mouse to that dongle, then i can operate the phone a bit hard, but it works!!


Can I retrieve files from the voice recorder app after they've been deleted?

If the files were stored on a physical microSD card, you may be able to use file recovery software on your computer.  There are a number of undelete and recovery software options, but many cost money. http://pcinspector.de has a flash memory recovery tool for free (Smart Recovery handles flash memory).

Writing more data to the card increases the chance that the file will be overwritten before you recover it.


How to tune a frequency like 89.0 on Jusada ICS CM7 stock radio?

In the app's settings try changing the default locale.  Different ones (even "China") will change the interval by which the tuner seeks.


Developers can decide to have their apps opt-out of backups (ALLOW_BACKUP=FALSE). If you try to backup such an app via adb backup, the resulting file will contain nothing but the backup header (usually a 41 byte file). Working around that limitation is only possible on rooted devices, e.g. using the XPosed module Backup All Apps.


How to edit a contact in the "Contacts" app using LG G3

That's because the contact is synced to your contacts via online account (Facebook in this case). You are not allowed to edit that contact that is why there is no option of editing it. Get it!


Galaxy S2 through USB won't connect to my Mac?

If phone data/photos is all you're after, I suggest using Airdroid instead. No wires required, and will work on any computer.

If you're really set on using the cord, you may be missing GS2 drivers. You'll need to install Kies from Samsung.


You have to create a partition on your SD that you can then mount to your phone storage.

Here is a tutorial about it.

http://www.skyneel.com/2013/10/Increase-internal-memory-in-Android-Mobiles-in-easy-steps.html


What does the setting option mean entitled "allow multi-thread downloads" in Es file explorer?

It will divide your Download file into Multiple parts and Start Downloading those parts in parallel. After Downloading all the files it will merge all the downloading parts.

The Toggle is for changing the behavior to multi thread or Sequential Download.


'Could not validate certificate signature' error (Antennapod, Gingerbread)

There is nothing you can do, except making your device not use ssl. Either there's a problem with the website, or a hacker is modifying your connection to the website on-the-fly but has problems.


"Fast Boot" is basically analogous to the hibernate or possibly S3 (STR) sleep functionality on regular PCs (HTC isn't very clear on what precisely it does, but analysis of its claims and action suggests it's one of these).  Rather than fully shutting down and restarting, the OS resumes where it was after a shutdown, allowing the system to get from "off" to "ready to use" much faster.

As mentioned, some apps don't play nice with this, such as the case is in this SO question.

Unless you're regularly needing to shut off your phone for some reason and want it to start back up faster, I'd personally just leave it off to avoid the potential for weird issues.


How can I manually extract my contacts from a backup image of Android?

Well, this took a long time. For future searchers, here's what you can do:

Find your contacts2.db file hidden somewhere in Android. Most of the time it's located in /data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/databases. I was lucky and found it in a search through Titanium Backups' tarballs. Nab that file. It has everything in it in a sql database.

I then found this excellent script to extract and convert all contacts into a .vcf format for easy importing into the next device. It's located here on Github and requires two dependencies (on an Ubuntu 12.04 machine in which it was written for): sqllite3 and libsqllite3-dev:

sudo apt-get install sqlite3 libsqlite3-dev

After dependencies are satisfied, save the script on Github as dbconverter.sh. Mark it as executable:

chmod +x dbconverter.sh

use the script like this:

./dbconverter.sh contacts2.db > contacts2.vcf

You will then have a lovely .vcf file for easy importing into your phone.


Extract App Data from Nandroid / CWM Backup

In addition to the well-known Titanium Backup app (for which you must purchase the Pro key to unlock the CWM/TWRP nandroid backup support), there is another app now: Nandroid Manager, which according to its description can restore apps from nandroid backups even with the free version (there is a Pro key too, but it is required if you want to restore special data such as Wi-Fi access points, Bluetooth data, user dictionary and browser data). However, I did not try using this app.


For Calendar, Contact  data and other iTunes sync features are supported by AirDroid as suggested in this Android Authority article :Using Android with Mac OS X: tips and recommendations

For calls, SMS and other notifications try Pushbullet.


I have tried a number of USB 3.0 cables with no luck but every high quality USB 2.0 cable I've tried has worked for me. This includes USB 2.0 cables that have a Type C connector (There are many of these on Amazon. I'm currently using an "iOrange" brand cord) as well as traditional micro-usb cables with a Type C adapter ("TechMatte USB-C to Micro USB Adapter").

I'd prefer faster charging and better speeds but this takes care of my debugging needs reliably.


Is it possible to upgrade my HTC Legend to Froyo without waiting for over the air updates?

HTC now has an official way for Vodafone users to do this


Is there a user accessible font size preference?

Take a look at "Font Size (for root users)" in the market.  It costs $1.36 and only works with rooted phones but it claims to:

  "globally enlarges/decreases text size in all apps (Email, SMS, Maps, Home, Weather, Calendar, Widgets, ...)"

The reviews aren't so good but it's worth a try.


Why can't I move apps from internal storage to SD card on my new Android 7.1.1 device?

It can be because of manufacturer-integrated changes - some manufacturers like to disable Android features of their choice like does Xiaomi in their MIUI, for example.


Want to recover internal data of my phone from cwm-based recovery

Ideally you can retrieve nearly everything under CWM via ADB. Use adb shell to explore file structure and adb pull to pull what you want to PC.

However, 1) finding what you want to achieve can be painful, since you need to be familiar with Android filesystem structure, and ADB command line isn't friendly either; 2) even if you managed to find WhatsApp's data, you might not be able to make out what file(s) correspond to chats, and have to do a whole-folder backup, which then means restoring will be a pain (setting permissions and owners).

Retrieving contacts, SMS and simple game saves shouldn't be a problem though, as these usually are stored in one or two files. I've always backed up my savegames in a similar manner. Internal storage is also easy since you know that file structure well.


Can't uninstall virus plus phone keep rebooting

It sounds like malware has sneaked into your phone's system area (possibly via the "root manager" app you installed.) System area does not get touched during factory reset, which is why the apps are still there.  The /system partition is usually write-protected by default, but root privileges allow apps to write there as well.

The best way to get rid of such malware is to restore the /system partition.  This is accomplished by re-flashing of the firmware.  You can usually find stock Android firmware for your phone on the manufacturer's website, or other trustworthy sources (e.g. XDA-Developers device forums, SamMobile.com, etc.)  Alternatively, flashing a custom ROM (e.g. CyanogenMOD) will also erase the /system partition, getting rid of any malware that managed to get installed there.

Specifically, you will need the Odin tool, Samsung USB drivers (so that your PC recognizes the phone in Download mode,) and the image file specific to your phone's model number (Galaxy S3 has many variants, make sure you are downloading the proper firmware, or you may end up with a non-functioning device.)  Shut down the phone, and start it while holding Power, Home, and Vol Down buttons together until it shows the Download screen.  Install the USB drivers, and connect the phone via USB - it should get recognized by your computer.  Run Odin program, make sure it sees the phone (one of the COM ports will be highlighted,) press the AP or PDA button and select the firmware image, and click Start.

If you are knowledgeable enough, you can start the phone in recovery mode, and then using adb browse the /system partition and attempt to find and delete the malware.  However, this is a task for advanced users.


Disable Equalizer lockscreen UI on (CyanogenMod 12 - Lollipop)

Settings > Lockscreen > Turn off "Display music visualizer"


Why does my internet only work in certain places?

According to GSMArena, your device (LG K7) uses Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n standards. According to my findings, this standard tends to have limited coverage on some bands.

More explanation on different wifi standards has been described here:

My suspicion is that probably something/someone messed up the router settings to operate on a certain band, perhaps the 5GHz one or another. This normally covers a pretty small area, but is associated with such high speeds and is less congested. On the other hand;

  The shorter waves used by the 5 GHz band makes it less able to
  penetrate walls and solid objects

I suspect this may be the reason you can't get exclusive connection (instead you get disconnections and reconnections) the moment you move further away from the router.

Consider this illustration:

It gives a clear picture on extent of Wi-Fi coverage on common bands.

It may be the way round that you unknowingly tweaked these specific settings.

As a workaround You may need to revert to default configuration either on  your router or your device and see if the situation changes.


Samsung Galaxy S4 SCH-I545 official updates via Kies fails with: "Software update is temporarily unavailable. Try again later."

The update for the Verizon S4 USA is set to come eout tommorrow not today.


Galaxy S3 Wifi no internet on Comcast/xfinity router

Here's what I wound up doing - I reset the router to defaults, and I was able to get conected - I gradually restored everything back to the way I had it (ssid, security etc), and never lost connectivity, so I'm not sure what, if anything is different.


Why can't I download anything on my phone?

Check for Restricted Background data. If it is enabled then you will have problems while downloading irrespective of it being 4G or Wifi. Go to Settings -> Data usage -> Download Manager --> restrict background data option (disable).
You could try any downloader like Download Accelerator Plus (works for me). All you need is to open your website in its local browser or provide download url in the app. Below is screenshot of the app Browser where you need to search in order to download. Then save it in your sdcard or internal storage when you see download option.


What is the difference between formatting sd card via pc and phone?

None really.

I suppose the biggest reason why people make such recommendation is because an end user could easily end up formatting the card with an incompatible filesystem, like NTFS.

This in turn will cause further confusion to the user and additional forum posts.

It is safer to just ask them to format the card using the phone's interface.


how to take a screen shot and send it via MMS?

Only if you're rooted. See this answer: How to take a screenshot with an Android device?


Is it possible to visit a localhost page of my pc on Android without wifi route?

You do have a hotspot available!

You can configure your own phone as WiFi hotspot, and connect to it from the PC!


Guess you're using Kitkat (or newer) on that device? I'm afraid in that case you've got to live with that (you will always receive this warning as soon as you've installed a custom certificate – see official changelog regarding this1) – or root your device and install certificates as "trusted certificates" only.

How to install a certificate as "trusted system certificate"

As said, this requires a rooted device. Further, I'm not sure whether it works for certificates other than "CA root certificates" (those used to sign other certificates). For sure you'll need a .pem certificate for the following – and here are the steps:

# find the hash value of the certificate
openssl x509 -inform PEM -subject_hash_old -in cacert.pem | head -1
# prepare your certificate. The following line assumes the has is d12345:
openssl x509 -inform PEM -text -fingerprint -in cacert.pem > d12345.0
# now on the Android device: remount `/system` to be able to write to it
mount -o remount,rw /system
# move the certificate to the `cacerts` dir:
cp d12345.0 /system/etc/security/cacerts/
# now adjust the file permissions:
cd /system/etc/security/cacerts/
chown root:root d12345.0
chmod 0644 d12345.0
# finally, remount `/system` read-only
mount -o remount,ro /system

(source: Android without Google 2: ownCloud)

1: thanks to Andrew T. finding that link for proof in the comments


How to connect 2 Bluetooth audio headsets to an Android phone?

As in most things, it depends. In this case, since you do not state your device, I will demonstrate from mine, a Samsung 8, running Android 9 (One UI). It explicitly allows dual Bluetooth through settings. If this is your device, click through to it at

Settings > Connections > Bluetooth > Advanced > Dual Audio > ON

The setting allows sound to two different Bluetooth devices.

If your device is different, look for the capability along a similar setting path.


How can I make anonymous calls for everyone but contact list?

One possibility would be to prefix all numbers in your contact list by *31# (which turns the callerID on for that call only), while having callerID disabled in your settings. Depending on whether the phone app is intelligent enough to detect this as to not belonging to the number, incoming calls should still be matched fine (you could of course first try it out with one number to check).

Second possibility is the other way around: Having callerID globally enabled, and prefix manually entered numbers by #31#.

Being unsure which method to use, take a third option and a look at Prefixer, which should be able to do the one or the other for you -- depending on how you configure that app.


Disable list "bounce" effect on Samsung Galaxy Mini

No - as you've correctly ascertained, a custom ROM is most likely your best bet. Also, the bounce effect is a Samsung "feature" - by default Android uses the glow effect to indicate the end of a list. I'm also unsure if this is a Froyo only feature, because IIRC, one of the UI updates was the glow effect, which Samsung did incorporate into their later ROM releases.


Wild guess: It's an encoded message from a terrorism organization telling about a scheduled event :)

Serious Analysis: Call your carrier support for more information. This looks like some internal information (metadata) that accidentally leaked out. I made this guess because that message

Uses colon for field separator (very common in Unix systems)
Contains a time stamp (1496949959776 is 19:25:59.776, Jun 8, 2017 UTC)
Contains a Base64-encoded data, which gives a 20-byte nonsense after decoding
Contains an unused number from Seville, Ohio
Contains a 32-character code in an unknown format

If you don't want to dig too deep or you're not so curious, then you can safely ignore it.


Deleting or listing least frequently played songs in Google Play Music

No there's no feature in Google Play Music that lets you delete songs you don't listen to. AFAIK there is no app that does the same too.


Mobile data limiter keeps enabling itself

Try checking the limit box and then setting limit and warning bars higher some other forums have said it should work


How do i sync Google Keep via Bluetooth/wifi without internet connection?

You can try Bluetooth Chat to copy, paste and send notes through Bluetooth. Google Keep doesn't have any functionality to share notes without internet.

You can also setup a network drive and save your notes as a .txt on anything connected to your Wi-Fi without internet. That's a bit harder to do though.


How to retrieve files from Samsung Galaxy S4 stuck at samsung logo after dropping it?

First, odds are good you can salvage your photos.

Provided you did not encrypt your sd card, pull the sd card and take a look at it with a desktop/laptop (you won't be able to pull anything useable off of it this way if you did indeed encrypt it).  The images will be on there if you set up your camera app to save them there.  Otherwise...

Hardware repair on the phone will be required to get the connectors all back and sorted out (it sounds like you managed to short or unplug some bits, and perhaps damaged connectors on the motherboard). If you are feeling mechanical we can walk through looking at it; if not, we can suggest other repair options.


How do I run Windows or Linux as a virtual machine on Android?

VirtualBox uses virtualization, which isn't possible when the host device (Android tablet) uses a different CPU architecture than the guest device (x86 PC running windows XP). Since your android tablet almost certainly has an ARM CPU, the x86 CPU would have to be emulated, which is massively slower than virtualization. It doesn't seem like it would be practical at all.


I FIGURED IT OUT!! I went back into factory reset mode because it had other options on the list besides factory reset, I noticed that it had something about cache and then i remembered that when you want to do a clean install of anything and want to start from scratch, you have to make sure that you clear the cache too. So that's what i did first and then i did another factory reset which worked this time. No more issues with the forgotten password!!! – elaine.c


Is it possible to create a Google Play Family group using a Google Gift Card?

Not possible

From Google support Google Family plan Without Credit Card?

  Currently, you HAVE to have a credit card on file to use as the Family Payment method.  Even if everyone in the Family then uses their own payment method or the credits redeemed to their own accounts instead.

IMO, it sounds logical - a credit card establishes owner traceability and prevents two family accounts being operated by same person (which is not permitted - see family group requirements
) whereas a gift card doesn't


There's currently no way to set a system-wide policy for this.  Some apps do support doing things on WiFi only, however.  Here's some info on the apps you mentioned:

You can go into the browser settings and uncheck Load Images.
GMail does not load images unless you view a message and click a button to display them.
I believe the Touiteur Twitter client allows you to disable images.


How can I record sound before outputting?

(At the time of writing,) I've tried researching for 3rd-party apps that can record internal audio only, but surprisingly, I didn't find any. The only app that I found which can do this is SCR Screen Recorder, which just like its name, is actually a screen(+audio) recorder. So, while this app might be an overkill, it's worth to try.

Note: you need root access for internal audio recording. Also, the internal audio recording was said to be an experimental feature, which might not work on all devices.

Download and install SCR Pro (not SCR 5+ Pro, which doesn't need root, but only works on Lollipop and doesn't support internal audio recording)
Open the app, it will display an overlay buttons on the screen.
Open the SCR Settings (middle icon, the one with cog icon)
On "Audio" header, tap Source and select Internal
Optional: if you don't need to record the screen, you can select the lowest setting on "Video" header to decrease the filesize. (e.g. 426x240 resolution)
Open the app which you want to record the audio
Adjust the volume from the Android device (important!).
Note: since SCR use the same audio stream as source, the volume when the app plays the audio is used as the input. This means that if you don't record the audio with 100% volume (e.g. 70%), the loudness of the audio will decrease when you play it (e.g. if playing the "recorded audio on 70% volume" with 70% volume, you will hear the audio in more-or-less 50% volume compared to the original audio)
Ideally, if you are using external speaker, you can set the volume to 100% in Android, and adjust the volume to comfortable zone on external speaker.
Optional: turn off any notification on all apps to prevent noise.
When you're ready, tap the Record button (first icon with orange color)
To stop the recording, you can either:

open the app once again (either from notification, or app launcher), or
turn off the screen for 2 seconds

Addendum by anonymous user:

With root:  When the settings have been configured to internal audio and notification icon is popped up, tap the home button (don't close SCR) and open any sound recorder. You'll see that it records the sound internally instead of with mic. (I've tried with 3rd-party HI-Q MP3 recorder, unsure about others..)


How to restore Line messages from titanium backup?

Log into a root shell

It's a mix up of multiple things. It simply means, login into a shell and then switch to root user or alternatively, directly login as the root user. For Android, you can login from a  remote shell using adb shell command. It automatically logins as user 2000. Alternatively, use a terminal emulator app and it would automatically login using its own UID. In both the cases, don't bother about the term "log in".

Switch to root user using su.

sqlite3 /data/data/jp.naver.line.android/databases/naver_line

sqlite3 is a command-line tool to interface with SQLite databases. Stock Android doesn't come with it.

That command does nothing more than attaching the database naver_line located under /data/data/jp.naver.line.android/databases/ to sqlite3 so that latter can do its work on it.

delete from setting;

I don't have that app or its backup but the command indicates that there is a table named setting in the said database. That command would delete all the data available in that table.

.quit

It would disconnect the database and exit from the sqlite3 tool.

I don't know whether those commands would achieve anything or not, so take this solution as a partial answer only.


Asus Zenfone 2 screen broken and blacked out, need to retrieve files.

As the screen is completely damaged you can never use it again right? Forgetting for a second about the files, you have two options, keep it somewhere at home, or sell it for parts. But you can't sell it for parts because you have files on it that you can't delete. So at this point it is a total loss right?

So here's what you can do to get all your files (and some of your money) back.

1) Repair the phone (by paying X amount) if the files are sensitive, keep in mind this procedure is relatively quick, so the tech can do it right in front of you

2) Retrieve the files easily once the phone is working.

3) Sell the phone to get all the money back you spent for the screen plus more. (Or keep the phone to avoid buying another one.)

So in the end, you will have all your files + extra money.

You might be looking for a technical solution, but sometimes practical one is far better.


Is it possible to switch keyboard language layout on HTC Wildfire?

The built-in Gingerbread keyboard should support multiple languages, they can be selected from the Settings -> Locale and Text -> Gingerbread keyboard -> Input Languages menu. After this, you'll see the current language on the space bar and can roll through the languages by swiping left or right on the space bar.


How to change clocks position in Android 6.0

First you need to unlock your phones bootloader. You can find the full guide in google.(please search "how to unlock bootloader of " and note that, unlocking bootloader will wipe all your data)
Then you need to download a suitable TWRP/Philz custom recovery for your phone. Or you may need to port one yourself.
Now flash the new custom recovery to your phone. You can use a flashing tool or adb to flash it.
Download SuperSU.zip and flash it via your custom recovery.
To check if your phone is successfully rooted, download root checker from play store. And you'll find a new app in your phone named "SuperSU" if your phone is rooted.
Now you can use "Gravity Box" or some "Xposed Framework" to change your clock position.

If you don't understand any point, please tell me your phones full model, I'll try to provide you a full details guide.
And Please don't mind my English. I'm not that good at it.


Does stock Android have a panorama camera feature?

This depends entirely on the OEM and what features they decide to put in their devices.

However, I've used a panorama feature since the beginning (2.3 Gingerbread) on my Nexus S, and have had it all the way till my 4.2 Galaxy Nexus, so I can say that the stock Android camera app has panorama, at least 2.3 onwards.

Beyond that, device specific panorama is dependent on the OEM.

You could always use third party apps, like this one, which supports Android 2.1 and above.


Unable to send attachment from Gmail using browser

You are right, I tried your way just a while ago and I am unable to attach file in Gmail.

If it is possible for you, instead of using Gmail from browser, download Gmail app from Play Store and your problem will be solved.


How to disable flashlight in lock screen in Lollipop on Xcover 3?

Today my girlfriend's father ask me how to solve it.
I've just written an lightweight app (7kB) which does nothing at all.

Download it from here and set as your XCover button app :)


What kind of data is stored in /data/user directory?

/data/user was added in Jelly Bean as part of multi-user support. Each user on the device gets a directory in there named after their user ID, and that directory contains each app's data directory for that user. /data/user/0 is a symlink to /data/data.


Using other block device when conecting Android device to computer as USB storage

On my device (Sony Ericsson Xperia X10) it is, for example:

echo /sdcard/debian.ext2 > /sys/devices/platform/msm_hsusb/gadget/lun0/file

After it the content of file becomes available on the host. Can write to sdcard file without unmounting it from android.


Have you set the default action for youtube links to the browser?  You may need to reset it (Settings --> Applications --> Manage Applications --> app -->  "Clear Defaults") so that you can choose the Youtube app when wanting to view a Youtube video.


You can place .m3u files anywhere on sdcard which is under reach of media scanner. Playlist will be displayed in music player once media scanner will complete scanning sdcard.

Path of system-created playlists (playlists are common to all music players): /data/data/com.android.providers.media/databases/external-xxxxxxx.db where xxxxxxxx are random numbers. Path can be slightly different based on Android versions & devices.

If you want to backup your playlists, i'd recommend you to use Titanium Backup.


How can MIUI read my previous MI Account ID and phone number on clean install?

For Mi 8 Lite, it is stored in /persist/fdsd/st. This file contains JSON structure with extra_email and extra_phone that matches what is displayed in the screen.  Also, after deleting this file, the initial setup step that asks for account activation is not displayed anymore.


How does "Restrict background data" work?

First, that setting is enforced by the OS (so it's not for the app to decide whether to observe that setting). Put in easy words: Android won't let an app access the network unless it's running in foreground (i.e. the user is interacting with it) with the restriction enabled for it.

Explained with a plastic example: Restrict background data on the Google Play Store app (as I did), it won't anymore check for updates in background while you are on mobile data. But it will do so when you're using WiFi. Also, when you call up the app to install something, it will work as long as you keep it in foreground (i.e. not switch to another app while it's still downloading).


Is my Samsung Galaxy Tab using wireless or 3G?

You could just check the logo on the top bar? On the right you have time, battery, signal and either g/3g/h or the wifi logo.

this image (random googled) shows the tab with the wifi logo
while this rather bad (also random google) image shows it with 3g


There are good reasons why you cannot use such a combination:

routing your VPN traffic via another proxy might compromise it, thus rendering your VPN useless
doing it the other way around won't work, as the Adblock proxy then would need to be behind the VPN one – which you cannot establish on your device

So what you need is, as you correctly pointed out, an ad-blocker working by different means. Examples include (without giving any recommendation here, just listing possibilities):

something working via the hosts file (i.e. routing all ad-requests "to /dev/null" (or rather to 127.0.0.1, which is your device itself, which doesn't have them → nothing returned to display)
something "nulling" the ad modules themselves (i.e. "disabling" them)

None of those are "to be found" at Google Play for obvious reasons (though there might be some which Google either didn't recognize yet, or which have the corresponding activity hidden from the UI itself by hiding it, or which are simply ignored as "not fit for international use").

I could name some of the latter two categories, e.g. LBE Security Master (which is only available in a Chinese version on Play (see XDA for a localized English version)). There are also several apps working with the hosts solution, which you can find on e.g. F-Droid or Aptoide (see my app-list on Ad-Blockers for examples).


Accidentally i have uninstalled my home launcher

First thing first:

You have to Factory reset your phone and then reboot it, most probably it will get switched on. Then you create or login with Google ID (you can as I did it in my old Micromax A76).
Now tap on setting===>app===>Google Play===>launch. (If you have logged in, you can easily launch Google store by only this method if "Home Launcher" is uninstalled in any rooted Android device.
Now install any 3rd party launcher from Goggle like Go Launcher, Solo Launcher or any launcher.

Enjoy :) You have got your phone back from a Coma ;)

P.S.  emphasized text Please make sure you are not doing Factory reset again without putting the apk of your current launcher in root folder.

Feel free to ask anything regarding this post.


Updating an App Cloned with Parallel Space

The cloned  app doesn't get updated automatically. You will have to create the clone again after updating.


Disconnect/reconnect to wifi with same SSID

Checking the Tasker manual for the "WiFi Net" action shows:

WiFi Net
Change the wifi network connection status.
Reassociate: reconnect even if already connected.

(emphasis mine)
That should be exactly what you're looking for – playing with Tasker anyway :)


I see 3 solutions for you:

You can use QuickShortcutMaker (or any similar) application to add launcher to any installed application (or Android Activity).
Not sure if it helps, but you can check your launcher's settings. There should be item "Hidden applications" (or similar).
Install and use another launcher.


find: multiple "-exec" for list of files not working?

This should work:

find . -type f | xargs -I {} stat --printf='%n \n %Y \n %y \n\n' '{}'

But Android's limited toybox stat doesn't support --printf formatting. So either use stat binary with full options e.g. from Termux or statically built, or you need to do one step extra:

find . -type f | xargs -I {} stat -c '%n--%Y--%y--' '{}' | sed 's/--/\n /g'


I don't think you can install GNU utils directly on Android, because Android is not GNU/Linux.
From Coreutils - GNU core utilities,

Introduction to Coreutils
The GNU Core Utilities are the basic file, shell and text manipulation utilities of the GNU operating system.
These are the core utilities which are expected to exist on every operating system.

(Emphasis mine)
But Android is not GNU/Linux

Android is very different from the GNU/Linux operating system because it contains very little of GNU. Indeed, just about the only component in common between Android and GNU/Linux is Linux, the kernel. People who erroneously think “Linux” refers to the entire GNU/Linux combination get tied in knots by these facts, and make paradoxical statements such as “Android contains Linux, but it isn't Linux.”(*) Absent this confusion, the situation is simple: Android contains Linux, but not GNU; thus, Android and GNU/Linux are mostly different, because all they have in common is Linux.

(Emphasis mine)
...however, alireza7991 from XDA forum was trying to port them to Android.

Requirements: an ARM v7 processor with built-in NEON SIMD (scorpion, krait, exynose 4, exynose 5,...)
Installation

Be sure you meet the requirements!
Get the zip file (CoreUtils on Android v1)
Flash it via recovery mod
Reboot and enjoy

Usage
To avoid issues of having busybox and coreutils at same time, all utils are named in form : cu.${UTIL_NAME}. For example:
cu.echo "hello world!"
cu.chmod 644 /system/build.prop

Bugs: a few utils such as ls and uname are broken down till I fix them and add the correct one to repository. Some utils are missed. (currently we have 103 applets working)

Further reading: BusyBox Replacement on the Horizon? Meet GNU CoreUtils on Android

PS. If you want to use Vim on Android, why don't you use Vim Touch or Terminal IDE, or search "vim" on Play Store instead?


How To Make Android Based Smartphone Consume Less Mobile Internet Bandwidth?

Droidwall is what you want! It allows you to control which apps can and cannot access the internet, and the new version (the one i linked) enables data types, so you can allow an app to access the internet all the time, just on 3g, just on Wifi, or never.


How to send a text to multiple recipients with personalised details filled in from their contact information?

I am not aware of any stock messaging apps amongst any of the ROMs that will do that, but it looks like there are a bunch of apps in the market that will (Like SMeSsaggia bulk customized SMS or Group SMS, or Group SMS and Scheduler.)


Google Voice: There was an issue refreshing your inbox?

From Al Everett's comment, I decided to try signing out of the application (which gives a warning about deleting all data) and signing back in, figuring that would be a less extreme step than going to manage applications clear data (although maybe it does the same thing). It seems to have fixed the problem


How to boot into the bootloader when you have ClockworkMod?

Make sure your phone is powering off completely before you try to boot into the bootloader. For a DHD you might need to go into Settings > Applications and uncheck the "FastBoot" option in order for it to power down completely (source).
If #1 doesn't help, try turning your phone off, then pulling the battery. After you've pulled the battery and waited a few seconds, hold the volume down button and put the battery back in the phone. Then continue to hold volume down while you power up the phone and it should land on the bootloader.
If #1 and #2 don't work (or you're lazy, since I think this is the easiest way), plug your phone into a computer that has adb on it. Make sure USB debugging is enabled, then simply enter adb reboot bootloader from an adb terminal. This will (unsurprisingly) reboot your phone into the bootloader.


Try Holo Themer which is an xposed module that will force all Holo apps (that is, apps which are consistent to the 3.0+ UI as opposed to the pre-Honeycomb UI) to be either dark or light.

If, after you install xposed, your phone won't boot, boot into recovery and flash the disabler attached to the thread.


Two times yes: Of course it can be removed, and of course it can be useful. At that place ClockworkMod stores the nandroid backups you've created with it, and from that place you can restore them when need for that arrives.

In case of an external SDCard, and when space on it is precious to you, you could simply copy its contents to your computer, and then empty the directory. Or just keep the latest backup on it. If you need to restore one of the removed backups, it then would be possible to use a card reader, copy them back, and re-insert the card to your device so they can be found.


Adding 'Subscriptions' as default page in YouTube app

I installed the Automate app and created a new flow which I named "YouTube Launcher":

For the "Flow beginning" step, choose the option to "Install from home screen shortcut". Additionally, you can hide the official YouTube app from your app drawer so that you do not accidentally revert to old habits.
Add an "App Start" step and choose the YouTube app as the package.
Add a "Delay" step for 1 second.
Add an "Interact Touch" step and set the Screen X0 value to 50% and the Screen Y0 step to 90%. This step simulates tapping the subscriptions tab.

From there, each time to tap the new home screen shortcut the YouTube app will launch and automagically navigate to the Subscriptions tab.


Turn on HotSpot via ADB -- Sony Ericsson Xperia mini ST15i

Try this:

/system/bin/hostapd -e /data/misc/wifi/entropy.bin /data/misc/wifi/hostapd.conf


If I edit my brightness value manually, it won't go below the minimum, and I have never figured out why. If I use the app brightness tweak however, I can lower it all the way to one. You can find the app on xda labs, I hope it's compatable with jellybean. I also hope this helps you.


This is word for word from http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-4/help/broken-digitizer-to-enable-usb-t2206706/page2 response from Dabyd64. I copied this in its entirety for reference and to have this on the Stack Exchange.

"I finally get it working by installing CWM recovery, which has ADB, and enable the adb debugging.

adb shell
mount -a

(if the following two commands show error "file doesn't exist", don't worry, it's ok!)

rm /data/property/persist.service.adb.enable
rm /data/property/persist.sys.usb.config

echo "persist.service.adb.enable=1" >>/system/build.prop
echo "persist.service.debuggable=1" >>/system/build.prop
echo "persist.sys.usb.config=mass_storage,adb" >>/system/build.prop"
/system/xbin/sqlite3 /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db "update global set value='1' where name='adb_enabled'";
/system/xbin/sqlite3 /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db "update global set value='1' where name='development_settings_enabled'";
sync
reboot

If the sqlite3 command shows error (command not found) then your phone doesn't have sqlite3 installed.
Still, you can do it!
First extract settings.db:

adb pull /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db

Copy that file to a usb drive or whatever.
Now you need linux. It's ok to use a live Ubuntu DVD, but you need to be connected to internet.
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop
I recommend to use the 32bit version for compatibility.
Usually sqlite3 is not installed by default.

In ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install sqlite3

You will be asked for the root password!

Now we can edit the settings.db:

sudo sqlite3 /path_to_your_folder/settings.db
update global set value='1' where name='adb_enabled';
update global set value='1' where name='development_settings_enabled';
.exit

Now we have the settings.db changed and ready!
Copy that settings.db again to a pen drive or whatever, go back to windows or keep in linux if you already have a working ADB.

adb push settings.db /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/
adb shell "chown system.system /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db"
adb shell "chmod 644 /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db"
sync
reboot

Done! ADB should work when in starts.
I had to use "mass_storage,adb" because "mtp,adb" or just "adb" didn't work. Thought, the phone was not working in mass storage, but who cares! ADB was!"

I have used those on my Nexus 7 when I broke my digitizer and adb was turned off. It worked perfectly, should work just as well with TWRP.


Does Android tethering support promiscuous mode?

IIRC you can't put an wireless interface in promiscuous mode when it's used. But this may not be true for all interfaces/chipsets/drivers.

You can install Shark for Root, which is a cut-down wireshark for Android. It does sniff on Layer 2 and above without promiscuous mode, so the results are not the same as sniffing with e.g. kismet. On the other hand you will be able to capture traffic even when tethered. It's maybe possible to set promiscuous mode on some android interfaces. Shark for Root should then be able to capture all packets that your W-LAN antenna receives.


Calls and texts in tablet with mini USB SIM adaptor

I think what you're looking for is a full-blown 3G USB dongle, not just a SIM card adapter. See, for example: Can I receive/send SMS of cell phone number with a tablet using dongle?

A SIM card adapter would simply be a device that can read the contents of the SIM card and possibly edit it. So it's pretty much like an SD card reader. To send and receive text messages and voice calls, you still need a transmitter, which is what a USB 3G dongle will provide (if your tablet doesn't have built-in 3G support). However, I'm not sure if you can use a 3G dongle to make voice calls, although SMS is pretty much a standard feature for such devices.


How can I access android log files on my Nexus 7 without root access?

No, for security reasons it is not possible to access android log files on the Nexus 7 (or any other device running Jelly Bean or higher) without root access. Google changed that with Jelly Bean.

I'd suggest you wait until logcat readers like aLogCat and such get fixed (i.e. they will require root access to show all logs then).

From AISEC-TR-2012-001-Android-OS-Security.pdf - 3.3 Android Permission Model:

  The READ_LOGS permission can substitute the following on many devices,
  depending on the Android version and thus the standard apps’ versions
  installed:

  READ_CONTACTS
  GET_TASKS – every started Activity is listed in the system’s logs
  READ_HISTORY_BOOKMARKS – opening new web pages is a browser Activity and thus logged
  READ_SMS

All solutions below require root access:

You need to either run logcat as root in a shell or manually grant it via the shell pm command (root required) works also (see XDA, exchange org.jtb.alogcat.donate with the app's pkg name):

pm grant org.jtb.alogcat.donate android.permission.READ_LOGS

This is for the lazy ones and not suggested:
If you're desperate, careless and lazy, you can fix it by giving every app the READ_LOGS permission by applying this ugly and insecure hack (Chainfire via twitter):

chmod 04755 /system/bin/logcat

To quote CyanogenMod developer Koushik Dutta's G+ post:

  Did the Android Log permissions/behavior change in JellyBean?

  It seems that if an application runs "logcat" now, it can see only the log entries created by its UID. Log lines from other UIDs are not shown. Basically, it seems to be filtered now.

  I have the same permissions as usual. Also confirmed the same thing is happening in other log collector apps.


Disable "unlock with voice" notifications Xperia XA1

Remove Google Now Launcher (discontinued) from the homescreen and disable Google from Settings > Apps > Apps List.


Updating Nexus 5 from 4.4.4 to 5.0 a month late

Have you tried downloading the factory image and flashing that over a adb with a USB cable? This will normally nuke everything that was on the phone, but if you change one line in the shell script or batch file which carries out the upgrade (removing the "-w" switch) you can upgrade non-destructively. That's what I have done twice now and it works fine.

Unless your parents are rooted, which sounds unlikely, there are no complications. If they are rooted you have to reroot after the upgrade. But that's not really complicated, and it does mean that you can have an adblock.


You could use recovery token they are supposed to give you, if they didn't, yell at them for not giving last hope tokens.

You can also contact support, as you already did.


I was finally able to identify and ultimately change the platform certificate on an emulator and a test device by patching the following files:

  /data/system/packages.xml

Contains a hexdump of the DER encoded platform certificate
Contains the PEM encoded public key of the platform certificate

  /system/etc/security/mac_permission.xml

Contains a hexdump of the DER encoded platform certificate


Google Keyboard 'remove suggestion' not working

On Gboard v7 (Nougat) I've noticed that this long press and drag gesture doesn't work in chrome but seems to be working as expected in Messengers such as WhatsApp. Give that a try


Importing APK Files from google play console , then making it run on Android Studio

I believe that you want to reverse engineer. Please check this link. Good luck.


Amazon is using data in two cases:

Foreground
: App is active (foremost on screen), screen is on and user interacting with it. You would have probably done that in response to a notification or ad or launched the app. Even if you didn't interact with app but it is foremost on screen, it consumes data. If the app was updated by Play Store, it accounts data usage to the app (UPDATE_DEVICE_STATS permission)
Background:

Amazon uses Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) (com.amazon.mshop.pushnotification. gcm. MshopGCMbroadcast receiver)
to display push notifications which you see (ads/offers /delivery tracking etc) and this uses data. GCM (or FCM (Firebase Cloud messaging) is a part of Google Play Services and can't be restricted by disabling background data. If you want to stop background data completely, your device needs to be rooted (I use servicely which can also do this and I got the receiver information using this app)
In addition apps use analytics (Fabric/Crashlytics, Facebook app events, Firebase Analytics, Google Analytic, Mixpanel, Segment) which are not always bound by background data restriction.

Bottom line Depending on how badly you want to restrict app usage data your arsenal would  need a rooted device, Firewall, means to disable services /receivers, hibernation tools, doze optimization methods etc, in addition to restricting background data.


It's up to the app to register an intent filter for URLs it can understand. When the app does this, and you click an appropriate link, the chooser asks you which you want to open.

If you've previously had a chooser for Amazon links, and accidentally selected to always use a web browser, you can undo this by going into the device Settings, then Apps. Select the browser from the list, and then click Clear defaults.

If you've never had a chooser for Amazon links, then the app can't respond to them. It's possible to use a third-party app to act as an intermediary, so that you open the Amazon links in that app, and it forwards them to the Amazon app, but if the Amazon app doesn't understand the URL you're using, the results are unpredictable: it might crash, or simply open to the main screen. You'll have to contact the developer through their official support channels to ask them to add this feature.


How to get root access for Android Emulator running Android 7.0?

The issue is because you are using an adb server version not matching the emulator version (client). In other words the adb version on your system is different from the adb version on the android sdk platform-tools.

So try this:

Navigate to the platform tools folder (%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Android\Android-sdk\Platform tools\)
Open command-prompt (or teminal) by right click + shift
Disconnect any USB cables and close other instances of emulator devices.
Now try adb devices and make sure it lists the emulator device and is not blank.

Note: If this fails first run adb kill-server

Now run adb root command
Root your virtual device as per instructions


Differnce in between Android 4.2.2 and 4.2.1

As far as Android is concerned, 4.2.1 to 4.2.2 contained only a few things. They include:

Show remaining time for downloads from the Play Store
Provide a system notification sound when wireless charging begins
Allows long-pressing on certain tiles in Quick Settings

In reality, since you have a device that doesn't support wireless charging, the second point obviously doesn't apply to you. And since CM already heavily modified the tiles for Quick Settings and offers far more options that this update introduced, the only benefit you would get out of this update would be showing the remaining time.

But, CM has new features being added all the time that are separate of the features added by Google. If you look under Settings -> About Phone -> View Changelog, you can see a big list of all the major features that CM 10.1 adds to Google's Android 4.2.2 release.

And if you want to look at all the specific changes (usually around 10-50 per day, although, some are new features, some are bug fixes for devices not related to yours, and some are new/updated translations), you can see it online at http://changelog.bbqdroid.org and clicking on your device and CM version. You can browse through the changes for each nightly there, and although some of the subjects can be cryptic, you can still usually make out what new features are being introduced.


switching from unlimited data plan to pay-per-data. what to watch out?

DroidWall is an application (for rooted phones) that will let you select which applications are allowed to use which data networks (WiFi vs. Cellular/2G/3G/4G).  You can use it to make sure that certain applications always have data access when needed and restrict other applications to WiFi (or even no acess).


Why did Google block Facebook Contact Sync on the Nexus 5?

I did some digging around and found that this change was introduced in an update for Gingerbread. It applies to all Nexus devices starting from the Nexus S (except the Nexus One since it comes pre-installed with Facebook).

The problem Google has with Facebook sync is the inability to port the data that Facebook sync adds to the contacts, out of your device.

Here is an excerpt from their statement on this issue:

  Since Facebook contacts cannot be exported from the device, the
  appearance of integration created a false sense of data portability.
  Facebook contact data will continue to appear within the Facebook app.
  Like all developers on Android, Facebook is free to use the Android
  contacts API to truly integrate contacts on the device, which would
  allow users to have more control over their data. We are removing the
  special-case handling of Facebook contacts on Nexus S and future lead
  devices.

TechCrunch's coverage on this:
http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/22/google-android-facebook-contacts/

Engadget's coverage:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/22/google-disables-contact-sync-in-facebook-for-android-only-nexus/

I am still trying to find the official statement on a Google site. Will update it here if I find it. Also I want to know why Google doesn't get all manufacturers to enforce this rule if it is part of core Android policies.


Where do I find files that I have chosen to "keep on Device" from Google Drive?

You can find the files after download in :

  Storage -> emulated -> 0 -> Download

or also for example just for Pictures after download,

you can go to Gallery and then click on the picture and See Details of the picture you need to file path.


Rooted Motorola Moto G 2014 xt1068 OTA always loads up TWRP

I just ran into this exact problem with a Moto G 2015. TWRP themselves warn not to install OTA updates with TWRP. Here's what I did:

Install the Android SDK or download fastboot separately
Get the build number for your phone

From TWRP on your phone go to Mount and make sure System is selected
Connect your phone to your computer and open build.prop with a text editor
The build number is on the line beginning with ro.build.id=

Download the stock ROM for that build number and unzip it
From TWRP on your phone go to Reboot → Bootloader
Flash the factory recovery

sudo /path/to/fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

Use the volume buttons to select the option to boot the phone. It should then install the OTA update successfully.

Next time you can save yourself some time by flashing the stock recovery ahead of time.

If the update fails for any reason after that point, it's normally because other files have been modified and the checksum failed. You can normally look at /cache/recovery/last_log to see which file is causing the problem and replace it with stock. More details on that here:

Moto G OTA update error


It maybe that text notifications are waking up the screen at night. In that case you may need to completely disable notifications at night.

Some resolutions include:

Turn off message notification completely

You can stop the screen from turning on when you receive a message by disabling the message notification completely but you lose all the notifications, including audio and LED flashing alerts.

Depending on your device, navigate to  Menu  > Settings > Notifications and turn off.

Turn on Do not disturb feature (Android 6+ )

Do not disturb is a feature that lets you silent all notifications for a specific time period. You can choose to allow messages and calls from select contacts to still alert you when Do not disturb is enabled.

Open the Settings >> Sounds >> Do Not Disturb setting. On the Do not disturb settings screen, tap Block visual disturbances.

You additionally need to turn on the Block when screen is off option.

Using third party apps

Some users claim that apps such as I'm sleeping have the ability to prevent screen wake-ups at night. This app will automatically set your phone to silent mode during the night and optionally disables the LED during the
night

credits

Stop Notifications Waking Your Screen When Do Not Disturb Is Enabled In Android 7


I had a similar issue- but do not worry! Your device can grab your location using your mobile data/Wi-Fi. Its less accurate than the GPS, but it certainly works.


Inspect Android Browser elements like Desktop Chrome Inspector

You can't do this with the old "Android browser", but you can in Chrome, which is downloadable from Google Play and comes installed on all recent Android devices. The feature you're looking for is called Chrome Remote Debugging, and it relies on having Chrome on your desktop and ADB enabled and connected.


Remove the "silenced", "4G", "Battery symbol" and "AM/PM" from notification bar

Since rooted,  download the Xposed Framework installer from the XDA forums:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/xposed-installer-versions-changelog-t2714053

Download link is in the first post in the thread:

http://dl.xposed.info/latest.apk

After Xposed is installed, open the app and install the framework, then soft reboot.

Open the app again, go to downloads section and scroll through the available modules.  There are a few that will do the things that you want.

UPDATE: Researching further, I found out that the Sense Toolbox module will hide status (some people call it the notification) bar icons.

Sense Toolbox homepage
Sense Toolbox download page

Install the modules you want, enable them on the modules tab in the Xposed app, then reboot.

Read the thread and links thoroughly. Understand what this will do to your phone. Always do a backup first.


Firefox for Android doesn't autofill saved/synced paswords since installing and uninstalling external password manager

External autofill apps change a certain boolean in the Firefox for Android configuration variables, this "setting" can only set back to the old setting by completely uninstalling and reinstalling Firefox or (better) by changing a variable in: about:config

goto about:config
search for: dom.forms.autocomplete.formautofill
set it back to true
refresh your login window and... fixed!


Cell Broadcasts for LG lucid with android 4.0.4

My LG Optimus 5 (E455 and E450) also has a pre-installed application called cell broadcast, with CB enabled. I disabled it.


I'd like to get more information to help. Could you show the MIUI version of your phone? See it in Settings -> About Phone -> MIUI version. If you can use adb in your PC? I think It will be helpful if you can show the output of PC command "adb shell pm list packages" and the output of "adb shell ls -l /system/app /system/priv-app"

By the way, if a factory reset can not resolve the problem you can try a full ota update which will reformat the system partition. To do full ota update: Click the Updater app, and then click the menu button in the right top, then click the "Download update" item. !Remember to backup your files!


Android OnePlus 3T stuck on boot logo, how can i recover data?

there is a 3rd way for locked bootloader without erasing userdata, but it all depends on the qualcomm factory loader firehose programmer which is special for each model

these are expert tools for EDL mode to dump partitions or install TWRP from where you should be able to decrypt

https://github.com/alephsecurity/firehorse

https://github.com/bkerler/edl

but i can't guide you i have no experience


wi-fi + bluetooth + usb failed for no reason (no system update) on xiaomi redmi note 4

This seems like a technical issue. There could be these possible reasons:

It can happen if you manually change radio settings of the device (but will auto reset to default when you boot the device).
It can happen if you are running your device with an outdated version of custom UI that is not installing OTA updates.

OTA Definition:

  OTA Updates - Android devices gets OTA updates via developer provided directly to your phone under name 'software update' or 'system update' or in some devices directly through app named 'Updater'.

Solution is:

Try factory reset to your device.

Factory resetting to your device makes the device completely clean and settings will revert to the manufacturer default settings.
Try manually updating the ROM.

OTA update is an automatic process for keeping your mobile up-to-date while manually updating a ROM takes time and a little knowledge of android devices.

Benefit is - By manual updating you can get a custom ROM installed faster than others who are waiting for official OTA update that takes time.

Caution -Manual update can be a risky process for your device. Please search it well before trying manual process.


Normally, only apps that specifically support NFC will work, not just any browser. If you've tried resetting Firefox as a default app, as Izzy suggests, and you still don't get a choice of browser, it may be because your other browsers don't support NFC.

In this case, you can use my app bURLy to choose any browser. It's a free download from Google Play, and it supports NFC and lets you choose any app that understands the URL in the tag: whether it's a browser, the YouTube app, the Facebook app, or any other site's app, regardless of whether the app supports NFC.

You can choose the app each time if you like, you can set a single default app, or if you like, you can add rules for particular URLs, sites, or other conditions. For example, you might want one site to open in Firefox, another site in Chrome.


What will happen if I flash the Pixel Android P Device image on my Nexus 6P?

This is the easiest way to flash Android P to your Nexus 6p. Although it is possible to keep all your files, I recommend a backup in case something goes wrong.

Install Nexus Root Toolkit on your PC. This will allow you to flash anything you want.
Next, download an image of Android P for the Nexus 6p onto your desktop. All images for the 6p are available for download there.
Now connect your 6p via USB.
Click on "Flash Stock + Unroot" on the toolkit. Select the image you just downloaded (not the images the toolkit offers since those are outdated) then choose whether you want to factory reset the device or not.

Now the toolkit will automatically flash the image you chose onto your machine.


Is there a way to find all apps in Nova Launcher which are NOT in folders (similar to Folder Organizer)?

Currently, you have a way of (by default) forcing Nova to remove any apps that are in a folder from its main app drawer.

As such, you can simply use the main app drawer configured this way to get a list of un-foldered apps.


How to find the lost mobile when no tracker app is installed?

Have you heard of plan b ?

  Plan B is your last resort to find your missing phone. This is the
  first and only 'find my phone' app that you download AFTER you've
  already lost your phone. Having Lookout on your phone is the best way
  to protect your phone and find it fast, but use Plan B if you have
  already lost your phone and didn't have Lookout installed.

=================
NOTE: Plan B only works with 2.0 - 2.3 versions of Android
=================


I was able to install Google Play Services by browsing to its page at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.gms and then logging in, clicking install, and choosing my phone.

Come to think of it, I might start installing more apps this way, from the comfort of a desktop browser. :)

Anyway, I'm able to use the Google+ app again.

I'm still puzzled by the "No connection" business and having to periodically downgrade Play to Market to install anything from my phone running Android 2.2, but I'm glad I didn't have to root it and install CyanogenMod as suggested by some friends.


AFAIK this is possible only if you have Xposed framework (hooking another app).

Take a look at Per App Hacking. Its description reads

  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


Is Android Device Manager really useless?

There is two parts to it,

Cell phone is lost : Lets assume its lying somewhere or someone found it. In this case you can use the Device Manager to locate the location.
Cell phone is stolen: This guys are smart, they know the technology, they know the hacks. They will switch-off with cell phone as soon as they can. They will wipe out our data and most probably brick the phone. Not sure, but I think they even change the IMEI number to make it completely untraceable. In this case Device Manager or most security software is useless.


Space problem in Samsung Galaxy Pocket GT-S5300

I have solved my own problem today and I'd like to provide the solution for others that might encounter it. The actual Internal memory for this phone should amount to exactly 0,96 GB or close to that. I got aware of this comparing my phone to another one from the same model. I first tried formatting the Flash memory (or Mass memory) on my phone, but to no avail. So I tried doing a reset and it solved the issue.

To do this:

Go to Settings.
Choose Privacy.
Select Factory data reset or the corresponding example in your native language.
Wait for the phone to do its thing. You should see some code/script running on the screen. Now wait.
When everything is loaded and you configured the minimum settings, open the application Task Manager. You should be able to see the correct size.


Does increasing cache size of memory translate to higher I/O speeds?

I did some research on the topic and came up with the following chart. It seems that increasing the cache size does NOT always translate to higher I/O speeds.

Test Device: Samsung Galaxy S-III i9300, 1.7GHz, 1GB RAM, CM 11 Custom Modded

Test Operation: 100MB Archive Read, Paste 100MB file to SD Card, Launch Time: Stack Exchange

The chart displaying the results of the test is as follows.

As seen in the chart, all the three test parameters were on their best with the stock (default) cache size of 128KB. Higher sizes gave equally good performance in reading speeds, but failed to perform in write and launch operations.

Conclusion: The default cache size has been already optimised for maximum performance and need not be changed by the user for day-to-day functions.


Android 4.0 – any browser able to set UserAgent?

After further research I found that Dolphin Browser has User agent setting built-in directly in its Settings screen, on tab Advanced.
In my specific case, switching the above setting to Desktop made the Microsoft To-Do web UI accessible as expected.


how to keep using Google Maps in browser and avoid launching the app?

Yes absolutely. If your Dolphin Browser is up-to-date, just follow this step -
Open Browser > Settings > Advanced > More > Open in app > You'll know what to do after that ;)


I too have a Samsung Galaxy Nexus and I upgraded from CM11 M3 to M4 manually just one week ago.

But I looked it up on my phone and there is an OTA-Update to the M4 build.
Other than that, you can find your current CM11-build under Settings -> About phone and there it says in the entry named CyanogenMod-Version. It should end with your device's code-name (depending on your specific Galaxy Nexus it can be either "toro", "toroplus" or "maguro"; in my case "maguro").

And that update in late february cannot have been the M4-build, because that's just too far in the past. The M4-build was anounced officially by the team of CyanogenMod on march 7th.

I hope I could help you.

PS: If you still do not get the OTA-update, I would recommend you to flash it manually.


You can flash the stock recovery through fastboot. The complete guide for flashing is here


Assuming you're using ICS (android 4.0), do the following to change your input method.

Goto Settings -> Language and input -> Keyboard and input methods  Then check the box in front of the menu item Google voice typing

Now you can select the voice typing as your input method.


Backup SIM message and contact without transfer to phone

That should be possible. There are plenty of backup apps available on Google Play which allow local backups, such as SMS Backup & Restore or SMS Backup. For contacts, there's e.g. Contacts Backup, and for both together Super Backup : SMS & Contacts. They all store the backed-up data e.g. on your SDCard.

Though I found no explicit mention of SIM messages, I'd assume they are covered – but you might wish to check for yourself to make sure.

Update: As it turned out, above apps do not seem to cover SIM storage. But I've just stumbled upon Backup2CSV, which explicitly lists to Export contact directories (SIM CARD and phone) (it also lists Export text messages (SMS), but does not explicitly mention the SIM card in that context).


How can I cancel and delete OS Software update of Andoroid KitKat?

I think you will have to factory reset your device in order to delete the downloaded OS.
As it was downloaded with intention to install, So I don't think there's any other way to delete it (other than rooting and finding it).


Since the device is rooted, there is a good chance that a custom Recovery is also installed. I was able to copy all content from /data/data of Android 4.2.1 to my Linux PC by using following instructions:

Boot into custom Recovery and mount Data.
Enter adb pull /data/data/ ~/<TARGET_DIR>/ in terminal on Linux PC, or enter adb pull /data/data/ C:\<TARGET_DIR>\ in command prompt on Windows PC.

It will take sometime in processing and the final result would be something like:

5847 files pulled. 0 files skipped.
554 KB/s (269059005 bytes in 473.725s)

Enter the following commands to see size of /data/data:

adb shell
du -h /data/data/
exit

Enter du -h ~/<TARGET_DIR>/ in PC's terminal to see size of your target directory.
See if those two output matches, which it would.

Or,

Though I would still use the aforesaid steps for ease, you may try the following solutions too:

Make a Nandroid backup of Data from custom Recovery and then extract ../data from the backup in your PC.
You can also save Nandroid backup in SD card and then extract the relevant content using Nandroid Manager.


Possible hacking of my OnePlus6. Contacts disappearing under 'Speed dial'

I doubt that your phone has been hacked. There have been other people complaining about the same problem has shown in the OnePlus Forum and even here. It must be a problem with the app itself. One simple solution will be to use another Phone app. Or if there is an update to the OS or Phone app, then update it to the latest version and check if the problem persists.


How to make Gmail in Android ask for user name and password as in laptop?

The solution to your problem is using an "App Locker", which lets you protect selected apps with a password (or pattern). Each time you want to open a protected app, you then have to first "unlock" it. There might also be solutions permitting you to keep the "unlock" cached, e.g. for a confugured time span or place (e.g. when home) -- but as I don't need any app-locker I never remember which app offered that.

Examples for such app-lockers are Smart App Protector(App Lock), supporting password, pattern, and even gesture unlock, and Smart AppLock (App Protector):

Smart App Protector and Smart AppLock (Source: Google Play; click images for larger variant)


Contacts are not displaying after marshmallow update

I could fix this issue by doing the following steps.

First Wipe the Cache partition. (It won't erase any files or settings)

To wipe the cache partition do the following steps.

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

Note: Use the Volume Down button to scroll through the menu options        and the Volume Up button to select.
From the "No Command" screen (Android figure lying on his back), press and hold the Power button, tap Volume Up once and then release the Power button.
Select "wipe cache partition".
Note: Use the Volume buttons to highlight and the Power button to select.
"Reboot system now" will be highlighted, press the Power button to select it.

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

Once you are done with the Wipe procedure , go to https://contacts.google.com and export your contacts as .vcf file and copy to your device.

Open Contacts App (Phone app) -> go to options on the top right corner (3 dots) -> choose import/export -> import from .vcf file. This will restore your contacts..


How to access IPv6 websites via the mobile network

You can only reach IPv6 sites from your device if it has IPv6 connectivity, whether it be via an IPv6-enabled WiFi network or via your mobile carrier's network. It is not generally possible to reach IPv6 sites if you only have IPv4 connectivity.

The below is no longer relevant because SixXS is now defunct. Thanks to Rodney for the tip-off.

You can set up an IPv6 tunnel for the times when you are on a network that doesn't provide native IPv6. I was able to find two Android apps which set up tunnels to the free SixXS network:

The Androiccu app is based on the aiccu program for PCs that sets up SixXS tunnels. It claims to require a rooted phone.
IPv6Droid claims to be able to do the same, without requiring the phone to be rooted.

I've used SixXS and aiccu since 2006 and they are generally quite good, though their points of presence can go offline or be decommissioned without notice.

I haven't tested either app, as I've had native IPv6 at home for a few months and on my mobile for a couple of years now. Given that I know in general how tunnels are set up, I would expect the app requiring a rooted device to be more reliable, and if you are rooted, I would start with that one.


Contacts on Android: Delete limit exceeded

Just keep selecting the option to Delete items anyway. Each time you do, about 50 contacts more will be deleted.