Device got bricked while installing JELLYBEAN

with fastboot tools you should still be able to access your device via usb. get the android-sdk-tools from google, and give it a try

http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Doc:_fastboot_intro

http ://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Doc:_adb_intro

in this wikis you will also find plenty ways to unbrick your device:

unbrick android xda - Google-Suche
https ://www.google.de/search?q=unbrick+android+xda

Unbrick Any Android Phone
http ://www.beingtricky.com/unbrick-any-android-phone/

These 6 methods will help you unbrick any Android Device - Droidiser
http ://www.droidiser.com/2013/07/how-to-unbrick-any-android-phone.html

FASTBOOT-UNBRICK YOUR DEVICE WITH 'NO DISPLAY' - My Community
http ://forums.droidbeans.com//tutorials/fastboot-to-unbrick-your-device/

xda-developers - Threads Tagged with unbrick
http ://forum.xda-developers.com/tags.php?tag=unbrick

[RELEASE] One-Click UnBrick updated 10july11 - xda-developers
http ://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1153310

hope this will help


Ransome Virus - Device Administrator deactivation impossible

Clear the data of that app.
And try to remove that app from device administrator.

If it fail's then backup all important data and restore the device.
This will uninstall that app.


As it turns out, the problem was caused by deleting wpa_supplicant. Wikipedia can offer a little insight on what that means:

  In addition to being a full-featured WPA2 supplicant, it also implements WPA and older wireless LAN security protocols.

It further is responsible for the job to

  review a list of currently visible networks, select one of them, provide any additional security information needed to authenticate with the network (e.g. a passphrase or username and password) and add it to the preference list to enable automatic reconnection in the future.

As it is said: curiosity killed the cat -- and deleting wpa_supplicant makes it quite impossible to use WiFi.

There are three corresponding files on Android:

/system/bin/wpa_supplicant is a binary (i.e. the program itself)
/system/etc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf is the default configuration (as the path correctly suggests, in the read-only /system area), which also includes device-specific settings, plus some "inline documentation" in form of comments
/data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf is located in the writable part. It repeats some of the contents from the system file (most likely copied from there on initialization -- as /data gets completely wiped on a factory reset, those things must come from somewhere), but skips the comments. Furthermore, this file memorizes those networks you've connected to, including SSID, encryption used, and the passwords, all in plain text [sic!] -- that's where those "WiFi password recovery" apps get their information from

So if the latter config was deleted, it simply would be re-created after a boot. Of course, all your saved networks would be lost -- but that's a minor issue compared to the others:

If the system-config file gets lost, the binary does not now where to look for the interface, as that's configured here (e.g. ctrl_interface=tiwlan0). This would also explain the missing MAC address: no known device, no known MAC address. Still, recovery from that should not be too hard: there are not too many different interface names, and other settings (like the chipset used) can be taken from specifications -- so root provided (which is the case, or you could not have deleted it), you could re-create a matching file with a little try-and-err.

If the binary was removed, options are narrow without a backup. Having a similar device available running the very same ROM, you could extract the binary from there (the config as well, or course). If you have at least an image available for your current ROM, you could extract it from there as well.

If all above fails: Yes, flashing a ROM would solve the issue as well -- as this ROM should contain the necessary files. It's quite unlikely you damaged your hardware that way.


SM-G930FD and SM-G930FD are all models of the Samsung Galaxy S7. See Samsung Galaxy S7 Specifications.

  Versions: G930F (Global); G930FD (Global; Southeast Asia); G930W8 (Canada)

On the Misc section of the above link:

  Models:   SM-G930F, SM-G930A, SM-G930P, SM-G930V, SM-G930T, SM-G930R, SM-G930F, SM-G930FD, SM-G930W8, SM-G930S, SM-G930L, SM-G930K, SM-G9300

For firmwares, you can verify here for G930FD and here for G930F. Check if your country is among those with new firmwares.


I can't install apk file: App Not Installed

Generally you can't install one manufacturer's built-in apps on another manufacturer's phone anyway. The built-in apps are written to take advantage of the specific hardware on that phone and/or extra libraries the manufacturer includes in their system image. Camera apps are a particularly bad culprit because often they rely on the features of the camera chip and on a custom image-processing library.

As well as the technical problems, this is software piracy. The app is made by the phone manufacturer to give that particular phone a competitive advantage. It's only licensed for use on that phone. It's not like on Google Play where you buy an app and then can use it on any phone.


How can l get my old what's up in my phone

Using "Restore" option you can get back your old data of whatsapp. But this will only work when you back up your data or save the directory "whatsapp" which is located in your sdcard. or if you attach your data to mail


Is wiping the data partition totally unnecessary after this adb fail and stock restore?

Analyzing the InstallXposedFramework.bat script tells us the reason behind the script failure. The content of the script follows:
@echo off

set adb=files\adb.exe

echo '
echo '
echo ' Connecting ZenFone ..
echo '
echo '
%adb% wait-for-devices

echo '
echo '
echo ' Pushing files ..
echo '
echo '
%adb% push assets\xposed-sdk21-x86\system /data/local/tmp/system
%adb% push files\installer /data/local/tmp
%adb% shell "su -c chmod 755 /data/local/tmp/installer"

echo '
echo '
echo ' Installing Xposed Framework ..
echo '
echo '
%adb% shell "su -c /data/local/tmp/installer"

echo '
echo '
echo ' Done, rebooting ..
echo '
echo '
%adb% reboot

Reason behind the failure
Above, the script proceeds flawlessly until it hits:
%adb% shell "su -c chmod 755 /data/local/tmp/installer"

, whose arguments haven't been formatted correctly. Specifically, chmod, 755 and /data/local/tmp/installer are intended as three separate arguments to be supplied to su -c, which accepts one mandatory argument (that is, the command to be executed), an optional login id and an optional and arbitrary number of arguments at the end.

Patch for the script
To make the script work, the line:
%adb% shell "su -c chmod 755 /data/local/tmp/installer"

has to be edited to resemble:
%adb% shell "su -c 'chmod 755 /data/local/tmp/installer'"

, since chmod 755 /data/local/tmp/installer is an unique command (chmod) with two arguments of its own (755 /data/tmp/installer). The whole of it will then be supplied as the only argument to su -c and be executed with root permissions, allowing the script to proceed its execution.

If the phone bootloops
Then the Xposed version supplied alongside the script is somehow incompatible. The bootloop is independent from the installer script.

Should I wipe the Data partition and reflash the firmware, if I execute the original InstallXposedFramework.bat?
Absolutely not, and there's why: the commands that push Xposed to your device are the following:
%adb% push assets\xposed-sdk21-x86\system /data/local/tmp/system
%adb% push files\installer /data/local/tmp

. Since, as explained before, the command:
%adb% shell "su -c chmod 755 /data/local/tmp/installer"

is buggy and therefore makes the script hang, nothing is in fact installed. The only thing to do, is to check if the folder /data/local/tmp is empty, and delete anything inside it if it's not.


Is there a way to move installed apps from one device to another?

One way to do this would be to use an app like ApkBackup to get the apks of your installed apps than install them on your new device.

Note that the data will be lost and depending on the market version it may not notify you about updates.


Galaxy ace - Can't seem to add a contact without adding them as a Google 'contact'

You should check Contacts -> Menu -> Settings -> Default storage (or similar), there you should have the different options, including Phone memory, SIM and Always ask.


Permissions conflict with screen overlays

The solution for me is: turn off all Accessibility settings in the Settings of the phone. (now I feel bad for people who need them).

Also the program Twilight was another reason contributing to the problem.


"APN settings are not available for this user"

I've found the problem: I had bad permissions on various MMS-related files that I've copied from a backup, especially inside data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/.

Files inside data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/ have to belong to the radio group and be owned by the radio user. CHMOD has to be at least 761.


Galaxy A3 samsung can;t be read in my laptop

Connect device through usb:

Then permission to allow from mobile
If not popup visible then you can try from slide down to choose USB options. You can try all those options to visible mobile on your filemanager.

If still not availble then you can try through developer option then on option.

Which operating system you have used in your laptop.

You can also connect using xander or such app to laptop through brower you can access then mobile.


Simply put, fastboot oem lock puts your bootloader into a mode that prevents you from overwriting your recovery image, without a subsequent  fastboot oem unlock.  This serves as a security precaution, primarily where the default recovery and firmware is installed.

Because:

The default recovery will only allow manufacturer/Google signed firmware to be installed and doesn't allow you to do much of anything else.
Unlocking the bootloader will erase all data.

....you can rest assured that, under this configuration, no one can take your phone and, say, bypass a screen lock by installing a custom firmware where the security considerations are different.

Note that as this merely locks in your recovery, and then again only from bootloader-overwrites, this is most useful where the recovery is stock, and the installed ROM is an official one that has no security vulnerabilities.  This is important because in most recoveries, and in some ROMs, there are ways to clandestinely access data via USB, bypass security settings with fixed button presses or unpatched backdoors, or install custom recoveries.


You can hide the top bar if you use a different launcher like @CustomiZer stated, but it will Only hide it when you are on the home screen. When you open apps, if they are not Full Screen apps, the top bar will still be present.

This is part of "core" android, and it is not something that can be changed, currently, via a setting or 3rd party application.


How do you prevent Google Music from importing all .mp3 files on the device?

Well despite the comments about a .nomedia file not working in the newest version, on my fully updated Nexus 7 (as of April 2013) using a .nomedia file prevents the audiobook files from being scanned and listed in Google Music.

Some extremely simplistic testing seems to indicate that a single .nomedia file at the top of a directory tree is enough to prevent all sub-directories from being scanned. In the case I talked about in my question, a .nomedia file within the "audiobooks/" directory would prevent all books from being scanned, even if each book was a collection of .mp3 files within its own directory.


Data connection takes a long time to start up

Reason 1 :
H (HSDPA) signal requires greater strength and a mobile tower that emits 3G (HSDPA) signal. In your case ,the phone connects to a 2G mobile tower (near your vicinity) and then searches for a 3G signals ( maybe that tower is somewhere far)

Reason 2:
Cyanogenmod maybe designed in such a way that it first connects to 2G and then swithces to 3G. You might want to head on to their support page for further information.


How to show date in status bar in Android 7?

Change your display size to small (in settings --> display).


Not for Ice Cream Sandwich, but in Marshmallow, the stock call blocking also deletes voicemail.

Phone->Menu->Settings->"Call Blocking"

  Calls from these numbers will be blocked and voicemails will be automatically deleted.


I doubt that there is a direct correlation between battery consumption and RAM usage. The hardware doesn't know which RAM cells contain 'used' data and which not. So there can be no difference in battery consumption on that level.

But I think that one could say that unnecessarily killing Apps causes a few extra CPU cycles when those Apps have to be re-started and therefore "uses more battery".

And yes, you definitely should let go of your app-killing habit. In most cases, Android is capable of managing the system's resources quite well and you shouldn't bother with manually killing Apps. They definitely won't drain more battery if they just idle around and consume some RAM. Of course, if those Apps are constantly using the CPU, they will drain battery (but this is usually a sign of a bug within the App or a badly implemented App).


Yes, in fact Android absolu has an emulator called quemo  There are a couple of  beautiful things about quemo. For one you just need to use your
Linux machine to Git clone it in. Second, it is from the Android Google source code and you do not need to download Android Studio.


Ultimate Rotation Control forces any app - even those that don't support a certain orientation - into any orientation. It also supports setting on a per-app basis.

If paid stuff isn't for you, GravityBox should also have such options, though you'll need to also install Xposed framework.


How are you "evoking" this functionality? Video conferences do no appear from the ether. Try a video conferencing app, perhaps -- like Qik, Fring, or Yahoo! Messenger.


Device reboots into recovery after flashing CyanogenMod

How did you get to the cyanogen recovery?
Did you flash it from fastboot?

Was the device bootloader unlocked?
(or) Did you go through some oem-unlock fastboot command?

I suppose it is related to oem-unlocking. If the manufacturer chooses not to boot unsigned images on a locked bootloader, then this is the case. Many recent devices fall into this. In such case, you need to do oem-unlocking following the instructions from your device manufacturer and then install any custom roms.


querying the android market place for GPL license?

I don't know the answer to your question, but the closest thing I've found is: http://fdroid.org/


Those apps probably cached the images on the sdcard. You can go though and delete the cache for the applications. Some could be in /sdcard/android/<package-name>/, some apps may just create a directory somewhere on the sdcard root.

You can also look at unwanted folders showing up in gallery (bejeweled 2). can they be removed?. It will tell you how to stop images from showing in the gallery, if you still have the application installed.


How can I add a Corporate / Exchange account if there is no option in the "Accounts & Sync" list

Did you try to add it from the email app itself?

Go into the app and and select the "manual setup" option, and then you will be able to add a Pop3, IMAP, or Exchange account.


Google play services are lost and a notification said it has been set to stop

I did a factory reset and then I checked my settings app list and google play services was back, but it is only enabled and the force stop, clear data and clear cache are not working but all that matters is my apps that require Google play services working I can use again like messenger, Gmail and more. Since the factory reset to google play store it is still not found there and when it comes time for an update for google play services then my apps will not work and I am good for now but need to solve the issues that are critical to my device.


The best thing for this is going to be tasker. Best three bucks you will ever spend on an Android phone.


Easy Flashlight/Torch Toggle easily using tasker

Here is a workaround you could use.

Create a Task to toggle torch ( alternatively get a TeslaLED plugin -it supports a lot of devices).

I am not sure if this is my device limitation but the Hardware state is only limited to media button and not power button but nevertheless I believe the outcome will be the same.

Profile
State >> Hardware >> Media button (Check both held down and stop event)

Tasks

Task 1 (entrance) You can name it TorchlightCtrl or anything.

A1 Alert >> Torch
A2 Alert >> Flash (text: "Flashlight ON" Enabled Long: On)
A3 Alert >> Notify (e.g Torchlight Enabled)

Save and exit this Task

Create another task

Task 2 (exit)

A1: Alert >> Notify Cancel (title: Torchlight Enabled)
Press back to exit
A2 Task >> Stop (Put the task created earlier -in this case TorchlightCtrl)

Explanation: Pressing the media button will trigger Task 1 (TorchlightCtrl) to flash the torch, and a persistent notification is displayed in the notification bar.
Dismissing the notification will trigger Task 2 which stops Task 1, additionally turning off the trigger.

Unfortunately my device Camera light is not working so could not expiclitly test it, please give me feedback if it works or not, so I can further improve it. Cheers


Turn off vibration for 'Sign in to WiFi network' notification

There is a workaround involving Do not disturb's Priority only mode.

To put it simply, you must use Priority only (from Quick Settings - Do not disturb) since it has per-app setting for notification alert that can overwrite system's default setting. Priority only mode will still show all notifications. However, only priority notifications will be alerted (sound, vibration and LED light).

The idea is to treat all notifications as priority (from Settings - Sound & notification - App notifications - [app name] - Treat as priority) except for captive portal notification, which is under Android System app (by default, system apps are not listed. You need to tick Show system from overflow menu. Leave this app as non-priority, but don't forget for the rest of system apps).

However, there are some disadvantages that you might consider first before using this workaround:

You sacrifice the intended usage of Priority only mode, only leave Total silence as the only option (however, if you never intend to use this feature, then you're fortunate since you can utilize it).
If you have many apps installed, it's quite tedious to set all apps to treat their notifications as priority (perhaps a script might help...). Also, every time you install a new app, you must not forget to treat its notification as priority (unless you don't care about its alert).
You won't get any alerts for all notifications from Android System (you need to experiment with this, since I don't know what notifications are considered by Android System).


PC Companion won't update my computer past 1.6

If SE has dropped support for your device (which seems likely) your only way to upgrade your phone is to take root control over your phone and install a custom ROM, a third party version of the Android operating system.

There's a huge modding community, largely centered around the XDA developers forums. There's actually a subforum there for just your device, and the subforum for your device that you want (there's also Q&A sections and whatnot) is XPERIA X10 Android Development.

There's plenty of informative threads in that forum, including:

[HOW-TO]UNLOCK bootloader for X10
Help for Newbies, All questions & Answers for X10

As for what specific ROM to use, I'll leave that up to you. Your first step however should be unlocking your bootloader, getting root and getting CWM Recovery installed on your phone. When you have that installed, you can always create a complete backup of your phone, so if anything breaks you can always restore to that backup via the recovery, since the recovery remains untouched between ROM installations.

If you want to venture into rooting your phone and trying custom ROMs, I wish you good luck! It's a learning experience :)


It's for installing VPN and SSL client authentication certificates that you use to access VPNs or web servers that use certificates as logon credentials. It's fairly rare to need to use credential storage for the majority of Droid users. If you don't possess any digital certificates that identify you,it has no value to you.(found in some forum)


It appears to be between all platforms, as its written here:

https://whispersystems.org/blog/whatsapp-complete/

"Over the past year, we've been progressively rolling out Signal Protocol support for all WhatsApp communication across all WhatsApp clients. This includes chats, group chats, attachments, voice notes, and voice calls across Android, iPhone, Windows Phone, Nokia S40, Nokia S60, Blackberry, and BB10."


Save results of geometry dash for a new telephone

The new version provides account registration, so results can be saved in the account


Answering your questions respectively:

1) You are able to implement OTP using firebase Phone Number Authentication. The related link is here https://firebase.google.com/docs/auth/android/phone-auth

2) Two-factor can be implemented by using a normal login setup in addition to a phone number Authentication. Firebase can also perform login setup for you at https://firebase.google.com/docs/auth/android/password-auth

3) You may google search for SMS OTP Service Providers and you would find ample of messaging companies offering Phone Verification APIs. Here are some of the top listed OTP service providers; 2Factor, Twilio, Plivo, Nexmo, Sinch, Zang.

4) The techniques vary across providers. With AES being more secure while putting a large security load on the system compared to a scrambled 6 digit SMS-code provided.

5) Both methods I have listed in (4) uses a random 6 digit pin with AES encrypting the code additional times with its algorithm. This might be what you are looking for: https://codepen.io/corenominal/pen/rxOmMJ


Worst case, there's an app for that. Several, actually, but apedroid is well-reviewed, currently being maintained, and has a free demo version if you want to make sure it works for your set-up.  $2-ish for the full version so "worst case" might be an overstatement.


fe80: isn't a loopback address, it's a link-local address.  Every IPv6-enabled network interface has one, and it's in addition to any global ("real") IPv6 addresses that the interface may (or may not) have.  What you're seeing is entirely normal and expected; it just means that your phone supports IPv6 on WiFi.  (Presumably, IPv6 is enabled so that the phone can take advantage of it on networks that actually provide IPv6 Internet connectivity.)

The IPv6 loopback address is ::1.  You'll probably see that address on the lo interface, along with the IPv4 127.0.0.1 loopback address.


The UI sounds on my Galaxy Nexus no longer play - how can I re-enable them?

This appears to be something of a bug, either in ICS or the Galaxy Nexus (though I am unsure which). Unbeknownst to me, there is a "system volume" level that controls, among other things, the output of UI sound effects. This volume level does not appear to be modifiable within the normal system settings, but you can modify it with third party apps.

Based on this information (which I obtained from an XDA thread), I downloaded Volume Control + from the Play Store and launched it. The very last slider on the interface was for "system volume", and it was set to a value of 0. Once I cranked it back up to the maximum, my UI sounds began playing normally again. I do not know what causes this to become muted inadvertently.


How can I get the first boot Android welcome screen again without doing a factory reset?

EDIT: This probably won't work, because SetupWizard.apk doesn't have a launchable activity.

Although this question is almost a year old, others may still find this useful:

adb shell am start -n com.google.android.setupwizard/.SetupWizardActivity

I'm not sure why do you want to run the setup wizard on the next boot, though. If you want to give your device to a relative, why not do a factory reset, or if you want to keep the data on the device, just tell them to change things manually in the settings?

Anyway, if you're using a ROM with init.d support (such as CyanogenMod), create a new file called 00Asetupwizard with the following contents:

#!/system/bin/sh

adb shell am start -n com.google.android.setupwizard/.SetupWizardActivity

# "Self-destruct" to make sure the setup wizard is not reexecuted on subsequent boots.
# This may cause an issue if the device is rebooted before completing the setup wizard,
# but I don't know how to fix that.
rm -f /system/etc/init.d/00Asetupwizard

Then run the following commands on your computer, connected to your phone over USB:

% adb remount
% adb push 00Asetupwizard /system/etc/init.d/
% adb shell chmod 0755 /system/etc/init.d/00Asetupwizard

If adb remount gives an error, try the following instead:

% adb push 00Asetupwizard /sdcard/
% adb shell
$ su
# mount -o remount,rw /system
# mv /sdcard/00Asetupwizard /system/etc/init.d/
# chmod 0755 /system/etc/init.d/00Asetupwizard

(In the above examples, % indicates the shell prompt on your computer, to distinguish it from the ADB shell prompt.)


ICS and support for gamepad/controller devices

USB controllers follow a spec which means any USB controller "should" work. So there is not a "list of supported devices" as they all are supposed to work as long as they are not proprietary. Even an Xbox 360 wired controller should work (not sure about a wireless 360 controller, even when plugged in with the charge kit). Now your wireless controller is probably a different story. This is probably using some proprietary protocol to communicate information from the dongle to the controller, but you could try it. As long as the android device thinks that the dongle is a USB controller, and the dongle handles the communications to the controller, it may work.


This is a known bug with Android 4.4.2 KitKat.  Google is aware of it and are promising a fix with the next update.

According to the Google Code discussion, simply killing the responsible app is not enough to stop the drain. A reboot is always necessary. Uninstalling the app seems to be the only sure way to avoid having this happen in the first place.

Skype seems to be the most frequent culprit because its background services seem to interface with the camera, triggering Android's bug. It is recommended to temporarily uninstall such apps until Google releases the fix.


I cant delete a google drive archive (pd: sorry for my bad english)

Here's what you can try to delete photos from "Album Archive" (if that's the issue)

In Auto-backup select the folder holding a picture or pictures

Click the 3 dot option: Manage in Google Photos

select the photos followed by the 3 dot option to Move to trash

When empty refresh the page by hitting F5 on Windows or the refresh circular arrow to the left of the URL

Wait until the page is fully reloaded
If the deleted photos reappear, you can go to https://photos.google.com/ and click on the 3 bar menu: Help and feedback: Send feedback, and copy/paste the following sentence:-

I provide consent for you to look into my account in order investigate  issue #b_120099634
followed by the folder name causing problems and any other information you determine is important.


Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 not getting 5.0.2 update

Update will took some time to become available in every country.

If you check on Sammobile, 5.0.2 was released today (2015-07-16), and it is for United Kingdom. There no version for other countries.

You can flash UK version via Odin, but better wait some days for it to get released for other countries. After that you should be able to update it via OTA, without risks of bricking, flashing...

As it is WiFi only version, your tab doesn't depends on Country Code and it can work with any, it is just recommended to have version that is at least near you (like not installing Korean version, if you're from USA/EU (because of language, stock apps, QoL changes, compatibilty problems, etc)).

I just want to notice, as I already said this process is NOT recommended.

This involves flashing new ROM using Odin. This process can be risky, it can cause soft (even hard) brick. You should still have warranty, because package is signed by Samsung and it does not trigger binary counter but you never know.

It is best to wait even 1-2 weeks so it gets deployed in every region, but I think it will available in some days so it is not worth trying it...

Keep in mind if you want to continue, do backup! If something bad happens, you will have to do factory data reset, so you can be on safe side, if you need to format it

Process of installing new ROM:

Download new ROM for your device variant from Sammobile.
When you download, you will ususally get ZIP, that contains one .tar.md5 and one .dll. Ignore .dll and unpack only .tar.md5.
Download Samsung USB driver and install it.
Download Odin and unpack it.
Make sure you disable A/V before you start flashing, it can cause fail. Also you must kill all Samsung Kies processes before flashing or flash will fail.
Go to Settings -> About Phone -> Tap some times (as I recall it is 6-8 taps) on build number. It will enable developer options.
Go Back and find Developer options. Enable it if it isn't. Also you must enable USB debugging and authorize your PC (don't forget to remember choice!).
Reboot your device to Download mode (find on Google, how to do it for your tab), and plugin USB.
Open Odin. Now you will see some 'blue' colored box where it says COM something. It means that your device is connected.
Be sure that you ONLY HAVE CHECKED F. Reset Time and Auto-Reboot! Repartition MUST STAY UNCHECKED !
Click on PDA and select .tar.md5, you previously unpacked. Let it some time to check everything.
Start the process. DO NOT UNPLUG USB OR IT WILL BRICK DEVICE. If everything went well, your device will reboot into Android Lollipop 5.1 ready to use.

Also, Keep in mind - I or this site will not be held responsible if your device get brick after following this process. You should be on safe side but when you flashing and using Odin, you never know what can happen. In 99.9% of time it worked very well for me, but you never know. Good luck


authentication is required when I try having an access to the google play store

Try to clear the data for the Play Store app.
Navigate to Settings >> Apps >> Search for "Play Store"
Then Click "Clear Data"
Hope that helps!!


Can I prevent Google from collecting data by using a custom ROM?

Summing up from the comments:

There's more to it then just getting rid of "Google Apps" – though running a device without them certainly already massively reduces that data collection. A complete elimination can only be achieved by running the device in airplane mode (i.e. not permitting any network connections).

Using a custom ROM without flashing GApps will massively reduce the data collection, yes. But then you also should avoid all apps from Playstore (e.g. by using F-Droid solely), and don't browse websites (only few, like mine, have no Google trackers involved). As @beeshyams already wrote, a Firewall (root: AFWall+ / no-root: NetGuard) can help reducing it further. Getting it to absolute zero is probably only possible by going into airplane mode.

Even if you disable Javascript completely in the browser, there are still Web bugs to consider: tiny, invisible images (1x1 pixel) embedded into web pages for tracking purposes. Websites which are completely free of trackers are rare; at least two thirds of all existing websites integrate at least one (if not more) Google Trackers: Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager (both to be found even here at SE), Google Ads, Google Fonts, miscellaneous Javascripts (ajax.googleapis.com), Google Maps, Youtube, and so on.

TL;DR: You can massively reduce it, but you can't get fully rid of it without breaking stuff. Using a custom ROM without GApps is a good start, avoiding apps from Playstore helps a lot, using a firewall app (AFWall+ if rooted, NetGuard otherwise) helps further. Selectively enable Javascript for websites in your browser (e.g. using the uBlock Origin addon) massively improves on it.


Need to recover data from Microd SD card which was undetectable and used as internal storage on mobile

Helo,

I am replying here since this is a more recent question for corrupted internal sd cards.
If the phone recognises the card after a fresh boot and only ejects it after a while this may work for you.
My Android 7 Moto X Play is using a class 10 Sandisk Extreme 32GB as Internal Storage.
After a while the phone started ejecting the card and once that happened it needed a reboot since vital data is on the card at all times in the "Internal Storage" mode.
My goal was to recover all photos and videos and use the card as External Storage after that.

What happens is this:

Android does not know how to fix or ignore corrupted files on the card. Or it does not want to.
eventually a file on the card gets corrupted
when Android tries to access one of the corrupted files if fails and ejects the card
Android cannot work with the card ejected

My solution:

minimise the OS read/write activity by keeping it in standby
use adb pull to copy the images and videos by keeping a text file with the list of files still to be copied (I used some linux cat and grep being on OSX)
when adb pull fails at a file remove the file from the list files to be copied so it does not fail the next time
after fail reboot phone and run adb again on the trimmed list
enjoy 1 year worth of family memories :-)

This worked because from ~700 files only one was corrupted and the OS in standby did not try to access any other corrupted files while I was doing the adb pull. It may work for you if the files are important and you're willing to give it a try.

PS: nothing else worked since the phone was not rooted. Rooting it and keeping a copy of the encryption key for the sd card would be an idea but I am going back to external storage.


There could be two reasons for this, I am assuming I know what sound you are talking about since you have not provided an audio example.

You have sounds for phone sleep and phone awake in your settings
and/or you have notification sounds enabled.
You have skype installed with the notifications on for people
login/logout, the logout makes a yawning sound.

Check this out and I guess one of them is your root cause :)


Force system to always ask for wifi password

If you are rooted you could just run the command chmod 0440 /data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf. Before you do it you should first delete the WiFi network. Also make sure that you have all other WiFi networks saved because after you ran this command you won't save any other network again until you chmodded the file to r+w again.


Can I increase signal strength on my Samsung Galaxy s4 active?

When connected to LTE, the phone is also separately connected to the GSM network for voice. Voice does not go over LTE so switching your data to WCDMA (HSPA) won't make any difference in the quality of voice calls, unless you are using VOIP calling.

There isn't much you can do to boost the signal other than not using a case or if you do, stick to a thin TPU case that is just colored (ie no carbon fiber or chrome or wood or metal). If it is at your home, you may be able to see if your carrier offers a network extender. The network extender plugs into your home Internet and emulates a small cell tower in your house.


Can I use two different messaging applications?

I know that it's possible to use two messaging programs in same time (like two browsers), but i don't think it's possible to one program handles messages from one person and other program handles for other person.


Eventually I solved it by connecting the device to my pc, running adb shell and then running su in order to grant root privileges.

After that, to list all the partitions, I used the df command - and in each partition I generated a file big enough to fill all of the free space with random data (generated using the command dd if=/dev/urandom of=junkfile.txt bs=1048576 count=AmountOfMBs, as explained here).

Note that this method still doesn't shred the space that's currently in use on the device, so before going through this whole process I did a factory reset and then signed-in with a dummy account.


Unlocking Nexus One without pressing the power button

Here is my comment as an answer xD

There are custom roms like CyanogenMod that allows you to unlock using your trackball, dont know if there on market is and app for that...

--some minutes ago...--

hey there is one at https://market.android.com/details?id=org.liberty.android.anyunlock&feature=search_result called AnyUnlock,

there are other apps like this.... --as you discovered xD --

pd: rate with 100 for the effort :p


Activate screen buttons on the CyanogenMod

Edit /system/build.prop and add the line qemu.hw.mainkeys=0. Save and reboot. Should you want to revert, change that "0" to "1".

Alternatively, use a non-native solution such as LMT Launcher.


How do I fix pwd (print working directory) on Cyanogenmod 7?

Can you replace the pwd symbolic link with a script that just runs 'busybox pwd'?

Or would an alias work?


If, you haven’t wiped your device completely, there is still a chance of recovering your lost or deleted contacts by checking if the old contacts database file is stored somewhere deep in your storage.

Depending on your manufacturer and Android version, you will find your database in different locations in your storage. For stock Android devices like the Nexus 5, the database file should be located here:

/data/data/android.providers.contacts/databases
The key that your are looking for is providers.contacts/databases. To get to this folder straight from your device, install aSQLiteManager, which is able to get into your Android device’s database storage and open .db files.

If you can find this folder on your device and it’s empty, it means that your contacts are gone for good.

Well… Now it’s time to blast out a message to all your friends on Facebook, Twitter followers, business contacts and your family, asking them to send you their contact details.
credit(Daniel)
also check this link


I Deleted files on internal storage but free space remains the same

Sometimes it may not reflect until restart. Moreover, thumbnails would be recreated once you open the images again. Perform a restart or reboot.


is it possible to activate usb debugging using adb command line?

If the usb debugging is off. Your device won't appear in adb devices list.
So you cannot turn it on any other way than opening the developer options and manually enabling it.


If I uninstall an app do I lose the data?

Apps store user data in different ways:

Some store the data on the SD car in a public folder and as long as you don't manually delete the folder after you uninstall the app, it will still be there when you reinstall.
Other apps store data this way but have their configuration data in the secured portion of the internal memory and that data is lost when you uninstall (example: podcast app that stores the podcasts, and they subscription data on the SD card but the login, password and settings data internally.  You'll still have your podcasts and subscriptions but you'll have to re-enter the other data).
Some apps store all their data in the protected memory so you'll lose everything when you uninstall unless you use some kind of backup utility.

Angry birds stores data in the protected portion of the internal memory and all is lost when you uninstall.  There are apps that specifically backup Angry Birds data and other apps that backup apps.  There are so many there's no point in mentioning them here but just search the market for "Angry Birds Backup" or "App backup".

Titanium Backup is the best in my opinion but you need to be rooted to use it, while others you do not.


Make home screen rotate on Samsung Galaxy 9

I am currently using a Galaxy S10+, and I was using a Galaxy Note 8 before that. Both phones support rotating the homescreen to landscape in their native launcher, but it is disabled by default. I am going to assume your Galaxy S9 supports this as well. Try the following:

Go to Settings > Display > Homescreen. Then look for a setting related to rotation.

On my S10+ the setting is called "Rotate to Landscape Mode" and you have to switch it ON to enable homescreen rotation.

On my Note 8, the setting is called "Portrait Mode Only" and you have to switch it OFF to enable homescreen rotation.


Hardware/Software layer of an android device

Normally, A blocked bootloader means that the bootloader will verify the signature of the installed OS / recovery to be booted. And recovery does not allow you to install a unsigned OS. If you unlock the bootloader, you can "flash" any firmware and the bootloader wont verify the signature. Also, you can now flash a custom recovery that will be able to install from unverified/unsigned sources. Your SIM can be locked at the modem level, bootloader level or at the OS level. It is typically done at modem or bootloader level though.

To unlock a bootloader, you either flash a modified bootloader or switch a flag (as done in nexus devices). root on phone is more or less like sudo.

Android OS firmware may refer to the Android OS (i.e. system, bin, etc. partitions) while Phone firmware is the OS + bootloader + modem and other require bits that are not the part of OS. Things like baseband processor OS, radio drivers,etc are also updated but are not part of android OS.


My samsung galaxy player 5 does not connect to the internet, but apparently connects to my router

I'm afraid that's something the Android system does not provide by default. But you might take a look at e.g. Zakus WiFi Profiles, which lets you create profiles by access point (Android itself has only global settings here, which would apply to all WiFi APs you connect to):

As I never used this myself, I'm not sure whether it only deals with static IPs, or can handle DHCP with special settings as well. The app description doesn't explicitly state this.

Alternatively, IP Manager might prove helpful. It says to manage different IP profiles for different access points, but unfortunately gives no closer details (and the screenshots don't tell that much). Still worth a try, as it sounds promising.


If an app requires no permission, can I be completely sure that it is safe to install?

In an ideal world, an Android app that has no permissions would mean that the app can not seriously harm your device.

Unluckily we are not living in an ideal world, especially on Android where the device manufacturer often does not provide the newest security updates to each and every device.

Therefore running a malicious app without any permission on an Android device can end up in a permanent device infection if the device is vulnerable to an exploit that allows the app to get root permissions. Those exploits can work independently if your device is rooted or not, then work even on stock rom devices.

Therefore the risk executing an app without any permission depends on large parts if your device has the very latest security update (see patch level date in Settings -> System -> About -> Security patch level).

If your device has the most recent patch level and the app is not brand new the risk is low that the app is able to harm your device. However if your device has a security patch level months or even years ago even an app without permissions may cause serious harm to your device.

What is possible on different Android versions

There is an old article (2012) on AndroidPolicy: Security scare of the week: What can an app with no permissions do? which lists a few facts about what apps can do without any permissions. Lets try to check some of the facts and check them regarding modern Android devices:

Read data on your SD card

By default on devices prior to Android 4.4 apps had by default read access to the sd-card section:

  This permission is enforced starting in API level 19 (Android 4.4). Before API level 19, this permission is not enforced and all apps still have access to read from external storage. You can test your app with the permission enforced by enabling Protect USB storage under Developer options in the Settings app on a device running Android 4.1 or higher. [source]

But even on newer versions there is still the possibility to get sd-card access "for free" in case the app defines that it was developed for some very old Android version. In such a case Android implicitly grants the sd-card read permission (untested: is this still true for e.g. an Android 10 device?)

  Note: If both your minSdkVersion and targetSdkVersion values are set to 3 (Android 1.5) or lower, the system implicitly grants your app this permission.

To avoid misuse of those "implicit permissions" Google enforces a certain targetSdkVersion when uploading an app to Google PlayStore [source]. Hence if you have an app from Google PlayStore that has been published in 2018 or later (latest update) those implicit permissions on the sd-card are impossible.

Read installed apps via /data/system/packages.list

-> TBD

Miscellaneous data from /proc

Android ID, kernel version, and ROM version

-> TBD


Remove contacts from synced Exchange account, without removing them from the server

There's 2 slightly different solutions.

Log onto your corporate mail account using Outlook Web Access. Go to the account settings, i.e. the options link. Under that, select Phone, and delete your phone profile from there.
Now delete & recreate the Exchange account on your phone, and this time don't choose to sync contacts.
Exchange has a corporate addressbook or directory, and a local addressbook for your own personal contacts. Get rid of the locally saved contacts in your Exchange addressbook, so that on the next sync they'll similarly be culled from the phone. You can always look them up in the corporate directory, and Android can also perform a lookup against the directory for contacts that aren't stored locally. This of course assumes that you don't actually need so many contacts on hand in your local addressbook, or that these are all company contacts and not external business contacts.


WiFi Tablet makes Phone activate Hotspot

Sure. Multiple options, all involving tasker:

Requires two things: AutoRemote and tasker. With that combination running on your phone, your tablet can request to enable the hotspot via... uh, internet. So this won't work if your tablet has no mobile data.
So let's substitute AutoRemote: if your phone has NFC support, you could stick a NFC tag to your tablet, and use apps like Trigger, NFC ReTAG, again in conjunction with Tasker, to trigger the hotspot. Of course this would require NFC to be turned on.
If BT is turned on on both devices, they are paired, and set to automatically connect: Tasker has a "state condition" registering when a BT connection is made (Bluetooth Connected). You can specify the device as parameter. So as soon as the two are "close enough", this could turn the Hotspot on. As this only recognizes when the connection is made, to "reverse" (i.e. turn the hotspot off), you'd rather use the WiFi Connected trigger (reversed, i.e. when your tablet is no longer connected).


I fixed this by restoring only the android "boot" module from the original rom backup:

I used the clockworkmod recovery which can also be installed from the rooted phone using the "rom manager" app. But instead of making a whole recovery, i simply went into advanced recovery options, selected the above mentioned backup folder, and selected to restore only the "boot" module:

start clickworkmod recovery,
select "backup and recovery"
select "advanced recovery"
select the image of the original backup (see below)
select restore boot

This post describes how to restore your nexus s to original stock android and provides a backup of the original rom: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=884093


As an update I contacted Samsung, as the tablet is in warranty, and they told me that the only solution is to take the tablet into their repair centre in the city. As it needs to be flashed with new firmware.

Having done that, they have now told me that the tablet requires some parts as there is an issue with this model. Unsure what parts are needed but will post a reply once I collect the tablet and get the repair report from Samsung. There is no damage to the tablet as it is only 8 weeks old


Removing the SIM card might help the phone to flush out cached  data.

Other than that, I see no reason why removing a SIM card would change anything. The general purpose of those instructions is to hard reset the phone (without any data in RAM).


Managing Contacts without linking any accounts

The locations mentioned below where you can find settings may vary across Android versions.

  Did the contacts I manually entered go into HER gmail account? She doesn't need all my personal contacts!

Where do contacts go can be selected with Contacts -> Three dots menu -> Manage contacts -> Default storage location.

Among other options, you have Samsung account (if set), Phone, SIM card, Google (if set), Outlook (if set).
This is exactly what I see in my phone (I have actually three Google accounts).

I guess (did not try it) that if the default storage location is a Google account, and it is removed, the default changes automatically.
So your current setting would be probably not indicative of what it was before.
The best way to check that is entering her gmail account in a web browser, and see if the contacts you added are there.

  Do I have to manually re-enter them,

If they went to her Google account, you have several options to avoid manually re-entering them. Depending on the number of such contacts, the economics equation on what is most convenient may vary.

You can take advantage of Contacts -> Three dots menu -> Manage contacts -> Import/Export contacts.
I have used that to transfer csv-formatted contacts list from an iPhone to Samsung, avoiding any additional app.

  and if so, how can I be sure that they are being saved to my SIM card? (In case I ever get a new device, it would be nice to simply move the SIM card and keep the contacts.)

See above.

Plus #1:
You can use Contacts -> Three dots menu -> Settings -> Contacts to show.
You can select any contacts source to be used when showing contacts. You can even select a Custom combined list.
This is what have.
Then, whenever you change the source, you would be showing/hiding contacts, and that can tell you the location of each one.

Plus #2:
Whenever I Edit a contact, at the top of the screen I see the source of that Contact (Phone, Google, Skype, WhatsApp, etc.)
You should have to tell first the appropriate contact display list as in Plus #1.

  The "read only" contacts are a good mix of ones I want to delete and ones I need to edit (fix misspelled names, add new numbers). How do I manage them? If she un-linked her accounts, why are these "read-only things" still there?

Not sure. Never faced this, but I found a variety of culprit sources of Read-only contacts out there, and correspondingly different solutions.
E.g.
https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-delete-read-only-contacts-from-my-Moto-G2


Are there any apps that can shut down the phone?

If you are simply trying to turn the screen off, like the normal single press of the power button on the Droid does refer to this question: Is there an App or Widget that can replace my Screen On and Off Button on my Moto Droid?
If you are trying to power down the phone you'll need to have a rooted Droid then you can install an app that give you a boot menu like Quick Boot or Reboot Manager, both of wich give you an option to turn the phone off.


Change Galaxy Tab 3 from Finnish to English

Identify the "Settings" app by its icon (gear), it should read Asetukset
Scroll down and find "Language & Input" (Kieli ja syöttö). There should be a globe icon
Tap on "Language" (Kieli)
Scroll down and find English


Access Android System Partition from Linux

The best way is relative and dependant on not just hardware but also your desire to modify and or automate. For one-shot tasks I'd suggest adb & for special projects and automation I'd suggest Casual or Xposed. For messing with stuff I probably shouldn't, I'd definitely start with Xposed if I were you because the settings can be non-permanent.

To help future answer attempts try giving us a bit more info on your setup; Linux distro & CPU 32/64 bit, Android model & OS/Kernel versions if added to your OP will help better narrow down the best answer quickly. Additionally while looking into ADB you may wish to also look to the C.A.S.U.A.L. project as the tools there may allow for shortcutting lots of the driver and SDK installation hunting time down as well as enabling custom scripts that fire when you plugin your Android; very simple to understand language and very powerful under the hood.

ADB The Android Debugging Bridge will be the command line interpreter that you'll want to become familiar with. Commands are not hard to understand; push and pull files or directories is fairly straightforward. Mounting the directory as read/write and remembering to reset those permissions correctly can sometimes lead to trouble; make backups first with pull & try not to push where you shouldn't.
'Android SDK Tools' is the software suite that you'll usually need running on Linux to make use of push & pull commands.

Be sure in your Android's settings that you've got USB debugging enabled; sometimes this needs to be revealed by repeatedly tapping 'Build number' within the 'About device' section and then pressing the back button and the 'Developer options' should have become visible in your Android's settings screen.

Installing the necessary drivers and software packages is Android device and Linux distro specific. Some Android's drivers are not available online for Linux and require much work, others are happy enough to talk to a PC that your distribution may already be capable of basic file read/copy operations of protected file systems but unable to push without the Android SDK.

Installing the Android SDK Tools is a whole different can'o'worms when both Linux distro and Android version has to be taken into account. The route I would take would be booting a pentesting distro and installing to that anything missing for Android USB hacking as the tools that these distros offer may give you options to make full backups any time an Android device is plugged into it as well as run tailored exploits that keeps your Android's system synced with the wishes you have.

Depending on the files you're trying to modify you may run into issues with checks run by other apps or you may need a special compiler to be sure you don't brick it by killing your radio's firmware... backups don't really help there or if you mess with the bits that read your power button such that... most call that a 'brick' I call it 'spare parts' when I get a device that really doesn't respond. As stated in the beginning of this response best is relative to what you're trying to accomplish and on what hardware you're rocking. Lastly when embarking on a Modding expedition it's a good idea to know how much a refurbished model will cost, two Android devices that I've come to really enjoy boot-looping is less than $40 to have shipped (even less for ones that work but don't have a screen) and the refurbished devices I use during testing phases of development while my main device holds the most stable modifications only after I've repeatedly boot-looped the refurbs. This method has allowed me to mess with parts of the Android system, locally at times, without to much fear of perma-bricking something that I've invested data into.

All of the above being stated if you're not opposed to root then the Xposed module loader and their documentation on how to make your own module for Xposed may be useful for making modifications on the fly that automatically revert (ie not load mods on boot) settings if a bad shutdown happened last. The framework allows for modification of nearly every process of your device, often without the need to reboot to see settings take effect, so it is not for the faint of heart... used correctly though you can hide root (SU) permissions access from the rest of the Android system, root? what root? and used incorrectly it can hide it's own presence while slurping a victim's dastructrueta. Though the same feature also allows for covert data collection after device theft as well as faking the shutdown so really this yet again comes down to user's wishes for their device's features or functions and what syntax structure you feel comfortable tackling first.


why is my ip showing up different than the ip in android phone menu?

Probably this is because the network you are on is using NAT. Because of the world shortage of IP addresses, most networks (mobile networks and Wi-Fi) don't issue you a globally routable IP address. They just give you an address that only works within that network. Network address translation (NAT) is a way of letting all those devices on the network talk to Internet, by using something like a proxy server that relays the connections. When you connect to a site outside the network, it sees the connection as coming from the NAT server (gateway), so it will show you the gateway's IP address.


Yes, apart from the moment you send a message to someone.
You can set that from Settings --> Privacy and Security --> Last Seen --> Nobody

A more detailed explanation, from Telegram F.A.Q:

  Can I hide my 'last seen' time?

  You can choose who sees this info in Privacy and Security settings.

  Remember that you won‘t see Last Seen timestamps for people with whom you don’t share your own. You will, however, see an approximate last seen value. This keeps stalkers away but makes it possible to understand whether a person is reachable over Telegram. There are four possible approximate values:

  Last seen recently — covers anything between 1 second and 2-3 days
  Last seen within a week — between 2-3 and seven days
  Last seen within a month — between 6-7 days and a month
  Last seen a long time ago — more than a month (this is also always shown to blocked users)

  Who can see me 'online'?

  The last seen rules apply to your online status as well. People can only see you online if you're sharing your last seen status with them. There is one exception to this: people will be able to see you online for a brief period when you send them a message in a one-on-one chat or in a group where you both are members.

App screenshot:


You can't add features and generally customize Settings. Some features are added by android rom (During upgrades, ...) and  Developer Options can be added using this trick:
goto: Settings -> About Phone -> Press Build Number multiple times.


Permanently deleting Email from Default Email app

From the Android stock email app, you can permanently delete emails if you access the trash folder and delete them from there:

Select and email to delete and touch the delete icon;
Access the Trash folder;
Repeat step 1 inside the trash folder for the same email.

With this steps, the email gets permanently deleted from your account.

I've tested this steps just now to be sure. Anyways, I did not find any setting within the APP or account preferences, in order to do this more seamless!


What factors does PowerTutor measure to show energy consumption?

According to the developer's documentation, WiFi signal strength is not accounted for:

  The power states we have considered in the power model includes:

  ...
   -Wifi: Uplink channel rate, uplink data rate and packets transmitted per second.

They have a link to a study performed by the University of Michigan (who is, as best I can tell, also connected to this app's development) that looks to go much more in depth into their thoughts on the matter, should you be interested.

I don't have any better recommendations for you as far as apps go. Has the standard Android Battery Usage information not been helpful? I imagine if you set up a test scenario where you send a continuous steam of data over WiFi for an hour, then change the distance from the device to the WAP (i.e. changing signal strength) and repeat the process, you might be able to see a difference in the battery usage attributed to WiFi.


Weather app that displays "feels like" temperature?

Accuweather has two apps that give you "RealFeel" - Accuweather and Accuweather Quick.


Restore specific items using Titanium Backup without root?

Titanium stores the .apk's in /sdcard/TitaniumBackup/ and the data in the same folder in zip files.  You can click the .apk to install it when viewing in a file manager.

To restore the data, you can extract the zip file on a PC and copy the contents of the data folder (another folder named something like com.domain.appname) to /data/data/ on the device using adb:

adb push com.domain.appname /data/data/


Streaming from Google music cloud to wireless speaker or airplay

I found a solution to stream your Google Music to any device that is DLNA enabled. It's an android app called BubbleUPNP. What it does is it accesses your Google Music account, adds the titles to your local library (only the titles, think of them as links to the Google Music library) and then starts a DLNA server on your phone. This means that any device that can access DLNA servers can play this music, thus it now also has access to your Google Music tracks.

How to do this:

Download the BubbleUPNP app.
Buy the BubbleUPNP license (~$4) - well worth the money!
Start the app, go to library and select Google Music.
Give permission to the app and wait for the scanning process to finish.
With the server started on your Android device, access it from any DLNA capable device (TV, PC, Smartphone, Tablet, etc.). In the Music section you should now also see your Google Music tracks.

Downside is the fact that you can't "send" a track from Google Music (from your Android device) to be played on the DLNA device but you have to play it from the DLNA device directly.

Hope this helps!


how to install custom recovery without pc

It is possible, but doing so could be even more dangerous than doing the traditional PC flashing way. Flashing it through ADB is much easier and way less dangerous. If you have not already tried flashing the phone, try using ADB. Also, avoid apps like Kingoroot or Kingroot, they are proven as spyware by the community. Have fun flashing your phone!  It's way easier than you thinkGood Luck, Joe.


HTC ONE - USB No longer recognized (but is charging)

Probably this is not your case, but I've found an HTC ONE S with similar behavior (no USB sign of life, even in dmesg and lsusb) and the problem was the cable. It was like an USB cable but it was not a USB cable, only a power cable!

All the four pins were there but only two of them were connected, and instead of the USB logo it just had a lightning logo on both ends.

Now the question is: why does such a cable exist? How much can be saved not connecting the two data pins of a USB cable? 1 µ$ per cable?


Found a not-so-locked Moto G5S Plus - need help to unlock & return it

It is possible that some useful contacts are saved in the SIM card, so I suggest you insert that SIM card in an another phone to access those contacts and attempt to contact them.


How to redirect local hotspot traffic to webserver

What you are talking about is called captive portal. On android this can be done by loading our own configuration file for dnsmasq. I made an a minimal UI app for this purpose. You can find it on XDA : https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/general/guide-setup-fake-captive-portal-android-t4011689
If you are android developer, please help us to improve the app.
And also this app requires root permission.


After 2 hours of waiting, I long pressed the power button for 15sec which gives battery pull effect. Then I rebooted to recovery. Tried to format /data sparing /data/media which gave the error unable to mount /data. Then tried formatting /data including /data/media and it was formatted.

Then rebooted and first set a lock screen pattern and then tried encryption. This time, it got successfully encrypted in around 10minutes. The device asked for pattern on every boot, and it takes couple of minutes for every reboot.

So, I think the issue was doing encryption without lock screen password and then adding password later.


What does the ambient light sensor look like?

The sensor is like a small dot, usually located on the left of the HTC logo, above your device's screen. Also the location of the proximity sensor is.
FYI: HTC ONE models S, X, V, EVO 4G LTE are very much alike in physical conception.
This is covered at XDA Developers forum thread: Where is the One X's ambient light sensor?

By Tiersten:
Left of the HTC logo above the screen. It is also where the proximity sensor is.
By jaaystott:
If you call someone, take a look at the front of your phone. You will see a steady red glow from the top left of your screen, this is where the proximity and ambient light sensor are housed.

Additionally, there's this White Paper: Ambient Light Sensor (ALS) Applications
in Portable Electronics that shows their physical aspect:


Nexus 7 Share Dialog No Longer Showing Up After KitKat

That's a known bug with Kitkat, not only affecting the Nexus but other devices as well. We discussed that on chat lately. A work-around is using an app like AppChooser, which replaces the share menu. As a side-effect, it even gives you several improvements above the built-in share menu, as e.g. the possibility to chose between grid and list display, or have the list sorted alphabetically versus last-used (where the latter would have your most frequently used share-targets always on top). You can even hide apps you don't want to see in the share menu (and make them visible via the "show all" button).

AppChoser (source: Google Play)

The only alternative I know of is Andmade Share, which offers comparable features.


What is the difference between archiving and backing up, a WhatsApp chat?

An archived chat is simply hidden from the Chats tab, which means it requires the same storage space as if it weren't archived. It is meant to be a way to keep your messages organized and don't fill your chats' list. On the other hand chats backup takes all your chats and copies them to a separate file, either on your phone's storage or on the cloud, so that you can restore them in case you loose WhatsApp data or change phone.
For more informations go to WhatsApp FAQ.


How to connect to wifi router without internet?

Try deleting the connection.  You can do this by Settings -> Wifi -> hit the : on the top right, Saved Networks, select your router's name, then FORGET.


Enable the keyboard on the right side of the emulator

Find the emulator's configuration in your HOME directory.

~/.android/avd/<The_Device_Name>/config.ini

Here the The_Device_Name is the name of the android virtual device your created using the AVD Manager.

Open this configuration file(.ini) using Notepad editor and change the setting to have the below line which enable the keyboard

hw.keyboard=yes


Can I flash Android on device with overwritten mmcblk0?

/dev/mmcblk0 is whole MMC storage chip which includes GUID partition table (GPT) and all partitions. On Android devices some of these eMMC partitions hold bootloaders (like sbl, aboot on Qualcomm devices) which have hard-coded paths in SoC firmware. Fully overwriting (erasing) such partitions means the SoC won't be able to boot device. Since fastboot and other service modes like odin are hosted by bootloaders, so those won't be available and the device is considered hard-bricked.

Exceptions are if the device does have BIOS/OpenBIOS/UEFI/ACPI support and is able to discover hardware without DTB and boot initially without depending on bootloaders.
Or if there is a way to re-create partitions and re-write bootloaders (see MTK example in edit section below). Something at even lower level which can communicate directly to SoC e.g. JTAG protocol can be possibly used to bring device back to life. However that requires special hardware and software and sometimes desoldering/resoldering or even chipping off flash chip. Still after recovering the device that way, you will have to restore device-specific partitions e.g. the one which contains IMEI.

/dev/mmcblk0boot* naming convention is usually used to represent boot area partitions from internal MMC on Linux while /dev/mmcblk0p* represents user area partitions or partitions on external SD card. Android init enumerates eMMC partitions as /dev/block/mmcblk0p* and external SD card partitions as /dev/block/mmcblk1p* (as far as I have seen). But the nomenclature may differ for different vendors. Whatever the case is, overwriting a whole flash memory raw block device would erase all partitions on that.

EDIT:

I just realized you are talking about eMMCs used with development boards, not on Android phones. Latter is somewhat different, it can have 50+ partitions on recent devices. Many of those are vendor-specific closed source signed binary blobs. But the eMMCs used with Linux have a few partitions (not more than 8 per block device by default).

If that's the case, /dev/mmcblk0boot* are most probably separate block devices as per eMMC v4.41 standard. So those might have not been erased with user area partitions. Boot partitions are also write-protected by default (1, 2), while Android devices mostly use user area for booting (though vendors can go other way) which is easily erasable. eMMC v4.41 also defines RPMB partition which is also a separate block device (in fact not a block device and not a partition) and shouldn't be deletable.

On an Android device with Qualcomm SoC (MSM8953) and Samsung eMMC (RX1BMB) and without boot area partitions:

~# mmc extcsd read /dev/block/mmcblk0
  Extended CSD rev 1.8 (MMC 5.1)
...
Boot configuration bytes [PARTITION_CONFIG: 0x38]
 User Area Enabled for boot
 No access to boot partition
...
RPMB Size [RPMB_SIZE_MULT]: 0x20

Another device with MediaTek SoC (MT8127) and Hynix eMMC (H8G1e) does have two boot area partitions and an RPMB. It reports "Boot Partition 1 enabled", so mmcblk0boot0 contains first stage bootloader (preloader or SPL) while actual UBOOT is on user area (mmcblk0p4). mmcblk0boot1 contains device specific information available through idme print like MAC address, serial number, unlock code etc. However another SoC (MSM8610) with same eMMC reports "User area is enabled for boot". So this seems to be a vendor-specific thing.

Again, since fastboot is implemented in U-Boot, it won't be available after erasing mmcblk0. On MTK devices, though, Preloader Download Mode (SP Flash Tool) or the even earlier EDL mode ("On-chip boot ROM for factory flash programming") should still work (if implemented). EDL mode on some MTK (Meta Mode) and Qcom (QDL/9008 mode; implemented in PBL/BootROM) devices requires shortening test points on motherboard (3, 4).

Otherwise the only way to flash partitions is by directly communicating with SoC. i.MX SoCs, for instance, provide SDP protocol over USB or UART which can be used to load U-Boot and use fastboot.

NOTE: Don't confuse Android's fastboot with eMMC Fast Boot.

RELATED:

Bootloader/BIOS, flashing ROM and correlated risks. Why Android devices are more brickable than PCs?
Boot Process: Android vs. Linux


Howto downgrade any app to the previous version without losing data on android oreo?

What you want is not possible and for a good reason: updated data structures (files, database, etc) are often incompatible with old app versions. This is why you can downgrade debuggable packages (for development purposes) only.

If you have a problem with FairEmail, please report it in this forum:

https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/source-email-t3824168


How can I disable the volume warning if you raise the volume too much?

This is a known issue (or feature) in Android 4.2, and there's probably no fix for now.

UPDATE 2013-12-10: According to Marius Hofert, it is still an issue in 4.4.


SuperOneClick freezes when I try to root my Sony Xperia Tipo Dual

It's possible that the method of rooting used by SuperOneClick has been blocked on the Tipo Dual. I haven't seen the phone on any of the compatability lists for SuperOneClick. There are other methods you can use, and for the Tipo Dual I quickly found UnlockRoot and a guide on how to root from XDA-Developers. Use at your own risk.


where can I find information about my phone by imei

My suggestion is imeidata.net. I've gotten incorrect data from the sites mentioned in other answers.

For example,  for my phone, imei.info gives the wrong data:

  Model: Sidekick LX Brand: T-MOBILE

imeidata.net is correct:

IMEI: 3536910674xxxxx
Allocating Body: BABT
Type Allocation Code: 35369106
Serial Number: 749450
Luhn Checksum: 9
Manufacturer: SAMSUNG KOREA
Brand: SAMSUNG
Model: SM-G355H


Nexus 6 display performance, PWM and flickering

Either steer clear of Amoled, or at 40% brightness use a screen filter app like Twilight to further reduce brightness without flickering. Contrast and colours may suffer though.


Xperia Z3v Simultaneous LTE and Voice Service

I have been told that the Z3V will never be capable of simultaneous talk and Data by Verizon. Sony just confirmed that it isn't capable, but didn't say what the future holds. The Z3V was built with only one radio and was not built to support VoLTE. Verizon is posting replies on their Droid Turbo stating it will be getting it in a software update,  but they are not doing that on the Z3V. I am guessing that is because it doesn't support VoLTE and that is how they are rolling this out now (phones coming to market after Aug2014). However, let me know if you get a different response from Sony or Verizon, because I have been told the Z3V will never get it. Thanks.


Generic answer: The errors in the unlocking process (and especially security errors like yours) generally mean that the device vendor does not allow unlocking. Some device vendors allow it by personally issuing unlock codes (through individual support requests), but it's getting rare nowadays.

Unfortunately the only way is the "old" way, which is to "break into" the device, which usually requires a specific bug on a specific version of Android ROM using a specific program. Since people hardly play with such exploits nowadays and your device seems to be a rather unpopular one your chances to unlock it are sadly very low.

You may try to contact the vendor, if they still exist.


How to ssh into an unrooted Android device using sshdroid from a Linux computer

Summing up from the comments

This answer states to use ssh <user>@<ip> -p <port> instead of the "colon syntax"
In SSHDroid, go to "Options" and check/define the port (default: 2222) and password to be used
According to the screenshots on the app's playstore page, if not using root mode you can use any user name to connect. Thus if you followed above steps, this should now work (of course with <android-ip> replaced by the real IP address of the Android device):

ssh me@<android-ip> -p 2222


Unlocked HTC One X (AT&T) Jelly Bean update

OTA updates come also with carrier modifications. So no, you will not


Odin3 says phone is successfully rooted but I have no root access

looks like this pda file is only flashing recovery and cache image. So you should have a custom recovery now(probably CWM recovery).

If this is the case download supersu from here: http://download.chainfire.eu/396/SuperSU/ and push it onto your device.

After this boot into recovery(probably vol up + home + power) and install this supersu update zip.

Reboot system and see if you have luck :)


What is this notification icon with a person's head and a share icon?

This is not an app icon, this is an Android built-in function for sharing content over Bluetooth, Wi-Fi direct, NFC, on Social medias, etc. Also called Direct Share on Marshmallow.


Can I route a call via SIP based on a phone number?

Csipsimple indeed does the job if you want to use it as your SIP client. If you prefer the built-in SIP client, try the Advanced Dialer app.


Some app might be triggering the phone to wake up.
Did you check if there any app holding screen wakelock with Wakelock Detector?

play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.uzumapps.wakelockdetector


Is it possible to hack android phone by contacting the target over Gmail or Skype, if the target does not downloads suspicious files sent over?

Android Apps are sandboxed. If someone can "hack" skype, they may be able to get data from the skype app, possibly including contact list, login credentials and chatlogs. Further they may get everything, what the skype app can access, which probably includes the phone's address book as well.

If your phone has a remotely accessible flaw, which would be a reason for the fear that somebody could get your ip address, you have bigger problems than your skype contacts and should upgrade your android ASAP. Further, modern skype isn't peer to peer anymore but a skype server is used. Finally your phone will be most the time firewalled in your LAN or in cellular networks because of CGNAT. Which may be false security, i.e. if somebody is in the same WLAN like you.

I am not aware of any remote security flaws in android, but there are many local ones in older android versions, including ones triggered by special image files (which could be sent via skype) and similiar attack vectors.


How to determine which application is blocking microphone usage?

Using logcat extreme and monitoring per app set to WhatsApp , it shows

mediaFocuscontrol: Audiofocus*request*Audiofocus() from Android.media.audiomanager when microphone is activated

And

mediaFocuscontrol: Audiofocus*abandon*Audiofocus() from Android.media.audiomanager when microphone is de-activated


What sepolicy context will allow any other context to access it?

ROOT USER AND SELINUX:

User root (with UID 0) is the super user in Discretionary Access Control (DAC) implementation of *NIX operating systems. DAC is allowed by-default i.e. anyone can access anything unless UIDs, GIDs and permission mode restrict something. So root can do anything because it's the kernel's SUPER USER who isn't denied anything.

SELinux is Mandatory Access Control (MAC) which is denied by-default i.e. no one can access anything unless a policy rule is defined to allow the access. So there is no SUPER CONTEXT which is allowed to do anything, whatever the UID is. You have to define a rule to allow any operation you want to perform on your device.

Please note that Access Controls (DAC or MAC) are enforced by kernel at back end, who is the actual operating system.

HOW SELINUX IS ENFORCED ON ANDROID?

SELinux policy rules are defined when building ROM and saved as a binary file /sepolicy (or as split-policy). This policy is loaded by init (the very first process started in kernel's SELinux domain) before starting any services/daemons/processes on boot. Kernel starts with SELinux permissive if built with option SECURITY_SELINUX_DEVELOP=y (which is the default as discussed here and here). After loading policy, init - when still running with kernel's context - sets SELinux enforcing (depending on ROM build type and kernel parameter androidboot.selinux (0)) and then switches to init's own context. From here afterwards, even init isn't allowed by policy to revert back to permissive mode (1, 2). Neither the policy can be modified even by root user (3).

However there is one exception to above said rules. On userdebug or eng builds, u:r:su:s0 - which is the context adb shell gets when adbd is run as root (4) or when /system/xbin/su is executed (5) - is allowed to do anything, including setting SELinux permissive (6).

But on a final production (user) build of ROM, the only way to setenforce 0 or to modify policy is to take control of booting process before SELinux is set enforcing by init. That's what rooting solutions like Magisk do by replacing/patching /init and /sepolicy in RAM disk (boot.img). Magisk runs root processes with context u:r:magisk:s0 which is allowed by patched policy to do anything.

Once you have rights (granted by DAC and MAC) to play with SELinux policy, you can define new SELinux policy rules as explained here.

Coming to your question:

  selinux is enforcing but I want it to be permissive which will never happen with stock kernel

No. SELinux is set enforcing by init, not by kernel, except if built with SECURITY_SELINUX_ENFORCING=y option (7).

  a higher context to do things like supolicy --live to patch selinux policy

There is no higher context that is allowed to do anything. You can't set mode to permissive and can't patch policy on user builds.

  what is the (target) context that will allow any other (source) context to execute the script?

As said, there is no higher source context that can do anything to others. Likewise there is no lower target context that lets others do anything.
Also when executing a script, there isn't necessarily a single target context. Every file that the script uses (binaries, configurations, logs etc.) may have its different context label. And typetransitions can change source contexts too.
If you want to modify policy, you can get all avc denials from kernel log and then define new SELinux rules accordingly:

~# dmesg -w | grep avc:

Solution:

Since you are already on eng build, only replace kernel binary (zImage) in your boot.img if you want to replace kernel. Otherwise you get stuck by using init and sepolicy from boot.img of a user build.
On eng build:

/init doesn't set SELinux enforcing on boot (8)
/sepolicy allows root adb shell to do anything including setenforce and load_policy as explained above

If your kernel is built with SECURITY_SELINUX_ALWAYS_ENFORCE, you can't  set SELinux permissive once set enforcing (9).

RELATED:

What special privileges “/system/xbin/su” does have w.r.t. root access?
How to fix SELinux “avc: denied” errors when launching DNSCrypt as init.d script?


How can automatically upload pictures and videos taken to google drive?

After a lot of search it can't be done with google drive, the photos taken will be uploaded to google+, so if google+ is deactivated (like I have it) the photos won't upload :(


How do I disable camera autofocus on the Galaxy S5?

Sorry for telling you the truth , but you cant really disable autofocus from the stock camera app...


How can you find which carrier a Samsung Galaxy S3 (GT-I9300) is locked to?

Depending on where you are in the world, and which carrier you're with, your phone will have a unique model.
You can find your phone's model number by going to Settings > About device and it'll be around the middle of the page.

North American models

Carrier Name                Model Identifier

AT&T (US)                   SGH-I747
Bell Mobility (CAN)         SGH-I747
Moblicity (CAN)             SGH-T999
Rogers Wireless (CAN)       SGH-I747
SaskTel (CAN)               SGH-I747
Sprint (US)                 SPH-L710
T-Mobile (US)               SGH-T999
Telus Mobility (CAN)        SGH-I747
U.S. Cellular (US)          SCH-R530
Verizon (US)                SGH-I535
Videotron (CAN)             SGH-T999
Wind Mobile (CAN)           SGH-T999


What's the purpose of the data.info file in TWRP backup?

As you thought, data.info (and any file created by TWRP and with said extension) is a binary file. Given it, I've inspected it with the Linux tool hd, which lets me see an hexadecimal dump along with the decoded output.

Dump of the file

00000000  0c 00 62 61 63 6b 75 70  5f 73 69 7a 65 00 0b 00  |..backup_size...|
00000010  31 33 31 34 36 37 34 36  38 38 00 0c 00 62 61 63  |1314674688...bac|
00000020  6b 75 70 5f 74 79 70 65  00 02 00 30 00 0b 00 66  |kup_type...0...f|
00000030  69 6c 65 5f 63 6f 75 6e  74 00 05 00 37 31 30 37  |ile_count...7107|
00000040  00                                                |.|
00000041

As you may have guessed by looking at the rightmost column, those kind of files contain information such as backup size and type, as well as the file count.

Before you ask, do not delete those files. Should you do so, TWRP won't probably be able to restore your backup. Delete them only if you're brave and have a backup.


Extraordinarily fast battery consumption

Looks like a software issue for me. I had the same issue on my max 2. I flashed the firmware again using Mi flash tool and there's no battery drainage now.


Unable to change mobile data cycle date on huawei p9 lite with android 7.0

It seems that Huawei phones don’t seem to have that feature, which may be due to certain manufacturer's reasons. Its skinned UI (EMUI) provides the feature in a slightly different place.

  If you go to your data management screen, you will find that it does
  not offer that feature at all. Instead, it shows you your daily usage,
  and that is about it.

This similar feature is found in data traffic management.

Depending on your EMUI version, follow this proceedure:

Go to Settings (All) → Data traffic management → Package settings (or gear icon in later EMUI versions). You should get a screen looking like this:

  Here you actually get the Android Data Traffic manager, but a super version of it. You can set daily limits, start the day of the month
  for your package, disable data if you go over limit to save you money,
  and set various limits and reminders

Since the feature is somewhat hidden, another probable workaround is installing a 3rd party open source tool Activity Launcher(No root required).

  Under activities select all activities.
  Select Settings
  Search for data usage

Here you will find the options you need to change the mobile data cycle date similar to  what you do in stock versions.

Another workaround is installing an altogether data manager application, that takes over the default monitoring of data, cycles etc.

From experience of many users you can search the appropriate one from Playstore e.g ( My Data manager, 3G watchdog etc) which are also very flexible when it comes to changing data cycles, limits, reminders and so forth.

Acknowledgements

How to: Enabling data limits on your Huawei or Honor smarphone (EMUI 3.1)
Change mobile data cycle date


Nexus 5 touch response is slow while charging

[Moving from comments to answer]

This could be an issue with either debugging mode switched on or the power source itself!

Please try on AC Power, this is a known issue with quite a few phones! In fact I had this issue with my N7000 running CM10, the phone is just lying around now. Just to be sure, is USB debugging off ? Just to see if that is the issue for me, I tried different sockets at home with my old phone! It varies based on the power supply. All I can say is stop charging through these faulty places


com.android.phone force closes constantly after a clean install of CM7.1 in SGS1

After researching this in local forums, it turned out to a SIM card issue.  My carrier had a series of yellow SIM cards that for some reason caused this problem.  I had my carrier replace it, and I've been on CM ever since (with a short break for AOKP).


You could try the following steps to troubleshoot the issue:

Ensure components used by Playstore are not disabled

Check if download manager, Google play services or Google services framework is not disabled or frozen by package disabler apps.
Freezing/ or disabling such can result in failed downloads.
Re-enable them as necessary

Removing and re-adding Google account

Sometimes perfoming this this step acts as a way of "refreshing" Google Apps including Playstore and may fix failed downloads.

Uninstalling Playstore updates.

You can try removing Playstore updates and then update to latest version which can solve the issue, as a certain version can have bugs. Do this:

  Reinstall Play Store updates

  Open your device's main Settings app.
  Touch Apps or Application manager (depending on your device, this may be different).
  Touch Google Play Store > Uninstall updates .
  When prompted to change the Play Store app back to the factory version, touch OK.
  Open the Google Play Store app Google Play .
  Go back to your device's home screen. As long as you have a strong Internet connection (Wi-Fi or mobile data), your Play Store app will
  update to the latest version within a few minutes.

Clearing Playstore data

You can restore Google Playstore to default by clearing its data, which can hopefully solve the issue of failed downloadsn

  Clear cache and data

  Open your device's main Settings app.
  Touch Apps or Application manager (depending on your device, this may be different).
  Touch Google Play Store > Clear cache > Clear data .

Source: Google Playstore Help - Play Store won't load or download apps


HTTPS sites no longer load on my Android after installing cert to truststore

"Whatever you did", you removed all of your trusted CA's (Certificate Authority).

Unfortunately I cannot help other than to say you should have well over 50-60 trusted CA's in that list (where you have none).


Symbian like internet connectivity in android?

Looks like you can use Llama to achieve this (wow, Llama can do what Tasker can't? Or does Tasker just not mention it in its manual?). Basically, it should work like this (taking from one of it's screenshots on the playstore app page):

When "charging at home" => Enable Wifi Hotspot

I know, that's not exactly what you described. But it should give you a raw idea. Get yourself the free Llama app from the Playstore, and take a closer look at its possibilities. You might find a "rule" closer to your requirements there.

Alternatively, there are other automation apps available (like e.g. the mentioned Tasker). One of them might do the job better for you (e.g. offering "USB connected" as condition, and "enable USB tethering" as action -- I would wonder if Llama could not do that as well). At least, this example should have got you started.


Android JellyBean stock keyboard capitalizes first letter of word before question mark

All I can see are lower case letters. It might be a bug with  your Samsung keyboard software. You could try updating your os if it is the case or you could try other apps for writing like SwiftKey for example.


How can I backup the entire Gallery (photos and videos) to my desktop computer?

I don't prefer cloud backup because of high priced internet plans in my country, and the answer by Lord Ralf Adolf didn't work for my device somehow. Ultimately, I had to find a solution which is supposed to be no pain only gain. Here we go with one mentioned below.

Notes:

The solution requires a USB cable, MTP enabled (available in Android 4.xx and 5.xx) in Android device, (devices with USB Storage Mode would work as well), and Windows 7/8 in PC.
If MTP somehow doesn't work in your PC, you've no access to USB cable, or your device doesn't have MTP feature, then you may very well host a server on your Android device, preferably a WebDAV server. See my answer here for  know-how.
Tested the solution with Android 4.2.1 and Windows 7.

What this answer would achieve?

Works well with/without USB Storage and MTP support in Android device.
Backup multiple directories easily.
Can backup two or more storage drives by choosing the following solution only which would require repeating the instructions, or (following+linked) answer which would make it happen in one-go.
Fully automatic once final instruction is executed; no need to do manual copy for each file/directory.
Copies exact directory structure so that you don't have to worry during restoring the data.
Needs no Internet connection (other than to download some required software here).

A bit of explanation before going to the kernel

The problem with most of the media backup apps (I noticed) for Android is that they don't really preserve or care for the exact directory structure, which means you can mine images from anywhere in the Android but you can't really mirror the directory tree for saving the file in your destination storage, i.e. (analogy)

copy F:/DCIM/Camera/DSC11*.JPG C:\Users\Firelord\Desktop\Test\

is easily possible and available by many Android apps and Windows softwares, but not

copy F:\DCIM\Camera\DSC11*.JPG C:\Users\Firelord\Desktop\Test\DCIM\Camera\DSC11*.JPG

The same holds true for many Windows Explorer alternatives for Windows 7/8 including FreeCommander, Multi Commander, Explorer++, XYplorer and other tools like SmartCopy.

(Note that I tried the listed ones but could not find the desired functionality with ease (auto copy with tree). Let me know (to edit) if your experience differs.)

Anyhow, the trick was to find a software for Windows which allows to take media backup(not disk/media imaging) with synchronization feature. Three such candidates that I tested and found easy(GUI) are SyncToy, FreeFileSync and PureSync. (All are free for personal use.)

I recommend FreeFileSync and the instructions for its usage are mentioned below.

Instructions:

Download FreeFileSync(free).
This program might not create Start Menu entry. For a 64-bit Windows 7, the program's directory location is C:\Program Files\FreeFileSync and a relative one would be for 32-bit Windows 7. Execute the FreeFileSync.exe (right-click → Run as Administrator).
(On my machine this program freeze out for few seconds during its startup but eventually stabilizes and doesn't behaves alike.) The default screen for v7.0 would look like:

Connect your Android device into PC using USB cable, and choose MTP for data transfer.
In FreeFileSync, you would see two fields with name Drag & Drop at the top of left and right pane. They hold the location for the source and destination storage. Edit them:

For left pane click Browse → My Computer(left side) in the opened window → select your device (say HTC One; under Portable Devices) → choose either Internal or External SD card of Android device → Select Folder(at the bottom).
For right pane click Browse → My Computer(left side) in the opened window → select the backup location (say D:\Backup) →  Select Folder(at the bottom).

In FreeFileSync under the Menu bar, go to Actions → Filter settings. Here you can include the filetypes and exclude the folders from mining or backup. E.g. If I want to backup only .jpg and .png image files from my Android but I want to avoid those in the Android, Data, any .folder or folders that were created by some apps and includes irrelevant files with such extensions, then my filer would be:

Note that the filter is not complete in the picture as opposed to text in the answer

Tweak as much as you want since it's easy. I seriously advise excluding Android folder. Click OK when done with custom filters. (Note that I've not added but you may add video extensions too like .mp4, .mkv, etc.)
In the Menu bar, go to Actions → Synchronization settings and choose any of the variant available. For the first backup I prefer Mirror to backup all the filtered files. Click OK at last.

In the Menu bar, go to Actions → Start comparison -- this will show the filtered files in left pane (source) and files available in right pane (destination; would be empty for a new backup folder). (You can always switch the panes by clicking the blue <> icon available between the two panes.) An e.g. would look like:

In the Menu bar, go to Actions → Start synchronization -- this will (as obvious) synchronize the two folders based on the setting you chose in Step 7. An e.g. of process, and completion would look like:

We're good to backup anything here. Note that for restore the steps (as obvious) would be same but the locations at left and right pane would differ. Also, during restore, my phone freeze out a lot (the reason could be a low class SD card in device or altogether a program issue itself, IDK!)

Issue with, and solution for, multi-storage Android devices

One issue that a multi-storage Android device user would've noticed is that you'll have to repeat the instructions to backup both External and Internal SD card.

This can be avoided by using a file server in Android. See Method#1 or Method#3 in my answer here. Just make sure that the file server should have its root directory at /storage so that in the FreeFileSync all storages (would be listed as folders now) can be mapped for backup.

I tried and it worked well!

Status: Objective Completed

I could cover SyncToy and PureSync here, but the latter freeze out the whole time whenever I click any option and about the former: it's intuitive and very easy in "exclude filters" but doesn't give much flexibility in synchronization variant (I would've ended up deleting images in device due to lack of such, but was stopped somehow. :) )

I think the objective can be achieved by using find and rsync tools in combination on GNU/Linux.

Let me know other options if you come to know any, or technical mistakes in my answer.


Change behavior of space on external keyboard?

I have done extensive research talking to developers who make applications for Android and the PageDown & PageUp do not exist in Android unless the application chooses to implement this(which is quite rare).  The PgDn key doesn't even work on Chromebook with Android apps.  The only application that I know of that implements the PageDown key at all are web browsers like Chrome.  I also use a pointing stick so I understand your frustration and or desire to have a feature like this.  My best advice would be to either VPN/VNC into another computer which has this implemented or use SSH/MOSH to have such feature at least at the terminal.