What does "Sync Google+ Notifications" do? I've recently upgraded to 2.3.7 and noticed a new setting under the Google accounts sync options.

  Settings->Accounts & sync->my google account

As well as sync contacts, GMail etc it now also has a checkbox for

  Sync Google+ Notifications

Does anyone know what this setting does?

Obvious: It syncs Google+ notifications if you have a Google+ account.  For example, comments on one of your posts (depending on your notification settings).

Not as obvious: You need the Google+ app for it to work.


Physical Bluetooth Keyboard is not able to access to chats (Whatsapp, Telegram) in Android 10 I have a very strange situation that I have not found yet something in the internet that could lead me to solve this issue.
I paired my physical bluetooth keyboard (Keychron K2) with my phone (Huawei P30 Lite with Android EMUI Version 10.0.0 which I think is Android 10) and I have found the way to control almost everything, but when I access to a chat application like WhatsApp, I am able to select the available chats in the application but when I type Enter to go into selected chat, it does not go to that chat, it highlights the chat like it was selected but not with the intention to go into it...
If I leave the enter pressed, this will show me available options/actions that I could use with that specific chat like delete the conversation, pin message, etc. This behavior occurs also with Telegram.
Is there any body with some hints regarding how I could be able to access to an specific chat selected to start chatting with my keyboard without having to use the native touchscreen control to start using the application?
Thank you!

I don't think that is possible with a physical keyboard yet. I tried every key and many combinations too.. failed..
Then i tried remapping the key(one and only relevant function available is select/enter which does not work for selecting chats).. failed again..
I downloaded a physical keyboard helper(nothing helpful in it).. it failed too..
I think you'll have to tap the chats on the phone everytime you want to open any from the app.. OR you can create chat shortcuts on homescreen but that will be too weary adding every contact and messing up your homescreen.
An efficient solution will be to use a cursor (controlled from keyboard)


Unable to flash stock ROM of Moto X dev edition I have a Motorola X 2013 Dev edition unlocked (XT1053) that I'm trying to flash the stock firmware onto after using Cyanogenmod12. However, the process is failing. Following Motorola's instructions...

  After downloading the image for your device:

  Make sure you have a Moto Pure Edition or a Developer Edition device.
  Make sure you download the corresponding recovery image from the above
  portal. To flash, put the phone in fastboot mode:
  1. Power OFF your device
  2. Then Power ON + Volume Down Alternatively, you can reboot into fastboot mode if you have adb...adb reboot bootloader. Next flash the
  images using fastboot:
  $ fastboot flash partition gpt.bin
  $ fastboot
  flash motoboot motoboot.img
   $ fastboot reboot-bootloader
   $ fastboot flash logo logo.bin
  $ fastboot flash boot boot.img
   $ fastboot flash recovery recovery.img $ fastboot flash system system.img $ fastboot
  flash modem NON-HLOS.bin $ fastboot erase modemst1  $ fastboot erase
  modemst2  $ fastboot flash fsg fsg.mbn $ fastboot reboot You also have
  the option to erase all the data on your device with $ fastboot erase
  userdata $ fastboot erase cache

I apologize for the horrible formatting there...

When I try to flash gpt.bin, the following error appears on my phone

downgraded security version
update gpt_main version failed
preflash validation failed for GPT

Now I've looked into this quite a bit and found that it is caused by motorola's own security protections. The only thing I can find to get around it is waiting for the new security patches. However, those threads I find are pre dropped support. Cyanogenmod is probably responsible for this since it is still getting security patches. Therefore, there never will be an updated stock to flash.

How do I get around this issue? I have a nandroid backup of the phone pre-cyanogen, but I'd rather just flash a clean stock than use the backup if possible.

I've been in a similar situation with the XT1052 model,  I don't know if the script below will work for you.

Boot in fastboot, either manually or through ADB. Then type:

mfastboot oem fb_mode_set
mfastboot flash partition gpt.bin
mfastboot flash motoboot motoboot.img
mfastboot flash logo logo.bin
mfastboot flash boot boot.img
mfastboot flash recovery recovery.img
mfastboot flash system system.img
mfastboot flash modem NON-HLOS.bin
mfastboot erase modemst1
mfastboot erase modemst2
mfastboot flash fsg fsg.mbn
mfastboot erase cache
mfastboot erase userdata
mfastboot erase customize
mfastboot erase clogo
mfastboot oem config carrier vzw
mfastboot oem fb_mode_clear


Saving draft emails whilst offline (Gmail App on Galaxy Note II) I use the Gmail app on my Note II and it works well, but I have one problem that I experienced whilst in Flight mode.  I already had a partially drafted email in my Draft box and on the flight I edited the message and 'saved' it, only to find that when I opened it again the edited version was not there, only the orginal draft, so I lost everything that I had typed.  Is there a way to modify the settings so that edits to a draft are saved locally on the device?
Thanks.

Have you tried MailChimp? I think it works even offline in iOS and Android phones.


Dismiss messages on lock screen on cyanogen When your phone is locked and you receive an update which you don't want to unlock your phone for. Is there a setting to make it possible to dismiss it without unlocking the screen? Would even be better to only make certain apps dismissable without unlocking.

using android 6.0.1 cyanogenmod 13.1.2

You can slide down when you get a type of message, press it for 2 seconds and press the info icon, and than you can disable persistent notification on lock screen.
When looking at this question(Why are some lollipop notifications able to be swiped away on lockscreen?) Doesn't seem like you can change the type of notification.


Root my Android (Motorola Moto E) What is the best method for rooting a Motorola Moto E Android running kitkat 4.4.4? I know nothing about unlocking bootloaders, so any help you could give me there would be great!

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

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

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

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

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


How to enable Google Keyboard? Following this suggestion I have disabled Google Keyboard application. My entire system has crashed and upon restart, I can't see that application in application list, so I could reenable it.

How to restore Google Keyboard, so it would start appear again in Settings > Apps > All?

All disabled apps are listed on Settings > Apps > Disabled, where you can re-enable any of it.

If for some reasons or in certain situations, Disabled tab does not appear (like in my case) and restarting device does not help, then you can open menu in Apps (three dots in right top corner) and select Reset app preferences.

After confirming all your disabled apps  become enabled again.


Taking the odd photo that is confidential and shouldn't be synced or posted anywhere I use Google Photos to backup all photos. For my camera app I use OpenCamera. On the occasion I take a picture of something confidential (for work or personal use). What is the easiest/best way to to take a picture and have it only stored locally on the phone (even better if password protected)?

I tried putting the phone in airplane mode but this doesn't work so well as I need to use the internet before I can delete the picture.

I tried turning off google photos temporarily but this is tedious and I think there's other apps that automatically get the picture, for example Facebook was asking me if I wanted to post the new picture and gave a preview.

Use Signal Messenger. It has the option to send notes to self.


Text message notification- vibration during call I am on Moto G4+ with Android N, version 7.0.

I am facing a weird issue where any incoming text message causes the phone to vibrate even when I am in the middle of a phone call.

Is there a standard first party way to turn this behaviour off? This is really annoying.

I hope this works for you.

Go to Settings > Sound and vibration > uncheck Also vibrate for call box.

If that does not work, try just disabling the vibration at all (Which is not what you seem to want)

Go to Settings > SMS > Notifications > Vibrate off


Cannot edit mixer_paths_tasha.xml on android 10 I wanted to edit mixer_paths_tasha.xml to change RX0 value from 84 to 95.
 I am currently using havoc 3.0 on oneplus 3.
Havoc os has low call volume bug which can be rectified by above changes.
But ever since I updated to android 10 I am not able to edit the above xml file.
It's location is /system/vendor/etc.
Editing using any root explorer results in error that given file cannot be moved from tmp folder to etc folder.
Please provide a way to edit the file.
It's a read only file system.
Please suggest a way to mount is at write file system

Try to copy the file mixer_gains.xml into your internal storage, edit it and copy it back with twrp recoverys file manager.


Phone "last seen" on WhatsApp after it was lost - how is that possible? I recently lost my cell phone. The following has happened:

At 6 PM I used it for the last time. I sent a WhatsApp message, and I asume I left WhatsApp open.
At 8 PM I realized the phone was gone.
Strangely enough, at 9 PM I was "last seen" on WhatsApp, according to multiple friends I have as contacts.

How can this bee, when my phone is protected with a six digit pin code? I see two possibilities:

Someone has stolen or found my phone. But how could they get past the pin code? Is it possible to bypass for someone in the business of stealing cell phones?
WhatsApp has for some reason registered me as online even though the phone has been in sleep mode (or whatever you call it when the screen is black but the phone is not turned on).

Which of these two is the more plausible? Is there a third possibility?

I found my phone again - I had just misplaced it. I can be very sure that no one touched it while it was lost. I therefore conclude that WhatsApp can indeed register you as "last seen" even though the phone is just in sleep mode.


ADB installs apps for all users. How to force it to install to main user only? I have a LineageOS 17.1 system on Pocophone F1, unrooted. When I install an apk through USB using adb, adb not run as root, the app is installed both on my main admin user and on a secondary user on my phone. How do I force adb to only install the app for my main user only?

Mention the specific user as an argument for which the package is to be installed. Example:
adb install --user UID YOUR_APK
adb shell pm install --user UID YOUR_APK    # alternative command

UID for main/primary user is always 0.
Sidenote: in case of difficulty with an adb command, simply enter adb as the sole command. It would list help section.


Run 2 commands in the same line in terminal emulator I want to execute two commands in the same line on Android terminal emulator.

  Example: the two commands svc wifi disable and `exit

I want to create a widget to disable the WLAN and out of the terminal emulator app at the same time, and in the terminal emulator app widget, I can only put one command.

If you want to execute each command only if the previous one succeeded, then combine them using the && operator:

Your code should be as follows:

svc wifi disable && exit

It will work only if your  first command successfully  execute.


Is there an easy way to to send a simple GET request from a lock screen widget? I've built a garage door opener that can be triggered by a GET request (with the appropriate password, of course), and right now it's controlled by a webpage with javascript. It's possible to use this page from my phone to open the door, but it's quite a hassle to get to my browser before I can use it. What I'm after is a home screen or lock screen widget that will send off the request with the touch of a button, or an easy way to create one. I've attempted to write android apps before, and found it all very cumbersome.

I have a Nexus 5, running the latest cm-11 nightly build.

This could be achieved with tasker: You can create a "task" performing the HTTP_GET you need, and then create a shortcut to that task on your homescreen (the same way you'd create any other shortcut there: Tasker Task shows up in the list of available shortcuts, and lets you select the task to create the shortcut for).


Cannot use keyboard in Google Chrome app Update (20/10/2014)

After a routine update of installed apps everything seems to be working as expected. I suspect that updating the LG Keyboard app (which came with the phone) did the trick.

Original

I have a rooted European LG G3 32 GB on KitKat 4.4.2. Up until a day ago I could happily browse the internet using the Google Chrome app. However now I am able to do everything but typing using the keyboard.

I can press on links, go into settings and use voice control to browse but I cannot type anything. When I press on the search bar, the keyboard shows up as usual but it is completely inresponsive. And if I keep on pressing the keyboard the app freezes. I had to press the back/home buttons over ten times to leave the app.

I have tried clearing both cache and app data, force stopping the app, reboot, uninstall updates and reinstall updates but no joy. Next I tried Chrome Beta, but it's all the same.

I have also tried the stock android browser and Dolphin, those two do work. So my issue seems to be concerning the Google browsers only.

What could I do to fix this malfunctioning?

This may have something to do with using and uninstalling a third party keyboard. Installing Google Keyboard seems to fix it.


Problem accessing Internet in 4.0 ICS For some strange reason, my Android 4.0 ICS tablet is no longer able to access the Internet.
First, via wifi, it could'n connect to two distinct networks.
Then later, I tried to connect it to home router via dhcp.  It could not.
As for wifi, the tablet gets an IP number.

I don't know how this happened, if it is a route problem or a dns problem or other.
Tried to install a terminal to check a route command, but it is not available (at least to me).
So I ask what can I do to solve this issue?  Restore original configuration?  Other?

ICS has issues on some devices with Wireless-N. My Acer A500 works properly, but my 2 Xperia phones kill my router instantly if I use the N-draft protocol.

So, try deactivating N-draft mode in your Android device or your router, then it sohuld work.


Will a Samsung Galaxy S3 4G/LTE bought in the US work or be made to work on UK 4G? I'm researching which phone to buy next and have mostly decided on a Samsung Galaxy S3.  I'm on T-Mobile in the UK, which will probably transition to everything-everywhere in short order, who are launching a 4G service.

I'd like to get the US variant of the phone because it is built with 2Gb of RAM and a 1.5GHz processor, as compared to the UK's 1Gb of RAM and a 1.4GHz processor.

I've read that the carrier frequencies for US 4G/LTE are different from the UK's.

Is that true?
If it's true, can the US variant be persuaded to work in the UK, 4G-wise?  I'm not shy of flashing custom ROMs and so forth.

(I'm assuming that it will work without issue on 3G?)

Is that true?

Yes, this is true. The USA is currently using the 700, 800 (Sprint only, I think), 1700 and 1900 MHz bands for LTE service, whereas European providers are using 800, 900, 1800, and 2600 MHz (Wikipedia).

  If it's true, can the US variant be persuaded to work in the UK, 4G-wise? I'm not shy of flashing custom ROMs and so forth.

No. The frequency limitation is not set by the software - it's the antenna. Flashing custom ROMs will not allow you to access frequencies that the antenna is physically unable to support, so there's nothing you can do short of modifying the hardware.

  I'm assuming that it will work without issue on 3G?

This could potentially depend slightly on which specific variant you want, I suppose. The AT&T one supports 850, 1900, and 2100 MHz frequencies, the T-Mobile USA one also supports 1700 on top of the other three. According to this table, T-Mobile UK uses the 2100 MHz band, so either should be compatible with their 3G service in that case.


How can I recover data from lg g4 stuck in a boot loop? My lg g4 is stuck in a boot loop. It still powers on and can charge up but my phone wont stay on for long before it shuts down and starts booting up again. I dont really care about saving the phone but i just want to get all my data from it.

Well, you can connect your mobile to your computer via ADB (Android Debug Bridge) and easily copy all your stuff to your computer.To do this, just:

Boot into recovery mode by holding the Power & Volume Up buttons on your phone. (if Volume Up doesn't work, try Volume Down and if there are other hardware keys try them too).
Now connect your mobile to your PC using a USB.(You must have the usb driver installed on your pc). Download ADB from the internet and run command prompt or terminal.
Use the command adb pull filepath+name destinationOnYourPC.
Congratulations, if you were successfully.

  For more detailed information, prefer a quick search on the internet. Even if you are new to this, you can easily learn these all by watching tutorials on YouTube. But I hope you are familiar with all this. By the way, what stuck your phone in bootloop.


App of the day Android When I click on the link in the "app of the day" to view the app offered every day it seems that before liking to the google play page it open an ads page that I am not able to view. It is right and normal?

Do I have to keep warning about it?

I use Nexus 4 with stock 4.4.4

It doesn't seem unusual to me that an app that commercially depends on tracking its users would send you to a website to track and count you, and then have that site redirect you to the real store page.

If you don't trust them not to misuse this tracking data, don't use the app.


Set up Google Play for restricted user accounts i have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4, running Android 5.0.2

I'm looking for a soluton to the following issue:

All of my family is using the tablet.
So i set up accounts for an admin, and personal accounts for me and my wife, linked to our Google email adresses.
I also set up restricted accounts for the kids. (They are not linked to any email as i remember)

Now one of the kids plays Clash of Clans. Game has been installed on the admin account, and authorization given so it can be used on the kids' restricted account.

It would be cool if the kids could use Google Play to save his game progress online.
But i'm struggling to find out how to set this up.
Currently, Google Play is installed and given access to the kid account.
From kid's account, i can launch Google Play, then launch CoC.
But the button "Google Play Sign In" in CoC does nothing. (It stays red, saying disconnected).
Seems it is still not recognized.

Do i need to have an email address for the kid?

How do i link it to the restricted account?
If this doesn't work, is there any other way i can achieve this?

Follow Following steps:-

First you have to make a gmail id for your kid.
Then open clash of clans and in settings use connect to supercell id follow this video https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D7zX0kETazA]
After connecting your kid account is connected to supercell id means id is backup online.
Now uninstall clash of clans from admin account and open your kid account and download again in that account from play store.
After install in his account just reconnect to supercell id by using newly created gmail.
They will send sign in code on Gmail open gmail app and account in which you have backup his account copy that code and enter in game.
Now all done nothing is connected to your admin account and clash of clans has ended support to Google play games.

But Still If you want to connect to Google play use following steps:-

Create a new Gmail id then.
Open clash of clans and go to settings double click on Google play button.
An menu will pop up which shows you all accounts that you have in your device.
Just select newly created gmail which is created for kid all is done.
Uninstall clash of clans and logout admin account.
Open kid account download again From store and reconnect to Google play by double tapping on Google play in game settings and select newly created gmail account.

He will got his progress back any questions are most welcome.


Is there a way (with root?) to prevent Android task killer from killing certain apps? I'd like a browser app (FireFox) not to be killed every now and then by the system's task killer since I'd like to use certain single page applications that hold some data and are not loaded very quickly. Is there any way to deal with this, even if root is required?

Some time ago, I've updated my device from a 1 GB RAM to another one, 3 GB RAM and everything went well (browser stopped to get killed at all). But after a system update in Jan 2016, things got even worse, now FireFox usually gets killed even after an alarm clock rang or I opened a camera app. This is a major issue for me so I appreciate any help about this.

PS yeap, I've tried Settings→Battery→Battery Optimization where I both added FF to exceptions (didn't help) and turned Battery Optimization at all (didn't help as well).

Tl;dr

It's possible with root, you can tweak oom_adj values to prevent apps from being killed, alternatively force the target app to stay in memory by "locking" it or change some related settings responsible for killing apps in low memory condition.

Background: Android RAM Management

  Android uses a different way of handling processes. Instead of killing
  every process after its activity ended, processes are kept until the
  system needs more memory. The idea is to give speed improvements if
  you start that activity again. But how/when does Android kill a
  process if it needs more memory and which process to kill first?

  This is managed by the LMK (Low Memory Killer) driver of Android. You
  may already know that every app/process in Android is assigned an
  oom_adj value, which indicates the likelihood of it being killed when
  an out of memory (OOM) situation occurs. More higher it's value, the
  higher likelihood of it getting killed. Valid range is -17 to +15. (if
  in the -17 range means it won't get killed). According to that, there
  are six groups (OOM groups), into which apps/processes are
  categorised:

Foreground app
Visible app
Secondary server
Hidden app
Content provider
Empty app

Basically these could be described as:

  FOREGROUND_APP:  This is the process running the current foreground
  app. We'd really  rather not kill it!

  VISIBLE_APP:  This is a process only hosting activities that are
  visible to the user, so we'd prefer they don't disappear.

  SECONDARY_SERVER: This is a process holding a secondary server --
  killing it will not have much of an impact as far as the user is
  concerned.

  HIDDEN_APP:  This is a process only hosting activities that
  are not visible, so it can be killed without any disruption.

  CONTENT_PROVIDER: This is a process with a content provider that
  does not have any clients attached to it. If it did have any clients,
  its adjustment would be the  one for the highest-priority of those
  processes.

  EMPTY_APP: This is a process without anything currently running in
  it. Definitely the first to go.

These groups are defined by oom_adj value limits, and apps would fall into one of those groups according to the oom_adj value assigned to that particular app. "Foreground apps" usually have an oom_adj value of 0 or less (so they are the least killable; i.e High priority).

"Empty apps" have a higher oom_adj (they are killed early; i.e Low priority). Also, oom_adj value changes according to the state of the user app; it's 0 when the app is active in the foreground and assigned a higher value when the app goes to the background.

  Why their "killability" differ? Apps belonging to these different
  groups (that have different oom_adj's), start to get killed at
  different levels of free RAM. These triggering RAM limits are defined
  by the LMK minfree values. Above 6 categories correspond with 6 RAM
  limits which are set in the LMK minfree. eg: Stock Android 4.3 in my
  device comes with the minfree values of 48,60,72,84,96,120. (these
  are in MB).

Practically what it means is, Empty apps will get killed when ram goes below 120mb, Content providers when it goes below 96mb, Hidden apps when it goes below 84mb and so on.. lastly starts killing Foreground apps when ram goes below 48mb. (You may notice that this last value (48mb) is not desirable when using memory intensive apps like heavy games).

NB:

In newer kernel, oom_ score _adj is used instead of old oom_adj. (oom_score_adj valid range is -1000 to 1000). But oom_adj is also maintained for perhaps compatibility.
It is said that there are many OOM process categories that are assigned different oom_adj priorities by the ActivityManagerService, but eventually all of those would be considered under above six slots/groups (according to oom_limits), for the purpose of killing by the LMK minfree triggers. Therefore, those six are the important ones for normal users.

We can check the minfree values (also change them) and see the OOM
groupings of apps/processes with this Memory Manager app easily.

Not every device has the same OOM configuration.

Improving RAM Management

Nowadays there is much user friendly implementation of RAM management mechanism with UI in system settings (such as App optimisation in Battery settings, Protected apps in some ROMS e.g Huawei’s EMUI etc) and can have the same effect as described above:

Having said that we can now explore ways in which, RAM can be utilised without killing foreground applications too often. The target areas will include:

1.Adjusting minifree values to suit one’s needs

2.Locking apps in memory to prevent them from being killed

3.Overridding the hidden app limit of android

Adjusting minifree values

You can change the minfree values with memory manager and tap apply. (Additionally there is an option “apply at boot” and tick to preserve settings across boots). Several apps can achieve this e.g Memory manager, Minfree manager etc
Alternatively use terminal/adb using pages:

#!/system/bin/sh echo “values” > /sys/module

Locking apps to stay in memory (making it resident)

a) Using App Settings (Xposed)

One simple method is used Xposed module, App settings (you need Xposed framework installed)
After installing the framework, then download the 'App Settings' module through Xposed installer.
Open App Settings and allow the applications to load, selected the target app (in this case firefox browser)
In the settings page, enable the toggle and activate editing mode, tick the “Resident” option and save. (Making apps resident, causes apps to staying memory without being killed and it is advised to use exit button in target application if it’s no longer needed otherwise it will deprive other apps memory)

b) Using memory locker

Another implementation of this concept is locking the target application in memory by controlling the system files for setting oom_adj for all running processes.

How the application works:

  Memory locker controls files in the /data directory and also controls
  sytem files in root for setting oom_adj for running processes.

  All
  locked applications are automatically locked after each reboot.   Apps
  are classified as downloaded/system apps, to unlock select target app
  and click on the lock on right side. (You can optionally set oom_adj
  priority)

Overriding the hidden app limit

In addition the low memory killing mechanism, there is another parameter that controls killing of hidden and empty apps. Apps are killed when they go beyond specified limits.
There is a build.prop setting that which can control this (default is usually a low number less than 25, and modifying this can increase this value to a much larger value like 80)
Add this line to build.prop file in /system and leave another blank line below that (be sure to make back up first)

ro.sys.fw.bg_apps_limit=80

References and Credits

Android RAM Management (Special credits: mrhnet)
Memory Locker
Xposed - General info, versions & changelog


Battery drain on Galaxy Note-I after updating to Jelly Bean I have Galaxy Note-I (N7000), and upgraded to Jelly Bean 4.1 today.

The battery drains fast. Do we expect any update from Samsung on the battery drain issue, or do I need to downgrade to ICS?

I used to own that same device and in my experience with several ROMs the best way to get a battery to not drain quickly was to switch to a AOSP rom like Slimkat/Slimsaber and to use adaptive brightness. The screen being 5"+ used to use a huge amount of battery.
The stock Samsung ROMs are good but the AOSP ROMs make it a lot better in terms of battery usage.


init.rc doesn't start my service on boot completed event I've added the following snippet to the end of /system/core/rootdir/init.rc file.

on property:dev.bootcomplete=1
    start bootcomplete_handler

service bootcomplete_handler /system/bin/bc_handler.sh
    class main
    user root
    group root
    disabled
    oneshot

And /system/bin/bc_handler.sh:

#!/system/bin/sh
echo hi > /data/hi.txt
monkey -p com.example.package 1

What I'm trying to achieve is to run an app when device boots up. That echo is just for test, as I check existence of /data/hi.txt, it won't be created when device boots up. Could someone help me? BTW, I'm using bullhead if matters.

Your service name is too long (or contains invalid characters).

  Service names can be at most 16 characters long, and can contain
  alphanumeric characters, "_", and "-".

  https://android.googlesource.com/platform/system/core/+/android-4.2.2_r1.2/init/init_parser.c#411

attribution: https://stackoverflow.com/a/33088141/1841194


Hide secondary account in Android Market I have a problem with my android phone: I have two Gmail accounts.
The first on is my main account, with everything synchronized on my Android phone (mails, contacts, calendar, apps, ...). The other account is only for emails, and as such I've set it up to ONLY synchronize the mails (and only the mails!), BUT this address shows up in the Android Market app nevertheless. To make matters worse, this secondary address seems to be always chosen by default when I launch the Market app, and I also receive notifications for some apps.

So my question is this: Is it possible to only have the main account showing in the Market app, while still having mail synchronization enabled for other accounts?

Thank you very much

You can remove the account that it "defaults" to and try to re-add the account. I think there is some type of bug in the newer version of the market because I have the same issue from time to time. it is not the "default" account, and I have like 8 accounts on the device (all google accounts) but it always wants to use this one.

I found that it "fixes", but usually only temporarily, if I go in to the Application Settings and clear the data for the market app.


How can I diagnose if my it's my phone that has a problem with wifi? I have a Galaxy Note 4 - and I've been having trouble recently with the Wifi frequently disconnecting.

What I would like to do is diagnose whether this issue is specific to my phone, before I send it back for servicing.

Do you have any suggestions how I could conclusively test this?

I recommend connecting the phone to a different wifi network. The easiest way is to take it to the home of someone you know who has a well-functioning wifi, and log in. If a connection's successful, stay with it for a while. Use your phone in the same way as you have been, and if everything works as it should, your wifi is likely the source of the problem.

Another option is to test your network using a different phone or other device. You should log your phone out first, to get it out of the equation. If no problems occur with that device, your phone probably needs service.

There are also public places, like restaurants, that have free wifi. You can test your phone in that type of setting. It would be my last choice, though, because large public networks tend to have problems of their own.


How can I update to Android 4.4 manually? I have Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1' with Android version 4.1.2. Is it possible to manually to update to Android 4.4, and if yes how?

It is not currently possible for non Nexus devices. For this you will have to wait until Samsung release a version of Android KitKat for your device or until a developer release a ROM based on Android 4.4 for your tablet (CyanogenMod for example).


Is there a way to lower GPU load from Ice Cream Sandwich? I have seen some mentions (including here on Android SE) that Ice Cream Sandwich may not necessarily run optimally (e.g. will be slow/lag) on devices with slower/older GPUs.

I assume that's due to GUI elements in the 4.0 being more graphics intensive, same way Windows XP had more graphics intensive GUI as well as Vista/Windows 7 had Aero.

However, on Windows, you always had an option to explicitly downgrade the OS's graphics effects, to improve performance (especially on older hardware) - e.g. you could turn off various GUI element transitions - see screenshot below. As far as I know, you can also turn off Aero on Windows Vista/7 (though I don't use them so not certain).

QUESTION: Is it possible to similarly tune Ice Cream Sandwich to downgrade GUI graphics frills to improve performance on older GPUs?

I'm only interested in regular OS/app performance, NOT game graphics performance.

I'm not sure if it's part of a truly vanilla ICS build (though I think it may be), but the early CM9 and vanilla ICS builds I've played with all have a "Developer Options" entry in the main system settings. This contains several options which relate to overall graphics effects such as:

Window animation scale: can be set to "off" to disable window animations
Transition animation scale: can also be set to "off"
Force GPU rendering: apparently tries to force GPU rendering of 2D textures/effects. May improve performance according to some (this generally caused my EVO to overheat, though)

It also has an option named "Background process limit". Setting a lower number should help improve performance overall, in theory.


how to get option as install zip from sdcard in recovery system? In recovery system there are many  option as
apply update from sdcard
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache partition
backup and restore

but I cant find install zip from sdcard for installing zip file.

Recovery is of two types:
a. Stock recovery
b. Custom recovery

Stock recovery is the one that comes inbuilt in the phone (which you are using now)..
The "Apply Update" option in stock recovery is same as "Install Zip", except that you can install only official updates using stock recovery.

To install some other ROMs (OS) or for some other things like rooting (by flashing SuperSu or whatever), you have to first flash (install) a custom recovery.
The custom recovery can have the option you said: "Install Zip"


Vertical scrol lag in Motorola DEFY I'm planning to buy the Motorola DEFY. I tried it out a demo piece at a store .... It seems to have a vertical scrolling screen with icons as well as a set of horizontal scrolling home screens. While the horizontal scrolling seems snappy, the vertical scrolling seems laggy. As I install more apps, will the vertical scroll lag increase further. What's the point of having both those screens anyways ?

I just bought the phone yesterday after reading a lot about it. My phone doesn't have any lag in the app launcher(the screen with the shortcuts for the installed applications, vertical scroll) and has about 50 shortcuts and it's quite responsive.


Trusting the manufacturer like Google Play I just purchased a Toshiba Excite 10.  I was surprised when I attempted to update manufacturer-bundled software and found that I couldn't because it wasn't installing through Google Play.

Is there a way to make my tablet understand that an app downloaded or upgraded through my OEM is just as safe as something downloaded through Google?

You should go to Settings -> Security and check the option: Unknown Sources (or something like that). then your tablet would allow you to install apps from everywhere.


Determining support for Bluetooth Low Energy I'm doing a feasibility study into Android tablets for commercial applications. I have a product that requires a Bluetooth Low Energy connection.

I have a Nexus 7 tablet which is supposed to support BLE but I haven't found much information about it. Is there a way to check whether the tablet has BLE and if it's enabled or not?

As of now, the checking for BLE support has to be done manually by studying specifications and searching on Google (as far as I know).

See this question on Stackoverflow: Bluetooth Smart (4.0) / GATT support in Android 4.0?

It states that Android does not support Bluetooth 4.0 (LE) out of the box up to Android-4.0 (maybe with Jelly Bean 4.1 onwards, the Nexus 7 tab suggests that). Manufacturers have to add their own API to allow access to BT LE (e.g. this app is limited to Motorola). That's why your mileage may vary with different phones up to 4.0. Casio's Bluetooth LE enabled watch is also an example of limited (official) compatibility (not even the iPhone 4S is mentioned, by the way).

My best guess is that with more devices having 4.1 the issue will solve by itself and you can find apps showing it.

Here are lists by manufacturers:

Motorola
HTC: good listing not found yet
Google: Galaxy Nexus (not with 4.0), Nexus 7 Tab


Using the Google Voice app to place calls when "ask me" and "always use GV" are disabled I have the Google Voice app on my Android phone, and I'd like to occasionally make calls from it, but I don't want to enable the "Ask me every time whether to use Google Voice" option, as 90% of my calls would be from my cell phone's number.

Given that I have the "never use google voice" option enabled, is there a option buried somewhere that I can use to place a call to someone without having to re-enable the "ask me every time" setting?

There are a few options available, depending on what your needs are exactly.

Option 1 - Manually route specific calls through google voice

Before I had a smartphone, this was how I routed all my calls. Basically, for every contact, I stored their regular number as well as a Google Voice number. The GV number was my own GV number, followed by a wait, then a 2, another wait, and finally followed by the contact's number and a pound key. In effect, I made a macro.

Ex ( My #: 1234567890, Bob's number: 19876543210):
Contact: Bob
Primary: 19876543210
Secondary: 1234567890W2W19876543210#

If you only have a few contacts that you wish to call via your Google Voice number, this option is very simple. It does add some extra time to call them, as your phone doesn't connect directly to your contact, but rather connects to Google Voice, then "manually" dials the contact's number.

Note that you must have certain settings set up in Google Voice (the website, not the app) so that when you call your own number, you get the Google Voice menu system instead of leaving yourself a message. Also, if you require a PIN for your specific phone, you'll have to modify the setting, or add a PIN to the macro dial string.

FYI, this was how I got unlimited (outgoing) minutes as well. Since I could choose up 5 numbers to dial without using minutes, I simply chose my own Google Voice number as one of the five. Since all my calls went through GV, my carrier  simply saw me dialing the same number all the time.

Option 2 - Add a widget to simplify Google Voice

The Google Voice app has several widgets, and one of them is a 1x1 icon that rotates between the 4 calling options: Always use Google Voice,Only for International Calls,Ask Everytime, and Never use Google Voice.

This is the option I used to prefer, and I have actually used this in the past. It is very useful to quickly switch phone numbers, and you don't need to go through the hassle of opening the Google Voice app and finding the specific setting. Just click the widget until it is on the setting you want, and call from there.

Option 3 - Use Titanium Backup Pro to make a separate profile

With the paid version of Titanium Backup, you can create multiple profiles for apps, essentially giving you the ability to have multiple users. This is the option I use currently, as it reduces the number of clicks I need, and it allows me to have multiple profiles on a specific set of apps I want (such as games, lists, and Google Voice). I can switch from my Normal profile to my Guest profile (for example) so that I can hand off my phone to a family member to play games without messing up my own progress.

Set up a second profile that has Google Voice on for all calls, and make your primary profile never ask. When you want to use google voice, just switch profiles.

There are other apps that let you do multiple profiles, and I know some of them are free if you only want a total of 2 profiles.


How can i transfer my whatsapp chat history to my new phone? I am using whatsapp on Samsung ace. Now I want to use whatsapp in my new HTC one. How can I transfer my my all chat histories from old phone to new phone?

Open WhatsApp
Press menu button
Press settings
Press Chat settings
Press Backup conversations
Close WhatsApp
Connect phone to computer
Open Explorer and navigate to your phone's internal memory
Find WhatsApp folder, copy it
Paste to your computer
Disconnect old phone, connect new phone to your computer
Copy WhatsApp folder from your computer
Paste WhatsApp folder to your internal memory of your new phone
Install WhatsApp on your new phone
Follow the instructions in WhatsApp
After registring your phone number WhatsApp should recognize your WhatsApp backup and automatically import your old conversations, contacts and media


How to root Vodafone 858 (froyo) / Huawei u8160 I have a Vodafone 858 smart phone running Froyo (Android 2.2). Manufacturer is Huawei (u8160). How can I root this device?

Apparently the recommended tool would be SuperOneClick. It seems that this is malware infested though. Apparently most sites took down their downloads, so maybe it is indeed bad.  I tried to find another tool and found this:
http://www.kingoapp.com/android-root.htm

I tested it with an online scanner and it got 6 hits out of 65, so use at your own risk. However I tried to find information about it and it seems to be ok and the alarams are claimed to be false positives. I used it successfully to root my VF 858, so it works. However if somebody finds out that this is indeed infested with malware then remove this answer or drop a note.

Usage is pretty simple as you just have to connect your device, enable USB debugging and then press the buttons in the Wizard.


Synchronize the contact's default phone number I've upgraded my HTC Desire to a Galaxy S. In the HTC, I had a default phone number for each contact (typically, the mobile number).

After linking the new device with my Google accounts, the default settings are gone, and I have to redefine them manually in my Galaxy contacts.

Is there a way to sync the default number attribute with my Google Account, so that they will be copied from one phone to another?

I believe if I understand your question, the linking between your Google account  happens automatically (as it should) when you log into your Google account on your handset, and your contacts all synchronize. However it sounds like some of the merging of duplicates, and what number is the "default" number get lost? For this I would definitely recommend the Gmail application online.  All you need is to login from a computer and select "contacts". Then just go under "more actions" and do "find and merge duplicates" That should give you just one contact per person. This is your best option if you have lots of contacts, some are duplicates, or other information not entered or organized correctly. It can be quite time consuming and tedious to do editing from the handset. If this is not what you are asking, you may have to rephrase the question slightly.

When you say "sync the default number" that is rather ambiguous sentence. For example, I log into Gmail, click contacts, and then select one of my friends. There it shows me the numbers stored on my phone (in the Google cloud). If I were to change the numbers shown, that change would be reflected when I grabbed the handset next. Are you looking to make one number the default number for that person? And have it do so automatically?

Edit: After doing a little more research, it looks like this question was addressed here at the Google forums. The last comment in the list (by ratgurrl) mentions exactly this frustration. And despite what you do on the phone, when you resynchronize you lose the preference settings you put in the handset, and the 'DEFAULT' will revert to whichever contact number is at the top of the list on that contact in Gmail. So the REAL answer until Google addresses this: log into Gmail, and move the one you want as the "default" contact to the top of the list.


How do I change the naming scheme of Silent Camera to human readable form? I have very good reasons not to want the shutter sound when taking photos. I have two camera apps that both have it, one came with the system and is called Camera. I deleted the other one, so I will call it xCamera from now on.

I therefore downloaded Silent Camera, which I found out about in an answer to some question over here. Its naming scheme simply makes no sense. Now Camera used to name photos by a yyyy-mm-dd-hh-mm-ss.jpg scheme, where:

yyyy is 4 digits representing the year the photo was taken,
mm is 2 digits for the months,
dd for the day,
hh for hour (24h clock IIRC),
mm for minute, and
ss for second.

xCamera had mostly the same scheme, without the dashes. Silent Camera has names like 1438263708113.jpg, which really seems just like a random sequence of numbers.

Now I sometimes need the date and, especially, the time a photo was taken for my own good reasons. You will probably say, "Well the computer can tell you that, it remembers the Date Modified and similar info, right?". Yes. Trouble is, Android File Transfer is somewhat buggy, and sometimes (in a pretty erratic manner) suddenly stops letting me drag-and-drop files to the Finder, i.e. as I drag the files, the AFT window comes along, which of course prevents copying.

Also, moving files between directories of the phone is almost always impossible. That is another story, but the first point - problems copying - leads me to AirDroid. Unfortunately, this leads to losing the date-and-time info, which is sometimes pretty valuable to me. So I either lose that info or rename all photos to include the name Camera would give the photo, were it to take that photo.

Bottom line is: is there a way to change the naming scheme of Silent Camera? And if so, what is it?

Note: I really don't want to root my phone

This solution is independent of any Camera app, and is tested on CM12 (Lollipop 5.0.2) and should work on other Lollipop ROMs as well.

While it seems that the question is about changing the naming scheme of Silent Camera app, the actual goal is to use an app that is free from shutter sounds. OP seems to have found an another app (see this answer) to suit the needs. But I would like to give a solution which would enable you to use any choice of Camera app(s), irrespective of whether it silences shutter sound!

Needed: A rooted device, and Tasker. Scroll to bottom for non-rooted devices.

All I'm going to do is activate Zen mode aka Do not Disturb mode which would kill  Notification volume, and Ring volume. Don't worry! This mode would automatically switch to user defined sound settings as soon as you switch from Camera app to any other app (including your Launcher app).

Instructions

Create a task in Tasker named Camera.
Create an action in it as Code → Run Shell, and fill these details:

Command: settings get global zen_mode
Check Use Root
Store Output In: %Zen_mode

We're storing the current value of Zen Mode (be it None or Priority or All) in a variable named  %Zen_mode so that we can recall our sound settings when we close the Camera app.
Create an another action in it as Code → Run Shell, and fill these details:

Command: settings put global zen_mode 2
Check Use Root

This would change Zen Mode from the current setting to  None i.e. no Ring or Notification sound, or vibration would disturb.
Create an another task named No_Camera.
Create an action in it as Code → Run Shell, and fill these details:

Command: settings put global zen_mode $(echo "%Zen_mode")
Check Use Root

This would enable the sound settings you had before launching the Camera app.
Create a profile with Application context, and choose your Camera app.
Select the task Camera in it.
Create an another profile with Application context,  choose the Camera app you chose in step 6, and tap Invert at the bottom.
Select the task No_Camera in it.
Enable Tasker if disabled.

Now, launch your Camera app that you chose in the aforesaid step 6, and you would find that it is not making shutter sounds at all. Close the app, and you would  see that your sound settings returned back immediately.

I've successfully tested this solution on default Camera app, Google Camera, and Camera FV-5. All tested individually as well as in group.

For Non-rooted devices

You can bypass the need of root permissions (if you barely reboot your device) by running loop-back adb  in wireless mode. See step 2 in Instructions here to understand the loop-back ADB usage, and then use it with the aforementioned steps.


Cant root my Samsung Galaxy tab A again I rooted my phone with king root. Everything was working perfectly,  until one day I felt like I should make my phone new so I went to factory to reset the phone, at that time I didn't know anything about root, but I rooted it because I used it to play games to get good graphics.
After reseting it stucked at boot. Then I sent it to a shop for repair, the repairer told me he had to upgrade to higher android before it will work. It was 5.0.1 then he upgraded it to 6.0.1 but now I want to root my tablet again and it won't root. Have tried like 50 times using kingroot and kinggo root but it won't root.
Please I need help

Kingo root??? not a good try you can use pc and there are so many other tools that can surely root any android

either way you can flash twrp or cwm recovery with adb
adb command you can use:-

"fastboot flash recovery path-to-the-recovery-file"

and then by using twrp or cwm you can flash SuperSU.zip


Viber notification doesn't disappear I use Viber on Android and when it is in the background, it shows a notification in the notification bar when I get a message.
However, sometimes when I click that message and it opens Viber, the notification stays there no matter that I'm actually reading it.

If I go to the message list, it shows unread messages, no matter I just read it.
If I dismiss the message, it'll get back in a few minutes as it detects it is not yet read.

You can see here the notification is there and the message is already read:

What should I set to make it show the notifications properly?

This happened to me in my VIBER FOR DESKTOP (Windows).
(In my case the problem was caused by an unread CALL on viber; but I couldn't find it!!!)
This is how I located and solved the problem:
1.  I clicked on the conversations tab.
2.  Then clicked on the small triangle that appears in the corner
3.  I chose from the options:
    "Unread messages on top"
4.  Voila!!! The conversation came at the top, I clicked on it and the 'unread message' disappeared!


How do I change Android screen orientation via simulating acceleration? I have developed an app and I need to test it. I have borrowed some devices from my friends and bought a few. Now problem is that I want to test it in both landscape mode and portrait mode but I don't want to  keep on changing the orientation of phones every 5 minutes manually by myself.

Is there any adb command or anything else by which I can tell the phone to change its orientation? Can I fool it by simulating acceleration or any other alternative?

I am open to rooting but I prefer any solution which works on non-rooted phones.

I don't think you can do it via adb, but you can programmatically change the orientation using.setRequestedOrientation(ActivityInfo.SCREEN_ORIENTATION_LANDSCAPE);

You could link this up to a timer that would change the orientation every five minutes if that's what you want to do, or write it into unit tests to automatically check if everything goes ok when you change orientation.


Install apps to sd card by default How can I do this? I'm using a Samsung Galaxy Ace

I've tried this method http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1278349
I confirmed that it was indeed set to 2. But it wouldnt work.

Then I rooted my phone, installed an app with which I could modify the default installation path, but it also wouldnt work.

What can I do?

With 2.3, it will install apps by default to the external SD card.  However, this will only happen if the app can run from the SD card.  Many apps must be installed onto the internal storage in order to work properly.


Forgot the Pattern lock pattern in lollipop. How di i reset it? I locked my mobile with pattern lock. I forgot the pattern. In lollipop there is no option "Forget Pattern". I used Android Device Manager to lock my mobile. It Locked. But I does not ask for the password. The Mobile Screen is like bellow. How to Reset it?

The first and easiest way is resetting that Tushar's answer is about. I'm afraid there is no physical offline way to bypass the lock.

Although, there are apps that have access to the lock screen and can actually bypass it.

For example Samsung's Knox and Google device manager (Read a howto here), but they have prerequisites. You need to sync your device with them. If you have, be happy. If you have not, I can think of other ways.


how can i transfer downloaded music from the sd card to the internal storage The music I download gets stored into my SD card. How do I get it to store into my phone's internal storage?

You should be able to move files with the built in file manager.  On my Samsung S3 phone, it's called "My Files" and looks like a file folder.  The manager has options to copy from SD card to device memory.  If you don't have a default file manager, you can get one (eg. ES File Explorer) from the play store.


Are there any devices that are like an iPod Touch, but run Android? A lot of people like iPod Touches because they're almost identical to iPhones, but without cell service (and the monthly fees that go along with it), while still being able to connect to a wireless network. Are there any alternative devices that run Android?

Bonus points if it has at least 24 GB of storage.

Nothing of quality yet (at least IMO).  Archos has just announced a new product line of Android tablets and smaller devices.  Also Samsung has announced the Galaxy tablet (http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20015395-1.html) that looks impressive.

I think you'll have a ton of options around the Christmas shopping season.. Keep an eye on Engadget, not a day goes by they're not showing another "leaked" Android tablet.

ETA:
here's a link to the Archos 101 tablet.. Looks pretty impressive:
http://www.archos.com/products/ta/archos_101it/index.html?country=us&lang=en


Disabling smiley key on keyboards with the stock messaging app in ICS I'm using a custom ROM for ICS on my Samsung Galaxy S.

I like being able to create a new line in a text message, but the 'enter' key on all keyboards I use (though primarily Swype) is replaced with a 'smiley' key.

Is there any way to change this behaviour? Some research shows me it's to do with the field type used in the messaging app. Can the MMS.apk package be modified to use a different field type, or is it possible to modify Swype so that the 'enter' key is used instead?

I'm aware that I could use a 3rd party messaging app, but I like the stock app. I know some people are happy to send multiple messages in bursts rather than a long message with new lines but I'd find that annoying to receive and I don't want to annoy people I text.

Ok, so after looking into this a bit more I managed to get somewhere.

I pulled the Mms.apk file from /system/app and decompiled it with APK Multi-Tool. Then I started editing the file /res/layout/compose_message_activity.xml.

It has an  tag towards the bottom of the file. I removed textShortMessage from android:inputType on this line. This means:

android:inputType="textCapSentences|textAutoCorrect|textMultiLine|textShortMessage"

becomes

android:inputType="textCapSentences|textAutoCorrect|textMultiLine"

This worked for me in that the smiley key is replaced with the enter key after recompiling, signing and pushing back to my phone. My problem is that the enter key sends the message rather than inserting a new line.

After more Googling I came across this thread on XDA. This Mms.apk works exactly how I want it to - no smiley key and the enter key adds a new line. It's also black themed which I prefer for my screen.

I decompiled the newly found black Mms.apk file from XDA to try and find what they guy did to make the enter button actually add a new line, but I can't see what's different.

I'd still like to know how to do this if anybody knows - this was my first time playing with a decompiled APK so I don't really know what I'm doing. For now though I'm quite happy with my new black themed Mms.apk app.


Can a device turn on by itself Can a device turn on by itself without any buttons being pressed? Assume there aren't any custom ROMs

Yes.

Even stock ROMs have a feature named Scheduled Power-On.

Phones have a built-in battery to allow RTC (real time clock) to run while the device is powered off, and it's the base that scheduled power-on is designed.

Here's Settings -> Advanced -> Scheduled Power On/Off on my phone (OnePlus 5, Stock 7.1.1)

(click image to enlarge)


How to Change Os from Nokia Lumia 710 with WP 7.5 to Any Os Android Need Help to Change My Os from Windows Phone in nokia 710 to Any Android Os

Whilst many phones such as the Nexus series work just like a PC and you can install multiple operating systems on them (Android / CyanogenMod / Ubuntu / Mer and so on), unfortunately the phone you have been sold is limited.

Microsoft deliberately blocks you from controlling the phone you paid for to make sure they can get even more money from you after you have already paid for the phone.  They use a special security techniques which stop other systems from running on their phones and ensure that you only get software via their market place even if you would like to do something different.  This basically means that you don't really own your phone, more sort of lease it from them.

Unfortunately they normally don't warn anyone about this when selling the phone.

Your best hope is to return your Windows phone to the shop and complain that you weren't warned Android wouldn't work on it at the time you bought it or that you didn't understand that that would block you from using Android applications.  Since may people have this problem any reputable shop will accept the return although if you have waited a long time this might be a problem.

Then use the money you get back to buy a phone which is more open.  A good place to start is the list of officially supported devices on the CyanogenMod page (http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Devices) or almost anything called "Nexus".


Contacts on Android: Delete limit exceeded A few days ago I deleted all of my Android contacts (using the "Delete Contacts" app). Not a mistake, I really want to delete them.

From that day, Android always shows a notification "Sync: Too many contacts deletes".
When I click on it, a menu comes:

Delete limit exceeded
There are 3960 deleted items for contacts, account xxx.xxx@gmail.com. What would you like to do?
- Delete the items.
- Undo the deletes.
- Do nothing for now.

When I click Delete the items, the menu disappears, and nothing seems to happen. The contacts are gone but the notification still sits there. It has been like this for days. What should I do?

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


rooting Smart Tv (Skyworth e69 6369) I got a Skyworth e69 6369 smart tv.
kernel 3.1.10
android 4.2.1
model full aosp on skyworth 6369
cpu arm cortex a9 dual core
other specs http://specdevice.com/showspec.php?id=de85-dcab-0033-c5870033c587

It does not come with any data cable. It has 4 usb ports though I don't think I can use any for rooting.

I have tried several no pc solutions like framaroot 1.9.3, kingroot 3.4.1.157, poot, romastersu 2.0.3_140926_100, vroot 4.3, z4root 1.3.0 etc but not successful.

What is the best way to root this if any? Or is this sadly unrootable?

Thanks for any suggestion.

After a long time trying I managed to finally root it

In summary, I think these are the steps to make it work:

Try to root with rootmaster. Check if it gives you root. If it does- check if it persists on reboot. If it does not do 2 and 3.
Try to root again with rootmaster then delete /system/app/kinguser, /system/app/superuser.apk, and /system/app/Superuser.apk (using a terminal)
Install SuperSu

Only thing missing from this smart TV that I want it to have is Google Play Store. I really cannot make it work. I also don't have YouTube because of this.


how to reinstall google play back onto my mobile How can i get the play store to work on my samsung galaxy ace it has changed to market. I have tried to download  it from the web but still will not work

Assuming you are rooted, installed a custom ROM and/or have a custom recovery, you can re-install "Google Apps" by flashing a GAPPS zip file.

The following website has ZIP files that you can flash in your recovery for most (or all) Android versions. https://basketbuild.com/gapps


How do I get Google Now's Package Tracking to Work? In Google Search settings -> Google Now, I have "Show cards based on Gmail" checked. "Packages" is on, and the description says "when an order confirmation email is delivered for an online purchase"

Since turning that on, I've used mutt's bounce feature to deliver two Amazon shipping notices to my gmail account. The email notifications showed up on my phone, but (even a day later) I still haven't been able to get the Google Now package tracking card to show.

How do I get it to work?

Here's the message in gmail:

Update

I'm now on Android 4.2, and (after the 4.2 upgrade) received an email from the Google Play store with a tracking number this morning. Still no delivery status card from Google Now. Will check the Amazon soon again, too (once they ship me something).

Nexus 10

I've got a Nexus 10 as well now (also running Android 4.2, stock, not even rooted), and package tracking also doesn't seem to work there, either.

To use those new feature when informations are being pulled from gmail you are going to need the new gmail app there is a flashable zip on xda-developers but its reporting to break some stuff so your best bet is to wait a week or so to get the Jellybean update from google.


How can I know the directories used by an application I've been testing some dictionaries the last few days and right now I've my SDCard with plenty of directories with many MB of data that belongs to those dictionaries.
How can I find out for a particular application (may be other than a dictionary) the list of directories it's using?

You can't, unless the particular app provides a way.  The Android OS doesn't manage or keep track of where apps decide to write on the SD card.


Phone Storage Problems I am having an issue where I have no free space. I have deleted a few apps and removed cache from all and it gives me some free space. I then go to delete to a text message from microsoft and I cannot get to the menu to delete it and messages crash and I then have no free space again.

Anyone know how to fix this issue? Is the message causing the lack of space problem or is the lack of space causing the message app to crash?

Thanks
HenGreer

You're probably having a problem using your device because of lack of internal space for running programs.  You can use a very low level, low resource on the Android to remove programs.  Install the Android SDK package and use it to uninstall some of your apps to regain internal memory.  You can even use it to back up the apps on your computer so that after you have your android working again you can choose which ones to put back.

A good GUI program for managing your apps and deleting files from your android is Airdroid.  However, you might not be able to install Airdrod until you've made space using the Android SDK package.

You can start out with these commands:
(You'll have to activate Debugging from the settings menu in the android to use this option)
This give a list of all the packages:

$ adb shell pm list packages

You can remove an app by running:

$ adb uninstall [apt-name]

You can use the "-k" option to retain your data/cache in case you will be reinstalling the app after you have gotten your android functioning.

You can us this command to see how much memory you have.  This will allow you to know when you have retrieve sufficient memory to operate normally.  It'll also allow you to identify better, if the memory is really your issue.

$ adb shell cat /proc/meminfo

You can look at Is it possible to backup apk from an installed application? for more tips on using the adb command.


How to disable stock lock screen I have LG G4 and I am using Picturesque Lock Screen in place of default Lock Screen. After the last update of Microsoft lock screen things have changed. I have both the lock screens are enabled by default i.e. stock LG one and the Micrsoft one. How would I disable the stock lock screen. I can do anything because I have root access. Thanks.

Did you tried to disable Microsoft lockscreen in settings>apps  ..?
If you after that again get two lockscreens, than go to settings>security>lockscreen and set lockscreen security to 'none'.


IP Address changes when using SSHDroid I want to transfer files wirelessly between my android phone and Linux computer (XUbuntu 18.04).  It works when I use SSHDroid as an SSH server on my phone and connect to it with sshfs to mount the phone's files as a disk on my computer.  But in order to create a script to regularly mount my phone as a disk, I have to enter the IP address of the phone in the options to sshfs.  The problem is that the IP address of my phone changes sometimes, so I have to keep changing the command to mount it every time.

Can I keep the IP address of my phone the same?  Or are there any other ideas to work around this problem?  I don't want to store my files in the cloud, I just want to sync them between my phone and computer.

Two of the easy possible solutions:

Configure your wireless router's dhcp server to assign static IP to your phone (provide MAC address).
If you don't need internet connection when syncing data, create hotspot on phone and connect Linux machine to this access point. Phone will act as a router and will have a fixed IP (usually 192.168.43.1).

Related: Static IP Configuration


Android 9: OpenVPN Per App First: this question is not a duplicate of:

This question: I don't want to use SOCKS, and I am not asking about Lollipop.
This question: No answer, and different use case
This question: I don't have time to develop my own application.

My goal: to find a way to force all internet traffic (including cellular ie LTE) into my OpenVPN server, except for apps on a whitelist. Whitelisted apps either connect to a second VPN or SOCKS proxy (option preferred), or not be connected to a tunnel at all (a "normal" connection).

For example, try out the ProtonVPN application (which, by the way, I recommend). There is an option to whitelist apps from the VPN. This is what I want, but for my own server.

Root is definitely not preferred, but if it's the only option, then I guess I'll accept it. Multiple profiles are also not preferred, but if it allows some apps to be over VPN and others not, then I will also accept that (but I would like system apps to be blocked in that case).

Thank you.

How about "OpenVPN for Android" made by schwabe.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.blinkt.openvpn
https://github.com/schwabe/ics-openvpn

It has per app connection setting by whitelist or blacklist, though it doesn't support second VPN or SOCKS proxy for the excepted apps.


Inexplicable lack of internal storage on Asus TF701T tablet I own an Asus tablet, model TF701T 32GB internal memory. The tablet is rooted and contains the last snapshot build of Cyanogenmod 11 (Android 4.4.4). The tablet works well without any issues except the free space in internal memory.

The problem is that there is only 600MB of free space as shown in the screenshot but the summed space of all items is much less than 32GB.

Note that the ratio of available storage (Beschikbaar) is weird. The gray bar is longer than the green bar while green means 8,79GB and gray 603MB only.

Things that I tried already:

Cleaning the tablet by using Clean Master Phone Boost
Booting in recovery mode and wipe cache and dalvik cache
Using root explorer to show properties of the content of the internal storage and the app displayed approximately 9GB of total content.

I installed pretty much games on the tablet that can explain 8,79GB of apps and its data and some megabytes of pictures on the tablet but what will eat up the other 16GB memory? Last week my free space was 5GB and without installing any new apps it dropped down to 603MB now.

Does anybody know how to find why this 16GB of memory is lost and how to empty this memory?

I scanned my internal storage with the app DiskUsage and the result is:

I found the solution. The directory /data/gps/log/ contained 16GB of log files and I could delete all of this files by using root explorer. I didn't delete the folder but empty the folder.


How to close Android recovery mode I want to wipe cache partition on android recovery mode. But I dont know how to close it. In my phone the screen is seems like this photo

After eipe cache partition what should I type to turn it off and go to my home screen


my Xperia l not starting I tried to install a custom rom on my Xperia L,but it aborted.
Now my handset isn't booting up, when powered on it just shows SONY logo.
What should I do now ?

Try to flash the custom ROM again, starting with flashing the boot partition from fastboot. Before doing that re-download the whole ROM and if you can, check it for defects. The fact that the phone draws the SONY logo proves that the bootloader is still working, so you should be able to do this. Pulling out the battery and powering up the phone while keeping the volume up key pressed will put the phone in fastboot mode (the blue LED will light up), from which you can continue.


Factory reset (Software repair) Sony Xperia XCompact (and all other Xperia smartphones) that have software issues like a boot loop I'd like to share how you can reset your Xperia even if it doesn't boot (start) anymore! It not only helps to break a boot loop, it also helps to unlock the phone if you forgot your smartphone lock credentials. Of course, your data on the phone will be erased.

I will answer my question right away which is allowed by stack exchange rules (at least it used to be)

Sony has gotten really good with their software suppport for their Xperia line up. Their software actually works to get bricked phones alive again.

The method I describe below doesn't require an unlocked bootloader and doesn't unlock it as well. Which is a good thing since you keep your warranty and you won't loose DRM rights that are for example used for the noise reduction software of your Xperia camera.

Your phone should be charged at least 80%.
Keep your smartphone turned off and disconnected until I say so! Otherwise it won't work.
Get the Xperia Companion: https://support.sonymobile.com/de/xperia-companion/

Now you can connect your smartphone to your computer while pressing volume down:


Need to recover data from SD card as used Android Internal storage from PC I had an SD card as internal storage in my Android, reset my phone to factory. SD card would no work in that device. I am no longer able to use that device because the screen is smashed anyhow. How can I recover the data from the SD card? I tried to reformat on my laptop but the disk is write protected.

This is very device dependent.
The first option you should try when recovering your data from the external SD Card is to REMOVE the card, Place it into an adapter & put it into a computer.

Try to access the data that way,
From my personal experience a research on Android, I can not find any reference to the SD Card being encrypted as the comments suggest in your question.

Samsung device's do have SD Card encryption by default, However this is not say an " Android " thing to be expected, usually you need to manually encrypt your SD Card.

The SD Card is however Formatted in Fat32 or just Fat, and it usually has a Linux partition for speeding up transfers.

You need to place the card into a computer and use a data recovery software... Because I'm on Windows 10, I suggest Recuva by Piriform because it has a decent home version.

Another option to try if you do have encrypted data is to do a recovery anyway.. Often not all data is encrypted, only necessary data to read the drive is encrypted.


Which apps are affected by the SYNC icon in Power Control Bar? I can turn sync on/off in the Power Control bar. Which applications actually use this sync setting? Is that only Google-based products (calendar, contacts, gmail) or does it also influence apps like IMAP email, Evernote, etc?

I think you mean the Auto-sync. Go to "Settings -> Accounts & sync". You will find which apps are using the sync function under Manage accounts. Only the apps in the list will be influenced.


What is the .android_secure Folder? On my currently working Android 4.4 phone, much of my apps and data is on a MicroSDHC card and I am trying to find what to preserve and port to a new phone. As I am trying to move from an old phone to a new one and had not anticipating significant changes in behavior, I am rather confused on how to proceed and am entirely unprepared.

When reading the MicroSDHC card outside of the phone via a dedicated card reader there is a folder called .android_secure with 18 files all with .asec extension. What are those files? And can they be used somehow to help migrate to a new Android 7.0 phone?

Note that when mounting the phone, all the folders in the MicroSDHC card appear except for that one, so you have to read the card externally to see it.

This is about the concept of the folder which you can only figure out that it is for applications if you know already the answer.

android_secure folder contains those apps which you have moved to external SD. Files inside them would have .asec extension
Android 6.0 upwards don't allow you to move apps to external SD as you have been doing. They use adoptable-storage wherein the external SD card and internal storage are merged to create a bigger storage. You can read more in adoptable-storage tag wiki. This folder is of no use to you in migrating , since the concept is different ( best is to restore all apps to internal storage before attempting backup )
Coming to the migration of apps and data,

If your device is not rooted, it is not easy or guaranteed to work since you are jumping across two versions ( this could be a separate question )
If your device is rooted , titanium-backup or nandroid backup would help


How to get contact from stolen Android phone? I already read Recover contacts and images from stolen phone. And that answer did not work for me. I have explained it on the question.

My android phone was stolen. I need to get all contact of my phone. I had enable sync in that phone.

When I visit https://contacts.google.com/, it has only a very few contacts (seems like below 10% and all them has an email too). How can I get all contacts?

If you are seeing only few contacts its mean Mobile contacts were not fully sync with Google account.

Possibilities :

if he/she hard reset your phone already , there is no chance for
recovering   or retrieving contacts.
if he/she is near any known WiFi network for phone , Phone will get
connected with WiFi automatically and will get sync if sync is
enabled in phone.
Report police and try to get phone back and sync it manually with
google cloud and make sure all contacts available in cloud.


SMS messages notification on my desktop computer? Is there any way (application or other) to have PC receive notifications about text messages on Android phone (ability to reply is also welcome)? I don't want to have my messages uploaded to the cloud due to the privacy concerns, so it is preferable to have messages sharing only when using the same wifi network.

I tried using AirDroid and PulseSMS - however both are cloud-based as far as I can tell. I also tried Samsung Flow but did not like it very much (it uses bluetooth instead of wifi for communication).

Please note that this question differs from this one, as I do not want to have my messages cloud-synced.

EDIT: Forgot to add, I have Samsung Galaxy S8 as a phone and use Windows 10 on desktop. Cortana is unavailable in my language.

I'm not sure about windows based alternatives, but KDEConnect works locally. You need to be on the same WiFi connection to make it work. Alternatively you can take a look at this app and some suggestions in this thread


Problem booting into TWRP recovery when rooting SAMSUNG Galaxy XCover 3 (SM-G389F) I am trying to root SAMSUNG Galaxy XCover 3 (SM-G389F) with Android 6.0.1. I successfully flash the latest TWRP (twrp-3.0.2-0-xcover3ltexx.img.tar official site) with Odin 3.12.

In Odin I intentionally disabled Auto Reboot, so that I try to boot into TWRP recovery in the first phone boot by holding down (Home + Volume UP + Power key). Instead of booting into recovery the phone gets stuck on SAMSUNG Galaxy screen as shown in video link. After normal reboot my phone boots up as normal but this action puts back stock recovery.

To solve the problem I tried all available TWRP's, tried to factory reseat and clear phone cash several times before flashing recovery image, tried to use various Odin versions (3.07, 3.10, 3.12).

What else can I try?

Thanks for suggestions.

This is usually an issue with your root method NORMALLY means it is using an older bootloader than the minimum allowed (through OTA updates the minimum allowed bootloader version can change).  When the phone goes to boot using the new loader in to recovery it is hanging.  Once you restart the changes are reversed because the device is not fully rooted and the newly installed TWRP is being overwritten by the backup of the OEM recovery because it can tell there is some issue with the recoery (whether the install signature fails, the method they use to get root is patched, etc.).  I would look around for an updated root method and be sure you follow it step by step.

This appears to be the newest set of instructions for your device:
http://www.galaxyrom.com/2016/04/update-galaxy-xcover3-sm-g389f-g389fxxu1apc7-android-6-0-1.html

I would also if you can do a factory reset, and reinstall or install if it is not already to the current OEM ROM version mentioned on that page (linked there).  This way you are sure you are rooting exactly what is expected by the rooting process.

So Update ROM if needed and then further down the page is root directions.  Note they say to make sure auto reboot is checked as part of the instructions so this may be a requirement (a script or other software may be expecting it to do something).


will I get android updates on Moto G after Cyanogenmod 11 I'm about to flash Cynogenmod 11 on my Moto G XT1033. I was wondering that, will I still get android OTA updates even after installing CM11?
If anyone have an answer then please tell me.

CyanogenMod has its own OTA Updater. You will not get the official Android updates, but the CM updates.


Phone restarting again and again I am having samsung galaxy ace GT-s5830i.
The phone is restarting again and again after installing a game from 4shared.com.please help me out.
Phone is rooted one.

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


How do I convert ASEC files to APK? Is there anyone that knows how I can convert ASEC files to APK?

According to this question/answer, the .asec files are actually dm-crypt containers which can be mounted, and contain the unencrypted .apk. The keys are stored in /data/misc/systemkeys/AppsOnSD.sks.

The mounting process depends on the tools available, but it can be as simple as running (on Linux) losetup /dev/loop0 /path/to/file && cryptSetup open --type luks -d /path/to/keyfile /dev/loop0 asecmount && mount -t ext4 /dev/mapper/asecmount /your/mountpoint to mount and umount /your/mountpoint && cryptsetup close asecmount && losetup -d /dev/loop0.

You can also access the contents of the .asec file from /mnt/asec/[app-id]/ if you have it already mounted on your device.


Can't unlock bootloader Moto G5 XT1672 I'm trying to unlock the bootloader on my Moto G5, the adb commands works, but I can't find my device in the command prompt when it is in fastboot mode.

I was following the instructions on this tutorial, but when running the adb device command to get my serial number, the PC can't find the device. I checked the USB cable and the connection between the device and the computer and everything is ok.

To enter the fastboot mode I was using the adb reboot bootloadercommand on Windows.

Android 8.1.0
Security patch: October 1, 2018

As acejavelin said, I was missing the fastboot driver, for some reason it wasn't finding my phone. Installing the right driver solved the problem.


Setup Tor server on my Android How do I setup a Tor server on my Android tablet?

I can install the Orbot client, but how do I contribute to the tor network?

I have my tablet on a WiFi the most of the day so it would be nice to contribute to the bandwidh of the Tor network.

Select the Settings button () on the top-right corner. In the Settings screen, scroll down to the "Relays" section and tick the box next to "Relaying - Enable your device to be a non-exit relay". The relay will listen to port 9001 by default, but you can adjust that by changing the relay port.


Nexus 5 won't boot into OS, bootloader/adb won't let me do anything either Nexus 5 power button started "sticking" and would get itself into a "boot-loop". I looked it up and it seemed lots of users were having issues with the power button on the Nexus 5, so I just decided to live with it (I could un-stick it if I fiddled with it enough).
Cue two weeks later and the power button is getting stuck more often and also getting harder to unstick, oh and the phone won't boot into the OS anymore (It just sits permanently on the Google loading screen). Took it to a repair shop and they told me it wasn't hardware related.
Now I have two problems, power button is still a pain in the ass, but not being able to boot into the OS is even worse. Could it be software related?
Try "Wipe data/factory reset" and also "Wipe cache partition". Doesn't work. Keep getting E: failed to mount /cache errors
Install ADB and Fastboot. Try running adb devices (no device), then I select "Apply update from ADB" on my phone and then try "adb devices" and the device is recognized (as "sideload"). I try running adb sideload ROM.zip and I get "error:closed". The phone logs:

Now send the package you want to apply
to the device with "adb sideload <filename>"...
E: failed to mount /cache (Invalid Argument)
E: failed to mount /cache
E: failed to set up expected mounts for install; aborting
Installation aborted.

If I try to run any adb command on my phone I keep getting the same errors (error: closed and E: failed to mount /cache)

Any ideas of where to go from here?

I was pretty much having the same problem.
I was told that my partitions might be messed up.
Unfortunately I won't be able to test out a fix for it until I get home from work today. But definitely look into corrupt partitions.

Infinite boot animation screen Nexus 5


How to find IP addresses of nearby Wi-Fi networks? Smartphone application show info about nearby Wi-Fi networks it finds, i.e. channel, SSID, MAC address of router, etc, except it IP addresses. Is it possible to discover IP addresses of nearby Wi-Fi networks without connecting to it?

No. To find out the IP addresses you'd have to be able to connect to the DHCP server that handles giving out the IP addresses for that subnet, get and IP address and a subnet mask, and then scan the subnet for active IPs. To do this, you'll have to be connected to the access point.


How do I tether with vpn on Lollipop? How do I tether with VPN on Lollipop?

I have root. I found the following guide, but don't fully understand the instructions.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=33749904&postcount=10

In particular,
3) route traffic in specific tethering routing table
3a) see table for tethering (in my setup is table '60')
yourprompt# ip rule show
3b) add your private address (myne is 172.16.0.0/16) to the tethering table
yourprompt# ip route add 172.16.0.0/16 dev tun0 table 60

What is my private address? Is this the ip the VPN service gives me or what?

Other guides, which is the right one?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2317841
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2668999
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1993689
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1944171

Would really appreciate help on this, thanks. Needs to be wifi tether, because I need to bridge my router to it.

The guide you have mentioned is correct. Basically if you are rooted , whenever you wish you tether over a VPN you need to type the code in terminal as su

iptables -t filter -F FORWARD
iptables -t nat -F POSTROUTING
iptables -t filter -A FORWARD -j ACCEPT
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -j MASQUERADE

and to route traffic in specific tethering routing table additionally need:

ip rule add from 192.168.43.0/24 lookup 61
ip route add default dev tun0 scope link table 61
ip route add 192.168.43.0/24 dev wlan0 scope link table 61
ip route add broadcast 255.255.255.255 dev wlan0 scope link table 61

basically android tethering interfaces uses a DHCP range 192.168.43.* Notice the change of netmask from 255.255.255.0 (24bit) to 255.255.255.255 (32bit) allowing the re-routing of addresses (192.168.xxx) to tun interface (usually 10.1.xxx)

I use the same re-routing rules smoothly


adb push: sync but not copy adb push seems to push everything into the dest folder regardless of their changed/unchanged states. So it wastes a lot of time. Is it possible to sync rather than copy (i.e. to rsync rather than cp)?

I see adb has a sync option, but I'm not quite sure whether it's relevant or not.

You would use adb push --sync, for example:

adb push --sync /home/abc/ /sdcard/abc

from adb --help:

file transfer:
 push [--sync] LOCAL... REMOTE
     copy local files/directories to device
     --sync: only push files that are newer on the host than the device

but it seems that this function is available for relative newer ADB version such as version 1.0.40.


Do away with/Hide Emulator Keyboard? I learnt from here the various keyboard commands for an emulator. I therefore thought one could afford to do away with/hide the on-screen keyboard that has the DPad buttons, the home, menu and back buttons; and have the emulator occupy less screen space. For emulators that are not snapshot-enabled, one can do this!

However for snapshot-enabled emulators, I find that whatever hardware config I set it's not happening. By me, the hardware configs that matter are:

Keyboard Support
Hardware back and home buttons

For each of the above you either don't add them to the config, or add them and set value 'yes' or add them and set value 'no'. So far none of the configs I tried so far worked. By my tries, at least, it is found that no matter what I do with regard to the Keyboard Support configuration or Hardware Back/home buttons (independently of each other) - yes, no or don't add - the keyboard remains there. I didn't find a hot-key to hide the keyboard either.

I thought therefore that it's better to post a question on this here, than try booting with umpteen different hardware configurations (it'll be a precious 2-3 minutes spent on each configuration trial!)

Thanks in advance,

P.S. I use Gingerbread.

I learnt from here (in the question, not the answer) that if one sets a custom resolution in pixels rather than selecting from the built-in ones, then the emulator does not display the skin with the emulator controls.

Below is the configuration I therefore set to solve my problem, at the same time not creating new problems:

I just estimated the dimensions in pixels of a WQVGA size instrument and set that as my custom resolution.


Installed google apps on generic tablet, services are there but no entries in the menu (This post is a follow up of my previous one
)

I managed to root and install gapps in my generic tablet, but now there is a small pending issue. When I go to Manage Apps->All, I can see some newly installed services like Google Play Services, but nothing in the menu. I have also cleared the cache from the Recovery, with no luck.

My first thought was to just get Google Play's apk from my mobile and install it to the table, but I am hesitating a little. I only care, about Play Store, the others will be retrieved from there on demand.

Has anyone encountered that before?

Usually this should be an easy task – provided you've got a custom recovery on your device. Turned out, it was not as easy in this special case, so I will list multiple options here. In combination, they finally lead to success – as one can see in the comments on the question itself.
Variant 1: Custom recovery
That's a one-liner: Put the GApps archive on your SDCard, boot into recovery, chose "Install update.zip from SDCard", and select the GApps archive. Done. After the next boot, Google Apps should be there.
Trouble in this case: No custom recovery. OK, next one.
Variant 2: Use ADB to side-load it
This variant was even figured by the OP himself. Requires ADB to be installed on your computer (see: Is there a minimal installation of ADB?), and your device setup (device drivers etc.) as well as connected via USB. For a detailed how-to, please see How to: use "adb sideload" on your Android device. Here, in short:

place the GApps zip file in the directory where your ADB executable is
Make sure you have USB debugging enabled in Settings → Development on your device
Boot your device in recovery mode, and connect it to your PC
On your device, use the volume up/down keys to select "apply update from ADB," then press power to select it
On your computer, open a command prompt window and navigate to the directory from 1., then execute adb sideload <zipfile> (replacing <zipfile> with the name of your GApps file)
When the installation is finished, select to "reboot" the device.

Done. Once the device finished booting, your Google Apps should be there.
Or not, as in our case. Services got installed, apps were missing. OK, let's trick the remains.
Variant #3: Doint it manually
Preparation

Install ES File Explorer on your device. This will help us a lot.
Unpack the Gapps archive into an empty directory on your SDCard. Might be an optional step, as ES File Explorer can deal with ZIPs directly, but might make things easier

Do it
Launch ES File Explorer on your device. Tap the menu button, tap "Root-Explorer" (the text, not the switch next to it – though you must make sure that's switched to "On" as well). A popup should open, where you should find a "r/w" icon (second to last entry). Tap that. This should remount your /system partition, so you can write to it.
Now use ES File Explorer to navigate to your (unpacked) GApps archive. Copy the .apk files from system/apps/ to /system/apps/ on your device. Similarly, files from data/apps/ should be copied to /data/apps/. Now back to the menu, and re-mount your /system partition read-only.
Reboot.
Now, the Google Apps should be there.
Still not? Bang. Variant 4: Get another device... or at least another ROM...


tried tracking my phone through android device manager. having trouble doing so.help! i lost my s3 a few days back so i tried to locate it using the android device manager. it is showing the date i last used it on but not showing where it was last used. can someone suggest me way to see its last location?
also, i was registered with androidlost even that is not able to show my last location. keeps showing the message "message successfully sent to google who will forward it when it is online".i understand my phone needs to be online for it to show the location but it also says that if its not online my last location will be shown.

I think that you can use Google instead of Android Device Manager in your particular case. Today it happened to me the very same thing that happened to you and as in your case Android Device Manager was of no use. But I typed find my phone in Google and it gave me map centered around the place where I had actually forgotten my phone. It seems the map cannot be zoomed in, but at least it can give you an hint about where the phone was before discharge.
Here's a screenshot of what I got from Google.

Better than nothing I suppose.


Nexus 5 lock button behaves awkwardly i have a nexus 5 with lolipop v6 in it, for the last day, i've been struggling with the power button, as it acts awkwardly causing the entire phone to crash and restart itself.

Sometimes it fulfills its purpose and locks and unlocks the screen, and sometimes it would appear as the lock mechanism has crashed: it would lock, and then immediately return to the main page(a quick transition from black screen to main menu screen), sometimes it would engage the "power off" menu, as if i pressed the power button for couple of seconds.

Steps i've taken to try and fix the issue:

I've removed suspecious programs
Engaged the safe mode
Reset device factory settings

none of those helped, saying that, each power button press does something, so i'd not say it's a "hardware" issue

It is possible that the button itself is damaged.

The button is made of 2 metal foils (one is flat, the other is a bit spherical on top) and if you press it, the sphere bends to the bottom foil and the connection represents a press. On my old Galaxy Nexus, dirt got under and it stopped reacting. Once I opened and cleaned it carefully with a knife it worked as the first day.

Considering you have the opposite problem, it could be the case that the spherical foil is somehow bent to keep sticking to the bottom even when you release the button.

Since this requires you to open up the device, I suggest this as the last resort unless you ran out of other options. (Or send it in for a repair).


Thumbnail photo in messaging app I just upgraded from a Galaxy S5 to a Galaxy S7 (verizon) and my thunbnail photo no longer shows up when i send a text message.  When someone sends me a message, thier photo shows up, but there isnt even a blank head for my photo.

Can anyone help me?

In the Contacts app, you should have a Contact for you under the heading My Profile.  That's where you'll have to setup a photo and any other info there you wish to add.  It should be right at the top of the list.