VR Compatibility: Moto G6 vs E5 Play I hope this is the correct place to ask this (they directed me here from Meta Exchange).

I'm starting to program in VR with Unity (for Android) and I'm looking to get a low-cost smartphone with VR support. My phone company offered me free either a Moto G6 Play or a Moto E5 Play.

According to their specifications, both are VR capable (gyroscope and motion sensor included). However, I've read mixed reviews online, so I would like to confirm if both are really VR compatible and which would be best for testing gaming related media.

Neither device is supported by Samsung Gear VR or Google Daydream

One of the requirements for Daydream certification is to have motion to photon latency of 22ms-25ms.

Curiously the Motorola Moto G6 is supported by Google ARCore which is expected to have sensors be calibrated in a similar fashion to Daydream

For everything else there is
Google Cardboard which takes advantage of accelerometer/gyroscope on phone. As the sensor measurements/screen latency aren't strictly calibrated the experiences are more static and for brief sessions to avoid motion sickness.


I flashed recoveries with Odin, why doesn't my phone boot bow? Samsung S3 Android phone, not rooted, stock firmware.

In chronological order:
I turned on USB debugging, although could not use fastboot.
I used Odin to flash multiple recoveries, but I don't think I was successful, I believe the phone must have been rooted first. I downloaded some recoveries as .tar.md5 but I also downloaded .img and I tried to turn it into a .gz
- at that stage my phone still did boot Android, but normal recovery stopped working (Volume Up + Home + Power)
- Then I went to settings and chose Factory reset. Now all I've got is Odin mode.
It reads:
Custom binary: Custom
System Status: Custom

Did I soft brick my phone ?

I din't loose data but I'd like to know in what state my phone is.
Although I didnt intend to have an Android phone, now that I have one I will also try to mess up and change the bootloader if possible.
Thank you for taking the time and answer.

Since the phone can still boot into Odin mode the best thing to do here is to flash a stock firmware and start all over again. You could have flashed a wrong recovery hence the boot failure; it happens. Just get and flash a full stock firmware in Odin. Make sure the firmware is for your device model and network/region. Samsung phones  have a tendency to require you flash the exact same firmware for your region/ network.


Strange text messages at five minute intervals with no sender So I've been having this problem recently where I get these extremely strange text messages being sent to my phone. They have no sender associated with them, and just look like a bunch of gibberish. Here is a screenshot:

http://i.imgur.com/bl2Al.png

Currently, I am getting the same message multiple times every 5 minutes. At first I just sort of ignored it, and one day I decided I would just go ahead and delete all the messages. As soon as I deleted them, they just kept on coming back at 5 minute intervals.

I am on Sprint on the Nexus S 4G

My phone has also been doing other weird things lately. Sometimes when I lay it flat on a surface, it will just reboot itself constantly. I'm not sure if this is related to the text messages or not.

Also, the messages only show up in the "Messaging" app which I don't really use. They don't show up in Google Voice at all.

EDIT:

I actually got some of these weird messages about a month ago, however they stopped for a good while. Today, I just decided to delete them, and now they've been coming in every 5 minutes. So far I've received 32 in the span of about an hour. I have not talked to Sprint about this, and I don't believe I have been charged for them. Also, I can't reply back to these messages. If I try to reply and I hit "send", it just tells me that the message was not sent.

EDIT 2:

Factory reset the phone. The messages are still coming in.

Questions for you:

Did you install an app recently?
What app did you last install?
How long was that going on for?
Have you checked with your Sprint provider? You're not getting charged for those incoming messages?

It sounds like mal-ware, but do not wish to raise alarm nor fear in you, BUT by answering my questions above to ascertain it.

Quite possibly, it sounds like a scam, if you were to reply innocently like "Who are you?" you could be charged premium rates for sending it.

As for the gibberish, its likely in a language that is not recognized by your handset hence the font shows the "gibberish" character as a result.

IF all else fails, try a factory reset the handset at last resort.

Edit: Based on your edit, it sounds like its stopped for a good while due to perhaps its hit the threshold limit of how many SMS to be stored, then when you went to delete them, more kept coming in.

The apps do seem legit.. btw :)

Would you not suggest try this, download this app called 'History Eraser' from Google Play, to wipe out the history of the SMS, just that specifically alone, and nothing else. See if that helps. If more are still coming in, then I hate saying this, factory reset the handset to clear out whatever it is that's causing the jam.


Default dialer on Samsung Galaxy S3 I have a new Samsung Galaxy S3 running ICS (4.0.4). I would like to use the Go Dialer as my default dialer.

The stock Phone app does not claim to be the default dialer, and in fact I've downloaded Default App and set the default dialer to be the Go Dialer. And yet, when I navigate through a contact to the "dial" press, it brings up the stock Phone app.

I've seen conflicting reports on whether this is possible or not. Is it?

The Contacts app and the phone app work as one, however the contacts app should allow you to make a call using any app that uses the call broadcast receiver.

Ensure that the standard Phone/Dialer app isn't set as default:

Uninstall set default
Go into Settings->Apps->All->Dialer (or Phone) scroll down and select Clear Defaults.
Go back into the contacts app, and select a Contact to call. It should ask you which app you want to use. Select Go Dialer and select to always use that by default.


Connecting Android to Ford Sync via Bluetooth? I am trying to get Bluetooth audio to work with my Ford Touch. It's has worked but I can't figure out the conditions where it does.  It will pair just fine but when I try to play audio it will display a message saying it has disconnected.

I have tried doing some changes to the audio.conf as recommended on a couple of forums. But I don't see a change in behavior.

My phone is a Nexus One running CyanogenMod.

This issue is very likely due to the way the Ford Sync system does an initial media connection to the phone. When it connects to the phone, Ford Sync appears to immediately send a "play" command (similar to what a headset play button would do) to the phone. The problem arises when you have more than one app installed that is capable of listening for these bluetooth play events. The OS gets confused and disconnects from Ford Sync.

If you have multiple media players installed (including podcast aggregators), try removing them and re-installing them one by one. Try Ford Sync after you install each one.


Get my samsung password without reset it for my stolen android device My galaxcy s2 is stolen and i need to track it using my samsung account but i dont remember the pass; Can anyone please tell me how could i know my samsung account password without resting it as used in samsung account SignIn procedure to find password by email

Unless Samsung are complete muppets, even they don't know your password: all they know is a special hashed form of the password, which is an irreversible function a bit like encrypting it. When you type in your password, they hash what you type in in the same way, and then compare the two hashed passwords. This way, they can check your password without knowing what it is.

For this reason, there shouldn't be any way to find out what your password is without first changing it. If that turns out not to be true, it would be a very embarrassing security problem for Samsung.

If you want to find a lost or stolen phone, there are other options that don't involve your Samsung account. See the answers to My phone was just stolen an hour or so ago. Are there any options for tracking? for some alternatives that you can install remotely via Google Play.


Can Opera Mini or Mobile be configured to set the page title as the subject when sharing as email? Can Opera Mini or Mobile be configured to set the page title as the subject when sharing as email?

Short answer - no. There are advanced options accessible by typing the URL opera:advanced , but most of those deal with the rendering engine.


Control your smartphone using your laptop please answer! I have a sony xperia zr and the lower screen recently smashed. Touch screen capability has also gone. Does anyone know of an app or a method for connecting it to my laptop and gaining full control of the phone through the laptop?

PS: I reformat my phone!

Sony ZR supports OTG, so im sure this will work. What you have to do is Buy an OTG cable and connect USB Mouse via USB cable and try using the mouse pointer. Also Keyboard should work.

But if your screen doesnt show at all, then im sorry.


How to recover video that was cut off due to being out of space? I have an HTC One phone. I was filming a video and in the middle of it, it stopped recording because I ran out of space on my phone. It says that it does not support playback of this kind of video. I am assuming that all the content is there, but it did not write to file properly or something along those lines.

This is what you're looking for

Just make sure you have another video on the device (can be very short or long, any video from the same phone)


How to tether an old Android 2.1 phone with the Asus Transformer I want to tether my Samsung Europia to my Asus Transformer so I can use my phone 3g connection.

Is this possible? The Samsung doesn't have native tethering built in.

Is your phone rooted?  If so, try using the WiFi Tether app.  You will need to download the APK and side-load it.


How do I export & import files between Android devices and Windows OS? How do I export and import binary files between Android devices and Windows OS as well as syncing the files between the two?

You can connect the device to the PC with a USB cable and access it via Explorer in the same way that you would a thumb drive.  In addition, I like using Dropbox to sync files in a wireless fashion.  I find this to be much easier and does not restrict movement of handset.


Phone downloads mysterious file I wasn't doing anything with my phone, when I pulled it out of my pocket a notification saying "-tWW3IHZgSg - Download complete." was visible. This file was in the downloads folder, I copied it to my PC and running the unix "file" command on it returned "Macromedia Flash data (compressed), version 17". I certainly didn't download it and I have no idea what it could be. Here is a DropBox link of the file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/yowi4qlnlxuf6wz/-tWW3IHZgSg?dl=0

Possibly a flash animation file. Without access to my computer, I can't find out for certain.

As for why it showed up in your downloads? Most likely an error in a program that caused a download notification when downloading cache data or a temporary file, judging by the filename. Probably an advert or small animation from a webpage or app.
It's worth noting that most free apps have ads as well as most websites, and most advert animations are flash animations.

TL;DR: Probably a glitch causing an advert or cached page animation to appear in your downloads.


How to traverse camera from device via adb to my Ubuntu? What is the best way to traverse web camera?

E.g. there is great number of web servers for android with video translations. How to get access to its via adb?

Or wi-fi would be a easiest way?

Connect the smartphone via USB, start the IP camera server app and use adb port forwarding or usb tethering to access the server from PC.

Then you can connect directly to the mjpeg video stream at http://yourphoneip:8080/video.

This script also creates a v4l virtual device if you need it.

I've measured that the streaming latency is a bit higher than a regular USB camera (<500ms vs <100ms).


phone working on its own I have a problem that my android mobile is randomly working like itself making calls, typing messages, opening apps randomly.
I have tried factory reset and data wipe.

Could anyone help me out here.

its a faulty digitizer or the screen is faulty. my recommendation  go for a replacement if you still have the warranty period . Anyway, its a pure hardware problem, don't reset your phone, as you are going to earn absolutely nothing


Seeing links in email before you click them When you receive an email in ICS that has a link in it you can press the link and it will open in your browser.

How do I know the URL of the link before I press it. I know on iOS you can do a long press and it shows you the URL - is there an equivalent feature in Android?

In the latest release of Gmail you can long-press on the link and a menu will appear showing you the link. You then have options to "Open in Browser", "Copy link URL", &c.


US Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet in India - mobile data I bought Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet 32GB from US andI am now in India. I have a vodafone 2G SIM. How can I connect this to my Thinkpad?

And I have a M blaze data card. Can this be connected to the thinkpad ?

If the SIM card doesn't work out of the box in your TPT, it's very likely that your US tablet is not compatible with the mobile communication standards used in India. What happens if you put the SIM in the TPT?

Mobile data USB sticks can't be used with the TPT, afaik.


Cannot add Google account for Playstore, SSL not working I had Google Playstore installed on my Android 2.2 mobile. But unfortunately when I went to service centre the mobile was resetted to factory settings and all my data was lost.

Thereafter when I restarted my Internet, the default browser is unable to connect to any secured website. Even my news and weather is not getting connected. But the browser connects to other un-secured sites.

When I tried to reinstall Google play I was asked to add a Google account -- but it gave me an error that it cannot establish a secured connection.

No Google website except google.co.in is connected. However when I use the Opera mini browser I can visit any secured sites including GMail and Playstore.

But when I tried to download any apk from Google store it does not show any error in my PC but software is never downloaded. When I tried to use deviceID apk it is showing me nothing.

I think because I am unable to add any Google account the data file contains nothing.

Can anybody tell me how I can start secured connections in my default browser so that Google can connect to its secured server and I will be able to download from Play store?

Reset to current date, and I can definitely say a secure website will open.


Manually Sync Outlook 2010 contacts/calendar only from Windows PC to Android cell phone (Samsung Galaxy S II) via USB cord only How do I manually Sync Outlook 2010 contacts and calendar only from Windows PC to Android cell phone (Samsung Galaxy S II) via USB cord only. I do NOT want to use any kind of web based product, i.e. Google, nor pay 3rd party software program to do this, unless I have to. I don’t want automatic syncing; I just want control of my data by plugging my cell into my computer via USB cord and manually hitting sync.  If I make a change to contacts or calendar on my cell, when I plug it into my computer it transfers data and vice versa without it cutting off data in the notes of contacts or anywhere else because web based products only allow a certain amount of data to transfer. Also, what applications do I need to have on my cell phone for the contacts and calendar to work? I use Gmail separately for my emails by going to Google, but do not want that on Outlook 2010. Also, NO I will not give up Outlook.

If you don't want to use third party software then you need to use Samsung's Kies.  It says here that it supports syncing with Outlook, though I don't know the details.


What are the benefits of Lollipop? [Features] The last thing I want to do is fade out of current times & technology.

So the question: what will I gain, feature-wise, from upgrading to a phone with Lollipop OS? Put speed and Material theme aside. What neat little features did they pack into the OS? For example, in 4.3 it was App-ops. Jelly Bean introduced device encryption, screenshots, music EQ, NFC, boot-to-safe-mode, settings shortcuts, lockscreen owner info, you get it. All the little things we now take for granted.

So, what's the list for Lollipop? I can think of a couple things, but I had to dig deep. Built-in flashlight is an example. But as far as functionality goes, I couldn't find anything that I can't already do on JB.

Enlighten me.

The lockscreen and notifications are easily the most dramatic change.
Notifications on the lockscreen are more powerful. You're able to read and clear notifications without unlocking the phone. Double tapping a notification will bring you directly into an app.

Quicksettings are available from the lockscreen. A 2 finger swipe down from the top in the lockscreen (as well as from any screen in the OS) will reveal quicksettings. You can make limited changes, such as turning on and off wifi, without unlocking the phone.

Smart lock is a number of security settings that allow your phone to automatically unlocked in different situations, depending on location or proximity to another device such as a smart watch or bluetooth keyboard. Face unlock has been folded into Smart Lock. They also added a setting called on-body detection that does pretty much what it sounds like. The main draw to these types of features is to cut down on the times you have to punch in your passcode, even when you are in a secure place.

Another security feature is the ability to put your device in a kind of kiosk mode. Lollipop calls it pinning apps and it basically allows you to lock the phone into a single app so that another user can use that app, but you won't have to worry about them snooping around elsewhere. Phones also now have support for multiple accounts, though that was available previously on tablets.

Recent Apps feature has been redesigned. In addition to the Rolodex-like animation, you can now have it split up your chrome tabs into separate tasks. This has been controversial, but can be turned off.


How to fix setting Android display brightness to 0% I have a Windows Mobile phone(HTC Tilt 2) and put Android on it(on the SD card only). When I was messing around with some stuff I accidentally set the display brightness of Android to 0%. So now nothing will ever show up on my screen.How can I fix this without doing a clean install of Android?

Is it the case that you can't see anything at all, or is it just really, really dark at the moment? Most LCD screens will show something faintly, even without a backlight, if you can get them in the right light.

If you can see something then the easiest way to turn the lights up (if you're using Android 1.6+) is to add the Power Control widget to the home screen and then tap the far-right button on the Power Control Bar, this should turn the brightness to half and then full, and you should be able to get to the rest of your settings then.


How to use an older version of an application? I was using an application. Then the multiplayer mode stopped working, so I decided to reinstall it. After I uninstalled the app, I realised that an update had been made and my Android version is too old to use the new version of the application.

Is there anything I can do to be able to use the application again (except for buying a phone with a newer version of android)?

I checked, there are no updates of the system for my phone.

I downloaded the appplication via Google Play Store.

Clearly, the app's developer has changed the minimum API level for that particular app. So the latest version won't work on your version of Android.

You can side-load the APK file of an earlier version onto your device to get it working again.

You may request the app's developer for an older APK or you can download from other sites that provide APKs. APKMirror is a trusted repository, for example.


Samsung Tab A Marshmallow doesn't show contents on SD card I have a Tablet with an SD Card in it and it doesn't show me the contents on it. On my PC I created a folder on the SD Card calling it Books, I put some epubs etc. into it and I got a few Epub/Ebook reader apps on my Tablet  (it worked on my phone and I tried other Apps too) but when I tap on the Memory Card it shows me a bunch of folders that are Android related (I can provide a screenshot if needed) and my "Books" folder when I tap on it there is nothing in it and the path is /storage/emulated/0/Books

me, thinking: what does this mean. I already turned the power off, removed the sd card, turned it back on, turned it off, put the card back in, nothing. I formatted it too, nothing. When I go into My Files > SD card > Books I can see the content and the folders though the tablet asks if I wanna open them with either the Kindle application, a pdf reader or it tells me >no applications to perform this action

I just wanna be able to access my stuff from my sd card. When I go to Storage it shows me the internal storage and my sd card tapping on sd card only allows me to unmount it or format and I am confused and (slightly) annoyed since I've been trying to fix it for a while now.

What you see, that it not your external sdcard, but your internal sdcard:
/storage/emulated/0/
This is the storage your phone brings, when you have no external (removable) sdcard in it. Don't mix it up.

Under Android 6 this external sd is usually in a path like, e.g.:
/storage/1234-ABCD/
where "1234-ABCD" is an arbitrary number of the individual removable sdcard.
So try to open the external sdcard with your file explorer by going up two folder levels from /storage/emulated/0 and then you will find your data.

Maybe you try as file explorer the free app Total Commander which is very mighty and can help you find things.

By the way: under Marshmallow you need to allow explicitly each app, which is not a system app, to read the external sd-card. And writing it is another thing and even more difficult, as the app itself needs to bring the support for it (different from Android 5 though!).
But with your internal file explorer (this is a system app) there should be no problems to read the external, removable sd-card, you just need to go up the path.


"Unfortunately, IMS service has stopped" after Marshmellow upgrade My Galaxy Note 4 was "upgraded" to Marshmallow today and I immediately started getting the popup notification "Unfortunately, IMS Service has stopped." This occurs as a popup about every two seconds, which effectively bricks the device. The problem occurs even if I boot into Safe Mode.

Things that have not helped:

restarting after taking the battery out.
wiping the cache for the Messages app.
changing my default messaging application to Messages+.
wiping the cache partition.
checking for application updates.
uninstalling Facebook Messenger.

I found this thread which suggests turning off "rich communications," for an S5 Neo, but the Galaxy Note 4 doesn't appear to have that option anywhere.

At this point the only thing I can think of is a factory reset, which I'd very much like to avoid.

Settings → Applications → Settings Button near top right corner of your screen (do not scroll down and find settings under the list of apps) → Default Apps → SMS App → choose another option to eliminate pop ups and identify which app is not working properly after the upgrade. After you delete or update the app causing the error, you can go back to your previous SMS choice if you wish.

You are not having a Marshmallow problem. The problem is with a new App not that has not properly been updated from Marshmallow support


Samsung Galaxy Ace wont connect to my home wifi I am trying to connect my new phone to my home wifi, it connects i put the password in, it says remembering connection... authenticating then comes up with disabled. I've tried using the app which said it'd solved the problem but it hadn't. what should i do?

I use to have this problem too. I recommend restarting your router and then try to connect to the Wi-Fi again. Lastly reboot your phone. You can find more instructions here: http://www.technobezz.com/android-wont-connect-to-wi-fi/

I hope this helps to resolve your issue.


How to use a paired bluetooth device as Smart Lock trusted device? I am interested in using my Nexus Player (or other bluetooth device) as a Smart Lock trusted device for my phone. My goal was to be able to unlock my device without needing my usual pin while sitting on the couch. It seems like my Nexus Player (which never moves from under my TV) is a good candidate for that.

When I navigate to Settings -> Security -> Smart Lock -> Trusted devices -> Bluetooth, I can see it listed, but not connected:

Trusted devices not connected   (Click image to enlarge)

The devices are paired (but not connected):

Paired bluetooth devices   (Click image to enlarge)

Is there any way to use these as Smart Lock trusted devices?

I managed to "trick" it into connecting by sending a file from one device to another. Then it becomes available to add as a trusted device. So I think you need to be actively doing something with the intended device in order for it to be "connected"

Your car does this because your car expects to receive data from your phone. Maybe you can use bluetooth to control the device you want to connect to?


Help with moving ALL data from one galaxy 3 to a new Galaxy 3 I need to transfer everything from phone A to phone B (pictures, contacts, apps, and text messages).

How can I do that?

Unfortunately I do not know of a fresh and safe way to do this absolutely automatically but there are some tools which can help you with the same.

For Call Logs and SMS you can comfortably use these two apps and then transfer the backup files they create to you new phone. - SMS Backup and Restore and Call Logs Backup and Restore
For getting a list of your applications which you have currently installed, you may use AppBrain App Market. Some time back this had a companion app to it called Fast Web Installer. I believe APKs are still available on the internet. This one will take a backup of your app list and Fast Web Installer can restore the same on the other device.
Personally I recommend that you sign into your Google Account and go to all applications you have ever installed and manually handpick. This prevents useless or unused applications from your old phone to carry over to your new phone.
Contacts are automatically backed up at Google and you can do the same for the pictures as well. If you want to transfer pictures, you can also transfer them via External SD Card and just use the same SD Card on your other phone.


What is the star icon in notification bar on Lollipop? Does anyone know what this icon means? The device is running Android 5.0 Lollipop.

This means that you only have priority notifications enabled. Pressing a volume button will allow you to select different notifications which show/make a sound.

There is a choice between no notifications, all notifications, and priority notifications, which can be changed by pressing a volume button. Going into Settings/Sound & notification allows you to set which notifications have priority, such as only showing SMS and missed calls.

More help can be found here: https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/6111294


When I lose access to my Exchange server, is there a way to keep my contacts? Changing jobs and will soon no longer have access to my company's Exchange server.  Contacts are in Exchange and synched on my Droid (HTC EVO) using the default Exchange app.  I want to be sure I don't lose my contacts when I no longer have access to the Exchange server.  But if I transfer them to GMail contacts now, I'm concerned it will duplicate my contact records.  Any suggestions or tips?  Thanks in advance!

You may want just transfer your Exchange contacts to GMail. There are quite good duplicate/merging tools in GMail Contacts. Use More actions and Find and merge duplicates. There are automatic as well as manual merging modes.

You can import CSV formatted contacts into GMail from its More actions and Import menu.


how to fix "settings has stopped" error I was  uninstalling  some bloatware on my lg l15g and now can't access my settings.  Get an error message of settings has stopped. What is responsible for this?

On my LG L16C (Kitkat 4.4.2) I had that issue several times. I bought the phone only two months ago and realized that certain aftermarket apps were causing the problem-each time my settings froze, removal of newly added apps (one at a time, testing after each) stopped the problem...just added similar apps instead.


Is it possible to disable confirmation dialogs in Android 4.4? I have an LG G2 which came with Jelly Bean, and I have recently updated it to Kit Kat.  I have noticed that the amount of confirmation dialogs when changing phone settings seems to have gone up from Jelly Bean (although Jelly Bean had a lot as well, IMHO).  I am of the opinion that if I change a phone setting, I want to do it, and I am sure of it.  I don't want to confirm every thing I do with the settings every single time (maybe the first time I do it on the phone, but not forever).

For example:

On Jelly Bean, if I enable GPS via the quick settings, it would just enable.  With Kit Kat, every time I enable it via quick settings, I have to confirm twice that this is what I want to do (once for "Location consent" and again for Google's location service).  Since I like to leave GPS off until I need it to save battery (such as for my traffic app), this gets annoying really fast
Another example that bugged me with Jelly Bean is the same on Kit Kat: every time I want to reset the phone, I have to confirm it
Turning off mobile data warns me that I will not be able to use apps that require a data connection.  I know this.  I don't need to confirm this every time I want to disable data
Airplane mode produces a dialog stating that I will be unable to make or receive calls with it on.  Again, I know this.  I don't need to be reminded every time
Oddly enough, enabling/disabling Bluetooth does not produce such nags.

I was wondering if there is any way (mod, app, hack) to turn off these confirmation dialogs.  Thanks in advance for any insight.

Try LG G2 tweak progs / xposed modules, like LTweaks, GravityBox, G2 Xposed, G2 TweaksBox. Or install Lollipop on it.


Why custom roms are .zip filed than made as .ftf I am asking about Sony Xperia devices and I dont know this suites other brands or not. The custom roms provided by the ROM cooks were .zip files where we need to flash the kernel and then the rom zip to install. Why the roms were not made as a .ftf file so that it can be flashed easily via flashtool?

.ftf are more suited for the older line of Xperia devices and is proprietary format, the trend with newer Sony devices is .elf instead.

Their layout of kernel image is non-standard, this requires a special script to run against the freshly built kernel image to convert it and add extra special markers to make it compatible for the Xperia to enable booting.

Without the markers, the flash will fail, Androxyde's Flashtool has the capability to generate the .ftf, .elf by concatenating the kernel image (usually gzipped raw flat binary) with a header called .sin which has some proprietary encoded binary that fixes up the bootloader's address from which to boot up under. The script can be found on Sony's Opensource portal website, that contains a blog entry highlighting how to create a flashable kernel for Xperia S model.

The custom ROM's that the OP is referring to is more of a "universal generic" method, which contains the kernel and the files that composes of the ROM, that is made suitable by the likes of ClockworkMod (CWM) and TeamWin Recovery (TWRP)  to use them.

Some manufacturers are free to deviate on how their kernels are created and if necessary, applicable handling to convert it to a form suitable for flashing, such as Sony's own format, rather than using mkbootimg which is a more generic form of creating a flashable kernel (this combines the kernel image and auxiliary supporting files), that is compatible with most, if not, all devices with some exceptions, like Sony.

As case in point, the kernel has to flashed separately first before flashing the ROM. For others, CWM/TWRP can directly flash the newly built boot image file created via mkbootimg first behind the scenes then write out the files into the /system partition.


Can't "Wipe data/Factory reset" due to broken power button Alright, so a little background:
lately my Epic 4G touch has been acting up (restarting when it feels like it, power button won't work, going from 100% power to 20%, etc) and I decided to take appropriate action. I first purchased a new battery (as my previous one was "bloated" and had water damage) hoping that would fix my problems. Unfortunately it only reduced how often the problems occurred. My next course of action is to do a factory reset on my phone (it's rooted running CM 10) and get a new one from Sprint (I have insurance) which I did following this tutorial. Everything went well - as far as I can tell - but I am experience a boot loop as mentioned in the video. The remedy is to wipe the /data partition, which is where I'm stuck.

The problem:
As mentioned, my power button is broken, but in a very odd way. I can use my power button to get into Recovery Mode, but after that it almost never works (and if it does it's as if I'm holding the power button and my phone restarts after about 5 seconds). So due to this I can't select "Wipe data/factory reset" from Recovery Mode. I tried using adb to wipe my data partition, but since my phone is no longer rooted I get "Permission denied" and any attempt to use root or su (obviously) fail. I'm not sure what my options are at this point, is there anyway I can wipe the /data partition without root or a power button?

You could try booting into fastboot mode, and then use fastboot -w. This command wipes userdata and cache, and thus should be equivalent to a factory-reset. For more information, there's a List of fastboot commands, and of course our fastboot tag-wiki.


Uninstall apps locked by phone vendor I'm using a Samsung I9000 and I have some annoying apps that came pre installed by the phone vendor, like a music store, a custom web browser and other memory leaking apps.

Those crappy apps can't be uninstalled neither by Manage applications tool, nor by editing the apps tiles in the front menu.

I guess I have to be a root user or something to get rid of those apps, but I don't know how.

Yes, you have to be rooted.  To get rooted, see this question: How do I root my Android device?

One of the easiest ways to uninstall system apps after rooting is to use Titanium Backup.  You can just click an app and choose Uninstall.

Note: Be careful what you remove!  You might want to use Titanium to back them up before you remove them, in case it makes your phone unstable or stop working.

Also note that the bootloader may restore system apps on reboot.  If possible, unlock your bootloader; you may also need to install a custom ROM that's deodexed, or to edit the image that is restored by the bootloader.  That depends on your particular device, but with the SGS you should have no bootloader-related problems.


How do you find out what changes there are in new firmware? I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 running ICS 4.0.3. It has desktop software with it called Kies for managing the phone and when I plugged it in today it told me that there was new firmware available:

  Current firmware version: PDA:LPB / PHONE:LPB / CSC:LPC (TMU)

  Latest firmware version:  PDA:LPD / PHONE:LPB / CSC:LPD (TMU)

How do I find out what changes there are in the new firmware version? I'd rather not make any changes to my phone (which is already flaky enough after the upgrade to ICS) without knowing what the changes are.

Plugging the firmware string into Google produces only a few results and none of them explain what the update contains.

A similar question suggests checking with my carrier's website but that only produced one result(*) which I had already found via Google. It is a person saying they did the upgrade, thinking it was 4.0.4 but it wasn't. That page doesn't help me to understand what the changes are.

So to reiterate the question, how do I find out what changes there are in the new firmware version?

Similar question: What's in an update?

UPDATE

Looking as samfirmware.com as mentioned in the comments and answer, I can see that T-Mobile released two firmwares with the lable 4.0.3:

GT-I9100 - United Kingdom (T-Mobile)
PDA: I9100BVLPB
CSC: I9100TMULPC
Version: 4.0.3
Date: 2012-04-10
Regions:

GT-I9100 - United Kingdom (T-Mobile)
PDA: I9100BVLPD
CSC: I9100TMULPD
Version: 4.0.3
Date: 2012-05-25
Regions:

The first is the one I have and the second is the one on offer. Apart from what is written there, I could find no further information on that site about what they might contain. (As an aside, I think that's a useful website and should come in handy in the future)

Firmware update
A firmware update usually brings to your device bug fixes or new features. This is good because insures your device security and readiness for a stable usage.

After spending one hour trying to find a changelog for Samsung firmwares, the best I could came up with was this website:
SamFirmware

What is this? The firmware page of SamMobile is specially for the die-hard Samsung owner.

Since firmware are country related, and I don't know yours, you can try to locate the firmware there:
Your new version:

PDA:LPD / PHONE:LPB / CSC:LPD (TMU)

Marked at bold what's relevant to find that firmware.
Enter LPD in the search box and look at the column "CSC", than locate the row with the firmware released for your country.
Note: Nonetheless, there's not much information available.

There's also:
This two websites provide a comprehensive list of the firmwares released:

Samsung Galaxy S2 Firmware Updates via Kies Official Releases compiled list

How To Update Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II Firmware

Locate your current firmware

Touch Menu;

Touch Settings;

Scroll to and touch About phone;

The software version will be displayed.


I lost my phone but need to find it's IMEI. What places can I look? I had a Nexus S but lost it or it was stolen.
I need to find it's IMEI.
I don't have the box or documentation either.

I've checked exif data from photos taken with the phone.

What other potential sources are there for it's IMEI?

Got it!

Sing into your Google Dashboard.
Here scroll down to the section titled Android devices. You'll see a list of all devices associated with your account. Choose the one that you're looking for and click on the expander arrow. This will bring up a nice block of text that contains your IMEI and a last-seen time.


Download transfer question I downloaded a music album from the Google playstore on my Samsung phone.  How do I transfer that album to my Samsung Music App?

It can be only used in Google Play Music app,unless you make it avaiable offline. Then you will find your music on your phone, and SMA will register it automaticly.


Android phone constantly loses Wi-Fi connection My Android phone loses the Wi-Fi connection when I'm at home in the very short time after it is connected, usually around the first 30 seconds.
Sometimes it works fine, but not often.
When it isn't working, the Wi-Fi icon remains present.
But I can't for instance browse to the IP of router 192.168.0.1.

The same phone is working properly with my work Wi-Fi. Other devices don't have problem with the home WiFi.

I'm a little lost and don't know how I can find the reason an fix it.

I can't say that I completely understand how but the issue was solverd after I changed the DNS settings of my phone (for my home WiFi).
I set it to Google default DNS 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.
And since that never this problem again.

Why the phone was loosing the whole connection is still unclear to me (though it remains now pure theoretical question)


How to disable the "waterdrop sound" played when locking or unlocking the screen I am running Android KitKat 4.4.2 on a Samsung Galaxy SIII Neo. I have installed the Screen Lock Pro app which allows you to log off by clicking a home screen icon or tapping on a notification drawer entry.

Now I would like to know whether I can leave the sound volume on, but disable the sound that is emitted when the user logs out / logs in.

I presume this can be done by renaming a sound file somewhere using a similar trick as can be done with the camera app.

Thank you for your replies.

NOTE: This question I am asking is the same as this one for Windows 7 PCs, but relates to Android devices instead.

You don't need to edit any sound files as the Screen Lock app has provided this as an inbuilt feature to disable/modify lock and unlock screen sounds.

Open Screen Lock app and open Settings, scroll down to the bottom and you will be able to find the option to uncheck and turn off the sound when locking and unlocking the screen using the widget or notification bar.

Screenshot - Screen Lock Settings - (Click to enlarge image)


Use an android phone as a monitor screen with AV-in wire? I'd like to use my phone instead of a TV as a small display monitor (with a cable, not wifi). I have a couple of devices which have AV out on them, what I'd like to do is show their output on my phone (for example a MFT camera, so i can use it as a video monitor without having any special apps controlling it, or for a baby monitor that doesn't have wifi, it could plug in and i could see the feed on the phone and take screenshots perhaps)?

Is such a thing possible? I have found the right cable on amazon (male to male, micro usb to mini usb) but i don't know if it'll just work? I have a Sony Xperia Z3 (f that makes any difference).

Use easy cap ...
easy cap is generally used for fpv in multirotors which has also the same purpose as yours. It takes an av input and decodes it to give an output in the phone.
Check here..
http://www.amazon.com/EZ-Cap-EzCAP168-Capture-Software/dp/B008I679QG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464120381&sr=8-1&keywords=easy+cap


Changing startup and shutdown sounds Is there any way for me to play certain audio files when my phone starts up and before it shuts down?

I have a Samsung S3.

Root your phone with Kingo root.
Use a root browser, like ES File Explorer, to find the the file (probably mp3, ogg, or wav) and rename it to have .bak on the end.
Paste your sound in the same spot and name it what the original used to be. The file could be under /system/media/audio/ui or under/etc/ called something obvious like PowerOn.mp3. I'm not really sure where Samsung put the file.
Go into the SuperSU app, under settings you can choose to un-root your phone. I think you can also un-root by plugging your phone back into the computer and use Kingo.

There are many advantages to rooting though, like Linux Deploy and wipe-proof avast!. Or even remote control through AirDroid. It's safe as long as you don't mess with system files you don't know about or give SU privileges to apps you're not sure of.


What all does ADB backup and how do I restore part of it? I am soon going to unlock bootloader and root my Nexus 5, but I didn't wanted to wipe all the data so I thought of using the ADB backup function to restore after rooting is done.

adb backup [-f <file>] [-apk|-noapk] [-shared|-noshared] [-all] [-system|nosystem] [<packages...>]

So, I made a full backup, with apk, with shared, all.

First of all, what all does this command backup? I suppose everything. Does it include the system, that is, Android files, like the main ROM files including kernel and stuff? Will the ROM get restored after I restore this backup?

Also, after I have rooted the device (which I have still not done), will I be able to restore just the apps, app data and shared storage from the backup? Or should I just backup the apk with shared data backup and that will do it?

Is it possible with a third-party app, root/non-root? (Titanium Backup, maybe?)

I need to know more.

For what ADB backup does, you might wish to see our backup tag-wiki. Basically, depending on the command line switches used, it backs up apps (.apk) and their data. For a full list of options see this.

As for the second part of your question, you might wish to see Is there a way to look inside and modify an adb backup created file? Yes, it's possible extracting parts of it, and yes, Titanium Backup is one of the apps capable of this. Other ways are described in the linked question.

Also worth a look:

How do you extract an App's data from a full backup made through “adb backup”?
Partial adb restore
Backup and restore Android Settings and Application through ADB


How can I stop my apps from updating automatically (Google Play Store settings do not work for all apps)? I have set Auto-update apps to "Don't auto-update apps" in Google Play Store.
That works for the majority of apps (except the Play Store itself).

However, according to my security software (Avast), some apps, installed after I set this setting, still update in the background, for example the YI Home camera app. "Enable auto-update" is not overridden for this app on its own page in the Play Store.

Other apps have similar behavior. Is there a way I can stop this rudeness for all apps? Thank you.

don't know if this helps you, if you're rooted you can use titanium backup and freeze the play store and services, no updates then and unfreeze when you need it (I do this on my phone)


Disappearing Icons on Galaxy S2 On my Samsung Galaxy S2, sometimes all of the icons will disappear from the home screens except for the 4 built in icons (phone, messaging, web, applications). This sometimes happens at startup, and sometimes happens after the phone has been running for a while. It can only be fixed by rebooting the phone, although that is not a guaranteed fix.

More recently I've encountered an additional problem: Sometimes when the icons disappear, the Applications button stops bringing up my applications menu.

Any suggestions on how to fix this?

Just a thought based on what I experienced.
I saw icons disappearing on an Android tablet, when I move the apps to SD card or apps installed on SD card instead of internal default flash memory. Are these apps installed on an external SD card? if the SD card is not initialized when the home screen becomes active, they may not be available.


Can't transfer files because of locked and broken screen I broke the screen of my phone (SAMSUNG DUOS). Like you can really see the shatter marks on it. But the screen became unresponsive. My problem is that, when I connect it to my computer to recover my files, I cannot access them because my phone is locked. And since the glass is broken and unresponsive, I cannot unlock it.

Help me please!!!

If USB debugging was enabled, you can use the adb (Android Debug Bridge) to retrieve your files.
Install USB drivers for your device and the adb.

Issue the following commands to pull the required folders from your phone.

Make temporary directory:

adb shell mkdir /sdcard/tmp

Move files from mydir to temporary directory:

adb shell mv /sdcard/mydir/*.* /sdcard/tmp

Pull this directory (be sure to put '/' in the end):

adb pull /sdcard/tmp/

Move and remove temporary directory:

adb shell mv /sdcard/tmp/* /sdcard/mydir/

adb shell rmdir /sdcard/tmp

But then again, this will work only if debugging is switched on.

Source


Google Account Sync, high battery usage of Google Play Services I have a similar question like this one. I recently (since 2 days) also have a very high battery wastage (keeps only less hours while it used to keep the whole day). In the battery settings the chart looks similar to the one in the question from the link. (Google Play Services on the top.)
Click image to enlarge

My Question now is regarding the answer in the topic from Dean:

After trawling through all manner of options I isolated the root cause of this issue.
Within Google Account Sync I had a look at all available settings and the one that seemed to be causing an issue was 'Sync Internet' option which was just constantly running (and appearing to be keeping the phone awake.
Switching this off has got back my battery back to normal.
I still have no idea why my phone was trying to sync the entire internet :-)

I can't find the Google Account Sync in Android 6.0 since the settings menu has a new layout. Is the answer still valid and if yes how can I find these settings or is the problem a new one?
Side note: I just noticed that the Google Play Store itself also received a recent update, but they wouldn't release an update with that high battery consumption, would they?

My guess is the problem is going to get worse, theoretically, since I an still on 4.2.2, so can't speak with practical experience.

Going by this, Android 6 has a great auto back up system, key changes are:

In addition to app data it saves your settings also
Reinstalling apps comes with data of those apps.
Games saved with 'Saved Games' feature of Google Play Games will have game data restored.
Back up is scheduled to happen every 24 hours or trigger based. This back up mechanism is moved to Google Play services, except for games which are in Google Play Games

The documentation configuring auto back up for apps as quoted in the link states "On devices running Android 6.0 (API level 23-API levels are tied to Android releases, so Android 1.0 was "API 1," Android 1.1 was "API 2," and Android 1.5 was "API 3."  Android 6.0,  is API 23) or higher, the default system behavior is to back up almost all data that an app creates."

I do not know how much has been implemented in the OS and the same article quotes " as of October 10, 2015: of the top 200 third-party, non-game apps, 190 targeted API 22 or lower and thus won't work on the new backup system."
How rapidly this situation will change is anybody's guess but eventually non-game apps I suppose will want to be compatible

So, my guess is that sync is going to carry a far heavier payload than before and surely be a bigger battery hog and also hurt those on data plan.

Bottom line is that it is better to disable sync or selectively sync in Google Play services and Google games services if you want to limit your battery drain, besides uninstalling those Google apps which you don't use. Since the third party app back up with data may take a long time to be fully implemented by app developers, creating custom recovery images as back up would still be required.


Can I make my phone recognize numbers in both international and local forms as equal? In an earlier question, I asked how to handle international phone book entries while traveling internationally.  The simple answer was simply to store phone numbers in their international form, which works like a charm, except for one thing.

Incoming text messages don't always get assigned to the proper contact.

I may send a text to contact Bob, who's phone number is +52 333 555 12 12 (a Mexican number).  He gets the text just fine, but when he replies, the message appears to come from simply 333 555 12 12.  As a result, I end up with two conversations, one to 'Bob', and one to 333 555 12 12, which isn't associated with any of my contacts.

Is there a way to make my phone recognize these numbers as the same (without creating duplicate entries for all of my contacts--one with the +52 and one without)?

Propably not an easy and fast solution:

If MIUI supports your Phone, then install MIUI which is not like the many roms (unstable, cluttered, for "freaks"). If it doesn't support your phone, you could still search for an unofficial version here or on XDA-Developers.

You have the possibility to go into the Dialer-Settings and set a default country-prefix. If you stay in Mexico you just set the default prefix to +52 and the incoming SMS should have the +52 assigned. If your next stay is in Krungthep Mahanakhon (=Bangkok) then you just set it to +66. This works for me.


Replace the content of a certain dead area of the display There's an area on the quarter top of my touch that is not working. Dead.
The display works on that area, the touch doesn't

I know I can disable the touch and image on that area, dragging everything closer to the bottom

But

Is there a way to do that, and instead of leaving a useless black area, display some information in there (that doesn't require touch) ?

I have Xposed

XMultiWindow is a cr@p

Aindroid M

Using xposed edge you can extend input:
From one working edge you can go halfway in direction of the broken part and a crosshair will move the double (or more, based on config) distance in the same direction.
Releasing finger will fake a tap under the crosshair.

Xposed edge require xposed framework, installation procedure for the framework depends on device and system installed, most of the time only require working recovery that is able to install non OEM signed archives.


Android device load process (preparing flashing) Standard Android OS load process looks like (from docs):

BootROM (starts with 'on' button)
Bootloader
Kernel
init/mounting
Zygote+Dalvik VM
System services

But I have a difficulties understanding load process preparing flashing (how I met it flashing Galaxy Tab and MTK cellphone ROMs)

Could you help me to find a position for those tools on this diagram:

1) The code that show logo (or battery charge in percents when power cable is on) and respond to USB (when phone is off but battery is inside) ? Where it is ? It should be postioned before Boot ROM - but how you name it?

2) who are responsible for handle "on + volumne down" to switch to "bootload" menu ? BootRom or Bootloader?

3) "preloader" how it is positioned there? (I'm not sure that I understand what preloader is).

4) Twrp ? fastboot ? odin3  does they replace Dalvik or run over it? twrp by itself look like full OS.

Boot process of Android devices up to kernel stage is very vendor specific, device specific and contains mostly closed source code. You may see clear deviations of terminologies used and differences in their implementations. Here I'm giving a simple understanding.

When charger is inserted, device boots very similar to when power button is pressed except that a very limited OS is loaded.

Device boots normally up to init stage (given at point 4). init, instead of starting services from /system and /vendor partitions, starts a process: /sbin/charger* which is not a part of AOSP. Charger binary is usually closed source and varies for different devices. It may load some pictures / animations stored on some partitions specific for this purpose.

Also some OEMs allow enabling / disabling off-mode-charge through fastboot to control the behavior i.e. whether the device should be switched on when power is plugged in or not. But it's also not a standard feature and varies for devices.
Bootloaders (SBL / ABOOT or equivalents) handle Power and Volume buttons pressed to start (Emergency) Download mode, SPL mode, fastboot mode etc. and recovery or normal kernel.
Preloader is a bootloader stage (SBL / SPL) before final bootloader (UBOOT / LK / ABOOT)
Here is the boot chain:

BootROM
Primary / Secondary BooLoader or PreLoader
Final bootloader (which provides odin / fastboot)
Kernel / Recovery (TWRP)
Init (first userspace process and in-charge of all other processes, also mounts filesystems)
Services or processes are started from /system and /vendor partitions by init (Zygote / Dalvik is one of those).

So odin (specific to Samsung) and fastboot are two independent protocols for communication with device through USB to format partitions, flash factory firmware, (un)lock bootloader etc. While TWRP is a minimal OS which is booted in place of normal boot.img (usually using same kernel) in case Android is unable to boot or needs OTA update or some modifications / maintenance.

None of them can be related to Dalvik, they are hardware specific and run at pre-kernel or kernel stage. While zygote - a part of AOSP - is a completely userspace process which forks Dalvik Virtual Machine for every app.

For details: Boot Process: Android vs. Linux


Keeping an app in memory I once read about an init.d tweak to keep an app in memory. I'm unable to find that tweak now. Does anyone have the link? An alternate method would also be welcome.

Edit : I'm using cyanogenmod 10.

You can do it according to this post on XDA:

  Make a file called 99applock.txt
  Insert code below and put you messaging service in where it says PPID (that usually can be found in data/data if your using
  aftermakrket sms app) remove the .txt extension and put file in
  ect/init.d and just give it 777 permissions, it works for me.

    #!/system/bin/sh

    sleep 60

    PPID=$(pidof com.your.app)
    echo "-17" > /proc/$PPID/oom_adj
    renice -18 $PPID


Is accessing Google Play Music subscription files legal? From Where does Google Play Music v5 store music locally? I can see that if I am rooted, I can access the .mp3 files which I have downloaded to play offline from my Google Play Music subscription and move it to (say) my computer.

Now I know(?) that rooting is legal, but is retrieving music that I have downloaded to my Nexus 5 as part of my Play Music subscription also legal? I'm not planning on sharing the files, but only playing the music on my computer and home media player (which is not an Android TV).

Form the Google Play Terms of Use

Capturing of Streams. You may not use Google Play or any Content in conjunction with any stream-ripping, stream capture or similar software to record or create a copy of any Content that is presented to you in streaming format.
Sharing. You may not use Content as part of any service for sharing, lending or multi-person use, or for the purpose of any other institution, except as specifically permitted and only in the exact manner specified and enabled by Google (for example, through “Social Recommendations”).
Security Features. You may not attempt to, nor assist, authorise or encourage others to circumvent, disable or defeat any of the security features or components, such as digital rights management software or encryption, that protect, obfuscate or otherwise restrict access to any Content or Google Play. If you violate any security feature, you may incur civil or criminal liability.


Change File System of Internal Storage to EXT4 I have an Ainol tablet Novo 7, which has 16GB internal storage in FAT32 format. Due to the file system restriction, it can accept up to 4GB file size only. How can I format the internal storage to EXT4, which I can put bigger files inside?

Can't use MicroSD, as the slot is damaged / broken.

Install twrp recovery (google it)
Boot into recovery
Go to wipe -> advance wipe -> select the system partition -> change file system -> select ext4 format
Done


How can I use Google Assistant on Android 7 to play a show on my TV on Netflix on Windows 10? - Super User So here's the setup:

I have a phone running Android 7.1.1. It comes with Google Assistant.

I have a TV, which is connected to a Windows 10 PC. I use it to watch Netflix via netflix.com in Chrome.

How can I use my phone to watch shows on my TV via voice commands? Like "Play Stranger Things on my TV" or "Play Stranger Things on Netflix on my TV".

I know Google Home and the Pixel phones can control Chromecast. Surely there's an app for Windows 10 that will allow me to control it too?

TL;DR: I don't believe there is an official Windows 10 app which will act as a Chromecast client (and I doubt there will be). Buy a Chromecast HDMI stick for your TV.

So I have a 2nd Generation Chromecast connected to my TV and through the Google Assistant on my Android phone (6.0.2) I was able to launch YouTube as well as Spotify.

Netflix is a first party partner for Google Home:

https://support.google.com/googlehome/answer/7214982?hl=en

so voice commands work there. You would still need to link up your account but if you had a Chromecast it should work.

https://help.netflix.com/en/node/23924

While you can cast from the Chrome browser it is either a sender or remote control and not a receiver. My Chromecast does appear to be updated relatively frequently which means that Google can force updates while as a client app (on any OS) it could be blocked. Additionally they would need to integrate their DRM stack into Windows which is even more work.

But what if I wanted to control my PC via Google Assistant

Setup your own server to connect to Google Assistant. You'll have a write a Windows client as well which perform the actions. One blocking point is that you'll need to have it up 24/7 to keep it responsive. If you use a hosting service which shuts it down until request the startup delay may tell Google that the service is no longer working. As always coding problems are off-topic here.


Getting "Application relies Google Play Services, which is not supported by your device. contact the manufacturer for assistance" error on custom ROM I have Micromax A114 Canvas 2.2 and I change its ROM every time I'm bored of the existing one. But this time, when I changed ROM of mobile and tried booting it with Note 4 ROM (though it is not Note 4) which upgraded my Android 4.2.2 to 4.4.4., Google apps do not work here and giving this error

<Application Name> relies Google play services, which is not supported by your device. contact the manufacturer for assistance".

I have tried upgrading Gapps for 4.4.4 and also installing version which is compatible for 4.2.2 but it does not solve my problem.
Can someone please help. I don't want to change this ROM because I'm liking it for now.

You may install any unofficial version of ROM made for your device, but you cannot expect everything to work.
If you really want newest Android version on your mobile, you may forward your request to the device manufacturer, which in your case is Micromax.
The Google Apps packages for particular Android version doesn't mean they work on every device with the appropriate Android version. They can be guaranteed to work on devices that pass the CTS. On such devices, if a bug like you have encountered occurs, you can file a bug report.
There is nothing much you can do to make Google apps work.
Alternatively, you may use the last Android version that your manufacturer released. Google apps on almost all devices get auto updated to the latest versions, and you wont encounter any such force close issues.


TWRP installation problems I have rooted my SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 2 GT-N7100 Android Version Kitkat 4.4.2.   I wanted to install nandroid backup manager for that I need TWRP  to be installed. I lost my SIM network after installing TWRP. That's probably  because of unsupported version of  TWRP

Can anyone mention  steps for installing TWRP?

TWRP for Samsung Galaxy Note 2 N7100 has the official version of TWRP for your device. It also lists out installation steps using

App
Odin
dd method

This you tube link is also helpful http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a7z8W6b2CrQ

Flashing Stock

I would suggest you go the odin way. Fool proof way is to first flash stock and then TWRP, since you have a SIM issue. Flashing stock should fix that. Flashing TWRP in the present state may/ may not help in getting your SIM recognised, so it is advisable to flash stock first, check SIM is working and then flash TWRP (of course after backing up data)

If you don't have stock with you, you can download from SamMobile after registering. Make sure you download ROM of the region you stay in.

Odin has different versions and some of the versions have options changed. Hence, the description in guides may differ with options available on the tool. This guide has a good pictorial description corresponding to newer version of Odin

http://androidmtk.com/flash-samsung-stock-rom-using-odin

Here is one more link (also having stock ROMs) from XDA


Why does phone keep switching off? I have an HTC Desire Z which I have bought 3 months ago and I usually use it for phone calls. I don't have many apps in it. Sometimes when I call from my phone it switches off and then I have to remove and reinsert the battery to restart it.
What could be going wrong here? I have Android version 2.2 on my phone.

Hacker solution: Root it and flash a new kernel.

Mainstream consumer solution: Restore to factory settings and see if that helps, or go to your wireless carrier store and have them flash your phone.


How can I install vanilla Android on the Kindle Fire? I just received my Amazon Kindle Fire and since I am not located within the USA I can't use most of services provided Amazon. So I think the best thing for me would be to install a vanilla (custom) Android ROM.

How can I install vanilla Android on the Kindle Fire?

The most stable option at this point is to use CyanogenMod. You can get it onto your Fire by doing the following:
Root and Custom Recovery
On Windows, you can use the Kindle Fire Utility to root the Kindle Fire and install Team Win's recovery (TWRP). It's extremely straightforward, and should even set up the Google drivers for you. The whole process is done via a command-line numeric menu.
On non-Windows OSes (of if you just prefer it) you can manually root with BurritoRoot. It's also fairly painless. You'll then need to set up adb on your OS, and install TWRP, which can be done by following this guide on RootzWiki. The gist of it is that you need to reboot into fastboot and then flash the recovery image, which should be:
user@linux ~ $ adb shell
$ su
# idme bootmode 4002
# reboot
user@linux ~ $ fastboot -i 0x1949 boot path-to-twrp.img
user@linux ~ $ fastboot oem idme bootmode 4000  <-- After auto-reboot
user@linux ~ $ fastboot reboot

Or something along those lines.
Flashing CyanogenMod
This works just like any other recovery system, really. Just grab CyanogenMod  and put it onto your /sdcard partition. Reboot into TWRP by powering off the device, then pressing/holding the power button at the FIREFIREFIRE bootloader (installed with the TWRP image), and use TWRP to select and flash the CM zip.
Cyanongenmod for Kindle Fire

CM10 / Jelly Bean
Ice Cream Sandwich


How do I change the number identification format (to associate with a contact's number)? I have a Sony/Ericsson Xperia Arc phone with Android 2.3 In my country, I can receive calls with the following number patterns (it's the formatting used by my operator):

12345678
0aa12345678
0bbaa12345678

However, my system won't identify the second and third options as being a number from the same contact. That's the behavior that I want: if some contact's number is 12345678, the phone software should always match with the contact if the 8 number from right to left match.

Is this possible?

EDIT

The 'aa' and 'bbaa' fields are just numbers. An example of a number could be:

01122223333

aa is a kind of region code and bb is the operator's code.In this case, if I have 22223333 in my contacts, it won't match. If I have 0441122223333 in my contacts, it won't work either. But it should (and I think that some cheap cell phones sold by operators have this behavior in my country).

Try using the format +bbaa12345678 in your contacts (so you replace the 0 by a + sign).


Is there a way to clear every application's cache? The biggest culprit is Google Music, but I would like to clear out all of my caches fairly quickly.

If I'm using my phone as a camera, having everything cached totally eats up my SD card's storage space, so I would like to either turn down the amount of caching for Google Maps, Google Music, and a few other apps, turn up how frequently the cache is cleared, or have some way to automatically clear the caches when I want to.

If relevant, I'm running an HTC Incredible with CM7.

There are plenty of apps available that will do this. One that supports both manual and periodic cache cleaning:
1 Tap Cleaner

1-Tap to clean all cache, search histories and calls log. A default cleaner is also included.
Are you running out of application storage?
You now can get more available storage space by clearing apps created cache/data files.


Where is Telegram for Android developed? (Or: is it really free software?) Telegram is supposed to be free/libre software, but where is Telegram for Android developed?

Copy of the code: I can't find recent code. https://github.com/DrKLO/Telegram claims to be the official repository but was last updated 2 months ago at 3.10.1, while 3.11.2 is currently being distributed. Is there a way to get the actual code in use?
Patching the code: as far as I can see, pull requests are never merged, even when they aren't explicitly rejected. (Perhaps some of them get merged in another repository and the recent code is sometimes published to this repository?) How to send a patch?
According to https://core.telegram.org/tsi/bugs, Telegram uses Trello as issue tracker, but no link is provided and auchry says the issue tracker was just between 2014 and 2015. How to send bug reports? Should one use https://telegram.org/support?

In short: is Telegram really free software? Is it even open source?

The App is free and will always be.

  Telegram is free and will stay free — no ads, no subscription fees, forever.
  - Telegram FAQ

Apparently they are not updating the code right after each release, but after a month or two they do (Usually.)

To submit a bug you can Contact Telegram Support within the app, Settings >> Ask A Question.

In short: It is a free software, And its somewhat open source...


App install failed but files are still filling up the phone I installed the game N.O.V.A.3. When it was finished, I got an error message saying that the install failed. However, the 1.7GB that the game required are still missing from my phone. The app does not show upp on "Application Manager. Since I used the refund button in Play Store, it doesent show there either.

My memory on the phone right now is 300mb. So, I can't install the game again or something like that. The phone is not rooted, and I won't root it since it breaks the warranty :( Is there any chance that I can remove the files without having to restore the entire phone?

I've also checked the folders when hooking up the phone to the computer. It's not there.
My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini.

I'd be very grateful if someone helped me!

SOLVED

Answer from the comments, as OP/answerer disappeared:

Browsing the device from a connected computer, those files could be found and deleted.

Unfortunately, Rick missed to say where he found them. So I include some clues where they might have been, together with some reason. These items include places to look for left-overs following even a successfull uninstall:

/data/local: That's where Google Play downloads .apk files to before installing them. As this directory also is accessible "publically", this is the most likely place for the OP's case.
/data/data/<package_name>: unlikely, as it requires root for the user being able to access it – but that would have been the place the app would be installed in
<sdcard>/Android/data/<package_name>: another candidate, again unlikely: while publically accessible, data here are usually placed by the app itself. Not being successfully installed, and neither turning up in the app drawer, the user couldn't start the app – so it couldn't place stuff here.
<sdcard>/<some directory>: same as previous point. Some apps place stuff in different places, which then does not get cleaned-up automatically on uninstall.


Outlook.com app cannot be used with data/3G I have been using the the Hotmail app to check my emails. Recently I downloaded the Outlook.com app since it is advertised for better performance and I preferred it's layout over the Hotmail app.

It works fine with my home and office WiFi. But when I tried to use it with my data (3G) connection, it does not synchronize with the server. My email is on a .com domain I own. Also I cannot even download the attachments of the previously synced emails.

Is this a bug of the app or something is wrong with my device?

This is an error with your network setting. Nothing is wrong with your device or the app.

Goto Settings -> More Settings -> Mobile Networks
Now go to Access Point Names
Click your APN, (e.g. O2)
Delete the Proxy and delete the IP Address within it, so it is "Not set"

This was solved in the Microsoft forums.


LineageOS - is it possible to install and run apps without using Gapps or MicroG? I am trying to work out whether it would be possible to use a custom rom such as LineageOS without flashing Gapps rather than using the LineageOS+MicroG as an option. The basic requirement is to be able move away from the Big Brother.
I have read that LineageOS+MicroG option is a good one but it creates security risks because of the need to do signature spoofing.
I am just a newbie here and wondering whether it would be possible to install a downloaded apk directly on LineageOS? If yes, would like to find more details on this process. If no, are there any solutions to this problem or we just have to put up with the Big Brother until Linux phones make inroads into this space?
Many thanks
EDIT: Thanks for all those who provided valuable comments/suggestions. I decided to try out LineageOS for MicroG and found it quite a painless process. The phone works great without the Big Brother tracking me. I also run DNS66 (from F-Droid Store) which stops ads on some apps. Overall, pretty much impressed with the outcome.
Thanks again.

Many people are going Google-free and gapps-free now.
Do it like this:
Install F-Droid store, then install Aurora store from F-Droid.
Aurora store is to install apps from Google Play store.
Most Play store apps will run fine...  some won't.  For those, look for alternatives.


cat /proc/mtd No such file or directory I am trying to follow these directions and I get stopped on the first step:

# cat /proc/mtd
/proc/mtd: No such file or directory

Help?

That doesn't exist on your device.  It doesn't on my Vibrant either, though I can get somewhat similar info via cat /proc/partitions.


Viewing web pages offline I have a lot of saved web pages that I want to view whenever I want without the page connecting to the web site (I can do this on WM). How do I do this on Android? Every time I click on the HTML file it says "no connection".

Save the pages with an instapaper client Save to instapaper.


Can I charge my Galaxy S9+ with a laptop charger I was wondering if i could charge my Samsung Galaxy S9+ safely with a USB C laptop charger.

here's what is says on it:

INPUT:100-240V~1.3A 50-60HZ
OUTPUT:20V--2.25A/15V--3A/9V--2A/5V--2A

For Lenovo information equipment use only

Theres a lot more stuff on it but I'm pretty sure thats the only stuff thats important.

The data of the power supply indicates that it is compliant with the USB Power Delivery Standard (USB-PD). If it has an USB logo there should be some sort of "power flash" within that logo to indicate that it supports USB-PD.

The USB Power Delivery standard defines backward compatibility, this means that by default the charger will output 5V and only switch to 9V, 15V or even 20V if the connected device has signaled by the USB PD protocol that it supports this mode.

Based on the information I found the Galaxy S9 / Galaxy S9+ support USB Power Devlivery, however they don't make use of the modes with higher voltage.

Therefore connecting it to the described charger it should charge with 5V 2A.


Too many password attempts While I was out, someone attempted to guess my phone password. They couldn't guess it and now it displays the 'too many password attempts' screen, which needs to be unlocked with a google account. However, my google account is not working. I enter the username and password correctly, and have attempted to do so about 10 times. So why is it not unlocking? Do I need an internet connection to unlock it?

You won't need an internet connection.

Also, when typing the username/email, make sure you have either @gmail.com or @googlemail.com at the end, depending on what it was when you added the account.

If you didn't add anything, the default for android <= 2.3 is @googlemail.com


Why is Google app so large? I see that Google app takes 120 Mb of storage. Since it's just an app to search things on the web, why is it so darn large?

Are there any more functions (except searching the web) that it does to justify taking up so much space?

Google App does more than just searching the web, it customizes your feed, updates you about stories, weather, etc., offers Google Assistant, Learns about how you use it and much more.
This results into an App size of about 120MB(apk size varies according to specific screen densities or Application Binary Interfaces) after installation without app data.
Analysing APK Structure of Google App 7.20.16.21.arm, I got following details which takes about 115MB of storage and further 90MB of data is stored on phone, making the total app size of 205MB.
The app size of approximately 115MB is categorized as:
classes.dex ~ 42MB(39%):

  Contains the classes compiled in the DEX file format understood by the Dalvik/ART virtual machine.

resources.arsc ~ 30MB(27%):

  Contains compiled resources. This file contains the XML content from all configurations of the res/values/ folder. The packaging tool extracts this XML content, compiles it to binary form, and archives the content. This content includes language strings and styles, as well as paths to content that is not included directly in the resources.arsc file, such as layout files and images.

lib/ ~ 23MB(20%):

  Contains the compiled code that is specific to the software layer of a processor. This directory contains a subdirectory for each platform type, like armeabi, armeabi-v7a, arm64-v8a, x86, x86_64, and mips.

res/ ~ 10MB(8%):

  Contains resources that aren't compiled into resources.arsc.

assets/ ~ 5MB(4%):

  Contains the app's assets, which the app can retrieve using an AssetManager object.

META-INF/ ~ 2MB(1%):

  Contains the CERT.SF and CERT.RSA signature files, as well as the MANIFEST.MF manifest file.

Rest ~ 1MB(1%):
org/, AndroidManifest.xml, build-data.properties, etc.

Further 90MB of data stored on disk consists of search history, feed data which grows with the app usage.


I installed and executed this app which is a virus or malware now what to do? I had this message pop up and unfortunately

I installed and executed this app which is a virus or amalware now what to do ?
Please see the photo here

Of course I mean the app that came when I pressed the button in the captured photo?

You became a victim of a typical phishing scam. The problem at this point may or may not be severe, depending upon the state of SELinux enforcement in your device and un-patched known vulnerabilities in platform software. I would suggest begin by hunting down any app which has been recently installed.
I tried App Detective1, Elixir 2 and Solid Explorer Classic and all of them were able to sort the apps by time of installation and/or update.
Note: If the app offers sorting then have it sort in descending order. Whichever app entry you would touch, you would be shown certain information. One such information is package name of the app. Note it down and so as the label/name of the app.
Now, in order to remove the app, go into application manager of your device. That would mostly be Settings app → Apps → All apps. Search for your app and uninstall it. Repeat the whole exercise if you installed more than one malware.
Note: some malware apps tries to be smart (funnily). Through phishing they have the user set them as device administrator, which makes them temporarily immune from force stop as well as removal. Under application manager of your device, if you find your malware with having Force stop and Uninstall button grayed out, then you may be dealing with a device administrator. In that case go to Settings app → Security → Device administrators → deselect the entry for your app.
If you cannot find the app by its label/name in application manager, then setup adb in PC and execute this command:
adb uninstall PKG  # PKG refers to package name of the app you intend to uninstall

Tip: all the three apps I tried, they also offered removal of a user selected app; at certain point of app removal, you might need the assistance of safe-mode.
If the app exploited a vulnerability then it may have become a system app. In that case, you shouldn't bother about removing the malware because you may not be skilled enough to ascertain where else the infection may have occurred. The cleanest approach is to have the stock ROM flashed on the device. For that, you may seek technical help from the  vendor or on this site or forums out in the wild. Anyhow, the details about flashing a ROM are beyond the scope of this answer.
(Click an image to enlarge it; order of images: App Detective, Elixir 2, Solid Explorer)

Lessons for future:

When browsing in any browser, ignore any warning -- no matter how convincing or scary it is -- that asks you to install an app or to share any piece of personally identifiable information. That's just spam and will always be.
Keep Unknown sources setting disabled. It's not a coincidence that it is a security setting.

1 Courtesy of HasH_BrowN for the answer here.


TWRP ask for password - cant mount data partition I want to install an open ROM like AospExtended on a new Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 with stock MUI. To avoid issues with Xiaomi's anti rollback mechanism, I'd like to boot TWRP then copy its image and install it permanently as described in many posts like here.

But TWRP can't mount my data partition, it asks me for a password. I had none set. Regarding to this post I tried setting a password for the lockscreen. Altough he has the same problem with an older version of android, it doesn't accept the password.

Some threads like this recommend OrangeFox instead of TWRP. But the 9.0-1 shows the same behavior:

With 9.0.2 of OrangeFox it doesn't ask for password any more, so this seems to work. But why isn't it working with TWRP? This post said it's fixed in 3.2.3_1. Since I booted 3.3.1-0 like this:

> .\fastboot.exe boot D:\Downloads\twrp-3.3.1-0-whyred.img

This fix should be included. As a workaround, I'll try OrangeBox (especially in regard to OTA updates, havent tried OrangeBox before). But I'd like to know why those problem exist with TWRP and how could it be fixed?

I've used TWRP over the time with different devices and it always worked well (also with OTA updates).

i have experienced this with two other Xiaomi devices. first i could track it down to older unofficial variant of twrp 3.2.3 which is still decrypting with default password when official twrp 3.3.1 fails. so implementation of decrypting differs from each build, sometimes it is just a missing line in fstab, sometimes they forgot a flag during build.
But this is not the full explanation. Recently working twrp started to fail after MIUI OTA update. This means the encryption depends on ROM (system or vendor) therefore these partitions need to be mounted for decryption (which twrp normally does automatically).
encryption security may have changed/improved with new android version and twrp has not implemented that in your build. I have also seen twrp variant which does successfully decrypt userdata but does not mount /data because of a wired parameter related to disk quota. Flashing a disk quota disabler may help in this case. basically its a try and error to find a recovery which is working - which you have found.
Your question is therefore ot and should be discussed on github or developer boards


How do I update an OTA while retaining TWRP and Magisk, only with my phone? I have a OnePlus 6 that uses the A/B partition schema.

Previously with my OnePlus 5  with TWRP, I normally download the OTA package, reboot into TWRP to install it, and then TWRP img and Magisk ZIP afterwards. Then I have a fully updated system with TWRP and Magisk.

Now with A/B partition, the OTA gets installed immediately after downloading. I can only flash Magisk before rebooting, by manually extracting the boot image using command-line tools and Magisk's "Patch Boot Image" function, before flashing the patched boot image back. However, I see no option to install TWRP in this way (I'm currently not able to apply the ZIP using CLI tools). Any ideas?

Some good points for OnePlus over AOSP: OnePlus detects Magisk root and downloads full image instead of incremental OTA image, which saves the time for boot restoration, and also allows installing OTA even if /system is modified.

However, there's no "Disable Auto OTA Installation" in Developer Settings, so OTA installation may not be avoidable to some extents.

This answer is more applicable to AOSP and not One Plus 6 as I realized post edit by OP. Retaining for general info

You can't ATM

Welcome to the convenience and complications of A/B partitions

Firstly, A/B devices don't have /recovery partition as recovery is included in the /boot partition. Which means everytime you update custom recovery is replaced by the stock recovery. For more details, see the second link in my answer here `Wipe Cache` option in Google Pixel 2!
For retaining root,that is Magisk, the developer has recommended a method for OTA installation which doesn't entail extracting / patching boot images
For custom ROM's too Gapps don't survive OTA updates unless the Gapps are modified (as in the case of official Lineage OS for my device MiA1 as an example)

It may be possible if the custom recovery is also modded to survive OTA like Gapps. AFAIK, this is the current state for A/B devices which means you can't update OTA on the go and have custom recovery without having a PC (reason for me to delay OTA updates)


Internet is not working except Whatsapp application In Xiaomi Mi 2 mobile, I can't connect to internet except Whatsapp application which is running smoothly.
I can't open any website on any browser also Gmail and other apps are not working.

This happened after phone reset and changing sim.
I called AirTel customer care, they say that internet is fine from their side.

Please suggest something to fix the issue.
Thanks

I finally found that proxy was set to some ip in APN setting.
    I removed proxy and saved APN setting. And Internet is working fine now.

  Mobile Networks > Access Point Names > open the one APN > delete the
  content in Proxy


I can just access Google and YouTube via a Wi-Fi hotspot created by my Windows 7 laptop. What’s wrong? I have followed every step of this instruction, but my Android phone can only access Google and YouTube – and no other websites. What is wrong?

It may be due to a DNS-server problem, but I cannot figure out how to fix this. When connecting to the hotspot, I cannot change any DNS-settings.

Since the hosted Wi-Fi network is just like any normal Wi-Fi connection, you have to modify it, preferably using static IP address (this lets you change DNS settings as well)

Firstly check your IP, DNS settings on your windows machine by running ipconfig/all. Take note of the Microsoft Hosted Network Virtual Adapter.
Basically you need to check its configured (Preferred) IP address, you need this later to use as your gateway and(or) primary DNS server.
On your android device, long press on your newly created network and select modify.
On the IP settings, select Static and choose the IP address (check with your gateway for IP address range e.g gateway= 192.168.37.1, your desired IP will be anything from 192.168.37.1-255 etc)
Fill the first DNS (aka DNS 1) with the gateway IP address
Second entry choose any custom DNS e.g 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4(Alternatively you can configure all Google DNS entries)

Edit

Your issue seems strange I reckon you need to reset IP settings and flush DNS:
open command prompt and enter the commands:

netsh winsock reset all
netsh int 6to4 reset all
netsh int ipv4 reset all
netsh int ipv6 reset all
netsh int httpstunnel reset all
netsh int isatap reset all
netsh int portproxy reset all
netsh int tcp reset all
netsh int teredo reset all

This will clear the stored DNS cache in Windows. When the DNS becomes corrupt you will not be able to get to some sites. Flushing and rebuilding the DNS will fix that problem.
Also resets Winsock entries & resets TCP/IP stack.

Update

The problem has since been resolved by using the settings below in the Internet Protocol property (of the configured adapter) in Windows:

Then on your android device set up static settings as describe above

This successfully resolved the matter:

  You forgot to mention that The preferred and alternative DNS server
  should be 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 in Windows’ Internet Protocol
  Properties. You did not write anything into it, and I did not think
  about it either. But now it works perfectly!


Does Google+ client come preinstalled on Android phones? Does Google+ come preinstalled on Android phones? Is having it a mandatory requirement on manufacturers to be certified by Google?

Google Plus is not shipped typically as an standalone app but a part of the bundle named Google Apps (GAPPS).
The core of the GAPPS package is the famous app named Google Play Services which is accessible directly by the user in the form of Google Settings.
That said, an OEM isn't allowed to ship Google Plus or any part of GAPPS package, without the consent from Google. Google on the Android Compatibility page has stated that:

Licensing Google Mobile Services (GMS)
After building an [Android compatible device], consider licensing Google Mobile Services (GMS), Google’s proprietary suite of apps (Google Play, YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail, and more ) that run on top of Android. GMS is not part of the Android Open Source Project and is available only through a license with Google.

(Emphasis mine)
See also: Android forks: Why Google can rest easy. For now

To get their hands on GMS apps, OEMs need to license them from Google; and in order for a device to get a license for the apps, it must pass the Android Compatibility Test Suite and meet the Android Compatibility Definition.

Is having it a mandatory requirement on manufacturers to be certified by Google?

I can't answer this part satisfactorily since I'm restricted to my opinion. However you may take a note on the info in the aforementioned link. It has mentioned that certain OEMs are contractually bound to not to produce non-Android compatible devices so as to avoid Android fragmentation which would be inimical to Google's business. The contract itself isn't released for the public view, so you're possibly on your own.
As for the part why the users are being forced to use or at the least have them in their device, you should consider asking your OEM first! :)
Also see: Why do phone makers not let me uninstall their pre-bundled apps?

Edit by Izzy:
as Firelord asked me to include it, I'll append it here:
There's an article on Engadget on the Google Mobile Application Distribution Agreement (MADA), which describes some of the background. Simplified, if a manufacturer/OEM wants to include Google Play Store (which most want), they must not only include a bunch of additional Google apps, but also place them on the main homescreen page. So yes, this is "a mandatory requirement on manufacturers to be certified by Google" – not only for Google+.


How to find a lost Android phone? My father's Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge was stolen, and we're having a hard time finding it. He logged on Find My Device and has registered it, but the phone is obviously not connected to the wifi to trace it. It has SMS, and can be called, but the caller keeps hanging it up. Only a matter of time till the caller shuts down the phone and can never be traced. Any options?

You can track your phone using his IMEI, usually found in the box of the phone itself, try to use this website
and insert there your IMEI


How to detect a malicious USB charger? My phone is rooted and has USB debugging enabled because I do some development on it.  In a moment of pre-caffeinated mental weakness, I plugged it into a cheap Chinese power bank. The phone promptly stopped responding to touch input until I hard-rebooted. This reminded me that malicious chargers are apparently a thing.
My google-fu hasn't shown any in the wild, I have no other symptoms, and Malwarebytes is giving me the all-clear... so I'm not particularly worried.
Generally speaking though, how would you go about detecting a malicious charger?

You can't. The only real world way to detect if a charger is malicious is to plug it into a device that it could possibly infect. Yes, I'm sure with some forensics equipment you could technically check for this kind of thing, but it just isn't practical.

Instead, only charge your device with chargers you can trust. If you see a USB charging port, or any kind of device that is supposed to charge your phone and you aren't sure what the other side is connected to (such as in airports where there are USB ports) don't use it.

It's more of a game of paranoia than detection. I wish there was a better alternative as much as you do.


How to Set 'Play' Button Behavior on Bluetooth Remote I have a RocketFish Bluetooth headset paired with my MotoDROID v1 (Froyo).  The BT headphones have multimedia controls (volume up/down, next track, previous track, play/pause) and a button to trigger voice dialing.  I have it paired both on the handsfree headset profile and the advanced audio profile.

When I click the play button on my headphones, the behavior is unpredictable.  I might have the Music app up, but clicking play will cause Listen to launch and begin playing a podcast.  I might have Listen in the foreground, but clicking play will cause the Music player to start playing from a playlist.  Other times, the play button will behave as expected and cause the app in the foreground to play.

Is there any way (outside of rooting my device) that I can indicate which app should be acting on these button presses?

Normaly the developer can set which button do which action. So it is different from app to app.  The only way is, sorry, rooting and remap your headset buttons.


Is "android_secret_code" a code to unlock the SIM? On my Sony Xperia E, I copied and extracted my SIM unlock app (the official one) and found a bunch of 7 or 8 numbers with the words android_secret_code.

Is this my SIM unlock code? If so, just to be safe, does anything happen if I get this PIN wrong?

No, android_secret_codes contains a list of dialer codes to enter hidden menus. It is typed in Dialer to enter those hidden menus (they are usually in form of *#-------#).

You need the PUK Code (PIN Unlock Key) to unlock your specific SIM card. You can get PUK from your carrier network. You can call them and get the PUK once you verify your identity.


How can I archive old contacts out of My Contacts? On an Android (6.0), how can I archive old Google contacts where they do not show up in my contacts but they are listed in either:

the google contacts website under other contacts
archived in another app/cloud storage securely.

Ideally moving them from the archive to my contacts list would be doable from a mobile app, or the archive service would have a mobile website where they are accessible.

To clarify: I don't want to delete them forever or be inaccessible on mobile.

Just with one account also you can achieve this.

In contacts app, go to menu and create a new label like "Archive"
Tap on label and add contacts.
From menu go to settings, and in "contacts to display" select customized, and expand your google account, now here all labels will be shown. Select all labels except Archive.

Now contacts moved to Archive label will not be shown in list.


How to disable "Mini Call View" feature in Google's latest Phone app? The latest version of Google's Phone (v 23) app has a feature called "Mini Call View" in which when you answer a call it won't open the phone dialer. Instead, there is a notification in the notification bar and if you expand the notification bar you will see an on-going call and a button to hang up and another button to start speaker phone.
I don't like this feature and I want to disable it. I want the full phone dialer to open up when answering  a call.
Does anyone know how to disable Mini Call View in Google's Phone app? Or at the very least does anyone know how to open the phone dial pad by default when answering a call?

It looks like this mini call view primarily happens when you have Do Not Disturb enabled. If you disable, the regular Phone app view should appear when you answer a call. Same with if you add an exception to your Do Not Disturb list and that person calls.
I was able to fix my issue by adding the particular contact to my Do Not Disturb exception list.


New "On cbvl" notification on lock screen I just noticed about an hour ago that on my lock screen, on the bottom left just above my phone icon, there is a new suspicious looking "on cbvl" notification.

There are 3 little notifications in the cluster. The first is the wifi icon with "sprint", which is usually there. The second is "Charging" which is normally there when I'm charging. The third is this new mystery line that has the silhouette-of-a-head icon (used for contacts) that says "On cbvl".

Does anyone know what this is? It is making me very nervous because I cant find anything on Google about it.

Figured it out.

My pocket was busy. It went to:

Apps> Settings> Lock Screen> Owner Info

And checked the checkbox, and then closed everything out.

Nothing nefarious. My owner name is just apparently "cbvl", and my lock screen was telling me that.


Karbonn A1+ CWM recovery I have a Karbonn a1+ and i have rooted it. I want to install CWM recovery plz tell me the method and files that i require. Also my hardware version is 1.1.0 and software version is 2.0.2. Also is it possible to upgrade my phone to 4.0 i.e ice cream sandwich.

Download CWM here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/kf88nz9k9adugqa/A1%2B+recovery.img

Download Mobileuncle tool: http://www.mediafire.com/download/lmd4m939ymahddz/Mobile+uncle+tools%281%29.apk

How to install

Download Recovery.img and Mobileuncle tool from given links
Rename A1+ recovery.img to recovery.img
Copy recovery.img to root of your sd card
Install mobileuncle tool
Open mobileuncle tool. Click flash recovery from sdcard, allow root permission, and click ok. Thats it.

Information found on XDA Forum (source).

Custom ROMs for the Karbonn A1+ are few, but I found this XPERIA Rom forum. More can be found elsewhere. Do your research and you'll find some more.


System default camera app not showing up I am not able to find the system default camera app icon in menu on my GiONEE P5L handset (Android version 5.1). But the app is still on the phone and it's working as well. Able to take photos and videos. I want to show the icon in app menu. Someone please help me.

Open Google search and type "open camera"  then it will open