Acquire Android image using flash drive OTG In Linux, the dd command is used to pull the image from the smartphone to computer. And of course, the smartphone need to be rooted before the dd command launched.

Is there any specific command or script to be put on the flash drive, to acquire image of Android smartphone and store the acquired image to the flash drive On-The-Go?
How to make it the operation automatically run after the flash drive is inserted? For example: Once I insert the flash drive into Android smartphone, the dd command run automatically and the acquired image stored to flash drive.

Edit : For Forensic purpose, i would like to minimize footprint process such as installing any apps before the flash drive inserted.

Is there any specific command or script to be put on the flash drive, to acquire image of Android smartphone and store the acquired image to the flash drive On-The-Go?

Nope. No special command or script is needed other than cat or dd, the binaries thankfully Android comes with.

Often, the auto mount point of a flash drive is /mnt/usbotg (may differ for your device), so the command would be

dd if=/dev/block/BLOCK_DEVICE of=/mnt/usbotg/FILENAME.img

Replace BLOCK_DEVICE with the block file's name (the partition you want to copy). It may start with mmcblk.

If required, see How to list all major partitions with their labels?

  How to make it the operation automatically run after the flash drive is inserted? For example: Once i insert the flash drive into Android Smartphone, the dd command run automatically and the acquired image stored to flash drive. (sic)

Unless you're planning to inject a BadUSB into the Android device, you would need an automation app. I found Tasker and Automagic suitable for the job. Both are paid apps with free trial version available on their site.

Tasker

Here is a simple complete profile:

Profile: State → Hardware USB Connected →  Mass Storage
Task: (Actions):

Code → Run Shell:

Command: dd if=/dev/block/BLOCK_DEVICE of=/mnt/usbotg/FILENAME.img
check Use Root

This should be enough but I prefer to add some glitters here and there. I would wait for 10 seconds after flash drive is mounted before executing the command. I would also give visual indication to myself that Tasker is running the countdown.

All of this can be done by following this simple procedure:

Set a variable to maximum length of countdown (Variables → Variable Set)
Wait for 1 second (Task → Wait)
Subtract 1 from the remaining of variable (Variables → Variable Subtract)
Cancel any Tasker notification (Alert → Notify Cancel)
Give visual indication of countdown (Alert → Notify → include variable in Title or Text)
Repeat the said steps (exclude variable set) for countdown (Task → Goto → Action Number: 2)
Run the command (Code → Run Shell)

This would work. However, the moment you plug your flash drive into your device, Tasker would seek confirmation whether to continue with this flash drive or not. It can remember the device for future correspondence.

Automagic

Automagic would introduce you with a mandatory know-how, so details are not  important here. The basic flow would need:

Trigger: Storage Media Event; Event: Mounted
Action: Execute Root Command → fill the details

Activate the flow and Automagic's service, and test the flow.

There is one major caveat here. There is no differentiation between the type of storage connected, hence, your flow may trigger if you inject SD card too.

Note: Rather than keeping the command inside the apps, you can keep it under a script and place it in your flash drive. Configure your automation app to confirm whether the script exists in the mounted flash drive and if yes, execute it. For confirmation, Tasker already has Read File action. Else, ls "YOUR_SCRIPT" should help.


How to extract/backup your phone contact list and browser bookmarks (stock browser, not chrome) Android - how to extract/backup your phone contact list and browser favorites (stock browser, not chrome) - a modern Samsung smartphone.

Hi, I am grateful for any replies (pls note that we always talk about a non-rooted device, and I have no desire to root it, & I have no desire to use the inherent google-backup methods):

1)   How can I extract my entire contacts list in a way to be able to import it again to another similar Samsung phone? Any way to do it without using an App for it as workaround? If there is no way around an app, which app(s) would you suggest are considered to be very "safe" and 100% non-malicious?

2)   The same question - this time for calendar items extraction?

3)   Finallly the same question for my Android Stock Browser bookmarks (not chrome)? Both, the bookmarks which are available in the "Normal" browser mode, and the bookmarks which are separately stored in the "private" browser mode.

If you know also of a way to doing one of those 3 things but without the ability to import again to another phone, this is also very helpful. My prime interest is in backing up, and if I can import again to another Phone, even better.

Thanks for any technical explanations!

Depending on your intended recipient the Samsung SmartSwitch application can do everything you want.

It can back up contacts, calendars, applications and almost all other data.

It's primary use is in transferring files to a new phone, but it also has a mode to transfer data to a backup held on your MicroSD card.

In order to simply backup data in the current version you will see an icon representing a microSD card in the top right corner of the application when you launch it, next to the three dot "menu" icon.

On the next page you will see either a list of backups or "no backup" if this is your first. Tap the "Back up" button at the bottom of the page.

Tapping that will bring you to a screen that allows you to select contacts, applications and images (and so on) to back up.

Your Calendar and bookmarks are stored under those applications. If you connect to Google calendar and don't use the on-device calendars then you will have a warning telling you as much when you tap on the ">" icon next to "Applications".

You can then transfer the backup to a new phone and use Smart Switch to restore it, or you can simply keep the history.

It also has a Windows version, presumably primarily intended as a backup tool.


Block Adult Websites Is it possible to block all porn, chat sites, and adult content web pages on a Samsung Galaxy Ace 2? And is it possible to hide the fact that they are being blocked?

Using only your Android:

Kaspersky's Parental Control software does exactly as the title says.

Mind you, it's still in beta, but I did install it and tried it out, and it seems to do it's job of blocking websites as well as applications.

By the way, Kaspersky's not the only app out on the store that you can use, but I chose it due to its reputation. It's after all an application that is going to monitor the network traffic and if it's just any other app, it could steal your credit card numbers maybe. Who knows.

PS: As far as I know, this application cannot be hidden, unless of course you installed a launcher like Smart Launcher. Even then, there is an option for you to show the hidden applications, so it's not going to do much good.

If the phone/tablet is accessing the internet through the Wifi alone:

In this case, you can setup your router settings so that it blocks certain sites etc. It won't be too hard to find the settings; just enter this URL in your browser - 192.168.1.1 - and you should get an interface to login to the router.

For more info, I suggest you did a search on Google on how to block sites through your router.

Advanced Option

I'm not very sure about this method but it should work.

Get a server setup to act as a proxy.
Setup a program on the machine so that it'll be able to monitor and restrict access to a selected number of websites.
Route the phone through the proxy server... and it should do the job.

PS: I welcome comments from anyone who knows if this method is really workable.


Sensible method to edit contacts on a Samsung phone? Currently the Samsung app for Contacts is driving me nuts on my S9+.

I used to have my contacts entered as I wanted them into the Phone address book (only one other phone number on the SIM). But then the Contacts app started to pester me about wanting to merge contacts. Dismissing those notifications by touching that X in the top right of the notification window ended up removing the one contact that was most complete for my significant other (in a sense the master contact which also contained address, birthday, siblings and stuff, aside from the phone numbers). Instead I now have her Telegram and Skype contacts as a single entry in the Contacts app. Alas, that single entry cannot be edited, only deleted. But given the intransparent handling of this stuff, I'm really afraid to delete it, because it warns me that the contacts will disappear from where ever they are defined (so presumably deleting this one entry from Contacts will end up deleting the contacts in Telegram and Skype respectively).

Anyway, so I figured I'd simply start creating a new contact for the Phone app to use, even though the phone number was already mentioned in the combined Telegram and Skype entry.

Guess what, when I create a new entry it cannot be named the same as the existing one, even though the existing one cannot be edited. I'm out of words for how badly this software is designed ...

How can I manage the contacts on my Samsung S9+ in a fashion that makes explicit where a contact is stored (i.e. where the respective data comes from), lets me merge them in either direction and lets me move them between the different address books of connected accounts (SIM, Phone, Google, mail provider)?

NB: I'd like to avoid any method involving syncing to Google or so ...

Try to go into your contacts (in the app you use to phone people), then click a button that says Create Contact and put the number, name, and whatever more info it needs.


How to fix Telstra network dropouts on Gingerbread Oxygen ROM? It's a long shot, but figured i'd give it a go.. I've installed the Oxygen RC6 ROM on my Telstra HTC Desire.  It's pretty much perfect - better than this phone has ever been. It's fast, great to use, no space issues (you can force any app to install to the SD Card which solves my biggest gripe with the desire - minimal internal memory for app storage), and is just all round brilliant.

But there's one problem, and its a doozie.  Every now and then (at least a few times a day) my phone drops its network connection. When i go into settings and try search for networks, it can't find anything.. its as if the radio turns off completely.  Rebooting the phone more often than not fixes it, but still sometimes takes a while to sort itself out.

Its really annoying cos there'll be times where its off and i wont even know it.

The ROM i've installed is this one:
 http://android-roms.net/desire/2011/01/06/oxygen-v2-0-rc6/

I've tried installing a new radio (32.46.00.32U_5.10.05.17_2 on the following page):
 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=687464

any suggestions how i can fix this?  Try a different radio?  Advice on the best one to try?

Thanks heaps
Greg

Check your APN settings. Make sure it's pointing to the right one, http://www.t-mod.org/?page_id=72


Getting started with emulator I'm sorry that this is almost certainly one of those "read the docs" questions, but I've been trying to do so for a while now, and my head is spinning. I suspect what I want is impossible, but would appreciate if someone can confirm/deny/point me in the right direction before I tear any more hair out.

I want to start to tinker with Android and determine whether I want to learn this environment or not. I have installed Android Studio on my Ubuntu Linux 18.04 primary development machine which has 32G RAM and an I7-4790 processor. However, I also have VirtualBox running and it's not an option to shut that down. Consequently, the emulator refuses to start.

My investigations then came across "genymotion", but their website seems to indicate that even a single dev license is over a hundred bucks a year. Am I right about this, or are they merely hiding a community edition somewhere? I'm not willing to pay for the tools at this stage of discovery.

So, my specific question: is there a zero money emulator that I can use on Linux, concurrently with VirtualBox?

EDIT: I took advantage of the need to do some upgrades and took VirtualBox  down for ten minutes last night. I succeeded in proving that the emulator and the AndroingStudio installation work perfectly under these conditions.

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


Issue a command to the camera from command line via SSH If I have an SSH app like SSH Droid, is it possible to issue a command to the camera to take a picture from the command line of a remote SSH client? If so, would you have an example of such a command?

SSH Droid info

  SSHDroid is a SSH server implementation for Android.
  This application will let you connect to your device from a PC and execute commands (like "terminal" and "adb shell") or edit files (through SFTP, WinSCP, Cyberduck, etc...).

The device I'm looking to use it on is ver 2.3.

I don't have experience with sshdroid. Termux does have an option to record pictures from the command line.


Cannot paste files into System/Media I am looking to change my boot audio but cannot change it due it not copying from my computer to my phone but I can copy from the device to my computer.

I have the latest version of Android Studio / SDK
I have the latest version of Droid Explorer

I can view my files and copy from but can't paste to my device.

Please can someone help

Hello my device is rooted and has supersu and exposed framework and BusyBox

Also I can make those changes if I copy to sd card and use es file explorer to paste them to system media folder.  Also before I installed busybox the folder contents of my device didn't display in Droid explorer it would connect but was a blank directory so that's been fixed but as for file permissions it hasn't as I have rooted it and given ADB root permissions etc but can only take files from the device in Droid explorer but can't paste them to the device

You need to root the device and give permission to copy files using any root explorer.


Help with a phone which shows nothing but the boot screen I have an Android phone that isn't starting up. All it shows when I power it on is the boot up screen. The recovery mode does not start and the ADB shell on my laptop fails to detect the device as well. What can I possibly do to get my device running again. I don't mind formatting the phone. The device is a Karbonn Titanium S1. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Updated:

The adb devices command detects the device as long as it is switched off and connected to the PC via USB.
adb shell -> recovery --wipe_data gives a segmentation fault '139' error.
Trying to boot the phone at times ends up  in a screen that says:

  Encryption unsuccessful

  Encryption was interrupted and can't complete. As a result, the data
  on your tablet is no longer accessible.

  To resume using your tablet, you must perform a factory reset. When
  you set up your tablet after the reset, you'll have an opportunity to
  restore any data that was backed up to your Google Account.

The phone does not boot into recovery mode the manual way but does enter a frozen recovery mode when I run the adb reboot recovery command with an "data mounted failed" error.

The solution would be to flash your phone with a stock ROM. Search for the procedure online or take it to the service centre if you are not confident enough.


Format external SD card from android I am having issues with my SD card, it just gets on getting unmounted and mounted many times per day. I have read online that the best thing to do is to format my card.

I've looked online and everywhere it is suggested that I use the built-in format function found in "Settings > Storage > Unmount SD card + Format SD card" but the option "Format SD card" never shows.

This is what I have before and after unmounting:

 Before Unmounting          After Unmounting

Screenshots - (Click to enlarge)

I also tried to format from linux (I am an Ubuntu user) and I got some error (both in gnome disk util and gparted).

Further info:

My question is then: How can I format my external sd card? I don't have a card reader.

Wiko Darkmoon
Custom rom: superdragonpt_v1.0 from xda, 4.2.2, kernel 3.4.5

"Erase SD card" formats it. Back up data before formatting, because all of the files are deleted. You can format from the PC aswell, by mounting as Mass Storage, and formatting it like an regular USB.


Force Samsung s7 to bypass Pattern Lock and use Pin My daughter has forgotten her pattern lock.  She knows her PIN but it's not giving her that option, only the pattern lock screen.

Is there a way to get access to the PIN lock screen?

The first answer is 'No' as one can use only one type of screen passcode and you are using 'Pattern Lock' so it replaces your 'PIN lock' which you enabled last time.

  As I'm not sure of security settings of your device, i am assuming it that it may have previous facility from back days devices that uses first 'PIN'/'PASSWORD' and then additional is 'LOCK PATTERN'.
  If this is the case, try to draw wrong pattern 5 times if PIN is enabled as secondry passcode it would ask you to put your 'PIN'.

Last option would be factory reset your device as it will remove all the current locks.

How to factory reset s7 ?

Turn off your device.
Press and hold the Volume Up and Home buttons.
While continuing to hold volume up and home, press and hold the Power button until RECOVERY BOOTING appears in the upper-left then release all buttons.
Select Wipe data/factory reset option on screen by using your volume +/- key and power button to click option.
Confirm by pressing power button for 'Yes'.
Wait, let the system reset finish.
Now choose 'Reboot'.

Remember: Your device can ask for you to sign in with owner's google account(the account previously signed in before resetting device) as a FRP feature.
So make sure you have credentials of your google account.


How to close (shutdown/kill) the Android web browser? I did read this question
What is the right way to close apps in Android? but I want to know how to close - that means close - application to save power and download limit.

My observations tell me that Back button brings me to the previous page (something I am not after) while Home seems to me leaves the page loading in background. So the question is how do I exit the browser.

I tried Advanced Application Killer but I don't think it worked ...

Using
HTC Desire on Android 2.1

Closing the browser has no benefit. The android subsystem manages the memory on the device really well and will free up memory from background applications if it needs it. As I understand it, it does this by saving the application state in a database on disk. If you run the application again, it can then rebuild its state from the info in the database.

If you want to stop the browser from downloading and you can't see the "Stop" button, press the menu button. This will bring up the address bar allowing you to press the stop button. Although if the address bar has disappeared then chances are your phone is not downloading anything, unless the site you are on has Javascript on it which is causing it to refresh elements regularly. If this is the case you are on your own.


Need to recover data from Microd SD card which was undetectable and used as internal storage on mobile I was using my MicroSD card as internal storage on android marshmellow and suddenly my device stopped detecting the Card. Removed it from Device mad connected to PC but it only asks to format the drive. I need to recover data from this Card. i tried chkdsk but it says cannot format RAW disk.

Helo,

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

What happens is this:

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

My solution:

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

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

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


LG G3 | An alternative to lock files in gallery? Before the marshmallow update I could easily hide some folders on the gallery app. Now with the marshmallow they changed this functionality to lock files. The problem is that large files take too long to lock and when the screen goes off during the process it simply doesn't not lock the file!

What you can try as an alternative is to locate the file/folder using File Manager or File Explorer. Then simply rename the file. Just add a dot at the beginning of the file name, and that file/folder will be changed to a hidden file/folder.


Android 4.4.2 on nexus 4/7, wifi connection loss I have a Nexus 4 and a Nexus 7 (2013).
Recently I've upgraded my wifi router as part of moving to VDSL.
The problem:
The android devices disconnect from the wifi after some time, I can not reproduce or find the exact time it takes for it to disconnect. After the connection loss the device still "think" it is connected to the wifi (and even shows signal strength), however there is not connection.

I've noticed that problem with the first router I brought (router+vdsl modem netgear vegn2610). At first I thought that the router is the problem since I didn't have that problem with my old router (tplink 841n). So I changed it to d-link 6850u (another router+vdsl modem combo from my ISP). The second router has the same problems.
Notice that other devices (PCs and laptops) do not suffer from this problem.

Both of the routers are 11agn routers and both are capable of 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies. The problems are present on both radios.

Is there anything in the wifi radio/protocol configuration that might be causing this problem?

Thanks a head!

this looks like the typical hassle with Qualcomm's WiFi chips and some routers. Both Nexus 4 and 7 use a WiFi chip manufactured by Qualcomm. Depending on your router's configuration those chips will stop responding after some time when the device is in standby.

A temporary quick fix for this problem is to assign a static IP to your devices instead of using DHCP. This can be done in most routers using a MAC->IP mapping.

If this doesn't help, you can stop reading now.

There are three other methods of fixing (of which one will require root):

Non-root:

Go to WiFi settings -> Advanced and set your frequency to 2,4 GHz only (this will work at a 50% chance)
Go to WiFi settings -> Advanced and disable "WiFi Optimisation" (WARNING: this can lead to a huge battery drain in busy networks)

Root:

Open a file explorer (e.g. ES Explorer) with root privilegs, move to /etc/wifi and open the file WCNSS_qcom_cfg.ini.
Edit these three parameters so that they will all be enabled (=1):

gEnableActiveModeOffload=1
hostArpOffload=1
hostNSOffload=1

Save the file and reboot your device.

A little bit of explanation:

The feature that is messed up in Qualcomm's configuration file is ARP - Adress Resolution Protocol. ARP is meant to map a hardware's MAC adress to it's IP adress so the router can directly call the connected hardware via MAC adress. Usually the router periodically sends ARP requests to connected devices to ensure they're still in the network. When the device is awake and the CPU is active, it will deal with the ARP request and everything goes well.

Once the CPU is asleep, it's the WiFi chip's job to deal with ARP requests so that the CPU needn't to be powered on every time an ARP request arrives. If ARP-Offloading is disabled though, the chip won't respond to the request and the router will kick the device out of its IP<->MAC map, which eventually leads to a dead connection.

When you assign a static IP, the whole ARP stuff is not needed obviously.
Disabling WiFi Optimisation will make the CPU inspect every packet so it will deal with ARP instead of the WiFi chip. The problem here, that this will hinder the device from going into power save mode.

I personally had the same WiFi problems until I manually fixed my .ini the way I described above. It took me nearly half a year to figure the problem out. I hope that I can help you with that!

Best regards!

DISCLAIMER: I'm not responsible if you harm your phone or data.


Will changing of SD card result in the loss of YouTube offline videos? I presently own an 8GB memory card. I wish to switch to a 16GB card now, but I do not wish to lose my offline videos. If I copy the .exo files, will it still be playable in the YouTube app? Or should I download it again?

To the best of my knowledge, and based on the Android device that I own (Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 ), the location of offline YouTube videos is as below:

  Internal storage->Android->
  data->com.google.android.youtube->files->Offline->(system generated
  folder name)->streams

Hence, switching to another SD-card (which is external storage) should not remove/delete your offline YouTube videos.

Just to be absolutely sure, you can first check the location of offline videos on your device (which should be something similar to the path mentioned above) and then you can proceed with switching SD-card.

But one thing you may note is, if you uninstall YouTube App's update, all the offline YouTube videos will be deleted.

You may want to check more details HERE and HERE.


Droid X2 constantly changing USB mode to PC mode So I'm trying to manually backup my SD card and transfer over files to flash the CM9 alpha4 to my phone, but it apparently decided to just start automatically switching to PC Mode. No matter how many times I try to switch to USB Mass Storage, it changes back to PC Mode before the drives can even mount.

The only thing I've done since I was last able to change modes was upgrade Titanium Backup to the Pro version and run a backup.

I transferred the CM9 files with Dropbox and flashed. The issue didn't persist after flashing.


Creating App and Swap partition for Android I have got Karbonn A5+. I dont know how much ROM, RAM it exactly have.

When I go to Settings > Applications > Manage Application it shows 191MB used, 11MB free.
But, when I open Advanced Task Killer, it shows 220MB free.
The same is shown when I go to System app, it shows: 220MB available. It also shows 48% used, 52% free.

So I conclude that both apps show RAM+ROM clubbed, while Settings > Applications > Manage Application show only that for ROM. Thus according to System app, if 52% is 220MB, my phone is having ~419MB ROM+RAM.

But it still have ~200MB ROM (out of which only ~10MB usually free) as shown in Settings > Applications > Manage Application. And phone has already started giving me "Low on space" warning and now I am not able to install any app. I have moved all possible apps to SD card using Apps2SD, but since am not yet rooted am not able to move some apps.

Anyways now am deciding to root, install CyanogenMod for JellyBean (am stuck at Gingerbread :( ). But before that am deciding to buy 32 GB class 10 (to get better loading speed for apps moved on SD) MicroSD, partition it to have App partition of 4GB and a SWAP partition too since I think 419MB ROM+RAM is still small.

I am trying to do it as explained here. It uses Link2SD and Swapper apps.

Will having SD card space dedicated for SWAP partition be a good decision?
Is partitioning this way a good idea at first place?
When I read reviews of Swapper many people give it good rating while some considerable number of people say it may brick your phone. What should I do? Am not at all experienced in rooting and MODing. But have read a lot of stuff to get me confident. My first obvious step will be to do NANDROID backup with CWM. But after using Swapper if I brick my phone (like as reviews say it just stuck at start screen), how can I restore from backup?
Also the tut asks to have FAT32 formatting for data partition and ext4 for App partition. Why is it so? What should be the ideal ones?
The screenshot of Link2SD asks for "File system of SD cards second partition". Why is second partition asked?

Free Space

Here you must distinguish between the several partitions:

/system: This is mounted read-only in normal mode, and the place where "the system" is installed (Android core apps plus most of the pre-installed "bloatware"). No matter if it shows "220 MB available", as a normal user cannot make any use of that "free space"
internal storage (/data): This is where the user installs his apps, and where all the user data reside. Most crucial part, and the place where your report states "11 MB free" -- which most likely will trigger the "insufficient memory" error, see insufficient-memory). To free up space here, you can do things like...

uninstall apps you once installed but no longer need (most efficient part)
move apps to SDCard (see app2sd). Apps must explicitly support this (though there are root-methods to enforce the others, it might have side-effects). Still, parts of those apps will remain here -- unless using things like link2sd.
cleanup cache (only temporarily helps, as cache will fillup again)

internal SDCard: Some devices (not all) offer this as additional storage. App2SD may move apps to this place. Aside from that, you can store files here (documents, media files, etc.)
external SDCard: No need to explain this one, right?

Unless you really know what you are doing, you should not manually change the partitioning (e.g. to move some free space from /system to /data). You might break things, especially future updates (where the Android system may need more space than it currently does).

SDCard

Just a short note on that. While one should no longer "save money" buying anything below class-4, additional money for class-10 might be "wasted". My recommendation is to go for class-6 as the best compromise between speed and spent money. Compare the specs for read speed and write speed between class-6 and class-10 when in doubt. If you still want to go for class-10, make sure your device supports it.

Swap

Controversely discussed nowadays. Depends very much on how much (physical) RAM you have available in your device, and what kind of apps you use. I tend to say with recent hardware and a recent Android version (2.3 and higher) there's no need to go for swap. The Android system does a good job on handling memory, and if your device has 1 GB (or more) RAM available, I do not see where swap would improve performance. But as said, that also might depend on what apps you are using.

Also for your question concerning Swapper: Keep in mind that swap only creates "temporary data". So with "swap broken", you could simply de-activate it without losing data (as it holds no permanent data).

Partitioning

As said above, I do not recommend to touch this yourself unless you are really experienced with it. Rather leave it to the "experts". Especially I would never make the /system partition smaller, for given reasons: you might encounter problems with future updates -- not only with newer Android versions, but also with different ROMs, as different ROMs also go with different selections of pre-installed apps.

File system types

I cannot imagine any tutorial recommending FAT32 for /data -- you must have misread that. I even doubt FAT32 would work here, as it IMHO does not allow for the Unix permissions to be supported and required by /data. However, FAT32 is recommended for the "data part" of the SDCard, for compatibility reasons: it is the file system readable by most operating systems.

The "App partition" usually is /data, and many ROMs use ext4 here (some older ones might still use YAFFS2 instead).

But coming to that point, I'm pretty sure you misunderstood the "targets" -- and "App partition" versus "Data partition" is referring to the SDCard, which brings us to the last point of your question:

Partitioning the SDCard

This is usually not required but optional, and makes only sense in combination with either App2SD+ or Link2SD to move apps out of the "internal storage" (see above) to gain free space in that most crucial place. It might need a little additional information:

Some apps support App2SD to move larger parts to the SDCard. However, with USB Mass Storage (UMS), when you connect your device via USB to a computer the entire SDCard would be "moved" there, and apps as well as data residing on it become "inaccessible" to the device itself. This is one of the reasons some apps will not support App2SD -- especially when providing widgets and/or services. Several approaches exist to circumvent this problem:

App2SD+ / Link2SD use a second partition on the SDCard. Android would only "give away" the first partition of the SDCard via UMS, so this second partition remains untouched, and its data/apps/... stay available to the device
switching away from UMS and using MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) instead, the card is no longer offered to the PC "as a whole" (i.e. including physical access), but in a logical way the computer is permitted to access files on it. So even while mounted via MTP, the device has full access to the card. This is what recent Android versions do -- though some users might have a hard time to get it working with their OS's where it's not always supported "out-of-the-box".

Conclusion: If you want to stay with UMS, a second partition on your SDCard might prove useful. Switching to MTP instead, there's no need for that anymore, unless you want to use App2SD+/Link2SD for other reasons (e.g. not only move the apps, but also their data/Dalvik cache).


Lock screen with multi-factor authentication (biometric and pattern) Is there a way to require two forms of authentication to unlock your device? My preference would be to use my fingerprint sensor in addition to an unlock pattern.

I'm using a Nexus 6p with Android 7.1.2.

I kinda know what u mean but if your fingerprint does not recognize on your phone, they will prompt you with the backup PIN.

Edit : There is no way of doing that as far as i know


What can play Ogg Opus on Android? Opus is a new open source lossy-format that replaces Vorbis and the outperforms all the other proprietary alternatives to it. However, what plays Opus on Android? Thus far the only thing I've found is Firefox! How come my browser can play Opus -- and none of my music players?

I even wrote Alex, the developer of PowerAmp he said,

  something like that is planned - you can check for details here:
  http://forum.powerampapp.com/index.php?/topic/1794-poweramp-todo-listfeatures-in-progress/

And, it says nothing of Opus support in the future?

VLC for Android is reported to support opus format. (src)


Opera Mini saved web page location I have Opera Mini 7.6.3. I had saved some web pages that I was hoping to transfer to my computer but I can't locate them using File Manager. I have searched both Internal storage and external SD card. Where does Opera store saved web pages?

AFAIK Opera Mini saves webpages for offline use in a native format it can understand. You won't be able to use the pages even if you found them on your phone.


How to remove rounded black corners which appeared after system upgrade? I recently let my Nokia 3.1 to upgrade to Android 10.
I don't know if it's Nokia's will or Google's but rounded black corners appeared on my screen, and are kept permanently visible during any app runtime.
Is there a way to remove this feature ? I have found nothing in the system configuration menus. I also tried some app implementing custom corners but apart to add another layer of corners, it can't remove the ones I initially want to disappear.
Some pictures:

The rounded corners don't appear in screenshots.

Found this on reddit (thanks to "jyapayne"):
adb shell settings put secure sysui_rounded_size 1
adb shell settings put secure sysui_rounded_content_padding 5

First line is the corner "roundness" and second line ist the padding of the status-bar elements to the edge.
The Thread


Recovery mode not working in Samsung Galaxy Fit I have a Samsung Galaxy Fit to which I installed Clockworkmod Recovery. When I put my phone into recovery mode by pressing home+power only the Samsung logo appears; the phone is not booting into stock or Clockworkmod Recovery.

My phone is rooted with Superoneclick.

How can I restore it back to stock or Clockworkmod recovery?

I installed Clockworkmod Recovery before rooting my phone using Odin.

Don't know if I understand the question correctly, but the phone is working but you are not able to enter recovery mode, right? If the phone is working just try again installing Clockworkmod.  If the phone is not working, installing a stock rom, or any other rom, witch you can find searching here, will remove clockwork(assuming you don't chose a custom rom that comes with clockwork).

Hope i answerd your question, if not just leave a comment with what you would like to know and I will reply.


Where is the license information for an Android app displayed? I assume that all Android apps are licensed. However I can not find the  license information anywhere. I thought it would be available when the app is viewed using Google Play Store so you could decide whether or not you were happy with the license before downloading the app. I can not find it on the Play Store or anywhere else. Where is it please?

You can get license information from Apache.
These websites contain open-source code. For example:
https://android.googlesource.com


Message Center Missing I cannot find the message center of my galaxy s4 phone. I know exactly where it is supposed to be, however it is not there. The section reads: Text Message (SMS) settings Delivery reports Manage SIM ...

I am not sure of what you are looking for exactly, but i find this and it may help you :

How to set up your mobile phone for SMS

An SMS is a text message which can be sent to other mobile phones. You'll be able to send and receive SMS as soon as you've inserted your SIM card into your mobile phone. If this isn't the case, you can set up your mobile phone for SMS manually.

1.

Find "Settings"

-Press Messaging.
-Press the Menu key.
-Press Settings.

2.

Save the message centre number

-Press Message Centre.
-Key in +41794999000 and press OK.

3.

-Return to the Home screen

Source : Device support

Hope it will help.


Spica i5700: How to downgrade from froyo 2.2 to eclair 2.1 I have a Spica i5700 with Froyo version of 2.2.2.

I want to downgrade it to Eclair 2.1, because I find the screen often produces erratic movements such as auto-input to my password even if I am not inputting anything. It also auto-scrolls, even if I am not scrolling it.

You'll need to use Odin.  This blog has a guide for how to flash 2.1.  To summarize you put your phone in Download mode, connect it to your PC, load the firmware into the appropriate field(s) in Odin and hit Start.  The site has a link to firmware but if it doesn't work try samfirmware.com.


Is it possible to connect Samsung Galaxy Ace with USB but without Kies? I have a Samsung Galaxy Ace and my problem is that I am unable to connect the USB to my PC, without starting Kies software. Is it possible that I can connect my Ace to my Laptop without using Kies, because if I have to connect my mobile to any other PC, that may not contain the Kies?

Disable USB Debugging mode in Settings -> Development, and try to connect the device. I'm assuming you have installed Samsung Kies, because all device drivers for Samsung devices are present only in that software, and not on the device.


Internet Connection disabled automatically on Samsung Galaxy Ace I am using Internet on my phone using packet data connection since many months. From few days I am facing a very weird problem. My phone stops showing the Edge symbol after sometime. When I switch Off my phone and then switch it on, it runs fine for few minutes. But after that it again stops working.

I have an unlimited connection , so In settings - > "Use Packet Data" is always checked mark. I never unchecked it. But not getting the reason for the problem and how to fix this. Please help me out!

Go to Settings ==> Wireless & network settings ==> Mobile networks ==> Network Mode Its going to open another window with title as Preferred network mode.

Now try to Select WCDMA only option. Wait for 10 sec. We can see the network is getting reset and try to find the 3G signal. Now open the same pop up again and select GSM(Edge or 2G) connection. Now again networking related stuff gets reset again.


Install TWRP on Samsung Note 10.1 I am following this guide from Cyanogenmods to install TWRP on a Samsung Note 10.1 with Android 5.1.1 installed. I have activated USB Debugging in Developer options and connected the tablet to my computer, accepting the connection in the dialogue that pops up in the tablet. I then issue the adb command:

$ adb reboot bootloader

There is no error message, either on the computer or the tablet, and the tablet reboots.

I then issue the flash command:

$ fastboot flash twrp-3.0.2-0-lt03wifiue.img
< waiting for device >

And nothing else happens. The tablet remains silent and the command line in my computer is stuck. How do I move on from here?

Update I: This is the system and software in my computer:

$ uname -a
Linux ENG-PAVIL-PC2 4.4.0-87-generic #110-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jul 18 12:55:35 UTC 2017 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

$ apt policy adb
adb:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 1:6.0.1+r16-3
  Version table:
     1:6.0.1+r16-3 500
        500 http://ch.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/universe amd64 Packages

$ apt policy fastboot
fastboot:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 1:6.0.1+r16-3
  Version table:
     1:6.0.1+r16-3 500
        500 http://ch.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/universe amd64 Packages

Update II: The bootloader version on this tablet is: P600XXUDQA1

Update III: heimdall was referenced below as an alternative to fastboot, but it is not able to communicate with the Samsung Note 10.1:

$ heimdall flash --no-reboot --RECOVERY twrp-3.0.2-0-lt03wifiue.img
Heimdall v1.4.1

Copyright (c) 2010-2014 Benjamin Dobell, Glass Echidna
http://www.glassechidna.com.au/

This software is provided free of charge. Copying and redistribution is
encouraged.

If you appreciate this software and you would like to support future
development please consider donating:
http://www.glassechidna.com.au/donate/

Initialising connection...
Detecting device...
ERROR: Failed to detect compatible download-mode device.

$ adb devices
List of devices attached
4300ee259691c037    device

Update IV: Still trying it out with heimdall, which so far is the only tool providing any bit of hope. For some reason it sometimes fails to identify Download mode - that is the reason for the error messages in Update III. By plugging in/out the USB cable and using the detect option one can eventually make sure it acquired the device:

$ heimdall detect
Device detected

Then the flash command succeeds:

$ heimdall flash --no-reboot --RECOVERY twrp-3.0.2-0-lt03wifiue.img
Heimdall v1.4.1

Copyright (c) 2010-2014 Benjamin Dobell, Glass Echidna
http://www.glassechidna.com.au/

This software is provided free of charge. Copying and redistribution is
encouraged.

If you appreciate this software and you would like to support future
development please consider donating:
http://www.glassechidna.com.au/donate/

Initialising connection...
Detecting device...
Claiming interface...
Setting up interface...

Initialising protocol...
Protocol initialisation successful.

Beginning session...

Some devices may take up to 2 minutes to respond.
Please be patient!

Session begun.

Downloading device's PIT file...
PIT file download successful.

Uploading RECOVERY
100%
RECOVERY upload successful

Ending session...
Releasing device interface...

Now things get tricky. If the tablet is rebooted normally after TWRP is flashed, the stock bootloader (I believe) will replace it automatically. In this case when the tablet is rebooted into recovery mode it will just run the stock Android recovery programme. It took me a while to figure this one out...

After flashing TWRP, the tablet must be rebooted directly into recovery mode. The problem is, it shows an error in the booting screen:

  Could not do normal boot. Invalid KERNEL LENGTH!

TWRP does not load and the tablet just shuts down. That is how far I am right now.

Note 10.1 (2014) has its bootloader unlocked by default, just like most if not all devices annouced pre-Lollipop.

Under Windows, the actual installation is as simple as described in the TWRP device page:

  You will need to download and install Odin on your PC. Once you have Odin installed, download the proper .tar file for your device from the download link above. Power off your device. Turn on your device using the proper key combo to get into download mode and attach the device to your computer via a USB cable. Use the PDA tab or button to browse to and select the tar file that you downloaded and flash the device.

Under Linux, Heimdall is required instead, and steps are somewhat different: download the .img file, get into download mode, (optionally) verify connection with heimdall detect, then execute heimdall flash --no-reboot --RECOVERY /path/to/recovery.img to flash it to the device.

Do note that there are multiple, very different variants of this device. The WiFi version (P600) and LTE version (P605) are based on different SoCs and therefore use different recoveries and ROMs, while the Verizon variant (P605V) has a locked (and non-unlockable) bootloader which means you can't flash anything on it.


Prevent complete charging? I'm looking for a way to prevent my phone from completely charging every time it is connected to my computer. I want to reduce the battery's capacity loss, as it is non-replaceable, and it seems to me that keeping the maximum charge at around 50% to 60% would be ideal. This chart, from this site, suggests that the benefit would be significant.

Capacity at    Discharge
full charge    cycles

100%           300 – 500
90%            600 – 1,000
70%            1,200 – 2,000
50%            2,400 – 4,000

The only potential solution would be to find a way to current-limit the cable so that the phone would have to run off battery. You cannot simply disconnect Vcc and Ground pins, as the USB standard requires the presence of those electrical connections before D+ and D- pins are permitted to be energized. Running off battery like that would just increase your charge cycles, causing the wear you want to avoid.

As far as apps, there is no way to programmatically control the battery charging subsystem in this way; BatteryManager outputs information but does not accept inputs from user apps.


How to use -net-tap with android sdk emulator? I am trying to create a bridge between android emulator (from android sdk) and host system using -net-tap. Is there any working manual for that case? I have tried to launch emulator with -net-tap tap0 - tap0 appeared in host system, but no one interfaces appeared in guest android. I also tried
-qemu -net tap,iface=tap1,script=no, but it also doesn't work. I checked /proc/kmsg, there are no anything connected with new interface.

Full cmdline looks like /opt/android-sdk/emulator -avd test-x86 -accel off -no-audio -net-tap tap0 -qemu -net tap,ifname=tap1,script=no

Does anyone have an idea?

I think -net tap is the old way, use -netdev tap with new android sdk emulator and -device virtio-net-pci for x86 android emulator. For ARM emulator you must use an other device.

And you must install the emulator package with the sdkmanager as this:

sdkmanager emulator

Then you can use the emulator located in /opt/android-sdk/emulator/emulator.

Create a network bridge which include a tap interface (tap0) for the emulator and an ethernet interface (enp0s20u1) connected to a lan network.

# ip addr flush dev enp0s20u1
# ip link set enp0s20u1 down
# ip tuntap add dev tap0 mode tap user $(whoami)
# ip link add br0 type bridge
# ip link set enp0s20u1 master br0
# ip link set tap0 master br0
# ip link set enp0s20u1 up
# ip link set tap0 up
# ip link set br0 up

A quick overview of the bridge.

# brctl show
bridge name     bridge id               STP enabled     interfaces
br0             8000.0050b609a5d1       no              enp0s20u1
                                                        tap0

Start a dhcp client on the bridge:

# dhcpcd br0

Then you can plug the tap interface (tap0) to the android emulator via -qemu options when you launch the emulator.

./opt/android-sdk/emulator/emulator \
  -avd android_25_x86 \
  -verbose -no-window \
  -qemu \
  -device virtio-net-pci,netdev=hn0,mac=52:55:00:d1:55:51 \
  -netdev tap,id=hn0,ifname=tap0,script=no,downscript=no

Normaly a new eth1 interface is present in the android emulator. And you can run the dhcpclient binary if it present or configure static route to your network, then it work.

generic_x86:/ # ping -c 1 -I eth1 8.8.8.8
PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8) from 192.168.1.60 eth1: 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=55 time=17.1 ms

--- 8.8.8.8 ping statistics ---
1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 17.160/17.160/17.160/0.000 ms

But I have some issues to ping the emulator from the outside or route all the traffic in the emulator to the host network, see my other post.

Connect android emulator to lan


Mobile network sign disappears, replaced by "stop sign" icon I am using Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 N8000 device. I have SIM card inserted for mobile data usage. First time, it is working as I captured status bar image as shown with mobile data sign :-

but after some time, mobile data sign disappears and "stop" sign appeared as shown in the picture :-

What does that stop sign mean?

The icon will appear when your mobile provider network is down. No signal at all, so SIM appears as out of service.

(Image courtesy of Android Central's Forum)


Connected to Wifi but not internet I have S4 ,I have a full 5 bar signal on the WiFi but no internet

if I try to browse internet it says : the server at www.google.com can't be found,becasue the DNS look faild.
 I tried connecting / reconnecting, turning off the phone and restarting it but no Connection.
while the other devices such as I phone ,another Galaxy are OK

please advise what do to do

You can use a static ip address and gateway address. It's also possible to edit the nameserver. You also need a route for the interface. You can use the route command to add a route. When you have a terminal emulation and root user you can type route -h to show a little help screen. To add a route try this: route add default gw xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx dev xxx.


How to resume reading document opened in google pdf viewer When I open a pdf in google chrome, I get the choice of opening it in google pdf reader, because I installed that app.

Now I want to resume the app to continue reading.

How do I list running apps to resume it?

It seems like I can click the downloaded file (in the notification area) to resume reading it where I was, but the notification area is something I clear regularily so that will not be an option.

Is there a way to get the download directory as an icon on the desktop?

It appears that Google Chrome first have the file downloaded through Downloads app and then have it opened in the app chosen by user. Well in this case, you can just drag the Downloads app icon from your launcher's app drawer onto your home screen. Tap the icon and behold all your downloaded files available to you.

(Click image to enlarge)

You can also try beeshyams' approach of using a third party file manager app, such as ES File Explorer or Amaze File Manager. In both the apps, you can long press on the Download directory and under option choose Add Shortcut or Add to desktop. The folder would now be found on a new home screen as an icon.


Android GTalk, Chromium Gtalk, Gmail Gtalk - how can i send files such as image, music, video clips like whatsApp? I am using on my Android Gtalk where i can only do chat text send and receive. But how can i do all the features of WhatsAPP from Gtalk?

Features like:

file transfer (image pictures, music, video clips)
Audio replay from the chat by history
Video reply from the chat by history

Is there any way to make Gtalk by default to do file transfer features?? So that pictures in mobile can be sent, musics in mobile can be sent etc can be sent from mobile directly ??

Google Talk doesn't have any of those features. It's meant as a complement to Gmail, and it's intended that if you want to send files or persistent things to your chat partner, you'd email them.

If you want a chat system that has all the features of WhatsApp, why not just use WhatsApp?


How can I access Internal Storage + SD Card as a drive on Windows? On an unrooted Samsung phone, how can I access and modify the files on both /sdcard/ (internal storage) and the actual SD card, from my computer, as real folders and files (not PTP/MTP/etc which don't allow you to do anything)?   I don't care if it's over a physical cable or wireless, etc.

I need to be able to delete files, move them from one folder to another, including from internal storage to sd card and vice versa, view their properties, measure disk usage, compare files, etc.  All the things I can do from a normal folder on my hard drive.

I've tried FTP server, SFTP server, etc. and nothing has ever worked.

The best solution I have so far is to take the SD card out of the phone, plug it into a card reader, and plug it into my computer, then run Servers Ultimate on the phone to share the internal storage over FTP, and mount that on my computer using NetDrive2.

You can use Samba server to achieve that, and for that purpose I'd recommend LAN Drive and it works without root and it supports  SMB1 (CIFS) and SMB2 protocols.
In this way, the device acts as a network drive where you can manipulate files/folders (copy/paste/move/delete etc) as if there were on local drive. However a little well known obstacle is that Windows can access a samba share only on TCP port 445, and on a non-rooted android a normal application can't listen on port 445.
As mentioned already in this post: Using SMB server without root access,

SMB either runs on ports 137-139 (UDP and TCP) using NetBIOS or on
newer systems (from Windows Vista onwards) directly on TCP port 445
where in the latter case computer names are resolved by the LLMNR
(Link-local Multicast Name Resolution) protocol which runs on UDP
port
> 5355

.
Thus apps not running as root can't bind to unprivileged ports (<1024). This is possible, nevertheless using TCP Port mapping. You need to install a port mapping software.
Instructions

Install the port forwarder - Multi Port Forwarder (the suggested one in App's tutorial)
Configure the port forwarder:

The rules we will implement :

Rewrite outgoing TCP packets to ip-phone:445 become ip-phone:1445

Cloning outgoing UDP packets to any:137 become any:1137

Cloning outgoing UDP packets to any:138 become any:1138 Note: We clone the UDP

packets to not break the actual network discovery.

Add TCP, UDP rules and save

Change the ports in the LAN drive settings, click the Save button and Start the server:

Go back to Explorer in the network places (Windows), and access LAN drive

Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with LAN Drive software
Acknowledgements
LAN drive - Samba Filesharing Server SMB1 and SMB2


Why I am not able to login on two smartphones? What is the meaning that I an not able to login on another device?
I am sure that user and pwd are correct but on the second device it give me this message "user/password are not correct".

I try to set the smartphone with another account and it is easy to do that

I regularly use my account on the smartphone and on the pc

Having two phones logged into the same Google account works perfectly fine. If it tells you the username or password are incorrect, then most likely one of them is incorrect. In particular, if you're using different soft keyboards on the two phones, take extra care when typing punctuation characters and numbers: they could be in different places on different keyboards, so you could type the wrong one without realising it.


Checksum Error on restoring userdata*****.backup file I gave my Phone (Celkon A95) into a service centre because of touch malfunctioning before it I backed up the user data by pressing Power and Vol+ buttons, it gave me a backup file called userdata20130902_131223.backup. After a few days I got my phone back and when I restored the data it gave me "Checksum Error". I'm unable to restore my previous data. Is there any way get back at least messages and contacts?

Sorry for my bad english.

Stock Android recovery backup files can be restored with a Nandroid custom recovery, if you simply repack them into tar archive.

i put this two command lines in a dirty shell script (extract + repack as tar). thanks to ektoric figuring out his gunzip method!

the shell script will convert your backup file into nandroid backup automatically. download >bckp2cwm.zip< at

From http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=65374561#post65374561


Issue with the Apps that are installed on SD Card after reinserting the SD Card I am using an Xperia X10 mini pro (Android 2.1-update1). I rooted the phone and partitioned the 8GB SD Card into two parts.
1. ext3 2. FAT32.

I installed Link2SD to move the apps to SD Card. This has been very useful as this application has an option to move the installed/updated apps to SD Card automatically.

But recently it happened to remove my SD Card from phone and inserted another 2GB SD Card for some other purpose. I started the phone and the apps that are showing on phone aren't working as I installed them on my SD card. So I put my 8 GB Micro SD card back to phone. Now the problem arose. I was not able to access the apps installed on SD Card. I had to reinstall all the apps that are there in my phone.

Is it how it behaves ? Don't I remove my SD card from phone ?

I did a little amount of Experimenting on this and found that its happening only on inserting another SD Card. My mobile is searching for the apps on the newly inserted SD Card. As there are no apps found it might be deleting the links on phone memory. This is my guess only.

Still the question stays "How to overcome this kind of scenario ?"

Try rebooting the phone after re-inserting the SD Card.

Some older launchers (e.g. Eclair stock) simply don't refresh their app drawer when you re-insert the SD Card, even though the apps are re-mounted. You can check that the apps are indeed back by going to Menu -> Settings -> Applications -> Manage applications and seeing if the "missing" apps are listed there. If so, a reboot will fix it.

Alternatively, you can simply restart the Launcher app by going to Menu -> Settings -> Applications -> Manage applications then scrolling down to "Launcher" and tapping on it, and then tapping on the "Force Close" button.  Now if you press the Home key, the Launcher will restart and should have all the apps back.


Bluetooth headphones won't re-connect automatically I'm using an old HTC Sensation XE with Android 4.1.2. Recently I bought a Creative WP-250 and encountered a weird issue with it. It paired with no problems, sound is going out through those headphones, mic is working as well but if I turn them off and on again it won't reconnect automatically and I have to manually go to Bluetooth settings each time and tap on the on it in the devices list.

Isn't there any way to make Android reconnect to a Bluetooth device automatically if it's available? My friend's Nexus seems to be doing it but I can't find any such option in my phone.

Try Bluetooth Auto Connect App. It automatically tries to connect to your Bluetooth devices when Bluetooth has been turned on or when your device screen goes on.
First, connect and pair with your Bluetooth device manually (this is a requirement) and then just turn off and on Bluetooth (or leave Bluetooth on and turn the screen on) and it will auto connect.


Meaning of fields in "Enable Wi-Fi verbose logging" Does anyone have a link to clear docs on the meaning of all the fields for Wi-Fi networks when I Enable Wi-Fi verbose logging in the developer options?

I can guess a few and worst case I can read the source, but I was hoping for a clear and simple table.

Specific fields are:

rssi (this is about the only one I'm 100% clear on)
score
tx
rx

Also, the extra data after the mac address of each access point, e.g.

[(1){FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF*=2462,-49,4s};]

The data after: the first number should be frequency (Mhz) and signal strength (dB) of the connection. Don't know about last one, but (n)s is standard notation for (n)seconds... Perhaps the log interval.


Is unroot still possible in this case? I have an LG Optimus One ( LGP500 ) running 2.2 and I rooted it using the z4root tool, version 1.0. From what I saw, back then it didn't have an unroot option. In the meantime, I did an update using the LG Mobile Tool, and I think it updated my system to 2.2.2 .

I noticed that the newer versions of z4root have an unroot option, so I upgraded my z4root from 1.0 to 1.3, to try to unroot the phone ... but I only see the Temporary root and Permanent root options. I tried pressing the Permanent root and it seemed to do something, after which it returned me to my Home. From this, I'm drawing the conclusion that rerooting did not work. I am assuming z4root needs to root, so that the unroot option is available.

Is there anyway I could unroot my phone now?

As you have come to realize, official updates (OTA or manual) will most likely patch previous exploits to obtain root and you will most likely lose root during the process of updating.  It is recommend to NOT allow updates if you wish to keep root.  Certain mods, such as CyanogenMod, will automatically block OTA updates to keep this from being a problem.


Difference between ways of rooting device Possible Duplicate:
  Why can't the su binary simply be copied (techical response please)

What is the difference between flashing device with root ROM and simple pushing su utility to device using adb without flashing it?

If I don't need to launch applications which need a root functionality, but just need to relocate some files in android file system, using su, do I need to flash my device?

In my understanding, the end result is the same in both cases, it's just the rooting methods that differ. Some devices have vulnerabilities that can be exploited in order to push the su binary to the device via adb (example), but these do not exist in all devices. This is why flashing is required sometimes.

TL;DR: It depends on your device.


How Android VNC server receiving key/mouse events from VNC clients How does the Android VNC Server receive key/mouse events from VNC clients? Can any one explain that to me? I am curious to understand.

VNC uses simple protocol, called RFB, you can read more here:

http://www.realvnc.com/docs/rfbproto.pdf

Basically, it's a simple client/server based network protocol, server listens for clients to connect, once a client is connected, clients send mouse/keyboard information to the server using packets. The server parses the messages, and inject key/mouse to the local system.

We released a new VNC Server, VMLite VNC Server, first vnc server working on any android devices:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vmlite.vncserver&hl=en


How to sync a folder on Google drive to android My workflow is as follows:

Photos/videos from my camera's SD card are processed on a PC.
Final photos/videos are auto synced between a folder on the PC and Google Drive using Backup and Sync.
Photos/videos are downloaded from google drive android app to phone.
Photos/videos are used from phone on apps.

I have to do step 3 manually. Is there a way for my phone to download photos/videos from Google drive in the background so that they are available in the Gallery app when I need them.
Phone used: Samsung Note 10

Yes. I use Folder Sync for a very similar workflow. It works fine and I have it running on two devices. Additionally, you can setup up automation for scheduled sync.

FolderSync enables simple sync to cloud based storage to and from local folders

Autosync for Google Drive is another alternative


Usb Debbuging is not working I have Samsung Galaxy J1 4G, Android 4.4.4 KitKat and Windows 7. Previously I have installed Intel App Preview, disabled and then enabled USB debugging and it works. Then, I uninstall and reinstall Intel App Preview and USB debugging is not working.

I experienced a similar problem, I solved by remove and install samsung drivers from my computer.
In order to see if it is a 'driver problem' try to connect your phone in debug mode to another pc, better if it is running linux.


How do I disable the popup when I connect my phone to my PC via USB? How do I disable the popup (the one asking me if I want to mount my SD card) when I connect my phone to my PC via USB?

I've been told it's a feature of CyanogenMod but I can't for the life of me find it. I'm using CyanogenMod 7.0 RC, with Android 2.3.2.

If you enable USB debugging in the Developer options, the phone's "USB Connected!" screen doesn't popup anymore :)


Find-and-Replace on contacts Is thee any way to perform a find-and-replace in contacts? I want replace a letter with another one in all contacts texts. (My device is an Xperia Mini Pro Android 4.0)

You can export the contacts from gmail, than edit in whatever editor you want and than import back to google. Your phone should then update the changes.

How to export from gmail:

http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=24911

and how to edit the CSV files:

http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=12119&topic=1669027&ctx=topic

There are also related links on the left (for import and other questions)

If importing them back to google makes duplicates, remove all google contacts and then import from CSV.

If your phone does not currently use google contacts sync for it's contacts you can try a similar "hack" by exporting contacts to the SD card and then importing them back.


How to unbrick my Samsung Galaxy Y I put custom ROM ussrv8_evanlocked@ogy@xda after rooting my Samsung Galaxy Y, and then I wanted to update kernel to overclock my phone (I followed this set of instructions).

Now the phone is not starting. It shows

E:failed to mount/cache(invalid argument)
E:can't mount/cache/recovery/last_log
E:can't open /cache /recovery/last_log

in recovery mode. I tried to reboot, but then it shows can't mount data/rebooting... and the phone shows the Galaxy Y logo.

I also tried to unbrick by Odin in download mode, but whenever I'm trying to connect the phone with PC it shows "device driver is not successfully installed".

What to do?

Point 1: The error u have shown regarding cant mount **** has nothing to do with your phone bricking. Its just compilation errors in building CWM recovery (i blv this is the one u hv used)

Point 2: Unbricking by use of Odin is by far the easiest way to get ur phone back and working. This link will help you if u follow it properly link

Point 3: Regarding your driver issue I have a solution which will definitely solve ur problem (as it worked with me thrice..!)

Install Samsung USB drivers software which u will find in the above link.
Put ur phone in Download mode
Connect it to the PC
After it fails to recognize the drivers, go to device manager and check for "Unknown" device
Select options Manual Installation > Select from list
Select Samsung ADB driver
Proceed to Odin flashing...!


Desyncing android phone from google We set up our daughters new phone using my husband google account. He turned off the sync for contacts on just her phone because she doesn’t need all his contacts. Several days later most of his contacts were deleted and ones that he had deleted off his phone were now back on his phone. How can he keep his contacts on his phone and not on our daughter phone

The easiest way to do this is open a new account for your daughter.
If you want your daughter to have access to apps puchased by your husband, have a read on how to share the apps with family here:
https://support.google.com/googleplay/search?hl=en&q=Family&from_promoted_search=true


How to root Android 4.1 in order to use SD card for internal storage? I made the mistake of buying a cheap Chinese phone on Ebay to use on Three or Orange in the UK, a 4" Malata I60 Android 4.1 Dual Core MT6577 1GHz. It's okay for what little I need, except the internal storage shows as a total of 179MB.

I've moved whatever apps I can to my 30GB SD card and using App Cache Cleaner, but I am still only left with 36.8MB of free space.

This is causing warnings whenever updates are found and even causing updates to fail for lack of space if I am actively using the phone.

Does anyone know where I could find reliable step-by-step guides to rooting Android 4.1 and using the SD card for internal storage?

Thanks for the info, will check it out.

Meanwhile I've managed to root it and move most of the apps to the SD card giving me a little more space even though Link2SD doesn't recognize the 2GB partition no matter what format it's in.

The phone is at least usable now :)


Is there any known memory leak in Gingerbread 2.3.3 fixed by occasional reboot? Related to battery usage? I notice that when I reboot my Samsung Captivate, it runs smoothly for about 2 or 3 days.  After that, I notice that there is a lot more lag with various apps, and the launcher screen is more likely to die and restart, mostly after running the browser.  After I reboot, it seems to behave fine.

Today was one of those days where I needed to restart.  I also noticed that the battery drained much more quickly today (down to 45% after 3.5 hours).  Looking at battery usage stats, Android OS used 41% of the battery.

From talking to friends, battery usage issues are fixed temporarily by a simple reboot.

From other questions on here, people who have issues with lag use various type tools like Watchdog, only to see Android OS using most of it.

Is the battery usage issue and occasional lag issues related?  Is this an issue that is fixed in 2.3.4, or a subsequent version?

I upgraded to a 2.3.4 ROM.  I no longer have the battery drain issue, or the lag issue.  The question is whether or not it was the specific ROM or the 2.3.3 OS, but based on multiple links, here and here, I believe it is a 2.3.3 issue fixed in 2.3.4.


Samsung J5 : Use SD card as internal memory I'm actually trying to use my SD card as internal memory on my Samsung Galaxy J5 with 6.0.1 android version.
I saw some post on google and i follow this tutotial :

http://www.phonandroid.com/galaxy-s7-s7-edge-fusionner-memoire-interne-carte-sd-sans-root.html (It's in french because i'm french)

but when i try to use sm partition in adb shell nothing is happening... and my internal memory still the same.
As you can see on the tutorial other people got the same bug on Samsung J5.

If someone have a solution or a way to solve it.

This is how I achieved this on a Samsung Galaxy J5 with Marshmallow 6.0.1.
It requires a computer running Windows vista/7/8/10:

Install the official Samsung drivers on your computer - some other driver variants can cause this process not to work: http://developer.samsung.com/galaxy/others/android-usb-driver-for-windows
Install Odin on your computer: https://odindownload.com/download/
Enable Developer Options on your phone.
In settings->Developer Options, turn on 'Oem Unlock' and 'USB Debugging'.
Download this zip package: https://download.chainfire.eu/1021/SuperSU/SR3-SuperSU-v2.79-SR3-20170114223742.zip -- and save it to a known location on your phone eg. downloads.
Install TWRP -- this particular one -- others do not work on Marshmallow: https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-j5/development/recovery-samsung-galaxy-j500f-t3416960
. Follow the instructions on the page to install, however be aware that for this to work, the First Time the phone resets after the flashing process, you must hold Vol Up + Home +  Power key to boot into TWRP. The timing on this is reasonably quick, so keep an eye and your hands on your phone during the flashing process. If you don't do it the first time, you will need to repeat this step, as on subsequent reboots you will not be able to get it to boot into TWRP if you didn't do it the first time.
Now download and install Root Essentials from Google Play Store. Run it, go to Adoptable Storage and follow the instructions. Root Essentials will ask you to download a specific zip package (do so). Then go through the process again, and follow the prompts to reboot into TWRP mode and install the package from the Install menu. Once you've done this, and the phone reboots (it will reboot loop several times, don't worry) it should boot up properly, and may go through an 'App optimizing' process.
Once booted, you should go into settings->storage, and you should see that your overall storage has increased. Click on the SD card, click on the '...' button in the top left and click on 'Migrate Data'. This should move existing app data (that can be moved) and photos/music to the SD card, and change the default photo storage location to the SD card.
Lastly, go into settings->Apps->Application Manager. Some existing Apps can be moved entirely to the SD card eg. messenger. To do so, click on the app, then storage. If an option to move it is available for that App, the 'Change' button should be available. Click on it and follow the process.

Voila! Enjoy!

Do not mess with adb's, Link2SD's or anything else -- I have wasted too much time on those before I figured out a way that works!


How to speed up phone without Factory Reset? My phone has been acting a little slow lately.  Mostly it is okay but one app it particularly slow.

In Storage menu it says I have

total space of 24.12Gb
649Mb available
6.63Gb for apps
1.65Gb of cached datay
5.85Gb of Misc

The app in question in App Info has

Total 859Mb
App 19.80Mb
Data 839Mb
Cache 37.93Mb

The app also forces other apps out of memory (it seems) -- when I run the app, another apps that plays music seems to shut off and crash and I have to restart it.

What app manufacturer told me:  "fresh install is the best solution" (I understand it as delete the app, reinstall it, or maybe just reinstall it if that's possible).  That means also that all my in-app messages (a lot of them) will be lost.

What I want:  Fast app, fast phone.

What I am thinking:  I am considering backing it up and doing a factory reset.  I will lose basically everything.  It's like getting a new phone.

Question:  what are some actions I can do to not lose everything and to speed up my apps again?  Stuff I really want to keep are SMS + MMS, and I know that is possible.  I also want to keep Viber messages, and other in-app messages, but I know it's probably not possible without rooting phone.  Rooting my current LG G2 using various methods failed, so I gave up on that.

Well it's possible only if you are deleting unnecessary apps and free us the storage. Another thing that you can do is root your phone and delete even those system apps which you don't need.

But I prefer to factory reset the phone to speed it up.


How to disable dashboard summary in Settings app? I find the dashboard conditional summary infuriating. How can I have it disabled?

I earlier thought disabling the following receivers would help, but to no avail. (Yes, I did verify and reboot post disabling them.)

com.android.settings.dashboard.conditional.HotspotCondition$Receiver
com.android.settings.dashboard.conditional.AirplaneModeCondition$Receiver
com.android.settings.dashboard.conditional.DndCondition$Receiver
com.android.settings.dashboard.conditional.CellularDataCondition$Receiver

I'm currently using stock Android 10 on OnePlus 6 with Magisk and Riru.

Simply swipe from right to left on the conditional summary and it will disappear.


Delete APN on LG-P500 The LG-P500 does not allow to delete/disable MMS APN. The problem is that if I define my own APN, the original one, which cannot be deleted, is still used by messaging application...

Anybody knows how I can put there my own APN instead of the operator defined one?

BR
STeN

Did you try adding the messaging settings to the APN you created? You can add both webs as mms settings and then select that APN.


Turning OFF mock location I have an app that will not open on my new Samsung Galaxy S6. It says the mock location setting must be turned off. I went to developer settings, but there is no check box next to mock locations to check or uncheck. It states "none" beside it. How do I turn it off? The app techs were not able to help.

After you selected as a developer in settings, in the Debugging session, you're going to select a "box" -> "Allow mock location". I suggest to restart your phone and try to use your "app" again.


The phone is stuck in download mode and gives error verifying vbmeta image. The device is a205f samsung The phone had magisk pre installed and I tried to flash a stock rom and after that I manually locked the bootloader from the download mode. Phone is stuck on download mode, odin unable to flash any firmware. It just gives re partition fail error. Device is A205F. Please help?

you should extract ap file and out recovery.img.lz4 and change it to recovery.img.tar,at first flash pit file then  flash recovery.img.tar (uncheck reboot) then go to recovery and reset factory your device. it works for me.


How to run initial Android setup after skipping it? So, as part of rooting my Nvidia Shield Tablet K1, I wanted to set some things up before running the initial setup, things like configuring the adoptive storage, that seemed to make sense before downloading all my old apps. I was able to skip the setup and do what I needed but then couldn't find a way to run the setup after the fact. Can I force the device to run the setup again?

Some Googling later, I found that you can send this command to your device:

  adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN -n  com.google.android.setupwizard/.SetupWizardTestActivity

and it will rerun the setup. In my particular case it came up with an error several times to the point I was a bit panicked and decided to try rebooting. Once I rebooted, the error came up again but I clicked through it and then it said "Just a sec" for quite a while but eventually got on with the normal setup.


Screen Brightness accidently set to dimmest (blank screen) Android-x86_64-8.1-r1 I installed Andriod-x86 on a tablet and was happy with the results untill I changed the screen brightness setting. It accidentally got set to zero brightness. Now the GUI is not obtained when android boots. For last few hours trying to set brightness in debug mode with no success so far.

I am not able to connect wifi in debug mode either to doenload and try other tools as suggested at some forums. Hope you can help me.

This method requires adb:

With your device plugged in, issue a screen brightness change request:

adb shell settings put system screen_brightness 255

The number at the end of that command is a number from 0-255, where 0 is dimmest and 255 is brightest.

Note: if the above command doesn't work, you might have to issue this commend first:

adb shell settings put system screen_brightness_mode 0


Google Nexus 6P Stuck In Boot Mode on Google Screen Is there a fix for the Google Nexus 6p Stuck In Boot Mode on Google Screen issue?

A couple days after I got an Android OTA update for Nougat from Google, the phone got switched off and it’s not switching on itself. When I try to start the phone, only the Google Logo appears for 5 seconds and then disappears and repeats the same.

The Google logo flashes as if to start up, going black and repeating. Have tried holding on/off for varying times – won’t turn on or off. Tried Reboot Reloader – starts flashing Google again Tried Recovery mode – starts flashing Google again. I have Taken the phone off the charger and I am Past the warranty period.

When I try:

Turn off the phone
Hold the volume down button and Power button simultaneously until the device switches on.
You should see “Start” with an arrow
Tap volume down twice and the power button to enter Recovery Mode
Hold the power button then press and release the volume up button
Use the volume buttons to select wipe data/factory reset
Choose “Yes – erase all data” with the power button

I get an error

The best way is to send it back for the repairs. Another alternative is to reinstall the OS although is a topic in itself (XDA Developers Forum is the best place to find an answer on how to do that for your version of OS).

I have the same issue with Nexus 5X which I sent for the repairs, less hassle.


Get root access without going through replacing things? I'm totally new to rooting and I would like to simply have root access to my phone. I don't want to do any customization whatsoever to the insides of it. Is this doable? I mean like, in terms of a PC, I want to simply give my limited user account an administrative privilege.

Sorry if this seems weird and all but I'm unfamiliar with these grounds.

If it makes answering a little bit easier, my phone is an Xperia Active and here's the information I can find inside Settings > About.

For example, I only want to change the default media sounds stored inside the internal memory. Things like that.

Follow the guide in this thread to root your device. Xperia Rooting Tool - xda-developers

Rooting would install a Superuser app for you which will monitor apps which require root access. You can then install a app like Root Explporer to access your device's internal memory, just press Allow when it asks for root access.

I believe you can find system media files inside the path /system/media/audio/, although it may change with devices or firmware versions. And don't forget to click on R/W on top in Root Explorer when you are deleting or replacing files to enable Read/Write Mode.


Replace the system font family on Nokia Is possible to replace the system font (Roboto) to San Fransisco font without rooting my Nokia 6.1+?
for example:
Roboto-Regular.ttf to SF-Regular.ttf
Roboto-Bold.ttf to SF-Bold.ttf
Roboto-Heavy.ttf to SF-Heavy.ttf
and so on...
I have done it successfully on rooted devices

You will naturally need root to replace a system font. Because without root, you cannot write to the partitions where the fonts are stored and loaded from.

So, in order to answer your question - No, it is not possible.

That said, we do hear that Android Q will have support for font changes. If the feature makes its way to the final Q builds, you will be able to do font modifications when it hits your device in the coming months.


Why is Android phone shutting down by itself? Phone is Samsung Infuse 4G with Cyanogenmod 11 (Android 4.4). On a few recent occasions when I check it in the morning, I find that it's powered off. I start it up again, and it shows plenty of battery charge (75% or more). Is there a log or something that I can look at that would explain why it has shut down?

Well, it's well known problem for Samsung phones and tablets:

Read carefully: http://androidforums.com/threads/randomly-turning-off.312084/

One of possible solution (cited from above post):

  I found another workaround, turning off sleep mode. Maybe there are
  easier ways to do it, but i did it like this:

  (copied the instructions from another forum):

  Download and install a free app Load Monitor.
  Under its preferences check the following on...
  Add Notification, Only notify high load, Auto start, and most importantly Wake Lock.

  The wake lock prevents the phone from going into sleep mode, now i'm
  already 24 hours without shutdowns. I also set the update interval to
  2 hours for the Load monitor, so it doesn't bug me often.

  The downside must be battery consumption, i assume that the sleep mode
  does save up some juice. But at the moment i'd rather worry for the
  battery than if the phone is on or not. :)

  Also, this problem is not limited to galaxy ace.. A little searching
  with google revealed that there is even a class action lawsuit against
  Samsung because of the same problem in Samsung S models.

Hope it Help


Can I install CyanogenMod in Samsung Galaxy I5510? Hello I have a Galaxy I5510 and I''ve reading about ROMS. I'd like to try CyanogenMod but my phone isn't in the list of supported phones, is there anything I can do?

If not (which I assume) which ROM would you recommend? I'm looking to get extra functionality.

If I don't like some ROM I installed I can uninstall it and go back to the default ROM or any other, right?

Also, I'm kind of scared.. If I get to root my phone without troubles, can installing the ROM break it or my only risk is with the rooting?

I'd like to try CyanogenMod but my phone isn't in the list of supported phones, is there anything I can do?

If you'd search more carefully, you'd find this topic (link). There is CyanogenMod for your phone. But this firmware in early alpha stage of porting. Another great link.

  If I don't like some ROM I installed I can uninstall it and go back to the default ROM or any other, right?

Yes, you are right. Also I'd note that there isn't dedicated uninstall procedure, but you always can reflash your phone to another ROM version, including original stock ROM.

  If I get to root my phone without troubles, can installing the ROM break it or my only risk is with the rooting?

The most risky part is, of course, flashing. Because if something goes wrong, you may get bricked phone. But usually everything is OK. Also Android supports recovery boot mode which can help in case of unsuccesful flashing.


What is a "PIT file"? Both Heimdall and Odin have options for a PIT file. From Heimdall's option you can find,

  Action: print-pit
  Arguments: [--file <filename>] [--verbose] [--no-reboot] [--stdout-errors] [--usb-log-level <none/error/warning/debug>]

  Description: Prints the contents of a PIT file in a human readable format. If a filename is not provided then Heimdall retrieves the PIT file from the connected device.

And, from Odin there is a specific tab for it, when you click on the tab it says,

  Do not use this tab. This tab is for engineers. You device will be changed with the pit in the CSC file.

So what is a PIT file, and where is it documented anywhere? Can I generate one automatically?

PIT stands for Partition Information Table. A PIT file is basically a set of instructions defining the phone partition layout. You should use a it if you want to re-partition the phone with Odin.

You only need this file when repartitioning the device and you don't need to repartition it unless you mess up the partition table to begin with, or when downgrading/upgrading.

There are tools (commercial) that can genarate PIT files using ADB commands.


Connecting Xiaomi Redmi 3s to PC Just bought a Xiaomi Redmi 3s last week, and still struggling to connect the phone to the computer.
I did everything anyone told me:

USB debugging is on in my phone
Install Mi PC Suite on my computer
Windows Explorer does show that Redmi 3s is connected to PC but does not show any file or folders
Same in Device manager, it does show the device connected and working fine.
In Mi PC Suite, it always asks "Connect to device thru USB" and after some time, a message appears "You need to update your device to use Mi PC Suite. Update your device before connecting".
I updated the phone to the latest version MIUI 8.0.3.0. but the same still message shows.

Please suggest to me what to do.

It's very easy. Follow steps

Install Google USB Driver From SDK Manager.
Now Open Device Manager.
Check for your device in Other Devices or Portable Devices
Right-click and click on Update Driver Software -> Browse my computer for driver software -> Let me pick from a list of device drivers... -> Have Disk -> Browse -> (C:\Users\Your user\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\extras\google\usb_driver) -> select android_winusb -> Now update your driver.

It should work perfectly.


Initial lock screen before the pattern screen not moving I have a new MI 3 phone with MIUI, and I tried the theme Angry paper on this, and there seems to be a problem with the initial lock screen of this theme and it won't unlock to display the pattern, and so I am unable to unlock my android mobile. Can anybody help me with this theme or any other way to unlock the initial lock screen of MIUI.

Hold Volume UP and Back key. Have you tried this?


Disable all notifications from Exchange calendar I'm using a Nexus 5X, running Android 7.1.2 and using Google Calendar 5.7.20.

I want to view my work calendar on my phone, so I can see it when planning personal things, but don't want notifications, as I have a separate phone (and laptop) for work which go "ding" at the appropriate moment.

In Google Calendar settings, under that account I have set the "Default notifications" to be "No notification", but I still get notifications.

I think it might be due to notifications set within each event (These are useful on my laptop, I don't want to turn them off).

Is there a way to disable the notifications for that calendar, but keep it visible along with the others?

There are two standard notifications for each calendar in Calendar Settings. One for normal dates and a second for full-day.

You must deactivate both, otherwise you can still get some notification.


Sprint Galaxy Nexus stuck in boot-loop I have a stock Sprint Galaxy Nexus device. This device is unrooted, I have made no changes to the OS / Rom whatsoever.

Today this device froze, it was showing a completely black screen except for the system bar at the bottom of the screen (with back, home, and the app tabs button) None of these buttons would respond to any input. Nor did the power button have any effect.

It sat in this state for several minutes. Eventually I pulled he battery, upon re-inserting it and turning the device back on it booted up all the way but shortly after the boot was complete it just started rebooting again without warning. This happened several times (enough that I feel it would have gone on forever if I had not intervened)

My question is: how do I recover my Galaxy Nexus device so that it can get out of this boot-loop that it is stuck in. This seems to be the same issue that was faced in this question: Galaxy Nexus Suddenly restarts but there is no real resolution given there.

To fix my device I did the following:

pull the battery to get the device to stay off (if you are quick you
might be able to hold the power button and select shut down before it
reboots)
While the device is off hold both volume buttons and the power button. This will bring up a bootloader menu
Use the volume buttons to change selection to "Recovery Mode" Press Power button to select
Once there is an Android guy with an exclamation on the screen press Volume Up+Power at the same time. I had to try a few times to get it to work. Seems like you have to hit them in just the right way.
This will bring you to another menu that you navigate with volume buttons and select with power. Choose "Factory reset"
Wait several minutes for the reset to complete. Once it is done select reboot.
At this point my device booted back up fine but was still stuck in a boot loop. I panicked slightly
Get the device to the Off state again. Either by pulling the battery or holding power and selecting shut down from the menu quickly while it is actually on. I went with the latter this time, though I did have to be quick about it to not be interrupted by a reboot.
Press the power button to begin turning the device on
When you see the "Google" logo press and hold the volume down button. Continue holding the volume down button until the device is fully up and running. You should see "Safe mode" in the lower left corner.
While in safe mode my device did not reboot itself. I took this opportunity to complete all of the device setup menus
once done setting up the device I turned it off and back on in the normal manner
once it came back up it was no longer stuck in boot-loop.

Note: I factory reseted the device because it isn't the phone I carry and it had nothing I cared about on it. If you are having this issue with your real phone I suggest trying safe mode before resetting as the actual reset didn't seem to fix it.


Google Earth opens to a black screen after latest update Google earth want black screen 2 updates ago, is there a fix for this yet? I have tried twice to reload and it still comes up black screen. I have also tried reverting to an older version, that worked until a new update made it go black screen.

Device is Samsung Galaxy Tab 4

What worked for me in a Samsung Galaxy Duos 2 may work for your tablet too. It look like the same problem.

The solution is to downgrade to version 7.x of Google Earth.

To downgrade, for example, download apk from here: http://google-earth.en.uptodown.com/android/download/52238

You will have to enable installation from unknown sources: http://gs4.wonderhowto.com/forum/enable-unknown-sources-android-install-apps-outside-play-store-0150603/

Then disable auto updates for Google Earth: http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/08/21/psa-as-of-play-store-v4-3-10-you-can-finally-disable-automatic-updates-for-certain-apps-and-update-all-will-honor-these-settings/

Periodically try to go back to newest version and check if the BUG, if it is a BUG at all, resolved.


Number of Wi-Fi channels to be used? Under advanced wifi settings one can change number of Wi-Fi channels to be used (11, 13, 14). Does anyone have a clue on how does this property affect battery drain? I know it should be configured depending on how your Wi-Fi router is set-up, but maybe one number of channels should be ("defaultly") preferred over another so battery would last longer?

It has nothing to do with battery life; the number of channels is a regulatory issue (for example, in the US, only 11 channels are allocated for 2.4GHz Wi-Fi).

Technically, Wi-Fi is frequency hopping, so the "channel" is a center frequency around which the actual transmit frequency skips.  You can't disable that; it's part of the channel sharing arrangement (Wi-Fi would be unusable if every client on the channel transmitted on the same frequency).  And beyond that, which channel your device uses is determined by what AP you're associated with, so you have no control over it.


How to schedule shutdown of a phone? I want to use my phone as a wireless router. Since I am on a time-based data plan, I want the phone to automatically shutdown after a specified amount of time (or at least close the data connection after a specified amount of time).
Basically, I want to prevent to exceed the data limit, and the shutdown is a plus. The phone is running gingerbread but I will probably install cyanogenmod 7.2.

There are many 3rd-party apps available on the Market that allow you to set up actions (toggle cell data on/off, for example) at specified triggers (e.g. on a timer.)  Tasker and AutomateIt are great examples.

If you have a specific data limit on your plan (e.g. 3GB per billing cycle), a more advanced app like 3G Watchdog would be a better choice.  It allows you to set and monitor limits on cell data usage, and disable it when the usage gets to the threshold.


Huawei bought in China, can't access Google Play (g510 t8951) I bought this huawei cellphone in China and I can't access the google store. I can access some apps through Baidu Store but then some doesn't work because I don't have Google Play Service. I've tried installing it through Baidu Store, it just crashes, and through "Google downloader" (an app on baidu) and now Google Play launches but doesn't connect (no connection).

I don't know what to do anymore, any idea?

I'm willing to root etc... but there is no thread explaining how for my phone.

Three steps to regain full control over your phone,

Root your phone. There are dozens of rooting software out there. Last I used for a Huawei phone was Kingo Root, did the job quite well. Note: This might involve factory reset.
Install custom recovery. It might be tricky to learn which version will work with your phone. XDA should help. Otherwise trial and error. Note: This step might be optional, depending on your ROM.
Install GApps using (custom) recovery. There are plenty of different GApps packages out there, just google it. I normally go for the smallest GApps package, with just Play services and Play store. All other Google apps can be downloaded from the Play store later. Note: Not all GApps "editions" work with all ROMs, you will also need to use trial and error method.

ALTERNATIVE METHOD:

Check manufacturer's website for a non-Chinese ROM version. It will almost certainly have a working Play store. You should be able to flash it easily without rooting the phone.

Hope this helps.


Can I use my phone as an audio device via Wifi? Is there any way to stream all audio from my (Windows) PC to my phone via Wifi, so that my phone acts like a sound card? I basically want to use my phone with my headphones as wireless headphones.

It looks like Remote Audio does this, but it is only for Linux.

I have experimented with streaming audio from PC to Android over Bluetooth. Recent versions of BlueZ are able to sink an A2DP stream, but the build I have on my phone (Droid running Sapphire 2.0.2) is outdated and won't do it. You may have better luck.

If that won't work, Android's media player may be able to receive one of the streaming protocols that VLC supports. Another poster may know more about this.