Are iOS apps faster than android apps since android apps are interpreted? Android apps are interpreted rather than compiled. Does this make them slower than iOS apps at runtime?

Java isn't interpreted on Android. Android apps are compiled to bytecode by the developer. Bytecode is a compact representation of the program: smaller than the source code written by the programmer, but still not directly executable by the CPU. Some optimizations, such as dead code removal, can be made at this stage.

When you load the app on a device, the Dalvik JVM compiles the bytecode to native executable code, just as it's about to run. This is just-in-time compilation. It causes a brief slow-down while the program waits to be compiled, but after that there's no performance overhead, because the code has been compiled to native executable code.

There are some performance advantages to doing it this way instead of compiling up-front on the developer's computer. The app can be compiled for the particular CPU on the phone, taking advantage of its hardware features and using its performance characteristics. For example, it can use hardware floating-point operations if the CPU supports it. In addition, a clever JIT compiler (admittedly, Dalvik is not quite this clever) can monitor the way the program runs, and perform optimizations based on the way the program is used in real use. It might recompile the code with better branch hinting once it has seen which options are turned on and off in your environment, on your phone. An up-front compiler doesn't have this information to use.

Dalvik uses the Dalvik cache and other techniques to mitigate the drawbacks of JIT compilation. The new JVM for Android L and later, ART, replaces the JIT entirely with an ahead-of-time compiler. This compiles the bytecode to native executable code when the app is installed, to get most of the advantages of JIT without the delay loading the app.

Don't forget that Android apps don't entirely consist of Java. Developers have the NDK to write all or part of their apps in C or C++, for performance-critical parts of the app, especially for games. Special-purpose interfaces like OpenGL and Renderscript let programmers take advantage of special hardware like the GPU and SIMD coprocessor for some kinds of computation.

So really, there's no simple answer to your question. Using JIT instead of up-front compilation makes some things faster, some things slower. It's just one part of the overall performance of the OS.


Where does Voice Actions store my "Note to self" recordings? I've been messing around with Android's Voice Actions. I tried recording various jibberish notes to test it out. However, I noticed that with each "Note to self" that I send to myself, the attached .amr recording has a suffixed number. For example, RecordedMessage2.amr, RecordedMessage3.amr and so on. It therefore occured to me that the recordings may have been saved on my phone and thus, the reason for the increment. I tried looking for those files via OI File Mnager but failed to locate it. Can anyone help me figure out where it's being stored? I'm not rooted btw.

When I did the "Note to Self", I was sent an email with the attachment (I assume this is the function, I've never used it before!). The attachment is the *.amr file that you can then download, and it will save it to download/RecordedMessage#.amr.

After some searching, the original file is stored in phone memory, not external, at /data/data/com.google.android.voicesearch/files/RecordedMessage#.amr

Note that you could not find this file because you weren't rooted, I used File X-Plore and did a search in the entire Root section to find them.

Note: If you would like to delete them:

with root: navigate to the aforementioned folder and delete them with your favorite root browser or adb
without root: from the home screen, press Menu, select Settings then choose Applications->Manage Applications and select Voice Search from the list. On the app info page select Clear data. This will delete all data associated with Voice Search, including any recorded "Notes to self", but keep in mind, it may also erase any data recorded to better results on a user-by-user basis.


Is it better to use Android System Webview when not using Chrome as default browser? I've a phone and tablet running Android 7.0. In both cases I do not use Chrome as my default browser.

I believe that the use of Chrome Webview was to reduce resource use by sharing code.

Does it make sense, when one is not using Chrome, to disable Chrome and use Android System webview as default?

From Nougat onwards Chrome is web view. It replaces web view and web view is not available on Play Store as an independent app to install / update separately. In other words, web view is integrated with Chrome

Google Chrome to Replace WebView in Android 7.0 Nougat

  ....WebView component will actually become a part of Chrome to bring in more data and memory efficiency.

Google explains how Chrome will become WebView in Android 7.0

  ....Starting in Android 7.0 Nougat, WebView will actually be Chrome....The standalone WebView APK will no longer be updated via the Play Store as long as the Chrome rendering remains enabled on your device.

From Android developers

  You can choose your WebView provider by enabling Developer Options and selecting WebView implementation. You can use any compatible Chrome version (Dev, Beta or Stable) that is installed on your device or the standalone Webview APK to act as the WebView implementation.

But webview is not updated anymore nor available ,
so using Chrome is the way forward.

You can also try Chromer a lightweight open sourced Chrome which is less resource hungry


Where can I find a 2.3.6 stock ROM for Nexus S (i9020)? Possible Duplicate:
  Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?

I've installed a hacked version of ICS three weeks ago or so and now I want to switch to the stock 4.0.3 ROM. As it needs the 2.3.6 stock ROM, I'll have to downgrade to it so that I can install ICS again.

I've found a 2.3.3 on ROM Manager. I know it may be possible to update from it to 2.3.6, but I'd like a direct approach.

I have a Nexus S (i9020), bootloader unlocked, clockworkmod recovery installed, rooted, with a hacked version of 4.0.1.

These kinds of downloads can usually be found on the XDA-Developers forum. Usually the stock ROMs are in the "General" section of the device forums and custom ROMs are in "Development". Check out this thread for a pretty comprehensive collection of stock ROMs.


Installing apk files on Kyocera Dura XE (flipphone running android) The Kyocera Dura XE is a flip phone running Android Lollipop 5.2. I've enabled developer mode, usb debugging and all the "verify stuff" options are unchecked and "Unknown Sources" is on in Security Settings.

Basically, I've done all the stuff there is to do on the phone.  When I try to install an apk from file, on the phone I get "Install Blocked" and when I try to install an apk from adb, I get

  Failure [INSTALL_PARSE_FAILED_INCONSISTENT_CERTIFICATES]

and logcat shows the following

D/AndroidRuntime(13719): >>>>>> START com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit uid 2000 <<<<<<
D/AndroidRuntime(13719): CheckJNI is OFF
D/AndroidRuntime(13719): Calling main entry com.android.commands.pm.Pm
I/ProcessStatsService( 2524): Prepared write state in 5ms
D/DefContainer(13606): Copying /data/local/tmp/playstore.apk to base.apk
I/ProcessStatsService( 2524): Pruning old procstats: /data/system/procstats/state-2018-02-16-22-14-21.bin
W/PackageManager( 2524): COMPARE_PACKAGE SIGNATURE UNKNOWN : android.deviceadmin.cts
W/PackageManager( 2524): COMPARE_PACKAGE SIGNATURE UNKNOWN : com.android.cts.verifier
W/PackageManager( 2524): COMPARE_PACKAGE SIGNATURE UNKNOWN : com.android.cts.robot
E/PackageManager( 2524): checkKCSignature error
I/art     ( 2524): Explicit concurrent mark sweep GC freed 195715(8MB) AllocSpace objects, 6(1631KB) LOS objects, 33% free, 9MB/13MB, paused 1.506ms total 120.970ms
I/art     (13719): System.exit called, status: 1
I/AndroidRuntime(13719): VM exiting with result code 1.

I've resigned the packages and still doesn't work, I can't even install a hello world app I build myself in Android Studio. Kingroot doesn't work (yet, although I've read forums where it has worked).   It seems like ATT has got this thing very locked down.

All I really want to do is put a couple scripts on the thing to download podcasts for me (which is all I really miss from giving up my "smart" phone), so maybe I'll ask another question if this one is unanswerable. But, what's up with this phone.

I've read almost every deadend forum post, tutorial and guide you're gonna get by binging it or googling it or searx'ing it or duckduckgoing it.

I'm not sure how to get it into fastboot mode either, it's not vol-down + power (I did wind up in 'safe mode' once, but I don't know what that is)

What I really want is to know where I can get more debug information so I can figure out why it doesn't want to install any APK files.

You'll get more information about your problem by using:

adb logcat -v * > mylog.txt

you'll find the file mylog.txt in the directory where you've executed the adb command. (you can share it to help you figure out what's the problem)
The problem is:
The same package name (APK) exists on Android device with different signature.
When you try to install the same package (APK) again signed with a different signature:

Example:
The first APK was signed with Debug keys, then the APK you're trying to install is signed with Release keys

The solution is:

Uninstall the old package (APK) manually from Settings> Apps

or from the CMD shell, run:

adb uninstall your.package.name


Will installing the Voodoo lagfix clear all my settings? I want to install the Voodoo lagfix on my SGS with Froyo.  Will this wipe my settings, or can I install it without worrying about it?

No, it shouldn't have any effect on your settings or apps. The FAQ from the Project Voodoo site notes:

  Will I lose any settings or App?

  None. But some sort of backup is
  recommended of course.


Recover my SuperVault files I had several files saved and encrypted on my Android phone using SuperVault.  I no longer have an Android phone but I do have my SuperVault folder with all the files.  Unfortunately I can't access them because they are encrypted.

Short of getting another Android phone (assuming I can move the files to another phone), is there any other way to recover my files?

First, try to decrypt the encrypted vault on your PC/Mac using other encryption software (presuming, you've its password & encryption key). The encrypted vaults are generally universally compatible, but not necessarily.

If it doesn't work for you, setup an Android Emulator (virtual Android phone) using Android SDK. Enable Android Market in it. Install SuperVault & Dropbox using Market. Use Dropbox to download vault file in its virtual sdcard. Decrypt files & withdraw them using Dropbox.


Cyanogenmod: Profile redundancy? I use Cyanogenmod profiles (on a Galaxy S2).

I've created a couple of custom profiles, "Silent" and "Totally Silent", and I switch to them by doing a long press on the power button. But I've noticed something disturbing: At the bottom of the dialog, there are 3 icons: A speaker with a cross over it, a vibrating phone, and a speaker. These look suspiciously like my profiles. When I switch to "Totally Silent", the icon gets switched to a vibrating phone. But when I switch back to default, it doesn't switch back to the speaker!

What's going on? Are there 2 separate profile selections? I want to have just one place where I set the profile, not two.

Profiles are just a way to change a bunch of settings at once. By long-pressing the power button and tapping ring/vibrate/silent (below airplane mode) you change a single setting however: The ringing behaviour.

The profiles work slightly different to what you expect.
You most probably forgot to enable some switches of the standard profile, most of them are on/off settings for which a profile has 3 actions:

activate
deactivate
modify / do-not-modify

This is for example very handy for a car mode that you activate to just switch off a security lock screen (+ enable GPS and leave all else as is).

The standard profile has a lot of those unset do-not-modify checkboxes (the checkboxes to the right), so unless you check them the profile doesn't actually change those settings.

Tick the checkbox and try again!


Is it possible to install Chromium on Android? I really like the Chromium browser, it's quite speedy, but I can't find any functioning downloads for Android.

All the sites I've tried so far have the following error while trying to install the APK file:

  Parse Error

  There is a problem parsing the package.

I've tried Download Chromium (which was invaluable in getting Chromium working on my Desktop) and Github's paul99/clank, but neither source seems to work.

Does anyone know where I can download Chromium? (not Google Chrome!)
I'm running a non-rooted Android 2.3.4 on Droid X.

As mentioned on Eldarerathis' comment, no matter what, you are going to need a newer version of Android, which probably means (CyanogenMod will only get you to 2.3.7) that you'll need a newer phone.

The good news is that from 4.0+ it only gets easier to easily run Chromium safely on Android. For Android 4.4, there's a free and open-source app getChromium that installs/updates the Chromium browser on Android.

FULL DISCLOSURE: A lack of trust in http*://chromium.woolyss.com, and other, equally sketchy non-Google vendors giving away "Chromium APK", together with a passion for malware-free Chromium APK was actually what motivated me to put together getChromium as an open-source means of getting builds directly from Google's repository over here: https://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/chromium-browser-continuous/Android.


Connect Android device as wifi adapter to a PC to create an ad-hoc network Sometimes when being at a friends house there is no wifi but wired internet access.

In these cases it would be extremely useful if I could plug my phone in and create a wifi network just like when providing a wifi hotspot except that this time not the carriers data plan is used but the already available network access on the "host-PC".

Does anyone know if and how this is possible?

This appears to be a little over "USB Reverse-Tether" requirements :-)
You actually want to share your wired internet backwards over the WiFi of your android phone.
The reverse-tether, imo, ends at the point of being able to use your wired Internet over USB from your android phone. Now, pushing that over the phone's WiFi to other WiFi devices sounds like one step more.

I am not sure I have hard this done yet -- but, I'll certainly be happy to see this work.

The HTC feature of Internet pass-through for USB would do the reverse-tether.
Now, the next step is to make the phone 'bridge' that to its WiFi and allow others to connect through it.

Another support in some devices is when you can make your phone a 'hot-spot' to share its 3G/GPRS access over the WiFi. So, in theory, there has to be a way to reverse-tether the phone and then share that access over WiFi... but, I don't know how yet.

Hope, this answer helps others to focus on detail of this requirement.

As an alternative, you could use a USB WiFi dongle on the PC.
However, I understand your interest in getting a solution that will work with an android phone rather than carry a USB device for the purpose.


Battery drainage is pretty high Ok so, my screen battery draining stats is 122%, Android system 52%, Android OS 27%, Media Servers 25%, and suprising ly my games 25% or below. How to fix this? Cause if you combine all the percentages in my Android Lollipop 5.0.2 tablet,(It is a Samsung Tab 4, and it is NOT rooted). it would be over 300% battery drain stats. So... again, how do I fix this?

Edit: Every minute a play: -3% battery percentage on average.

If you watch closely you will see it states: Use since full charge. This means it counts from the time the battery was at 100%. Charge your device to 100% and the numbers will be fine...


HTC First - Not getting any Notifications for Phone, text or Voicemail. Only can see when Clicking on it One thing I liked about my old phone was if I got a missed call, text or Voicemail, it would putt a number, or in a more  older phone I owned, an Alert symbol, notification informing me that I have one of these.

My HTC first is good, My first smartphone. But it does not inform me of a missed call. I have on my start up page of my phone my main 5 Apps, Contacts. Phone, Messaging, voicemail. and of course the shortcut to all my apps and phone stuff. I have these up there specifically cause that's what I use most. But when I get a missed call for any of those, no notification informing me :/. I have to go in each 1 at a time to see if someone sent me one, 3 out of 5 times there is nothing.

I would greatly appreciate if someone can tell me exactly how I can get notification on my HTC first for my missed calls / text and messaging. Will greatly appreciate it!

All those notifications usually turn up in the notification bar, located at the top of the screen. On all devices. Have you checked there?

example of the Android notification bar

As you can see in this example, that's where notifications are displayed. Here you see, this user has new SMS and mail in their GMail app pending (to the left). Other notifications are indicators of available services (to the right), here telling that WiFi is active and the device connected, silent mode (no sound) is active, cell phone signal is available, battery is about 3/4 full, plus the current time.

Your "missed call" notification should also appear in the left-hand area, the symbol looking like this:

missed call icon

Often, there're also numbers associated with them. Some launchers/lockscreens even allow for more custumization.

I would wonder if none of these are available with your device. Above examples are standard, and should be always available. Numbers on the icons (indicating how many missed calls, or how many SMS are pending) are something different: some manufacturers ship them by default, others don't. But using custom launchers / custom lockscreens, many things are possible.

Trouble with your HTC First might be the launcher: if I'm right, it comes with "Facebook Home", which wants to facebook-ify everything, and thus might hide some things usually visible. I don't use facebook at all, so I'm not that familiar with this area. But if that's the culprit, according to a review at AndroidCentral, Facebook Home can be turned off. On the other hand, a bunch of screenshots in the very same review clearly show those notifications being there, though a bit colorless:

HTC First screenshots (source: AndroidCentral)

See the top of those screenshots -- and you will easily identify the GMail notification described before, here in the second and third screen :)


Integration of twitter-like services (for example identi.ca) with FriendStream Is there an application that allows integrating identi.ca with FriendStream?  If no is there any docs how to integrate one (I know that second part is off-topic and probably should go on SO but it is conditional)?

Not that I've been able to find.

Seesmic can be configured to connect to StatusNet accounts

There is also a dedicated StatusNet app for Android

HootSuite does not currently support StatusNet accounts The online client can access statusNet via Ping.fm, but not android client.

I used the Seesmic app for a while, but now I'm using HootSuite and the StatusNet standalone client. At the time I switched, I thought I could configure HootSuite to do what I wanted. So it goes.....


Open an app on startup/after booting I need to force a selected application to start up each time my Android-based device is (re)started.

Is there anything I can use (configuration setting, external application etc.) to accomplish this task? Or is this kind of behavior limited to home screen managers only?

I'm not sure about the configuration setting, but I believe this is not only limited to home screen managers since you can achieve this by using 3rd-party apps.

Some related keywords:

Startup manager: Google Play Store
Autostart: Google Play Store
Autorun: Google Play Store

Otherwise, you can use automation apps like Tasker:

Create a Profile: Event - System - Device Boot
Create a Task with Action: App - Launch App - (Select the app)
Link the Profile to the Task


S7 Edge stuck on loading screen with Samsung logo I have used my S7 since 2017. Then I got another phone. After three months of being in a box, I tried to power up the S7 Edge. I got surprised as it now is stuck on Samsung logo screen.

Phone was charged and was working before I put it in a box. When I took it out, it would not respond at all, battery was dried totally. Even being charged 100% does not fix the issue.
These are the steps I tried:
1. Wipe cache partition
2. Master reset
3. Safe mode
4. Reboot to bootloader

All of them do not work, phone is always stuck with Samsung splash screen. When I enter the Volume DOWN, Home and Power key menu, I see the message:
Installing System Update (stays for several seconds), then it shows error. After that I enter Android recovery.

Phone responds to charging normally. It has that animation showing power percentage when its turned off.

Any advice as what program and what I need to do to restore the phone so it can boot is more then welcome :).

It's been a while since I last owned a Samsung, but my best guess would be to try and flash a new ROM using Odin. Here's a link that explains how to do this.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/ambassador-guides-tips-how-tos/499009-guide-samsung-how-flash-stock-rom-via-odin-new-interface.html

on Sammobile, you'll find the original Samsung ROMs, which are normally safe to flash as long as you pick the correct one for your device.


Change a system setting missing from the UI directly? I have a Lenovo S939 (Android 4.2.2, rooted) and the setting to change the default notification sound is missing. Is there a good app that can be used to browse all system settings and make changes directly (something like regedit in Windows). Or can this setting be changed in the file system by editing a XML file? If so, how can I find it?

Got an answer on XDA, tried it, worked: http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/help/change-setting-missing-ui-directly-t2927313

Basically they suggested to change the setting in build.props but the phone didnt pick that up. So in the end I overwrote the default audio file with the one I wanted.


play store rating effective measure of an app quality? Most of the apps are rated between 4.0 and 4.6.
How can I judge an app from its rating if they are all basically equally rated?
Is there a way to make a judgement more effective?

I think that you should also check the downloads counter, and the number of people that have rated that app, in order to have a better idea.


Help diagnosing constant CPU usage of phone during sleep (Battery Historian Chart) I saw a great Battery Historian guide and decided to try it out. I noticed that last night while my phone was unplugged, the "CPU Running" bar was active the whole time when I was asleep. This should only be intermittent, not a constant black bar.
Here's the whole battery historian chart, CPU running stats at the top.

Hovering over the CPU Running bar, I can see what's causing the CPU to run:

A lot of "abort" wakelocks whatever they are.

Abort: Pending Wakup Sources: dwc3-otg

Abort: Pending Wakup Sources: usb_notify

There's also something called "Unknown".

I have a Galaxy S20 (exynos). I have not used any package disabler app or rooting etc.
Googling the above wakelocks brings back nothing. Just some random github code.
Compared to this other S20 user's battery historian chart, my CPU running bar should be intermittent only. https://preview.redd.it/edegbwhq1sq41.png?width=1701&format=png&auto=webp&s=b8d53673d3ca754feac8ded9da6ca408592f655c
Any android expert have an idea how to diagnose this?
edit: there's also constant "BLE Scanning" on the screenshot which is "bluetooth low energy". I have bluetooth off, nearby devices off, improve accuracy via bluetooth off.

These two wake locks are related to the OS
and android doesn't give any control over the system wake lock without root
Some times the OS gets buggy and it will not release the wake lock.
your best bet is to reboot the phone and wait about 5 hours to see if the battery drainage is the same after the reboot. if that did not fix it then it is an OS bug that only Samsung can fix. not that I think that they will


Will bigger Micro SD slow down mobile I have Karbonn A5+ Android phone running (stuck at) Gingerbread. I want to buy a micro sd card for it and I want to get max speed out of it.

My mobile has 1GHz single core processor.

Will SanDisk Ultra Class 10 give me max performance?
Or are there any internal limitations/specs to mobiles that just constrain the use of all speed that micro sd card has to offer.
Also, will bigger sizes (32 GB) slow down my mobile?
And there is this another breed Mobile Ultra class 6 but with speed up to 30 Mbps! What should I go for?

MicroSD cards (Virtually) do not increase performance. They only increase the amount of data you can store. Your phone can go up to 32Gb but most people will not need that. Go with the cheaper one since you will not notice a performance hit.


Galaxy S5 G900V startup failure with inconsistent symptoms making troubleshooting difficult o/

My Samsung Galaxy S5 suddenly and quickly started deteriorating a few days ago. I did also install a software update from Verizon about a week ago, but what's odd is how the symptoms worsened gradually. (Why would software do that?)

It started with occasional, random power-offs. No worries, I just rebooted.
Later, some of those times I started seeing "SECURE FAIL: KERNEL" in red. 1 or 2 extra reboots, though, and I'd be good to go.
Yesterday, the phone shut off a few times, taking more reboots to get things going.
Now, sometimes the power button doesn't respond (not even the vibration). When it does, sometimes nothing shows up on the display. If a display shows, it might hang on the Samsung GALAXY S5 "Powered by Android" loading screen—but that's not as common.* More common is simply going to that "SECURE FAIL: KERNEL" screen. I've been rebooting for an hour now—probably 20+ times—with no success in getting a full boot.

* This screen actually says "Custom" as well, with an unlocked padlock icon. But I've never rooted a phone, nor done anything "custom." I read something about ART vs. Dalvik and that it's normal for this phone. Plus, that started showing up months ago, so I'm guessing it's unrelated.

Given the variety of symptoms—from the power button not responding to this "SECURE FAIL: KERNEL" message, and also the gradual degrading of successful reboot attempts, am I correct to conclude that this is more likely a hardware issue than software, e.g. the update to Lollipop, if that's what it was?

Some other notes that may contain clues for the more experienced:

I did manage to get into recovery mode once, and wiped the cache.
The other two attempts left me with a screen saying "SECURE FAIL: RECOVERY".
Sometimes the phone seems to start up by itself after 10+ minutes of not being touched, having a black display, and no indicator lights.
While plugged in and in the above state, I don't see the green battery charging animation. Maybe that means it's not really "off" but stuck in some software block or loop.
Once I did see the battery animation, and the battery was at 88%, so I think the battery's okay.
This is a S5 G900V that I purchased new from Verizon in October 2015.

Thanks in advance. I wish it would start up properly just once so I can get some data off the phone's memory.

An interesting development.

While typing this post, it got past "SECURE FAIL: KERNEL", but froze at the Samsung logo animation. Then, the display went black, while the blue indicator light stayed on. A few minutes later, the phone restarted itself, passed the Powered by Andoird screen as it usually does, and hit "SECURE FAIL: KERNEL." I rebooted again, and saw something I saw only once before, "SECURE FAIL: Modem."

I totally agree with all the symptoms you document. It reads like I would have wrote it. It seems many of us are suffering the same phone disease. Ultimately I ended up sending the phone to Samsung. They returned it unrepaired and stated the cost for repair  would be unjustifiable. Apparently, though, it can be repaired. I called Samsung, and, of course, talked to someone "who knows where". She did try and did say that an S7 root driver was installed into my S6. She said I could have done this while connected to my PC. Nope, the phone auto downloads updates.
I don't understand why they cannot reflash the chip. I don't understand how I could be responsible for this and why I should have to purchase a new phone.
Personally, I think Samsung sent the update without safeguarding that an older model would not auto download it. I think it's their fault and they are not taking responsibility. I didn't do this and now it's out of warranty, because of this unauthorised flash, irreparable due to cost. I'm screwed, we're screwed.

I'd like to see a class action law suit against Samsung and our providers. It smells of a conspiracy to make us upgrade $$$.

Gil


updating apps without play store How can I update apps that I've installed via .apk file on a phone without Google Play Store?

I would not mind downloading the updated .apk files manually, but is there a way to get notified when an update is available for one of my installed apps?

There are several possibilities, depending on your sources:

use one of the alternative-markets1 as source (recommendation: F-Droid with its pre-configured main repo plus some of the additional repositories accessible with their app), and get information about available updates via the corresponding market's app
use an alternative "update checker" such as App Watcher - Updates notifier (you can find some more in my App Markets listing)
use an application on your PC to check for updates (see the same listing2 for candidates). For example, Raccoon is planning such a feature for its new version (not sure about its release, though – the author was quite busy with its "graduation" and just finished his university degree recently).

1: Also see the alternative-markets tag-wiki and follow its links
2: I won't list all the candidates here, as they might be subject to change. The linked lists however will be kept up-to-date.

Disclaimer: For those not aware, and in case I didn't make it obvious enough: those listings reside on my own website.


Run X11 natively via Chroot in Android? Is it possible to run X11 natively in Android via Chroot ? Without any kind of VNC ?

Thanks.

So you are asking about a native Android X server? That's the only article on a native X11 I found so far. All others seem to work with VNC somehow.

Not sure how the current state of the linked project is, as I could find no additional information (yet).


Cell Phone is unresponsive, but after it ran out of power it was chargable again? So yesterday my cell phone was acting strange, it didn't respond to charging and/or could not turn on (no charging light and blank screen).

Today (I assume after it ran out of power), it is charging fine now.

I have a samsung S6, my question is what could the root causes be? Are there any suggestions on how to prevent this from happening again.

I presume a software glitch prevented my phone light from working and/or the screen.

Is it bad to turn on your phone while it's charging?

Charging is a complex task for mobile devices now.  For example, power can come from either USB or a wireless charger.  When USB was developed in the early 90's, it was designed for peripherals such as mice and keyboards - smartphone charging wasn't even on the radar (pagers were the hot thing back then).  So USB charging is a mess of its own on the technical side.

What this means is that your phone's CPU and its firmware is involved in the charging process, and if the CPU is completely frozen, then the necessary communication between the phone and its USB chipset won't happen, and you could be in a situation where the charger won't work because the CPU isn't following the necessary steps.

The power button on a phone is a "soft switch" - it's software controlled, not a physical on-off button, and some part of the phone is always powered to respond to that button even when off (thus turning it on while charging should always be a non-issue).  Computers have been like this since the early 90's - and if you couldn't turn it off because of a complete lockup (rare, but possible), you'd have to resort to unplugging it.

The equivalent of "unplugging" on a smartphone is removing the battery.  Given the trend of non-removeable batteries, this isn't an easy option.  But if the battery completely dies and runs out of power, it's the same thing.

You may try holding the power button down for 10 seconds and see if it will restart.  If it's completely froze you have to wait until the battery runs completely out, or take the phone apart to unplug and replug the battery.

What can make a CPU completely freeze such that even holding power for 10 seconds won't reboot it?

OS issue - make sure Android is at latest version.
Bad charger/cord, try a different or new charger/cord.
If using a custom or aftermarket ROM, check for a later version or revert back to stock firmware.
Physical issue such as battery going bad, physical or liquid damage.


Lollipop 5.1, completely safe from stagefright? I am currently updating my Android phone (a Moto G) to Lollipop 5.1.  I previously had taken action to prevent Stagefright from happening to my phone (setting multimedia messages to only manual downloads).  The update said that Lollipop 5.1 included a fix for Stagefright.  I am wondering what this fix is and if my phone is now completely safe from Stagefright (i.e., I can set multimedia messages to automatic download again).

You can use Zimperium's Stagefright Detector app to test your device for the known attack vectors. The bugs were not patched upstream until Android 5.1.1, but it is possible (particularly based on the change notes) that Motorola backported security fixes to their 5.1 release, so the version of Android you have is not necessarily the best indicator.

NB: One of Zimperium's researchers is Joshua Drake, who disclosed the Stagefright vulnerabilities to Google and submitted patches to fix them. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that the tests in their app are more than likely accurate.


How to flash a custom recovery with heimdall (without touching the main system)? The first recommended step in the installation of CyanogenMod on Samsung Galaxy S is flashing a custom recovery like ClockworkMod or the one from Replicant with a command like:

heimdall flash --kernel path/to/recovery.img

Now I feel that the instructions might be misleading:

I have done the first step wanting just to have a custom recovery mode, without proceeding to replacing the main OS on the device.

It seems I have done that wrong, because the device now always boots into the recovery mode.

What would be the correct heimdall command to just install a custom recovery system without touching the main system?

It depends on your PIT partition file.

Before you do anything using heimdall, print the partition table of your phone.

sudo heimdall print-pit

The output of the file is the location assigned to each partition. For example on my Galaxy S3, I have something like this:

--- Entry #20 ---
Binary Type: 0 (AP)
Device Type: 2 (MMC)
Identifier: 19
Attributes: 5 (Read/Write)
Update Attributes: 1 (FOTA)
Partition Block Size/Offset: 491520
Partition Block Count: 32768
File Offset (Obsolete): 0
File Size (Obsolete): 0
Partition Name: Kernel2
Flash Filename: recovery.img
FOTA Filename:

Now this tells me 3 main things:

Name the flash file: recovery.img
Location of the identifier 19
And finally the name of the recovery partition Kernel2

What does this means?

This means if I want to flash a recovery image I should use either the identifier 19, or the name Kernel2.

sudo heimdall flash --19 any-type-of-recovery.img

or

sudo heimdall flash --Kernel2 any-type-of-recovery.img

Bottom Line: Look at the pit file to figure out where to flash your recovery.

Cheers,
Mel


Optimum video codec for low end Android phones? While I know Android phones play mp4 the best, I wanted to know what other specification in this container is the best for playback, (the bitrate, resolution, fps etc). Or perhaps some other codec/format that Android can (or is designed to) play smoothly and with an acceptable file size/quality ratio?

I searched the Android developer page and tried the H.264 setting on my converter etc, but the file fails to play natively on my handset and when I tried to open it using RockPlayer. It plays slowly and the video-audio gets out of sync progressively. I tried many external players. However, 3GP videos from my Nokia phones play smoothly (even natively). So I want to know what is ideal for my low end phone (video should be normal quality and size)?

My phone is a Huawei IDEOS U8150 running Froyo with a 320x240 resolution and a 528 Mhz ARMv6 processor.

Also if anyone has tips, what types of encoding is recommended, if I'd be using the software decoder mode in apps like RockPlayer, so I can achieve more file size compression yet achieve smooth playback?

I got H.264 (x264 encoder) to play with these settings on my Huawei U8150

Main profile
320x240 (original video was 4:3 which helps, 16:9 or 2.35:1 should become even easier to decode)
and tuned with the 'fastdecode' setting

I used ffmpeg as the frontend, as Handbrake makes selecting the "fastdecode" option impossible

ffmpeg -i "inputfile.avi" \
    -sws_flags lanczos+accurate_rnd \
    -vf "scale=320:-1" \
    -c:v libx264 \
        -crf 23.0 \
        -preset veryslow \
        -profile:v main \
        -tune fastdecode \
    outputfile.mp4

the resultant file was only 10% bigger than the one using high profile and no fast decode

I would also recommend using MX player as it actively resyncs the video and audio for those occasional slow downs it may have, but fastdecode seems to fix all the slow downs I could find.


Samsung multiple app icons The OneDrive app on my Samsung A7(2017) has four icons on the home screen. What's happening and how do I remove it?

You must have moved them to your homescreen from your app drawer.

To remove the extra ones, simply long press on one of them and drag it to the remove icon on the top of your screen. Do the same for the rest of the apps


What is the setting in xprivacy to access the microphone? I use xprivacy to set all permissions on my phone, but I accidently forbid the tuner app to access my microphone.

Which setting do I have to enable?

I found out via xPrivacy itself:

I run the tuner app and after I saw in the privacy settings for the app, that it tried to access

"Medien (Audio,Fotos,Videos)" -> "startRecording" (one minute ago)

I allowed that and now it works ;)


Some groups are not visible in my WhatsApp I am not able to see some of the groups for which I am a member. My name appears in the group admin's phone. But he is also not able to remove my name and add it again. Other group members cannot see my name in the group member list. So I don't know exactly what the real problem is. I have uninstalled WhatsApp and re-installed it, but the problem remains the same. (Still I cannot see some of the groups in my phone).
Can you please find some way to come out of this?

Try the following steps:

Make sure that admin user have your  phone number in your address book.
Ensure that admin user is using WhatsApp Messenger.
Make sure that admin user have the latest version of WhatsApp.
In admin users Android phone book, make sure that all contact accounts (i.e. SIM, Google, Phone) are "visible" or "viewable".
In your Android phone book, ensure that all contact groups (i.e. Friends, Family) are "visible" or "viewable".
You can make your contacts "not visible" and then "visible" to force a refresh. After doing this launch WhatsApp > > Menu Button > Refresh.
Alternatively, you can use all your contacts, not just the "visible" ones. To do this go to Menu Button > Settings > Contacts > Show all contacts.


Is it possible to backup without root? I tried restoring a TWRP backup of my Pixel 3 and it ended up putting my phone into a bootloop. I downloaded the latest factory image and reflashed (not knowing the latest version bootloops when Magisk is flashed). I downloaded the last version to support Magisk but a) held off on rooting for a little bit b) accidentally flashed the newer one a second time. Fast forward to now: I spent the time (quite a long time) to reinstall and configure all my apps and then realized my mistake when I looked at my terminal when I went to root.

I tried adb and Google backups, but neither are backing up any non-Google app. Is there anyway to make a backup of my app data without root? Could I take a twrp backup of just my user data and restore it once I flash the version that supports rooting? Or will the changes that caused encrypted data to not be supported by twrp not be compatible? If the user data can't be restored by twrp, is there any way to unpack the twrp backup and manually transfer the data with adb push? Or could adb pull work?

adb backup should work at least on some apps. Test it for example with a simple tea timer or stopwatch app those apps should not disallow backup. If this does not work the backup function on your device may be defect (encountered this once on a Lenovo tablet).

But if it works for simple apps that the it is just that the other apps disallow backup (android:allowBackup=false set in AndroidManifest.xml). Note that this settings affects disables adb backup as well as Google Cloud backup.

If the app disallows backup then there is other way to backup the data except using root permissions.

However if you have root and TWRP installed you may be able to perform a user data backup. However AFAIK this only works if TWRP is able to decrypt the user data. If you only see the encrypted files or the encrypted partition I doubt that restoring those files will later work on the same device (it will never work on a different device).

Note that a (decrypted) user data backup independently how it was created can not be directly restored via ´adb push`. For doing so adb would have to run with root permissions which is usually no longer possible (unless you have a manipulated adb version on the device).

What you can do with root permissions is backup and restore app user data. For example manually by using tar in an adb shell with root permissions.


How to root HTC Desire (Froyo 2.2) without putting in a custom ROM (flashing)? for research purposes I'd need to root a HTC Desire phone without flashing it. I did it already on the HTC Hero, where it was quite simple.

Basically all I would need is to get r/w access to the /system/app folder for copying my custom apk file there. Obviously this needs root access.

Is there a way to easily root the Desire without the need to completely flash and place a custom ROM on it?

Some details about the phone:

OS: Froyo 2.2
Software number: 2.12.110.4
Kernel version: 2.6.32.15

Thx for your help

Unrevoked 3 will root the HTC Desire without replacing the ROM, however it does reflash the recovery ROM: http://unrevoked.com/#desire


Install adb enabled setting from zip Is it possible to make a zip file, similar to the one that installs GApps, that stores ADB debug mode as a system setting? Maybe somehow modify a system bootup script to change the ADB debug mode setting to on? I'm setting up a testing environment, and I can't have a factory reset turn off ADB.

update:
I think I've almost got it - I have a rooted deice using CWM recovery, and I am using SuperSU for root permission management. I unpacked the .zip that the CWM installs su from, and added a modified /system/build.prop to the update, as well as a command to turn on adb in /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db using sqlite3, but I think it require root access, and SuperSU has default access to su set to 'prompt'. Is there a way I can modify it to be 'grant' by default?

useful links:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13326806/enable-usb-debugging-through-clockworkmod-with-adb

For those who are looking for an answer to this question: you can enable adb from a zip file that you install through recovery. I modified Superuser.zip from http://download.chainfire.eu/351/SuperSU/UPDATE-SuperSU-v1.65.zip What I did was I modified system/build.prop and added persist.service.adb.enable=1 at the bottom, I also added ro.setupwizard.mode=DISABLED to disable the setup wizard which gets annoying if you wipe or flash often. Then I added a precompiled sqlite3 (don't have a link, I got it from my company's repo) to system/bin and the line sqlite3 /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db "UPDATE global SET value=1 WHERE name='adb_enabled'" to system/etc/install-recovery.sh (although some people say modifying settings.db is optional.)
Unfortunately it seems adb still requires you to accept the rsa certificate until you unpack boot.img and modify /default.prop


Better keyboard to type '?' symbol I was wondering, is there any better keyboard for me to type to following '?' symbol. Now, using stock android keyboard, to type '?', I need to

Press and hold ',' key, a list of symbol choices will shown.
Hold and move my finger to '?'.
Release.

I feel not comfortable on step 2, as most of the time, my finger is quite dry. I found it is difficult for me to hold and move my dry finger on the screen. Is there any way I can.

Press ',' key, a list of choices will shown.
Click on '?'.

In pre-2.2 stock keyboard, typing the ? is a two step process:

Alternatively, you can long press on . and a pop up menu will appear:

In 2.3 stock keyboard, the auto-correct bar will show common punctuations, including ?:

The old two-step ways of using the ?123 page and long-pressing on the . still works, although when you long-press on . now you only need to slide your finger to the punctuations.

In Swype, you can long press on the letter M to produce ?:

Alternatively, you can press Sym keyboard:

If you're using SwiftKey X Beta, the ? has its own dedicated key in the main keyboard:

If you're using HTC keyboard, you can long-press on the letter k:


how to connect to internet on my lenovo a390 mobile using wifi i can't connect to internet with my lenovo a390 mobile using WiFi connection. i already open my data connection but when i am about to browse youtube, play store and Google chrome it says that my connection is off. how can i fix it?

you said, you want to use WiFi
but you're turning on Data connection.

Switch off Mobile Data connection.
switch on WiFi

Scan for WiFi networks available.

if you get one connect it by clicking and username and password if it asks.

it will connect, obtain IP address.
it must connect.


How to root and unlock bootloader how do how do I root and unlock the bootloader for my Samsung Galaxy 3 S model number SCH-s968c which is the Verizon version for straight talk

Some Samsungs have a bug in their "download mode" which will let you flash a custom recovery without even having to root or unlock the bootloader. With custom recovery you can then do whatever you want with the phone.


How do I turn off auto-complete when texting? Does anyone know how to turn off the auto-complete feature when texting?

Sometimes I just want to text and not have my device try and tell me what I'm thinking. Other times this is OK, but I just want to turn off the autocomplete sometimes.

I looked in the phone settings (not very hard I guess...) and I didn't really see anything to allow this.

Anyone know how this is done?

EDIT:

I am using a Droid X.

The following works for me on an HTC Incredible. Hopefully your settings are similar.

Settings > Language & Keyboard > Touch Input > Text Input > Prediction. You should be able to un-check Prediction.


AOSON M12 won't boot up An AOSON M12 won't boot up. When I connect it to USB Charger or USB PC Port, it shows the logo, then a loop-boot animation forever.
Found this thread on XDA:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/cm10-4-1-2-rockchip-rk2918-tablet-based-model-unofficial-23-10.1987393/page-4#post-36465985
Tried with RK Android tool, but does not appear in the list.
P.S. I know that AOSON M12 has D.C. port, but I don't have that power supply.
Please help.
Thanks


Connect Galaxy S3 Wifi Connection to Computer I tried googling this, but it kept giving me the USB tethering option, which I don't want.

My laptop currently cannot connect to the Wifi we have at work, because there is a problem with Cisco, Windows 8, and Killer Networks cards not working together.

However, my Galaxy S3 can connect to the Wifi at work perfectly fine.

I know that you can take your phone's mobile data connection, and use that as an internet connection over USB or Wifi.

My question is, if your phone is connected to a Wifi network ALREADY, can you USB tether it to your computer, and use that to connect your computer to the same Wifi network?

Thanks.

You should be able to just tether and while your phone is connected to the wifi network that connection should be used.
If this is not the case turning off the mobile data should force it to use the wifi connection


Galaxy S5 lock screen A series of letters and numbers have shown up beneath the date on the lock screen of my Galaxy S5.  What are they and how do I get rid of them?

This field is intended to display the owner informations: name, phone or email on the lock screen. Perfect if you have lost or misplaced your device. So I would think that you entered those random letters by mistake.

To enable, disable or change, this go to Settings – My device (or **Sound and display section and then tap Lock screen) – Lock screen – Lock screen widgets.** Then at the bottom press Owner information. Here you can enter any information you want, such as your name or email address.

As a note, if your owner info length is more than 33 characters then your owner info will be displayed as a running text on lock screen.


How to make background apps/ automatic apps use only wifi for data? Ok so i have very little data, 100mb. And i want to use it when i need it. Like for maps etc.

But some apps keep downloading stuff such as new articles and all data gets eaten quickly without me using it. I'm about uninstall every app that does this if i don't find a solution.

This is what i want.

for auto/background apps Use internett only through wifi.
and if i use internet first use wifi if available and then go to mobile data.

im glad there're no overhead charges, data just becomes unavailable after limit.

/system/bin/iptables (usually built in) is the tool, but I prefer a graphical frontend for it such as AFWall+ which is available from the Play store or F-Droid.
If you are going to be using TOR then OrWall should also work, but I haven't tried it.

These tools show one app per row & columns for the interfaces you wish to allow them to use & you just tick the boxes.


Is it possible to view files on an SD card encrypted with Gallery-vault on a computer? I assume the answer is no but just wanted to check. I had some files/ photos etc on the Gallery-vault app on my phone -they were saved to my SD card. My SD card has been lost/ possibly stolen and I just wanted to check if someone could access these files in any way?

No you cant....because in gallery vault they are encrypted..you cant view encrypted files on computer...because you dont have decryption key or code as it present in your phone


Talking GPS software for Android? I need a GPS when I use ride my bike. :\
Holding my phone in my hand is not really a solution....
Can somebody help me to find a talking GPS Android app?

Thank you...

Provided that you have a phone running Android 1.6 or higher, and are in a supported country, then Google Maps Navigation will do this. You should have Navigation as a separate icon in your apps list (upwards pointing blue arrow icon) even though it comes with Maps. If you don't have that (and are on a supported version and in a supported country) then just go to the Market and search for the updated version of Google Maps.

I've used it for car and walking directions, and it works very well, don't need to take the phone out of my pocket while walking, as everything spoken through my headphones.


How to move contacts and other data from Symbian to Android? I am changing my mobile from Symbian (Nokia 5800 XpressMusic - S60v5) to Android (Samsung Galaxy SII).
I want to move the following data from my old mobile to the new one somehow.

Contacts
Calendar Entries
Bookmarks
Notes
SMS, if possible

Other data like images, videos etc I can transfer using my memory card.

I have synced my contacts,notes already to Ovi Sync and calendar entries to Google calendar via Mail for Exchange.

For contacts and calendar entries, move the contacts to the google cloud with google sync, then activate the android device with the same account.

Note:if you created more than one google calendar, you will need to make sure they're all selected for sync on the phone (open the calendar app, menu > more > calendars).

Not sure about notes/SMS/bookmarks, although if you can get the bookmarks off of symbian and into chrome you can use chrome marks or chrome to phone to move them to android.


Can you set Google Play and Android OS updates to specific WiFi only? I know I can set my phone to update only on WiFi. But can I set it to update only when connected to a specific WiFi? E.g. update only when connected to Home WiFi or Office WiFi. This is both for Android system updates as well as App updates via Google Play.

What I specifically want to avoid is to trigger updates while using a 4G hotspot.

If it matters: Android 6.0

This isn't quite what you describe, but recent versions of Android let you designate some Wi-Fi networks as "metered". Those Wi-Fi networks will count as mobile data for the purpose of the data restrictions in the main settings, and for Wi-Fi vs. mobile data settings within each app. Therefore, if you set the 4G hotspot's network as metered, any app you have set to update, download, or sync only on Wi-Fi won't use that network.

From the main settings, go to Data usage, then in the three-dots menu, select Network restrictions. Find the 4G hotspot you're concerned about, and turn its switch on. Note that only networks you've previously connected to appear in this list, so you'll have to connect to the 4G hotspot before you can do this, and hope that nothing updates while you're navigating the settings.


Disabling MTP/PTP/all USB stuff except charging Is there a way to disable all USB functionality except for charging? I don't really use MTP or PTP and would like to disable it if possible.

Go to Settings → Storage and tap on the overflow menu in the top right (on a device with a physical menu key, you may need to press that instead). This should bring up a menu item labeled "USB Computer Connection":

Tap on that, and it will give you a list with possible connection modes. Uncheck everything that you don't intend to use. On my N5/CM11 there are only two options on this page: MTP and PTP. Unchecking both causes the phone to simply charge when plugged into a PC. I have seen others that have an explicit "Charge Only" option, but I believe that is nonstandard.


My Google Glass does not start up When I try to turn on my Glass using the Power button, the power LED turns on for a second, but then turns off. I can tell that my LCD is working because when I try plugging the charging cable in, I see the battery icon displayed on the screen. However, once I try to turn it on, it doesn't start up, even with the charging cable plugged in.

Is there a battery issue or is it something wrong with my firmware?

Note that this is different from Google Glass Stuck at the “Glass” screen, as that question manages to make it to the Glass splash screen, but in my question, it does not even make it there.

Offhand, it sounds like your battery is still too low a charge to actually turn on. Make sure you leave it plugged in and the LED is on or pulsing. Do not turn it off while charging.

If you're still having problems, your best bet is to contact the support team.


Deleting messages in whatsapp I had lot of private and group conversations over an year through whatsapp, but all of a sudden the space it takes seems to be  on a high.I was able to delete private messages by long pressing the person's file and deleted the entire conversation but when I long press the group chats I didnt quite find an option to delete the conversation all at once.Is there any way to delete private messages all at once rather than doing them individually.

Go to WhatsApp settings> Chat Settings> Delete All conversations


What version of Android starts “Messages for Web” support? The Messages for Web documentation gives the impression (as does the Chrome OS documentation on the matter) that this feature has been available since Android 1.0 as it lists no "if you have Android greater than". But my LG V20 is running Android 7.0 and in the Messages app under the "More icon" there is no menu item "Messages for web".

The "Messages for web" feature works only with the Messages app created by Google.

The LG V20 runs a custom version of Android with a customized user interface. It is not the stock version of Android using only standard Google apps as is shipped on, for example, Google Pixel devices. The manufacturer (LG) will customize and add more features to applications like dialer, messages, camera, themes etc. creating a custom Android version above what Google provides. So, in this case, the Google SMS messaging application has a feature "Messages for web" which has not been implemented in the Messaging app created by LG.

But, you can use this feature by following these steps:

Download the Messages app by Google from the Play store.
Set the Messages app as the default messaging app in Settings.
Open Messages app, and tap on three dots on top-right corner (options menu), select 'Messages for web'.
QR code window will open, enable camera permission, scan the QR code on the desktop, your messages on android device will be opened on your desktop/laptop.

Note: You can't uninstall the LG provided Messages app as it was installed as a system app.


Opening links within apps causes bad switch to Chrome in Nougat Running the latest Nougat beta on Sprint Galaxy S7.

Whenever I open a weblink within an app (such as reddit, Google Search/Now, Gmail) the link opens within the app, but as soon as it's done loading my phone switches to Chrome -- but does not open the link in Chrome.

To see the page, I have to switch back to the original app.

Is there a fix for this? I tried clearing Chrome defaults, disabling/re-enabling Chrome, uninstalling Chrome updates. No dice.

Try updating your "Android System WebView" application.

It may be happening because of the confusion to an app of choosing which web view app or you can say service to use...

I have CyanogenMod 14.1 which is based on Nougat. There's this option in
Settings -> Developer Options -> WebView implementation


micro-usb headset on android 2.3 I have a samsung galaxy ace which I am trying to setup to work with a usb headset. The problem is that the usb headset has a micro-usb connector and my phone does not seem to be recognizing it at all.

I only need to use the headset to activate a phone call. I do not need to hear any audio from it, I just need to be able to press the 'phone' button on the headset and have it answer the phone.

I've read up on the android developers guide and it seems as though a passive usb headset must be communicated with in host mode. It also says host mode is only available on android 3.1+

I was wondering if anyone could tell me if there is any way to get this to work? using the specific speaker output port is not an option.

I believe this is impossible.
The headset requires power from the device. Android versions before 3.1 state that they can not support powering the usb bus.
From the developer guide:

When the Android-powered device is in host mode, it acts as the USB host and powers the bus. When the Android-powered device is in USB accessory mode, the connected USB hardware (an Android USB accessory in this case) acts as the host and powers the bus.
USB accessory and host modes are directly supported in Android 3.1 (API level 12) or newer platforms. USB accessory mode is also backported to Android 2.3.4 (API level 10) as an add-on library to support a broader range of devices. Device manufacturers can choose whether or not to include the add-on library on the device's system image.

unless there is a custom android OS that supports usb host mode, I believe what I'm trying to achieve is impossible


Is there a setting to always start from the home screen on unlock? I am running Lollipop 5.0.2 on an LG phone.  Is there a setting to always start from the home screen on unlock?  Instead of trying to open the last open application.

AOSP ROM doesn't have such setting and neither did I ever hear about such setting in any other ROM. Anyhow, if you are comfortable with app based solutions then you can consider any of the following apps for the objective.

Tasker (7-day trial) does it nicely.

Profile: Event → Display → Display Off or Display Unlocked
Task → Actions: App → Go Home.

Done!

Macrodroid (free for up to five macros) can also help.

Macro:

Trigger: Screen Unlocked or Screen On/Off → Screen Off
Action: Launch Home Screen
Constraints: Choose depending upon the trigger or leave it untouched

Done!

AutomateIt (free) works too.

Rule:

Trigger: Screen Off Trigger or Screen On Trigger
Action: Launch Home Screen Action
Rule: Show rule popup when launched → No

Done!

Atooma is also doing well here.

IF: Screen → Screen On
DO: App Launcher → choose your launcher app

Done!


Add proxy exception for local subnet on Android 4.2 (4.* maybe ?) I'm using  Vanilla Android 4.2.2 on my Nexus4, and I'm using a proxy to access the internet. I wanted to add a proxy exception for addresses on my local subnet 192.168.0.* , is there anyway to do this?

I've tried adding 192.168.0 and this doesn't work, It doesn't accept 192.168.0.*, 192.168.0.0/8 and 192.168.0.255 doesn't work either.

Has anyone attempted this before? Does anyone know how this can be done?

Certainly you cannot enter the beginning and the ending address, so probably you can try entering all the ip address from beginning to end


Open Facebook links with Facebook app? When I receive a http Facebook link, I have the option to choose my browsers but not the Facebook app, is there a way to force it? Is it the normal behavior?

Is it normal behavior?

Facebook app only handles specialized URL scheme fb:// and nothing more, so any standard HTTP/S Facebook links (http:// or https://) will be ignored by the app. So, yes, unfortunately this is normal.

  Is there a way to force it?

As of current writing, until their developers implement a filter to handle HTTP protocol, there is no way to do that from their apps.

It might be possible for a 3rd-party app to fix this with a workaround (e.g. Open Link in App app, as mentioned from this answer, but it seems currently it's not working, possibly due to change in FB protocol).


Is deleting /system/bin/dex2oat file safe? I was looking into a couple of Android tombstones files of an old Samsung phone running Marshmallow. Found a crash in every single one with the same culprit, dex2oat.

From my limited understanding it is a Compiler that takes arguments from Android Runtime and convert dex files to  Android optimised ones in oat format.

I ran into the same issue even if I factory reset or freezing a lot of apps. I have this device rooted and decided to take a risky step. I backed up first and deleted dex2oat from /system/bin. Then I rebooted system with risk of bricking it.

So far it is working fine.

Due my lack of understanding I don't know how crucial is this dex2oat to system stability and I want to know what is the impact on it.

Runtime is an environment in which programs written in a specific language run. Android Runtime (ART) is Java-like runtime which runs Dalvik Executable (DEX) bytecode (from apk files) in a Virtual Machine. Like other Runtime Environments ART can run the code in three different modes:

Interpretation
Just-in-Time (JIT) compilation
Ahead of Time (AOT) compilation

In order to improve performance, JIT and AOT compilers translate DEX bytecode (during or before execution respectively) into native machine language. JIT compiler was part of DVM, readded to ART in Android 7. Since then AOT compiler also supports profile-guided background compilation. App profiles are created during JIT compiled executions.

While interpreter is part of ART libraries, dex2oat tool is used as JIT and AOT compiler. Documentation states:

  At install time, ART compiles apps using the on-device dex2oat tool. This utility accepts DEX files as input and generates a compiled app executable for the target device.

And here:

  JIT and AOT use the same compiler with a similar set of optimizations

On your Marshmallow ROM AOT compilation won't work in the absence of dex2oat which may adversely affect the apps performance. Also the installd native service and PackageManager Java service rely on dex2oat during app installation or profile updation of previously installed apps. So they may break due to missing file.

To summarize, installd or dex2oat crashes are serious bugs in your ROM which need to be fixed. Deleting dex2oat binary isn't a solution but a workaround which is very likely to fail.

RELATED:

What is needed to run ELF binaries compiled from android APKs?


How Install Google Play Store In Samsung J3 Pro Korean Set? Recently I bought Samsung J3 Pro Korean set. There is no Google Play Store in Samsung J3 Pro Korean set. When i install applications, This message interrupts

This App Relies on Google Play Services

When i install Google Play Services following message interrupts

Unfortunately Google Play Services Has Been Stopped

Can anyone tell me how to install Google Play Store in Samsung J3 Pro Korean Set. Do i have to buy other phone that supports Google Play Store.

Is there any way to allow Google Play Store In it?

My Country: pakistan

Thanks In Advance.

The google play store comes pre-installed in all the Samsung Phones.

However, phones locked to some network operators will have the Google Play app stored in a folder named Google.

To move Google Play out of the Google folder, simply touch the folder to open it, press and hold on Google Play and then drag Google Play out of the folder on to the home screen.

If you still can't find the Play Store you might have disabled it mistakenly while deleting trash data.

Follow the below steps to check whether the Play Store has been disabled, and enable it:

Go to the "Settings"
Scroll down and tap on "Application Manager"
Choose DISABLED OR All apps, followed by Disabled
Scroll down to find Google Play Store and tap on it.
Tap Enable

This would resolve your problem.


Improving horrible screen-on battery life My HTC 10 is doing horribly when it comes to screen-on battery life after its update to Android 8.0. Average screen-on battery time is 1 hour and 15 minutes.

I've tried most I could: turning off animations (which were bugging anyway) and doing some screen brightness tricks. However this is not good, my phone used to be better before the 8.0 update.

Any tips?

Decrease your screen brightness, makes a huge difference. Unless you are outside in the sun, you won't need full brightness to see properly.


Xperia Z2 Tablet - Is it capable of making phone calls? In some promo or hands-on videos I see there's a Phone app on announced Xperia Z2 Tablet but nothing about it from the official sources.

So is it capable of making ordinary phone calls (GSM cellular phone calls, not Skype or something)?

According to this: http://www.modaco.com/topic/370148-mwc-2014-sony-xperia-tablet-z2-hands-on/

and on this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJut4ZawQqw#t=172 (at 2:51)

So LTE versions are capable of making and recieving phone calls.


How to delete contacts from read only accounts I am using android, and the I have used my google contacts to sync to this, when trying to delete an account, it shows "You can not delete contacts from read only accounts, but you can hide them",
When I search the net, I have seen answers like 'clear the contacts and dialer app and again sync'
and doing so every time I lost the call history.

So now if I want to delete a contact in my phone, I first go to google contact and delete from there and again sync.

So if we want to delete an contact from contacts in google do we need to delete this from google contacts and again sync?
How can I delete a contact in google contact from android phone?
and if we hide the contact in phone, where can I see hidden contacts?

thanks,

as far as I know, these "read only accounts" relate to other accounts you have set up in Android (e.g. Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber, etc.). These accounts are (usually) synced by default when you set them up and the respective contacts are displayed in your contacts. You have several options to manage these contacts:
1. in Android under contacts go to settings and select "Contacts to display" - here you can chose which account to include in your contacts list. You can also chose a mix of them under "Customize"
2. to manage 'read only' accounts, you may go online to your respective services (e.g. Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber, etc.) and add/modify/delete the contacts there.
3. the best way to manage your Google accounts, at least for me, is still to edit them directly in your contact list at gmail.com.

Hope this helps a bit.


SP Flash Tool does not recognize the firmware scatter file I have a neffos X1 Lite and it seems that it boots only in the twrp recovery console.

Anyway I am trying to restore my official recovery console (i have no backup) using the official firmware http://www.neffos.com/en/support/download/X1-Lite

Inside this zipped file, there is a file scatter.txt that contains the following content.

preloader 0x0
pgpt 0x0
recovery 0x8000
para 0x1008000
expdb 0x1088000
frp 0x1a88000
ppl 0x1b88000
nvdata 0x1bc8000
metadata 0x3bc8000
protect1 0x5bc8000
protect2 0x63c8000
seccfg 0x7000000
proinfo 0x7040000
oemkeystore 0x7800000
md1img 0x8000000
md1dsp 0x9800000
md1arm7 0x9c00000
md3img 0x9f00000
nvram 0xa400000
lk 0xa900000
lk2 0xaa00000
boot 0xab00000
logo 0xbb00000
tee1 0xc300000
tee2 0xc800000
secro 0xcd00000
keystore 0xd300000
system 0xe000000
cache 0xeb800000
userdata 0x106800000
flashinfo 0xFFFF0080
sgpt 0xFFFF0000

Now, using SP_Flash_Tool-5.1916_Win to load this scatter file I get an error "Invalid format". So, how am I supposed to un-brick my phone? I still have access to ADB, Fastboot and no matter what I can not boot to OS.

The ROM you provided does not contain a valid scatter file or recovery.img so you can not use SP Flash Tool.

I recommend you to make a backup of boot, copy the boot.emmc.win to PC, then to another phone and patch it with Magisk Manager apk

After successful patching, copy the patched file back to PC

Reboot the phone to bootloader, and flash the magisk_patched.img from fastboot

fastboot flash boot "C:\adb\magisk_patched.img"

If for whatever reason you are not allowed to flash from fastboot, you can flash it from TWRP

When phone is working, just install Magisk Manager apk

Note: The /system partition and /data partition are encrypted, thats why you can not install Magisk.zip from TWRP

Patching the boot.img with Magisk Manager will remove the "verify" flag and patch against dm-verity, which will allow you to boot with modified recovery partition

Edit:

If you have a working similar phone, you can perform a "Read Back" of the recovery partition. based on your question, i have created a scatter file for the recovery partition

for the read back, select Region EMMC_USER and use the start address and size from this:

############################################################################################################
#
#  General Setting
#
############################################################################################################
- general: MTK_PLATFORM_CFG
  info:
    - config_version: V1.1.2
      platform: MT6755
      project: TP904A
      storage: EMMC
      boot_channel: MSDC_0
      block_size: 0x20000
############################################################################################################
#
#  Layout Setting
#
############################################################################################################
- partition_index: SYS2
  partition_name: recovery
  file_name: recovery.img
  is_download: true
  type: NORMAL_ROM
  linear_start_addr: 0x8000
  physical_start_addr: 0x8000
  partition_size: 0x1000000
  region: EMMC_USER
  storage: HW_STORAGE_EMMC
  boundary_check: true
  is_reserved: false
  operation_type: UPDATE
  is_upgradable: true
  reserve: 0x00

Edit 2:

based on your output of /proc/partitions from twrp here is the complete scatter file (use carefully, no warranty it works)

MT6755_Android_scatter_TP904A.txt


Android system partition image on pc or sdcard I want to take raw image of my android system partition either on sdcard or on my pc using adb or any other way.. if their is way please help

Here's how to get a system dump from Android:

Prepare Your PC

Ensure that your computer has the most recent version of the Java Development Kit installed. If it doesn't, download and install the most recent JDK from Oracle's Java SE Downloads page.
Navigate to the Download the Android SDK page on the Android Developers website in a Web browser and download the installer package to your computer. Double-click the downloaded file and follow the installation prompts.
Navigate in Windows Explorer to the location where you installed the SDK. By default, this is C:\Program Files\Android\android-sdk.
Double-click the SDK Manager to launch it. In the left pane file tree, check the box next to "Android SDK Platform-tools." Click "Install Packages." A confirmation window appears. Click the radio button next to "Accept All." Click "Install." A progress bar appears.

Prepare Your Phone

Press your phone's menu button from the Home screen. Tap "Settings." The Settings menu appears.
Tap "Applications." In the Application Settings menu, tap "Development."
Check the box next to "USB Debugging" in the Development menu.

Get a System Dump

Press "R" and the Windows key simultaneously on your PC keyboard to bring up the Run box. Type "cmd."
Type the following into the command window:

cd C:\Program Files\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools
Type "adb.exe shell."
Type su dd if=/dev/block/stl6 of=/sdcard/factoryfs.rfs at the ABD shell prompt. Replace "/sdcard/factoryfs.rfs" with the location to copy the file to if you don't want it on the phone's SD Card.

Reproduced in full from this site


It's been asked before about .andriod_secure folder and/or file, but why is this file dated 12/31/69 when the andriod system had not been invented? .android secure folder or file in my memory card for my LG STYLO AND LG STYLO 3 PHONES date of file 12/31/69

Probably just corrupted time stamp on your file system. So Android rewrote it to default Unix Time. Read about Unix time here (Unix Epoch is 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 UTC)


How to Backup and Restore Android OS without Rooting I want to find a way to restore my phone in case the process of rooting my phone or dual booting a custom rom breaks it. However, most of the ones I've looked at require the phone to be rooted before installing. I know I can create a nandroid backup through system settings, but I don't know how to recover that without rooting my device, or if there are better options. I'm not terribly concerned for any personal data on my phone (I can backup my pictures pretty easily), but I mostly just want to be able reinstall Android OS or reset to factory default in case my device breaks. Thanks!
Edit: I am going to ask a new question (one different enough to justify not simply modifying this one) with the new info I learned from the possible duplicate.

I know I can create a nandroid backup through system settings

No, you can't. Read the tag wiki of nandroid to clear your concept about nandroid backup, including how it is made.

  I mostly just want to be able reinstall Android OS or reset to factory default in case my device breaks.

A factory reset wouldn't help since it only clears data, internal SD card and cache partitions while rooting mainly affects system partition. System partition is what contains the files needed for Android to run.

You can use the answers available to Full Backup of non-rooted devices. On a non-rooted device, those answers  are more or less  limited to the extent of the magic adb can perform. In essence, they would, when possible, copy an app's apk and its data. Some of them covers both system and user-installed apps.

Tip: If an app doesn't want to be backed up (such as Chrome), none of the answers there would be able to backup that app's private data - sad reality of our times.

As for re-installation and possible nandroid backup, the situation differs for device to device. Following are few generic things I can tell:

Your device is popular enough in developer community that at least one person has created and publicly hosted a custom recovery for your device and also hosted the stock ROM somewhere, either by themselves or by making a copy of what OEM probably provided . If there exists a way to flash the ROM without booting into a custom recovery mode, then you can take the moderate risk of rooting.

Make sure you meet all the requisites to flash the ROM before you begin rooting.
Your device's OEM provides stock ROMs image which can be flashed from stock recovery or through fastboot (or equivalent) mode.

Fulfill the requisites of ROM flashing and you can take the moderate risk of rooting.
You own a device with chipset from Mediatek and that chipset is supported by Smart Phone (SP) Flash Tool. If yes, then make the scatter file and use it in SP Flash Tool to make image of your device's partitions. You can call it the true nandroid backup. That backup can be used to restore the Android OS.

Note: If you've a custom recovery for your device, then you can use SP Flash Tool to flash the recovery without bothering to root the device at first. Once the custom recovery is installed and device is booted into, rooting would be a piece of cake.

Make sure you meet all the requisites before you begin rooting.
If there is no OEM or developer support for your device, then I suggest you don't take the risk of rooting. The ending might take away your peace of mind.


Vibration for LG Keyboard I don't know about the other models, but my LG Optimus L3 2 doesn't vibrate while touching the virtual keyboard. That's really bad, because it's annoying to hear a sound to make sure the key was pressed. Since I couldn't find any option to activate that, I tried another keyboard available in market and it worked, but I still don't have vibration while pressing the return key. Is there a way to activate vibration for all keys in the device?

Have you tried the Go Keyboard?

I use Go Keyboard on Samsung Galaxy S4. It vibrates when I press the return key. It's customizable via Sound and vibrate > Key press vibrate. You might also want to check Advanced Setting > Smiley Setting; this lets you merge the Smiley and the return key function.


Why do so many apps use location permissions on a near-constant basis? I have an Android 5.1 device with App Permission Manager on, in order to stop apps from using permissions they don't need. Recently, I have noticed that many apps are trying to obtain my location when I don't need them to. For example, some apps attempt to get my location 3 times in a row on launching then, every 10 seconds while it is being used, or even every 7 seconds, even when the app has not been launched on my device - ever. Because I have blocked most apps from using my location, I now have a near-constant amount of toast notifications that read:

 (app name) has been denied to obtain your current location.

Why do they need my location so much? I would say it is for analytics reasons, but if that was the case, it should ask to get my location once per hour or once per day (not multiple times per minute).

Location details are not only used by analytics, but also by advertisements (think of localized ads). Unfortunately, many of those ad/analytics modules are "mal-behaving" and use those details for "profiling" as well.

For some closer details, I've collected information on my Android site:

What’s it all about those modules apps contain? is an article with much background information
Beware those snooping mods! gives some details on modules I found especially intrusive


Is it possible to clear the 'program installed' icons at the top notification bar? When you perform an update of an installed program, the top notification bar displays a 'downloading' icon.

When it is downloaded, it displays a 'successfully updated' icon.

Is there a way to clear these 'successfully updated' icons?

I found no other way than to pull down the notification bar, and click the installed notification messages, but this always starts the updated program.

I was just wondering if you can clear these icons without having to start the program.

A minor thing, I know, but once I get a question like that in my head...

Towards the top of your notification bar there should be a Clear button. Click this to clear your notifications (this will clear all pending notifications, not just application installed/updated ones).


I want to root my phone Can anyone tell me what is the easiest way to root my phone.
I have a Samsung galaxy note 2.
And what does it mean to flash a new Rom?

There are many methods to root your device.

I just did a quick search and came up with this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2143479. Try following that and see if it works (the process I took for rooting my tablet was pretty much just 'try every guide that I can find until something works', so really just keep looking through guides on the internet).

The term ROM is traditionally used to mean Read Only Memory. Over time, it has come to mean (in the Android world) the OS that your device runs, because the OS is thought to be read-only by some people. Flashing a new ROM just means replacing stock Android with something else.


Complicated Wi-Fi Question So every time that I enable and re-enable the wifi connection on my tablet, the MAC address is randomized (like the last 3-4 digits).  I don't know what might be causing this, and the root account can't seem to disable the internet connection since it's constantly restarted by whatever daemon is running the wifi service.  However, when the daemon restarts the service, the MAC address is not randomized.  I have tested the following via the busybox program and it hasn't worked:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/MAC_address_spoofing

I need to do this since my campus wifi only allows through devices with consistent information since we have to pay to use the wifi here each semester.

easy route download an app for that there are apps that will do this for you

or

you  should be able to add static macaddress in the following directory  if rooted , use a root explorer of your choice , and goto

/efs/wifi

theres two files  .mac.cob  and .mac.info

if you edit both of them files , input the macaddress you need to have and save files , now
they should presist across reboots.

worst case senario add init.d support and make a script to run at
boot

example: file in /etc/init.d       file = 0Amacaddress.sh

#

#!/system/bin/sh

echo 00:00:00:00:00:00 > /efs/.mac.cob

echo 00:00:00:00:00:00 > /efs/.mac.info

#

00:00:00:00:00:00 is an example , use the macaddress you need to have

and your script if you go that route , will need proper permissions to execute at boot


wpa_supplicant.conf permission So I'm facing this problem for a while now . What happens is that my phone reboots automatically sometimes and after the reboot I can't use my WiFi . The button is stuck at off:

So after doing some research on this I wiped my /data/misc/WiFi folder to fix it (didn't create a backup though). So the problem got fixed but it came back again. So I wiped again and it didn't work this time.

In order to restore the folder I copied the WPA_supplicant files in the folder manually. But I don't know what permission to set it to . And even if I change the permissions it gets reverted back to 0660. Also I don't know whether the the .conf file is even compatible for my phone as I got that one from an XDA post.

Can anybody guide me how I can fix this ?

On my phone permissions and ownership looks like:

ls -las /data/misc/wifi/
12 drwxrwx---  4 wifi   wifi    4096 2017-08-14 16:30 .
 8 drwxrwx--t 39 system misc    4096 2017-08-12 20:54 ..
 8 -rw-rw----  1 system wifi      21 2017-08-14 16:30 entropy.bin
48 -rw-rw----  1 system wifi   43098 2017-08-12 22:36 hostapd.conf
 8 -rw-------  1 system system  3136 2017-08-12 23:27 ipconfig.txt
52 -rw-------  1 system system 44517 2017-08-14 16:30 networkHistory.txt
 4 -rw-rw----  1 wifi   wifi     186 2017-08-14 16:30 p2p_supplicant.conf
12 drwxrwx---  2 wifi   wifi    4096 2017-08-14 16:30 sockets
 8 -rw-------  1 system system    20 2017-08-12 22:36 softap.conf
12 drwxrwx---  2 wifi   wifi    4096 1970-01-10 00:56 wpa_supplicant
16 -rw-rw----  1 wifi   wifi   10957 2017-08-14 16:30 wpa_supplicant.conf


Asus Zenfone cycling in the starting of charging process I have an ASUS ZenFone Max Pro (X00T/X00TD)
It is/was discharged and powered off. When i plug it in for charging, it is cycling in start of chaging:

vibration
the icon of empty battery
The bootloader is unlocked... text
the icon of empty battery
empty screen
and then starts again from vibration

I tried to clean the phone's connector, even wiped and stracthed the connector a littlebit, and  changed cable, charging source. (One cable is in the 1A charger, another cable is connected to PC.)  It doesn't get better.
I tried to leave it in the cycling, i hoped it gets some power.
Does the phone charge always when connected to power, or it just start the charging process after it shows the charging animation (which i don't reach)?
I tried to step in Fastboot mode. It stays in this mode, no cycling.
Does the phone charge in fastboot mode?
I tried to step in Recovery mode.

vibration
powered by android
The bootloader is unlocked... text
powered by android
empty screen and turns off

In fastboot mode i tried to flash stock recovery, and also TWRP and RedWolf recovery. The flashing process works, but i still cannot get in recovery mode, to see something more, maybe about battery or i dont know.
Of course the phone does not turn on. The same as when i try to get in recovery mode.

vibration
powered by android
The bootloader is unlocked... text
powered by android
empty screen and turns off

I did not do anything special nowadays with the phone. Bootloader unlocking and rooting was years ago, nor i did upgrade, so nothing special. I just used the phone, it discharged, and i'm in this state.
What can i do?
Is it something with charging, or it has enough power after connected in fastboot mode, but the problem is something with the software?
One more thing: maybe i "pressed" the buttons randomly in my pocket.
Is it possible that in an unlucky situation i got into the recovery mode and pressed something away in recovery menu?
Please help.
edit #1:
Is it possible to turn off the charging screen, charging vibration, screen turning on from fastboot mode? Maybe flash something on or similar? Because then it won't use the slowly charging power.
edit #2:
So the sumary now:

My phone is fully charged.
It does not boot into normal.
It does not boot into recovery, nor by hardware keys, nor by command from fastboot. I tried to flash TWRP, RedWolf and the original recovery too.
Fastboot mode works normally.

Parameters:
D:\Mobil>fastboot getvar all
(bootloader) CPU:SDM636
(bootloader) platform:sdm636
(bootloader) secret-key-opt:*censored*
(bootloader) build-type:user
(bootloader) unlocked:yes
(bootloader) off-mode-charge:1
(bootloader) charger-screen-enabled:1
(bootloader) battery-soc-ok:yes
(bootloader) battery-voltage:4286
(bootloader) version-baseband:       *this is empty, i didn't delete it*
(bootloader) version-bootloader:ZB601KL-0x01-20181019151150
(bootloader) variant:SDM EMMC
(bootloader) partition-type:cache:ext4
(bootloader) partition-size:cache: 0x15E00000
(bootloader) partition-type:userdata:ext4
(bootloader) partition-size:userdata: 0xCEB7FBE00
(bootloader) partition-type:system:ext4
(bootloader) partition-size:system: 0x100000000
(bootloader) secure:yes
(bootloader) serialno:*censored*
(bootloader) product:QC_Reference_Phone
(bootloader) max-download-size:536870912
(bootloader) kernel:uefi
all:
finished. total time: 0.031s

D:\Mobil>fastboot oem device-info
...
(bootloader) Verity mode: true
(bootloader) Device unlocked: true
(bootloader) Device critical unlocked: false
(bootloader) Charger screen enabled: true
(bootloader) Bootloader version: ZB601KL-0x01-20181019151150
OKAY [  0.016s]
finished. total time: 0.016s

But:
D:\Mobil>fastboot boot stock_recovery.img
downloading 'boot.img'...
OKAY [  1.859s]
booting...
FAILED (remote: unknown command)
finished. total time: 1.859s

So booting failed. But i don't know why.

Believe it or not...
The solution was very stupid.
I cleaned the phone inside, especially the bottom part. Around the connectors, lot of dirt and drying moisture got in. Just enough for - probably - some short circuit.
I don't know why was it okay for fastboot mode, and not okay for recovery and normal boot.


Which browser does support proxies? I'm runing ICS 4.1.1 on a Nexus. I'd like to set up a web proxy at home so I can filter pages before reading them on my Nexus when connecting over 3G (not Wi-Fi).

I looked around the settings of the two browsers that come with ICS 4.1.1...

... but I couldn't find anything related to proxies. Does it mean that those browsers don't support proxying? Is there a work-around?

I have a Galaxy S4 and use ConnectBot to connect to my SSH server and setup a port forward via the client to port 8080. Then setup Firefox to use the SOCKS proxy by just going to About:Config and entering the following:

network.proxy.socks: 127.0.0.1
network.proxy.socks_port: 8080 (or whatever port you chose to forward in ConnectBot)
network.proxy.socks_remote_dns: true
network.proxy.type: 1 (this tells Firefox to use your manual proxy settings)

Hope this helps!


How to stop Google from recording my applications usage on Android? When I went to see Google's My Activity, I noticed it actually recorded several elements from my usage of applications on my phone (Nexus 5X, with Android 7). For instance, it showed me that it knew I opened a game yesterday, as well as several other applications.

I don't remember seeing this when I was using Android 6, though I haven't used My Activity extensively so I don't know.

Is it possible to prevent Google from collecting this stalking personal data at all? If yes, how?

Yes, you can prevent this data's collection by Google.

Log into your Google account on the web and visit "My Account".

From the section "Personal Info and Privacy" select
"Manage Your Google Activity"/Activity.

Selectively remove permissions from the presented sections:

"Web & App Activity",
"Location History",
"Device Information",
"Voice & Audio Activity",
"YouTube Search History", or
"YouTube Watch History"

Selectively turn off all or some, to taste, though you would probably get a big benefit from the first section.


Display multiple clocks from multiple timezones on a Nexus 5X lock screen I would like to display multiple clocks on my Nexus 5X running Android 7. I selected multiple cities like explanied here but it doesn't really work.

It should look like this:

Unfortunately, Google removed the option to add custom widgets to the lockscreen in Android 5.0 and didn't bring it back, for whatever reason.

The only option you have is rooting your device and installing xposed framework. There is a module called 'Lock Screen Widgets' which allows you to add custom widgets to the lockscreen (hence the name). Then, just add a clock widget with multiple time zones (if the stock clock doesn't support that, you might need to download a different one from Google Play Store)

Good luck :D


Is there a way to change the system date/time settings to a non-Gregorian calendar, e.g. Hijri, Jewish? Is there a way to change the internal Android system calendar to a completely different one?

No - Individual Apps have to implement and support the different calendars.

Internally the Android System kernel really only knows about UNIX Timestamp. If you change the date/time manually without any network, you'll be changing that value.

It is up to the Android Framework or third party developers to support the various calendars.

From the beginning of Android there has been the Gregorian Calendar class and only with Android 7.0 (Android API 24) and later have additional calendars like Islamic and Chinese been available within the Android Framework. You can see the other calendars available to developers in the Internationalization Base Calendar Class

Regardless, Android developers would have to add in their own code to support different calendars and related issues with the complexity of date/time math.

So sadly you'll have to check each app that you use to see if it has the internationalization capabilities you want.

If you wanted to change the screen lock/status bar/notification shade calendar information, that would probably be a Custom ROM which would expose the Calendar type to use in those fields.


Location of saved images from Facebook Messenger app I don't use Facebook app (browsed on Google Chrome), but I use its Messenger app. Where can I find the saved images from Facebook Messenger app?

Facebook Messenger saves photos to $EXTERNAL_STORAGE/Pictures/Messenger.  That variable depends on your device, but on mine it is /storage/sdcard0 which is also pointed to by the /sdcard symlink.


Why has my Samsung Galaxy S2 become a data hog? My father has a Samsung Galaxy S2 with the stock GB and un-rooted. The phone has been working flawlessly, but lately (since about 2-3 days) it began to use a crazy amount of data.

He normally uses about 300 MB per month, but now the phone is using about 20-30 MB per hour during phone standby!.

Also he notices is that the battery is lasting about half of the previous time, which is evident in case of a long running process.

He didn't install/update anything lately and all the settings are set for minimal data use. (Like no Sync..etc). He also has all the known data-hog apps kept disabled.

He has installed an app call “my data manager” and the app says that all the data is being used by OS services but there is no detailed information.

Just for clarification, he doesn’t have too much applications installed. Just: Whatsapp,  Viber, Facebook and Twitter. But as I said before, he has all the auto sync off, and all these apps where installed months ago.

My question is: Is there a program that can help us to find out what is going on? Something like a “on the fly” (real-time) data analysis?

Any other ideas on what could be happening here?

Thanks!
Edgar

After reading the comments, there's not much else to suggest for you to check on your phone.
So, here's two free APPs to help you out:
My Data Manager
Main features:
  • Simple to setup and simple to use.
  • Know what apps are using data with automatic monitoring of your app data usage.
  • Set usage alarms to avoid overage charges and “bill shock”.
  • Track historical app time and app usage using easy to understand visualizations.
  • Ensure you are using your ideal data plan and maximize how you use your data.
  • Save money by using your plans more effectively.

3G Watchdog
Main features:
  • monitors your Mobile Internet (4G/3G/Edge/GPRS) data usage.
  • shows a status icon (green/orange/red) in the notification bar.
  • has a detailed report page.


Question about recovery log i got a brand new nokia phone a few days ago. The phone and box was in new condition except a tiny bit of dirt/gunk on one of the metal rim/side of the phone.

This got me thinking as to whether the phone might be refurbished, so i took a look at the recovery menu and noticed that the View recovery logs already had a log inside it. The first line says, 'Started recovery on Tue 27 Jan....' I am guessing the date is the default 27 Jan 1970 a lot of folders on the phone have currently.

My question is: Are brand new phones supposed to have this recovery log file, or is this an indication that the phone is refurbished?

Thanks a lot for the help

The recovery should essentially have logs. The factory also tests the device sensors and hardware for normal functionality. So, I'm guessing one of those tests would also be about checking that recovery mode is accessible or not.

You should check for warranty in the Nokia Support app and I wouldn't worry if it shows the device in warranty.


System Update Downloaded I have Nexus 7 (Android 4.4.4) and got message:

  System update downloaded
  Android 5.0.2 System Update

But when I press on it, nothing happens.

How can I install this update?

UPDATE: About Tablet screenshot:

I had the same problem on my Nexus 7 (2012) on 4.4.4.

Do you have multiple user accounts on your tablet? If so, have you tried installing the update from the other account(s)?

I have two accounts, and when the 5.0.2 update got pushed to my device, both accounts got the notification. However, one of them had the same symptoms you described -- nothing happened when I pressed the notification, and the settings app didn't say anything about the update. From the other account, the update worked.

Strangely, the account that worked was not the one I created when I setup the tablet.