Cannot unmount SD card I'm currently using Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) on an old Qualcomm, ARMv7 device, with a 2GB SD card.

I want to bootstrap Debian Wheezy onto the SD card, but FAT32 can't handle symlinks and attributes, so I need to format the card as an ext filesystem. My computer does not have microSD slots, so I'll need to unmount the sdcard and then use some tool to format it from Android.

The problem is that I don't have any "unmount" options in the settings. I tried to root the phone and use ADB to run umount, but it fails on "Device or resource busy".

The phone isn't currently rooted, but I can easily do it in a few moments if needed.

I have a USB cable and ADB installed on my PC.

My PC has Gentoo Linux installed, and I have Debian Jessie available if needed.

I'm OK with using the command line.

May some Android comrade help me?

Turns out there was much more to unmount beyond /mnt/sdcard. Through ADB (and rooted) I unmounted /mnt/sdcard/.android_secure, then /mnt/sdcard, then everything under /mnt. Then I was able to partition my SD card.

I hope someone can make good use of this thread one day!


How can I display my maps (from maps.google.com) on Android smartphone? How can I access to "my maps" saved from desktop website (maps.google.com) from my mobile device?

When I use maps application on my device I am not able to find my saved maps with my POI and my settings

I am using Android 4.4 on Nexus 4

Have you explored the layers option in your Maps app? Your saved maps can be shown as a layer.

In the following image (courtsey: HowTo.Cnet.com) you can see the "My maps" section. Expanding My Maps will show all your saved maps. It requires a data connection to use this feature.

Update:
While composing this reply, I cross checked my input with the Google Maps app in my mobile. My mobile is running v2.3.3 and having Google Maps of version 6.x. I could see the "My maps" section in the layer and I could overlay one of my saved maps.

When I saw OP's comment that "My maps" was not found, I cross checked it with my Nexus 7 running 4.3.3 and Google Maps v7.3.3. It has indeed no "My maps" at all. After some search, I understood from this page that "My Maps" has been removed - may be in favour of Google Maps for Business.

Update:
I just found a new app from Google at its Play store named "Google maps engine" which seems to overlay the stored (though not the old ones, but only the ones that were created with new Google maps for desktop) maps.


How to stop a notification saying "Registering to Network" every few seconds? On Samsung Galaxy S2 HD LTE SHV-E120K Android v4.1.2 without a SIM I get "Registering to Network" notification repeatedly.

How to stop?

Thanks.

Enable airplane mode. Wifi will work in this state.


How can I turn off an Android phone in the same Ethernet remotely using a Windows computer? As in title: How can I turn off an Android phone in the same Ethernet remotely using a Windows computer?
They are in the same Local Area Network and connected to the same router, the Android phone is connected to the router via WiFi and the Windows computer is connected to the router via a cable.
I have tried numerous times to get a solution using Google search with different keywords, and objectively Google isn't very competent in understanding complex sentences and I can't get what I am looking for, see for yourself what the results Google gave: Google: How can I turn off an Android phone in the same Ethernet remotely using a Windows computer?, most of the results are exactly the opposite of what I intended to achieve.
I want to connect to the phone wirelessly and send commands through WiFi.
I figure I need to use either Telnet or SSH to do this, log into the Android device remotely and use
Android terminal commands to shutdown the phone.
Unfortunately I have tried telnet and here is the result:
C:\Windows\System32>telnet 192.168.1.3
Connecting To 192.168.1.3...Could not open connection to the host, on port 23: Connect failed

I know what this means, this is because telnet port is not open and the telnet server isn't online on the Android phone by default.
So naturally I need to install some application on the Android phone that runs the telnet/SSH server and opens the telnet/SSH port, and setup a login and password, so I can connect to the phone remotely and it has to somehow execute the commands.
The phone isn't rooted, but I have Android Studio and the phone does have USB Debugging, what tweaks do I need to make in order to enable remote logging?
And I don't know how to use Android terminal, is there even a command line interface shell on Android? I don't have any experience with this, however from what I have learned Android is based on Linux and I have some experience in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS WSL, I know I can use these commands:
sudo power off
shutdown -h now

Android must use something similar.
How can I achieve this?

The suggested duplicate: How can I shutdown my Android phone using an adb command? doesn't answer my question because it shuts down the phone through USB while I have explicitly stated in my question that I want to shutdown the phone wirelessly through WiFi connection.

Shutdown as a command requires root
The simple answer is you can't perform a shell command from within an app for shutdown an Android system unless your device is rooted.
For performing the shutdown command on Android special permissions are required. When triggering a shutdown via UI the command is internally forwarded to a component that has the permissions to shutdown the system.
But regular apps (and therefore this applies also to all processes like telnet or ssh started in the context of an app) don't have this permission and thus can't shutdown the system.
Workaround: shutdown via adb over IP
Executing the command shutdown -p via adb should power off your phone.The problem is that adb by by default only available via USB connection (if you have enabled developer options and adb). The only workaround would be to connect your phone after booting to a PC and enable adb access via IP. This would be then allow a sort of telnet (via "adb connect IP" instead of telnet).
Warning: ADB over IP is really equivalent to telnet which means that it's data  is transmitted totally unprotected in plain text on network level. Therefore you should use adb over IP only in safe networks.
See also this question: How can I shutdown my Android phone using an adb command?


Made hangouts handle my SMS. Any downside to disabling Messanging? If I've made Hangouts handle my SMS, is there any downside to disabling the default Messaging app?

Does anything rely on that app being enabled?

On some devices, especially Motorola ones, disabling the stock Messaging app will cause any app that you set to handle SMS to crash when sending an outbound SMS.  While other system apps may be safe to disable, I would recommend against disabling the stock Messaging app.

See this question for more details.


Why proxy set on Android does not work when used as hotspot? I am setting the proxy in APN settings of my mobile network in below shown screenshot:

It works well. I verified via whatismyip. However, when I enable the hotspot on the device and use this hotspot on another device and check IP from it, it shows my original mobile service provider IP and not the proxy IP.

Why such behavior if the hotspot is supposed to use the mobile network and the proxy is set in APN for it? How can I make proxy work on device using hotspot as well?

Note: I do not want to set proxy under advanced setting on other device wifi option while choosing this hotspot. The app that I am trying to use detects proxy set under wifi so this is my only option.

Your question is related to understanding of OSI model. Proxies use http/https or socks protocol, I assume you are talking about http which is an Application Layer (L7) protocol in OSI model. When an application generates http message, it's handed over to lower layer. In case of https, message is encrypted by SSL/TLS which are L6 protocols. At L4 the message gets a TCP header and then at L3 it's converted to an IP packet. This packet goes through NAT and firewalls filtering at L3, and finally through RRM/PDCP/RLC (if using Mobile Data), MAC and kernel routing at L2. At L1 it's transmitted over Wi-Fi as 802.11 frames or CDMA/TDMA/FDMA signals over Mobile Data.

Hotspot on the other hand is mainly based on 2 userspace tools; hostapd - which creates Wi-Fi Access Point at OSI L2 - and dnsmasq (up to Android 9) - which works as DHCP/DNS server at OSI L7. If the connected host is using phone as DNS server (as configured by DHCP), phone receives DNS queries and recursively forward them as UDP/IP packets to upstream DNS server on internet (whatever dnsmasq is configured to use). Rest of the traffic coming from hotspot network is NATed and routed at L3/L2.

So you see none of the (IP packets) traffic coming from connected hosts goes through http stack on Android phone, hence not being forwarded to proxy server. It's the responsibility of applications like Web Browsers to make http(s) connections to proxy server, not directly to remote host like web server. It's not possible to create a hotspot which can be configured to use http proxy at OSI L7. Proxy settings (host/port) we set for Wi-Fi or APN or globally are just forwarded to applications, each application has to create proxied connection on its own, or just ignore the proxy information. You need to provide these proxy details to apps on every host connected over hotspot. See question linked below for more details.

However it's possible to forcefully redirect the whole traffic towards a proxy server by using Linux/Android kernel's NAT/REDIRECT/TPROXY (at L3) and routing table (at L2). That's how proxifiers work, but there are limitations. Email clients use IMAP/POP3/SMTP (L6/7) protocols which won't work with http GET method, instead require http CONNECT proxies. Latter can only forward TCP traffic, for UDP at least SOCKS5 proxy is needed which operates at L5. DNS and mostly games and voice calling apps generate UDP traffic, so they won't work with http proxies at all. ping utility - for instance - uses ICMP (at L3) which can't be encapsulated in TCP or UDP, so it won't work with SOCKS5 too.

So it's not possible in true sense to redirect all traffic towards a remote (proxy) server without using a L2/3 solution like VPN. For more details see How to set Wi-Fi HTTPS proxy, not HTTP, via adb shell?

  Why such behavior if the hotspot is supposed to use the mobile network and the proxy is set in APN for it?

Hotspot is supposed to use the mobile network, apps are supposed to use the proxy. The proxy you configured in APN isn't enforced system-wide.

  I do not want to set proxy under advanced setting on other device WiFi option while choosing this hotspot.

Unfortunately this is the most straightforward way, other methods require either rooting and/or using third party apps (to create VPN). See above linked question on how to enforce proxy transparently.


Read a .txt file on Asus K013 Tablet Up until yesterday I was able to read imported .txt files with the resident File Manager. The files were imported over USB direct to the root directory of the internal SD card via copy-paste. Now it won't open the files, giving an error saying "open file failed".

I didn't knowingly change anything. There's no way to uninstall the file manager, no way to update it, it's embedded in the tablet which is really frustrating. I deleted and imported the files again and still get the same error. I called Asus tech support and they weren't able to help other than tell me to download another file manager. I downloaded Tetra Free but it comes back with a text box asking me "Open with" but no options are displayed.

I'd really like to use the resident File Manager. Any ideas out there what I can do?

Have you tried "Droidedit"? It is an app on playstore that is used by programmers to code but it can read your txt files.. I use it when I code batch files...

OPTIONAL: Smanager, Root Browser, WPS office

Good luck! :)


Will any headset work with android? I'm looking for a good headset, preferably with mic, answer button and volume controls.  I see iPhone compatible everywhere but no mention of Android compatible.  Do they use the same specifications, and do I need to worry about compatibility when buying a wired headset?

Headsets with mic, answer button and volume controls which are iPhone compatible, in general, will not work with Android headsets. The mic and the sound will work, but the buttons will not.

Headset with mic and only one button will work without problems.


Phone not appearing in Android Device Manager When I go to Android Device Manager, my tablet is listed, but not my phone. I had signed up just as soon as ADM was available, and at that time both devices were listed. Now, for the last several days, I can only see my tablet. (For what it's worth, both devices appear in the "My Devices" section of the Google Play Store.)

I have done the following while troubleshooting:

Ensured that the Android Device Manager settings in Google Settings are both on. I have even toggled them off and back on again
Ensured that Location Services are on
Ensured that all sync services for my account are toggled on and work
Have connected to the Play Store several different times
Ensured Google Play Services is at the latest version
Made sure I'm using the right account. (In fact, I removed the other secondary accounts from the phone)
Power-cycled the phone several different times

I could understand if ADM couldn't find the phone due to it being off, out of range, poor signal, etc., but ADM would at least display the phone and tell me it couldn't find it.

So, any suggestions to get my phone to show up on Android Device Manager?

I would like this to be working before something happens to the phone. (Murphy's Law and all that.)

Although it shouldn't make any difference:

Tablet: Nexus 7 (2012) with Android 4.3
Phone: Verizon Galaxy Nexus with Android 4.2.2

Addendum:

There's apparently some (relatively new) advice on the Android Device Manager help page:

Open  Google Settings from your device's apps menu.
Touch Android Device Manager.
Uncheck Allow remote factory reset.
Go to your device's main Settings menu, then touch Apps > All > Google Play services.
Touch Clear Data. Note that this action doesn't remove personal data.
Go back to Google Settings and select Allow remote factory reset.
Restart your device.

I have followed these steps, but it doesn't appear to have worked.

Well, I don't seem to have an answer why this was happening, but I got some advice about how to finally fix it.

From Ryan Lestage on Google+:

Clear data for the following apps:

Play Store
Download Manager
Google Services Framework

Restart your phone.
Fire up the Play Store app.
Wait for the device to show again on the web Play Store. It will appear under Settings > Devices. It may take a half-hour to several hours to appear.

When your phone has shown up in the Play Store with the date registered as today's date, proceed with the next steps, but not before.

Open Google Settings from your device's apps menu.
Touch Android Device Manager.
Uncheck Allow remote factory reset.
Go to your device's main Settings menu, then touch Apps > All > Google Play services.
Touch Clear Data. Note that this action doesn't remove personal data.
Go back to Google Settings and select Allow remote factory reset.
Restart your device.

I would like to know exactly which of these steps was the magic sauce, but I'm content that it worked at all. I suppose that Play Store connection makes some sense, because while my phone was listed there, it showed a "Last Used" date back in March or somesuch.

I really hope that the setting sticks this time, and that I won't be forced to repeat this process every couple of months just to protect my device. (If so, I'll go back to some of my other options, like Carbonite and/or Lookout.)


How to add comments in build.prop file? If it differs across Android versions, provide answer specifically for KitKat and Lollipop.
Thanks

Just precede your comments with the # character.

# this is a comment
ro.lcd_density=160    # this is another comment


In Galaxy S7, cannot disable Samsung Reactivation Lock Summary

I'm trying to install a custom build of LineageOS following the instructions here. I was attempting to load a recovery image using heimdall when I'm told 'Recovery Check failed'. It turns out Samsung has something called Reactivation Lock, but the settings to disable it aren't present on my phone. I actually called them and they said it had been replaced by Google's Android Device Manager, but there's clearly something preventing me from loading a recovery image.

I can't link to it because of reputation limits, but the recovery image I was using I built from source; it's linked on the home page of LineageOS. I did also try it with the images built by Team Win Recovery Project with no luck.

I appreciate any help you can give me.

Steps

I rebooted into 'download mode' using $ adb reboot-bootloader. Heimdall recognizes the device:

$ heimdall detect

Device detected

but when I try to load the recovery image I get an error:

$ heimdall flash --no-reboot --RECOVERY out/dist/recovery.img

Uploading RECOVERY
100%
RECOVERY upload successful
Ending session...
ERROR: Failed to receive session end confirmation!
Releasing device interface...

and on my android it shows SECURE CHECK FAIL : recovery in the top-left corner (in red, if that matters). Rebooting into recovery mode just reboots the phone normally.

Specs

Model: heroltevzw
Model number: SM-G930V
Android version: 7.0
Patch level: August 1, 2017

Sounds like your bootloader is locked. Going from your model number I'm guessing you have the snapdragon variant with Verizon. If that is true just flash stock firmware through Odin. Stock meaning the last version your phone was running on before this happened. I'm not familiar with anyway to unlock the boot loader. Also I personally use Odin when I flash my s7.


How do I turn off my Samsung Galaxy a3 if my screen has stopped working? My phone screen suddenly just stopped working it comes on but the touch screen isn't responding. I think I need to switch it off and back on again but I can't without touching the screen! Does anybody know how to do it another way?

Hold down the power button for 10 seconds or take out battery


Is there a way to customize SMS quick text? I have an LG Ally.  I have a market SMS popup app that lets me customize the quick text, but that only works if someone texts you first and it pops up.  Sometimes I need to sent a quick text to someone that hasn't texted me first, such as "driving" or "call you in a minute".  The stock quick texts on the Ally messaging app are pretty lame, and I haven't been able to figure out a way to customize them.

The Handcent SMS app allows for custom template messages.


Support for Multiple Users on same device Is there such a thing as a "current user" on Android and a way to switch it?

I'm interested in getting a Motorola Xoom and would like to share it with my wife when at home.  For my Windows laptop we us fast-user switching so that we can keep our own tabs and logins.  I'm not specifically interested in the privacy aspects of user-switching, so if the OS doesn't support separate users, is there a concept of profile switching?

This is available for phones starting in Android 5.0 (Lollipop):
http://www.android.com/versions/lollipop-5-0/

And for tablets starting in Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean):
http://developer.android.com/about/versions/jelly-bean.html#42-multiuser

As Tatjana Heuser mentioned, it's also available as hidden functionality in Android 4.1, but not accessible through the regular user interface.


Spam alerts in notification bar Possible Duplicate:
  Is this red star icon malware? How to get rid of it?

I get spam alerts about free ipads and typical junk like that on my notification bar when I start my droid. This also happens when I first connect to WIFI on my home router (secured). I use a DROID X.

Get this Air Push Detector app to find out what is creating those notifications.

Then uninstall the app(s) that are creating them.


Device is showing in device manager but not in Android ADB Interface? Hi I am Having some problems while using adb on my computer.
I connected tab to my laptop with a usb cable.
And This is the device manager.

Here you see that my lenovo tab is connected but not connected in android device.
I typed adb devices in cmd and too it showed "List of devices attached" and nothing else.
Please reply as fast as you can.

First make sure you have the latest USB drivers for your device installed on your computer. Also make sure that USB Debugging is enabled. If the problem persists, you may try reinstalling the drivers. May I know if you are using adb as sideload to flash roms or other usage?


Removing adopted storage sdcard My smartphone has ability to use two sim card or one sim card plus sdcard. Generally, I'm using second option (sim+sdcard), sdcard as adopted storage. I want to use second sim card temporarily. But if I will unmount sdcard and pull it out will I be able to use it later without problems?

It works as expected. I successfully unmount adopted storage.

First I moved all apps to internal memory. Then I unmount adopted storage from SD card options.

System starts syncing data that was not written yet and after minute there was intent notification "You can remove sdcard safely". So I removed card. Nothing wrong was happening. Of course, wallpaper disappears but it was predictable.

Another side effect was that I can't save screenshot so I made these photos by another phone.

After some time I inserted same SD card to smartphone and Android mount it automatically. Wallpaper appears again and all my files from SD card was in the same place as before.

Technically adopted storage is separate file system but mounted in a file system, in the specified directory. Not every app can be moveable to adopted storage. It behaves like normal SD card with FAT/exFAT file system but Android merge view of internal memory directory in one "file system". Another difference is that adopted storage is encrypted. Android mounts that encrypted block device, decrypt it and mount in /mnt/expand/. No system data are moved to adopted storage, only apps that developer implement an option to move app data to adopted storage.

Test was made on Android 7.1.1. Smartphone model: Motorola G5S Plus (XT1805)


Launch app on start (even SD card apps) I'm pretty sure (despite of haven't seen them) that there are a few question about running some app when you turn on the phone. But I want a something a little more complex here. I have a few apps to run on start. Some of them have no trouble because they are installed in the phone, but the rest is installed in my SD card. As we all know (I think thats normal) after starting Android takes a few seconds to load all information saved in the SD card. How can I do to run some apps from the SD card after Android finishes loading information from the media device?

If changes something I'm using Android 2.2

Thanks!

I achieve on this using Tasker. For the apps in the SD card I created a profile with the context Events -> Hardware -> Card Mounted and it loads all apps I want. For the apps in the phone I created a profile with the context Events -> System -> Device Boot and it loads all apps I want.

Note: The first thing you MUST do before anything in both of this contexts is wait a few seconds. In the "Card Mounted" event is to let Android load all the apps installed in the memory (I'm guessing) and in the "Device Boot" is because after booting Android is too busy doing important stuff (I'm quoting Tasker guys).


Android 4.1.2 Full Device Encryption I have a FDE enabled on my Android. However on JellyBean when device restarts I never get a boot password prompt,just regular unlock screen. I remember on 4.0 ICS, after reboot Android would ask me for decryption key so it can mount the /data filesystem. My device is Moto Droid 4. I verified from command line that /data mounted with encryption, however I cant figure out where it gets the key from,if I never have to enter it on boot.

Are you sure that you have enabled FDE? I've read this link which states that FDE may not work directly as expected (must try in 4.2.2 multiple times), and that you need a PIN or Password defined in advance. I mean, if you can access your data without entering a security credential then your device is probably not encrypted right? Watch out FDE may not encrypt all the things you think it should: Does Android's Full Filesystem Encryption also Encrypt the SDcard?


How do I discover the latest Android OS available for a device on a carrier? How do I discover the latest Android OS version available through standard support channels (no manual rooting or reflashing) for a device? In particular, I am interested in the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 for Verizon. Note, I am not interested in actually installing, just in finding what is available.

If you're not rooting or manually flashing, just call Verizon, they'll tell you the latest version they have available.  It's almost certain to be the same that's already there, unless the device has been stored for a good while and thus kept from getting a pushed upgrade.


Sync music folders between phone and tablet I want to use a DJ returnable app on both devices, send want a fast way (WiFi) to keep the music folders sync'd. I always buy from my phone so just need to transfer existing music and new downloads from the phone to the tablet, it doesn't need to sync automatically but I do need a way to do easy multiple/bulk file transfers.

What is a good way to do this? Wifi preferably but bluetooth if I have to.

DoubleTwist with AirSync will do this, as long as they're connected to the same WiFi network and looking at the same location.

For bulk file transfers, most file explorers (like ES File Explorer) allow you to browse devices from other devices on the same network.


Bauhn tablet Bluetooth keyboard not working My Bauhn tablet runs ICS. It will pair with my Bluetooth keyboard but doesn't actually type anything. I've tested by connecting to my Samsung Galaxy S 3 phone, and the keyboard works fine. But it won't work on the Bauhn.

Am I missing something?

You'll need to download the app BlueInput. Bit of a pain but will allow you to use the keyboard.


Video and game lags after rooting S3 I recently rooted my phone, and am now using Paranoid and I love it. However, whenever I play videos and games it lags really noticeably. This never happened before I rooted my phone. I'm using Samsung Galaxy S3 and have tried using Seeder with no luck. Can I fix this poor performance?

This is probably a bug in the custom ROM you've installed. You should report it to the developer of the ROM, and either wait for it to be fixed in an update, or use a different ROM.


Does Chrome Mobile on ICS support extensions? I saw Google just released the beta for a mobile Chrome browser. They say they brought all the features over from the full browser, or at least they want to. Does anyone have an ICS device with the beta Chrome on it and can confirm if they support the extensions?

It does not, and Flash is also not supported as of now. Information Week reports (and I can personally corroborate):

  Web apps and extensions, including Adobe Flash Player, are not
  supported in the initial release of Chrome for Android Beta.

Trying to visit the extensions Web Store page on my Xoom results in a page which simply says the following:

  Sorry, your operating system is not supported just yet. The Chrome Web
  Store is available on Windows, Mac and Linux. Why don't you send a
  reminder to yourself to try it out later?


How do I prep my rooted and moded phone for resale? I have a rooted MyTouch 3G (HTC Magic) that I want to sell to help defray the cost of my new phone.  I have been running CyanogenMod on the phone. My problem lies in the fact that I don't really want to stick somebody with the slightly buggy way the phone runs now.  I could just slap the stock rom back on it but I don't hear very good things about it and I'm pretty sure the fact the phone is rooted will still prevent new updates to the phone from HTC.

So, what I'm asking is: What should I do to make this phone easily usable by whomever might end up with it? Is there a mod that is going to be super user friendly that won't require constant tweaking on the part of the user? Or is there a way for me to return the phone to vanilla stock?

If I was buying a used device, I would expect that a factory reset would have been done to it. Either way, I'd probably do a factory reset myself anyway, just because.

Unless, of course, I rather wanted a rooted phone.

I think a factory reset is the better option. You wouldn't want someone to stumble upon some of your personal data.

In any event, it's best to make sure the buyer knows exactly what they're getting.


How to skip formatting SD Card? My android phone keeps saying my fully working SD Card is damaged and I have only the choice to format.
I tested it on every smartphone I have, the same error.
But when I put this SD Card in my laptop or Windows phone smartphone:
 - the SD card works fine;
 - can listen to the music just fine;
 - no problem when watching a movie from it;
 - working just one more time on a single Android phone, then the error again.
I tested it with chkdsk, no problem.

What can I do? How can I skip the formatting?

I think the best answer here is by @Android_Helper. I would recommend backing up the data before doing what I'm about to suggest. I have been able to skip formatting by repeatedly removing and inserting the SD card until it detects it. This method does not always worK but sometimes it would work for me the 10th time or so.


What is the differrences between Talk and Google+ Messenger? Both are the chatting tools of Google.

I use Talk since I use Gmail to chat with my friend and when I see Google+ Messenger, I just thought it is Talk but the two are NOT the same at all - i.e. chatting with one person on Talk  and he/she will NOT receive it Google+ Messenger.

This is so confusing. What is the differences then? Why there are two chat tools like this?

Update
The funny thing is that Google+ Messenger is used for chatting with Google+ users from Android phone. But when I log in my Google+ page, I can ONLY talk with Talk friends !?!? I want to continue my last chat with a friend on Google+ from my PC, but now I cannot. So funny!

Google Talk syncs to your Gmail account. This offers free instant messaging to all your Google contacts that you have invited to “talk” with. You can use the services within the Gmail web page, or download Google Talk and install it on your computer or smart phone.

Google+ Messenger, originally called “Huddle”, is a sub service to Google+.

The big difference between the two is that Google+ Messenger is the instant messaging service that is synced to your Google+ account, not your Gmail account. People who are added to your “circles” are the ones that are able to be messaged with. Another difference is that Google+ Messenger allows people to have group chats.

Source: difference-between-google-talk-google-messenger-and-google-hangouts


Which downloadable launchers are based on the ICS stock launcher? After upgrading to ICS, I'd like to use either the stock ICS launcher or an improved version based on it. What are my options?

Nova Launcher
Apex Launcher
Trebuchet (CM9's official launcher)

As far as I know, you must install all of these to /system (which requires root) in order to have widgets appear in the app drawer, and Trebuchet doesn't support being installed to /data at all.


Remove time-wasting prompts like "data network mode will be deactivated" I've just upgraded a Galaxy S2 to ICS and when I now toggle data network mode by long-pressing the power button I get these time-wasting prompts like "Data network mode will be deactivated. OK/Cancel?". Any way to turn them off?

No. However, you can use an app like Widgetsoid and then create a custom widget which when pressed will toggle a number of options like brightness, WiFi, Bluetooth, 2G/3G and of course mobile data.

This will happen without any confirmation dialog popping up.


No sliding (gesture typing) feature in Google Keyboard for Ukrainian language I can't type words via "sliding through letters" in Google Keyboard when Ukrainian language is chosen.

Is it OK? What may be the reason? No "sliding" support specifically for Ukrainian language?

I have Moto G with Android KitKat.
I tried on both 2.0... and 3.0... versions of Google Keyboard...

You can now download the latest version of Google keyboard (with sliding support) from the Google play store.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.inputmethod.latin


Vixion IRUX Tablet battery will not charge I bought this tablet recently in Tenerife.  Can find no information about the manufacturer.

Now the battery will not charge through the mains adapter. It did charge at first.  However, I have found it does charge through USB connection to my PC.
When it charged previously a light at the connector would be red.  When it was not charging it would be green.  It is red while USB connected.

Also it tells me now that it is charging, but if I remove the USB connection it stops charging. It has a screen showing battery condition in the form of a graph.  I could see the graph of battery % decreasing gradually.  A few days ago there was a sudden drop as if some App had used a lot of power.

I decided to remove all Apps and did a factory reset.  This made no difference regarding the failure to charge. I have tried shutting down completely (hold the off button for a while and it asks if I want to power off)

This made no difference.
Any advice please?

Edit #1: Thanks ce4 for your response. The charger is stated to be 5v and when I check it with a voltmeter, it shows 5.2v. Also I have tried pushing the plug into the tablet to varying amounts and makes no difference. Another point maybe I didn't make clear is that when I connect with USB only, the light does not come on but the device tells me it is charging.

But when I connect the power supply as well, the light comes on red as if indicating charging. But when I remove the USB leaving the power supply connected, the light goes back to green and is not charging from the power supply.

Despite apparently charging on USB, the percentage of battery left charged has not yet increased from 10%. I understand that USB cannot deliver high current. It appears you are right - something wrong with the charger - maybe it is not the correct one for this model - I guess it needs to be able to deliver power at a higher current level?

From reading what you have already tried, this sounds pretty much like a hardware issue failure. You may have:

a broken wall charger
a broken power plug or torn connection on the device side

Try replacing the charger or (in the latter case) pushing the plug a little (to see if it then reconnects temporarily).


Rooting of Samsung Galaxy S2 didnt work - LPB kernel My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S2, purchased in Singapore. The OS is Android 4.0.3. I wanted to root it, and followed the method specified in this xdadevelopers post.

My kernel is *LPB* (I dont remember the whole thing, and that post says only these 3 letters are relevant anyway).

I tried to follow the instructions and flash both the LPB kernels suggested in that post, but in both cases, while booting, my device shows the Samsung screen with the  yellow triangle and then immediately switches off.

I am still able to go to download mode.

I solved this by following the feedback from this phandroid post

I used the next higher kernel that is LPD and it worked! .LPH kernel as suggested by another answerer, did NOT work.

The original solution :

  Hi, I had the same problem which stumped me as well. I found the answer on a different thread; just use the kernel that is the 'next one up', which in this case is LPD. Works perfectly.

Adding it here just in case someone else comes looking.


Dot (.) symbol automatically added when pressing the space key 2 or more times I have seen many times when I type in WhatsApp and press the space key 2 or more times, a period symbol is automatically added. But after I press backspace once, pressing space many times won't add the symbol.

How to remove that automatically added period (.) symbol in WhatsApp and other applications?

That is not only on WhatsApp. It is everywhere when you double click space bar, a dot will occur. You need to configure it with your keyboard settings on Android, or simply reset your keyboard settings.


Does Play Music download songs more than once if they are in different playlists? I have several playlists which overlap in terms of the songs they contain. I have these downloaded on my phone. If a song is in two playlists, will it be stored twice on my phone?

No.

I went ahead and downloaded my master playlist that contains all my songs, then the other playlists. The latter all took zero time, indicating the songs were not downloaded twice


Nandroid backup of Emulator instance? Is it possible to use Nandroid to backup an AVD instance?

The system images system.img are located in the android SDK install directory under system-images/android-<platform-version>/<platform-type>.

Once you create the AVD, in the %USERPROFILE%/.android/avd/<AVD_NAME>.avd you will find the img files for /sdcard/ and /data/, but /system and such are loaded from the SDK path mentioned above.

In order to create an AVD you must install the system images from the SDK manager.


I move a folder in android root directory to SDcard directory in internal phone memory. Is there a way to restore it back? The folder was custpack in root directory and the phone will not boot now.

I can still access a recovery mode but it only have a stock recovery from the manufacture. No custom recovery available for my phone...

is there any way I can grab contents of the SDcard directory using developers tools?

one of the menu in the stock recovery is to adb side load file name

is there any hope I can access the phone memory using a pc somehow and restore the folder ?

thank you

edit1: in android stock recovery  menu, I have the option to install package from SD card.
The phone does have an SD card slot.
is it possible to create a zip file that will some how restore the custpack folder back to root directory?
I do have the deleted folder in my PC....

One method you can try is download and use Aroma File Manager.
It's a recovery based file manager. Means you can access all files and do all file operations like cut, move etc.

But not sure if it will work on un rooted device.
But you can try.


Sim toolkit is missing after upgrade os to Android 5.0.2 I've upgraded my OnePlus One to 5.0.2 (CyanogenMod), but the Sim Toolkit app is missing.

Can anyone help to solve this problem, because I need this feature for mobile banking?

This is how I found it out to work. Create a SIM-PIN in your settings, restart the phone with the PIN, and you will have the toolkit in your app browser.


Can I install Cynogen OS on my Yu Yuphoria 5010A? Basically I have multi touch issue on YU yuphoria,I recently googled and found that custom ROM can remove this problem,cyanogen in my case but all the tutorial were for 5010.So I need to know whether I can flash cyanogen or not?

Maybe this will help. (NOTE: these builds are for the build 'lettuce')

https://download.cyanogenmod.org/?device=lettuce


Huawei Y330-U11 bootloop My device, Huawei Y330-U11, is stuck on a bootloop.

Recovery isn't working. The only possible mode is "Fastboot & Rescue" mode, which needs the phone to be connected to the PC. But, the phone is not being detected.

Try downloading a stock y330-u11 firmware from Susutun then extract the zip. Read fully the instruction given. Once you've got the SP flash tool, check the scatter file and the uboot. Choose Recovery and boot. Then hit download. Turn of the phone and pull out battery. Reinstall the battery but don't power on. Connect the usb while holding vol up/down. The progress bar should start.


Google Play : An error occurred while getting the status of your purchase I'm unable to buy apps from the Play Store.

This is the message I get when trying to buy the app from a desktop computer :

(Click image to enlarge)

This is what I get when I try to purchase the app from my device (Nexus 5) :
It's in French, in English :

  Unable to process your order. please try again

I have already tried clearing the cache for the Play Store app on my device, cleared the cache on my browser on my desktop computer, and I tried 2 different credit cards (one Visa, one Mastercard, both working on Amazon).

I am able to download free apps, and was able to purchase apps from the Play Store in the past.
My phone runs Android 5.1.1 and is not rooted.

Does anyone know what the problem could be or even where I could find more helpful error messages?

Silly me, I was trying to purchase the app with the same Google account as the one I use for publishing apps, which is clearly forbidden by Google's policies :

  Please note that it is against Google’s policies to purchase your own
  application. You will receive an error message when you try to
  purchase your own application.

Pitty that the error message wasn't a bit more helpful, but the mistake was mine anyway.


How can I uninstall Alkido 1.1 when both Alkido 2.0 and Alkido 1.1 are installed on my Samsung Galaxy S After installing my Archos 101 tablet, I noticed that the Alkido version I installed on it was version 2, when the version installed on my Galaxy S was still version 1.1.

The market when run on the Galaxy never told me there was an update.

I just installed version 2.0 of Alkido on my Galaxy, resulting in both versions being installed.

However, I find no place where I can install version 1.1 !

Settings - Applications - Running applications show both version 1.1 and version 2.0 ( cause I just started both programs ).
Pressing version 1.1 does not give me an option to uninstall (e.g. the Uninstall button is greyed out)
Settings - Applications - All show both version 1.1 and version 2.0
Settings - Applications - Third-party only show version 2.0

Both programs have their own data folder so it seems, as I don't see the books visible in version 1.1 being displayed in version 2.0.

The market, as I said, only shows version 2.0.

Any other place I can start an uninstall ?

It sounds to me like Alkido 1.1 was bundled on your device as a system app.  To remove a system app, you need root.
There are two ways to address this easily, I would prefer #1 myself.
Method 1

Uninstall Alkido 2.0.
Install Titanium Backup.
Run Titanium and wait for it to load your app list.
Go to the app list and long-press on Alkido 1.1.
Choose "Integrate with Market" or similar.
Go to Settings -> Applications -> Manage applications, find the Market, and clear the data for it.
Open the Market, go to your apps, and update Alkido.

If that doesn't work or you don't want to bother keeping Alkido as a system app:
Method 2

Install Titanium.
Run Titanium, long-press on Alkido 1.1.
Choose "Uninstall" or similar.  You shouldn't need the "hack" version of uninstalling that it mentions, but you can try that if the regular uninstall doesn't work.

Alkido 2.0 will be unaffected if you didn't uninstall it in Method 1.


How does Google app interact with WhatsApp? There is an option in OK Google voice commands in which Google app can send Whatsapp messages to any person. How does it manage to do this?

To understand this, you will need to know the workings in the code. Anyway, I'll try to explain it in layman terms.
Basically, apps can have a window (sort of) by which they can be given data to initiate the task. These windows are called intents in android. When an app is given some data, say a person's name and a message, through the intent it can decide what to do with this data. In the case of Whatsapp, it sends the given message to the given contact/person.


Can I use ADB without connecting over USB? Is there a way to use adb directly via bluetooth instead of always via usb?

--

Thanks for the adb wireless solutions below, but I am looking for something that works well on hotel or public wifi. Bluetooth short-range might be the only way to go about it.

Personally, I use ADBWireless with my G1 on CM5 because I had problems with the USB driver working correctly between my computer and my G1.  However, I had problems with this app in CM4 (to test against Android 1.6) on my G1.
Note, however, that it connect to the device via ADB via wifi, not Bluetooth.
You'll pull up a command line on your computer and type adb connect xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:5555 (x's being your ip address of the phone over wifi). You'll have to run this in the platform-tools directory of your Android SDK, or you need to add your Android SDK platform-tools directory to your global PATH variable so you can run adb from anywhere.
Your phone will show up as its ip_address:port_number in the list of devices to push your application to, just as if it was plugged in directly via usb.


Can I install takju ROM on unit with yakjuxw? I bought my Galaxy Nexus a couple of months before Jelly Bean 4.2 was announced. It got updated to 4.0.4 fine, but did not find any 4.1 update at all. So I found this question which informed me of units that had ROMs updated by Samsung instead of Google for whatever reason. And my unit is of the Samsung update legacy, yakjuxw.

Since by the time I had concrete info on this yakju, takju or whatever the 4.2 release was nearing, I decided against flashing to yakju 4.1.2, and resorted to camp Android's factory image download page. And then 4.2 OTA rolled out on the 13th. Only for the takju units that is. The download page was similarly updated. But I am running out of patience, hence the question.

tl;dr refer to the title. I would like to know if there's any issues with flashing takju or a yakju device.

The answer is yes, you can install a takju ROM on a yakjuxw device.  For that matter, you can also install a yakju ROM, or one of many other custom Galaxy Nexus ROMs (e.g. Cyanogenmod) on a device that originally had yakjuxw.

I have personally flashed both yakju and takju ROMs on my Galaxy Nexus, which originally had a yakjux (Canada) ROM.  The only possible issue is that flashing a new ROM may erase user data from the SD card (pictures, SMS messages, wifi information, etc.).  So you may want to back up your data before flashing.


My Samsung Galaxy S6 is bricked I recently bricked my Samsung Galaxy S6 SM-S906l while trying to flash TWRP recovery.

Apparently, it was an unsupported recovery and I need to reflash the original recover with Odin, but it says it needs the PIT file.

How do you obtain the PIT file?

The SM-S906L is the same device as the SM-G920V [source]. You should be able to use the PIT for the SM-G920V. You can get the PIT here.

I also found it here (and it is labeled as the SM-S906L, but has the same file name as the one that is specified for the SM-G920V).


Connecting USB mouse to Galaxy SIII I bought a basic female to female USB adapter and connected my Galaxy SIII USB cable to the mouse. This didn't work. What am I doing wrong? Do I need an OTG cable? Something about USB hosts? I don't understand how to get this to work.

Yes, you need an OTG cable. The pin layout is different than a regular micro USB to USB cable; essentially, it's equivalent to shorting pins 4 and 5 on a normal cable. This is what causes the phone to know that it needs to be the host rather than the slave.

In fact, you can do this yourself if you're handy with electronics and have a cable you don't mind taking apart, though they're also readily available at many online retailers (Amazon, Newegg, Monoprice, etc).


How to flash root.zip in fastboot I need to flash the root zip I downloaded from Chainfire without having to install recovery like Clockworkmod. I have fastboot and adb and that's what I used to flash 4.4.4. This is for my Nexus 7 2013 Wifi. I have to leave in under 20 minutes, could someone write the correct fastboot command to do this

Step 1: Unlock the bootloader; fastboot oem unlock This WILL wipe your device. Skip if already unlocked. Set up your device and put SuperSU.zip into it.
Step 2: Download the appropriate TWRP/CWM image for your device.
Step 3: Boot your phone into bootloader; adb reboot bootloaderwhile the device is on or hold the power button and the volume down button while the device is off.
Step 4: Make sure your device is detected by fastboot; fastboot devices
Step 5: Temporarily Boot into recovery; fastboot boot nameofrecovery.imgThis will only boot the recovery, not install it.
Step 6: Flash the .zip file using the recovery and reboot.

You will have stock recovery and root access.


What is the best way to get the android sdk reference offline on my android device? I want to study the Android API on my phone during my frequent and long metro rides (where I cannot connect to the internet).
What would be the best way to make the documentation available (I would appreciate being able to use a search option and an index) ?
Is copying all the documentation files from my PC to my Android device the best thing to do ? Is there any serious app that could provide this features ?

You can download the documentation of Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) by the SDK Manager.

SDK manager-->Android 4.0.3 (API15)-->Documentation for Android SDK

It will download all the documentation in <android-sdk>\docs of your PC.


Use image file as camera I need to use an image file instead of a camera for Android apps that want you to use a camera app to take a photo (for example, Google Drive scanner). I don't need to use apps that use the camera directly, such as WhatsApp.

The question was edited so it matches the answers. See edit history to see the actual question.

There are 3rd-party "fake camera" apps that will let you to choose an image instead, such as:

Image2Camera (free)
Fake Camera by New Horizon Apps (free)
Fake Camera - donate version by Vaclav Balak (paid)

Note that you need to have the image inside the (emulator) device storage first for these apps to be useful.

Also, since these apps are not really a camera app, opening the apps directly won't be really useful (other than, perhaps, to read the instruction for app usage). Instead, when you want to take a picture from an app, these apps will be selectable as "camera" app instead, then you can select the image on the device.

Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with any of these apps.


Revert to official Android from Cyanogenmod I have installed CyanogenMod 10.1.x on my Note 2, but I find it very unstable and it often goes on a reboot loop.

I use ClockworkMod recovery.

I would rather work with a stock android at this point.

Questions:

Since I have ClockworkMod recovery, I presume I can use it to flash the "official" ROM? Is this correct?
Can someone point me to the official stock android from Samsung?

Yes, you can use CWM to flash the official ROM. As Izzy linked, this question is our guide to finding ROMs for devices. In particular, you can find stock Samsung ROMs easily on SamMobile: there are different ROMs for each particular type of Note 2 and each country, so be sure to pick the right one for your device and location.

Also, it may be worth sticking with Cyanogenmod. Many new users don't appreciate how great the difference is between a nightly/snapshot build and a stable release. If you've been using a nightly or a beta, and a release candidate or stable release is available for your device, you might want to try that out before going back to stock. At the very least, you might consider filing a bug report for the boot loop you've observed. If nobody reports it, it may never be fixed.


Meizu m3 note started lagging because of Google play services Recently, my meizu phone started lagging, and after a while, I decided to reinstall my system. After a couple of reinstallations, i realised, the problem was in google services, because my phone started to lag exactly after google services installation. And the worst thing is that I can't use any of 50% of my apps anymore, because they all need a GS to work.

P.S. I installed GS with google installer from meizu app store.

The problem is caused by Meizu app store that continuously updating google play service infinitely. So, try the following steps:

Turn off your auto update on Meizu app store by tapping App store > profile (top right) > setting > App store auto update.
Install older version of Google app installer, for example is here.

Those steps work for me.


What's the difference between real dual-touch and fake dual-touch? I have a Xperia X10 Mini Pro and by some ungodly reason it's dual touch feature is not working. I have searched around the net and I have seen here and there people use terms such as real dual-touch and fake dual-touch.
I don't really understand what's the difference here? Can the dual-touch ability be faked and how is that possible?
By the way, if anyone can tell is it possible to activate the dual touch feature in my phone I would be super thankful.

The difference between real dual-touch and fake dual-touch has to do with how the screen is built. Real touch screens have an additional layer to allow for additional inputs. There are ways to emulate dual-touch with software. This is helpful in the case of your particular phone.

This XDA forum page has a list of updates for particular ROMs including 2 stock ROMs which enable fake dual touch.


Hangouts: How to make the phone dialer default (instead of the hangouts dialer)? Following a recent Hangouts update, when using Android 5 on Nexus 5, in an SMS conversation with a contact, touching the "handset" icon automatically launches the Hangouts dialer, while I would like to use the default phone dialer instead.

I did not find any option to change this back to the previous behavior.  Is this possible at all?

If you don't really need the hangouts dialer, you can disable it (as I believe it's now a separate app). Try: Settings -> Apps -> All -> Hangouts Dialer -> Disable.

If you can't disable Hangouts Dialer, you can uninstall it.  Hangouts will still function as normal.


LG G2 (VS980) stuck in boot loop after flashing cm-11 Following http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_VS980 to install cm on my Verizon VS980, I completed the steps and got a successful install but on reboot, my phone entered a boot loop, stopping at the LG logo. I can't seem to access TWRP recovery either, I tried multiple combinations including the instructions on the cyanogenmod wiki but still no luck.

Once it starts, hold the power and volume down keys. It'll go black and once you see the LG logo, release them, and hold them again. It will take you to LG's factory reset screen, hit the power button twice and your phone will get into TWRP.


Does Sony Bravia 2015 Android TV allow extending internal storage with a USB drive? According to Android TV support, I can expand my internal storage by adding a USB storage device and formatting it using the TV's settings.

The USB drive can be configured as internal storage or removable storage:

Internal storage increases the storage capacity of the Android TV. If you choose to set the drive to Internal storage, you won't be able to move data to another Android TV or device.
Removable storage lets you move the content on the USB drive to another device. You can store and access digital content. Apps and games won't be installed on removable storage.

The first option is what I want for my new 55W809CBU that I bought recently.  The TV only has 8GB of built in storage, which I think will be decimated pretty quickly if I download some of the supported games.  However, when I insert the USB, I'm presented with an option of opening apps to make use of the storage, but I'm unable to format it accordingly when I visit Settings -> TV -> Storage & reset.
I've been unable to find out if this is a limitation of the 2015 Sony TV range or perhaps there's a problem with my USB stick?  I don't really have any other devices to hand to test the compatibility theory.

There is no problem with your USB. Use ES File Explorer or a PC to crosscheck. I have a Sony W950C model with latest android update installed. It doesn't show up USB drive in Storage & reset. May be we can expect this in future updates.You can still view Sony support page for KDL-55W809C to check if you have the latest version of Android.


Where does Android store the binaries of the apps themselves? In operating systems like windows there is a special folder like Program Files where the executables themselves are stored. But in android it's kind of amazing that the binaries themselves are hidden after their installation via an APK file, and the APK can be deleted safely. Moreover, the only way to uninstall an app is via the application manager! Can anyone give me insights to the reason behind this design ?

Just answering as the comments suggested,

 /data/app/package.name/base.apk

The APK File is placed inside the data partition.

This is different from Windows as you mentioned.

Windows uses a different protection for System Software called UAC (User Access Control)
whereas Android uses a separated Partition on the HDD ( SSD ) called the System Partition.

All Stock Software is stored under

system/app/*app name*/app name.apk

&

system/priv-app/*app name*/app name.apk

or

system/app/appname.apk

&

system/priv-app/appname.apk

Additional Software from OEM's is usually stored under

system/vendor/app/

However since the new partitions in Android 7.0+ i believe that Vendor is now designated its own partition, making the app directory

vendor/app

Or similar.

Some Vendors put APK's into the system tp be automata installed also under "custom" partition or root folder

custom/app

Furthermore, applications can be built by binaries under

system/bin/

&

system/xbin/

If you're the Administrator of your PC, you can hypothetically destroy the systems integrity on Windows - however due to any changes being placed in /data partition on Android, you can not delete system software or destroy the system integrity without root access.

The data partition & cache partition hold every single modification made to the device - this means a "Factory Reset" just Erases the Data & Cache partitions on Android - VS windows reinstalling the entire system from a separate backup partition.


Will I get back my IAPs after reinstaling a purchased app from the Google Play? So I was wondering if I will get back my IAPs after reinstalling an app from the Google Play Store. It's because I have an app where I've made a lot of IAPs and I've uninstalled it due to insufficient storage.

Any help would be appreciated.

Yes. Your in-app purchases are saved on your Google account. When you re-install an app it should restore the purchases given that you are logged in with the account you used to purchase.

Sometimes the app doesn't restore the purchases. In this case you should find a button in an app saying something like Restore In-App Purchases and click it. You should have everything you purchased.

If you still don't have your purchases restored you should contact the developer. Since your purchases are stored on your Google account they can verify that you paid and restore your purchases manually.


Can you overclock an unrooted Galaxy Tab? Can you increase the speed of an unrooted the Galaxy Tab, like an app for example?

Almost certainly not.  Unless Samsung has provided a way for you to do this — highly unlikely due to warranty and user experience issues — you'll need root and probably a custom kernel that supports overclocking.


Should the sdcard support case-sensitive files? I've been testing one of my apps to see how it handles filenames in UPPER-CASE. I thought the Android libraries and system was case sensitive for filenames, however I eventually discovered that files on the SD card are matched without case-sensitivity.

Here's an example taken from a Samsung Ace phone (my Nexus 4 behaves similarly)

adb shell

$ pwd
/mnt/sdcard/testDaisyReader/casesensitivebook

$ echo "" > NCC.HTML
$ ls -l
-rwxrwxr-x system   sdcard_rw        1 2013-11-19 18:57 NCC.HTML
$ ls -l NCC.HTML
-rwxrwxr-x system   sdcard_rw        1 2013-11-19 18:57 NCC.HTML
$ ls -l ncc.html
-rwxrwxr-x system   sdcard_rw        1 2013-11-19 18:57 ncc.html
$ ls -l
-rwxrwxr-x system   sdcard_rw        1 2013-11-19 18:57 NCC.HTML
$

I would have expected the commands ls -l ncc.html wouldn't find the file I created, however it seems to do so. My Android app also matches files without case-sensitivity.

Do any of you have any counter-examples? I'd like to know whether it's safe to assume filenames are matched on the SD-Card in Android, like Windows, without case-sensitivity.

Notes:
1. the filesystem on the SD-Cards are FAT32
2. I've found 2 related posts that imply files on the sdcard are case-sensitive:

How can I open an HTML file I have copied from PC to SD Card of Phone?

How can I determine the SD card's path?

Android itself is based on Linux, which is designed for case-sensitive filesystems. Internal storage is usually on an ext or ext4 filesystem, which is case-sensitive. SD cards are usually formatted with FAT 32, which is a case-insensitive filesystem. Although Android can support using other filesystems on the SD card, Windows PCs can't, so it's unusual to format your SD card with a different filesystem, and if you do this, you can't use the SD card in a Windows PC (via a card-reader), nor can you have the phone act as a USB mass storage device when connected to a PC.


Can I install apps on phone without using the Android Market? I have this Huawei Device that does not come with the Android Market installed.

Is there any work-around for this? As in how can I install Android Apps without the Android Market?

Is there a way to install Appbrain w/o having to go through the Android Market?

If your device allows it (AT&T only recently started producing phones that do) there is a setting which allows you to install non-Market apps. Then you can install APKs from anywhere, assuming you can get them on your device.

On my Droid, at least, the setting is at Settings | Applications | Unknown sources.


How can i transfer APK files from my old SD card to a new micro SD card? I just bought a 32GB micro SD card to replace my 8GB micro SD card for my x10. I have some apps that I've downloaded online (paid APK) and not from the market. They are currently stored in my 8GB micro SD.  I don't know how to transfer the files to the new 32GB card.  I don't know in what folder they should be placed in. Again, my unit is an SE x10 (eclair).

Connect your x10 to your computer with the old 8gb car installed and enable usb debugging
With your PCs file manager copy the entire contents of your x10's SD card to a temporary folder.
Change the cards so the 32gb is installed.
Copy the entire contents of the temp folder onto the new microSD.

It will be an exact mirror of what you had before.


What will happen if I delete the Google Play Services? What will happen if I delete and re-install the Google Play Services?

Will all my game data be deleted too?

Google Play services is required to access features from Google, such as downloading apps from Google Play and accessing Google Play Games for achievements. If you are reinstalling Google Play Services, your game data will not be harmed as they are either synced onto cloud or is stored locally and separate from Google. However, reinstalling does not really help. Is battery drain the issue? You can try deleting app data, which is similar to reinstalling. Freezing it with Lucky Patcher may also solve some of your problems.


Is the Google Nexus S capable of reading the exFAT file format? If I backup, reformat the internal memory "disk" of my Google Nexus One (running Android 2.3.4) into the exFAT format (for storage of file sizes over 4GB) and restore the contents, will it spasm and die or will it go on as if nothing had changed?

No.

As reported and commented on by various users, there is no exFAT support built in to Android, so the Nexus S will not read the disk.


Eclipse is not able to detect smartphone Debian 7.6, Eclipse 3.8.
When i program with API8 for my HTC Froyo I have no problem: running the debug session i see the device in the device list and I'm able to debug my app.
Since I started with a API14 for smartphone and tablet, I'm not able to detect that devices.
When I connect them to the PC i only see ????????? as Serial Number.
If I check the USB connection with lsusb or dmesg, the devices are detected correctly by the system.
I tested Smartphone LG L5II and Hamlet tablet XZPAD0970H and, of course, the debug option is checked.

I read about a potential problem with permissions but i don't understand how to solve the problem.

I found!
I followed the article Configuring ADB for Nexus 4 on Ubuntu 11.10 adding a find and a row for my smartphone, inserting its VID e PID. Then I restarted the adb.
Now the smartphone is visible to Eclipse!

Next I'll try with the tablet inserting its VID and PID ..


No clockwork mod phone brick I installed app called nobloat and must have deleted something I wasn't supposed to because now my phone won't boot up past the 4g logo...The phone does go into download mode as well as system recovery.

As of yet I have tried flashing clockworkmod with odin and heimdall to no avail...when using odin I get this.

 Enter CS for MD5..
 Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..
 Please wait..
 MD5 hash value is invalid
 StratCWMRecovery.tar.md5 is invalid.
 End...

heimdall trying to push from command prompt gives me this

C:\Users\new1\Desktop>heimdall detect
Device detected

C:\Users\new1\Desktop>heimdall flash --recovery cwm5_recovery.bin
Heimdall v1.4.0

Copyright (c) 2010-2013, Benjamin Dobell, Glass Echidna

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

Initialising connection...
Detecting device...
ERROR: Failed to access device. libusb error: -12

C:\Users\new1\Desktop>heimdall detect
Device detected

I have installed c++ redistributable and have tried 4 different usb cords on all of the different usb ports with no success.
Wondering if there is a way I can fix with an update.zip or something?

Am I just screwed?

Which phone brand and model? Search in the internet for the firmware. If it is a samsung you can use software ODIN and reinstall stock-firmware. Press and hold Volume Down, Home and Power buttons, all at the same time, this will give you download mode. If everything is back to normal, as a precaution then flash clockworkmode or TWRP recovery (this is more user friendly).


locked of screen lock - time password app My son has downloaded a screen lock app on his phone which changes the password every minute according to the time. However a few day in, the app has stopped working and he is now unable to get access to his phone. We have no clue how to fix this problem and would appreciate idea.
this is the link to the app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adriadevs.screenlock.ios.keypad.timepassword

Being that this is a third party app, you can put your phone into safe mode, and uninstall the app.

Being that, when you boot your phone into Safe mode, it doesn’t run any third-party apps installed on your device. therefore, your lock screen will not appear in safe mode.

To go into safe mode on a Samsung (I don't know what phone you have) do the following:

Turn your phone off.
Then, Press and hold the Power  button, until you see the animated  Samsung logo appear.
Release the Power button, and press and hold the Volume down button.
Keep holding it until your device boots up.
You can let go when you see the words "Safe mode" in bottom-left corner.

(It should be similar on most phones, but if it's not the same on yours, then search Google for "how to enter safe mode on [name of your phone]")

When in safe mode, go to settings -> apps -> time password (or whatever the app is called on your phone) -> uninstall.

If the uninstall bottom is greyed out, go to settings -> security -> device administrators, and turn off the app from being an admin.


Mysterious documents in internal storage -android Screenshot of space issue in Android. Some mysterious documents have taken lot of space. HOW DO I DELETE IT?

Nothing mysterious their it looks like app data and its common in all android mobiles


How to stop Recycle Bin from deleting files by default in My Files? I've installed Omega Droid, which comes with Recycle Bin as a system app - I cannot uninstall it. Normally it doesn't bother me, but when I browse my files in the My Files system app and click a file that has no application registered it gets "handled" by the Recycle Bin app, which kindly deletes it for me without any confirmation! Of course, I can go into the app and restore the file, but this is really annoying. How do stop Recycle Bin from handling any type of file? I don't want to ever use it at all. I would uninstall it if I could.

There is a way to remove system apps. Install this app and it will allow you to remove any app you wish, system or not.


What is my lcd density? How can I figure out what is my tablet's lcd screen density.

It is a cheapy one with no official site...

Is there any settings option I could check to see the display resolution configurations?
Is there any other way for it?

You probably have a diagonal screen size, and a resolution.  Use the Pythagorean Theorem on the resolution and divide the result by the screen size to get the DPI.

For example, my Vibrant is 4", 800x480.  sqrt(8002 + 4802) / 4 = ~233 dpi.


How to turn HTC Widfire with blank screen into debug mode My screen on HTC Wildfire has gone blank and so have got my phone upgraded. Whilst the guy in the shop was able to transfer my pictures and video, when he tried to transfer my contact phone numbers he said he couldn't do that without putting the phone into debug mode, and he could only do that if he could see what he was doing on the screen.

Is there any way of getting a HTC Wildfire into debug mode without having to use the screen?

Your contacts are saved in Google contacts and your photos and video in SD card.


If I uninstall an app do I lose the data? I want to install Angry Birds from the Amazon App Store but all I get is errors. My guess is it's because I already have it installed. I'm afraid to uninstall just in case I lose the data. Any ideas?

Apps store user data in different ways:

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

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

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


How to choose my SD card type based on transfer speed? i have a cheap Kingstone SD card and an Android phone with small internal space. when it told me to free some space i partitioned my SD into 2 partitions one fat32 for personal data and the other ext2 for extending my internal memory. using the app "Link2SD" i moved all the apps and games, but i noticed that apps performance had a dramatic change of speed (to the worse of course) Facebook app for instance it lags alot when i scroll, like, comment and move between tabs. for games they worked fine but they have the loading screen for a longer time.
my phone is Sony Xperia M2 (if it matters). is there any SD card that has the same transfer speed as the phone's internal memory or even better.
Thanks

You will likely not find an SD card which will outperform the flash in your phone, however there are substantial differences between memory cards.

Generally memory cards are labeled with a "Class" - which equates to the minimum speeds of the cards - Class 4 cards can handle 4 MB/Sec, Class 10 = 10 MB/s, UHS Speed 1 10 MB/s and USB Speed 3 30 MB/Sec.

Even within the classes though, there are huge difference in read and write speeds, and a good Class 6 card could outperform a bad class 10 card.   There is a good section on speed ratings in the Secure_Digital Wikipedia article.


Can I configure my Android Phone to block certain numbers calls? Possible Duplicate:
  How can I reliably screen or block callers on a number-by-number basis?

I'm receiving calls from call-center companies that wan't to offer me services that I don't want. I already ask them to stop calling but they keep trying.. Can I configure my 2.2 Android Phone(Galaxy 551) to block the incomming calls from certain numbers?

I am not sure about an option in the system itself but the app mr number will do that for you:
The lifehacker article talks about the app http://lifehacker.com/5648876/call-block-unlimited-automates-call-blocking-and-routing-on-android-phones


Emoticons/emojis not being sent via SMS I have a Lenovo K6 with Android 7 and when I try to send an emoticon from any keyboard like Gboard, Swift or Chrooma (the device does not have a native keyboard) the emoticon does not appear at all to the people I sent it to.

For example if I send 'Hi (smileyface emoticon)', only 'Hi' will show up to the recipient but also only 'Hi' appears if I go to messages app and see what I have sent.

I have tried lots of emoticons from complex to very simple and I haven't been able to send any.

This is not a carrier issue because my previous phone (LG G4) with the same carrier and plan was showing emoticons and they reached the recipient.

Is there some setting that I can change so that I will be able to send emoticons through SMS?

Several steps to the solution

Recipients should have Android Kitkat or newer to view the emojis.
The fonts in used on your Lenovo K6 does not support the emojis.
The Android 7 provided for your K6 does not support emojis.

You can't do much for any of the above cases as they depend on someone other than you. Wait until their side is rectified or a workaround is provided.

Solution that you can do!

Install an Emoji Android keyboard. Search for it in the playstore.


Why does the Maps application keep launching? For some strange reason Google Maps launches on its own.  It doesn't launch all the way though.  It just leaves a black screen.

Does anyone know why this is happening?

Try Uninstalling and re-installing it.
Clear the app data.
Might be a bug with the custom ROM (ignore if on stock).

As for WHY it is happening, could be a faulty installation IMO, but if the package was faulty, it wouldn't get installed in the first place. Anyhow, just try the above steps.


Apps store settings/cache (the Android directory) on SD card even though it's not where they reside? Phone: Galaxy Note 4, Android 5.1.1

I would expect apps to store their settings/cache in a place where they reside, i.e. if app is on MMC the settings should be on MMC and if it's SD they should be on SD (one would hope!).

However I observe that after a reboot - with an empty SD card plugged in (and to my horror) - a lot of applications (YouTube for example) create directories and files on the SD card (under Android directory), typically most of them being empty. What I want is to confine my entire apps storage to MMC and I'll keep my pictures and movies on SD.

Is there a reason why Android/Samsung is preventing me from doing that? Is there a setting I forgot to turn on/off?

Cheers in advance for any help, much appreciated.

Settings of the apps are stored in their data folder and not in where they reside. The data folders of apps can be found under /data/data, a directory that a non-root user can't access.

What you see are just some additional data folders some apps tend to create.


Google account was hacked: how do I get my phone working with my new account? My Google account was hacked, I think because somebody SIM-hacked my T-Mobile account. (Thus the Google account recovery process was short-circuited.) I've asked Google for help via the recovery process but I'm not at all hopeful. In the meantime (as the recovery process suggests!!!) I've got a new Google account.

Now I'd like to get my Android phone (ZTE Axon 7) working with the new account, but even after a factory reset it still wants to access the Google account it thinks is associated with the phone. In other words, from the "Let's get started" screen, it won't take my new account login, instead insisting that I provide the password to the former account.

Can anything be done to deal with this problem?

The hindsight version:

Factory reset protection is supposed to prevent thieves from stealing your phone and using it. To do this, the phone requires you to login with a Google account that was on the phone before the factory reset. Add the new account to the phone before the factory reset. Or, alternately, remove all accounts before the factory reset.


MP3 getting mixed up I am running ICS on my tablet.

Whenever I copy new music files to my tablet, the files get mixed (playing parts of other music files for 5,6 seconds randomly in any file I copied). What should I do?

If you are saving music files to SD card, it may be the problem of the SD card. Change the SD card and try.

Good Luck.


What's the standard font called that comes on droid x running 2.3? What font ships with the droid x on 2.3? Is the same font used across all android devices running 2.3?

Prior to Android 4.0 (aka Ice Cream Sandwich) It's called "Droid", and comes in Serif (Regular, Bold, Italic, Bold Italic), Sans (Regular, Bold), and Sans Mono variants.

A new font family "Roboto" was released with 4.0.

Wikipedia article on Droid (font)

Google+ post on Roboto


How to connect Samsung GT-i8160 and Debian via WiFi-Direct? The wpa_supplicant documentation contains information suggesting it is possible to set up a WiFi-Direct connection between a Linux box and another WiFi-Direct device. It seems it is necessary to use wpa_cli and issue a series of commands first of which is p2p_find.

However when I use wpa_cli this command does not seem available. I am using Debian Wheezy.

The issue is that there is only wpa_supplicant version 1.0 available in Debian Wheezy.

For support of WiFi Direct you need wpa_supplicant version 1.1 or higher.

You can download and compile the latest wpa_supplicant on your own. This way you make sure wpa_cli is available and WiFi Direct is supported.


Unexpected result when using trigonometric function on KitKat's calculator I get unexpected results when using the trigonometric functions on my Android 4.4.2 phone.

For example, if I enter sin(30)= I get the result -0.9880316 when I expect the result 0.5. It appears the phone expects trigonometric numbers to be expressed in radians rather than degrees which is uncommon - the phone's manual certainly did not mention it. Most calculators work in degrees. Decent calculators have a deg/rad/grad switch.

Is there a way to do this on the phone or am I forced to include a degrees-to-radians conversion in all my trig calculations?

This is a known feature / bug, depending on how you look at it. It is even there in Lollipop and supposed to have been fixed in Marshmallow_bug report. It is supposed to have the deg/rad switch. (Edit: Thanks to benjaminS for confirming that Marshmallow incorporates this). Couple of ways you can get around it:

Store the conversion value of ( pi/ 180) and multiply by value to convert into radians- very tedious
Use alternative from Play Store from reviews like this
Upgrade to Marshmallow if this is important for you. Calculator has additional features with screen shots, Thanks to benjaminS again for pointing this out.  :)


Is there way to make the virtual keyboard appear over any app? I've noticed that some apps need a keyboard to play and I was wondering if there was any way to make the virtual keyboard appear anywhere.

In many apps I can long-press the Menu button to bring up the keyboard.


How do I forward incoming calls over VOIP to another client? Is there any way I can take an incoming call and use an app or a system feature to turn my Android phone into a forwarding client so that I can then forward this via VOIP to any other client in the world?

What I'd like to do is very similar to OS X's continuity feature, but instead of requiring the phone to be on the same Wi-Fi network, I'd like it to be able to be anywhere in the world. Imagine if you could buy a phone, a local SIM card (that could be topped up via the internet), and leave the phone plugged in all the time and connected to Wi-Fi so that it can forward any incoming calls over VOIP to any other VOIP client in the world. What I'm trying to build is a dedicated DID (direct inward dialing) number but using my current local number in whatever country I am.

Is this possible? The closest thing I've seen is Google Voice or Skype's incoming numbers or even regular DID numbers, but they're not offered for all locations, so that's why I'd like to build this solution if possible.

Android phone is technically handicapped to do this. There is no google API to playback an audio stream instead of the mic recording. You would have to rewrite the android's telephony stack to achieve this. And this will be dependent on the hardware and so cannot be a generic solution for all android phones. You cannot find a answering machine android app with recorded voice playback for the same reason.

You can buy a raspberry pi, a USB data dongle with voice calling and supported by chan_dongle project, install RasPBX (based on the open source PBX Asterisk) and redirect GSM calls via VOIP and vice versa. This is pretty easy to setup and cheaper than an android phone.

https://web.archive.org/web/20180306230858/http://blog.carrier-connect.com/raspberry-gsm-gateway/

http://www.raspberry-asterisk.org/documentation/


Will a license check fail if I am in a foreign country? I have an app that performs a license check and will not work if a check doesn't succeed within x amount of time since the last successful check.  Will this license check fail if I am connected to the Internet in a foreign country?

The app in question is Final Fantasy III (com.square_enix.android_googleplay.FFIII_GP).  However, most other paid apps perform license checks, so this is a question of broader scope.

Usually no - however, it's my opinion that this is a rather vague question that can't be accurately answered without knowing the app developer's policy or whether the app is locked to a particular region.


How to stop getting internet through the prepaid card and use only my home wifi? I bought a 3G prepaid card that offers internet, but I want to stop getting Internet through the card and use WiFi to connect to his home router or certain WiFi networks of choice.

I know how to connect to WiFi. My question is how to shut off prepaid 3G internet, other than removing the card, which I find tedious.

The reason is simple, I want to use my card for phone calls only and I want to use the WiFi for Internet. Plus, my prepaid card internet is damn expensive.

To manually start and stop internet: Go to Settings -> Wireless and networks -> Mobile networks and disable Mobile data. This will stop internet connection through mobile network. Enable this to start internet again.

To stop it permanently:
Some application may start internet automatically, So to prevent accidental internet consumption, Create a new dummy Access Point Name in Mobile networks section and select that APN. So from next time your whenever you or any application try to connect to internet though mobile network it will try to connect though that dummy Access point and internet won't start. Internet will only work when you connect to WiFi.


Is it possible to add more search providers to the Google Search? In the Google Now/Search application, when you view the settings, you get a list of all the applications that can be searched.

Is it possible to develop apps that can add more search providers to this? I'd like to be able to search my calendar and contacts too but I can't seem to.

Earlier Android versions had an application called QuickSearch but this seems to have been removed as per the AOSP commits. Does Android now support in-device search or is this idea dead?

Here's a screenshot of my settings page.

Click image for larger version

Whilst it is possible for apps to make themselves available to be searched, each applications needs to be updated to implement app indexing in order for them to show up in this list.

I don't think it is possible to add additional providers without the apps themselves being updated to support this.


Android and Google contact sync: "Starred in Android" How can I sync Android contacts directly with Google?

The problem is I have several groups under my Google account ("contacts", "contacts2", "Starred in Android"). When I try to add a new contact from my Android device, under the groups tab I can see only "contacts" and "contacts2" named groups, but not "Starred in Android". And when I choose to sync contacts with Google, it syncs with contacts which are under the "Starred in Android" named group. So as you can guess every time when I add a new contact from my phone, I must change this contact's group to "Starred in Android" from Gmail.

"Starred in Android" is a special group. You don't add a person to the group through the groups interface, but by tapping the little star on the contact profile on your phone. That sorts them to the top of the "favorites" list.

There's no concept of a starred contact on the web app side, so I guess they decided to create this special group. (In fact, from what I recall, this group won't be created until you actually "star" a contact.)

So, don't scroll to the bottom of your contact to try to add them to the "Starred in Android" group. Scroll to the top and tap the star.


How do I move apps to a SD card on Android 4.3? On Ice Cream Sandwich, I used to use an app called DS Super App2SD but it doesn't work on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. I'm using Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 running on Cyanogenmod 10.2 nightly (Android 4.3.1)
I already tried the adb shell pm set-install-location to SD card location. It made everything worst by thinking my empty 32GB micro SD was full. So I set it back to 0.

In my case, I am on android 4.2.2 so things should not be changed much on your environment. However, what I do, From Settings>application/apps I get my all applications installed on my device. So, if any application supports to be moved on to SD card, i can simply move it by pressing the Application icon>move to sdcard.

If it doesn't help. Try using Link2SD. This should do your job.


No sound on my Asus Transformer I have two problems :

my device was dropped to the ground (not by me) and the power button does not work anymore. I use the keyboard to wake up and suspend it.
sometime, the sound does not work anymore, and I cannot reboot it to make it run again.

The device is not rooted (no reason), run Android 4.0, how can I handle it?

You said:

  my device was dropped to the ground

and

  sometime, the sound does not work anymore

This would very much seem to boil down to a hardware problem. The only way to "handle" it is to repair the hardware. You can start with the Asus repair page.


How do I enable haptic feedback in Android 6.0? I got the OTA Android 6.0 update today for my Nexus 5, but it seems that haptic feedback for the navigation buttons (back, home, app switcher) was disabled by the update. How do I enable it? I can't find anything in the settings for it.

The setting for this is, confusingly, Sound & notification → Other sounds → Vibrate on touch:


Is it possible to change the background automatically when charging battery? This is a feature of older nokias, I would like to have it on android! On a related note, it would be nice to have a different background when silenced or on airplane mode.

Yes, using Tasker.

See "Set Wallpaper" action and "Power" state. It even looks like it'd be rather easy to configure that event.

For your related notes, also see "Airplane Mode" state and %SILENT variable.


The process of rooting Rooting is the process of installing the "Super User" account in Android.
Which are the processes carried out in rooting ?

I mean how actually it's done ?

Apps like Kingroot can root many devices in one click. But how to root Android phones through computer ?

I am asking this question because my phone (LYF Flame 7)  which is unsupported by many 3rd party rooting apps so I have to find myself a way to root it. I have found many device-specific articles but found none general methods.
Kernel is
Android 3.10.65 svn 621
cme@cme-server #01

I really need to root to get rid of these annoying bloatwares .. More and more bloatwares are getting installed in every unstoppable OTA updates.

While I can't give you a step by step tutorial on how to root your phone, here are the basics for a manual method.

Firstly, you have to unlock the bootloader. This will void your warranty but will allow you to continue to the next step. Remember that I won't be responsible for any damages made to your phone.

Next, you will need to flash a custom recovery which will give you access to all the files on your device and let you wipe the system, install custom ROMs and more.

The last step is to flash SuperSu to the device using the recovery tool. Your device will be rooted.


THL W3 with v4.0.4 - periodically getting "Restricted Access Changed" and losing all SIM services What happens exactly: when I use my SIM's data connection, after 1-5 minutes of operation (be it while the phone is active or locked), I get a notification "Restricted Access Changed", losing all SIM services -- voice and data. And I get prompted for my PIN. This only happens when I use the SIM's data connection. Using my home router's Wi-fi never introduces this problem.

I had this out of the blue since several weeks ago. I didn't drop or hurt my phone in any way.

I tried using SIM cards of 2 of my friends on my phone. They never had problems on their phones (their Android versions are more recent than mine, just pointing that out). Again, after 1-5 mins of idle/active operation on my phone, we get presented with the same error message and PIN input dialog.

I tried these:

Reset to factory settings -- no apps, nothing. Only started Play Store and locked the phone. Just a minute later, boom, the same problem.
Removed my SD card. No change.
Tried putting the SIM more firmly in the slot (used some paper to make it fit tighter). No change. Though, I only tried that once and not very stubbornly. I guess I'll try that again in the meantime.
In my mobile network, I only have the options of "GSM / WCDMA (auto)" and "WCDMA only". Using either of both doesn't change anything.
Switching off 3G seems to "fix" this, which is of course no fix at all since the network gets at least 3 times slower. Not to mention I can't view any video, etc. I can't count that as a solution.

Here are few links from my google hunt:

Restricted access changed (XDA-Developers)
Unlocked Chinese Android/Restricted Access Changed (Howard Forums)
"Restricted access changed" + "Voice call service blocked" (XDA-Developers)
Restricted access changed (XDA-Developers)
HTC One S is showing, Restricted access changed. Data service is blocked (XDA-Developers)

Some thoughts:

I didn't manually install new applications by the time the problem started occuring.
As said, I didn't drop or hurt the phone in any way.
My data plan is having a limit of 1.5GB. I rarely go over 500MB, and the last month was no exception (I am regularly checking the used bandwidth and traffic on the phone).
The phone is rooted. I am periodically getting BusyBox updates -- I suspect that might be the culprit since it updates a plethora of system files. But I admit that I am no expert in rooting and/or flashing Android phones, and the last sentence might have been an extremely nooby statement. Sorry if that's the case.
The problem is consistent: with 3G enabled and only using internet from my SIM (again, not through Wi-fi, the problem is not present there). However, there's no fixed period. It varies between 1 and 5 minutes, even though I had 2-3 cases where it worked properly for ~15 mins. I am suspecting that the moment the phone's networking hardware/software goes over a certain load, the problem occurs.

Steps I didn't try:

Flash a new ROM. Thing is, THL don't have more recent ROMs than the one I got the phone with when buying it off a friend. He downloaded the latest image from THL's website and flashed it, then rooted it. We never tried using unofficial ROMs.
Flash only the radio software. (I don't have an idea how this could be done, though.)
Call my mobile provider to ask if my IMEI is blacklisted. Or if they have a malfunctioning cell in the area. (Still though, that can't explain why the problem does occur 6km away in a park as well, so I don't think a malfunctioning tower/cell is to be blamed).
Go to repair shop for diagnostic/repair of the internal antenna. I would like to leave that as a last resort. From what I hear, this could easily cost $100. And that phone costed me $200. If I have to do this, I might just go and buy a brand new Galaxy S4 as well. Still, I don't want to just throw it away. Obviously, even if I replace it, I'd like to be able to sell it and not burn the guy I sell it to.

I am out of ideas now. Even though I am by no means an Android expert, I have tried quite a few possible solutions without any effect so far.

Can somebody help with this, please?

I had similar problem with my brand new Snopow M6 phone. And I'm sure, that this may be common to most Chinese Android phones. First, in Estonia we have 3 major mobile operators, and with SIM cards two of them my phone worked nicely, it did not work with my own SIM. Also tried almost everything, but then started check IMEI code through the operators' networks. And found out, that my operator follows the idea, that its not good enough just not to be in their blacklist, You have to be in their white list. So I gave them a call, and they manually added my phones IMEI to their white list and phone works flawlessly since then. So, if you buy a Chinese phone from the Internet, then first check Your IMEI through carrier, random internet sites might give You an answer, that phone is not blacklisted, but that might not be enough in some cases.


remove apps with htc bootloader unlocked Will just unlocking the bootloader per HTC website allow me to remove apps like Blockbuster, Nova, etc on an EVO 4G?

No. Unlocking your bootloader allows you to flash unsigned images to your device, but it doesn't (in and of itself) give you root permissions which you need to remove bloatware. However, having the ability to flash unsigned images makes it very easy to gain root via a custom recovery, so unlocking your bootloader can often greatly simplify the process.

If you need instructions for getting root, there's a fairly exhaustive guide here.


Where can I find an old version of dropbox app? I'm using Android 2.3 and uninstalled dropbox. Then I wanted it back, but dropbox 3.01, the only official version available, is meant to work only from Android 4 on. Where can I find an old, trustable version of the dropbox 2.x that works for my phone?

Currently the most trustable source for older APK versions is APK Mirror. For Dropbox specifically you can find older 2.x versions here:

http://www.apkmirror.com/uploads/?app=dropbox


Interchanging battery with a higher capacity battery My Redmi 1s has a battery capacity 2050mAh (BM41). And the upgrade of the phone is Redmi 2 with capacity 2200mAh(BM44).

Can I use this battery if it fits in my device? Will it creates any software problems?

Not Recommended in general

Battery Charging has various stages

These stages are regulated and controlled by the the charging circuit in charger/ in device by firmware files to switch to various stages. Battery capacity is very much integral to this. By replacing with a battery of higher capacity (or extended battery unless OEM approved) charging may less than optimal and therefore the performance or life of battery could be affected
Edit: The number of terminals and purpose could also vary ( some batteries have three terminals and some have 4). This would be an issue
Your case: There is hardly a difference in mAh so it may not matter at all , if it fits- normally OEMs like Samsung make sure that the batteries cannot be interchanged between devices - can't say about Redmi. The benefit you would get is marginal, so would recommend playing safe and not replacing to avoid any problems


Is it possible to get Tasker to play the next song in Spotify In Tasker, there is a Media Control action which allows me to move to the next song however it only seems to work for the default Android player.

Is it there a way to hook Spotify up to do this?

Yes it is possible, but using Tasker's built in Media Control Next will not work.

For the action you need to use Script --> Run Shell, and as the command enter "input keyevent 87" without quotes. This is the Android API:

https://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/KeyEvent.html#KEYCODE_MEDIA_NEXT


Samsung Note 4 charging cable (ECB-DU4AWE vs. ECB-DU4EWE) Unfortunately, my charging cable for my Samsung note 4 is broken, so I have to buy a new one. I have seen two different charging cables:

ECB-DU4AWE which is 1m long
ECB-DU4EWE which is 1.5m long

Is the length the only difference?

From the data on internet, there appears to be no difference. One thing that could be different is the thickness , measured in AWG. Lower  the AWG figure, lesser resistance is offered and hence better suited for quicker charging. In the absence of figures one has to assume they are both of same AWG, which leaves length as the only differentiator.

Since electrical resistance is directly proportional to length, the 1 m cable would permit more current flow and hence is preferred