android oreo , /system, /data and /sdcard for media I am in need of a new mobile and the new kid on the block is Android 8.0 .  From what little I could garner it seems there are three partitions by default which happen in an android phone. I come from unix/linux background so would be using comparison from a linux layout

/system = / (or root) where all applications/binaries will be installed . ext4

/data = (probably /home but not sure as that is unclear.) ext4

/sdcard = something akin to /home/$username or better yet /media but (fuse fileystem FAT32 or something equivalent.

I know that in android 6.0 users could copy and paste media/music etc. from their system to the mobile phone and back. This feature was taken away in 7.0 series. Is this back ?

Also can somebody share if my comparison is correct or incorrect. I am not sure exactly as to what /data is used for.

I don't see the concept of swap, does it take from / . I do know that most phones do come with RAM 8GB
 and en onwards
.

The root directory / is a concept that's found on Android as well. It is recreated anew during each boot, and hosts *.init.rc directives read by Android every time it boots.

The /system partition is something special: system binaries live under /system/bin and /system/xbin, so this is probably what made you compare this partition to /bin, but there's much more.

/system/app and /system/priv-app, for example, store the apps preloaded on your device by the OEM, while the /system/framework and /system/lib are core to Android, because they house .jar classes and .so libraries that are shared between apps.

The comparison between /data and /home is quite accurate but, once again, there are some differences. Here, you can find all sorts of things, from apps you installed yourself to a listing of the access points you connected to, along with their WPA keys in plaintext.

Of particular importance are: /data/app, which houses the .apk files of your installed apps; /data/data, which stores the apps' private data; /data/misc/wifi, where access point data can be found; /data/system, which is perhaps the most important of the bunch, as it houses the packages.xml file, in charge of keeping trace of every app and permission in your device.

Last but not least, we have /data/media/0, which is the real internal storage of the current user. This is the directory that gets isolated from the others via FUSE, making it akin to the /home/$username directory on Linux, as you noticed. There are a number of symlinks that point to this restricted directory, the most known being the ill-named /sdcard and /storage/emulated/0.

It's worth mentioning that the entirety of the directories I mentioned cannot be accessed without root permissions, aside from /sdcard and /storage/emulated/0.

To conclude, I'll spend a few words on the concepts of swap and data transfer.

Swap, as far as I know, is not a concept that belongs to Android; support for it, along with zRAM, can be added via the use of a customized kernel.

File transfer from a computer to an Android device has always been possible, if I remember correctly. Android uses the MTP interface to restrict the directories the computer can access, though, so you'll need the necessary backends. Moreover, only /sdcard and, optionally, an external SD card can be accessed.


"There was a problem communicating with Google server. Try again later." I am unable to login to Google Play Store after I formatted my phone just because of slowness. The error is

  There was a problem communicating with Google server. Try again later.

Please help.

I've downloaded play store from apk mirror.
And that's worked.

thanks to team.


Why can't I download apps from the Android Marketplace? I just bought an HTC Desire S and cannot download apps from the Android Marketplace. I tried to download Skype and it stalled saying "Starting To Download" - nothing happened. Then I tried downloading another app and then it said that app will be soon downloaded, but nothing happened.

Try clearing the cache and data of the Market application.


How to automatically shutdown below certain battery level Is there a way to make my phone turn off when the battery level is below 50%?

At the moment it does this when the battery level (or voltage) is critically low, but I want it to do it when there is still half the juice left.

A paid app would be fine too.

I suggest you look at the app Tasker.
With Tasker you are able to literally automate your whole phone.
There are also many tutorials covering the of Tasker and what you can do with it (change settings and launch apps based on events, location, time and other variables)

  As with many similar applications, this one needs root for many functions.


Does MMS support PNG format images? I'm just wondering if android mms supports png files? I've tried sending an image, a png format, through mms. Sending is successful. However, the recipient recieves an error image. My question is, does android mms supports sending and receiving PNG format images?

Samsung Galaxy 5

Yes MMS can send png files. Even if they change the extension, it shouldn't matter as long as the mime type is in tact. and even if that is different, the image has a specific "header" that should be read by the MMS app. AFAIK, android does not change the extension, or the mime type. (at least the stock MMS app, and the Galaxy S app)

But that doesn't mean it will work with other phones. They might not have the ability to view the file type.


TWRP restore: backup not seen in different device (same model) I have 2 pieces of the same device (crackling) and I wanted to clone #1 onto #2. Both are running TWRP 3.4.0.
I ran backup (unencrypted) to SD card on #1. Backup data is stored on the SD card in TWRP/BACKUPS/4400d489/2020-09-03--02-42-32_lineage_crackling-userdebug_9_PQ3A190801002/* (boot.emmc.win, boot.emmc.win.sha2, data.ext4.win000, data.ext4.win000.sha2, ...)
When I run TWRP on #1 again, to test Restore, it says: "Select Package to Restore":
2020-09-03-02-42-32_lineageos_crackling-userdebug_9. [...]

which, upon selection, offers System, Data (excl. storage) and Boot for restoration, as expected.
TWRP on #2 (same SD card inserted) says "Select Package to Restore:"
4400d489

(it is the parent directory... why?) and then offers no partitions to restore.
What is the problem here (SD card is fine)?

The  number 4400d489 corresponds to the device serial number of Device 1.

Since you ruled out problems with SD card, try this. Make a backup of a small partition on the second device on the same card. It will create a folder corresponding to the serial number of device 2. Copy the files from backup of 4400d489 to this folder. I am not sure why in your case this folder was not created but was backed up to
TWRP/BACKUP

Restore the backup on Device 2 (mount all partitions in TWRP) ,making sure you don't back up boot image from Device 1,as that may have device identifier information. Restoring that would create problems.

It's always a good idea to always have a backup stored on your laptop. SD cards can go bad without warning too.


Adjust how much data I've already used this month I got a new phone and I need to tell it that I've already used 25 megabytes this period. With the stock app I can I can set a usage limit, but I can't tell it how much I've already used this month.

Go to Settings > Data usage, and you'll see a graph showing your data usage over a certain period. The coloured bars can be adjusted to set a warning, and also a limit, to stop you using too much data. Further down the page, you'll also see a list of your apps, and how much data they use.

You can also download alternative data monitoring apps https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobidia.android.mdm


Using SD card as internal storage and migrate date I read this question, but I want to update the question.

Now with Android 6.0 we have the option to format the SD card as internal storage, and that's what I did. I also clicked that "Migrate data" option that moves pictures, music and such to the SD card storage.

However, I downloaded more music and now the internal storage is full. And the "Migrate data" option now tries to move data from the SD to the internal memory. So apparently you can only use it once #fail

The apps that consume the most space are precisely apps containing media that could go into the SD card (red arrows). Others are games that even allow the user to move the app to the SD card (blue arrow). For some weird reason, it always fails with a snack bar saying "internal error occurred".

Should I format the SD card as external? I'll never remove it, so this "format as internal memory" option seemed perfect.
How can I migrate all this media/data back to the SD card?

Am I doing something wrong here? I have a Moto G 2nd gen.

OK, I think I found out the best setup.

Format your SD card as internal memory.
Go to Settings > Storage > Internal and open each app. Some apps have a "change" button. Press it to move the app into the SD card.
Finally go to Settings > Storage > Internal and on the right corner press Migrate data.

At this point, you did all you could.


My LG G2 phone won't receive texts I recently switched from a iPhone to an LG G2 and now my phone won't receive texts. But it is sending them just fine.

Ask your network provider. It seems like it can't be a phone defect, just go to customer service and it should go alright


Xiaomi Mi A1 proximity sensor not working I just got a new Mi A1, not even a week old, and in the middle of calls my cheek is turning on the loudspeaker, muting, etc. Clearly the proximity sensor is poorly calibrated/not working.

Is there any easy way to fix this or should I return for a refund?

Answer was actually pretty simple. This post suggests a couple of solutions, but the first one worked for me:

  Restart your phone.


Install many font on Android device I want to read and write Thai and Tibetan languages and also see real symbols for many other fonts instead of squares.

As you can see, replacing system fonts is not a good method, because in this case we need a font consisting of all the aforecited fonts.

iFont and similar programs also just replace system fonts, but I need to add new ones.

My Android version is 4.4.2.

Caveat: The exact files and format vary between Android versions. In both Android O and P (at least on LineageOS), the correct file is /etc/fonts.xml, and it has a warning not to use it. As of writing, I don't have any devices on Q to test with. So consider this answer historical even if it's still useful.
Warning as of Android P's fonts.xml (see here for possible updates):

    WARNING: Parsing of this file by third-party apps is not supported. The
    file, and the font files it refers to, will be renamed and/or moved out
    from their respective location in the next Android release, and/or the
    format or syntax of the file may change significantly. If you parse this
    file for information about system fonts, do it at your own risk. Your
    application will almost certainly break with the next major Android
    release.

Basically, expect breaking changes when updating Android.
Original answer:
Android does support custom fonts, but there's no user interface for it and you need root access. The basic steps are as follows:

Make backups in case something goes wrong. Do not skip this step! It's very easy to get stuck in a "boot loop" after making the wrong changes with fonts.
Enable USB debugging (so you can use adb on your computer to fix your Android device if something goes wrong).
Remount the /system partition as writable. Some file managers do this for you. Otherwise you'll need to enter mount -o remount,rw /system in a console on your phone or use adb remount from a computer via USB debugging mode.
Copy your custom fonts to /system/fonts.
Edit /etc/system_fonts.xml and/or /etc/fallback_fonts.xml to tell Android where to use the custom fonts. I don't know where to find the font names for system_fonts.xml, but adding your fonts to fallback_fonts.xml should "just work" for characters that aren't in the default system fonts.
Reboot the device and hope everything worked.

If your device gets stuck in a boot loop, then you can probably still use adb to revert or fix the changes. From experience, this consistently happens when directly replacing the system's Roboto-Bold font with a custom font that doesn't have as many characters. This is the reason for editing the xml files and adding new files instead of just replacing existing files.


What do apps designed for small screens look like on tablets? Do they get scaled or do they just occupy part of the screen? I mean apps that were designed for 4-5" phones running on 8-10" tablets.

UPDATE: Let me give some details to better explain my question. Given the application developer has provided one layout only (for small devices) and the app is being run on a large display. Scaling may will look terrible (especially if the scale factor is in range 2-3), because it was not designed for this, so maybe a better solution is to show a smaller version of the app in the middle of the screen. Then it will look as designed, except that it will make poor usage of the available space. However, scaling it a little bit should be fine (scale factor in range 0.8-1.5), so that the app occupies entire screen. The question is what Android is doing? Does it scale the app even if it's scaled by a large factor (over 2) or will it stop at some factor and simply place smaller version of the app in the middle of the screen?

It depends on how the app was designed.  Android provides means to allow an app to choose from multiple layouts automatically depending on screen size and density, so if the designer cared to, they could provide completely different app appearances for phones and tablets to suit their app to the screen size.

Further information on the tools the developers may have used can be found here.

If they didn't do any of that, then the Screen Compatibility Mode kicks in and its behaviour depends on the version.  In version 3.1 and earlier, if the screen is larger than the app is intended for, it will occupy only part of the screen.  In 3.2 and later, it will expand to fill the screen.


Screen jerk and random touches I am using lenovo k3 note with updated version marshmelo 6.0. Sometimes it happens like random  touches appearing on my screen and screen jerks many times. I have restarted my phone many a time but it happens several time in a day. I don't know what I should do. I am using this it since 1 year.

Looks like your screen and the digitizer are going bad. Maybe there is moisture inside your device. I am no expert but if this is the case try to dry it with hair dryer


How can I disable the status bar on the lock screen? I want my lock screen to actually lock the phone.  I don't want to be able to unlock the phone and initiate a call by pulling the phone out of my pocket, or randomly select notification items if it bangs against my leg.  Is there a way to just turn all that crap off?

For anyone interested in this functionality, I have logged a bug.

The only way to disable the pulldown is to not use the default swipe unlock.  Switching to a PIN, pattern, password, or face unlock will get rid of that.


"adb devices" shows device as "unauthorized". How can I fix this? I just decided to move from Windows to Linux for my Android development, I just finished to setup Android Studio, I was able to import my project into it, but now I want to be able to run my application on my Google Nexus 5.

In my Android Device Monitor, my phone is detected as unauthorized.

I put :

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{18d1}=="0bb4", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"

Into :

~/.android/adb_usb.ini

You need to enable USB debugging on your phone. You should get prompted to accept an RSA key, which will mean that your computer is authorised.

Also keep in mind that any coding questions belong on StackOverflow.


HTC Desire and GPS - how does it work? I'm curious as to how the GPS works on the phone? In particular, what impacts does putting the phone in my pocket/bag have on the GPS signal?

Reason I ask is, I've recently installed the CardioTrainer app on my HTC Desire to record my workouts and I've realised that sometimes the GPS tracking "jumps" a lot - ie. CardioTrainer will record several partial segments during a jog, mainly because I seem to lose GPS signal every now and then.

I've noticed that this generally happens when I put the phone in my pocket or bag, and happens much less if I'm holding the phone while jogging/walking. Though many times it also works well even though the phone is in my pocket or bag.

Note: In general when I use GPS, I have clear view of the sky (though of course, if the phone is in my bag, it technically can't 'see' the sky)

As long as the material of your clothes or bag contains no metallic element that could block the GPS signal then your phone should be able to receive a GPS signal fine while in your bag or pocket.

I use the HTC Desire almost daily to record GPS tracks, and generally keep it in my jacket pocket and have noticed no problems with the GPS positioning. Those problems I do have are related to travelling through built up areas or in buildings.

You should remember that GPS can be less accurate in dense urban areas as the receiver may be able to see some sky, but that patch of sky may not contain enough GPS satellites for a direct fix. The signal may also be affected by weather, particularly humidity.

Have you tried any other applications, as it could perhaps be the app that is causing the poor performance you're seeing.

For recording running I can particularly recommend Runkeeper, I've been using it for six months now and it works really well, plus has some really good online features. For general GPS recording the My Tracks app is also pretty good. I would suggest trying a couple of different apps and comparing the results. If they are all showing gaps or jumps in the GPS track then it may well be something to do with the way you are using your phone (or the area you are in).


Uses for more than 2 finger multitouch? I am planning on get a new android phone, and one of my options is the Xperia Miro. I know it is not big deal, but it fulfills my needs.

But one of the specs that got my attention is that it says here, that it only supports up to 2-finger multitouch. I've seen other phones, like Xperia J, and they also say that.

My question is, how much could i need more than 2 finger support?

For my experience, the majority of apps really don't use more than that, because the most common use of multitouch is simply pinch to zoom, turn pictures X degrees, etc, and they only need 2 touches. Even games mostly only use 2 touches max (afaik), for example shooters, typically use only left side for moving and right side for shooting, besides they are meant to be played using thumbs, so 2 fingers is enough.

So, if I get such phones with only 2 finger support, what will I be missing? What kind of apps NEED more than 2 fingers and what do they use them for? (Real examples would be nice).

I really can't think of any app that needs that, but i don't know.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

I think that three or more touches are useful on tablets because actually it's hard to do so many touches on the small screen. From my experience I know these two applications:

Simple keyboard. Yes, sometimes you can put tablet on the table and print with two hands like on real keyboard to improve writing speed.
Any Piano Emulator. Same situation as above.


Hundreds of "phantom" contacts I got my Android 2.3.7 ZTE phone used on eBay, and it appeared to be completely reset.  However, sometimes hundreds of contacts with names like "brwlvweaace" show up.  They all have randomized emails, like "tcgege@hotmail.com".  It almost seems like a list of generated emails for spamming.  I can see them when choosing a contact to send a text to, and if I add the "All Contacts" folder to the home screen.  The SIM card is new, and shows 0/250 contacts.  The SD Card was new as well, and formatted on top of that.  I don't have these contacts in any synced account.  And I can't delete them, because they never show up in the main Contacts app.

How do I get rid of them?  I only have about 15 real contacts, so it's a pain to send a text message to one of them when the list has hundreds of fake names.

Here's a picture:

What I did:

Move my actual contacts to the SIM card
Wipe the data from the Contacts Storage app in the Application Manager
Load the contacts from the SIM.


Current profile as condition in llama Llama is a great tool, but I cannot figure out one (maybe) simple thing. I have a rule that sets the volume low at night (10pm - 6 am) and it works fine. Last night (9pm) I was at the cinema and selected the profile "silent". But at 10pm of course, llama set the profile to "low volume".

Is there a workaround a profile changes only when a certain profile is set (or not set)?

When the profile "silent" is set by another rule I set a llama-variable silence=1, and in the night-rule this variable is checked first. But when I set the profile manually, the variable-workaround doesn't work. I know I can lock profiles, but is there a more elegant way?

Or you can use the profile lock. As that is what is intended for.

Go to the profile press the lock icon next to the profile you want to set,  then just select the length of time.

Also if you go to the same theater,  make a profile for that area for silent. Obviously if it uses the same tower as another area, you will have to add condition such as"and" or "or" to prevent conflicts.


Fall back to pattern lock if fingerprint not recognised Can I make my phone fall back to pattern lock (instead of password) if the fingerprint isn't recognised? I've got a Samsung Galaxy S6 with the stock rom, Android version 5.1.1. Ideally I'd like a way of doing this without rooting the device.

As you have seen yourself, that is not the standard procedure. Hence, if you like to have that I would suggest to have a look at Trust Agents (Smart Lock feature uses them). You probably could write your own Trust Agent app that checks for failed fingerprint authentications and then call the pattern authentication.


Is my phone hardware damaged? Ocassionally when I use my phone, it crashes.
EDIT:
From analysing the pictures posted, we can conclude that the OP has an Asus Zenfone 2 (probably ZE551ML) running Lollipop 5.0 LRX21V.
This is very annoying if I play Clash of Clans and stuff. Imagine, in the middle of a war and then crash!
Fortunately I knew a way to get the system log.
I installed Airdrop Detector. It crashes on any phone. When it crashes it gives me an option to report the crash. I wonder if there is another way to get that.
Here are some of the screen shots.
Click images to enlarge

It says fatal signal hardware test.
The store I bought the phone from has a history of problems with the devices I bought from them. The first phone I bought had a Chinese ROM in it. The second phone has these constant ads. They managed to fix that. However, the original problem, namely that apps often crash is still there.
There are some error that complains about OpenGL:
Click images to enlarge

Please help me verify if the phone is hardware damaged or not.
I found a bug and I post the video on youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzAuaIw4RT0

A few things to note:

Answer compiled from comments

A SIGABRT signal/error generally indicates that the system forcefully stopped a process from executing, via the syscall abort(). Refer this SO question.
OpenGL ES libraries not found: It could be that your OEM does not or has not provided the OpenGL ES libraries which this app requires or has provided them in a non-standard location(usually OpenGL ES 3.0 is not provided on some devices (see this Android developer's resource), and library locations can change with kernel versions, an app relying on Kitkat's library location may not work on Lollipop).
Crashes can be due to a number of issues, usually due to battery power issues or overheating, although either of these may not be immediately apparent.

You could try the following:

A factory-reset. This should help with any problems that are due to user misconfigurations.
You could test (log) the temperature of your device with a suitable app such as CPU-Z or 3C Toolbox until you get a crash. If the device temperature goes above 70 degrees Celsius, overheating could be a cause of this behaviour.
Similarly, you could also check the battery output current using CPU-Z, I am not exactly sure but from personal experience I can say that a battery draw voltage of less than 2000 mV at 40% to 60% charge level can lead to power issues and crashes. (Thanks to my old Micromax Canvas Magnus, which had a similar issue which I so diagnosed, and a battery replacement fixed it).
As you yourself suggested, checking out customer service and user forums for the product might be a good idea.
Also, as @Firelord suggested, you should check if your recovery offers some hardware-testing facilities, which some manufacturers provide.


Can I damage my phone by doing android programming on it? I am a beginner to android programming and I want to use my personal phone that I use daily to test my programs, but I am not sure if that is a good idea.

Is it possible to somehow corrupt my phone by trying out my programs on it?  In what ways might this be possible?

The phone is unrooted; would it be possible in a rooted phone?

No, you can't. As you surmise, if you root your phone and write programs that use root to change system files or settings that you can't normally change, then you can break the phone that way. The risk is not really any different to running root programs that other people have written.
If you don't root the phone, or don't use root in the apps you're writing, then you can only do what any other app might do. You might run the battery down extra quickly, or (if your app has the appropriate permissions) delete pictures, contacts, &c., but debugging your own app won't cause any kind of system corruption or random problems.


How is WhatsApp able to receive messages when not in use? I'm curious about how WhatsApp is able to receive messages when not in use.

I mean, I understand that WhatsApp works using the Internet connection rather than the cellphone network. Imagine that I haven't touched my phone in hours. At that moment, a friend sends me a message on WhatsApp. I get it immediately. Does that mean that WhatsApp is keeping the Internet connection connected at all times? Does that mean that WhatsApp acts as a server, opening ports on the phone? Or maybe a long-running HTTP request?

At first, I thought this was most likely an instance of Android cloud to device messaging, but it can't be: WhatsApp doesn't declare the necessary permissions, and it works in Eclair (Android 2.1), while cloud to device messaging (and its replacement, Google Cloud Messaging) require at least Froyo (Android 2.2).

However, it is most likely some sort of push notification service. It's impossible to say exactly how it's implemented without access to WhatsApp's source code.

The part about it being able to receive messages when not in use is relatively easy to explain, though. The app almost certainly has a service which runs in the background to check in with the server periodically (or receive the server push, or whatever it does). When you receive a message, the service pops up a notification.

As for the question as to how the server could do a push, here's a possibility (again, I can't verify without source code):

WhatsApp starts and opens two sockets: One to listen on and one to send a message to the server.
WhatsApps starts listening on the first socket.
WhatsApp sends a message containing your phone number and the port of the listening socket to the server and waits for an acknowledgement.
The server records the phone and port numbers in the message and the IP address that the message came from.
The server sends an acknowledgement to the app.
The app receives the acknowledgement and closes the message socket.
A message with your phone number as the destination comes into the server.
The server uses the IP address and port number it has associated with your phone number and uses that information to push the message to your phone.

For this to work, the app would need to monitor the state of the network connection and reset the listening socket / resend the registration message when necessary (if the IP address changes, for example).


How can i install all my apps in other phones at once I am an app developers , I also work on phones, How can i install all my apps into my customers phones at once. Instead of installing each one by one.

is there a faster method through which I can install all 10 of my apps with one click?

AFAIK, there's no way to do this. Since every app installation should go through the Systems Permissions check regardless if the user is the same, if the device is different.

In order for the installation to proceed, the user of the phone MUST grant access to if first. This is a security matter and will always be applied.


Reasonable OneNote alternative for Android I just wanted to know if there's a OneNote app for Android, that would allow me to actually use it to its full potential (unlike that crap released by MS).

I am thinking about getting a Transformer and it is very important to me since all my notes from classes and lectures are in OneNote. I found many apps that would allow me to work with Word, Excel or PowerPoint. But everybody seems to be forgetting about OneNote...

Evernote
I consider Evernote to be the closest alternative to OneNote, available from Google Play Store.
For me, the biggest advantage of Evernote, which even OneNote doesn’t have, is the synchronization feature.

Key Features:

Sync all of your notes across the computers and devices you use
Create and edit text notes, to-dos and task lists
Save, sync and share files
Search for text inside images
Organize notes by notebooks and tags
Email notes and save tweets to your Evernote account
Connect Evernote to other apps and products you use
Share notes with friends and colleagues via Facebook and Twitter

Screen Shots (Android):


Is it possible to adjust aspect ratio on an Android device? I have an Android device that has a 4:3 aspect ratio.

When I watch videos in full screen mode, sometimes the aspect ratio causes the video to be distorted.

Is there a way to temporarily adjust the aspect ratio?

I can see a couple different solutions:

Adjust the actual aspect ratio.
Add a black bar on the top / bottom of the display that effectively changes the aspect ratio.

vlc is the best if they support the aspect ratio you need. MX player has custom aspect ratio setting; and pan, but needs a codec pack to play a couple audio formats due to licensing issues.


How do I unmute a contact? On my S6 with Android 6.0.1, one of the contacts in the default SMS app has a mute symbol (strike-through speaker) displayed next to the name. For this contact, new text messages don't trigger a notification. How do I change this? I've looked through all options in the message app and in the contact app and didn't find anything.

Had the same problem. Took me a bit to figure it out.

Go to messages, tap on the thread for that contact, tap on their name in the top left corner, this will take you to conversation settings, turn notifications on.


Is there a grayscale mode for the Samsung Galaxy S5 (and other Samsung phones) on Marshmallow? The Marshmallow update for Samsung phones (mine is a Galaxy S5, but the Note series has the same problem) seems to have removed the ability to turn on grayscale mode when activating power saver mode.

Is there a way to re-enable this feature?

Samsung removed the feature from Power Saving, but you can still activate grayscale mode in the developer options.

Go to your Settings and into the Developer Options.

If developer options isn't there, you have to manually activate the feature. Follow the steps in this answer.

Scroll to the Hardware-accelerated rendering section, and click on Simulate color space. Then select Monochromacy. Your phone is now in grayscale mode.

This color space option also exists on other phones.


How can I make a full, restorable image of my pre-root Android hard drive, as in Clonezilla? In Clonezilla, one boots OS-1 (Clonezilla) on Drive-1 (USB stick) in order to make a full, restorable image of Drive-2 (which may contain OS-2) on Drive-3 (the backup drive). One does not need any permissions or "root" on Drive-2 or OS-2 in order to make this copy. In fact, one could perform this procedure on any drive at all, including your drives, without knowing any of the relevant passwords!

Question #1: How can I use free software on OS-1 (Linux, Windows, etc.) to make a full, restorable image of Drive-2 (brand new, untouched Android phone), including ROM, bootloader(s), and any other sections, partitions, etc.?
If you believe the answer is, "You can't," then..

Question #2: After I have rooted, how can I restore Drive-2' (the rooted and thus altered Android phone) to its original state, Drive-2 (brand new, untouched Android phone)?
If you believe the answer is, "You can't," then..

Question #3: Why should I not worry about this?

It seems odd that one must alter Drive-2 (rooting process) in order to make a copy of Drive-2', but it seems like ClockworkMod's NANDroid images (and others) do exactly this by requiring root. Perhaps I am simply confused.

In general, you need to root the device to make a full backup. After you've rooted the device, use nandroid (which it seems you already know about). You can make a backup that doesn't include the OS by following one of the answers to How do I perform a full pre-rooting backup of an Android phone?
By flashing the stock ROM and recovery for your device, and wiping the userdata partition. See Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device? to find the stock ROM for your phone.
Because if you've broken the OS, recovery, and bootloader on your device sufficiently that you can't just flash a ROM image the usual way, there's no way you'd be able to restore any kind of backup image.


How much (Idle) time is needed for "Doze" to get activated ? (Android 6- Marshmallow) Consider a device that was left on a table, unplugged, and no movement. After sometime, the screen turns off, and the screen lock may (or may not) be auto activated, according to lock and smart lock settings.

Firstly, let's assume its locked, how much time is required for Doze, working to save power?
On the other hand, if the smart lock is acting (like by geographic location), keeping device unlocked for several hours (is six the limit, right?), how will this affect "Doze" functionality?

First part of your question "Firstly, let's assume its locked, how much time is required for Doze, working to save power?"

Idle time is not specified by Google and I guess this is implemented differently by OEMs
Quoting from Google documentation  Optimising for Doze and stand by  (emphasis added)

If a user leaves a device unplugged and stationary for a period of time, with the screen off, the device enters Doze mode. In Doze mode, the system attempts to conserve battery by restricting apps' access to network and CPU-intensive services. It also prevents apps from accessing the network and defers their jobs, syncs, and standard alarms.
Periodically, the system exits Doze for a brief time to let apps complete their deferred activities. During this maintenance window, the system runs all pending syncs, jobs, and alarms, and lets apps access the network.

Edit : This may answer from a user perspective as this is what developers are apparently planning 9 minute interval
Source https://plus.google.com/+AndroidDevelopers/posts/94jCkmG4jff

Dianne Hackborn17 Nov 2015
+Petr Nalevka Sorry scheduling alarms so frequently is currently not supported in doze....For what it's worth, the minimum time between while idle alarms will be changing to 9 minutes at some point relatively soon (even on devices running the current Marshmallow builds).

Second part of your question ".... if the smart lock is acting (like by geographic location), keeping device unlocked for several hours (is six the limit, right?), how will this affect "Doze" functionality? (and a related question of yours How Doze (marshmallow feature) work during playback?)

It is difficult to answer this correctly as

As can be seen from the answer to first part of question, developers seem to be improving / modifying the behaviour of "Doze" functionality and only once it is matured and implemented, one can reach a conclusion.

As can be seen in this post https://stackoverflow.com/questions/33018306/doze-mode-and-foreground-service, thanks to Firelord for highlighting this
, documentation by Google is lacking in details and developers/ OEM may implement varying behaviors, so nothing can be said at this point of time with certainty.


How do I simulate packet loss on an Android device? I'd like to simulate packet loss on a rooted Android device to see how different levels affect video streaming quality. I've tried netem and iptables, without success:

netem:

# tc qdisc change dev rmnet0 root netem loss 0.1%
tc qdisc change dev rmnet0 root netem loss 0.1%
Android does not support qdisc 'netem'
Garbage instead of arguments "loss ...". Try "tc qdisc help".

Is the format wrong or is it possible to add netem support somehow?

iptables:

# iptables -A INPUT -m statistic --mode random --probability 0.01 -j DROP
iptables -A INPUT -m statistic --mode random --probability 0.01 -j DROP
iptables v1.3.7: Couldn't find match `statistic'

Try `iptables -h' or 'iptables --help' for more information.

Is there any other alternative in Android?

It is possible to set network latency and speed using the emulator control functions of the standard Android Developer tools.

If using eclipse:  Select Window\Open Perspective\DDMS
On the screen you will see a tab named "Emulator Control".  In this tab, you will find the Speed and Latency options.  The 'Telephony Settings' at the very top have speed and latency selections.

There are other ways to modify these settings (including scripting them in your emulator setup), but this is the simplest way to access the settings.


Edit new calendar entries on AT&T samsung galaxy s2 using android 4.0.3 The 'edit' button does not appear when trying to edit a new calendar entry using the 4.0.3 ice cream sandwich operating system on my AT&T Samsung Galaxy 2 phone.  The calendar entries that were imported from gingerbread allow me to edit the entries.

One workaround I've found is to sync the phone calendar with Kies to Outlook calendar and edit in Outlook then resync. The edited update is then picked up by the phone.


Trucaller unable to send media files (images/videos), only contacts I'm using Truecaller on my Samsung Galaxy Ace J1 SM-J111F and I'm apparently unable to send images or video files, only location and contacts.

How do I rectify the issue where I am able to send videos and images?

Trucaller disables this feature when the phone in question lacks sufficient storage space, typically there is only about 100 MB left.


which hardware spec affects smoothness most? I am reviewing a few android tablets online and I would like to know which hardware spec (for example, CPU speed, RAM capacity etc) has the most significant impact on the smoothness (aka fluidness)  of the tab..

It's not that simple. The 'headline' specs certainly matter, but so do a lot of things they don't print on the spec sheet: the RAM controller speed, the CPU and GPU L2 cache sizes, the power management settings, etc. It might have a 2 GHz quad-core CPU, but that's no use if it's always underclocked for power or heat reasons, or it's always waiting for the RAM. Cheap Chinese devices in particular often have good specs on the spec sheet, but they pair those with the cheapest components they can find, to keep the price down.

The quality of the software integration is a big factor. Old, buggy drivers, or wrong settings chosen by the manufacturer's software people, can really reduce performance. If they've also changed the system apps (particularly the launcher or the system UI), or included some always-running crapware or spyware, that'll slow things down too.

Really, the number on the product description that's best correlated with smooth performance is the one after the dollar sign.


What are the main differences between Android and iPhone implementations of application multitasking? What are the main differences between Android and iPhone implementations of multitasking at the application level?

(Let's not turn this into a subjective fanboy argument please?)

This is not an answer to your question, but it's worth clarifying that both operating systems are fully multitasking [1] under the hood (insofar as they can and do run multiple processes).

Your question is clearly about application-level multitasking ("can I leave one application running while using another?"), which is a relatively new use of the term, and isn't always well-defined, even if it does have some obvious examples (like listening to Pandora while reading email).  Specifically, many applications don't need to run in the background in order to present themselves to the user as if they had never stopped running, so long as they save/restore their state.  Applications which must perform periodic operations (like checking mail or popping up alarms) don't need to run continuously in the background either; they can invoked occasionally by the OS.  The big issue is usually applications which need constant CPU while in the background, like Pandora.

In general, Apple has worked much harder to discourage or prevent continuously-running background applications, whereas Android seems more open to it.  But they are converging, as Apple allows apps like Pandora to run in the background and Android provides richer tools to discourage needless background tasks when polling or saved state would suffice.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_multitasking


Unable to boot my Nexus 5 into recovery mode I was having Marshmallow stock ROM rooted with TWRP installed. The way I had installed TWRP recoery made the monthly security updates uninstallable.

After learning the mistake, I decided to download the MOB30D build and flashed as I said in my answer.

After installing the phone was working normally. I tried to install TWRP through ADB command line and there was no error messages.  When I rebooted the phone in recovery mode I find a red triangle.  After some fiddling with power and volume buttons I saw the following recovery screen and used it for rebooting only:

I tried to flash the latest TWRP version, downloading again thinking the download might be corrupted. I then tried several old version of TWRP and same result.  I tried flashing stock recovery, doing all these again with erasing the recovery partition first - all results in red triangle.

I then tried Nexus RootKit flashing stock and TWRP image (downloading again); still no use.  I tried Nexus Rootkit's "Boot into temp recovery image" which did not work well but suddenly worked.  I flashed latest TWRP image through the temp TWRP and it too says all okay, but no joy:

Question:
I am not sure what else I can do to install TWRP. I want TWRP basically to root and for emergency purposes.  What I can do further to install TWRP and if not at least root without a recovery partition.

Update
I tried CWM recovery as well and same result. I tried to lock the bootloader and unlock again there by resetting everything. Still no use.

The problem is your not flashing SuperSU or deleting /system/bin/install-recovery.sh. Android has safeguards which revert to the stock recovery thru the install-recovery.sh, SuperSU by default disables this function so I'd recommend flashing it after you install TWRP.

Steps

fastboot flash recovery twrp.img or fastboot boot twrp.img
flash twrp.img inside of recovery if you just booted it instead of using fastboot flash
flash SuperSU-2.79-SR3.zip

OR

tap the mount tab
tap System
go back to main screen and tap advanced then file manager
navigate to /system/bin and delete install-recovery.sh

I recommend using the SuperSU route but whatever floats your boat.


Turning on Wi-Fi on demand Is there a way to reconnect to Wi-Fi whenever an application accesses the network?

Background: I have a rooted e-book reader that runs Android 2.2 (Sony Reader PRS-T1). The system offers an option to automatically enter Wi-Fi standby mode when the connection is idle, which I like: This behavior saves a lot of battery juice when reading an e-book.

Some of the preinstalled apps know how to reconnect the Wi-Fi whenever they need network access. Unfortunately, conventional Android apps do not know how to do this and fail. For example, I have installed the Kindle for Android app, and it fails to sync reading positions unless I have manually re-enabled the the Wi-Fi before trying to do so.

Is there a method to leave Wi-Fi standby mode and reconnect to Wi-Fi whenever there is demand?

Like everyone seems to be saying I too say that you can do this with Tasker and here's a small tutorial

In your profiles screen, click the + button and select application.

In the following screen that shows with the list of your installed apps, choose the app that you would wish to turn the WiFi on when opened.

Go back and you will be asked to create a new task. Create one and add the action WiFi and set it to on.

Now go back and long press on the task you created and click 'Add exit task' do the same thing as you did before but instead of setting it as on, set it to off.

So now whenever you open that app, the WiFi is turned on and at other times is off.


Improving performance of HTC Magic I have installed Cyanogenmod 6.1 and it's OK - better app compatibility, and stable - but it's slow (and USB SD-card mounting doesn't work, but maybe that's an app or something).

What can I do to speed this thing up?

Ginger Yoshi 1.5 sounded like a good option, but I got errors when I tried to flash it.

To answer the question - to speed that thing up you need to roll back to CM4 or another Android 1.6 based ROM.

I have a Magic and have used several ROMs including CMs 4, 5 and 6.  It is unfortunately hamstrung by its first-generation hardware - you simply are NOT going to get both features and speed from this phone, period.

Android 2.x ROMs do not make the Magic faster.  With all their config options they can make some things appear fast but this comes at the cost of performance in other areas.


Wifi, connected but not connected I have a peculiar problem with my Kobo Arc, which runs on Android 4.1.1.
When this device connects to my Dynex router, it goes through the whole "Authenticating" "Obtain IP address" "Connected".  No problem so far on the Wifi screen.

But now when I go online, I get "drops" almost on a pattern, every few seconds the connection will drop (a Youtube video on Youtube app will load, then run 3 sec then never load again until you constantly refresh or reseek, and sometimes that doesn't even work.)

Wifi connection bar remains full and remains "Connected" throughout the entire time, because Router is right next door, and this happens when I'm sitting right in front of it.  I switched Channals from 1-11, I tried different encryption.  To no avail.

So what's the problem here?  It's not signal, and my desktop computer using a USB wifi thingy don't experience this drop.

Un-plug your router for 30 seconds and try again. If it still happens then your router might be going out other than that your device might be buggy and you need to get a new one.


Manually Updating your OS? Is it possible to manually update any Android Device?

Yes, assuming the device has been rooted and someone has engineered the update to work with your specific device.  How fast that happens depends on how hard the devices manufacturer has made it, and how active the community is.  Its not as simple as just loading windows on a computer.

I asked a similar question a while ago. Check out the answers for more detail: What is involved in installing Android onto a device?


Allow android chrome to load unsafe scripts When any site has mixed content (HTTPS + HTTP), and when you try to open HTTP content, on Desktop chrome, it shows a "shield" icon like screen below,

This allow user to load unsafe script.

However, the above option is not coming or not available when i open the same page in Android phone's chrome browser. My chrome app version is 71.0.3578.99

Any idea how to get above pop-up in android chrome to allow user to load unsafe scripts?

I just now encountered this problem. On my PC there was a warning "sheild" at the right side of the address bar, and I was able to click it and choose the option of load unsafe scripts.  On my Android tablet no such shield was present.  Just trying things, I clicked the address line, and it showed the URL along with a short menu of three choices, among them a pencil icon for editing. I chose that, then removed the "s" from the "https" in the URL, and that worked.


How to control Android based tablet from Windows or iMac desktop? I have a setup in office where on a desk is fixed samsung galaxy tablet on a stand. On the same desk I have Windows PC or iMac. Customer is looking at the tablet. I am the desktop user and I want to control tablet from my desktop to demo a website. Customer looking at tablet should not see any part of my desktop other than the website. Since the stand secures the ipad and hides home button on ipad, I want to be able to access the home button from my desktop to wake up ipad from sleeping.

What is the solution for above?

Team viewer has a remote access program that can be hosted on Android.

This guide has a free solution but I haven't tried it and I don't know if it'll unlock the device (it does specifically say it can do the home button).


Alternative market app without country limitations I want to download Apps from the US for researching purposes. A co-worker of mine could do that by installing an alternative Market. He did not have a rooted phone and probably got that app from the original market.

The icon of this app was similiar to the original market's one but blue instead of green as far as I can remember.

I think SlideMe is the best Android alternative market available right now. There's an app that you need to install in order to buy apps directly via your phone.

There's also GetJar - a number of devs are releasing their products on GetJar before or along with releasing them on the Android Market.


How to add Chinese Input Method to English Android 2.2 Phone I have an HTC Legend with Android 2.2. I can switch between the standard input method (on-screen qwerty) and Graffiti by a long press in an input field.

I would like to be able to type chinese characters (for a dictionary app etc) without using pinyin. For example using wubi, ckc or some similar method.

Is it possible to add a new input method of this sort or to enable it if already built-in?

There are a lot of alternative keyboards available on the playstore, which register as separate IMEs. One example I found is LIME HD Chinese IME1, another one Cantonese keyboard2:

There are several more available (the developer of the second keyboard offers some other variants as well), many are linked on these apps' playstore pages.


Reducing the list of language options I would like to see an option that allows the list of available languages reduced to those I actually need.  When I use Voice Search, switching between English and Spanish is a pain: way too many options to choose from.  All I need is a selection of the  few languages that I speak, and not the entire list time and time again.

When I input using a keyboard, I can have different types of keyboards, eg. US international and Dutch.  It is easy to switch between those, but the voice input does not follow suit.

I don't know why Voice Input language should not be in sync with selected keyboard option.

This is on HTC Wildfire S with HTC Sense, btw.

Any views?

Unfortunately, you can't. The list of available languages is a system configuration option that affects the Voice Search app, but can also be used by other apps, and by design isn't intended to be updated that often.

Google assumes that a user sets the desired language and performs actions based on it, as one tends to use the native language to perform such actions, the list is supposed to contain as much available languages as possible.

From the recent post on the Google Blog announcing 13 additional languages for Voice Search, it's mentioned:

  Note that you can only speak one language into the app at a time, and you may need to change your language settings to use one of these new languages.

The list itself is extensive as to allow developers to provide support according to their target users, and as mentioned, to allow users to select their own desired language.

A workaround would be to have a custom ROM limited to the desired languages.


Boot looping / Corrupted data partition, CWM crashes when restoring to factory defaults Been using the Alpha version of CM7 for the Samsung T989 (T-Mobile Galaxy S II) for over 2 weeks now. Seems like when I rebooted it today it managed to corrupt the data partition.

Symptoms:
-Normal starts loop just after the kernel screen.
-CWM boots and works
-ODIN boots.
-CWM crashes when doing factory reset or restoring the data partition of a backup or formatting the data partition

This happened to me 2 days after installing CM7, the same version I'm still using. I was similarly stuck, but then I tried restoring my nandroid backup and eventually I could re-apply the CM7 zip and the phone started fine to a blank android.

Is there a way to solve this issue with my partitions? I am not too comfortable with re-partitioning it because I'm aware this can damage the boot sectors and brick it quickly if I don't do it just right.

Advice?

Try doing a data wipe and wipe the cache as well. I would then reinstall the CM7 package on the device.

If the issue is specifically with CWM crashing, it could be because the partitions are sizes that CWM doesn't support. I had an issue like that with my Nook Color. I have a nerwer model and the data partitions were 5GB and the media partition was 2GB, the older versions had it reversed. I found a script that someone already created to put the partitions back to the old format and CWM worked fine after that.

Now, I am taking a shot in the dark here on this, as I do not have that device, nor have I really read anything about it or the issue you are describing.


Set my phone contacts to sync to Google not Google to phone I want to set my phone to pull contacts from my Google Contacts so that it uses google as a master.

I organised my contacts on Google Contacts page and when I synced my phone it messed everything up again because instead of pulling down from Google it uploaded everything from the phone. :(

I am using Samsung Galaxy S2 with CM9

When you're done organizing your contacts on the Google Contacts page, and before syncing with your phone, go to Applications->Manage Applications and clear data+cache of the contacts app (plus some other service I cannot recall currently, something like a contacts provider if there is). Then open your contacts app to verify no contact is left.

That done, sync again -- as there are no contacts on your device, it cannot upload anything (and thus not mess things up again), but should simply download the data from the Google server.


What needs to be set up in an Android device from another region for a Russian user in Russia, and how? We've got a Samsung Galaxy S from another region (China or Korea).

What needs to be set up in it for a Russian user in Russia?

Simple things

The obvious group of settings that needs to be changed (simply by selecting the appropriate value) is the interface language, time zone.

Keyboard

One unexpected difficulty is the input method.

The factory Samsung OS (from another region) doesn't include a Samsung Russian keyboard, nor does it include the standard Android keyboard (which might have a Russian keyboard). Further complication: The standard Android keyboard cannot be installed separately!

As a solution, I chose to install AnySoftKeyboard (which is also available on F-Droid, which guarantees it is free/open-source, can be rebuilt from sources, and has been inspected by more people for not having spying features). Then in its settings menu, I chose to download a Russian pack.

Mobile networks and internet

For internet to work, one needs to set up an APN (for example, for Megafon, a Russian mobile operator, one needs to add a new APN with "internet" as the value for the field "APN" -- the only essential field; and select it).

(Regressions)

(Still, as compared to Samsung Galaxy S sold in Russia, this one has much more unstable connection to the mobile network (loses the connection, i.e., is offline very often). Perhaps, this can be solved by upgrading the ROM/modem firmware from the present Android 2.2 I9000XXJPK (kernel 2.6.32.9) FROYO.XXJPK.)


Give fake permission details to apps on Xperia X10i Because of the recent update to Google play stores permissions, I wish that as apps can access very personal information, I want to deny permissions to the apps, but as I have heard that this might cause them to crash, I want to give fake data to the apps Eg. IMEI = 0123654789, so that the apps do not crash.

I am running the Xperia X10i original stock ROM, rooted. I want to do it without flashing a custom ROM.

I appreciate any help.

What you're looking for is called "Permission Manager". While Android itself does not (yet?) provide such itself, there are several of them available, my list holds some of them.

There are different approaches. While some simply "deny access" (which might cause an app to crash, if the dev didn't take "revoked"/"not granted" permissions into account, and didn't place an exception handler for those cases), the majority rather replaces "real data" by "fake ones". Examples:

network access: "we are currently offline"
contacts, calendar: "the user has none" (empty list)
IMEI: "0123456789" (sometimes a total random number on each call, but other times a random IMEI is generated after each boot)
location: "not available" (location services deactivated) or "fake location" (e.g. north pole; some apps even allow to set your desired "fake location" and simulate movement in a specified radius)

A selection of popular "Permission managers" includes:

PDroid/OpenPDroid: Effective, but hard to install. Both require root and deodexed ROM, AFAIK OpenPDroid is even limited to cyanogenmod
LBE Privacy Guard: proprietary solution made in China, which might raise some eyebrows. Works great up to Android 4.0; don't install with higher versions as it will only stick your device in a boot-loop then. Root required.
LBE Security Manager: Successor of Privacy Guard, works with all current Android versions. Playstore version is in Chinese only; patched versions are available at XDA for other languages. Some feel this one a little overloaded, as it wants to be an all-in-one security suite covering a lot of stuff not everybody needs. Root required.
Xprivacy: A module to the Xposed framework. Gives very granular control, but other than LBE you cannot configure it to "ask everytime" whether access should be allowed (a feature I love about LBE). Root required.
App Ops: With 4.3-jelly-bean, Android had some permission management integrated but hidden from the user. There are several "App Ops" front-ends available, not all of them require root. Not all of them keep working with 4.4-kitkat, though, where this feature was "better protected". Not that granular, but much better than nothing if your device is not rooted.

Above mentioned list holds several more, but these are the best known. I personally use LBE Privacy Guard on my devices running 4.0 or lower. No app ever crashed on me for "disabled permissions", so LBE IMHO uses the "fake permissions" approach. Same AFAIK applies to the other solutions I've mentioned here.


Nexus S battery drains after updating to 4.2.2 even if turned off My Google Nexus S battery drains after updating from 2.3.7 to 4.2.2, even if it is turned off. One night I shut it off at 70% charge, and when I turned it on in the morning it was at 9 or 10%. I bought a new battery but it has the same problem. What should I do?

You should calibrate your battery:

Fully discharge your phone
Fully charge it when it is turned off
Disconnect charger and wait a minute
Connect it again and turn your phone on
Delete your data/system/batterystats.bin file (with battery calibration for instance)
Reboot your device and disconnect charger

Also, it is common problem, so try to google it yourself

Hope this will solve it for you


Disable connecting USB as media device with Jelly Bean I got a new update on my Samsung Tablet and I recognized a change / problem.
I want to connect my Tablet to my PC without connecting as Media Device. I like to transfer Files from my Aclipse ( Java ) to the tablet. For that the MediaConnection should be disabled, I guess :-)

Any hints ?

Regards

I have no XPs with JB but Google closed UMS (USB Mass Storage) support. My device with Android 4.2.2 suppors only MTP and PTP protocols and I can switch between them in the storage settings. Check this out.


Limit the Internet bandwidth of Android device Is it possible to limit internet speed of Android device

for example

Nexus 7 only internet speed has 300 kbps / 1mbps
Nexus 4 only internet speed has 150 kbps / 1mbps

While not for the faint of heart, how about the Linux command Traffic Control? Check out the man page for a quick run-down.

You'll need root and the Android Terminal Emulator app (or similar). I think this guide will be helpful, especially the script quoted below (although because I'm not rooted I haven't tried it myself). You can either try to run the script using sh or using BASH, or simply type the commands from the script directly in terminal after replacing the variables with your desired values. Let us know how it goes.

#!/bin/bash
#
#  tc uses the following units when passed as a parameter.
#  kbps: Kilobytes per second
#  mbps: Megabytes per second
#  kbit: Kilobits per second
#  mbit: Megabits per second
#  bps: Bytes per second
#       Amounts of data can be specified in:
#       kb or k: Kilobytes
#       mb or m: Megabytes
#       mbit: Megabits
#       kbit: Kilobits
#  To get the byte figure from bits, divide the number by 8 bit
#

#
# Name of the traffic control command.
TC=/sbin/tc

# The network interface we're planning on limiting bandwidth.
IF=eth0             # Interface

# Download limit (in mega bits)
DNLD=1mbit          # DOWNLOAD Limit

# Upload limit (in mega bits)
UPLD=1mbit          # UPLOAD Limit

# IP address of the machine we are controlling
IP=216.3.128.12     # Host IP

# Filter options for limiting the intended interface.
U32="$TC filter add dev $IF protocol ip parent 1:0 prio 1 u32"

start() {

# We'll use Hierarchical Token Bucket (HTB) to shape bandwidth.
# For detailed configuration options, please consult Linux man
# page.

    $TC qdisc add dev $IF root handle 1: htb default 30
    $TC class add dev $IF parent 1: classid 1:1 htb rate $DNLD
    $TC class add dev $IF parent 1: classid 1:2 htb rate $UPLD
    $U32 match ip dst $IP/32 flowid 1:1
    $U32 match ip src $IP/32 flowid 1:2

# The first line creates the root qdisc, and the next two lines
# create two child qdisc that are to be used to shape download
# and upload bandwidth.
#
# The 4th and 5th line creates the filter to match the interface.
# The 'dst' IP address is used to limit download speed, and the
# 'src' IP address is used to limit upload speed.

}

stop() {

# Stop the bandwidth shaping.
    $TC qdisc del dev $IF root

}

restart() {

# Self-explanatory.
    stop
    sleep 1
    start

}

show() {

# Display status of traffic control status.
    $TC -s qdisc ls dev $IF

}

case "$1" in

  start)

    echo -n "Starting bandwidth shaping: "
    start
    echo "done"
    ;;

  stop)

    echo -n "Stopping bandwidth shaping: "
    stop
    echo "done"
    ;;

  restart)

    echo -n "Restarting bandwidth shaping: "
    restart
    echo "done"
    ;;

  show)

    echo "Bandwidth shaping status for $IF:"
    show
    echo ""
    ;;

  *)

    pwd=$(pwd)
    echo "Usage: tc.bash {start|stop|restart|show}"
    ;;

esac

exit 0


Google Calendar events created on the phone won't sync In my 2.3.7 Android phone, when I use the Google Calendar application, I can see all the events that are listed in my Google account, as I would see them in the browser in my computer, but when I create a new event using the phone -- it shows as 'PC Sync', the new item won't sync up to the calendar as I see it in the browser. I have tried cleaning the cache and data for the 'Calendar' and 'Calendar Storage' application, and manually re-syncing the Google account from the phone, but it still won't show up. Any ideas?

EDIT: If the event is under 'PC Sync', where should they appear in Google Calendar?

Answering my question after the comments, it turns out only 'PC Sync' would show when creating an event by tapping on a specific day/time, but when using the 'Add event' option, the other calendars would show as an option. Once this is used the first time, then tapping on the day/time shows the other options. All good.


How are the gallery application edits applied to images? I noticed today that if you apply filters or modify an image using the gallery application, it applies the changes to the image, rather than creating a new image with the changes. My first thought was that it was not a good idea. Sometimes you want to keep the original, untouched image, as well as the modified image, maybe for comparison purposes, or to try different filters or settings. In my case I was playing with the curves, and then I saved the image. I wanted to compare the new image with the original, but the original was gone. I decided to go back to the curves settings, and saw that the curves were still as I had set them, which means I can just restore the curve for each channel and that will give me back the original image.

I decided to do a test with another image. I opened a new image, applied a filter from the preset filters, and saved the image. Then I went back to the image, and edited it again, but this time I removed the filter, and the image was back to normal.

My first thought was that the gallery image applied non-destructive edits. Something similar to what some editing software does. The one that comes to mind is Shotwell, although this is more of a viewer than and editor, but it has some limited functionality to play around with the saturation, levels, and other settings. It didn't seem likely that the gallery application in adroid was doing that because other image viewing applications showed the image with the filter applied to it.

I decided to connect the device to the computer using a USB cable. I navigated to the camera folder, and opened the image in the computer, and it showed the modified image. This means that the image is being modified. While the devices was still connected to the computer, I decided to remove the filter, and open the image again in the computer. The image was back to original.

How is android able to modify the image file directly, and then restore it to original. Is it saving the original file somewhere else?

  How to reproduce:

  Open the Gallery application (the default one)
  Chose an image to edit, and touch the little pencil on the lower
  left corner of the screen.
  Edit your image, touch the save button, or just press the back
  button. It will ask if you want to save the image. Save it.
  Touch the pencil again, remove the filter.
  Your image is back to original.

Device: Nexus 7

OS: Android 4.4.2

You can find the source for this app in the Gallery2 package in AOSP. All the code for the photo editor is in src/com/android/gallery3d/filtershow. The saving is handled by tools/ImageSave.java, which has this comment explaining the behaviour (which I've formatted):-

  In order to support the new edit-save behavior such that user won't see the edited image together with the original image, we are adding a new auxiliary directory for the edited image. Basically, the original image will be hidden in that directory after edit and user will see the edited image only.

  Note that deletion on the edited image will also cause the deletion of the original image under auxiliary directory.

  There are several situations we need to consider:

  User edit local image local01.jpg. A local02.jpg will be created in the same directory, and original image will be moved to auxiliary directory as ./.aux/local02.jpg.
  If user edit the local02.jpg, local03.jpg will be created in the local directory and ./.aux/local02.jpg will be renamed to ./.aux/local03.jpg
  User edit remote image remote01.jpg from picassa or other server. remoteSavedLocal01.jpg will be saved under proper local directory. In remoteSavedLocal01.jpg, there will be a reference pointing to the remote01.jpg. There will be no local copy of remote01.jpg. If user edit remoteSavedLocal01.jpg, then a new remoteSavedLocal02.jpg will be generated and still pointing to the remote01.jpg
  User delete any local image local.jpg. Since the filenames are kept consistent in auxiliary directory, every time a local.jpg get deleted, the files in auxiliary directory whose names starting with "local." will be deleted. This pattern will facilitate the multiple images deletion in the auxiliary directory.

In short: yes, it saves edited images in a .aux directory, inside the directory the image came from.

It also stores the filter chain you used to create the image in XMP metadata inside the new image (the filtered one), in the namespace http://ns.google.com/photos/1.0/filter/. This information consists of:

SourceFileUri: the URI where it has saved the unmodified file
filterstack: a serialized representation of the stack of filters it used (in the same format it saves presets to its private database)


Is CyanogenMod rooting the phone? If I install CyanogenMod, will I have 'rooted' my phone? Is CyanogenMod a rooting program, or is the procedure of installing CyanogenMod rooting, and CyanogenMod is something needing root?

Is CyanogenMod a type of android release? Considering to install it is similar to a new android update?

for 99% of devices, you have to have a custom recovery image installed on the device in order to install CyanogenMod. And usually, to do that you have to have the device rooted. So you have to have a rooted device before you can install cyanogenmod.

CyanogenMod comes rooted and yes, it is an android release. Rooting a device, while it will void your warranty, is not really that "bad". Think of it like having access to the administrator account on your PC as opposed to a "limited user" account.

You also have to keep in mind that CyanogenMod does not work on all android devices. You can only install it on devices that are supported.


Annoying "unzoom" when browsing text The following happens in various applications such as more than one type of web browser and Adobe's PDF reader. I'm scrolling through text at a comfortable zoom level, and then suddenly, I touch the screen the wrong way, and it zooms way out.  How can we prevent this UI behavior?

This feature is known as double-tap zoom. In the stock browser, it can't be disabled, but it can be adjusted in Settings -> Accessibility -> Zoom on double-tap. According to this answer , Dolphin Browser HD supports disabling it.


How do i sync Google Keep via Bluetooth/wifi without internet connection? I use Google Keep on my Android as well as Ubuntu, living in a remote area of a developing nation, internet outages are common. So i need to sync my notes on google keep with my android, is it possible? If not what are a few alternatives that is recommended that syncs notes via Bluetooth?

You can try Bluetooth Chat to copy, paste and send notes through Bluetooth. Google Keep doesn't have any functionality to share notes without internet.

You can also setup a network drive and save your notes as a .txt on anything connected to your Wi-Fi without internet. That's a bit harder to do though.


Memory management of Android devices According to manufacturer, my phone has:

ROM-4 GB
RAM-1 GB

But when I look in my phone, there is

PHONE STORAGE(.98 GB)
INTERNAL MEMORY(1.77 GB)

Now is that .98+1.77 from those 4 GB (ROM memory) – or from where? And what is the difference between this phone storage (.98 gb) and internal memory (1.77gb)?

Welcome to the Android Enthusiasts – and congrats, you've found the correct tag for that question!

Now a little magic which is not that obvious (and thus often overlooked): Hover your mouse over the tag, it will reveal a short description and some links. Click on the info link, and find your answer :)

In short here: When manufacturers speak of "ROM", they quite often use this term in a wrong way. The correct meaning of the term is Read-only memory, which is clearly not the case for those 4 GB. What they rather are is the all-over storage contained in the device: system (read-only) + internal + device storage. For details, please see the already mentioned tag wiki.

Manufacturers use the term ROM in a wrong way to show off with "big numbers", unfortunately – which causes a lot of confusion amongst customers.


How to run regular google maps on android go? I'm trying to install the regular heavy version android google maps from play store but it only brings up google maps go. What should I do to fix this?

you can download it here from apkmirror

https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google-inc/maps/maps-10-14-1-release/


What does it mean to "link" my contacts? I just got an android today and I'm entirely lost with how it works. I was looking at my contacts and noticed the "link" option, so I tried it and clicked on another random contact, and nothing happened. What does the linking do exactly?

Well, I am sure you must be aware that Android shows your contacts from multiple sorces like Gmail, Facebook etc.

I am sure you probably have the same contacts in multiple sources and LINK is a way of telling Android that these contacts, from the different sources, are same. Once you link the contacts Android will merge the contact details i.e. one contact will be shown with all the details from every source.


What is Mozilla Location Based Services? When I installed Firefox on my phone it gave me the option to enable Mozilla Location Services. What does this actually do? Does it help locate things around you, for example stores? Does it increase accuracy of location? What is the privacy policy? I've red some descriptions of the term but it seems like a bunch of wishy washy babble.

e.g.

  The Mozilla Location Service is an experimental pilot project to
  provide geolocation lookups based on publicly observable cell tower
  and WiFi access point information. Currently in its early stages, it
  already provides basic service coverage of select locations thanks to
  our early adopters and contributors.

but what does it actually hope to achieve?

It's a Network Positioning Service, it locates your position based on a database of Wi-Fi hotspots, mobile cell towers, and possibly in the future other sensor data. This database is collected through crowdsourcing by Firefox users that has enabled Mozilla Location Service or has installed the dedicated Mozilla Stumbler app.

It is basically Mozilla's take on geolocation service that is currently provided by Google Location Service on most Android devices. Their objective is to build a public, and more openly accessible, crowd-sourced database for a geolocation service.

Presumably this will be the geolocation service that will be used by Firefox OS and desktop Firefox.

The Privacy Policy for Mozilla Location Service can be found on their website.


Map keys to touchscreen Not sure of this is a good question for here or stack overflow... I can move it if needed.

I'm running android on a mobile device... but I really just use it as a computer. I have a wireless mouse/keyboard that I use to navigate windows, etc. Keyboard works well generally, but I find some features lacking. I really would like to map key presses to the touch screen input. i.e. I can set w to send touch input from a part of the screen given by the pixel location or some such thing.

I have a background in computer system, so I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty. I am willing to root the device, install programs, or build in some additional hardware. I can probably do it from scratch, but I really would like to not waste that much time on it.

If you are willing to use a PC as the interface.

There appears to exist a modified version of the open-source scrcpy which has keyboard shortcut support for playing games, but should partially map to your requirement:

QtScrcpy - gitee repo or QtScrcpy - github repo

See project README for keyboard mapping feature:
https://github.com/barry-ran/QtScrcpy/blob/master/README.md

It looks promising. Unfortunately I haven't used it, and while open source, most of the project UI/documentation isn't in English.

The issue thread for the keyboard mapping feature for scrcpy:

https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/issues/712

you might want to look there for more options.


Is there any way to move apps to my sd card in android 2.1 on my phone? Is there any way for me to move apps to my sd card in android 2.1 on my phone?  Everything I've read so far just talks about how easy it is to do it in 2.2.  I have a Milestone, but apparently my carrier is not yet able to support 2.2.   Am I just pretty much screwed until it does?

You would have to root your phone and partition your SD card.  Note that the app itself must also support running from the SD card.  See this XDA thread for an example of how to do it for the Milestone.


Stop Android from killing Runtastic Runtastic is an app for tracking the paths you ran, how fast you were, etc. It worked great for me for many years but almost 2 years ago started crashing on virtually any run.

A few months ago, I tried different running apps but all of them crashed too. The only way I have found to somewhat reliably stop this from happening is to open the app every 2 to 5 minutes which is really obnoxious to have to do.

I already tried turning off battery optimization for Runtastic in the Android settings. This seems to make the problem less severe (though I'm not sure) but doesn't eliminate it. Furthermore, occasionally battery optimization for it just turns back on automatically for some reason.

How can I tell Android that Runtastic may use however much battery (mostly via GPS usage, I guess) whilst in the background without getting killed?

I use a OnePlus 3 running OxygenOS 5.0.1 which is based on Android 8.0.0.

Hello fellow OnePlus user! I had this same problem on my OnePlus 5. Turned off battery optimisation, still no dice. It was quite frustrating. I mean, I have 8 GB of RAM, why would it need to be killed?

Well, it turns out OnePlus has an additional setting: "Advanced optimisation". You can access it by going to Settings → Battery → Battery Optimisation and press the 3 dot menu on the top right. Turn it off.

Advanced optimisation is extremely aggressive. I was even missing emails because of it. Turning it off immediately fixed the problem for me, and I haven't really felt that much of a difference in battery.

P.S. You can turn on optimisation for Runtastic back on.


How to remove a persistent malware that downloads unwanted apps? Some months ago, I purchased an Azumi cell phone from an official store in a shopping mall in Mexico and subsequently discovered its firmware contains a ton of malware. The malware connects with a server in China and downloads a load of malicious apps which then launch automatically and eventually render the phone so slow as to be unusable.

I have just done a factory reset for the fifth time and expect it to run smoothly for a few weeks until the problems return. I tried installing a new ROM but it did not resolve the problem, possibly because the malware is hidden inside a partition.

I am not at all literate with Android, but am willing to learn and do whatever is necessary to fix this phone. Can someone advise or point me in the right direction?

If I need to root it, how can I do this safely, and how can I locate the offending malware? What diagnostic tests can I perform to learn more about the problem? And if it's easier to flash a new system, what is the most effective way to do this, and where can I locate a reliable ROM?

The app - NoRoot Firewall can be very useful for preventing unwanted malware / adware related app downloads. Cheap phones, tablets (particularly phones off the grey market) typically experience this issue.


How to clean up old application folders from prior ROM? I installed CM10 on my GS2, and during the process I didn't format the file system as I wanted to retain my photos and music on the device.  I was aware of an app called "SD Maid" that is supposed to be able to be able to clean up all these old app folders, but it doesn't seem to work.  Does anyone know how I can clean up all these folders, or does a person have to just go in and manually delete all of them?

(For an app to do this, the OS would have to have some sort of a referencing system of known installed files & folders, don't know if it has such a thing though.)

If you're changing rom (I.e. from AOKP to CM10) you should always do a factory wipe, data on the sdcard will still be

I'm amazed it booted if you didn't do a factory wipe before flashing a different rom


How to download and open PDF files? I am a university student that has most of the lectures online as pdf files. How can I get them on my Android phone and read them through Adobe Reader? This is the first time that I have used Android. The version that I have is 2.2 "Froyo".

Download and install Adobe Reader on your phone.  You can find it by the link or by opening up Google Play / Market on your phone and searching for "Adobe Reader".  There are lots of other pdf readers out there too, btw.
Either download the PDFs from whatever website they are on using your browser (the built in browser is fine), or download them on your computer, connect your Android phone by USB cable & mount the SD card, copy the PDF files to the SD card, disconnect your phone from the computer, and finally use the file manager (usually called "Files" in the app drawer) to navigate to the PDF file you want to read.  Tap it's icon once and it should open in your PDF reader.


Is screen mirroring only possible on enabled devices? I've owned an LG GX2, LG V20, and an LG G5m out of which the GX2 had a micro USB port to charge and a micro HDMI for video output, and the V20 and G5 had video output through USB type C to HDMI. I've recently got an LG G7 or whatever it's called, and it no longer works. I've read several articles that suggest that with the right combination of cord/adapter that any Android could be mirrored through HDMI to TV. I'm pretty sure I already know the answer just want to be sure.

Sources:

How to Connect Android to TV

How to connect your Android phone or tablet to your HDTV

Mirroring, or MiraCast is actually not fully supported on Android, this has lead Google to build their own mirroring software...

MiraCast never really worked on Android, there's always a resolution problem because android isn't designed to OutPut video on different resolution's.

The solution is sort of a screen recorder that utilizes WiFi and software to show the screen recording on a computer or T.V.

I'm sure that it can be enabled on any device that has had MirrorCast  in the past.

For example, Android 5.1 and up have the option to mirror removed completely while they work on a new version designed for android.

You can enable the old MirrorCast using some build.prop tweaks, however it's extremely unstable, Hence the removal in the first place.


How do I block private numbers from calling me? Android 7 on a motorola E4. This does not work for me as I simply don't have that menu.

How do I block private numbers from calling my phone?

I'm not looking for a 3rd party application. I'm thinking there must be some way to do this on an android level, maybe with some hidden code?

The phone isn't rooted, ADB isn't an option since data over USB on the phone is broken.

Motorola uses a vanilla Android experience (similar to Android One & Pixel) and it ships with the Google dialer and Google contacts app. As such, you will not find as many options in your phone as we see in Xiaomi or Huawei or Samsung phones. The call blocking option is also not present in the stock Android setup.

You will have to resort to a 3rd party app from the Play Store. I wouldn't recommend any as there are many call blocking apps and you should be free to evaluate them and choose the one to your liking.


How to get Recovery without the Hardware key Apprently I am stuck in a known problem the Cyanogen Bootloop.
The solution involves going into recovery, which is not possible since my "volume down key" is physically damaged.

Do I have any options of escaping the vicious Bootloop? Or did I officially brick it?

The model is: HTC Desire HD (HTC Ace)

Try booting while pressing the back key. That will get you into fastboot, and you can access hboot (and hence recovery) from there.

If it worked try any solution among this..

It depends on the cause of the boot loop

Wipe cache and dalvik (depending on what recovery you look in different places for these. I think ClockworkMod may have wipe dalvik in advanced). TBH I think this is unlikely to do it, but is harmless.

If something has been corrupted in the ROM then reflashing the ROM (without wiping) will fix it.

If it's data corruption then a factory reset will do it.


How to delete a notebook in Evernote for Android? I accidentally create a duplicate notebooks using Evernote app. I want to delete one of them. When I open my Notebook list, the options that I can see are just 'rename notebook', 'move to new stack' and 'sharing setting'.  where can I find 'delete' option?

To delete a notebook, you'll need to log in to the webapp. Your notebooks will appear on the left side of the screen. moving your cursor over (or tapping, on your device) the notebook you wish to delete will show a triangle to click for a drop-list from which you can delete the notebook.

Edit: According to this link, you can't do it from the Android app yet. http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/29175-helpdelete-notebook-on-android/


How can I block annoying SMS From all numbers that start with a specific numbers? I received a lot of spam SMS from a lot of numbers which are started with 60 , so is there any android app that allow me to block all sms came from any number start with a specific number like 60  ?

Try SMS Organizer
This app can auto-delete messages based on senders phone numer/contact name or even based on keywords in the message text.
The app  lets you set 'rules'to match which numbers to delete. For example, you can set a rule to auto delete any message when the sender's phone number/contact name contains a certain sequence.

If you are unsure about deleting, you can also set the rule to move all those sms to a folder (This app also lets you create custom folders for text messages) and then delete them from the folder.


How can I circumvent regional restrictions in Google's Play Store? I'm travelling to country X. I want to install an application which isn't available in my country, but is available in country X; but I prefer to download and install it in advance, while the data connection is still cheap.

Unfortunately, the Play Stores does not allow me to install this app. Is there any way to circumvent this limitation?

Try the Market Enabler app (download the APK and side-load it.)  It allows you to spoof your region, so that the Market thinks you're in the US.

As an alternative, you may want to see if this app is available via other distribution methods, such as from other reputable markets (e.g. Amazon Appstore, SlideMe.org, GetJar.com, etc.)  Also reaching out to the developer can sometimes help.


How to solve "Couldn't save screenshot storage may be in use" i have been experiencing an issue on my smartphone.Every time i try to save a picture it says"Couldn't save screenshot,storage may be in use"
I already tried to clean the whole cache but it didn't work.

i have already fixed  this issue.It is basically a cache problem that i was experiencing,however even if i cleaned that,it didn't work so I got to go a little bit deeper and I found the solution.Very simple
1:Go to settings then application manager
2:Click on Chorme(in my case,the problem was on Google Chrome and Google)
3:Click on Manage Storage ,then on Manage and delete the content
4:Do the same to Google application and the problem will be fixed.
Although it is simple I had a hard time trying to figure out what was wrong,then I noticed that it was not only to clean the cache normally but you also nedded to open its configuration and clean the cache that was in there.Apparently Google Chorme stores a lot of trash and over the time,it might cause some issues. Please if you have other ways to fix this problem,share them here. Let's help others :)
Learn more at:
https://www.popsci.com/fix-most-common-smartphone-problems/


Allow Apps Access to /data of Other Apps I recently moved from ES File Explorer to MiXplorer and discovered that I can't access the /data partition of other apps (/data/data/com.example.app/). I can only see /data/data/com.mixplorer.silver/ with MiXplorer, while ES File Explorer can see everything just fine. I can use Termux to work with files of course, but that's the entire point of having a file explorer. Is there anything I can do?

I'm running DerpFest 10-Official-RMX1921-20200407 (Android 10, April 5th 2020 patch) off of a Realme XT rooted with Magisk 20.4 in case it matters.

Thank you for your time.

In MX Explorer settings → More settings → check "allow root" . That should prompt request for root
Check if root rights have been given to MX Explorer in Magisk Superuser (if not check logs, if it had been denied)


Why do some earphones work but some have garbled audio on my phone? I recently bought a rebranded Innos D9 from China. When I tried using the earphones that came with the phone and the Sony earphones I have, the audio is fine. Really awesome too.

However, when I use a generic Samsung earphones, I hear garbled audio, like the sound is coming from a cave. When I play a video, the voices / speech of people are distorted. Also, I don't think equalizers would fix this because I know how they work. I also tested Apple's Earpods, to the same effect.

I would like to know why this happens. Maybe I could download an app to correct the sound, or at least know what earphones to buy in the future.

Note: The phone has a built-in Yamaha music amplifier that boosts AAC or something, if that information would help.

Another update: Found a relevant thread on XDA and the fix I did was to push the answer button on the Samsung earphones, and the audio was fixed. Do note that for the audio to stay that way, the button should be pressed always. This is not a good fix.

The pin layout between the working and not working head phones might be different and hence this behaviour.  Though it appears to be simple there is no one standard to which all these manufactures seems to stick with. For instance my LG P500's stock ear phones exhibit this issue with Sony Ericsson SK17i, while Sony's head set played well in my LG P500.

The same problem exhibits when I use my LGP500 head phones in my desktop computer. While doing so, I just pull out the head phone slightly out to solve this issue.


Android USB tethering to an OpenWRT router I'd like to USB-tether my Android phone to a local router. I have a tether plan, so that's not an issue.

My reasons why I want it this way:

the router should expose the internet to all clients, not the phone
reduced cross-chatter, no additional (second) wifi
local connections are handled by the router, not the phone

I know there are other devices out there, like ZyXEL's routers and apps like ZoomTether.  That last one is almost like what I need — but I want a device, not a computer connected.

Has anybody done this?

Use OpenWRT 10.03 or later. Install the following modules:

kmod-nls-base
kmod-usb2
kmod-usb-core
kmod-usb-net
kmod-usb-net-cdc-ether
kmod-usb-net-rndis
kmod-usb-ohci
kmod-usb-uhci

Then edit /etc/config/network. Under the WAN configuration, change option ifname eth1 to option ifname usb0. Then enable USB tethering on the phone and reboot the router.

This article has some information about how to get the configuration smoother so you don't need to reboot the router each time you want to tether. This article has a simpler way.


How can I fix my cheap Android 2.2 phone? Should I root it? I recently purchased a Samsung Intercept for Virgin Mobile. The problem is that it doesn't work very well. There's a delay when doing almost anything on it, even calling or texting. It also has poor battery life. Is there a way I can get it to work decently? Perhaps by removing apps? Would rooting it get it to work better?

IF you know what you're doing, rooting and flashing a custom rom CAN help. Rooting it will allow you to delete some "system" apps that you don't need, and give you access to more control over your CPU, and some ROMs have ways to help save battery. My sister was forced to get a Droid 2 Global after two faulty replacements of her original Droid 1 which she loved, and she hated the Global. Had problems with battery and the way it was set up and everything. So I rooted it for her and flashed a new rom, and she got an extended battery (VERY USEFUL SUGGESTION), and now she loves it. But as rooting voids your warranty, I wouldn't try it if you don't need to or don't know exactly what you're doing.


Does the phone consume less power when 3G disabled Vs 3G & WiFi Enabled? I found couple of questions about it but they are two year old.

So Is it better to disable (in the top panel) 3G when I have an active WiFi connection and disable WiFi (in the top panel) when I doesn't have active WiFi connection and enabled 3G Data connection?

By better I mean consumes less battery power

You'll definitely have better batty life when you're not using wifi if you turn it off. I don't believe turning off 3g when you're on wifi will save much battery life, because Android is already automatically routing all communications over wifi.


deleting pop3 mail account not possible I want to delete a pop3 mail account, but I can't find the option to do that. All I can do is synchronize! I can find the option with my Google account, but I don't want to delete that. I use Android 4.4.2 on a Nexus 7.

If geffchang's answer didn't work, you can try this at a last resort.

System setting > Apps > ALL > Email > Deactivate.

However, this not only removes the account you wanted to remove but also all other accounts.


How do I have a URI send Tasker an intent? I have a task that goes to a webpage, and I'm trying to get it to callback to Tasker. I assume I'll need to receive an intent in Tasker, but I can't figure out how to do that. The two ways I've tried so far are:

Link: myapp://callback?param=abc123
Tasker:

Action:
Cat: Default
Cat: None
Scheme: myapp
Mime Type: text/plain

Link: intent://#Intent;action=myapp.action;end?param=abc123
Tasker:

Action: myapp.action
Cat: Default
Cat: None
Scheme:
Mime Type: text/plain

I've tried fiddling with various options and variations on these, but nothing seems to do anything. Given the webpage I'm going to supplies information with the query parameter and gives an error with the second way, I assume I'll need the first. I don't know why it isn't working though. How am I supposed to do this?

The creator of Tasker gave me some guidance here. Apparently Tasker's plugin AutoTools has the built-in scheme autotoolscommand:// built in, which will redirect everything following to an AutoApps command. Using the guide on AutoApps commands, I was able to easily figure out how to do this.

To set it up, create a profile for the AutoApps command of your choosing, e.g. myapp=:=. Then put the url of your link as autotoolscommand://myapp=:=?param=abc123. This will then set the Tasker variable %aacomm to ?param=abc123, which you can then parse or do whatever you wanted with. For me, I wanted to run a Variable Search Replace then to get just the data parts of the query with the regex (?<==)[^&]+.


Downloading PDF file from browser I have been trying to download a PDF file from my Samsung Galaxy 10.1, 32G, Wi-Fi Tab.
When I click on the download icon to check on it,it shows "Download in progress".
A one page file, for instance, will take FOREVER then I get "Download failed".This happens again and again.

Very frustrating! I would then like to transfer the file to e-book to read at a later date.
Can anyone help me please?

Try with another browser, like the Android stock browser or Firefox for Android.


How to gain access to /data directory through ADB shell Despite the fact that I have root access, nevertheless I can not work with this directory. But why?

Info about my phone:

Android version - 6.0.1
Android security patch level - 2016-11-01
Kernel version - 3.18.19+

Try setting SELinux to permissive then access /data again:

ibug@android:/ # setenforce 0
ibug@android:/ # ls -l /data
(output)


Is there a way to type German and French characters from the stock keyboard? I want to type French and German accents and stuff using some kind of add-on to the stock keyboard.  I don't want to switch between boards.  I see there are a lot of keyboards in the Play store but I need one that doesn't interfere with the stability of the stock one.

I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S3 running Android 4.1.1

You can "long press" a key, which will give you alternative letters if alternative symbols are associated with it. Try it with the letter "E". To select the desired letter/symbol slide your finger to the side.


Nexus 7 says it's charging but it isn't I have had a Nexus 7 since September and today something strange happened.

I plugged it in, as usual, to recharge the battery. It charged up to 36% and now it still says it's charging but it never moves from that percentage.

How can I fix my device?

I solved my issue using a 2A charger instead of my phone 1A charger or the USB port that provides only 0.5A.

I am sure I have been able to charge my nexus with all the power sources, but maybe I left it on charge all night long.