How can I recover photos from my bricked Google Nexus 5X My Google Nexus 5X has died on me all of a sudden. Screen went blank, then rebooted and seems to have gone into a "bootloop". That is, it shows "Google" followed by the "android" spinner animation which then goes black and back to the "Google" logo.

Do I understand correctly that the device is likely beyond (affordable) repair? My goal now is to extract from it the photos I've taken over the past couple of months.

Things I've tried so far:

When I press the "Power" and "Volume Down" buttons I can get the "Fastboot Mode" menu. But when I choose the "Recovery mode" option I'm shown the "No command" error screen.
I've also seen the device go completely black with a red led blinking at its bottom. So I've then connected it to its fast charger and was able to boot it correctly. Unfortunately that only lasts for a minute or two. If I connect it to my PC via cable and try to download the photos, it dies in the middle of copying.

Please let me know if there are other steps I can take to recover my photos.

Android doesn't allow you to access your storage unless you boot into your phone or have your bootloader unlocked. And if you unlock your bootloader, you lose all your stuff in that process. So if you really want your photos, you will have to go through the tedious process of booting your phone and copying images one by one until it reboots, rinse and repeat. If you remember your folder structure, its way faster to use ADB commands to pull all your images than doing copy paste. Use - adb pull /scard/my_family_photos pc_backup_folder

  Do I understand correctly that the device is likely beyond (affordable) repair?

Fortunately, there is a fix for this infamous Nexus 5X bootloop issue. You need to disable all high performance a57 cores. Instructions for doing so are in this XDA thread

PS: Did you check photos.google.com? Maybe it has everything backed up on the cloud? Also, try contacting Google/LG regardless of your warranty status. You might just get a replacement device or a refurb.

Edit: One very unsafe and risky way is to let your storage be wiped while unlocking, apply the patch mentioned in the thread and use recovery apps like Undelete or Photo recovery to try to get something back. But this is very risky process and wouldn't work 100%

Another crazy hack is to put your phone in a plastic wrap, put it in freezer with the USB cable dangling out, connect to your laptop and try to copy your photos. It should give you 5-10 minutes before it starts rebooting. You can do this 3-4 times and get everything off your device. Don't let your device get moist though.


How to prevent app from showing its update in play store using titanium backup? I want to use the older version of ES file explorer (the one before it became bloated). Play store always shows me update for it, and I usually update all my apps in one go. I don't want to update it, I've even selected don't auto update for ES but still it comes up in list of app requiring update.
What i do is that I detach it from the market using Titanium backup pro. It works fine, the app is no longer in update list but when i restart my phone, play store again shows update for it. So how to prevent play store from showing me update for this?

I'll give you a good alternative for that

If you don't want to ever update the app even after you reset your phone and reinstall it without involving the Google Play Store settings. Grab an app called APK Editor from here. Install and run it,

Click on Select apk from App
Identify the app you don't want updated
Click it and chose common edit
Edit the package name section
Press done
Reinstall the app
Delete the original app

Google Play Store won't tell you any updates for it forever


How to give root access to apps that don't request it? I've been using the app SystemPanel for some time now to archive my Android apps.  It works great, but it cannot archive apps that have been installed under /data/app-private, because this directory is not world-readable.  I recently rooted my HTC Incredible and have Superuser running on it, so I would like to give root access to SystemPanel, but it doesn't request it.  Is there a way to have Superuser grant root access to an app that does not request it?  Alternatively, is there any other way (e.g. from the terminal) to grant root access to an arbitrary app?

Thanks!

P.S. I know that now I can change the permissions on /data/app-private to make it accessible to SystemPanel, but I think granting root access to SystemPanel would be the safer strategy.

The application needs to request root access. If it is not developed to use root access, it cannot be given the root access. in  order for it to work how you want it, you may have to change the permissions to /data/app-private, like you mentioned.


Does TWRP backup all apps and data, as opposed to ADB? I need to backup every single user installed app, beyond system apps.
I have heard that adb backup will only backup some of these apps (the ones which allows it). Although, I'm not sure if this is the case with TWRP. Is it?
I want to make sure that when I restore, I won't have to download apps and configure them, again. If TWRP can't achive this, what can I do, alternatively?

Currently, I am running this command to backup with TWRP:
adb backup -f data.ab --twrp compress data system
Do I need to include any other partition?

The user @beeshyams, answered correctly, in the comments. However, this person did not want to answer, directly.
Here's the answer:

ADB will not backup a lot of things.

TWRP will backup all apps and data except /data/media unless you use this or Magisk module "TWRP helper".

TWRP is far more reliable in backing up than using adb to backup.

TWRP will also backup apps and their config. Have a look at our nandroid tag, it's questions and read the tag wiki.

Back up all partitions. It's while restoring you may skip partitions depending on what you are trying to do.

I wouldn't do ADB because: a) it won't backup everything; b) I don't know much about it; C) why bother when there is a proven solution in my view?

UPDATES

@alecxs says:

It's better to keep one single partition per backup.ab file because some older TWRP have issues with restoring.


Android tablet, user profiles, change owner? How can I change which user profile is the "owner" profile?  Possible?  Running 4.4.2.

I read from a forum that for security reasons, the only way to change the owner is to do a Factory Reset.


storage device problem I have InFocus M2-4G mobile.There have no option of 'Default Write Disc'. When installing any apps  it has directly Installed   to the Internal storage after that move it manually  to sd card .but do not directly Installed  to sd card.so
how to directly  install to sd card. Pleas suggest me the details solution.

Default Write Disk option is available only when the option is included by your phone's manufacturer. Unless it's included by default, you have to manually move apps to SD card.

If your phone is rooted, there are many apps available in store that does this job. Link2Sd is one such app. This app can be used in 2 ways

Move apps to sdcard automatically/manually
Create a secondary partition in memory card and link apps to that partition automatically/manually

To automate installation of apps to sdcard, do the following:

Goto Link2sd→Settings
Under Native App2sd Settings, select Install location
Set it to External

If you haven't rooted your phone, just Google it


Why does Android drop files I transfer to SDCard while in recovery mode? Here's my situation:

I have a Sprint Samsung Nexus S 4g.  It is rooted, unlocked, and loaded with CyanogenMod 10.1.
I am attaching it to a Windows 8 machine via USB cable.

Recently, the phone went into a boot loop, and thus I can only do anything with it in recovery mode.

I'm trying to transfer the stock ROM to the phone for loading.  I follow these steps

I boot into Recovery mode
I go to Mounts and Storage
I mount the USB card
In Windows, I open up the phone in explorer, and copy the update.zip file to the root of what is now the G: Drive on my phone.
I  try to load the ZIP file for processing.  Recovery says "Can't open file /sdcard/update.zip"
I reboot into recovery again to 'refresh' things.

At this point, the file that I loaded is gone!  It's not on the SD Card anymore.  I can't find it via Recovery mode, and if I remount the USB disk, it's not visible in Windows either.  Weird, huh?

One other thing to note:  I've wiped and reformatted everything I can via Recovery (Cache, system, data, Dalvik, everything) and yet when the phone occasionally manages to boot all the way to the OS, I can still see my wall paper.

How can I get the files I copy over to actually stay on the phone?  Any ideas on what is going on?

I just want to wipe this phone and start over, but I can't seem to make that happen.

Thanks.

More:

Okay, I formatted and wiped everything that I could.  And now the phone only boots to fastboot mode.  I mount the USB card, move a ZIP over, and double check it in Windows.  I can open the file on the phone.  But when I unmount the USB card (I have no choice), the ZIP is there, but the phone won't read it.  It says "Can't open  (bad)".  This is trying with CM9.1 and I'm 100% sure it is the right version for my phone (crespo4G)

Try downloading the update.zip again to ensure it's not a bad download.
Try updating your version of ClockworkMod Recovery, i think the latest version for your phone is 6.0.3.1. Get into fastboot mode and ensure you have the drivers installed. You can flash this by downloading the relevant file and running the command
fastboot flash recovery <recoveryfile>
(replace  with the filename of the recovery you downloaded (eg recovery-clockwork-touch-6.0.3.1-crespo4g.img)

If that fails you could try flashing the factory image again. Download the factory image from here and unzip. There should be a flash-all.bat which will restore your phone to stock. Note that this operation deletes all user data by default. (although i guess you've already wiped so nothing left to delete!)


Is it possible to change mount points of internal storage? I have an off-brand rooted tablet built on MT8389 with 8GB internal memory. The problem is that manufacturer partitioned this in some weird way making /data folder mounted to a partition that is only 1GB large. Basically I have approximately 4GB of free space mounted as /storage/sdcard0 but it sits unused while all installed apps occupy /data making the device close to useless as only core apps after updates eats over 60% of available space.

After all Android is just another Linux flavour, so I would expect I could run console and do this:

Copy /data to /storage/sdcard0.
Umount /storage/sdcard0.
Mount /data to the partition that was mounted as /storage/sdcard0.
Mount that 1GB partition as /storage/sdcard0 instead.

Is it possible? How to do it "safely"?

Note that I don't want to change partition sizes - I only want to swap mount points or create symlink to make /data point to a larger partition. In theory this should be pretty straightforward ;)

You probably want to install a script like int2ext or Mounts2SD. Note that these use a second partition on your SD card (generally ext2/3/4 formatted) rather than the main SD card partition.

You can also move apps to the SD card (Settings -> Apps -> "On SD card").


Bluetooth A2DP audio occasionally drops out for a second on custom ROMs When I'm playing audio over the A2DP data path to my car, the audio randomly will drop for half a second, then gradually comes back to full volume over perhaps a second of time. Speaking like a programmer, it's almost like something mutes the audio and then slides the volume up in a loop or something.

This problem did not occur on Bombaridier and the older Synergy Kernel, however it is happening with the newer kernel on Juggernaut v5, Paradox and SlickMOD, leading me to believe something in the kernel or newer system binaries might be causing it. This behavior happens in Pandora, Amazon MP3 and also the stock Music app.

Thinking that maybe a stray notification was the problem, I've tried disabling notifications in all of the apps I know of that notify, I've also tried switching the phone into vibrate and finally into full-silent, but it does not seem to affect the behavior. I have found no likely cause. I wish I was able to log alsa changes; maybe a script running constantly with something like:

while (true)
do cat /proc/alsa/some_alsa_status_entry >> /tmp/alsalog
sleep 1
done

Does anyone else have any ideas as to what this might be? It's really annoying!

I have a Galaxy 2s with this exact problem but I wonder if I might offer a suggestion as to what could potentially be the cause. I have no idea how to fix it but I’m hoping that what I share here might help someone who knows more about the way these things work to be able to solve the problem.

I have spent much of my career working in Broadcast Radio, the problem I have heard my phone have with audio dropouts followed by either a ramp up of volume back to the previous level OR an audio dropouts followed by a momentary slight speed shift in the audio playback (sounds a bit like an old cassette recorded when the batteries are starting to fail) many people would probably not notice the later problem because it is very subtle and you have to know what you’re listening for.

Anyway, I believe this could be caused because of a lack of word clock sync between the phone and the bluetooth receiver. I say this because there have been times when I have had digital audio devices such as CD players that are connected to an audio console or digital amplifier and with both devices free running in terms of their clock synchronisation exhibit almost exactly the same symptoms.

You see all digital audio devices require that the audio data be put into frames much the same as regular Ethernet data is transmitted around a network is put into frames, however in order for the audio to be at the correct pitch and speed generally speaking both the playback device (Phone) and the receiving device (Bluetooth receiver) need to have the same word clock, otherwise you end up with the two devices running freely and the audio frames wont by in sync.
Depending on the Error correction implemented (sample rate conversion) on the receiver you can get really odd audio results. I think that this is what is causing this problem. Basically the Bluetooth receiver and the phone aren’t in sync so every few minutes you get a drop out.

It doesn’t seem to happen when you are talking on the phone which makes me think that when you have a call connection as this is bi-directional, the phone is probably synchronised to the Bluetooth device word clock. But when you are listing to music the connection is mono-directional so there is no sync.
Anyway just a thought. Maybe someone out there who understands the way these units synchronise can figure out a fix.


Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 Not booting, Not charging and not allowing to factory-reset Issue: My Samsung Galaxy tab is not booting. And when I tried to "factory-reset" by pressing Volume Key + Power Button (I hold it for more that 1-minute), still, it does not showed me "factory-reset" screen.

I kept Device for charging for nearly 3-Hours: No charging indicator is shown.
It did not show up when connected to PC

I used this tablet for nearly 2-Years, seeing this issue for the first time.

VERY IMP: Device came in contact of water and since then it is not booting.

What options I try before taking device to Samsung service center??

Device: Samsung Galaxy Tab 2

Android OS Version: 4.1 Jelly Bean

I was able to recover my Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 after it came in contact of water.

Writing this in case if anyone in future faces the issue:

I Kept the device on charging for almost 6 Hours.
Next day, I kept the device in Dry and Sunny Place-Under direct Sunshine, for at about 4-5 Hours. During this "soak" exercise, the temperature was about 27-28 Degree C.
I then turned on Device as usual(just by pressing Power key, no factory-reset), and it booted, and it reached Home Screen too. But after 2-3 Hours, it again auto-switched off.
Next day, I again repeated step-2
Finally, after 2-3 "soak" exercise (meaning keeping device in direct sunshine), now device is working without any issue.

This is by no means a full-proof method, but the one worked for me and may help someone, just in case!!


Add applications to the original Android ROM How can I add applications to the original Android ROM installed by manufacturer, and not lose them after a factory reset?

NarenderNishad (via comments) is correct. If you have root access, you can convert the apps to system apps (using an app like Titanium Backup). They will be moved to the /system folder. When you do a factory reset, the apps will not be deleted.


Understanding SMS APP permissions On android KitKat i have run into the following permission:

SMS
Uses one or more of: SMS, MMS.
Chrages may apply.

How do i get a more fine-grained explination of this permission?
Does it mean that the app can send SMS messages or does it also mean it can read/edit messages i have recieve/have in my inbox?

Is there a way to see exactly what this permission means?

Or, and is there a comprehensive list of possible permissions somewhere? I tried googling but all i find are complaints about KitKat ruining peoples SD cards, and App Ops.

On the versions of the Play Store with the new "simplified" permissions dialog, you can still find a full list of permissions from the app's store page (the screen with the icon at the top, description, screenshots, &c.). Scroll down to the bottom of the page. Under "Additional Information" you'll see "Permissions" with a link "View details". Click this link to see a dialog with the list of individual permissions.

In particular, an SMS app might have permissions "edit your text messages", "receive text messages", "read your text messages", "send SMS messages", each one saying whether it applies to SMS, MMS, or both. They're pretty self-explanatory on the face of it, but there are some subtleties.

"Receive text messages" means the app will be notified (by Android) of a new message as soon as it arrives. This is normal for an SMS app, or for a few apps that use a special SMS to validate your phone number with some online service (such as Facebook).

In contrast, "read your text messages" lets an app get data from Android's database containing your message history. This means it can see messages sent from different apps, or messages you sent or received before you installed the new app. Any text message you can see in the stock SMS app, this app will also have access to. Again, this is normal in an SMS app.

"Edit your text messages" gives the app write access to that same database. For example, the app uses this to save messages or drafts to your message history. Again, this is completely normal for an SMS app. But it could also be used for an app that illicitly sends premium SMS messages to delete the records afterwards.

Like any permission, it comes down to trust. It's on you to decide if you trust the author of this app to only use these abilities the way you want: not just now, but in future versions of the app too until you you uninstall it.


Manually changing shared_prefs and forcing app to update to it? I've been trying to figure out if it's possible to disable/enable GO SMS popup notifications via something like Tasker. I came across the following line in /data/data/com.jb.gosms/shared_prefs/com.jb.gosms_preferences.xml:

<boolean name="pref_key_popup_msg" value="true" />

It would seem that I could just flip that to false, but GO SMS doesn't see that (and it actually rewrites the shared_prefs file it looks like). Is there a way to force GO SMS to re-read this shared_prefs file?

I am rooted and am pretty comfortable with shell commands as well as Tasker; I would think that any solution would require one of the above. (Tasker can fire Activities or broadcast intents.)

Try to edit the file after 'force-stopping' the app in settings → applications → manage applications. You cant edit the permission of the app to display notifications however


Why do Seidio's battery charging instructions say to leave it charging after it's full? I have an HTC Droid Incredible. I bought the "Seidio Innocell 1750 mAh Battery for HTC Droid Eris/Droid Incredible", and the instructions that come with it say...

  In order to obtain the full capacity of your Seidio battery, we highly recommend that you leave the battery/your phone on the charger for an additional 2-3 hours after the charging indicator turns green or the battery status shows full.

Does this advice apply to the Incredible or is the phone smart enough to charge the battery to full (or at least near full) without any extra charge time? If not, does the battery keep getting charged up after the light turns green?

This is for battery calibration. Basically there's a sensor in your phone that is used by your phone to tell how full/empty the battery is.

This sensor doesn't actually know how full your battery is, all it knows is how much power is coming from your battery at the time. The problem it has is that all batteries are slightly different, and their capacity goes down over time and usage (a three year old battery will not be able to hold as much charge as a brand new battery).

Your phone keeps a record of the maximum power it's ever had from the battery, as well as knowing the minimum power that it can safely work with before it has to turn itself off. It uses the difference between those two numbers, and the current power at any time to calculate how much percentage of your battery you have left at that time. So with a new battery, the phone might be telling you that the battery is fully charged because it's charged to the highest level the phone's ever seen, but if you leave it charging a bit longer then it might charge more, and then the phone can recalibrate itself and use this new value as the most it's ever seen.

You should only need to do this "over-charging" with a brand new phone/battery, after that the phone know the maximum values, and can more accurately tell you when it's full.


My note 3 will not mount on to my computer I used to plug it in, and it would show up and I could download the pictures and movies and such. Today, it will not mount. It is charging from the computer, but I can not download any of the stuff I've done.

Running windows 7 on my computer.

I've turned it off and on again, it is not working.

I probably have added an app or two, I am not sure. It has been a while since I uploaded from this phone, but I plug it into the computer every night. Is it possible I accidentally hit a tick box and instructed it not to mount?

What operating system do you run on your computer? That sometimes happened to me when I used Windows. Have you tried using AirDroid, though? I use that now. It basically does remotely, what you would do with a USB.

But that's just an alternative, I'll wait for your response to see if maybe I have a solution.


Android is draining the battery on Kitkat 4.4.2 I have a little bit unusual case of Android draining the battery.
Mobile: LG40, Android: Kitkat 4.4.2

Mobile phone was never connected to any data network (wifi or GSM). No updates, no new apps, no GPS, no Bluetooth. No playing games or using other apps. Just a couple of calls and SMS. Battery could live in this for 10 days nonstop. After 2 years battery changed (for original piece). New battery again could live for 10 days.

Until now. After 6 months after battery change, something is wrong with the process "Android OS". It consumes more than 80 % of the battery, which drains it in 24-30 hours. Even without any call.

Sometimes the restart can help for few days, but after that it starts again draining. Storage is ok, more than 1GB free, SD card is completely free (2GB). I have never done a factory reset on this phone, it is about 2,5 years from the buy.

Any idea?

You have to find the culprit with the app : BetterBatteryStats (link)
Requirement : rooted device


SD card won't mount when Xperia Neo V is connected to Ubuntu 12.10 I upgraded my Ubuntu set up to 12.10 and realized that the SD card can't mount like it used to every time I connected my Neo V (running android 2.3.4). It can't be a hardware issue as it mounts successfully via a card reader. It also mounts successfully on Windows 7 too.

For some strange reason the phone charges normally when the USB cable is connected but Ubuntu just doesn't recognize the connected phone or its SD card. How do I rectify this problem? Thanks in advance.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1065964

Please add your self to the support bug posted above. This is a known kernel regression in Ubuntu 12.10.


How do I get my Samsung Galaxy S 2 to connect by USB "normally"? Note: This question has been edited significantly based on new information, however, I think it still meets the original intent.

I have a Samsung Galaxy S 2. When I plug it into my computer by USB, this application called "Samsung Kies" comes up. It is, as far as I can tell, a proprietary Samsung system for connecting by USB to the computer which requires software on the computer side.

Even if my computer could run their software, I wouldn't want it to. I don't want their proprietary app, I just want to mount the Galaxy as an external USB HD, like Android does with its standard interface.

I can get at the standard interface by doing the following:

  Settings -> Wireless and network -> USB Utlities

In that interface, under the heading "USB mass storage", there is a button that says "Connect storage to PC". If I click this button, a notification comes up saying I can now plug in the USB. If I plug in the USB cable at this point, then the usual Android interface comes up (green android with USB arm picture) and then I can press the connect button.

So I can do it, but I have to press the screen 5 times just to connect the USB!

With my previous phone, the HTC Magic, when I plugged in the USB, it automatically showed me the standard USB connect screen, and so with one touch I could connect.

I can't find any way of disabling or removing this unwanted Samsung Kies software, or making the standard Android USB connect the default.

Is this possible, and if so, how?

Keep usb debugging on and it should work fine.


How to change Google assistant associated account? If I have multiple Google account signed in. How do I change the associated account which Google assistant will use?

So Google assistant will load the personalized settings from the correct account.

Open Google Assistant by holding Home button.

Go to Explorer (Tap the Explorer icon on Top-Right Side).

Tap the Menu icon and choose Account, Then select your account.

Done.


Remote control a computer without internet connection? Today I discovered one incredibly useful app that allows you to remote control your computer using your mobile phone. However, you need to be connected to the internet on both the phone and the computer and the problem is I only have a limited amount of data to use every month on my phone which would probably last me about a week if I were to use this app everyday. Is it possible to remote control a computer from far away without being connected to the Internet on the mobile phone? I really hope it is.

No, there isn't.

The internet is what allows computers to connect to each other when they are not on the same network. This would technically be possible if both devices were connected to the same network (most commonly the same router or ethernet hookup), but when your device is connected to a cellular connection, the internet it is the only way to connect your computer and phone.


Samsung Galaxy tab 10.1 stuck on boot screen (bricked) This is going to be a long story because my tablet is just having problems left and right.
Firstly, I received this tablet (SCH-i905) as a gift with cyanogen mod already pre-installed. Thus, in attempts to remove it, I tried to do a clean format in the android settings, but that didn't work.
Then I tried the manual restore to factory settings, holding down the volume button + power button. Selected wipe data/factory reset. This didn't work either, cyanogen mod was still installed.
Then I decided to unmount and mount the system and some other things. That's when I can't even start up my Tablet anymore. It is stuck at the load screen Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 .
Now I am trying to flash the original hardware to my tablet using Odin, however I cannot find the rom. I also look into the official samsung page, and downloaded the EXE for the USB drive, but can't run ADB.
Where do these ROMs exist or what other alternatives do I have?
EDIT: In the advanced menu, if I select show log, I get the following:
Checking for extendedcommand
Skipping execution of extendedcommand, file not found...
Can't partition no vfat: datamedia
can't format unknown volume: /external_sd
can't format unknown volume: /emmc
unknown volume for path [/sd-ext]
can't remove '/sd-ext/dalvik-cache' No such file or directory
EDIT 2 :
I also tried using Odin with PDA_SIGNED_P7105.tar.md5 . Now my device is in an infinite boot loop.

There is only one possible way to restore your device after unmounting system and/or bricking it.

And that is to flash (via Odin) the original stock firmware in a file named : PDA_HC31_EG01Ba_AP352081user_CP1033580_LTE20110704_0708.tar

Nothing else will work. Only this one file will be able to unbrick this device.

The procedure is quite easy.

On the device

Hold volume up + Power
Select Odin mode (right icon)
Connect USB to device and computer

On the computer

Download and run Odin 1.85 (This is important because diff versions of Odin support diff files)
Check off PDA and select the above tar file
Click start (3 boxes should be checked, 2 default and PDA)

The Odin software will then transfer the stock firmware to the device and shut off when the transfer is finished. User must boot up the device again. When the device boots up, it will automatically install the firmware. The device is now officially unbricked.


Lock Screen Problem in HTC ONE X How can I recover my clock-style lock screen after it failed to return on my HTC One X? I let the phone's battery run out. Then I recharged and turned my phone on, but I can't see my clock-style lock screen.

My screen is also cracked, just to let you guys know. I also tried many times to fix it in the settings but it still doesn't work. Also none of the other lock screen options work.

You should be able to set the lock screen in Settings > Lock screen > Screen security.


How to solve "Unfortunately, Launcher has stopped." Galaxy Note 4? I'm receiving this error after enabling ultra power saving mode:

  "Unfortunately, Launcher has stopped."

Its dialog only has the option "OK". Restarting doesn't work. Clearing cache partition through recovery doesn't work.

I can access settings by pulling down from the top of the screen but the settings menu is not complete; It only has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Airplane mode, Mobile networks, Location, Sound and Display entries.

My device is not rooted. It seems that the device is still on ultra power saving mode, even after clearing cache.

I have the option to factory reset through recovery but I prefer not loosing my data, if it's possible. What can I do?

Go into safe mode, this will filter out any third party app which could be causing problems.

Here's how to enter safe mode

Turn the device off.
Press and hold the Power and Volume down key.
Release the Power key when the Samsung logo appears but continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.

When in safe mode, disable ultra power saving mode. You could also clear data for your launcher. To do that, go to settings>apps, in the menu, select 'show system apps'>touch wiz>storage>clear data.

If there are any third party apps that you suspect of misbehaving, you should uninstall them while in safe mode.


Error when flashing recovery to Moto G4 Plus Xt1640 - Image not signed or corrupt I recently bought a new android phone (Moto g4 plus). Coming from the iPhone, I was eager to root it and take advantage of all the features.

The problem is that whenever I try to flash a recovery image, I get this error:

C:\Users\myuser\adb>fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes
sending 'recovery' (12496 KB)...
OKAY [  0.400s]
writing 'recovery'...
(bootloader) Image not signed or corrupt

OKAY [  0.197s]
finished. total time: 0.601s

Keep in mind that the bootloader IS unlocked, I even get the warning when restarting the phone. Also this does not happen with just one image file. Every single image file gets this error. I have tried many different versions of TWRP, CLW, etc and all of them get this same error. Does anyone know how to solve this?

Yeah, I had the same error. The US XT1644 variant can't use the boot.img for the XT1643 and below. I was able to root by installing SuperSU. Run this command:

fastboot boot twrp-3.0.2-0-athene.img

Make sure you copy the SuperSU zip file in the /sdcard/TWRP folder on your device. Then when twrp loads, you can just pick the zip file and install.


Using phone's computing power to assist in PC's calculation Is phone cluster or cluster with PC and phones possible?

I was thinking if recoding MOSIX or using any other program/software to connect your phone with PC and let the PC use phone's computing power in calculations is possible.

I know that it won't boost it a lot, but mostly just for an experiment.

A modern smartphone that runs Android is a general-purpose computer. Yes, you can run a single or cluster of smartphones to do general-purpose computation.

A smartphone is probably not the best tool for this job. Phones are expensive because they are optimized for size and power considerations. A desktop or laptop computer will be give you significantly more computing performance for the same cost.


How to install from unknown sources on AT&T? A friend of mine has an HTC Aria on AT&T.  On his application settings screen, he does not have the option to allow installation of apps from unknown sources.  Is there any way to change this option to allow him to install downloaded apps (*.apk files) without rooting the phone?

You can install apps on the HTC Aria using the ADB client.

You'll need to install the android SDK on your PC, and then use ADB to install the .apk files.

To install the android SDK, follow the steps in the Android Developer's guide to setting up your phone for development.

If you're on Windows, you'll need to go to HTC to get the device drivers, as Google only provides drivers for their devices. For some reason HTC doesn't publicise the ADB driver well, but it is included in the HTC Sync software. You can grab the latest version from HTC's Aria downloads page.

Mac and Linux users do not need to install device drivers to use ADB.

Finally, connect your device to your PC, making sure that debugging mode is enabled on the device. You should see an entry in the system tray stating that the device is in debug mode. On your PC, run the following command:

adb install yourapp.apk

This will install the app on your phone, and you'll be good to go! Note that you'll either need to have the android-sdk/platform-tools directory in your path, or run the command from that directory.


Which Stock Firmware for Galaxy S3 I'm in a situation where the Galaxy S3 I have is not connecting to Wifi (bug from Android 4.1). I would like to flash a new firmware. I am  just confused on which one to use. Can I use any stock firmware as long as it has been made for the GT-I9300 or should I find one which is specific to the region of my phone?

If so, how can I detect the region of the phone?

Phone is unlocked and International version.

You should use the latest firmware pertaining to your region and model only
Authentic source for all Samsung firmware is Sammobile. You will need to register(free) to download. If you want a faster download, there is a paid option. Make sure you select the right region
For detailed information on Samsung devices (including region as asked) Phone Info Samsung is highly recommended. Developer of this app has an active thread at XDA


Can i disable spellchecker popup but keep the red underline? The red underline on misspelled words is excellent, but the popup is awful.

This is the popup I do not want:

My keyboard app has a much better suggestion list, always. I think because it learns my typed words and handles two languages simultaneously, while the native android spell checker can't do either of those things. But the keyboard app cannot underline words.

The unwanted popup breaks my accessibility input (I use a physical keyboard), forcing me to always:

click/touch the misspelled word,
wait for popup to show up with useless suggestions,
press back button to close popup,
click the correct word on the keyboard suggestion bar.

Is there any way to only highlight misspelled words and not show any popup on touch/click?

There ought to be a setting for the keyboard you are using.

I use "Gboard - the Google Keyboard (Beta)", it's quite good. Multilingual typing, probably in your languages. Easy to use Emoji searching, .GIFs, Swipe, 'Google Translate' typing, and it has voice input too.

Settings -> General Management -> Language and Input, section "Input Correction" - set "Spelling Correction" to off. It still gives 'one line suggestions' but no 'pull down' like in your example.


Is it a good idea/useful to use two Anti-virus apps on Android? Is it a waste to load two anti-virus apps on your mobile? Are two AV apps more effective than one?

No. I'll even go to the extent of saying using an Antivirus is of no use if you only install apps from Google Play.

But if you install apps from third party sources (i.e APKs, etc.), using an antivirus might actually make sense. But using 2 AVs doesn't make sense in any scenario imho.


I installed the Android WhatsApp app on my Blackberry but some features don't work I downloaded an android version of WhatsApp Messenger on my Blackberry Z 10 but I am unable to send any audio or video files. Why? What can I do about it?

WhatsApp announced their decision that the WhatsApp application will no longer support BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry 10 devices, among other devices, by the end of 2016 June 30th, now updated to December 31, 2017. BlackBerry devices powered by Android such as BlackBerry PRIV and BlackBerry DTEK50 will continue to be supported.

  Note: Because we will no longer actively develop for these platforms,
  some features may stop functioning at any time.

So let's assume that sending media files is no longer supported.

If you would like more specific information on what specific WhatsApp functionality will remain on BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry 10 devices, as well as other devices for which WhatsApp has decided to end support, please contact WhatsApp here.

Further reading here.


Show SMS content only after unlock? (Handcent) Is there a way to make Handcent show an SMS only after the screen is unlocked? Right now it shows the whole message in some kind of preview even when the screen is locked. Browsed the options a few times but didn't find a solution.. Is there such an option, or did I just miss it?

thank you

I believe you will find it in Settings > Notification Settings > then make sure Enable Popup is not selected. (I just tested disabling Popup messages - it works. Phone vibrates with new message, screen stays off.)

Alternatively, you can keep Popup enabled, select Popup Settings > then make sure Screen on for popup is not selected. This should allow the Popup when you're using the phone, but not when the screen is off.


Is it possible to completely disable phone calling on Android? I've disable the built-in phone app but an a voice over IP app took its responsibilities, I killed that too, disabled notification and tweak everything I could find except for turning off the ringtone in the settings and the phone will still ring, except I can't answer because there's no app for phone calls!

When I receive a phone calls there's a lingering notif as usual I always delete it along with the millions other notifs Android gets nonstop--it's really annoying, I never tapped on it because it does nothing, I remembered however that this version of Android brings more stuff at the first tap. I spent the last two hours trying to remember my own phone number to call myself and bring up the notification, upon tapping it it let me to the system app Phone Call Management which is not blockable. I want to reinstall my VoIP app, it requires to have a ringtone so it can ring too; is there another way around this?

BTW, I also installed phone call blockers, but don't really help in here.

Thanks!

Try MTK Engineering kit. You can disable calls from that by turning radio off. Alternatively, use in dial pad *#*#4636#*#* and a window pops up. Now select phone information and scroll down to find the radio option. Now turn off the radio. Then you will not receive any calls. Otherwise you can use airplane mode as well.


Why can't Android device use Google service without permission? Now Google doesn't allow HuaWei to ship their services with the phone and the install-after-shipment route is blocked too.

I think Google apps like Map/Gmail/Search/Youtube/Drive/Docs/Play/Assistant are all standard Android applications that can be installed on any Android compatible (no need to be certificated) devices.

Does the above fact means that Google's Android apps will use some DRM like mechanism to first verify whether the device is certificated or it won't run? If so, does this apply to all Google Android apps, or only some apps?

First the problem is mainly a legal problem, not a technical problem: Huawei is not allowed to install the Google apps.

Second the Google apps you mention are only the user visible part - similar to an iceberg there is a large hidden part you don't directly see:

The Google Play Services and it's, libraries.

This is not a normal "app" as it is running as a system app and therefore can't be installed by a user. And it is required by each app you mentioned and even more. Most of the regular apps you find in Google Play Store also make use of this service, e.g. for receiving push notifications. Therefore the impact of not having Google apps pre-installed on a device is larger than you expect.

And even if you manage to install the Google apps on a device Google will recognize that this device is not allowed to use Google apps: Every device and every firmware version is certified by Google. In that process Google creates some sort of fingerprint that allows to identify each device.
As an end user you can ask Google for an exception for your device by registering it's Google Services Framework ID at Google. This will then allow you to use Google apps until you do a factory reset.


How to prevent apps from using WiFi network? I would like to prevents all app except one (which I use it in foreground) to use WiFi network.

The phone is not rooted so the root firewall are not suitable, and also I don't want to use firewall which create VPN connection.

I have tried how-to-restrict-background-data-for-metered-wi-fi-networks-on-android but when I check the network traffic of the device it contains closed app traffic also.

In the place described on the linked page¹ you can mark selected APs to be dealt with as if they were "mobile networks" – i.e. "background data restrictions" which usually apply to mobile networks only would be applied to those as well.

In order for that to have any effect, you either need to toggle the "background data" setting – or limit background data for those apps which should not use them. The latter can be done in Settings › Data Usage below "mobile data limit", where you first need to set a global limit (can be some "phantom value", i.e. very high). Then walk the apps below that and tick their "limit background data" setting.

I'm not 100% sure what falls into background data – but roughly it should be what an app does without your explicitly telling so. A.o. that's "background syncing" and similar "intervall stuff" – but definitely nothing you'd have to setup manually, like loading a page in your browser.

¹ Nougat (Android 7) and up: Settings › Data Usage › Network Restrictions
  below that: Settings › Data Usage, tap "More" (or the 3-dot overflow-menu) › Restrict Networks


Stock android browser on android 4.1.1 Can I remove icon for this from my start up screen? Am using android 4.1.1 on asus transformer'prime tf201.
Also can I make firefox my default with an icon on start up screen?

Yes to remove the icon hold it and drag up to remove. Then click apps, and go to Google play store to download Mozilla Firefox. Finally once installed this should create a shortcut. Otherwise look for it in apps and hold it down to drag to the home screen. Additionally you may be able to go to settings General defaults and see if you can select the browser as a default.


Why are certain songs on Google Play Music greyed out on my phone but not on PC? Here's one that's been driving me crazy: The other day, I noticed songs on my phone's "Thumbs Up" playlist, songs that were both bought from Google Play or from elsewhere, were greyed out on my phone.

This seems to be a problem with Google auto-matching songs to their own songs offered on the Play Store. The songs that are greyed out and were uploaded have an option to "Fix Incorrect Match", but songs that were purchased from Google are greyed out anyway. Songs that can't be matched are left alone. This is also only limited to the "Thumbs-Up" playlist.

(Click the image for full-size)

This issue does not persist on Windows and does persist on Android regardless of internet connectivity or playlist downloading.

I managed to fix it by checking my settings, "stream only on wifi" was turned on some how.. once I turned that off, everything available as before


Can't get my old contacts The screen on my old phone went black and I don't remember my Gmail name or password.  Store told me that I was S.O.L. concerning getting my info.  Is there anything I can do to get my info?

It depends on what details you gave on your Google account. You have to had entered either a recovery email or you phone number and your real name. If you had these, you can try to recover your username from https://www.google.com/accounts/recovery/forgotusername and after that you can reset your password from https://www.google.com/accounts/recovery/ .


Sidekick 4g media volume doesn't save Just recently got myself a t mobile sidekick 4g. I am loving it so far except for a few quirks. This device doesn't seem to remeber what volume I set for media playback. Since I use my phone to play music or podcasts while I drive this means every time I get back into my car I half to turn the volume back up. Is there someway to make this setting behave like stock Android?

For now I am using Tasker to solve this problem. Just set headset plugged as the context, and make the task set media volume to where I want it. If someone finds a better solution and posts here I will accept it as answer.

Note The market version of Tasker was force closing on my Sidekick. I emailed the developer and he got it fixed. Look for apk version 1.1b4 or above and it should work on Sidekick. This update will get pushed to the market sometime I am sure (or maybe it already has been)


Cannot install Facebook Messenger app A few days ago my Messenger app was crashing all the time - every time I tried to open it, it would say "Unfortunately, Messenger has stopped". In the end I uninstalled it, but now cannot reinstall it. It downloads and then claims to be installing for quite a long time, before my phone just turns itself off.

I have tried deleting apps to make space, and clearing the cache, but nothing I've yet tried has worked.

Also, I've just tried installing a random different app, and that worked fine.

Download an older version of the app from a reputable third-party source such as APKMirror or APKPure, preferably version 218.0.0.3.113 or earlier, and install it.

You will need to enable "Unknown sources" when the installer would ask it when trying to install the app.


Why does unlocking bootloader affect camera quality on some devices? Sony announced it officially that unlocking bootloader, since it will remove DRM keys, might affect camera quality.

  For high-end devices running recent software versions, for instance Xperia Z3, the removal of DRM security keys may affect advanced camera functionality. For example, noise reduction algorithms might be removed, and performance when taking photos in low-light conditions might be affected.

I tested it on my LG G3 (D855) too and I realised there is a certain drop in the camera quality. What causes it?

For Sony's specific case, it's because Sony has proprietary technology (X-Reality color management, BIONZ image processor, active noise cancelling techniques) for its stock camera that uses DRM security keys. When the bootloader is unlocked, the keys that reside on TA partition are removed, thus disabling the features. The use of proprietary technology also means that those features are unavailable on 3rd-party apps, regardless of locked bootloader or not.
Quoted from XDA Developers - Restore Functionality on Unlocked Xperia Devices,

If you unlocked your bootloader on a recent Sony Xperia device, you probably know that the potential loss of warranty is not the only disadvantage you have to accept. Another fairly hidden issue is related to various proprietary features such as the X-Reality color management, BIONZ image processor and the active noise cancelling techniques.
Once you decide to unlock your bootloader, the process also removes a piece of data referred to as the DRM keys. These are tied to various services (such as streaming video and the like) offered by Sony but are also required for the features mentioned above to work properly. Put simply, once the keys are gone, you’ll face issues such as decreased low light camera image quality and the lack of the X-Reality mode.

Note: I can't say for LG's case, since I couldn't find any issue with unlocked bootloader and camera. The only things I found were LG G3's stock camera also use proprietary technology and LG G4's camera is not affected by unlocking bootloader, which seems conflicting this answer if the issue is solely caused by DRM.


Apps stay in background even after turning the phone off I generally see this in all the Android phones I ever had. I have certain apps in the background and then turn off the phone. If I turn it on again the next day these apps seem to still be in the background. It could be any app, Google Maps, Candy Crash etc.

Why does this happen? Don't Android phones turn off completely? Do these app really stay in the background?

That is the default behavior of Android from Lollipop onwards. See this blog which talks of that ( Recents (or Overview)). It is only a list of apps that you used is shown and it doesn't mean that these are running after reboot, so it shouldn't be a concern (unless you want to hide some app or web page that you visited). You can check running apps from settings and you would see that these are fewer than what you see in the overview

Only on earlier versions they would be cleared on reboot


4 viruses on my phone?? Is this message legit? I received a message on my phone that says, "Your browser is heavily damaged by (4) virus!" Right above that message it says Google & at the very top is www.cirplana.top. Is this legit? It says that if I do not remove virus now it will cause serious damage to my Samsung SM-S90L.
It says this is from recent adult sites. That is not true. Not once have I ever visited an adult site.
Do I click to repair?
Thank you for your help.

It is phishing site, I've just had the same on my Samsung S7,
All I did was cleared my chrome browser history and closed all opened pages! Doubled check with a free Avast antivirus run a scan and nothing on my phone at all!


How to back up user data from recovery mode? My micromax canvas nitro A311 is stuck in boot loop.I have tried to solve the boot loop problem but couldn't succeed.The only solution seems to me is to format my phone.I am able to go to the recovery mode.It shows the following options:-

reboot system now
apply update from ADB
apply update from sdcard
apply update from cache
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache partition
backup user data
restore user data

When i select the "backup user data" option ,it shows "SD card  did not have enough free space".It is reading my internal sdcard but not the external one.Is there any way I can back up data on an external sdcard or on my PC?My android phone is rooted.

With the option for update via adb you can likely use adb commands while phone is in recovery and connected to a computer.

first you will need the adb files:
found here

unzip the contents to computer.  I recommend root of drive i.e. C:\adb.

next you will need USB drivers to connect phone to computer and be able to execute commands:
found here

Install drivers via usual windows methods.

got to folder where you extracted adb files
hold left shift key and right click mouse
select open command window here.
connect phone to computer and boot to recovery.
test connect:

    adb devices

you should get output for server starting and a line showing phones serial number if connection is possible.

Providing all is well:

    adb pull /sdcard/.

this should pull all contents on internal sdcard to current directory.

This will NOT retrieve data stored elsewhere such as phone logs or text messages or contacts.  Unfortunately those will be lost without the option to recover from boot loop.  It will only recover data saved on data partition in phone such as photos, music and other misc info saved there by apps.

Try wipe cache partition to see if that gets past boot loop.  only option I can think of.

Or simply flash custom recovery like twrp that allows access to external sdcard
forum.xda-developers.com/a310/orig-development/twrp-recovery-micromax-canvas-nitro-a311-t3066387


How can I delete multiple emails on the HTC One X? I just got the HTC One X and I cannot find a way to select all my emails and delete them in one go. I have to select them one by one the delete them, after which I have to repeat the process again the clear the trash bin. I had the HTC Desire before and that did it with no problems.

Has anyone found a solution or am I missing something?

You should do the following:

select one e-mail (check mark next to the mail)
click on "menu" (top right corner) and "select all"
now you can delete all emails


Run a Titanium Backup schedule from ADW Launcher's drawer Is it possible to place a shortcut to Titanium Backup schedule in ADW Launcher's drawer?

I guess that one way would be to make a small app whose only job would be to launch TB's schedule by some kind of intent, but I couldn't find any information on intents provided by TB, and also making an app for such a simple task seems an overkill.

I am using CyanogenMod 7 (so it's rooted and so on...) and TB Pro.

Its not possible. App Drawer is designed to keep default shortcut of apps.. not custom shortcuts!
You can always use Homescreen to place custom shortcuts. I recommend you to use TB's widget. As ADW Launcher provides option to add multiple homescreens, space shouldn't be a problem.


specify a delay in camera upload Is there a way to specify a delay before my Dropbox app uploads photos into my Dropbox account.  I normally take a lot of photos, and delete many of it.  Dropbox app puts it onto my space before that. How do I specify a delay before it copies? Right now, I have to go to Dropbox and delete them again

The only way I think of would be to disable wifi and data while you take your photos and delete those you want to... Or enable the upload only on wifi, if you're not connected on wifi when you take your photos.


How to install Gmail apk on emulator (from Android Development Tools, ADT)? I'm working on an email app for Android, and I'd like to install the Gmail apk on my emulator in order to test it.

How can I do that?

I have seen tutorials on how to do it on windows, but I'm working with Linux.

Sync your Google account in emulator, and go to Play Store.


my SD card is not working on my phone my SD card is not working on my phone, it keeps on appearing damaged SD card each tym I insert it but then it works on other people's phone , it seems the problem is with my phone, ***Samsung s3 mini, please could someone help me out?

At first bring some another sd card and try it out in your phone to make sure that your sd card is damaged or not.
 If the new SD card too shows damaged SD card then there is a problem in your SD card.
 And if the new one works perfectly, put the damaged SD card in your Computer using Adapters and through Disk Management repair your SD card.
It may recover your SD card.


Alarm Settings on Samsung Galaxy S3 Since updating to Jelly Bean, I can no longer change the settings of my alarms on my S3 i.e snooze (time in between, length), activate smart alarm, change the alarm tone etc... When I click more, it just lets me change the volume. Can anyone help?

After you tap "more" you can scroll down to change more than just the volume. I didn't think there was anything else, either, at first.


What's the name of the protocol that android devices use in debug mode? I have a strange Android prototype what we got from a customer. Said customer has forgotten about it, and I'm now fiddling with it to see if I can make it do anything interesting. The device appears to be the same family as the Acer beTouch.

It used to boot fine, but while trying to make it go into fastboot mode it has stopped booting correctly at all. Now it boots up into some weird debug mode. If I plug it in to USB, it shows up on my Linux box as a /dev/ttyACM0 port via Linux's USB modem driver. However, it's not a modem.

If I connect to it via a serial terminal and press RETURN it responds with:

OK

If I type anything else and press return, I get:

NOTSUPPORTED

So, it's not a Hayes modem. It's not Android's fastboot or adb protocols. hwinfo tried to probe it but didn't get anything. Since it's a USB device, I can't get any messages that appears on startup. I've done evil things with a whole bunch of Android devices but I've never seen this before. Anyone recognise it?

(Tips on how to make it boot again would be useful, too; I have found recovery mode --- CALL+VOLUP+POWER, for reference --- but factory resetting it does nothing. I haven't found fastboot yet.)

Update: I was wrong! It is a Hayes modem. It just doesn't understand any commands. So:

AT
OK

But:

ATI0
NOTSUPPORTED

I can't find any commands that make it do anything, not even AT&V or ATS0=0. Which is weird. I don't know why the phone is booting into this mode; probably something's wrong with the root filesystem. Don't suppose anyone knows a magic Android Hayes command to get a root shell, or reboot into recovery or fastboot, or anything that I could try?

Have you tried using adb from the Android SDK to connect to the device? I believe it's the same protocol also used when the OS is running and connected via USB.


OK Google Voice Match not working On my Samsung Galaxy S8, my phone no longer responds when I say "OK Google"

The voice match settings don't work, I found device-specific settings and can attempt to set voice match up there, but when it does voice training and I say "OK Google" it does not proceed.

EDIT:
I didn't have S Voice installed. Bixby is a stock app and I don't think I enabled it on this (or any of my) phone(s). I worked before regardless. I'll double check anyway. I uninstalled Alexa and Cortana. Updated Google App and all permissions were enabled. I toggled the Microphone option off and back on. Google Assistant app said no permissions required. Still the same result unfortunately.

If you have a Bixby or S Voice installed and would prefer to use Google's voice assistant instead, your best bet might be to disable Bixby or S Voice on your device entirely. And if you’ve downloaded Alexa, Cortana, or any other voice assistant on your phone, either disable or delete it.
Also, make sure the Google app is updated to the latest version. Also make sure to grant all permissions for the Google app by going to Settings > Apps > Google app > Permissions (the path may differ from model to model)


Speech-to-Text Uppercase Letter Problem Whenever I compose any type of message through speech-to-text, a problem occurs which is rather annoying and seemingly, there is no workaround.

The problem:

Android capitalises the first letter of the sentence, which is great.  But it then proceeds to capitalise every occurrence of the same letter wherever it appears throughout the rest of the sentence.  For example:

This senTence is an example senTence ThaT has been composed Through speech-To-TexT.

I have turned auto-capitalisation off and this (obviously) results in no capital letters being used either at the beginning of the sentence, nor are any occurrences of the letter I capitalised.  This is almost as annoying as the main problem.

I would like to know if anybody has had a similar problem and, if so, is there a solution to this problem?

I have a Samsung Galaxy Note and am running Android 2.3.6 (Gingerbread).

Many thanks.

I have discovered a solution for this problem.

The only apparent way around it is to change the keyboard from the default keyboard to the Swype keyboard.

Click here if you would like to know what Swype is; at first I was a little dubious, but it really is quite marvellous and accurate!

Why this resolves the problem, I do not know, but I am just happy that it does and am certain that this will provide some respite to those of you who are also experiencing this annoying problem.


How do I know If my phones Bootloader is locked or not? I want to flash TWRP & SuperSU to take a backup, but I read that if you flash TWRP with a locked bootloader it would brick my device & wipe my data, now that would just defeat the purpose. How do I determine if my device bootloader is locked or not?

I have enabled developer options, enabled USB Debugging, there is a option in the menu 'OEM Unlock', what does it do? Does it wipe data?

Device - Samsung Galaxy-J700F

to just answer your question, and without needing any software, you can start your phone (or tablet) in bootloader mode by holding the  volume key and the power key from an OFF state. the software will then tell you the info you want.


What/How quick reboot works? On my Android 4.2.2 (Micromax Canvas A74), From System settings >Accessibility, there is option for enabling  "Quick Reboot" as follows:

Screenshot (click image for larger variant)

So How it differs from normal reboot? Or what enabling this exactly work?

I've never seen this option built-in, but there are several apps/widgets on the Playstore offering a "quick boot" as well. The term is a little misleading, as it's usually not a boot at all.

For some background information, let me first refer to my answer on Can somebody explain the boot process of an Android device?. Quick-reboot usually kills everything down to the "system server", so Zygote has to start it anew. As Zygote is the parent to all apps, basically the "Android-part" of the system is completely reloaded – while the underlying "Linux-part" keeps running.

From the users' point of view, this looks like a "quick reboot": the graphical interface (all apps, including the home screen) disappear, and then the system comes up again exactly like after a "boot". But during this process, the first 4 steps of a "real boot" (as outlined in the linked question) were skipped.

I'm not 100% sure if the "quick boot" option you are seeing there is the same, but it's pretty likely. Because, if it were a "full boot, just quicker" – then why shouldn't that be used in the first place?


How do I search emails on Honeycomb? I have multiple email accounts set up on Honeycomb. To my disappointment, I couldn't find any way to search my email. On my Froyo phone I can do this from the options menu. How can I do this on Honeycomb?

In the Gmail app, there is a search icon (magnifying glass) that appears in the top right corner when you are within a mailbox. If you're using the stock, general Email app (with the yellow "@" icon) then I'm afraid there is no search function supported.


Outlook.com ActiveSync no longer working, even after recreation My Outlook.com ActiveSync for contacts and calendar simply stopped working a few days ago. The locally added contacts and calendar entries are there, but nothing is synced with MS.

In the hope of fixing the issue, I deleted the activesync account (beware: now lost all contacts and calendar entries on device!!) and recreated it.

The account is correctly set up, and the email part (that I don't use) seems to work, but no contacts or calendar entries are synced down from outlook.com / live.com.

Several delete+add and phone reboots didn't help.

After messing around, I finally noticed that, after creating the fresh ActiveSync account on my android phone, the eas account's EMail showed a kind of "welcome mail" from MS, that read in the subject "ACTION REQUIRED ..." (paraphrased).

I took a closer look at this Email, and it asked me to set up the Outlook App. And if I didn't wish to set up the Outlook App, I should follow a link to continue syncing with the built-in apps. I didn't notice this the first few times, because normally I don't use outlook.com mail and normally I just ignore Welcome Mails.

After I clicked this MS link, the sync started to work again for both contacts and calendar.

Let's just not start a rant on how MS wasted dunno how many hours of my time through this ... sigh


Run Android RPI on Emulator I want to run the Compiled images of the Android RPI 3 on an Emulator, i have looked everywhere but i didn't find any way to emulate raspberry pi and side load the images. Is it possible to run raspberry pi android image on emulator or any image of another hardware on an emulator ?

The Android Emulator uses QEMU as the hypervisor.

While QEMU appears to emulate Raspberry Pi 2 you should read the documentation about ARM support to see if it fits your needs.

Update

Physical devices have different driver configuration than the emulator.

And if you want emulator to have any performance you'll have to use a different CPU architecture (x86 vs ARM). Please reach up on Adding a New Device in the AOSP documentation (note the layers).

I don't know if you could run a binary AOSP image on RPi on QEMU but it would be slow (and still need to configure fastboot etc.), this thread: https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/android-raspberry-pi/ leads me to believe that drivers will be the blocking point.

Another thing that is leading me to say what you want is very difficult is that it sounds like you want load almost arbitrary images. This article on XDA about EFIDroid shows what I think you want but is limited to a set of supported Qualcomm Snapdragon devices.


How to get out of stuck boot animation?(Android One) I am stuck at the google boot animation of the android one phone(Micromax AQ501). I had just flashed it into custom recovery for the first time. It rebooted for the first time after that and then got stuck. It shows its OEM unlocked. I tried to boot into the recovery mode but it gets switched off on its own.
Please help.

You might have to flash the Factory Image now using SP Flash tool. I have provided a link below, but confirm it's for AQ501. Alternatively, you can also try flashing the stock recovery.img for your phone.

Warning - You might lose data!

Source - http://forum.xda-developers.com/canvas-a1/development/official-stock-rom-canvas-a1-t2887150


Samsung Galaxy R - No files in default music player I own a Samsung Galaxy R. Recently, I could not find any files in default music player after I installed PowerAMP. How do I bring back the files in the default music player? I've checked by uninstalling PowerAMP... that didn't help!

I sometimes have problems with the media indexer ("Media Storage" Service), then I just do the following to let it rescan and rebuild all media files on the phone:

Settings > Apps > All Apps > "Default music player" > Force stop, Clear data, Clear cache
Settings > Apps > ALl Apps > "Media Storage" > Force stop, Clear data, Clear cache
Reboot phone
Unlock your phone and wait 10-20 minutes, don't do anything, don't open your Music App, don't care if it locks again just let it be for at least 10-20 min.


corrupted /data partition? for a stupid reason I used TWRP which is btw a stupid tool... long story short.. It messed up the data partition...

Currently I have a nexus 5 that can run whatever recovery I want, but doesn't have a /data partition...

How do I fix my phone so that I can install any ROM for complete reference here are some of the info

when ever I try factory reset (using CWM) I get the following error

--Wiping data...
Formatting /data...
E:Error mounting /data!
Formatting /cache...
Formatting /sd-ext...
E:unknown volume for path [/sd-ext]
Formatting /sdcaard/.android_secure...
E:Error mounting /sdcaard/.android_secure!
Data wipe complete

I've tried adb shell and then running the following

~# e2fsck /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata

e2fsck 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
e2fsck: Superblock invalid, trying backup blocks...
e2fsck: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2
filesystem.  If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
    e2fsck -b 8193 <device>

Try doing what it suggests... run e2fsck -b 8193 /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata. If that doesn't work, try running mke2fs /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata.

You can also boot into fastboot mode and run fastboot erase userdata.

If none of these work, please elaborate on this "long story". How did you mess up your data partition with TWRP? Got any logs/error messages/steps to reproduce? I've been using TWRP ever since I started using custom ROMs and never had an issue.


Galaxy Discover stuck on recovery mode A few days go, I got a phone call and shortly after hanging the phone up, it suddenly turned off. After 1-2 attempts to turn it on, it finally worked, but put me in System Recovery with a dead android in the background, a red triangle coming from it and now, no matter what I do, I can't get out of it. I've tried wiping data/factory reset, but nothing seems to be working. After rebooting, it goes right back into system recovery mode.

Android system recovery
Volume up/down to move highlight power button to select

reboot system now
apply update from external storage
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache partition
apply update from cache

MANUAL MODE
--Appling Multi-CSC...
Applied the CSC-code: unknown
Successfully applied multi-CSC.

1.Remove your Battery.
2.Wait 5 min.
3.Put battery back to phone.
4.Switch ON your phone


Are battery monitors accurate ? I use GSAM battery monitor. i have flashed a few roms,

I get this reading:

~91% battery. 460ma current consumption with regular use(full brightness). 3:40 hours time left(avg last 5 minutes).

So this means that my 91% battery should hold around 1800mah-2000mah (460*3:40) , but this is strange because my battery is a 4100mah battery, and i have it only for 8 months.

Another strange thing: when i look at Android's battery statistics, the sum of percenatges of the battery that goes towards each app(including screen) is only at ~50%.

As a fix, i tried to recharge my phone to 0% and than fully charge. but the problem stays the same.

So what does this mean ? and are my battery problems due to software or hardware?

Are battery monitors accurate ?

Battery monitors are  an approximation and not accurate :

They are usually based on Voltage measurements
You need Voltage and Current measurements to get an accurate picture. Most phones have only Voltage sensors. Current sensors ( Coulomb Sensor) are available in some at OEM discretion ( Honor 6 for example).  Even if the device has it, the kernel ( since you mentioned flashing ROMs) need to support it. For more details, see this How does the Android estimate the battery level without a current sensor?

I don't know about your device but let's assume that it has only Voltage sensor as is common. Problems with accuracy using voltage sensing ( apart from current sensor bit)

How often it needs to be updated (and reflect on the status bar), AFAIK is left to OEM implementation.  Is the battery icon on your Android phone telling you the truth? says that
updating battery SoC information is manufacturer dependent and not Android driven (emphasis mine and I haven't found any other source to dispute this)

  We contacted Google about this, and the indication is that the battery data given in the Settings is the correct one. The updating of the icon happens "every so often", we're told; quite how often is entirely up to the manufacturer, rather than being part of the Android code

Further voltage is NOT a true indicator of the amount of charge. This will explain in detail why
Yet another problem with Voltage based measurement is battery behaviour. Li Ion batteries display a "flattish" voltage drop even though the amount of charge falls relatively steep as seen here at Fig.2

Your app like other apps uses Voltage and inherently plagued with inaccuracies, so at best gives a rough estimate

Starting from Lollipop Android gives you an estimate of how long your battery is going to last, so the interpretation in other answer is valid

  Another strange thing: when i look at Android's battery statistics, the sum of percenatges of the battery that goes towards each app(including screen) is only at ~50%.

Measurement of consumption per app and therefore total can also be misleading. This post, though old sheds light on this How does Android calculate battery consumption by apps?

Now coming to your concern of battery problems - it's hard to say. I would suggest that you revert to stock ROM and then observe to establish ,if, there is a problem ( Could be custom ROM, kernel too)


After rebooting motorola defy M525 no service network shows? After several attempts of pattern my motorola defy mb525 has been blocked and asking for my goggle account and password but then when finished entering my account and password it will restart automatically but the problems is still there.. So i tried to reboot my motorola defy mb525 but after rebooting, the service network is gone. No more signal in any GSM network...Please somebody help me about this problem. how can i fix it?

Try calling your service provider. Some cell companies lock the phone after failed attempts as a precaution to possible theft.


Tethering Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 (GT-P3110) via Nokia E71 I have a data plan on my Nokia E71 phone, and I would like to share it for my brand new Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 (GT-P3110) which has no 3G. Bluetooth would be fine as would creating a WiFi hotspot, however so far I haven't gotten any method to do the trick. Even wired by USB would be fine, if it just worked.

On the Nokia E71 I have JoikuSpot installed, but stock Android ICS does not work with the ad hoc network that it creates. I rooted the tab and tried installing different versions of wpa_supplicant that I could find, but none of them really worked on this tab.
I have paired the devices using Bluetooth, which appears to work fine – however, I don't know how exactly I could get connected to the internet. I believe there is something obvious that I've missed here. If I need some app (in either end), please tell me which app. (I guess it basically does not work because Nokia does no PAN while Android is ignorant of DUN, but I might be very wrong.)
I don't have any cables that I could use to connect the devices by USB or similar, but if a working solution exists, I would be happy to buy some. (I've already used many many hours for this.)

EDIT: I no longer have the Nokia phone, nor the Samsung Tab, so I cannot really test the suggestions posted here. As far as I am concerned, this question can be closed. (While I do understand that any answers might be helpful for other people, I still cannot test whether they work or not. Therefore, it also does not make a lot of sense to accept any answer, does it?)

On the android 4 system install BlueVPN.

If your phone has bluetooth and can act as a modem you need to pair the phone and your android device. When pairing enable the option in the phone to let the other device to connect.

Be sure that on your sim card you have a contract that support WAP connections enabled (otherwise it can be very expensive).

Get the provider access point info (some times called APN) and set it into the BlueVPN settings.

If your phone already goes into internet with gprs or 3G, you can get the string directly from the settings of your phone.

On my Nokia (Xpress musik 5800) I went to Settings-Connectivity-Access Points-WAP services and there I found all the needed informations in order to configure BlueVPN.


Enable Landscape rotation quick settings toggle on unrootable Moto G (maybe using ADB?) Pretty much what the title says.  Apparently the Moto G only has Auto-Rotate and Portrait rotation locking allowed, and I was wondering if there was a way to enable Landscape rotation.  I know that there are some apps that can do the trick, but I thought I'd see if it was possible to get the native landscape lock working before I tried those.  I just upgraded to Lollipop.

I'm using a Republic Wireless phone, otherwise I'd definitely root the thing.  As it is, I don't really want to deal with the hassle.

This app can lock your screen in landscape: Rotation Locker - Google Play and doesn't require root. I recommend this app because it has no permissions, is <100KB (no ads), and if you use Tasker, this app also has Tasker integration.

The explanation for your problem is that carriers and phone brands often decide "you don't need this feature" and just disable it on the front-end. But they don't actually spend the time to really disable that feature. The app works without root because Android provides an API to lock rotation, that's just part of Android.

Hope this helps solve your problem!


Group texting with Iphone users, my texts get delayed until theirs all stop I have an S4 with the latest software update (though this has been a problem for a long time before too). And when I am in a group text with Iphone users, it seems that my outgoing texts get stuck in limbo until all of theirs is through.  Sometimes several minutes, so I am always behind in the conversation.  Is there a fix?

Even I own a galaxy s4 and I know that the latest update has been so terrible. I don't think that Samsung is anyway going to push any updates for this but follow the solution below.

You can wipe the cache partition from the recovery mode. (Shut down and reopen by pressing menu, power and volume button at once) then scroll down using volume button to wipe cache partition and power button to confirm. Reboot the device.
Very important go to developer options and switch off all the animations.

Follow some more from. http://www.androidpit.com/galaxy-s4-lollipop-problems-and-how-to-fix-them


How do I get my Android phone to speak text in the navigation voice? I know my phone is capable of text to speech because it speaks in Google Navigate.  Can I get this same voice to say other things?

There are several apps with TTS (Text-To-Speech) support, which enables them to "talk to you" -- so that's what you should look for on the Playstore: TTS. So a Playstore-Search for TTS will result in a bunch off apps ("At least 1000 results") matching your request.

Now you can close in by redefining "other things" to something more specific. Add that "more specific" term to your query by prefixing it with a "+" sign -- so e.g. a search on "tts +ebook" will give you ebook reader apps with TTS support (plus some self-reading books as it looks like), "tts +translation" some language translator apps (you say it in your language -- and they speak back in a foreign language; very useful when travelling in a foreign country, as long as they take the answer from the natives as well to translate it back).

Now you should have got the idea, and can continue with other examples :)


Nexus 7 (2013) 32GB Wifi only - difference between 1C010A and 1A034A? I’m seeing these two codes appear in the product descriptions on various sites in my country (Croatia). What do these codes mean, why is the same product available via two separate codes and which one should I buy?

A store clerk informed me that those codes represent different suppliers and the the actual devices are identical.


Asus Transformer Slider frequently freezes I am a not-so-proud owner of an Asus Slider tablet, the one with the slide-out keyboard. I find that whenever I shake the device, open the keyboard, or otherwise move the tablet, it freezes up.

I sent it into ASUS for support, but they said they did not find anything wrong with the tablet. I also tried leaving the tablet out to see if it would unfreeze, but it did not. Please help?

I solved these problems upgrading it. Go to Setup -> Tablet information -> Firmware update.

Using Android 4.0.3 i have no more reboots, nor freezes.

Manual downloads and instructions are available on the Asus site here.


Can one app access an app that has password protected? On my Android, there is a feature that I can set password for app that I want to. Example, let's say I set a password for my gallery and then I install new app from play store or browser and the new app want to access my gallery. Can that new app access to my gallery?

No, The other app wont be able to access this app but other app can access this app data if its not stored encrypted on device storage. Other app only need storage permissions to do that. If other app can access device storage then that app can access any unencrypted data stored on device. But it wont be able to access OS files which are stored in read-only partitions/folder without having root access


Why does an app have a different icon on my actual phone vs on Bluestacks and its Desktop Icon? Why does an app have a different icon on my actual phone vs on Bluestacks and its Desktop Icon?

The icons do work, and are related to the app they're for.

The app is "Eternal Senia: Hydrangea after the Rain".

It's free, so you can check for yourself if you want.

The icon on my phone is Senia's head, while the one for Bluestacks is Rita's.

There are two main reasons why an app shows a different icon:

Some apps provide different APK files for different platforms. Different APK files means that of course not only the code but also resources like images can be different. However it seems like the app you mention is only available in one version.
An app contains images and icons for different device resolutions. Therefore if the display pixel density (measured in dots per inch - dpi) of your actual phone and the Bluestacks VM differs you may see different images. How much they differ depends on what images has been created by the app developer.


Camera - Using the flash to illuminate in camera mode? On my HTC One-X the Camera app can take videos or photos. When recording video you can turn the flash on to provide some illumination.

Is there a way of doing this while in the camera mode when composing a shot?

The other night I was in the garden in the pitch black trying to take some photos of some nocturnal animals. When in camera mode the viewfinder is also pitch black which made it very difficult to line up the photo. I ended up having to record a video, turn on the flash for some light and then take photos while the video was recording.

This is not ideal, and so I wondered if there is any way to get the flash to provide light while aiming the camera for a normal photo.

The built-in camera app (on vanilla Android and every other device I've personally seen) doesn't support this. The flash will only come on as the picture is being taken, and you cannot set it to provide continuous light when taking a picture.

There are two potential options, depending somewhat on the version of Android you're using. One option would be to use the video mode (with the flash enabled) and capture images as you're recording, then discard the video at the end. You should be able to do this on newer versions of Android by tapping the screen while video is recording. I believe this only works on Jelly Bean (or later), but manufacturers have implemented this themselves in a few cases (ex: The Galaxy S3).

A second option would be to use a third-party camera application. Camera MX, for example, allows you to put the flash into "torch" mode while taking pictures. Simply tap on the lightning bolt icon until the small infinity symbol appears on top of it:


Where does Google Drive cache metadata on my device? I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 4. Google Drive appears to download thumbnails and other metadata from the web service. Where does it store this metadata on my device? I assume it would be in a Sqlite database, but I'm not sure. Any suggestions on where to look? Or does Google Drive pull the metadata through the API to the service every time the screen changes?

base directory:

/data/data/com.google.android.apps.docs/

files explicitly stored on device:

.../files/fileinternal/<filehash>/<file>

cached files and thumbnails:

.../cache/diskCache/

metadata:

.../databases/

the drive-supported files (like docs, spreads, presos) are in com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.<foo> datadir


How can I delay the screen's password lock on my Stratosphere? I need my to have my screen be password locked, but I want it to kick in after only 5-10 minutes (i.e., if I lock my phone and unlock it a moment later, I don't want to have to put in my password again).

With my old Droid Pro it was very easy to set that up. On the Stratosphere it doesn't look like that option is available, so I keep having to put in my password every single time I go to unlock my phone. Am I missing something? Is there any way for me to do this?

On the RAZR, it's separate from the display timeout. It's in "Security->Automatically lock". Not sure if that is unique to the RAZR or not.

If you have the SDK installed, it might be possible to push an alternate property with "adb shell setprop", but it would not be persistent across reboots.


whatsapp not displaying contacts in alphabetical order In my phone i saved some contacts start with "1" as below

1 Alex
1 Joseph
1 karthik
1 Rajesh
Anderson [ without 1]

so in  whatsapp also those contacts are displayed first as above order. now i removed "1" from those names , so after "Alex", it should display "Anderson" in whatsapp now, but still whatspp displaying contacts in same above order.

I cleared cache from whatsapp, still same result, I dont want to reinstall, any other solutions ?

You can also try refreshing contacts in WhatsApp. From the main screen click on the new chat tab (green circle on the bottom) then open the menu and select "refresh"


Global Address Lookups on Galaxy SIII I have setup my Exchange Mail using the default Samsung email app. Mail and calenders works great but I am not able to do Global Address lookups. Is this possible? How can do this?

So what I've discovered so far,

Android doesn't have this functionality yet and you'll need to install a 3rd-party app to get this. An app that I found works is 'Swift Contacts'.

What's nice is I am able to type the name of the person right in the 'To:' field and it does a lookup and completes the email address. The only problem is I think this app will stop working after a period of time if you don't pay for it. I haven't found a free alternative for it.


Korean font discrepancy I purchased a textbook with a mixture of Korean and English.

The Korean font shown in Kindle on my Nexus 5 phone is simple and readable, but in Kindle on my Samsung S4 tablet the Korean font is unusual, like handwriting, and renders the book almost useless for me as a beginner. I need the tablet sized screen for the book to be useful.

Comparing my two devices, the system Korean font is the same simple style, so I'm unsure why the Kindle Korean fonts are so different.

Changing the Kindle English font has no effect on the Korean :-)

Is there a way I can change the Korean font for Android Kindle somehow?

Android app on Samsung Tab S running 4.4

Thanks!
Danny.

The short version is that you need to upgrade your tablet to a newer version of Android.

The long version is that the font rendering changed in Android, upgrading text from "unusual, like handwriting" to "simple and readable". At the beginning of 2013, Adobe donated their CCF rasterizer to FreeType (the font rendering library used in Android and Linux in general), which integrated the changes for version 2.5. It wasn't until the end of 2014 that the updated FreeType library was merged into Android's repository, so the earliest version of Android to get the update is 5 (Lollipop).

The Nexus line of devices generally gets Android updates really quickly. Other Android devices often lag behind by several months or just have support quietly dropped. If your tablet still has the problem and doesn't have any updates available, then switching to a third-party version of Android (e.g., CyanogenMod or Replicant) is probably your only option. Be aware that this could easily brick your tablet if everything isn't done perfectly, so you do it at your own risk.


Cannot root Mototola Moto 3G with Android 6.0.1 I am trying to root my Android device (the one in title) without success and I would really need it because of work reasons (in order to access app Caravel data and recover them in case the app does not start anymore).

I have followed many tutorial like the this and they all say the same thing. I have tried with many SuperSU BETA versions which I installed by flash from TWRP, as the tutorial say. The one which seems to work is 2.65; in fact, beta versions seem to block and freeze the device at boot. It just shows the logo and block. Instead, with 2.65 this does not happen. Then, superSU asks to be fully installed from play store but at the end I am not root. I checked with Root Browser and root checker and it seems that nothing worked.

What am I missing? Which is the correct procedure?

This guide covers ALL Moto G 2015 models (including the G Turbo) that can be bootloader unlocked, are running stock Marshmallow, and have TWRP available, it doesn't matter if it is the XT1540, XT1541, XT1543, etc., the method is identical. In fact, this method will work on all 2015 and 2016 series Moto phones running Marshmallow, including the Moto E, X, G3, G4, and Z.

Please read completely and make sure you understand each step and how to do it, if you don't get something search the thread or ask an open question.

tl;dr version for advanced users: Skip to "How to do it" section

I wrote this tutorial because there are still lots of failed root attempts using older "standard" methods that do not work on this device. I also do not like the "one click" root methods, because they can and do fail (KingoRoot will brick a Moto G3, regardless of what it's web page says), and when they do people have no idea how to fix it. The manual way is not difficult, and it teaches you how to work on, fix, and use your device on a level above that of the average smartphone user.

I will only cover the details of rooting, the prerequisites are covered elsewhere in detail and I will link to reliable sources for the information. Specifics of the prerequisites are outside of the scope of this tutorial, but are open for discussion in this thread.

Prerequisites:

1) Device must have an unlocked bootloader. See Moto - Unlocking the Bootloader for more info.
NOTE: Performing this prerequisite will give you all the tools (fastboot) and drivers needed to continue, and wipe your device, meaning erase all your information and programs. Make sure to backup any important data first. This step will also permanently void your warranty once an unlock code has been issued by Moto, it doesn't matter if you even use it, your warranty is done.

2) You need to have TWRP installed or one-time booted via fastboot. CWM and other recoveries will NOT work at this time. See TWRP for the Moto G 2015 or TWRP for Moto G Turbo.

3) You need a copy of the latest STABLE SuperSU ZIP from Chainfire's site on the internal storage or SD card of your device. As of this posting UPDATE-SuperSU-v2.76-20160630161323.zip is the current stable version.
NOTE: Version 2.77 BETA is intended specifically for the Note 7 and should not be used for rooting Moto devices, in testing it doesn't brick or stop boot, it just doesn't show up or work. Stable version are even numbered.

4) Reboot and start TWRP recovery, the method you use to do this doesn't matter (boot or flash).

How to do it:

Now, the procedure is the same whether you are trying to root the first time, or you did it the old way just flashing SuperSU and are now not able to boot...

In TWRP, go to Advanced and open the Terminal, in the terminal type this EXACTLY as shown:

echo SYSTEMLESS=true>>/data/.supersu

Now press enter (there is no confirmation returned), then exit and press the Home key. Go to Install and select the SuperSU zip file you downloaded from Prerequisite #3 and swipe to flash it and reboot. No need to clear caches or anything else but you are welcome to if you wish. You can install SuperSU updates normally through the app going forward (as of this posting).

Why do I have to do this???

For whatever reason, the install script for SuperSU does not recognize that this device (like many others) requires a systemless root installation. By creating /data/.supersu in the TWRP recovery environment, the SuperSU install script parses the file and sees SYSTEMLESS=true and ignores what it auto-detects and forces a systemless root installation.

Hope this is helpful to someone!

As always, if this is the first time you have booted TWRP or attempted root... BACKUP IN TWRP FIRST!!! Once the system is modified, it cannot be undone (easily) and you will always have a known good starting place if the worst happens.

DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for anything that happens... Your device, your responsibility, no matter what happens... Although all the information here has been tested and is known to work with no issues except where noted, things occasionally can and do go wrong and we cannot foresee every possible scenario or circumstance.

My original article


My WiFi status icon on 4.1 is grey, even when the connection is working fine. Why? I just switched from AOKP to the latest CyanogenMod M-build, and I'm noticing that my WiFi and 3G/H+ icons never switch to blue. This is a bit annoying as usually the grey WiFi icon is an indication that the WiFi I'm connected to isn't actually letting me out onto the Internet, but now they seem to stay grey all the time.

Is there anything I can do to troubleshoot this issue? Is it a known bug? What does the grey icon really mean? I've tried looking around the sync settings as there are some indications this might have something to do with the device not being able to contact the Google servers to sync, but sync is working fine and I'm having no real problems except the fact that it's annoying that the icon is indicating what I've previously interpreted as a problem.

edit It seems that there is an actual problem aside from the cosmetic one: in Google Talk I am completely offline, I get my contact list but it's greyed out. I also don't get notifications from the Gmail app when new mail arrives.

edit2 This was solved by simply removing CM10 and going back to AOKP. I did a full wipe before every install, either this is a bug in CM10 or it's an issue caused by my Titanium backups. Not sure, but the backups worked fine with AOKP.

There is nothing wrong with it. Its the expected/correct behaviour of a freshly installed ROM that does not have Google Apps (gapps) installed. Thus, the telephony/wifi signal will show up as grey.
Its only when that Google Apps (gapps) are installed, then it will show up as blue, this is for ICS upwards.
In Gingerbread, if no gapps is installed, and there's wifi connectivity, its white, when gapps gets installed, it changes to the typical green that is known under Gingerbread.
To resolve this, please install the appropriate gapps suitable for your CM10 ROM.
Edit
I am under the impression that GTalk application and service is part of the GApps hence my comment below to Izzy about this...and seems to backup the fact that if gtalk service is not present, the signal colours do appear different.


Can I download a paid app on a second device from Google Play? Say I have bought an app from Google Play and already have it installed on one device.

My question is – do I have to pay again if I download this app from Google Play from another device(but same Google account)?

Yes, you can have your Google account on several devices and you'll be able to use all paid apps on all those devices. There is a device limit, however (around 10 I think) which is meant to prevent abuse of that.