How can I tell if a Watch Later video has been successfully preloaded? Preloading of 'Watch Later' videos has been enabled, but I do not know how to tell when a video I am about to watch has been successfully pre-loaded by the YouTube app. As others have noted (Youtube Preload limit?) there is a limit to how much video Google will download to your device. I cannot see whether a particular video is preloaded or not. I have a good (but limited) mobile network, so preloaded or not pre-loaded both load quickly.

Can you see where the data is stored? Is there a widget or indicator I missed that tells me if the video will come from the storage or from the cell network before launching it?

I assume you're talking about the Youtube app. As far as i know videos are only preloaded when your phone is charging and connected to wifi. When a video is preloading it shows a little white arrow pointing down on the bottom right of the video (when viewing your watch it later list). When it has fully preloaded it shows a green circle with a white down arrow in it.

The files are stored in /sdcard/Android/data/com.google.android.youtube/files/ then there will be another folder (mine is seemingly random numbers). Within this there is one file per preloaded video. As far as i can tell they aren't able to be played with anything other than the youtube app.

This screenshot shows videos that have been preloaded:


OnePlus One: Multiple issues involving MTP and Google Play on updating to CM13 via OTA Device: Oneplus One

Android version: 6.0

Cyanogenmod 13.0

Today, I saw there was an update for 20151203 OTA and decided to download it and flash it via TWRP like I usually do. Before that, I was running on 5.1.1 (I think) and I didn't realize that it was updating me to Android 6.0 until my phone rebooted. Upon flash and reboot, I have the following errors

Google Play Services has stopped working: The popup is constant and annoying, sometimes stacking up and by the time I close one stack, another one appears! Makes the phone impossible to use. I read up on a few solutions, where one said - set your location services to "Device Only" and the other was go to settings → apps → reset app preferences. Tried both, didn't help much, still have the annoying popup.

Also, in my notification tray, there is a message saying "Google Play Services won't run unless you update Google Play Services". Everytime I click the notification, it opens a few activity which is just blank, I can't do anything. Google Play is present in my app drawer but on clicking it, I get the same blank screen.

Ever since I flashed, I'm unable to browse my files via my computer. I connect it via the USB cable and while my system is able to identify my device and even asks me if I'd like to browse it's files, when I click "Okay", I get a blank page as if my device has nothing (not even an internal storage option like before). However, my files are intact on my device for I'm able to use file manager and browse it on the device itself.

The problem I kind of solved partially by toggling the USB Configuration type (which was on MTP by default) to something else, then toggling it back. Not quite sure why it happened, but that's how I fixed it for the time being. Although, the second bug isn't completely gone. On rebooting the phone and the connecting it to my system, I'm presented with the same problem. However, on toggling that config type again, it appears, but one can't be expected to do this everytime he wants to connect the phone to his system right?

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

EDIT: Shout out to Tamoghna Chowdhury for the quick help. Finally resorted to wiping, and clean flashing CM13 along with GAPPs for MM. Everything works fine now. Thanks for all your help!

I'll address your 2nd problem 1st, as that is a simpler thing to describe.

I suffer from the same issue on a stock HTC Nexus 9 (6.0, MRA58K). Whenever I connect it to my PC, it defaults the USB connection mode to "Charge Only", and I have to toggle it back to "MTP" from the persistent notification in the statusbar.

AFAIK this is a general problem with Marshmallow, and one of my friends with a OnePlus One with CM13 also experiences this issue. I'm sorry, but we can only hope some enterprising developer corrects this oversight/bug/feature soon in AOSP.

Edit:

From @Firelord's comment, it appears that the Marshmallow default of "USB Charging" is a deliberate feature in Android 6.0. This is highly inconvenient for some users. See the Android 6.0 official change log here. This link is courtesy of @Firelord's answer here.

Now, the 1st problem.

This error of "Google Play Services has stopped" is common after "dirty-flashed" updates. Since the /data partition remains untouched by an OTA update or a dirty flash, the updated versions of the system apps it stores for Lollipop will interfere with the inbuilt, higher versions for Marshmallow which are in the newly-flashed '/system` partition.

Since you use TWRP recovery, I'll recommend wiping /data and clean flashing a full CM13 zip for the Oneplus One with a compatible (ARMv7 Android 6.0 CM13) GApps package zip. Use TWRP's default wipe of /data without /data/media to keep the data on your (emulated) internal SD.

In the future, consider only OTA updating between minor version upgrades, e.g. from 5.0 to 5.1 or 5.1 to 5.1.1, not 5.1.1 to 6.0


No "flash zip from SD card" option on ClockworkMod Recovery I am trying to follow the steps outlined in the following article in order to root my Nexus 4 running Android 5.1:

http://www.teamandroid.com/2015/04/16/root-nexus-4-android-51-lmy47o-lollipop-cwm-supersu/2/

Step 13 instructs that I apply SuperSU with a "flash zip from SD card" command; however, no such command is appearing on my ClockworkMod menu. I have an "Install ZIP" option, but I am not sure whether or not this should accomplish the same function.

I am running ClockworkMod Recovery v6.0.4.7 (Touch).

Use the Install Zip → select the zip file you downloaded (possibly this) → choose Yes if asked, and the recovery should flash this zip into your system.

Flash zip from SD card or Install zip are basically the same thing.


How to disable a specific screen animation on cm 10.1.2? On cm 10.0.0 I disabled the annoying "display off" "like old CRT" effect, but upgrading to 10.1.2 re-enabled it and I can't find anymore the display animation settings.

Can't find in the settings, couldn't find a new app, no idea where to search.

How can I do that?

Apparently, "This is not a user-configurable option right now".

I'm not sure if that's a general Android problem, or a specific cyanogenmod one. Totally clueless about why, of course.


How to full root a stock-root only Android device? I have an Android device, that is a Chinese TV device that runs on Android 4.4.4. I'm developing an app that needs root access to properly function which I will then install on the device.

I can connect to the devices via ADB over WiFi and gain root access too.

But I cannot gain root access from the app. A quick check by RootChecker app revealed that the "root access is not properly installed on the device". When my app tries to gain root access the error "uid xxx not allowed to su" occurs.

Turns out that the device is only stock root/systemless root

So far, I've copied the su binary from my rooted Xiaomi Redmi 2 into the TV and replaced the /system/xbin/su with that file and changed the permissions. For some reason this did not work.

CPU model name of TV = ARMv7 Processor rev 5 (v7l)

CPU model name of phone = ARMv7 Processor rev 0 (v7l)

Since stock root is available, there must be a very straightforward way for me to root the device. Is it maybe possible to install TWRP on a device like this so that I can flash the SuperSU?

You can push super su APK to /system/app and run the boot patching script manually but please make sure bootloader isn't locked and make a backup.


Installation of R packages in Termux app I having trouble installing  'curl'  , a R package in Termux app. Without that, I can not install the much acclaimed tidyverse package in R. Whenever I tried to install 'curl', it spits out configuration error with  libcurl not found but I checked both curl and libcurl is installed from the terminal. I also tried the suggestion that came along the error message by setting directories in R CMD command but it did not work. Can anyone help?

I fixed by first installing libcurl-dev from the command line, before running R:

$ pkg install libcurl-dev


What is "USB storage app" under Storage of App Info? When I moved an app to the Storage Card on my HTC One V, I found some data moved to USB Storage App. The Storage Card is still showing not used. What's "USB storage app"? Why apps are not moving into the Storage Card, instead moving into the "USB storage app"?

Before moving the app to the storage card

(Click image to enlarge)

After moving the app to the storage card

I guess you have to read the "USB Storage App" as the USB storage used by the app itself. So the code of the application.

If your application would for instance start generating cache information, saved pictures etcetera. And if it would save that information on your Storage Card, then the information will be showed under Storage Card.

So under "App" and "Storage Card App" is only the information and code of the application itself, not the information or data it generates. So in most case these 2 numbers will not change over time. And then under "Data" and "Storage Card" information generated by the application can be found. Either on the Storage Card or the internal memory (depending on the application I guess). This is the information managed by the application (local databases etc), so this will probably change over time, depending on the application in question of course.

This is my interpretation of those 4 terms. And if I check for some applications I use, it looks like my interpretation is correct. It is certainly correct for the applications I created myself, so for these apps I know where what information is saved on the phone.


Keep screen alive by using camera The new Samsung Galaxy S III has an interesting feature which keeps the screen alive (on) if the camera decides the user is reading something by detecting if the user is moving his/her eyes. Does anybody know any application like that in the Android Market which I could install on my Motorola Xoom 2 (Honeycomb) or on my Galaxy S II (ICS) ?

There's a BETA version floating around XDA. YMMV. This is being developed particularly for the S2, although it might work with other devices having FFCs (Front Facing Cameras) as well.

See this thread for more details.


How to make a "system" screenshot with ButtonMapper Since a recent update of ButtonMapper the functionality to make a "system screenshot" (if you have root) seemed to be replaced by a "app screenshot", which is limited in some apps as Instagram of Snapchat and also makes a very annoying clicker sound. I understand non rooted users prefer this over nothing. But I like to have my "system screenshot" back when I long press the Volume Down button.

I bought the Pro version of ButtonMapper and I have root access. Can someone please tell me how I can assign my "system screenshot" functionality back to long press Volume Down in Button Mapper? I miss it so hard.

the developer build this in but you have to know...
if you want a system screenshot instead of a limited app screenshot
do the following in ButtonMapper:

be sure to have root access
press the 3 dots
select "check for root"
now assign the screenshot functionality again to the desired button
ButtonMapper is making a "system screenshot" instead of an "app screenshot"!


Moto G4 only boots into fastboot I got the Moto G4 from Amazon and tried to use ADB and fastboot to unlock it, before realizing Amazon has oem-locked their version. In any case, now every time I turn on the phone it goes straight to AP Fastboot Flash Mode. I can then boot into the phone as usual, but it's really annoying to have to go through fastboot mode. Now I think it's interfering with an Android update. Any suggestions?

In the bootloader enter:

fastboot oem fb_mode_clear

Then reboot, it should start normally from now on.


changing the default home & power buttons behaviours on Note 3 Is there a way that I can configure the following?

double press on the home button shows the recently opened apps. (by default, a double press  does that)
long press on the home button triggers the voice search  (by default, a double press  does that)
long press on the power-off button gives me the recently running apps(by default, it gives me the DEVICE OPTIONS ( poweroff+airplne mode etc...)
alternatively, long press on the power-off button gives me an option to create an action list of my own which may contain items like
+turn off the phone,
+open app voice recorder
+start google search
+even a "go back" function...

Is there a way in note 3 to get a handle of these functions/actions in terms of a shortcode handle name and then use it in making a list like that? ( I hope this part is not too confusing to you )

What's the ultimate tool/approach that lets one do these such fundamental changes in the way note 3 buttons work?

thank you

I'm not sure concerning the Note-3 specifically, but there are some apps claiming to help you at least parically on this issue:

Button Savior (Root)
Home2 Shortcut
ButtonRemapper

They all have in common that they help you remapping one or more buttons.


Problems Connecting Asus Transformer TF101 to Mac OS X 10.92 Please bear with me if this is an insipid question, but I am not able to connect my Asus tablet to my Mac. It has been recommended that I go and download the USB drivers for the tablet here. Seemed easy enough. WRONG! USB drivers are well supported for Windows, but not Mac or Linux (odd). There is a third party application that Asus says you need to install called Splashtop Streamer for Windows or Mac in order to move forward with the installation of the drivers.

I gave that the old college try and, much to my chagrin, Splashtop Streamer does not seem to have clear instruction on how to configure their product. I left a comment on one of their pages that discussed a error "Your 6783 port is not reachable", which seemed to be adversely affecting my completion of the installation process.

In summary, I am dead in the water. I can not install USB drivers in order to load my app onto my device to test. I am trying to test a Google Map App using V2 of the API. Apparently, the Eclipse and the Android Studio emulators to not render the new Google Maps API. So, i need to ship the app to a device.

Must I really buy a new one? Please ponder and grant me any wisdom you might have?
Also, if you think this question was useful, please give it vote.
Thanks again

Sadly I can't give you a solution to your software problem (due to the fact that I haven't used a mac in a while) but I can give some suggestions on how to move forward from your current state (as far as development goes).

There are two situations you might be in, I have possible solutions for both:

Situation 1: You don't need the drivers

-As this article states "If you're developing on Mac OS X, it just works"
Meaning no drivers are needed. But there is still other things to be done (instructions in article)

Situation 2: USB isn't going to work/I don't know what the problem with USB is.

Short Term Solution: package up your app in a .apk and throw that on your device.

Long Term Solution: Look into connecting to your device over your network, from a quick glance this looks to be a good place to start: How can I connect to Android with ADB over TCP?

Let me know how it goes, and if you have any questions.


Does Flash Player work on Android 5 with Firefox 48 I have an Amazon Fire (KFFOWI) with CM12.1 installed and have Firefox as my browser. I have installed the archive flash player 11.1.115.81 but, when I try to use it, all I get is "A plugin is required to display this content".

I've read many things that suggest that it should work but they are probably stale and out of date.

So, as of October 2016, does the Flash player work on Android 5.1 and, if so, how does one get it working?

Adobe does not support Flash on Android beyond 4.0 but that does not mean that it won't work. The last available version is 11.1 which is not on Google Play so must be sideloaded from the Flash Player Archive.

Flash support in Firefox is being phased out and Chrome also. Other browsers, like Dolphin, continue to support Flash and work with the plugin installed from the archive.


Can't enter  (greater than) in terminal When I try to type "<" or ">", I get semicolons ";" and colons ":"  any idea?

Note sure if this question should really been have migrated here. But this is a typical case of a vacuum that we have here. It's not really an android end-user question and on the other hand not a android programming question.

Anyway it looks like a typical codepage/localisation problem:

"<" on an US layout is ";" on an German (and maybe others) keyboard layout
">" on an US layout is ":" on an German (and maybe others) keyboard layout

I take a wild guess and say that you develop under Microsoft Windows, where each windows can have a different keyboard layout. You should see a symbol with the current layout right to the clock in the taskbar, where you can change this.

I hope I was able to point you into the right direction.


Regionwide vs Region maps Question regarding Osmand+ application. Will I miss something in case I download regionwide maps and don't download region maps. As far as I understood regionwide maps should cover all regions. I'm right?

There is no difference, except that region maps are based on administrative divisions
Source

Geographic Regions
Data on the download server is organised by region. The /openstreetmap directory contains files that have a whole continent's data in them, and for some continents there are subdirectories in which you find individual files for various countries. Some countries again have their own subdirectories with data for administrative subdivisions. For Germany, all "Bundesländer" are available as separate files, and for England we have many individual counties.


How does the phone know it has been docked How does the Android phone phone it has been docked in a car holder?

I think the HTC Desire car dock can launch Car Home, but how does the phone known it's been docked?

Typically, the phone knows whether it has been docked by the placement of a magnet on a certain area on the back of the phone.  You can therefore create your own cheap dock using a magnet and some sort of stand.  Here is an example with the Droid.


Batty drain issue on CM10.2.1-yuga / Sony Xperia Z - NFC Service using over 50% I've recently put CyanogenMod CM10.2.1-yuga on my Xperia Z and I've noticed the NFC server is using an insane amount of the battery.

Even after disabling the service in the App section, the service is still running and continues to drain battery:

And the NFC section of my settings is greyed out

Any idea of what's going on or how to diagnose this further?

You can try the following:

1.Try Calibrating your battery ( few says it is necessary to calibrate your phone after rom installation)

Charge phone to 100%
Boot in to recovery
Wipe battery stats
Reboot and drain the battery completely ( by playing or media or
normal usage)
After complete drain recharge the phone again to 100%

2.Try freezing or renaming or removing nfc.apk and tag.apk (Instead of removing the apk just try renaming them like nfc.apk.bak)


Why would the screen to a Droid Razr Maxx randomly break? I read many good reviews about the Droid Razr Maxx which mainly focused on its large 3300 mA battery. All reviews brag about how long the phone lasts before running out of power.

Most reviews on Amazon speak highly of the phone too.

HOWEVER, I came across this blog Droid Razr Maxx – Broken Screen

Surprisingly, a LOT of people are complaining about having cracks in their screens. Some admit that their phone fell to the ground, but many others say the screen cracked without falling.

Does this have to do with the large 3300mA irremovable battery? I mean is this because of the battery heating up and expanding?

Is this a flaw in Motorola's version of Ginger Bread?

Note:
AFAIK, the screen is made of Gorilla -unbreakable- glass, so I think most people mean the LCD screen cracked.

UPDATE

Here is another link from Verizon's forums about customers suffering from the same problem. Some of them say it wasn't dropped.

Short Answer

There's no such thing as "randomly break", phone owners tend to use or make up terms to disguise their ineffectiveness to explain what happened, or as an excuse to avoid saying "I broke my phone".

Common factors leading to the Glass or the display damage are, but not limited to:

Manufacturer fault, a damage batch;
Device falling or getting tossed;
User sat down with the device in his back pocket.

Keep reading as to better understand the misleading information found on the mentioned forums!

Clear some ideas

Randomly break

There's no such thing like "randomly break", every device that physically breaks has a cause behind.
Faulty Software

The software is not responsible for the device physical damage, the software interacts and allows the usage of the hardware. Every software that directly interacts with the hardware has built in fail-safes to prevent abuses. Take the example of a battery charge, when you are charging the system may present you with a message informing that the charge process was interrupted to prevent heat damage to the device.
Glass or Display

While users tend to call screen and say "my screen is broken", they should actually be specific enough as to clarify if the glass is broken or the display module is broken. The two are very distinct, carrying different reasons as to why they may have broken.

Why would a glass or display module break?

The Glass

The Motorola Droid Razr Maxx comes equipped with a GORILLA® GLASS. Despite the heavy promotion that its indestructible, there's no truth to that. This glass enables your device to resist damage like scrapes, bumps and drops, from the abuses that come with everyday use.

A small drop in the right angle can shred the glass due to the force propagation within the impact point to the remaining of the device:

e.g.,

Take a 22 inches fall, is just over 4 times the height of the phone. Comparing this to a Human been, could the average 6' tall person survive a fall of over 24' without breaking in some way?

On the other hand, a battery dilatation due to excessive heat will never cause the glass to break. Way before that, the plastic casing would crack, some components could even melt, and eventually the glass would fell off, lying on the floor shining like a brand new one :)

From the CORNING® GORILLA® GLASS - FAQS:

  CAN I BREAK GORILLA GLASS?

  If subjected to enough abuse, Gorilla Glass can break. However, Gorilla Glass is better able to survive the real-world events that most commonly cause glass to scratch, chip, or break.

The display

Schematic of an active matrix OLED display

The Motorola Droid Razr Maxx comes equipped with Motorola's Super AMOLED Advanced. While the glass is designed and used with one specific purpose, the protection of the display from scrapes, bumps and drops, the display can be affected from other directions, not just by its front.

If a phone falls and hits the ground by its corner, the glass has no effect protecting the display. The phone casing may not be sufficient to absorve the impact, and the resulting force from the impact may damage or even crack the display.

The display is actually more sensitive than the remaining components of a mobile device.

Prevent damaging the display or glass

The best way to prevent damage to the device, either by accident or by careless handling during use are:

Avoid charging the device while exposed to heat or direct sunlight.
Protect it with an exterior rubber casing, to absorb the impact force generated when it falls.
If carried closely with hard objects, consider using a device casing, preferably made of leather or any other robust material to prevent damage from bumps.
Don't carry the phone inside tight jeans or in your back pocket. Your natural movements or if you sit down, may exercise overwhelming force into the device.


Is there any custom ROM that includes a feature to permanently kill a process? As is well known from many blog/forum posts, Android 2.2 (Froyo) changed the mechanism for the API to kill the process such that a killed process will likely/possibly be re-started by the OS after being killed. E.g. there is no way to PERMANENTLY 100% guaranteed to stop an application from running short of un-installing it.

Question: Is there any code out there (likely part of some custom ROM) that allows permanent killing of a process without re-spawning it afterwards ala Android 1.6?

I'm mostly interested if such code exists, NOT whether it is in some specific ROM.

I don't much care about specific implementation way (I can think of at least two - either add a new API for "permanent kill" or provide a blacklist of apps that a modified AOSP API would respect).

UPDATE: Just to clarify - I am NOT looking for a way to prevent an app from being started again due to some event triggering an Intent that the app registered with. I am asking about preventing apps from being started by memory/process manager just because it was recently killed, even if that app has no Intents registered whatsoever, e.g. not listed in Autostarts app for any of the Intent types.

Please note that the above-mentioned notion of "restarting an app just because" comes from 2 sources:

Froyo help section for a well-regarded system app "Watchdog"

  Google has changed the kill API that the task killers use. In 2.2 (Froyo), the kill API now just restarts the app. It will come right back, under a new system process.

My own observations, where VERY frequently, my Droid X would have apps listed as running in ATK after I killed them, BUT those apps either don't have ANY Intents listed in Autostarts app, or all the Intents listed for them there are 100% disabled. Oh, and these are the types of apps (e.g. games) that are very unlikely to have a side daemon process responsible for reviving them.

Cyanogenmod ROMs has a feature that by LONG pressing the BACK button you can kill the running process.


How to connect to multiple VPN in android My university has a VPN and we need to connect to the VPN in order to get access to three internet. But, I want to contact to a workplace using internet.
Is there any way to have multiple book in android. I mean like a VPN through another VPN?

According to https://developer.android.com/reference/android/net/VpnService.html,

There can be only one VPN connection running at the same time. The existing interface is deactivated when a new one is created.

So, no, you can only have one VPN at a time on Android. You can switch between the two, though, when you need to use the other.


Lost my phone without GPS & data plan on I have checked other questions on the site and I think my question is not completely duplicate

I have lost my OnePlus 2; it is in different country (Indonesia) and I have no way to contact any authority over there. Fortunately, I had local SIM in that which is ringing once a while.

As, my phone contains some very personal images, so, I opted to erase content via Google Android Device Manager. Now, my questions are:

Is it possible to unlock phone with any software? As android manager says that data will be wiped out as soon as my phone will be connected to internet. But, I am worried if it possible for anyone to unlock my phone. (I had 3*3 pattern lock).
What else precaution I can take care to avoid any personal data loss? I am mostly worried about pictures.

Question 1

Theoretically not possible for an ordinary thief - it is enough of a deterrence. If the thief stole it from you, with an express international of gaining access to that data and he has sophisticated tools at his disposal, then you need to be worried. But going by your description, it is unlikely. There are also other factors involved, which you can see in this SE.Security question Is Android's Password Screen Lock Enough Data Theft Protection?, which explains in detail how it is possible for a determined person

In security parlance Physical possession is ownership is often said, but that's the worst case scenario

Question 2

Sorry to say but there is nothing you can do, till the thief chimed to internet and device is wiped.


Download email attachment bigger than 15 MB I got an email (MS Exchange 2010 / Native Mail App / LG G2 - 4.4.2 / connection->mobile-data[HSDPA]) with an PDF file with a size of ~18 MB.
When I click on it, it is trying to download it. After one second I got a message " was not downloaded".

When I am trying on an iPhone 5 (iOS 7.1) I can download and open the file.

Any work arounds or fixes for that issue?

the only work around for that problem is, to use this app -> CloudMagic (https://cloudmagic.com)

solved my problem but it would be reate when google will fix this for the stock email app.


Downloading and installing an application in the system/app on a un-rooted device Is it possible to install an application in the system/app directory on a un-rooted device? Right now I can do it on a rooted device, so I was wondering what I have to do to if the device is not rooted. It's a custom rom, so I can get a hold of the certificates that signed the rom.

Currently if I try on a un-rooted device, I get the permission denied (read_only file system). If anybody has an idea of how I can do this please help me. The reason why I need this done is so I can do app updates on the system applications that will be shipped with the rom and they wont be on the app store.

Root is only required if you are installing a system app within the confines of the Android OS.

If you can flash your own rom, you can bypass any restrictions that the OS has, because you are able to do anything you want with a custom bootloader before the OS has a chance to load and restrict things.

If you are creating a custom rom (off-topic for this site), you can edit the rom on a desktop and flash it to the phone.

You could simply flash a file using a custom recovery (such as TWRP or ClockWorkMod).

If you are on a stock phone with a locked bootloader, you could always root your phone temporarily, remount system as read-write, add the application, then remove root.

As far as updates go, as long as the application in the system directory is signed by your key, you should be able to update it (root not required). You'll need a way to get updates out, though. You could post in the Google Play Store, use a 3rd party store (such as Amazon App Store or F-Droid), or have the user download the app and side-load it. If you also wrote the app in question, you could probably program a way to self-update as well (also off-topic for this site).


How to check if custom ROM supports encryption? First solution which is coming to my mind is install custom ROM and encrypt /data partition. But it always take time. I'm wondering if there's quicker method like download custom ROM, extract system image, then extract files from system image file and looking for encryption support in system files like *.rc which are in root file system. Is there any other way to checking?

I you would install a custom rom you can ask the maintainer of your rom, usually all custom roms from Android 5 and above Support it, nur maybe your device doesnt Support it in a custom rom. Normally the maintainer of your rom wrote a bug list in the XDA Thread, if that's too uncertain ask the maintainer.


What's the difference between "cdma_shadow" and "shadow" builds in CyanogenMod 7.2 In 2011, Motorola Droid X was somewhat supported by CyanogenMod 7.1+, and was known under "cdma_shadow" tag: http://download.cyanogenmod.com/?device=cdma_shadow&type=nightly

It had - and still has - only 2 official nightlies builds (the latest from 2011-11-16) and no RCs or stable releases.
Now, I just found another tag ("shadow"): http://download.cyanogenmod.com/?device=shadow&type=nightly

It has 4 nightly builds (last one 2012-06-17), all 3 RC builds and a stable build.
However, that other "shadow" build looks suspiciously wrong to me:

Clicking on "Motorola Droid X" from CM device page links to "cdma_shadow" (the one with 2 2011 nightlies and no stable releases).
To the best of my knowledge, CM7.2 never worked well on Droid X.
The tag lacks "cdma" prefix.

Q1: What is the "shadow" tag? Is it a new name for Motorola Droid X for CM7.2? Is it non-CDMA version of Droid X? A cdma_shadow port without working CDMA radios?

Q2: How well does this "shadow" stable build support Verizon's Motorola Droid X?

A little extra info: I just downloaded the actual "shadow" stable ROM, and "build.prop" file has this:

  ro.build.fingerprint=verizon/shadow_vzw/cdma_shadow/shadow:2.2.1/VZW/23.340:user/ota-rel-keys,release-keys
  ro.product.model=DROIDX
  ro.product.brand=verizon
  ro.product.name=shadow_vzw
  ro.product.device=cdma_shadow
  ro.product.board=shadow

... abd further down ...

  # Default network type.
  # 4 => CDMA / EVDO.
  ro.telephony.default_network=4
  ro.com.google.clientid=android-motorola
  ro.cdma.home.operator.numeric=310004
  ro.cdma.home.operator.alpha=Verizon

EDITED
Found the official source where can be read that the Motorola Droid X build was renamed to shadow:

Also worthy of note: the new release files have a slightly modified naming-scheme, including the codename instead of the commercial/common name in the filename. So the following is a handy “translation chart” to make sure you don’t mis-identify your device...
...
shadow -  Motorola Droid X
...

Original Answer
At cyanogenmod downloads, the build identified by cdma_shadow stopped at cm_shadow_full-154.zip (the available links are broken).
When they were resumed, they've been renamed to shadow, being shadow the codename for the Droid X.

Droid X formerly known as Droid Xtreme, has the development codename "Shadow".
CDMA Stands for: Code Division Multiple Access. It is the general system used for 3G services.

Related information:

CDMA Technology - CDMA is a wireless technology standard used by Verizon Wireless in all of its phones, and by certain other carriers in the countries listed at this link.

Trying further to justify this answer:
Here's the metadata found at /META-INF/com/android/metadata for the cm-7-20120624-NIGHTLY-shadow.zip where can be seen the reference to the cdma_shadow:
post-build=verizon/shadow_vzw/cdma_shadow/shadow:2.2.1/VZW/23.340:user/ota-rel-keys,release-keys
post-timestamp=1289194863
pre-device=cdma_shadow

And yet the information presented on the menu hover effect:

Besides from this, the cyanogenmod documentation, forums and wiki pages reveal no better insight and are mentioned to be outdated. This seams to be the best official justification for the build rename.


How do I archive old phone numbers? I have contacts from years ago (college friends, old colleagues, etc.) that I don't want to delete, but I also don't want to accidentally butt-dial at 3 am. How do I archive those old numbers for future use, but hide them from my phone app?
I've been told that I can put them all in a different gmail account, or under a different label, and then hide those from display in my contacts app, but that only works for when I'm using my contacts app. All those old phone numbers are still listed in my text and phone apps.
I've tried 4 different phone apps (Google Voice, Google Phone, Android Phone, and Should I Answer) and none of them appear to allow me to hide contacts or only view contacts from specific gmail accounts. Same issue with text apps (WhatsApp, Android Messages, Google Message, MySMS, etc.).
It really should not be this difficult to tell Android "I just want to see a list of numbers I created, not every single phone number I have ever saved in my entire life."

I agree 100%.  This problem is a PITA, and AFAIK Google has not offered any feasible solution.  In addition, if an app steals your list of contacts, or anyone's cloud database gets compromised, every single contact you ever had gets released into the wild.
My current solution is not ideal, and is really a workaround.  It consists of three primary processes:

Use only local contacts, and do not sync contacts at all.  If you really want synced contacts, sync them with a private cloud operating on your own server.

Regularly backup all your contacts to a CSV or JSON file.  Manually cut and paste all the contacts from that backup that you don't currently need to an "old contacts" file.  After removing many of the contacts from the original file, delete all contacts on Android and import the smaller file of current contacts.  Of course, before deleting anything, ensure the export-import round-trip will work and no data (such as contact images and custom fields) is lost.

Now that you have a smaller list of contacts on Android, assign a tag/label to contacts you still want to have handy, but you will rarely contact.  Then hide all contacts with that tag/label from showing.  As you noted, this only works in your contacts app, but the larger issue is dealt with by process #2 above.

This workaround model is certainly not ideal, and is time-consuming, but I know of nothing better offered by Google.  Remember, Google is primarily a data mining company, and they seldom offer tools that result in them collecting less of your data.
An alternative to the above workaround system is to move all contacts to the OpenContacts app or the Contact Book app.  They are both completely open-source and store all contacts in their own private databases.  Google apps and other apps cannot read those contact databases (unless they are malicious and breach the Android security model).  You can use one of those apps by itself or in combination with the standard Android contacts databases.  If you do this, all apps with appropriate Android permissions will be able to see the Android contacts, but not those stored in the OpenContacts app or Contact Book app.


Why does the number of apps "optimized" not reflect removed apps? I've read the details on what optimizing does here: What kind of app optimizations do newer Android versions do at the first reboot?

And my question is slightly followup.

I run CM nightlies on my TF700T using TWRP to flash and erase the Dalvik cache each time. I understand the Optimizing process rebuilds the Dalvik cache, but it appears it tries to rebuild the cache using every single app I've ever installed, not just the ones currently installed. The total number of apps it optimizes never goes down, always up.

I presume this means there is a list somewhere in the system with all the apps this process must go through. Is there an app or utility that can update this list and justify it against a list of apps actually installed?

Or am I making incorrect assumptions and is this process also running through system apps that are not subject to user removal?

When Android optimizes apps it will optimize all apps, including system apps that you cannot see/remove (well, technically you can, but that's a different question).

If you just check the installed apps on your phone it will just show you the apps that YOU have manually installed and that is why the number is not the same.


Transfer file from Xiaomi Redmi 4A to Mac I have a Xiaomi Redmi 4A I bought in China a few months ago still running the Chinese ROM.

Android version is 6.0.1 MMB29M
MIUI version is MIUI 8.5 | Stable 8.5.4.0(MCCCNED)
Laptop is MacBook Air running Sierra

The two are paired and I can connect easily. I can send files from the Mac to the phone using Bluetooth File Exchange.

I cannot use the Mac's "Browse files on device" feature because "The device does not have the necessary services".

From the phone's Bluetooth settings I can connect to the Mac but can't find any way to send a file. I can't find any app or tool on the phone for sending files or using Bluetooth. I've looked through the UI, in the Tools section, looked in the phone's storage using Explorer, and I've tried searching the phone for "transfer", "send", and "bluetooth".

I can transfer in both directions using a USB cable.

For this question I'm looking for a solution without any 3rd party apps. If it's not possible without such an app, that's an acceptable answer. I'm looking for non-USB solutions for this question.

Sorry didn't get your question initially because of "I'm not looking for non-USB solutions for this question." sentence.

As for Bluetooth solution - Open Mac->Settings->Bluetooth on your Mac, there will be checkbox "Show Bluetooth in menu", Bluetooth icon will appear near your clock in top right corner. Click it, there will be "Send files to device". Click it, choose file, choose your device. You transfered file from Mac to Phone.

As for reverse direction - open any File Explorer application on your phone (stock explorer, ES, whatever), select file you want to transfer, long tap it, select "Share", select "Bluetooth", select your Mac Bluetooth name. You done.

Sorry for my English and maybe not very accurate menu item names - I am Russian and have Russian Mac OS and Android.


Lineage OS 14.1; Missing TWRP and 7GB of storage Yesterday I installed Lineage OS 14.1 + GApps on my Galaxy S2 using one video from youtube.

Links to necessary files were there, so I just downloaded:

odin3 v1.85
lp-kernel-14-03-CWM-for+ODIN.tar
lineage-14.1-20180301-nightly-i9100-signed.zip
open_gapps-arm-7.1-pico-20180306.zip
PIT1GBsystem3gb4gb6gb8gbDATA.zip (I used I91001GB_3GB.pit as it was recommended in video)
recovery-Lanchon-IsoRec-TWRP-2.8.7.0-20160113-i9100-(by-arnab).zip

After installing I went to storage settings and see only one partition of 4GB size available. On the stock ROM there were 11GB of space on sdcard0 (internal storage).

There is no option to format internal storage.

ES File Explorer cannot access the / directory.

How to have 11GB again and access to root partition?

Additionally I looked how to install Root. All the instructions lead to booting in TWRP. But my Lineage OS14.1 has no TWRP recovery, and the standard recovery refuses to install root update (addonsu-14.1-arm-signed.zip). How to root the phone?

I got it!

As instructed I flashed lp-kernel-14-03-CWM-for+ODIN.tar and using it's recovery installed then lineage-14.1-20180301-nightly-i9100-signed.zip and open_gapps-arm-7.1-pico-20180306.zip and that was all.

What I should do else is to install recovery-Lanchon-IsoRec-TWRP-2.8.7.0-20160113-i9100-(by-arnab).zip and addonsu-14.1-arm-signed.zip as long as custom recovery works, because after reboot it will be too late.

Now I have root and TWRP and will check what is up with big internal memory.


Disable the default browser in ICS Possible Duplicate:
  Can deleting stock web browser cause problems?

Ok since I got chrome now, can I safely disable the stock browser in the apps menu? Are there other services/apps on the phone that require the use of the stock browser?

I installed Chrome and disabled the built-in browser months ago and haven't had a hint of trouble.


USB tethering not working properly I'm using one plus two. I tried everything but still the option 'USB tethering - USB not connected' is like this and I'm not able to able or disable it, it's Grey.... Please help me guys

Here is a checklist of what you need:

Is the cable you are using the official one that came with the phone?
Some third party cables are untrustworty
Is your computer's USB socket working correctly and transferring
data? You can check this by plugging in a simple USB flash drive. This is the most likely problem because android should enable this option as soon as it detects it is connected to a computer.


Connecting through authenticated proxy I have an Unrooted Sony Xperia tipo running 4.0.4.
I have a Wi-Fi at home which uses an authenticated proxy. I have managed to apply the proxy and also have managed to use authentication.
The trouble.
Any app on my phone is unable to use the Wi-Fi.
Is there any way I can at least get Google Play running without rooting my phone?

Use Drony:

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

If you need any help regarding how to configure, this can help.


When I uninstall WhatsApp from Android device, would my chats'/msgs' data stay on device? so i made this stupid mistake of uninstalling whatsapp then giving away my phone without resting it to factory settings, so the other person now have my device, could he by a way or another retrieve my uninstalled whatsapp data? In other words, when we uninstall whatsapp, does all the data related to our whatsapp msgs and chats get deleted or do they stay in some form that could be retrieved? I don't know the guy very well so i don't trust him and i'd really appreciate to know what's what so maybe i could make a plan. Thank you.

There are two separate issues

Factory reset was not done , so it's technically possible to retrieve data but this would involve sophisticated methods not in the reach of an average person
As far as WhatsApp is concerned , when you uninstall , the data is  not accessible even on installing again since you need to authenticate the telephone number , which I presume it
s with you. WhatsApp database is encrypted making it more difficult to retrieve messages but your WhatsApp pictures, videos and audio can be accessed

IMO, unless the other person is very savvy technically, it's not a cause for concern but then in future do remember to encrypt your device and factory reset to ensure that others cannot access your private data


Is it possible to prefetch an area of Google Maps on a tablet? Suppose I wanted to download a particular state (of the U.S.) so that I could use GPS while not connected to wireless or 3G/4G on a tablet. Is this possible?
The device I have now is a Samsung T530NU.

I doubt downloading a whole state for offline use is gonna happen or allowed (or whether the size is gonna be that minimal) but it is possible to download map for offline reference. See Download an offline Map to learn how, from Google.

If downloading a whole state for offline use isn't happening, then you might wanna download all of it, however in smaller chunks/areas, and save them.


How can I view a certificate's details in Chrome on Android? I recently upgraded my smartphone (from Samsung Note II running KitKat to Samsung Note 5 running Lollipop).

The new phone uses Google Chrome Browser version 46.0.2490.76 and it is great, EXCEPT I cannot figure out how to view a site's certificate details when the padlock is not green.  For example, visit http://www.papajohns.com -- this will redirect to an https:// site, but the https:// will not be green or red and hence there is no option to click for details (see image: (http://imgur.com/xjpXmMN)

The previous phone (like my other browsers) will allow me to inspect the TLS/SSL certificates (hash values, chain of trust, etc. as well as the negotiated connection details [RSA vs ECC, AES256 vs etc.)

How do I do this in Google Chrome mobile on Lollipop?

Click on Green Padlock symbol in navigation bar next to URL, click on Details and click on Certificate Information to view the Connection details.

(Click image to enlarge)

You can also view DigiCert SHA2 CA, High Assurance CA in the drop-down under certificate viewer.

EDIT:

For HTTPS websites without a Green padlock, Chrome will give an error saying
Your connection is not private if you're visiting the site for the first time and you can click on the Red Padlock -> Details -> Certificate Information.

(Click image to enlarge)

Also, if you're not getting the Red padlock when you visit the page, that's because you've clicked on Proceeed to Webiste, I understand the risks.

To get back that Red padlock you have to Clear cookies. To do that, Chrome → Settings → Privacy → Clear Browsing data → Clear Cookies and site data.


htc wildfire s after update to 2.3.5 - cannot install any app After updating my wildfire s phone to android version 2.3.5 I cannot install any application or update existing ones. Downloading icon appears for 1 sec and instantly disappears - for some reason apps wont download.

Friend of mine has very same problem with his wildfire s, so it looks like not an accident with my phone but real reproducable issue.

Does anyone managed to fix it without factory data reset?

Thanks

I had the same problem, tried cleaning cache and data with no result.

So I went in settings > applications > manage apps > all, picked the download manager and "uninstalled the updates". It told me the app would reset to factory settings, and when I started the phone again, it was running marketplace 3.4.4 and I managed to update and install apps normally after that.

Disclaimer: I only tried that because I planed to do a factory reset if I broke everything. I don't guarantee the results.


Why is my 16GB SD card not being read in my Samsung Galaxy S? Why is my 16GB SD card not being read in my Samsung Galaxy S?

I've tried to format it several times but nothing happens.

Start by reading:

xda developers >. [Help] Changing Around Mountpoints for sdcard and extSdCard?

  Excerpt: Some previous Samsung devices had no external storage at all but still mapped the biggest flash partition to /mnt/sdcard.
  The Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 has a Micro SD card slot on it (one of the reasons I bought the thing!), but I guess for compatibility they still mount an internal flash storage partition to /sdcard. The actual micro SD card gets mounted to freaking /mnt/extSdCard.

First you need to find out where it is being mounted (on Galaxy S), and whether the command you are using is for internal flash OR the microSD card ..


How to get my Note 9 to read aloud incoming email ONLY from one specific Gmail account? Any way to do this? Tried various apps but they read out all email accounts. Want to setup my phone to read incoming emails out loud from one specific user too if possible.

FairEmail
since version 1.1254 released on 17 Jul 20, allows you to read out aloud  mails from selected sender(s).
A big shout out to Marcel, the developer who accepted this feature request and implemented it. I have tested it thoroughly over the last few days (I had a test version much prior to the formal release) and it works faultlessly for me.
Here is how you do that :
Create a rule:
Go to the inbox of your primary account, long press → Edit rules and tap on the + icon to create a new rule.

Set order to 1 (lower the order, higher the processing priority). Make sure the rule is enabled.

In the Sender Contains  enter email address of the sender.

In the Recipient Contains enter email address of the recipient.

Type and not copy-paste email addresses (at times copy-paste has invisible blanks which can break the expected behavior)

Leave Subject Contains blank.

Select Action as Text to Speech

Press Check setup. If it says OK, you are set up, else install voice data(TTS engine).

automation approach had mixed results. You can read about them in previous version of the answer
Notes

You need the paid version of FairEmail.

The rule should be created in inbox folder of the recipient account.

At the cost of repetition, leave the subject on the rule blank

This is for one sender. If you want this action for more senders, you need to create more rules as explained. You need to create one rule per sender (tip: you can long press a rule to copy and edit, instead of starting all over again) .

The mail text that is read out is limited to the text that is contained in the notification text, that is 500 characters (Android limitation of notification text size). IMO, this is more than enough to get the message in full most of the times (unless it's a very long mail).


How do I enable Airplane mode using Tasker on Android 4.2.2? How do I enable airplane mode automatically at 01:00 AM using Tasker on Android 4.2.2?

The Airplane mode setting inside Tasker under Action -> Net -> Airplane mode cannot be activated:

  Airplane mode is not available in Android 4.2+, try the Secure Settings plugin and a rooted device.

My device is rooted. How do I properly use the Secure Settings plugin to enable Airplane mode automatically at the said time?

Notes:

The answer is tested on a rooted Android 4.2.1 running Tasker  v4.6u3m and Secure Settings v1.3.6.
Secure Settings may needs to be installed as a System app (it has the provision under SYSTEM+ in its GUI).

Since you're already aware of making profiles, tasks, and actions, I would come to point:

Make a profile having time as the context, and create a new task in it.
Under that Task, the action would be Plugin → Secure Settings → Configuration (pencil icon) →  System+ Actions → Airplane Mode → On → Save (floppy icon), and save your action under the task.

Now whenever the time would come Tasker would execute Airplane mode, and everyone would be happy!

You can automatically disable the Airplane Mode as well, by choosing Off or Toggle over On in the aforesaid step.

For Readers: If you don't happen to have Secure Settings or it's not working somehow, then you can use the following action as an alternative. (Credits to Andrew T. and DavisNT for their answer)

Action: Code → Run Shell, and enter these details:

Command: settings put global airplane_mode_on 1; am broadcast -a android.intent.action.AIRPLANE_MODE --ez state true
Check Use Root

That would execute the Airplane mode based on your profile.

To automatically disable the said mode, create an another action in a different profile and copy the aforesaid action with exception of 0 over 1 and false over true.

You're good to go now!


I have 32 GB external, but my internal is only 4GB! My mom bought me a phone. It's Samsung Galaxy J1. And It says that it has only 4GB in my internal storage. But I have 32 GB external storage.

So, I downloaded all apps that I wanted then I  moved it all (that can moved)to the external storage.

But when I tried to download a new app, it says that my internal storage is full! And now, I can't download some apps nor pictures and music.

Yes, I do have a lot of space left in my external memory. But it looks like nothing because it's useless now.

So please, help me from my problem. And w/o rooting my phone. Thanks in advance.

From my point of view, the best solution is to root Your phone and install Links2SD or App2SD ROOT PRO form Play Store. If rooting is not avaliable (lost of guarantee) please use App2SD for non-root users. There is a lot of such apps in Play Store. It moves parts of apps to SD card and frees space in internal memory.
But if You root Your device, all app parts can be moved to SD, even part of system apps.


Root exists, but is unusable One of my long-standing issues with allwinner Q8 is how its root, which was there when I brought it, can't seem to be used. No root manager came with it, so I installed SuperSU(Like a normal) to find that nothing can make requests at root. I can't even check the binary since I get a 'access denied' every time. Does anyone know how I can root functioning?

Again, Its a 'rooted' Allwinner Q8 On android 4.4.4 With stock recovery (but I'm 45% sure it has a custom ROM.

-EDIT-

An idea from Steve made me check terminal, and I ran su to get the line:

su: uid 10078 is not allowed to su

Errr... What? I assume the user is UID 10078(would make sense) or the su binary has been locking everything. Its only a one-user (in sense of Physical operator of device) system.   Help!

If your phone does have a custom ROM have you looked in settings under the hidden Developer options menu for a switch that disables root access?  Some custom ROMs will have this hidden in there.  Everything can be in place to grant root, but apps won't get root if the switch is set to "Disabled" they may not appear to even request root from the SupperSU app.


How can I send a text message to a group that has more than 10 contacts in it? I made a group that has around 18 contacts. I wanted to send a text message to everyone. When I was prompted to select contacts from the group, it would not let me select more than 10. Anyone know how I can get around that limitation? I have a Samsung Infuse.

Handcent should let you send more than 10 messages at once.  It has a nice interface for selecting multiple contacts too.  I haven't tested this (I don't want to send 10+ people a random text :) ).


Can a malware compromise safe-mode of non-rooted device? Was there any known malware running on Android (let's say since Nougat) which can compromise non-rooted Android device in a way that the malware is active also in the safe mode?

So when booting non-rooted into the safe mode, the malware is still running. Was there such a malware in the wild?

Look no further than the one-click root apps as an example. They exploit a vulnerability (usually on phones no longer updated or supported by their vendors) in the Android to gain elevated privilege to install a persistent piece of software, which usually is a system app in the form of a root access manager, but can also add daemons and other files wherever they deem fit.

When the device boots into safe mode only the system apps are available for the user to use, which also includes that superuser manager app in the aforesaid example. If an app installed a system app malware, then it would be booted even in safe mode.

Do note that it is not necessary that an app explicitly exploits a vulnerability to install a malware. Some vendors exploits their users' trust by turning factory shipped system level app into a malware, usually done by shipping a security or Android update to the devices. Some vendors even ship such hidden malwares from the very beginning. This is usually observed in low-end devices, but not limited to them.

We have many questions covering a number of Android versions and devices. Just search for the terms such as "malware", "system", "persistent", "factory reset" individually or in combination. Some examples of system level malware:

Some malware remains after factory reset
How to remove a persistent malware that downloads unwanted apps?
How to know what triggered an apk installation
Persistent malware despite factory resets
How can I uninstall this app which keeps getting reinstalled?
Remove preinstalled malicious software from smartphone
How do I fix malware installed automatically in the /system directory?


How to open Google PDF Viewer app? I can't find Google PDF Viewer app icon even though I have installed it from Google Play Store. How can I open it?

Also, I'm unable to close display green light on top of display screen.

Google PDF Viewer doesn't have app icon.

However, when you're trying to open a PDF file from other apps (e.g. Download, or any file manager like ES File Explorer), it will be listed as one of possible app inside App Chooser dialog.


people can't call my s3 after I have already unblocked them I enabled blocking mode & blocked 1 contact. After that the person can't still contact me eventhrough I have unblocked that contact already. How to fix this problem?

"Blocking mode" has nothing to do with blocking individual contacts. It stops all calls and other notifications disturbing you, like a "do not disturb" mode. If you want people to call you, turn off blocking mode.


How do I save images from google search on my Galaxy Ace (Android Version:2.2.1) When I want to search for an image and I get the image results, I do not see a download option when I select a particular image (although the URL is of a .jpg file)

Is there an app for that or some way to do it with the existing options?

Google Image Search seems to be doing something funny with the way it shows you image previews.

What you need to do is when you run your image search you should see the grid of all the picture results:

Tap the picture that you're interested in and it should appear larger on a black background. When that first loads you should see something that looks a bit like a toolbar above the image. The toolbar disappears after a few seconds, just tap the image again to get it to reappear.

You should see a View Full Size "button" if you tap that the image appears actually full screen and now you can long-press on it and save it as normal.


"Ok google" doesn't work Device: LG G3 F400k
Rom: CM12 Nightly (12.1-20151004-NIGHTLY-F400)
Google App version: 5.3.23.19.arm
Google services version: 8.1.15 (2250156-230)
Google Play store version: 5.9.12

Everything seems up to date. But I don't have the options to use Ok Google on other screens/apps. And the hotword won't even work in the app itself.
Screenshot:

Click to enlarge

I had the same issue with my device as well.

Device: SM-G360T
Android version: 5.1.1
Google App version: 5.13.31.21.arm
Google services version: 9.0.83 (234-121911109)
Google Play store version: 6.5.08

My solution was to download the Google Now Launcher (version 1.3.large). It replaces your current launcher, but I thought it was a good exchange. Warning! Replacing your current launcher will change your current home screen applications layout, but you can always uninstall Google Now Launcher from the Applications Manager to return to your old launcher.


Closely monitoring charging (with bike charger) I bought a bike charger for my Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro sk17i . When I cycle, the phone says that it is being charged, but apparently it is not because the battery percentage doesn't increase.

It is hard to find out anything with the built in battery utility. Is there any way to monitor charging more closely, such as reading the charging current or some other useful indicators?

Battery Monitor Widget or similar might report the current (it depends on whether the battery controller reports it or not), though I'm not finding any reports on whether it works on your device or not.  Still, can't hurt to try it.

Alternatively, a USB multimeter, like this one, would give you definite readings.


What is the meaning of the SAT/SIG/TTF GPS status info? When you turn on GPS and some app subscribes for GPS notifications, GPS status info shows up with "SAT", "SIG" and "TTF" info (the last one I know, Time To Fix) but what is the meaning of the first two and what is the meaning of the numbers/symbols (like infinity) shown up next to them?

Update: example of the Android GPS status:

SAT 0/2 | SIG 19/∞ | TTF 27s

The last one means "it took 27s (so far) to acquire GPS signal". I don't know about the first two ones and all those numbers.

Android developers defines the standard parameters
GPS Status to be used by apps.
Apps can obviously provide more than the minimum information, as in the case of GPS Status & Toolbox, whose help page
and Android documentation put together help decipher.

SAT 0/2  Number of satellites: GPS in use [+ GLONASS in use] / Total visible. So your phone could detect 2 Satellites but none were used to get a fix (indoors or yet to acquire fix?). This likely corresponds to getMaxSatellites in the documentation.
SIG 19/∞ Average signal to noise ratio (0-40dB). This corresponds to getsnr
in the documentation. The second value is the Dilution of Precision value
. You were surely indoors  or fix just started, so without fix the error of the position is ∞. Linked wiki says readings having value  >20 should be discarded.
TTF 27s is getTimeToFirstFix meaning the time required to receive the first fix since the most recent restart of the GPS engine.


installing stock android marshmallow on blu r1 hd I bought a blu r1 hd and am absolutely loving the phone but i do have one problem. the amazon tweaked android 6.0 is not my favorite. is there a way that i could flash a stock android rom onto the phone? if so, how would i do it?

It seems that the people from XDA Developers has just come out with a way to root the Blu R1 HD. And here you have more information about that.


Can I charge my Samsung tablet without the plug in charger? Are there any other ways? I have a Samsung Galaxy Tablet but my charger is a little broken. It only charges if I play around with it but that frustrates me. Is there any other way I can charge my tablet without wasting money? Can I plug it in an Apple computer or Dell?

The charger needs to output at least 2A to charge.
While by default USB ports don't output that much, Asus has a bit of software called AI Charger that should let you charge off some USB ports. Lifehacker reports it works on other motherboards and some Android devices.
However in the long run, getting the charger is a much better idea. You can use it on other devices (like future tablets!), and you're not tricking your desktop or laptop into doing something it normally does not do.


How do I configure which programs autostart when connecting to the internet? Right now skype starts, email clients send/receive.

I really don't want skype to start and login when I connect to 3G, but it's OK if I connect to wifi.

How do I configure which programs autostart when connecting to 3G / wifi?

(Sony Ericsson Xperia X8, NOT rooted)

Without root you only have the control the app developers give you: If an app allows you to configure this behaviour, you can do so -- otherwise you can't.

If your device were rooted, on the other hand, you'ld have several possibilities:

Use DroidWall to define which apps may use 3g, which Wifi, which both, and which none (1st pic below)
Use LBE Privacy Guard to do the same, and more (2nd pic)
Use Autorun Manager to disable certain listeners of apps, so they no longer get informed about network changes (3rd pic; experienced users only!)

This is just a selection, and thus the list is very incomplete. As you already wrote your device is not rooted, it doesn't make sense to put all those details here; it's just to give you an idea what would be possible with root, not to elaborate all options ;)


Calibrating/Correctly draining an Extended Battery I recently purchased an extended battery for my ailing Galaxy S4. It's supposedly rated at 4000 mAh over the previous 2600 mAh OEM battery.

First time I threw it in, I turned on the phone, chucked in the battery, and sat it on the charger for an hour or so.

It actually lasted a pretty long time. About 2 days and 5/6 hrs. SoT (not fantastic for 4000 mAh, but it's new so what the heck).

So, listening to the advice of others, I threw it on the charger until completely topped off while the phone was shut down. Again, I discharged it from 100%. However, this time, the battery drained much faster than usual. There weren't any particular apps draining the battery, it just drained faster.

Seeing as this was strange, I drained it to 0%, and charged it back up. Still, the same terrible battery drain. It may be I have to cycle it a couple more times.

Advice? How should I correctly calibrate an extended battery?

Firstly, battery calibration is a myth, normal or extended battery. See Bought a new battery, do I need to calibrate it?
Next, with extended batteries, there is always a possibility that the correct capacity of the battery is not being read  by the ROM and displayed ( since there are two different sources for reading the battery capacity and it may be reading from the hardcoded (ROM) rather than battery capacity files. See for more details here Where are the battery capacity files located?)

What you can do

Measure the actual capacity of your battery as explained here How to determine maximum capacity of a battery in mAh? - received fake battery using the app mentioned.
Adjust the capacity of the battery manually in the app (from Battery Manager → Tap the 4 small square icon → Adjust Capacity or use Configuration Wizard) and create a shortcut on your home screen for the Battery Mgr widget and use that to measure

You can optionally avoid the first step above if you trust the battery provider capacity and adjust on the app


Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus will not enter recovery mode I have recently gotten a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus (Wifi only). I am attempting to boot it into recovery mode for the sake of rooting the device, but it is not working as anticipated. When I start the device by holding down power + vol down I see the warning screen that prompts me to press volume up to "continue", or volume down to "cancel (restart tablet)". When I press volume up, it goes to the Odin Mode screen, showing the green android robot, and the words "Downloading... Do not turn off target!!". It remains that way indefinately until I hold down the power button to turn it off. Kies is installed on my PC, and I have tried to reboot it into recovery both with it plugged in to the PC and without. If it is plugged in to the PC while it is stuck at "downloading", eventually a popup appears in Kies stating "Device not responding. To resolve the issue reboot the device." Does anyone see something I am doing wrong? Thank you very much for any help!

Well, I will answer to help anyone else. I still cannot get to recovery with only the device, but I was able to reboot into recovery and successfully root the device by using "adb reboot recovery" from the command line on my PC while the Galaxy Tab was attached to USB.


Make home screen rotate on Samsung Galaxy 9 Most of the apps will rotate when I turn my device. So does the screen on my tablet. However, on the phone (Galaxy 9), that doesn't happen, making usage in horizontal mode a bit awkward.

Is it possible to make it rotate and if so how?

I am currently using a Galaxy S10+, and I was using a Galaxy Note 8 before that. Both phones support rotating the homescreen to landscape in their native launcher, but it is disabled by default. I am going to assume your Galaxy S9 supports this as well. Try the following:

Go to Settings > Display > Homescreen. Then look for a setting related to rotation.

On my S10+ the setting is called "Rotate to Landscape Mode" and you have to switch it ON to enable homescreen rotation.

On my Note 8, the setting is called "Portrait Mode Only" and you have to switch it OFF to enable homescreen rotation.


Nexus 5 Project Abacus - Flash with another ROM? I purchased a Nexus 5 phone on eBay and it seems to be a "Project Abacus" phone. This phone is used to monitor user data to improve future versions of android. But thing is, it won't update to Lollipop 5.0.

Does anyone know if I can reflash this with the original stock ROM from Android? Will Google disable it if I do this?

From Project Abacus: FAQ (mirrored on InfoTomb, I couldn't find the original)

Q: What is Project Abacus?
A: [...]. After 6 months of using the research phone, the Nexus 5 will update itself to stop collecting data. It will be yours to keep as a regular phone.
Q: Can I decide to opt-out during the study?
A: Yes. To opt out, please contact MFour and notify us that you no longer wish to participate. [...]. You will also be required to return your Research Phone.
Q: At the end of the study do I have to use the compensation phone?
A: No, at the end of the study you aren't required to use the compensation phone. While we hope you'll love your Nexus 5 at the end of the study, we understand if you want to share it with another. [...].

From reading the FAQ, since you bought the phone from someone else, I'd assume that the seller has completed the study without opting-out, so he has the right to "share" (or "sell", in this case) it to other. Therefore, what you have is already a regular Nexus 5 phone, which I believe you can do whatever you want on it, including rooting and flashing it.
Note: You might need to clarify the matters with the seller first, whether he has finished the study or not. Otherwise, you are doing the research for him, which I'm afraid it might violate their T&C. You might not using it for 6 months first to make it regular phone, but IANAL.


How can I get IP connectivity on my non calling tablet without using WiFi? Actually my issue is that I want to use my tablet as a second display over USB. I have used team-viewer over WiFi and it works fine, but since it is over WiFi, there is significant lag which defeats the purpose of a second monitor.

So, I wanted to know whether I can get IP (Layer 3) connectivity with a USB cable and some app (maybe) on my WiFi only tablet. I don't have a USB tethering option in my settings. I also have enabled USB debugging mode.

I can easily do this on my phone which has "USB tethering option".

If your device supports USB OTG, then you should look into a wired Ethernet adapter.  Depending on the specifics of your tablet, if it works, this is the best solution.  Android SE, example how-to, XDA, example cable to let you charge and Ethernet (eBay).

If you're not rooted, or don't have USB OTG, the next best option is to buy another WAP of the fastest type of WiFi that your table support and put it near the tablet.  If you normally use 2.4Ghz Wifi, then get one that's only 5Ghz, assuming your tablet supports 5Ghz.  A different band will reduce interference and let the tablet and WAP use their full speed.


What's the exact geographical dimension range which can be taken offline in Google Maps? Today, I tried to take my whole country (India) offline, but Google Maps ignored it saying its very large, zoom in. It has also ignored my street saying its too small, zoom out.

I want to know the limits to which Make Map Offline is restricted.

Version of Google Maps: 6.12.0

The limit is actually placed on virtual size of the downloaded area. The upper limit is approximately 80MB of data, and the lower limit is smaller than maps displays, somewhere below 100KB, equivalent to around .6 square miles.

Here is one place that mentions the 80MB limit. In my own testing, I was able to download up to 87MB of data, which is approximately 5625 square miles.

This may have been coincidence, but in my testing, the allowable size ranged from a square .75 miles on a side to a square 75 miles on a side.


Text recogniser could not be set up on your device error I have a smartphone with stock ROM Android 7.0 (Nougat). I use OCR apps very often for scanning text documents. Previously, OCR used to work well, but recently I noticed that whatever OCR app I use, it always shows Text recogniser could not be set up on your device error.

Why is this happening and how to fix this? Please help.

Make sure you have updated version of Google play services or it's not disabled and many OCR apps offer a file to download for the functioning of the app


moto g2 caught in restart loop this is a year old phone just barely past the warranty,its running on kitkat 4.4.4 with no rooting or any other tweaking with system.

a few weeks ago i left it at night with google music playing and the next morning i found it caught in restart loop. it was constantly restarting and i could not power it off. it would light up and goto the moto logo and with a vibration go off and repeat this. earlier the frequency of restarting was very high now it has slowed. also the battery shows 0% and low in boot menu but turns ok on charging for some time.

only thing i can do is get into flash boot menu and when i select normal or recovery the phone restarts and again goes blank. it gets warm when charging or when its restarting.moto care has asked to take it to their centre but theres none within a 100km radius

now its been around three weeks, ive found no solution for this other than factory reset which will delete all my data on the phone to make it usable again
i dont want to lose my stuff as there are many imp pics and notes etc

is there any way to save my phone without formatting the data or can i recover the images and other files once factory setting are restored?
im not sure if i had synced or made any backups

there were two changes i made before it all happened
1.the phone was out of space i moved watsapp videos to my pc and freed around 2gb
2. that night i installed adobe flash player from a movie site

pls help me guys im just a naive user and dont know any programming etc

One way that might be possible is to connect your phone to the computer using usb. I'm not sure in kitkat but you can then safely transfer your most needed files to the computer. You may need to have usb debugging options enabled however.

Also, if you have a removable case then do it and remove the sim card (and the battery if you can). I had a similar problem and the phone fixed itself after removing the sim card.

Most cases are specific to the phone and most likely hardware based. If you can find a repair center near you (doesn't have to be moto care but make sure it is a licensed repair center) they could probably pinpoint the problem.

Hopefully you will be able to fix this issue.

I have linked some websites below that may be useful:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/ask-question/418757-moto-g-stuck-boot-loop.html
http://www.droidviews.com/how-to-recover-when-your-android-device-is-caught-in-bootloop/


Where is the Samsung Galaxy setting for answering lock/unlock? My friend told me that every time someone calls, he must unlock the phone. He wondered if we could change that setting. I looked in my own Samsung Galaxy and I could not find the setting. Do you know what we could do to resolve the issue so that my friend won't have to unlock his phone every time somebody is calling? I think that the problem is vendor- or operator-specific looking at this thread with a similar issue.

lock options for your device, from the Home screen, touch Menu Menu key > Settings Settings Shortcut > Lock screen > Screen lock.W hen you select the Samsung lock feature, Swipe (or the With swipe lock option), additional features become available by opening Settings Settings Shortcut > Lock screen > Lock screen options.For any other query you can check at Samsung India site.


Overlay a semi-transparent image on top of the Camera app I'd like to take a picture in the exact spot as another photo I've take a while back.

To help lining up the shot, I wonder if it would be possible to overlay the camera app with a semi-transparent version of the older photo?

You can use Overlay Camera app on Play Store, I tried it, it match exactly with your description.


Change adb permissions to rw? I have LineageOS on my phone. I'm looking to edit some files in /system.

I'm using root permission for adb devices from Developers Options. When I request to move file into /system, I get the message no permissions.

I tried to change permission with chmod but its not working. Since I don't have root permission for apps I can't change it from file manager either.

adb root then adb remount should be sufficient. However, you can also get addonsu for LineageOS of your version and device architecture, which enables root permissions for apps in Developer Options.

I understand some users might explicitly avoid opening up root for apps, so pick between the two according to your needs.


App not installed error while sideloading and Install failed UID changed via adb [Not rooted] I am having hard time getting an app installed since none sideloading nor adb install work...since I dont have root i cant delete the app's data folder from the data/data folder..

seems delete that folder will easily fix it but I am wondering is there any other way.

Error via adb install  is Install failed UID changed
I dont wanna root is there any fix for this.....

BTW my phone is Moto g

For rooted devices:

Run the below command

adb rm -rf /data/data/<your.package.name>

For non-rooted device:

Change the ApplicationId of the app. Refer this link to change
ApplicationId.
Build and install the app. App will install successfully because it is treated as new app.
Now uninstall this app. Which will clear the data.
Now change the ApplicationId to the previous one.
Build and install. Magic.. It will install.


How can I move apps to SD on non-adopted Marshmallow storage? Everyone seems to be getting excited about Marshmallow's adoptable storage feature, but to me it seems like a major regression.  There can be several reasons for not adopting external storage:

When upgrading from Lollipop, I already have an SD card full of stuff. So re-formatting it and erasing everything in order to convert it to adoptable storage is a major disincentive.  That would require transferring many GB of data off the device, re-formatting, and then transferring it back on, and I'm not sure how to do that in a robust manner or whether it's even possible, since adopted storage probably stores stuff in different ways.
My SD card might be too slow for it to make sense using it as an extension of internal storage.
I want to be able to use my removable SD card in other devices (e.g. quickly transferring huge video files to a laptop).

Based on these reasons, if I don't adopt storage, AFAICS that means that apps can only be stored on internal memory.  And since I have a lot of apps, that means that since the Marshmallow upgrade, my device is regularly close to full, causing lots of functionality to break.

So is there really no way to move apps to non-adopted external SD storage on Marshmallow?  If so, do I have any alternative besides uninstalling apps to free space, or downgrading to Lollipop?  If not, this would be hugely disappointing and suggest that Google really didn't think carefully enough before providing this feature.

Marshmallow internal storage can be better used with a mixed-format SD card as I also explain in my blog here:

http://blog.sam.liddicott.com/2016/02/android-6-semi-adopted-storage.html

First, you need adb working.

Have SD card inserted and formatted as portable.
Eject your SD card from the Storage & USB menu
Use "adb shell" to list your adoptable storage:

like this

$ adb shell sm list-disks adoptable

disk:179_64

disk:179_64 is my SD card that can be made adoptable, I want 75% as external SD:

$ adb shell sm partition disk:179_64 mixed 75

Note: Your card may be listed with a comma instead of an underscore, e.g. disk:179,64 in which case, that is what you type:

$ adb shell sm partition disk:179,64 mixed 75

This will erase the entire SD card, giving 75% as portable storage and the rest as adopted internal storage.
Reboot your phone.
From Storage & USB menu, select the SD card (internal) and choose Migrate Data (so that apps, where possible, are installed there).
From the Storage & USB rename the adopted storage to have some name like Adopted otherwise if it has the same name as the external storage partition, the USB MTP view may only show the internal

Now you have adopted storage that can accept apps which allow "move to SD", and also an SD card where you can store Plex movies, google play music, photos, etc.

Thanks to @fernio who tipped me to post here.


Android early boot console over usb I'm trying to port newer kernel versions onto my Nexus S device.

Most newer kernels panic very early on in the boot process. I would like to debug this.
However, since the phone has been provided to me by my school, I cannot get a hold of a serial port (if it does exist..not sure)

Is there any way I can obtain the messages via usb onto my PC?

This site describes how to get access to the serial console on the Nexus S, which is really the only way of debugging boot problems. It's not for the faint-hearted, though: you need a UART-to-USB module, with resistors connected across certain pins, all connected to your phone. If you screw it up you will blow up the phone.

The same information's also mirrored here, in case the first site should disappear.

BTW, if you'd tried asking this on Stack Overflow instead of here, you'd have found this duplicate question which has the same link I just found :-)


UPNP over the internet? I have a home media server running minidlna daemon, and I can stream media to my android phone when I am connected to the home LAN, but I can't seem to be able to do it over the internet. I'm using BubbleUPNP and I've already forwarded the ports on the home router, but I don't see any option/setting on the app to change the server address/port.

This does not work because your phone does not receive the advertisement packets sent out by your media server and vice versa. Those packets are only forwarded within your home LAN but not over the internet (And for good reason: otherwise this would mean that every device connected to the internet would receive those advertisement packets).

One way to overcome this limitation would be to set up a VPN (like WireGuard, OpenVPN, IPsec, or the like). Thus your phone would get an IP address in, and stay connected to your home LAN, even if you are not on-site.


Prevent runaway threads and ultimately physical overheating and battery drain on Android I was wondering if there is a system monitor app that will raise (audible) alerts and offer app closure if it detects runaway threads on Android that cause physical overheating and battery drain.

E.g., I just had to turn my phone off because there was a runaway thread that I think was constantly trying to refresh FB where there was very poor connection, so it was going in a virtually endless loop.  But I get that with other apps too and not just Facebook.

I'd like to actually shut apps down when they're detected.

I am not kidding, I nearly burned my fingertips when I touched my phone -- it was on for only 2 hrs and the battery was almost dead.  It is because 4G is very poor inside my office building and I checked Facebook walking between my vehicle and the building this AM.  After that, the app kept trying to refresh continuously without success and overheating the phone.

As noted in the comment, "battery drain" and "overheating" are not necessarily connected: not everything that drains your battery causes overheating. Overheating is most likely caused by excessive CPU hogging (which of course also leads to battery drain).

You might want to take a look at the app DrainGuard, which keeps a log of battery consumption, always informs you how much was consumed since you turned the screen off last time, and -- here it comes -- it can start an alarm when some app causes excessive battery drain. Values are configurable:

The free version only works from 100% charge down to 70%, which is fine for testing. Once you decided the app serves your purpose, the DrainGuard PRO Key is available on the playstore for less than an Euro.


How does my tablet know when I open the cover? I've recently bought a magnetic cover for my tablet (a bamboo smart cover for Asus Transformer Pad TF303CL). What puzzles me is that whenever I open the cover, the screen turns on. How does the tablet know when I open the cover?

The cover isn't connected in any way to the tablet, AFAIK. The only way that I could think of is if the tablet is using the light sensor, but then why doesn't it turn on the screen when I use my finger to cover the sensor? Or when I turn the light off and then on again?

Your device will have a little magnetic sensor hidden under the display that can trigger the display to turn on.

A small magnet lies embedded directly under the surface of the smart cover and lines up with the corresponding spot on the device. The device detects the removal of this magnet when opening the cover and turns the screen on, and can also put the device into sleep mode when the cover closes.


Screen Rotation turns on randomly I have Huawei Honor 7 Lite / 5C (NEM-L21). I don't want my phone's screen to auto rotate, so I have it off. But randomly, it turns on. That also happens to WiFi. This started few days ago, I haven't upgraded my phone. It's few months old.

I would think that it is system bug. Huawei, Xiaomi and (non Nexus) LG have worst implementations of Android. There are tons of bugs in their customizations.

I don't understand how they can pass Google's certification.

Disclaimer: I'm developer so I get many bug reports from users owning those devices.


Changing carriers and sims - how do I know if the new network will work? My family is considering switching to T-Mobile, and I would like to bring my current Droid 4 with me. I have already stopped by a local T-Mobile store to see if their sim would work. The phone displayed the list of available mobile networks, but I could not make a call. Is that because the sim was not registered to my phone, or because the phone could not access the network properly?

Note, I am aware that a stock droid 4 is locked out of US GSM usage - as far as I can tell I overwrote the NV data to allow this.

Good choice (T-Mobile). If your phone is unlocked you should be able to use your device with most carriers, especially the ones who activate service with a SIM card.

It's most likely because it's not registered yet, I wouldn't see any reason otherwise.

Update

I'll agree with Eldrerathis here. It's possible that the device cannot connect to the network correctly.


Reconnect Authenticator with Google account for a second time My account had 2-step verification enabled and associated with the Authenticator App on my phone.

Yesterday I reformatted it and now I'm installing the apps again. Everything is setup but the Google Authenticator App looks for a barcode, and I cannot find in the 2-step verification steps. What I'd like to do is re-associate my account with the Google Authenticator App without turning off 2 step auth and back on again.

Any ideas?

From what I can see, there is no way to re-associate a phone. It looks like your option is to disassociate/re-associate.


Where can I get the stock Android Kernel  configuration for Galaxy S3 running ICS? Question: We are trying to find the kernel configuration on a currently running Samsung Galaxy S2, with Android 4.0.3 (Ice-Cream Sandwich). We do not wish to root the phone. We checked /proc/config.gz as well as looking for config-* under /boot (which did not exist). We have downloaded the Samsung kernel git repository and are browsing arm configs. What is the kernel config that matches our phone. If it is not one of these which one will work with out phone? What is the specific configuration for the kernel?

Specifications:

Build Number: IML74K.UGLD3

Kernel version: 3.0.15-I9100MUGLD3-CL377577se.infra@SEP-74#3

ls samsung/arch/arm/configs(running on the computer we downloaded the repository on)

acs5k_defconfig
acs5k_tiny_defconfig
afeb9260_defconfig
ag5evm_defconfig
am200epdkit_defconfig
ap4evb_defconfig
assabet_defconfig
at91cap9adk_defconfig
at91rm9200_defconfig
at91sam9260ek_defconfig
at91sam9261_defconfig
at91sam9263_defconfig
at91sam9g20ek_defconfig
at91sam9rlek_defconfig
at91x40_defconfig
badge4_defconfig
bcmring_defconfig
cam60_defconfig
cerfcube_defconfig
cm_x2xx_defconfig
cm_x300_defconfig
cns3420vb_defconfig
colibri_pxa270_defconfig
colibri_pxa300_defconfig
collie_defconfig
corgi_defconfig
cpu9260_defconfig
cpu9g20_defconfig
da8xx_omapl_defconfig
davinci_all_defconfig
dove_defconfig
ebsa110_defconfig
edb7211_defconfig
em_x270_defconfig
ep93xx_defconfig
eseries_pxa_defconfig
exynos4_defconfig
ezx_defconfig
footbridge_defconfig
fortunet_defconfig
g3evm_defconfig
g4evm_defconfig
h3600_defconfig
h5000_defconfig
h7201_defconfig
h7202_defconfig
hackkit_defconfig
herring_defconfig
imote2_defconfig
integrator_defconfig
iop13xx_defconfig
iop32x_defconfig
iop33x_defconfig
ixp2000_defconfig
ixp23xx_defconfig
ixp4xx_defconfig
jornada720_defconfig
kirkwood_defconfig
ks8695_defconfig
lart_defconfig
loki_defconfig
lpd270_defconfig
lubbock_defconfig
mackerel_defconfig
magician_defconfig
mainstone_defconfig
mini2440_defconfig
mmp2_defconfig
msm_defconfig
mv78xx0_defconfig
mx1_defconfig
mx21_defconfig
mx27_defconfig
mx3_defconfig
mx51_defconfig
mxs_defconfig
neponset_defconfig
netwinder_defconfig
netx_defconfig
nhk8815_defconfig
nuc910_defconfig
nuc950_defconfig
nuc960_defconfig
omap1_defconfig
omap2plus_defconfig
orion5x_defconfig
palmz72_defconfig
pcm027_defconfig
pcontrol_g20_defconfig
pleb_defconfig
pnx4008_defconfig
pxa168_defconfig
pxa255-idp_defconfig
pxa3xx_defconfig
pxa910_defconfig
qil-a9260_defconfig
raumfeld_defconfig
realview_defconfig
realview-smp_defconfig
rpc_defconfig
s3c2410_defconfig
s3c6400_defconfig
s5p64x0_defconfig
s5pc100_defconfig
s5pv210_defconfig
sam9_l9260_defconfig
shannon_defconfig
shark_defconfig
simpad_defconfig
spear3xx_defconfig
spear6xx_defconfig
spitz_defconfig
stamp9g20_defconfig
tct_hammer_defconfig
tegra_defconfig
trizeps4_defconfig
u300_defconfig
u8500_defconfig
usb-a9260_defconfig
versatile_defconfig
vexpress_defconfig
viper_defconfig
xcep_defconfig
zeus_defconfig

Recently helped someone figure this out for another device, and the same method will probably work here:

grep all of the configs for CONFIG_ANDROID to select only those configs that enable the various android kernel customizations.  Rule out any that have substantially fewer matching lines than others.

Then examine those that match (hopefully only a very few) to see which mention Samsung, or the codename of the device or something like that.


WiFi Signal drops out every 3 minutes For several weeks now my Android (Gingerbread 2.3.6) phone has been losing it's WiFi signal momentarily, typically at about 3 minute intervals (about 3 minutes, 1.5 seconds) and occasionally at some longer interval that always seems to be a multiple of just over 3 minutes. This causes an interruption of several seconds while the WiFi connection is re-established and typically fails any kind of download/streaming that is happening, makes web sites "unreachable" and generally makes the phone unusable as a data device due to the frequency. The signal remains down for about a second, but the phone takes a few more seconds to reconnect to the router.

This happens regardless of proximity to the router, which shows a very strong signal - usually -40 to -30 dBm or better in the same room, nowhere in the house less than -70 dBm.  It also happens regardless of whether the phone is plugged in or on battery.

Some specific things I've tried that had no effect:

Changing channels (I've tried 1, 4, 8 and 9).
Turning off the router's guest access.
Turning off the 5.0 GHz band.
Setting the router to Wireless N only (though that did prevent my laptop from connecting, which only supports G).
Changing the phone's wireless advanced settings sleep policy to Never.
Setting the battery mode to Performance mode.

Monitoring the signal on my phone with WiFi analyzer, shows all WiFi signals on all channels drop to nothing when the WiFi connection is lost (there are two other networks on different channels which are strong enough to be relevant, with about 6 others constantly fading in and out). WiFi analyzer shows 3 separate signals for my router, the main 2.4 GHz, the guest 2.4 GHz and the 5.0 GHz.

Using WiFi Analyzer on my wife's phone side-by-side shows no change in signal when my phone drops, nor does her phone drop.

Monitoring the signal using our laptop, side-by-side likewise shows no signal loss and likewise the laptop does not lose it's WiFi connection.

But, at work, the phone seems to not exhibit the same behavior, or, if it does, it's very occasional.  Monitoring it all day at work I only saw the signal drop 3 or 4 times.  The signal strength of the various networks there is comparatively weak.

AT&T were super helpful: "Sorry, we can't help you with WiFi problems. You could try doing a factory reset on your phone". </sarcasm>

The router is relatively new, but has been working fine with this phone since last Dec.

Phone          : Motorola Atrix MB860, System version 4.5.141.MB860.ATT.en.US, Android 2.3.6, Build Number 4.5.141.
Router         : Belkin N750 DB (F9K1103 v1 (01C)).
Router Firmware: 1.00.46 (2011/10/28 6:37:11).
Security       : WPA/WPA2-Personal (PSK)

It looks like I may have found the problem.  The latest update from AT&T (4.5.141.MB860.ATT.en.US) which they pushed a few weeks ago appears to not handle a "Forever" DHCP lease properly or my router does not properly handle a DHCP lease renewal when configured for "Forever".  One does have to wonder why the phone was renewing a lease which had no timeout, and especially after only 150 seconds (allowing for the 30 second network request timeout).

Coincident with the WiFi dropping, the logs show the phone tearing down the WiFi service and restarting it after a failed lease renewal request.  Because the router has always had a "Forever" lease time, my money is on the update introducing a bug in the phone.

From my phone log (note there's a large time between the request and the renewal only because the log captures only a couple of minutes, so I had to capture a number of small log fragments before I tumbled to the DHCP connection):

03-27 20:46:25.928 D/WifiStateTracker( 1637): DHCP request started
...
03-27 20:46:27.931 D/WifiStateTracker( 1637): DHCP succeeded with lease: -1
...
03-27 21:16:23.938 D/WifiStateTracker( 1637): DHCP renewal started
...
03-27 21:16:53.947 D/WifiStateTracker( 1637): DHCP renewal failed: Timed out waiting for DHCP Renew to finish
...
03-27 21:16:54.008 V/WifiMonitor( 1637): Event [CTRL-EVENT-STATE-CHANGE id=2 state=8 BSSID=00:00:00:00:00:00]
03-27 21:16:54.018 V/WifiStateTracker( 1637): Changing supplicant state: COMPLETED ==> DORMANT
03-27 21:16:54.018 I/wpa_supplicant(12515): CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED - Disconnect event - remove keys
03-27 21:16:54.018 V/WifiMonitor( 1637): Event [CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED - Disconnect event - remove keys]
03-27 21:16:54.018 I/wpa_supplicant(12515): CTRL-EVENT-STATE-CHANGE id=-1 state=8 BSSID=00:00:00:00:00:00
03-27 21:16:54.018 D/WifiStateTracker( 1637): Reset connections and stopping DHCP
03-27 21:16:54.028 V/WifiMonitor( 1637): Event [CTRL-EVENT-STATE-CHANGE id=-1 state=8 BSSID=00:00:00:00:00:00]
03-27 21:16:54.048 W/Smack/Packet( 2186): notify conn break (IOEx), close connection
...
03-27 21:16:55.084 D/WifiStateTracker( 1637): Disabling interface
03-27 21:16:55.088 D/NetworkStateTracker( 1637): setDetailed state, old =CONNECTED and new state=FAILED

Since changing my router to use a two week DHCP lease, the phone has had a stable WiFi connection for an hour and a half, which is considerably longer than I have seen since I started monitoring this condition.

Assuming there are no further problems, I will accept this in a couple of days, indicating that the problem is indeed resolved.

(BTW, the log collector I used is "Log Collector" by Xtralogic Inc, and "WiFi Analyzer" is by farproc).

Update: 2012-03-29 AM: The root cause seems to be an inability to renew a DHCP lease - changing the lease time to 30 minutes caused the connection to drop precisely 30 minutes after connecting the phone to the router.

Update: 2012-03-29 PM: That there is a general problem renewing DHCP leases is born out by testing all day with a short lease time; every (or very nearly every) attempt at renewing the lease fails, and then disconnects and reconnects the WiFi service. Now knowing precisely what the problem is and what to search for, it may be that this is a long-standing problem with the Android WiFi service, present since 2.2 and still a problem even in 4.0.