How to diagnose a tethering issue after swapping sim cards? A few weeks ago I bought an Android phone in India, popped in an Indian SIM card, plugged the phone into my laptop over USB, turned on USB Tethering, and connected to the internet immediately. It worked amazingly well out of the box!

This week, I'm back in Europe, and the roaming costs of an Indian SIM are rather high... So, I popped in a local SIM for the country I'm in, accepted and stored the Access Point from the Configuration message the operator sent me, and the phone itself connected to the internet fine. Apps worked, browsing worked, apparently all good.

Then, I plugged my phone into my computer with a USB cable, and turned on USB tethering. My computer connected, got an IP address, and.... Nothing. No actual internet connection to go with it!

This leads me to suspect that I'm missing some sort of setup step, but I can't find any Access Point / APN settings in tethering.

What do I need to do to diagnose this issue, and get tethering working again on the new sim?

The issue is one of Access Points, just not one configured in the tethering settings.

The fix was to go to Settings, then More under Wireless & Networks, then Mobile networks then Access point names. Finally, edit the APN that the network configuration sent. In there, I found that the APN type was just default

It turns out that default is enough for the phone to get online, but not for tethering to work. So, I changed it to default,net,dun, as shown:

With that in place, Tethering magically started working

So, the fix was APN related, just that it isn't something (in Android 5.1 at least) that is setup in the tethering area, it's in the mobile networks area and needs the dun and net settings


Kernel panic problem for android samsung I dont know where to find help anymore. Ive been ask the technician at my place on how to fix but it seems she got no idea about it. My phone keep restart by its own & giving me this message ''oops Kernel panic!!. Please connect the phone to PC enable capture and press the volume down key to get the kernel log. Repeat if required. Press volume up to enter upload mode.'' I already update my firmware but it's still won't fix anything. Really need help here. My phone is Samsung S Advance. What should I do?

There are two possibilities: Investigate the problem further or directly perform a factory reset and additionally flash a full stock ROM from the manufacturer if it is available.

If you want to investigate the problem in detail you can collect the details error reports. For doing so connect your Smartphone to a PC with installed ADB and enable the development mode and ADB on the device. Then execute the following command on your PC:

adb shell cat /proc/last_kmsg > kmsg-2018-05-13_14-05.txt

After each reboot do the same (with an update date/time in the command).

After some reboots you can compare the files next to the Kernel panic entry. It they look similar it might be a software problem. If they look completely different regarding the involved modules and the error message the chance is high that it is a hardware problem.


How to modify wpa_supplicant.conf I would like to modify the wpa_supplicant.conf file. However if I do it, the file sets itself back to its previous version (even if I modify the file with one single character), and I have no idea where that sort of backup is stored nor if what I'm doing wrong.

I have tried to modify the file by copying it to a W7 PC and using notepad++, also with an SSH app with root rights granted. Same result. (have done the chown wifi:wifi thing too)

The system is a LineageOS with Android 7.1.2.

Disable wi-fi →modify file → re-enable wi-fi and also reverse.

The reason is that Android uses it's own management classes to read/write wpa_supplicant.conf in conjunction with networkHistory.txt file.

The WifiConfigStore in the Android framework does not write entries in wpa_supplicant if not found in networkHistory.txt

I've had success by first adding the network in networkHistory.txt before adding the network via wpa_cli.

However, in general, the usage of wpa_cli in Android is broken by the behavior of WifiConfigStore.


Can Android phones/tablets access W-Fi network drives? There are many WLAN routers currently available which have a USB port to connect external HDDs. These are than easily available on Windows machines directly in Windows Explorer, they look like common network drives.

If I used an Android-based smartphone or a tablet which support WLAN, would it be possible to access these network drives somehow? I'm entertaining the idea of getting a tablet, and it's important to know if I can access a larger storage than what would be available locally via an SD card (if such a slot even would be present on a particular specimen).

I believe most of these routers mount your drive as a network samba share (like windows file sharing), which android phones can access with apps, like ESFilexplorer or AndSMB. They can stream off it or download files to SD card.


Can't find some apps in play store while others don't work After I factory reset my s4 some apps was reinstalled easily, while others didn't work as it used and some can't be found in play store(youtube downloader). All music downloader won't work. I had simple mp3 downloader before now it doesn't work. I need your help

TubeMate (and all similar YouTube video downloaders) were removed from the Play Store for violating Google's Terms and Conditions. Simple MP3 Downloader was also removed for this reason. You probably downloaded the apps before they were removed from the Play Store, so that is why you had them before.

You can still install those two apps to your phone from manually installing the .apk files for TubeMate and Simple MP3 Downloader.


Why app data isn't on sd card even if android says its on sd card? "Data on SD Card 2GB" / SD Card is almost empty

Can I do something with this without rooting phone? It's same for other apps with app data.

Apps might be movable w/o root to SD card without root but data can't, you can do that by using apps like link2sd (need root) or using android 6+ feature adoptable storage
You are probably wonder why is there section 'Data on SD card'. That's because data is on SD card but internal one, so it's on /sdcard partition instead of /data, but that doesn't give you any more space in internal storage.


Nexus 5 stuck at Google screen after failed(?) rooting Our How to root Nexus 5 question has no answer, so I followed the most OK-looking Nexus 5 rooting tutorial on the rest of the web, all went well until the step that says:

  After booting into recovery mode, tap the ‘Install’ button and then select the SuperSU ZIP file you had transferred

The trap is that on that tutorial, what seems to be a link to the ZIP file is actually a link to a page containing the real link surrounded by advertisement. So when I pressed "Save Link As" I actually downloaded some HTML rather than the real ZIP.

Realizing that, I wanted to reboot to try again with the real ZIP so I pressed "Reboot", it proposed me to install SuperSU so I accepted, happy to get it done quickly. The phone seemed to install something, then started to reboot.

PROBLEM: The following animation has been looping for an hour already and no sign that it will ever end:

QUESTION: How to correctly finish the rooting?
I am afraid that shutting it down now will brick the phone or something.

This solved the problem:

Download the latest stable SuperSU, it is the ZIP file that can be downloaded at http://download.chainfire.eu/supersu-stable
Restart in TWRP Recovery mode
Press Mount
Delete the faulty ZIP and copy the right one instead (at the root of the filesystem)
Fixed! Now continue with the tutorial normally.

Thanks rjt.rockx and eldarerathis for the tips!


How to use Tasker to close an app when a different app gets closed I have a task setup that opens Co Pilot (satellite navigation) after I click on Dailyroads Voyager (blackbox recorder); this works really well. What I'd like to know is how to close Dailyroads Voyager once I exit Co Pilot by using Tasker.

You can do this:

Profile: Voyager Toggler
Trigger: App: Voyager
Task:

A1 : if ( %Count == 1 )
A1a: Open Co-Pilot
A1b: Set ( %Count = 0 )
A1c: goto ( exit )
A2 : if  ( %Count == 0 )
A2a: Home
A2b: Kill Voayeger and Co-Pilot
A2c: Set ( %Count = 1 )
A2d: goto ( exit )

Now go to VARS in Tasker, create a new variable Count and set it to 1.

What's happening over here is that every second time app Voyager opens, it executes what you want.


Anyone found a way to move the insert marker one character to the left of to the right? The new insert marker in Android 2-2, you get when pressing a text field in edit more, and which gives you the ability to move it to the point where you want to start editing, is all very nice. Compared to the previous way of long pressing the men key to shop up the cursor keypad, it's quicker and gives you more options.

But has anyone found a way to move this marker one character to the left or to the right (apart from the obvious of course, which is holding it and moving it to the left or to the right).

I found that positioning the marker to the exact place is hard. 90% of the times you put it just one character to the left or to the right. If you than want to move it again, it's very hard to move it just one character, especially when that character is s small one ( a space, an i or an l).

If you are using Swype, slide your finger from the Swype button (bottom left) to the SYM key. This will display a set of navigation buttons - including a dpad that lets you move the text input.


How can I search for a specific string in an email thread in Microsoft Outlook for Android? I have opened an email thread (aka conversation) in Microsoft Outlook for Android. I would like to search a string (e.g., word or phrase).

How can I search for a specific word in an email thread in Microsoft Outlook for Android?

Unfortunately, it is not possible as of today with Outlook version 4.0.90.

You can always open the mailbox in your web browser and use the Find in Page functionality.


Does 4G consume more battery than 3G if I don't use it for data? Each generation of G consumes more battery  [( 4G compared to 3G or 2G) or ( 3G compared to 2G) ] than the previous one when used for data, since more complex algorithms are required to process higher data speeds

My question is if I don't use mobile data at all ( instead use Wi-Fi), but leave the mobile on 4G, will the battery consumption be the same or more as compared to 3G ( and on similar lines 3G Vs 2G), given identical usage and signal strength?

(I haven't found anything that talks of this, but I suspect power consumption would be higher)

...
  The LTE radio states drain slightly more power than their counterparts
  in 3G, because the tail states (Short DRX and Long DRX) stay at the
  higher base power, while much of the 3G tail is in the FACH state
  which uses half power.
  ...

So basically 4G modules consume more energy compared with 3G modules BUT

  ...
  the IC/chip technology is improving, batteries are becoming better, 4G
  coverage is improving, technology is maturing, networks are getting
  optimized, etc. All this will lead to your 4G devices performing much
  better than 3G soon. The difference will not be noticeable anymore.
  ...

So actually you can't feel any difference between 3G-4G energy usage.

Source: here.


Galaxy S I9000 does not boot at all My Samsung Galaxy S I9000 does not boot at all, the screen does not come, no vibration, no backlight on the soft buttons. It's as if it was dead.

I reset the battery and hard reset. But nothing seems to work. Any way to get it working, other than heading to a service center?

It has Slimrom's Slimbean 4.1 in it, international version of Galaxy S.

Can you boot into recovery mode (Vol Up + Home + Power button combo) or download mode (Vol Down + Home + Power button combo)? If not, have it checked by a service center.


How can I display Samsung GT-S5660 current screen desktop to my HDMI TV screen? I have pictures and videos with effects on my Samsung GT-S5660. How can I display those to my HDMI TV screen? The phone only has mini USB output.

I think you need to buy one of these MHL to HDMI converters - it mentions that it  specifically supports your device.


How to find out stolen phone of android by using IMEI number? I have already tried by finding
findDeviceWebsite

Is there any way to find device by IMEI number?

Track phone by IMEI is nothing but a illusion for normal citizens.
Websites are useless, they only creates backup of IMEI numbers and additional is showing you advertisments along with popping malicious app installation.

• The best way is Google's Find My Device

Remember:

It must be installed in the stolen/lost device along with administrator permission to the app.

To enable this heads to Settings-Security Settings under security settings you will find 'administrator permissions'.

Device must be connected to the internet along with enabled
  location access.

You can do following things with this app:

Ring your phone at highest ringer volume even when device is on silent phone.

Secure your device with a password.

Erase your device completely.

Remember: In order this app to work device must be connected to internet with location access(to view it on google maps).


"Settings" is crashing after installing gapps I've install custom rom called JELLYTIME on my HTC Desire HD phone. Recently I tried to update it to most recent version. After the update I installed google apps from this website: http://goo.im/gapps. I installed version 20130301. Since then the settings section works very badly. It crashes often and I can't connect to any wifi network for example. I'm afraid that I installed the wrong version of gapps but according to the table I should have installed that version for android 4.2.2. Can anyone please tell how can I fix the problem?

I don't know why and how but in one case I solved this problem using wifix manager app. Just installed it and wifi started to work normally. Hope this helps anyone.

http://www.fardjad.com/android/wifix/


My HTC Android Touch is creating problems some times All of a sudden with out touching the screen my phone works on its own like moving between screens.  If I touch on one option it may navigate to some other. It happens very rarely, but it's impacting my ability to use the phone. Can any one suggest a solution?

It might be a digitizer problem, you should take it to a warranty. Usually problems like that can be cause of a digitizer issue.


Synchronizing Call log with Gmail I have noticed a label in my Gmail with name Call Log. And it contains the some Call Logs of my Phone. I haven't created that Label. I thought it was because of the Mails synchronization. But the same thing isn't happening now-a-days. The Call Logs label mail box contains the information about only few days. After that it stopped logging the Call Logs information.

I want to synchronize the Call Logging information on my Gmail. How to do that ?

Can't shed any light on your current experience I'm afraid. It's possible that Timescape has some sort of feature built in but I have just the app for you. Call Track syncs all your calls to your calendar, including time duration and number (and name if they're in contacts) and will import your existing call log. You can select a specific calendar or label to sync with. Hope that helps. :-)


Unable to mount from a Mac OS X using sshfs I have SSHDroid running on the Android. I'm trying to mount it from a Mac using Fuse for OS X. I can SSH, but I am unable to SSHFS.

When I try to sshfs, I get the following error

"mount_osxfusefs: failed to mount /mount@/dev/osxfuse2: Operation not supported on socket"

Has anyone seen this?

Update: Not sure whether this is important. I'm trying to sshfs over wifi.

Android OS: Froyo 2.2
Mac OS X: 10.7.3

There's a bug that prevents the OSXFuse implementation of sshfs from working with many versions of sshd, including the one used by dropbear, which is the implementation used by most SSH server apps for Android, including SSHDroid.

My solution to this problem was just to use a different SSH server app which runs the openssh sshd instead of dropbear.  SSHelper is expressly designed to do this, but I prefer to start up the full-ish linux environment provided by Termux and then run sshd from that command line.  This has the miraculous side effect of providing a fancy linuxy environment when you ssh in to your phone.

For Termux and possibly also SSHelper, you will need to edit the sshd_config text file if you want to change certain options.  SSHelper's config file lives at /data/data/com.arachnoid.sshelper/etc/sshd_config; Termux's is at /data/data/com.termux/files/usr/etc.  You'll also have to add your public key to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys if you want to use public key, rather than password, authentication when you log in.  The config file is the same as for openssh under Linux so that documentation applies, more or less.

Also for Termux you'll have to apt install openssh in order to run sshd.


Auto alerting on Android upon file copy to phone I have an PC based app that periodically copies some images to a Samsung Note-II via USB. (The target folder etc. are all configurable)

I need the Note-II to automatically display the most recent copied image and play an audible alert tone when a file is copied onto the device. Is there any configuration in Android to let me do that? Other than the obvious way of writing a custom Android app?

You could try with On{x} a free app by Microsoft before going for Tasker (paid) where you could do it using the "file modified" context on the directory where the images are copied.


How to run built-in Sound Recorder? If you go to Settings -> Apps -> All, you'll be able to find the "Sound Recorder" built-in application in JB 4.2.2, but it's not shown on the app drawer.

Curious, how to run it?!

PS: it's not a question about choosing recording application, but about curiosity of running the built-in one

This app has no inbuilt GUI link on many builds. You can use the app Sound Recorder Shortcut by KN Inc to access it through a shortcut though. The app needs no permission. The recordings are saved on the SD card in path /sdcard/. The files names are recording*.3gpp. The recording was just ok though with some amount of background noise.


Kingo Root to uninstall After rooted my phone with Kingo Root without pc, Does this be possibly be removed on the phone?

you mean remove root? of course you can.

1.download Kingo Root Android PC Version
2.Enable USB Debugging on your phone and connect you phone to PC.
3.There is a "Remove Root"  in Kingo.

it is easy.


Extracting the radio firmware image from an Android phone How do you pull radio images off an Android device? Is there any way to do this?

You should root your phone and then with an app like Link2SD or even Root Explorer you could get the APK of the Radio app. In fact, with this mode you can get ANY APK of the system.

Link2SD is more intuitive. But if you like the hard way go with Root Explorer and navigate to system/data/app and look for your desired APK


Android boot-up messages for debugging? I am trying to figure out if Android (i.e. Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S, and/or Motorola Xoom) come with some sort of capability to produce a "boot-up" log.  (kind of like Linux boot-up screen)  It would be immensely helpful in figuring out how far one's phone gets in the boot stages before it crashes (such as first-stage bootloader, main bootloader, then kernel loading, etc.).  Does anyone know how to enable the phone to spit out this log file or enable a "verbose" boot-up mode (and print actual messages to the terminal of the Linux computer you have the phone connected to)?

My phone gets stuck in a "boot-loop" with my current modified build and I would like to debug it if possible.

Alternatively, anyone know of any useful resources or tutorials that explain how to easily "hack" the phone to do this (no messing with the hardware)?  Or of any forums where my question may have been asked but in a more obscure form?

This has been a frustrating problem of recent, so any help would be greatly appreciated!

There's a couple of ways to do this:

cat /proc/last_kmsg > /sdcard/last_kernel_message_log.txt
dmesg > /sdcard/kernel_boot_log.txt
plug in the usb cable with the smart-phone switched off. Then issue the command adb logcat from your Windows cmd or Linux terminal, it will hang waiting for the device to come on-line, now power up the smart-phone. The logcat should start scrolling off then.

Since you expressed interest in figuring out how far one's phone gets in the boot stages before it crashes, those methods should help. The thing is you need to be pretty quick to grab the kernel's log (the first two methods shown above).

What I would do is this, on my Arch Linux box, two terminal windows, one for the adb logcat, the other, to grab the log the minute logcat starts scrolling off!

Edit:

BE aware, there are differences with using adb and fastboot!

fastboot works differently, it is only used for flashing images into specified partitions, and is more tied in with the boot-loader process, i.e, it can understand the boot-loader mechanism. It also requires that:

under Windows, 'Administrator' privilege to execute it
under Linux, 'root' privilege

The reason it requires it is because it bypasses certain input/output of the hardware, and thus, does not "talk" in adb protocol, rather, it is to "talk" directly to the boot-loader. Something that cannot be done as a normal user. Here is the help for the usage of fastboot.

$ sudo fastboot
usage: fastboot [ <option> ] <command>

commands:
  update <filename>                        reflash device from update.zip
  flashall                                 flash boot + recovery + system
  flash <partition> [ <filename> ]         write a file to a flash partition
  erase <partition>                        erase a flash partition
  getvar <variable>                        display a bootloader variable
  boot <kernel> [ <ramdisk> ]              download and boot kernel
  flash:raw boot <kernel> [ <ramdisk> ]    create bootimage and flash it
  devices                                  list all connected devices
  continue                                 continue with autoboot
  reboot                                   reboot device normally
  reboot-bootloader                        reboot device into bootloader
  help                                     show this help message

options:
  -w                                       erase userdata and cache
  -s <serial number>                       specify device serial number
  -p <product>                             specify product name
  -c <cmdline>                             override kernel commandline
  -i <vendor id>                           specify a custom USB vendor id
  -b <base_addr>                           specify a custom kernel base address
  -n <page size>                           specify the nand page size. default: 2048

A well known-usage of fastboot is for flashing for example, to flash a recovery image: sudo fastboot flash recovery recovery.img, another is to directly flash a raw image, sudo fastboot flash system system.img. For more of for the case of kernel development, using this fastboot boot new_kernel, this temporarily downloads a new kernel and boot using that without touching the boot-loader's own boot.

There is also a limitation on the size of a raw image that requires to be flashed, when I say raw image, I am referring to a file that has a .img extension, the image must not exceed 128Mb. (I found out this when developing ics4blade, after the build completed, the system.img was 162Mb, and I tried to flash it but fastboot refused! To circumvent the limitation, had to create a CWM flashable zip file to do that and get around it!)

Practice caution and ensure the partition is correct and double-check and double-check again, if necessary, walk away from the computer, take a break, come back again, and double-check again, this is where it can go horribly wrong, flash the wrong file into the wrong partition... well shrugs


How to get fast charging diagnostics information I want to find out what type of Fast Charging is supported by different combinations of Android device, cable and charger.

I have a variety of devices, from different manufacturers and with different Android versions; a selection of USB chargers with different rated voltage and current outputs; and a miscellany of USB cables and adaptors.  I want to work out which ones to use to get the fastest charge rate for each.  Also, I would like to be able to decide which new chargers/powerbanks to buy for best compatibility.  I understand that there are various different methods of Fast Charging (as explained at battery - How does fast charging work?).  Unfortunately, the documentation supplied with my devices is pretty sparse.

Is there some way (an app, diagnostic screen, API call, etc.) that I can get my devices to tell me some of the following:

Which fast charging standard(s) does the Android device support (e.g. Qualcom Quick Charge 2.0, USB Power Delivery 3.0, etc.)?
Which fast charging standard(s) does the connected charger support?
What standard is actually in use?

Alternatively, are there any good rules for inferring what standard is in use from the current being drawn?

I have seen various apps that display the charging current, but the ones I have tried haven't displayed information about the standard being used.

This question is similar to How do I know that a charger is a Turbo Charger for my Moto, but I want to know about the supported standards, not just "am I fast charging?".  Also, I would like some way of interrogating the hardware, rather than having to google the specs for each device and charger separately.  For clarity, I am only interested in wired USB charging, not wireless.

AFAIK, no, it's not possible. Reasons :

Android only tells you the levels at which the device is considered to be charging normally or fast charging. This was based initially on current and now on power in watts. See Andrew's answer and also my answer there.
There are at least 5 proprietary fast charging technologies and obviously all details are not made public. Recognizing the device, the type of charging is a complex interplay between battery, charger and OS and is charging technology specific (whether current or voltage or a combination of both is used to charge fast) . The device may /may not recognize and notify if a different technology charger is used.
Even within the same technology, there can be variations; for example Qualcomm 2.0 increases current while Qualcomm 3.0 increases power (product of current and voltage).

IMO your mission would need you to have rooted devices, see the levels at which charging normally or rapidly is determined (first bullet point) and determine, if you can, from the system files what type of technology is used. It's easier to Google. To the best of my knowledge, there is no app that can help ( I may be wrong here, haven't updated myself)


Aerlink Wear Connect for iOS is not installing on Sony smartwatch 2 I bought Sony Smartwatch 2 and successfully paired it with Moto X Play using Sony "SmartConnect" and installed applications like Gmail, etc...

Now I'm trying to pair it with my IPhone 5s. For that I need to install "Aerlink Wear Connect for iOS" application. But when I try to install this application it is installing in my Moto X mobile but not in SmartWatch.

How to install "Aerlink Wear Connect for iOS" application in my Smart Watch 2?

Finally I found that Sony Smartwatch 2 is not an Android Wear.

It is Sony own OS which made for Android. So that it is able to install application only developed by "Sony", but not installing all the available applications of Android Wear.

Sony Smartwatch 3 is Android Wear.


Rooting Samsung Galaxy S II GT-i9100 How does one root a Samsung Galaxy S II GT-i9100 (with its original Android 2.3 Gingerbread), preferably under Linux Mint?

This questions pertains specifically the GT-i9100 version (not GT-i9100G nor GT-i9100T, et cetera), which currently has no entry under the rooting index.

I am particularly looking for a rooting method which does not wipe the data on the phone, as I am hoping to recover data afterwards. I have an 8GB external SD card.

You need the file http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1674014&d=1359080668 here and copy it to the external SD card (the one you connect to a slot in the phone)
Steps:

Save the file to external sd card
Open stock recovery (press power + vol up + home button)
Install zip from external sd card
Choose the file "CWM-SuperSU-v0.97.zip" from the SD card

Flash it and then reboot


Use Applications on post-boot mounted SD card? In order to increase free space on /data , I moved some 15Mb of application files to an ext2 partition on external SD card  that is mounted on /data/HWUserData/mnt

Specifically, I moved

  /data/data/com.opera.browser/lib/*

to

  /data/HWUserData/mnt/lib

and symlinked.

This worked fine until reboot, as the SD Card partition is not mounted at boot time - The Phone now says that Opera is not installed.

Is there some way I can tell android to rescan, or redo what ever it needs to do to detect that opera is installed and integral once again after mounting the sd-card? Does it have to do with the dalvik cache?

Another issue/solution is getting the sd-card mounted at boot-time, I know, but that is not this question.

From this XDA discussion:

  Create a script in /etc/init.d to do it. You'll need to remount / to
  read+write first though.

And solution:

  Thanks for your help! I'm quite firm in shell-operations, I just
  didn't think I could just put a script to /etc/init.d! :)

  I'v created a shell-script named 07sdcard and with the content: Code:

  #!/system/bin/sh rootrw ln -s /mnt/external1 /sdcard-ext rootro

  Works geat! :)


How to get a more Linux like experience on Android? Are there projects (e.g. ROMs) out there that offers a more Linux like experience on Android?

Here are some things that I hope for

easy installation on similar platforms
shell access
development tools such as gcc, Python

There are quite a few options already:

Chroot to a full fledged linux (search for debian chroot android, it's got quite a few hits)
There are also native ports of Debian or Ubuntu for some phone/tablet models.
Shell access is already there: Terminal Emulator
If you install an aftermarket firmware such as CyanogenMod you will get  root access, busybox, bash, an ssh client/server amongst other things
Here's the SL4A project (scripting layer for android), it adds python, lua, perl and other interpreted languages to android
You can build Qt applications (yes, even those using QtGui) using Necessitas -- a port of most parts of the Qt Desktop framework to Android. Applications as complex as Quassel (an IRC client/server) can be built with very minimal source changes. In theory this would allow you to build much of KDE4, though some parts (e.g. the Plasma workspace) may be too heavily tied to Xorg/GLX.
Most C/C++ programs from GNU/Linux that do not require a graphical interface can be compiled to run on Android using the Android NDK

You can also use Qpython3 for python in android .
Features:

Run Python3 applications including script
and projects on Android device
Execute Python3 Code & File From QRCode
Support SL4A Programming, can access
android's feature, like network, bluetooth,
location
Support Python3 console
Support QEdit which allow you edit Python
code
Support FTP server, which can let you
transfer the Python3 project from your PC to
mobile easily

You can use kbox for linux utilities on your non-rooted android device.
Expand the Linux Capabilities on Android video shows how to install busybox without root.

Other things, you aware of. Feel free to add it here


How to set high resolution on external monitor? I have Samsung Galaxy S3. I connect my phone to 29 inch monitor using HML + HDMI wires. Also I connect it to Apple bluetooth keyboard and magic mouse. I get a very nice experience of Desktop. However S3 has maximum resolution of 1280x720 which does not give a nice look on big monitors.

I have following questions:

Can I extend my monitor screen from mobile screen so I can drag and drop apps from one to another?
Can I change resolution of apps running on my monitor to higher than 1280x720.

Thanks

Note: External monitor does not have touch functionality.

Having a different external display was one of the new features with Jelly Bean 4.2  You will need a siutable update for your S3 to stand a chance.  What level of support you will get then is still in doubt depending upon the real hardware capabilities and what support Samsung put in.


How do I copy/move contacts from phone to my exchange account? My contacts are stored on a (Open-)Exchange server, so they are synchronized between phone, the server and my other mail clients (e.g. on my desktop PC).

However, I have some "phone-only" contacts and I want to copy or move them to my exchange server contacts.

How can I achieve this?

This isn't very elegant...

Open the Android Contacts   app
Menu --> Display options --> Choose contacts to display
Under each account, expand the list, make a note somewhere of what was checked, and then uncheck everything
Tap Done.  You should now be left with phone-only contacts
Menu --> Import/Export --> Share visible contacts
You will see some options for sharing a vcard file (.vcf).  You could email it to yourself, upload it to Google Docs (if you have the Google Docs app installed), etc.
Once you've confirmed you've shared the vcard file, unless you're feeling extra brave, do a quick backup of your contacts to your SD card: Menu --> Import/Export --> Export to SD card
Delete all the local contacts from your phone (long-press --> Delete contact)
Import the contacts you shared in step 6 (not the ones you backed up to your SD card in step 7, which will include all of your contacts) to Open-Xchange using the instructions on page 193 in the Open-Xchange User Guide.  More languages available here: http://oxpedia.org/index.php?title=Main_Page_CE#documentation
Back in the Contacts app, go to Menu --> Display options --> Choose contacts to display
Under each account, expand the list and recheck everything you unchecked earlier
Tap Done.  All your synced contacts should be visible again, including the ones you just exported (the next time your phone does a sync)


Nexus 7 wont appear on my PC in the bootloader, semi bricked So I tried to root my nexus 7. I realized I done screwed up. However, when I looked for my SuperSU installed file in TWRP, I forgot to install it before hand, when I was at my bootloader, or before that. Now my Nexus 7 will not appear on my P.C to save my life. I have tried it one 2 different cables and PCs. It won't appear as a media device no matter what I try. I also cant open up the OS for some reason. I followed this guide and that did solve my issue of having TWRP. Say I have 0mb internal storage, but I still cant install super SU, or boot up my OS. Whenever I try and start it now I get a slightly lit black screen forever.

EDIT: despite all this I am able to do commands like flashing
EDIT JUST A FEW MINUTES LATER: removing TWRP via fastboot erase or something, then reinstalling allowed me to see my nexus on my computer, install super SU, and reboot... into a still black screen. i guess ill try and reinstall the system os rom?
EDIT: A few hours ago I reinstalled and flashed the System.img Straight from motorolas website. It worked. Thanks if you helped.

TL/DR:
Device won't show up on my PC. Device is semi bricked in bootloader.

Did you ever tried using Wugfresh? Try it, they have everything explained in their software, how to install/remove drivers, easy root, bootloader unlock, and many other tools.


HTC Incredible says SMS storage is full, but it isn't My HTC Incredible refuses to let me view my SMS messages.  It will show the list of SMS senders, but when I click one to see their messages I get blocked by this popup:

  Unable to manage your messages because your storage is full.  Please
  delete content from other applications to make more space.

Of course I checked right away to see if I was using too much memory.  I went to Menu->Settings->SD & Phone Storage and saw I have plenty of space:

SD card - Available space: 5.72GB

Internal phone storage - Available space: 6.25GB

Phone memory - Available space: 571MB

I have more free memory than used memory so that can't be the problem.  I tried restarting my phone as well but no change in message.  I also Googled the problem and among all the "me too" responses found that other have this problem where SMS is blocked even though they have plenty of memory.

I couldn't get a clear resolution and I'm worried the answers are now out of date.  ZDNet published a couple of articles on the issue:

Have I solved my Droid Incredible storage problem?

Is your Droid Incredible low on disk space?

Both suggest this is HTC's fault and that there is no fix.  They say you can try clearing the cache on HTC's apps like Peep, Messages and Mail and also advise clearing the cache on your browsers.

I've tried these techniques, but they didn't work.

Does anyone know what causes this and what solutions exist?

The Droid Incredible's available space for apps to store their data is only 150 MB, but it's impossible to view the amount of free app space on the stock ROM.  So the error message is correct, but you have no way to view the available free space.

In technical terms: /data/data is mounted on a different partition than /data, and all your free space views show you the amount of free space in the 750 MB /data partition.

What you need to do is start clearing data for spps that are taking up lots of space and that you don't use often.  One possibility is clearing the web browser's cache.  Facebook is another big data hog.  Check your other installed apps to see how much space they are using on data.

Here's a dump of the df -h output on my Inc:

Filesystem                Size      Used Available Use% Mounted on
tmpfs                   206.5M     32.0K    206.4M   0% /dev
tmpfs                   206.5M         0    206.5M   0% /mnt/asec
tmpfs                   206.5M         0    206.5M   0% /mnt/obb
/dev/block/mtdblock3    248.0M    121.8M    126.2M  49% /system
/dev/block/mmcblk0p1    748.0M    237.7M    472.3M  33% /data
/dev/block/mtdblock6    149.0M     79.7M     69.3M  54% /data/data
/dev/block/mmcblk0p2    193.7M     37.1M    146.5M  20% /cache
tmpfs                     8.0M         0      8.0M   0% /app-cache
/dev/block/vold/179:3     6.6G      1.2G      5.4G  18% /mnt/sdcard
/dev/block/vold/179:3     6.6G      1.2G      5.4G  18% /mnt/secure/asec
/dev/block/vold/179:9     1.8G    951.8M    930.1M  51% /mnt/emmc

(Note: I'm running a recent Cyanogenmod build that allows for swapping the SD Card and internal storage mount points -- that's why /mnt/sdcard is showing up as 6.6G while /mnt/emmc is only 1.8G.)

You can see how /data is a 750MB partition with plenty of free space, while /data/data is a teensy 150MB partition that's over half full.

This XDA Thread has a flashable mod that will make /data/data a subfolder of /data rather than a separate mount point, unlocking all that 750MB for app storage and allowing all your free space views to be accurate.  You'll need to root your phone in order for this to work since it also converts the filesystems to ext4 and that's going to require a replacement kernel.  (Recent Cyanogenmod builds already have this support, but if you're running the stock ROM you'll need to flash a different kernel.)


I'd like to run Termux as root: possible? I'd like to have an SSH, HTTP and SMB server on standard ports on my phone.

There's a way to run Termux as root and have the servers run on privileged ports?

Running rooted Android 7.1 on an unlocked device.

The default su from Termux is simple. When run it brings /system/bin/sh for you instead of Termux's shell (typically bash). To solve this issue, you can install the custom su wrapper for Termux by

apt install tsu

And then you can run tsu so that your bash and everything is now under root privilege.

Further information:
Use an editor (like vim) to see /data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/su and you'll find that at line 10, it calls exec su $@ directly while in tsu, it performs shell detection and at line 80, it runs

exec su --preserve-environment -c "LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$PREFIX/lib $ROOT_SHELL"

to preserve the Termux enviroment.


Camera button reassign function So my power button broke on my droid 1 (yes old phone). Until I can get a new phone soon, I need a better way to lock and unlock my screen. Sliding up and down the keyboard slows down everything.

Is there an app or a way that lets me re-assign my physical camera button to do this?

Yes, there is. The first one coming to mind (forgive me, it looks like this is one of my standard answers here meanwhile) is Tasker, the most complete automation tool for Android. It lets you define actions based on events; so for your case, you could let the event Hardware -> Camera button pressed trigger the action "Display off".

You want to turn it on again the same way -- so simply make it two "profiles", and combine two events: "Camera button pressed" & "State -> Display: On" (with the "task" to turn the display off), and with "Display: Off" the other way round.

Remark: There's a 7 day trial version available on the developers website, so you don't need to buy Tasker straight away without being able to test it. As soon as you've got everything configured, export your configuration. So if after those 7 days you still cannot decide whether to buy, simply uninstall Tasker, install it again, and import your configuration. Before you hit me: That's what the developer himself wrote, so nothing illegal.


How to use Android in Wi-Fi repeater mode by bridging Wi-Fi with Access Point? I would like to extend a WiFi signal. I could buy a WiFi repeater, but a much cheaper solution would be using an older Android 4 device, which I own and don't use. The Android device is capable of creating a WiFi AP. So if I bought an external WiFi USB adapter for it, with a large antenna used as the receiver and the Android device itself as the AP, I could bridge the network.

The hardware should be possible. But how about the Android software? Will there be any issues, or any considerations I need to take note of?

That's not worth the trouble.

It's not supported out of the box by Android and you would have to (re)compile and configure and script many things. The dedicated router is the more reasonable and stable solution (and it's also cheap).

Reasons are the following. You would need:

USB host support
finding a USB wifi module that's supported by linux
Compile a kernel module or a new kernel (to support the USB module)
bridge utilities (maybe), bridge module in linux
a working wpa_supplicant binary for the new USB dongle
time
17EUR+ costs (Wifi USB dongle (starting around 12EUR) + USB OTG cable (5EUR))

In contrast to this the cheapest repeater-mode wifi router I found on Amazon was 18EUR and requires null additional fiddling (plus has a better antenna).


How to change Moborobo's SMS time I'm currently using the Android Smartphone Management Software Moborobo and was amazed of what it can do. But I noticed that everytime I send a SMS, the time in my message is not synchronized to the one either in my PC or in my smartphone.

Please help, Thanks! :)

The time issue seems to be a known bug has already been reported and fixed in Aug 2012:

SMS times bug - August 2012
Timestamp for text messages - May 2012

I suggest you update to the latest version, currently at 2.1.3.767 Beta. If that still doesn't work, I suggest you report it.


Turning off just email notification sound Possible Duplicate:
  How can I turn off Notification Sounds and leave phone sounds on

my dad just got a brand new Motorola XT603 running Android 2.3.5.  He would like to differ the notification sounds for emails/texts/voice mail but short of that, just turn off the sound for emails since he receives so many.  His email is NOT through gmail, but a work account.  Thanks in advance!

The easiest way to achieve this probably is:

get yourself an "empty" mp3 (i.e. one without any sound).
on your device's SD card, create a folder named media/audio/notifications (if it's not already there).
copy that "empty MP3" into this folder
Now select this file as notification sound for new mail

So when the new mail notification sound is being played, you won't hear it anymore :)


How do I resize/change resolution of pictures easily? I just tried to make a post on another StackExchange site, but unfortunately, when I tried to take a picture of the problem, I got an error that the image must be less than 2 MB to upload it to StackExchange! The edit button on my Android photos app lets me draw over, crop, change tint/brightness/contrast, and add lots of WACKY EFFECTS to my pictures, but I can't figure out how to shrink the resolution! Thanks in advance.

I'm not aware of any "native" or "pre-installed" capabilities. But the easiest way, if you need it more than once a year, is to use a suitable app. You can find some candidates in my app-listing Other photo editors. Examples:

JustResizeIt! allows to resize single images or entire batches. Comes for free, size less than 1MB, decent permissions (access storage and internet only).
Image Shrink Lite is even smaller (less than 400k), and additionally allows you to remove Exif data (location etc.) No network permissions requested, just read/write storage. Free again.

Both mentioned apps also have paid counterparts; I didn't check the differences between those versions. For more candidates, see the list linked above :)


Why does Sound Search Widget Keep Disappearing? Ever since I got the phone and continuing to this day, if I reboot the phone the Google Sound Search widget disappears from my home screen. I reinstall it from the widgets menu, and it's all good--until next time the phone restarts, and then it's deja vu, gone again!
Sometimes I don't notice until I need the widget. That's usually when I'm driving and hear a song I like on the radio. I can't safely reinstall a widget while driving so this is not good.
Is there any logical reason for this? Any way to prevent it?
I'm using a Nokia 7.2 running Android 10. I've had the phone about six months.
Currently the phone has build number 00WW_2_400_SP02 based on the "about device" info in the settings menu.
Other widgets I use do not have this behavior.

I was having the same problem. All you need to do is clear the data of Google play services and redownload it.


Second spellchecker doesn't work I have a Nexus 4, and I'm using Google keyboard on Android 4.3.1. When I switch the keyboard language from French (the system language) to Polish, spellchecking stops. I have the polish spell-checking dictionary installed.

Suggestion works in both languages. Spell-checking works only in french.

What should I do?

I'd rather fix this problem than use another keyboard.

This may depend on the keyboard used (Android vs Google). I have fixed this by selecting Gboard and adding there the languages I need.


Flashing stock rom through cwm Can I flash a stock rom through cwm? I have a rooted Galaxy Mega, with cwm installed and want to upgrade to the new kit kat samsung firmware.

Thanks.

The best practice for flashing stock Samsung firmware is through Odin on your PC with the original USB cable. This will remove the root and return your device in stock condition with the desired downloaded Android version.
The process is very easy you just have to flash the MD5 file using ODIN in download mode you can follow this useful guide with images Samsung Stock Firmware downloading and flashing guide


YouTube app won't display the same search results as the desktop version The main problem I've been having is that searching for "Stairway to Heaven" and a few other songs on the app returns only covers, live performances, etc; Only when I search on my laptop do I get the actual song. Is there any way to get past this issue?

I'm using an Xperia Miro ICS 4.0, and the default YouTube app.

Some videos on YouTube are not available to mobile devices. This restriction applies via the website (when accessed through a mobile device) as well as the YouTube app. This happens when someone has filed a "copyright claim" against a video (that is, they believe the video infringes their copyright, or "Content ID" matched the video against some copyrighted content, most likely the latter given that you're searching for a commercial music recording), and the alleged copyright-holder has told YouTube to allow their content to be used on desktops but not on mobile.

Even if it's possible to work around this, it would probably be illegal for us to make this information available to US citizens, because that's circumventing a technological restriction under the meaning of the DMCA. This applies regardless of whether the copyright claim is well-founded.

You can get the actual song by buying a recording of it, or by downloading it through some music-pirating service.


Where is the battery animation called when charger connected to phone (OFF)? I have Moto E (Rooted) which turn on when connected with USB via Laptop but not when connected to Wall charger instead it shows Battery animation. I got to know that battery animation is at framework-res.apk.

Now I want to know from where it is called so that i can change it as required.

At last I got the solution, you can achieve this by deleting system/bin/charge_only_mode file. Please do that at your own risk and before deleting have backup of that file. I got the desired result that was boot when its connected to wall charger and now its working fine. All the best!


How can I symlink the /cache folder on boot? After rooting and installing link2sd on my HTC Explorer, I still have low memory issues.

On Google Play, I can't download apps larger than 10-15M. This is because the /cache folder is in the internal memory, which is desperately small. In my version, Google Play writes directly in /cache, not in subfolders.

Using adb as root, I deleted /cache and created a symlink /cache -> /mnt/sdcard/cache.
This is fine, but when I reboot the phone the symlink is replaced by the old folder.

Is there a proper way to solve this issue once and for all?

Thanks for any hint,
A

You might want to take a look at DirectoryBind, which was developed for things like this. It takes care for the user-configured "mounts" at boot-time and also on-demand, so nothing should "disappear" on a boot.

Basically, it is intended to map things from internal/phone storage to external/sd storage -- especially for cases like yours, were internal memory is running low.

NOTE: According to ce4's answer, this method will not bring any profit concerning the /data folder, as /cache is using its own partition (this seems to apply to all Android devices -- checked with 7 different devices from 5 different manufacturers; according to ce4 this is especially needed on encrypted devices, as an unencrypted partition is required to store firmware updates onto for execution). So if your concern is increasing storage on /data, this won't do with /cache. But if you simply need more space in /cache, it should be perfectly fine. You could then use the original block device (where /cache was pointing to) for something else ;)

NOTE2: AFAIK Google Playstore uses /data/local to buffer its downloads. On most devices, this should only be a directory on the /data partition, and thus could easily be handled by DirectoryBind.

Additional hint: check with the df command from within a terminal whether the directory you want to move from internal to external storage is using a separate partition or not.


install a flashable zip, using the "Install Update from SD card" option built into any stock recovery I'm looking for a way to install a flashable zip (no OTA zip), using the "Install Update from SD card" option built into any stock recovery, without installing a custom recovery.
Is there any way to do this?
Will "unlocking OEM" in developer settings allow this?

Unfortunately this is not possible on devices newer than Android 5.0.

After 5.0, signature verification was enhanced to combat the Universal Signature bug.

Prior to Android 5.0, a bug existed in the Signature verification program, something to do with the way the signature was validated allowed another signature to result in the same validation ( The Universal Signature ) .

To answer your question for Android 5.0 and lower..

Repackage the custom system.img into an OTA Update format
Sign the update package with the Universal Signature
Hope that it validates through the stock program.

In most cases, the recovery program checks the format and signature are correct, then it check's if the package is designed for your device by reading the build.prop.

If your build.prop matches the package, and the signature is validated it will install.


How do I configure existing Power Controls widget in Android? I've added stock Power Controls widget to the home screen of my Android 2.3 (Cyanogenmod).
While being installed it displayed its settings screen.

Now I'm unable to reconfigure the widget. The only option I have is to remove and add the widget to home screen, so that the settings screen will reappear.

Is there any place where I can configure the Power Controls widget without re-adding it?

Not that I have found.  Looks like you only get that one opportunity.


Folder "mtklog" on SDcard keeps getting full I have a Jiayu G3S android phone.
Its system is a rooted Android version 4.2.1.

I've noticed that a folder called "mtklog" on my SDCARD was getting full with files (log files, I guess) until there was no empty space left.

So I learned on the internet that there is a "MtkLogger" app. This app is accessible via the "Engineer mode" (or some MobileUncleTools app of sorts).
The solution found on internet was to check the "/etc/mtklog-config.prop" file on my cellphone.
I looked into it, and indeed it exists on my phone. It contains some tags like mobile.log.enabled=false.

The solution guided to set all to false. Much to my surprise, all of them were already set to false.
All the logs were disabled already.
(Another kind of line referred to was max log size=300, and I've already changed it to 0 and 1 with no effect)

After lots of tests and research, I opened the MTKLogger app, which I had never done before. I had never seen the app screen. It allows to log events of 3 types (network, disk and cpu).

Ever since, this app opens on startup with all logging options set to on. It even started appearing on running process accused by the terminal.

Now, when that happens, I open the app via the notification, and use the options to STOP all logs and Delete all logs.

But when that happens (That is, the MTKLOGGER is logging and showing me it is logging), the log files go to "SDCARD/mtklog/mdlog" or "SDCARD/mtklog/netlog". These folders refers to the different log types I mentioned earlier.

What is strange is that none of these is the folder that originally bothered me. (i.e. "sdcard/mtklog/aee_exp")
And this folder keeps getting filled even with mtklogger not logging anything.
So now I have 2 problems: 1) MtkLogger keeps opening by himself, showing on the notification bar, with all logs enabled.
2) I still haven't found out the cause for the aeeexp folder to get filled. My guess is that another app is using it.

I have a Terminal Emulator app (with busybox commands installed).

Here's what I've already tried:

I've tried to create a file with the same name of the folder, so whatever is trying to write there, won't be able to. With that, all the logs went directly to internal storage. (Didn't work well and I gave up on this approach)
When I cleaned the internal storage, I cleared some *.zip files with random numbers as name.
I've tried to delete "/system/app/mtklogger.apk" and all the mtklog files that appeared as a find result on terminal.
I've tried to check running processes on terminal but no logging one appeared to me.
(The only one is Mtklogger, with started to run only after I opened it for the first time)
Is there a way to check what app/process is writing on that folder?
How can I  really unninstall the mtlogger app once and for all? What files should I delete? It has no option on
How can I investigate further on this?

I'm sorry for the long text and story-like question, I just couldn't sort clearly what informations would be useful or not.

After a while, and no valid answers, I have come up with the following workaround. The required steps are:

Have "Android Terminal Emulator" app installed, with busybox commands also installed (as described in question)
Make a list and check the folders that bother you. The list I've provided contains only files that I'm sure my phone won't need.
Create a bash script (.sh extension) with remove commands on that specific folders. Here is mine:

#!system/bin/sh
rm -rf /sdcard/mtklog
rm -f /data/log_other_mode/*
rm -f /data/core/*.zip
rm -rf /sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails

Place this script on an accessible folder. I've chosen mine to be /system/etc just as a convenience related to chmod'ing and such. And because unfortunately the sd-card is always mounted with "noexec" which means that you can't execute anything from here.
If you are not able to do so, it may be because your system folders are mounted as read-only. To change that, you need to do the following command in the terminal:

mount -o rw,remount,rw /system

and to revert it back to read-only:

mount -o ro,remount,ro /system

Note: You probably will need super-user (sudo) privileges in order to do these commands.

The terminal emulator contains an "Widget" option which allows you to place a shortcut to a command in your phone home page. I've used that option with the following command:

su -c /system/etc/scriptName.sh; exit

Every once in a while I click on this icon to make a clean. This asks permission for the user, since it contains a su command. When clicking "allow" the terminal finishes and closes automatically.

It's not an optimal solution since it needs the phone to be rooted, and you have to manually click the widget button. However, it was the best one for me, since making it run automatically would require it to ask for permission. I didn't want also to give the terminal emulator permanent access to su-privileges. My guess is that a more complex script can be made (e.g. one that monitors the size of the folders with the Disk-Usage command), but I'm happy as it is.


Send blind calls to voicemail? I'm getting more and more blind calls on my cellphone from telemarketers.

Is there an application that can send all incoming blind calls to voicemail?

FWIW, I'm running Cyanogenmod on a Galaxy Nexus.

Thank you.

I just saw that you don't want to block the calls, but send to voicemail.
My mistake.

As easy as one, two, three :)

Call settings -> Blacklist -> Small icon at the bottom corner -> Private numbers

That is for cm-10.2.0

Might be a little different if you have another version, but you get the idea.


How to hard reset a Pipo s2 tablet? How to hard reset a Pipo S2 tablet?

I know there are 2 steps:

Get into the part where the tablet shows you the "dead" android icon.
Get into the real menu from which you can choose to do an HARD RESET and any more options.

After several hours I've managed to get into step 1 by pressing (VOL +) then (reset button) while holding (VOL +) for 5-10 sec more. I've tried a lot of combinations to get into step 2, but no success. I can't get into the menu to hard reset the tablet.

If you can't boot the tablet and hard reset it in the settings, you could try to flash the official software using a computer and the tools/image available at http://pipo.cn/En This also does a hard reset. You can put the tablet in download mode by holding one of the hardware keys and pressing reset while connected to the PC with an USB cable.


CyanogenMod 10.2 on Galaxy S3 charging problem I have a Galaxy S3 with CM 10.2 build date 28-09-2013.

The problem I am facing is slow charging of my mobile. It takes around 6-7 hours to charge when connected to AC power source. Before CM with S3 stock rom, it used to take around 3-4 hours to charge 100%.

I tried searching on CyanogenMod forums, but couldn't get an answer on how to fix this issue. Does anybody know how to fix it?

Do you keep wireless or any other communication networks on while charging? This can slow down the charging process.


How to stop Google's Play Store from auto-updating itself (without rooting)? I have a problem with my tab. With the new version of Play Store, My tablet PC keeps restarting. So, I restored Google Play to the Factory Default. Soon after, it updated itself, causing the device to restart repeatedly when in standby. I am running 4.1.1 on my Karbonn ST10. I, at the time of posting the question, do not have any intention to root the tab.
Thanks,
Oxylibrium.

Go to Setting--> Data Usage

under the usage graph there is list of apps with usage specified on right side.

Go to Google Play and at the below you will find Option Restrict  Background Data
click on that check box..

and here you go.

Though you cant install any apps from Play store with these setting, but you can always enable background data whenever needed.


What is Marshmallow encryption protecting? I installed CM 13.0 onto a Nexus 6, which includes Android 6.0.1, and I have set a PIN. The Settings UI reports that my phone is encrypted.

However, my phone is able to boot all the way to the lock screen without entering my PIN. This seems to imply that only /data is encrypted. I was expecting that I would have to enter a PIN at boot time, the way I did with Ice Cream Sandwich and Lollipop. Furthermore, when I go to TWRP, I can see all my files without ever entering a PIN.

My understanding was that Marshmallow required full disk encryption, and that full disk encryption would require a PIN at boot time to decrypt anything useful.

What did I misunderstand here? If someone stole my phone and didn't know my PIN, what would they have access to?

Because I still use Shamu as personal device, I had experience with CM ROMs.

Nexus devices with L or M had forced encryption at first bootstrap - that is, forceencrypt flag is present in fstab.qcom, so your device is automatically encrypted.

In those cases, master key is encrypted with default password, which is default_password

Most probably, when you had set lock screen PIN, you haven't selected Require PIN to start device, hence, there is no preboot authentication.

In regard to FDE, in AOSP ROMs only /data is encrypted; but there are solutions for LUKS or PBE that are not user friendly. Several years ago, WhisperCore was launched and abandoned.


Downgrade Samsung 2 7.0 from CyanogenMod 10.1 (Jelly Bean 4.2.2) to stock ICS I recently updated my Samsung Tab 2 7.0 (GT-P3100) to Jelly Bean 4.2.2.

But I after successfully installing, I see that there's too many things that I don't like with the update.

Alphabetic Indexing is not present.
Confusing settings (unlike previous version)
Hate Apollo. Music suddenly stop. Shuffle always default to OFF whenever using the player. Liked more the default samsung music player.

Is there a way to restore back previous OS version provided by Samsung? Previously, it's 4.0.4 if my memory serves me right.

I was also trying to "Restore" in Samsung Kies but the software always cannot detect my tab. Tried uninstalling/reinstalling Kies with the same outcome.

How can I go back to stock ROM?

It’s very important to make sure you perform a backup of all your data before attempting to install this!
Follow the steps below:

Make a backup of your all data.

Download the stock firmware for your device here. (Stock ROM is also on 4.2.2)

Download it and then unzip the file. (Do not extract the tar.md5)

Open Odin 3.04 (If you don’t have it you can download it here)

Restart your device into download mode, to do this press the Power  and Volume Down button on your device.

Connect your phone and wait until you get a yellow/blue color with port number in Odin software interface. (If your system didn't detect the device, re-install the USB device driver/Kies)

Add the firmware_name.tar.md5 to PDA, verify re-partition is NOT ticked, Start flash, don’t touch anything and wait a few minutes.

Your device should now reboot.

NOTE: Do it on your own RISK


Downlading works fine on wifi but not on data I am trying to download a season on my mobilw with android app. As soon as it connects to my office wifi it starts downlading but its not downloading on my mobile data. When downlaod was initiated it was downloading perfectly fine. My mobile data is much faster than my WiFi so i want mobile data downloading. Please help, from my end i have checked all the settings

Please mention through which app you are trying to download.
one possible reason it is not downloading on mobile data is most apps don't download content on mobile data by default, you have to go to the app settings and check if there is any option saying download only on wifi, if that's the case then just enable downloading on mobile data from there.


How to check an application's checksum or hash on Google Play? Some free applications on Google Play are limited to the United States so the rest of the world has to use dodgy sites to get them. However the security of such sites are questionable as the apps might be modified and contain some kind of malware.
Is there a way to get the SHA or MD5 hash of the apk file from the play store so it can be compared with the downloaded one to make sure that it's safe?

The  Guardian Project's free and open-source app Checkey does much of what you're looking to do.

via F-Droid:
"Checkey is a utility for getting information about the APKs that are installed on your device. Starting with a list of all of the apps that you have installed on your device, it will show you the APK signature with a single touch, and provides links to virustotal.com and androidobservatory.org to easily access the profiles of that APK. It will also let you export the signing certificate and generate ApkSignaturePin pin files for use with the TrustedIntents library."


Phone Factory Reset without carrier apps I am trying to reset my phone (Samsung Galaxy X Cover 3) to factory defaults, using "Settings->Backup and Reset->Factory data reset".

However, there is a step that the carrieer (Orange) has added, it installs several applications (Games, TV, Voicemail, etc) during the first boot.

A black screen without any botton appears and say "installing applications", when the installation is finished the android welcome screen appears.

Is there a way to avoid this step so that no Orange applications are installed ?

(I have tried to interrupt it, restarting the phone during the app installation step, but it is re-run after the reboot).

No, it is not possible to skip the "Installing Applications" screen.

However, you can disable these applications in Settings. If you have root access you can also uninstall them completely.

You can also change the firmware to a non carrier one with Odin. Be careful, because this can brick your device if not done correctly.

Firmwares can be downloaded on Sammobile. (An official firmware will not void warranty)


SSH client for Android with scp and sftp features I have tried SSHjuice and Termius and neither of these have the scp features ( I couldn't find it in the free/trial version ).
So can anybody tell me is there any SSH client (free version) for Android that have scp (secure copy ) or sftp features.
I couldn't find it in Google. thanks .

For ssh and scp, use Termux. It's a fully feature Linux type terminal for Android. Use it like a normal Linux terminal.

Sftp, scp, and ssh are all included in the openssh package.

It's also free and open source

Download Termux from the play store

To install openssh run

pkg install openssh


Google Maps unthaws "itself"? I have a relatively specific question - I'm on a SonyEricsson xPeria Mini Pro (sk17i), using Android 4.0.4 with a rooted Stock Rom.

To conserve battery, I'm regularly freezing some apps I only use occasionaly (like FB, Skype, and also Google Maps), using Titanium Backup. They would otherwise run in the background permanently, which I don't want them to do.

The thing I experienced is, that Google Maps somehow seems capable of unthawing itself - once in a while it returns to running in background.

Anyone else noticed this? Is there a way to prevent Google Maps from doing so (Or more likely prevent the Android OS from unthawing Maps)?

Thanks for the answers

Running in background does not mean the app did "unthaw" itself. To understand this, some background information might be helpful:

"Freezing" actually doesn't change the app or uninstall it. It just marks it as "unavailable", so it no longer shows up in the app drawer etc. It should also no longer receive broadcasts. But it's still there. So if another app knows its "intents", it could explicitly call them – and they would respond. This is what most likely happens here: Something is placing an explicit call to it.

Before freezing Maps, I've disabled some of its "listeners" (I do no longer remember which ones), which can be done with several apps, e.g. Autorun Manager Pro or ROM Toolbox Pro. For me, Maps no longer wakes up.

I'd recommend you taking a look at Autorun Manager (you might check its free version first). As it offers both, freezing and receiver-blocking, it would be the first choice concerning this. Oh, same applies for ROM Manager, by the way, which also offers a free version. So you've got the choice to check them both, comparing, and then deciding which one to buy – as full functionality in both cases only comes with the payed versions.

PS: AFAIR the dev of Autorun Manager wanted to implement a freezing method which automatically un-registers receivers. So you might want to check that one first.


How do I remove gapps from CyanogenMod I installed CyanogenMod 11 on my HTC One with CyanogenMod Installer. So I got also the google Apps (gapps) on my device. But I need a CM11 without gapps.
I did then the following without success:

copy cm-11-20140308-SNAPSHOT-M4-m7.zip to /sdcard/
boot to recovery mode -> recovery -> ClockworkMod Recovery v6.0.4.6:
"wipe data/factory reset"
"install zip" choosing the zip-file
"reboot system now"

So I got a new CM11 but with gapps still installed.

What should I do in addition to "wipe data/factory reset" to get rid of this apps?

The solution for my my problem was:

Wipe data/factory reset AND
Clear cache and Dalvik cache AND
Format system partition

This can be done using ClockworkMod using various menus.


Large gaps between home screen icons, can it be reduced? The icons on the Samsung Galaxy S3 have large gaps between them, enough so that if they were moved closer together you could fit at least one more row and maybe one more column. Is there a way to change this?

This is what it looks like:

AFAIK there's no built-in method to achieve that personalization.

I would go with Apex Launcher by Android Does available from Google Play Store, to use with Android 4.0+, it's free and among the features you'll find:

  Customizable homescreens and grid size
  Scrollable dock
  Infinite & elastic scrolling
  Customizable app and folder icons
  Multiple drawer styles
  Drawer apps sorting
  Hide apps from the drawer
  Enjoy homescreen gestures
  Backup/restore settings and data

APEX Launcher Homescreen Settings:

Other features can be found if you go PRO.


Where are the bookmarks in Firefox for Android? This may be a ridiculously simple question, but where is the bookmarks list in Firefox for Android?

I'm looking at the interface on my Galaxy Tab 10.1, and I can't find the bookmarks anywhere. They're not available when clicking on the top right corner. They aren't available anywhere else.

The only place I can find them is when I open a new tab, I get an interface which shows my bookmarks as one option, along with "History", "All Pages", and "Desktop".

Surely I don't have to open a new tab every time I just want to go to a bookmark?

This is one of those things that's so simple it seems they haven't even bothered to mention it in documentation. At least, not that I've seen.

From at least Firefox 11 onwards (may have originated in 10) you just need to tap on the address bar. The dropdown menu with the four tabs you mentioned (including Bookmarks) should appear when you do. This also applies to phones, though the tabs on the phone version appear across the top of the menu right under the address bar rather than along the left side.


Are free messaging Apps genuine? There are lot of free messaging Apps in the App store.

I would like to know whether the following two apps are genuine : way2sms and Kik

And I was just wondering, how are they able develop such apps and allow people to use it for free ?

Yes, such apps are genuine.

I am not familiar with Kik, but assuming it is similar to way2sms, they gain advertising revenue from page views.

Kik mentions having over 120 million users and way2sms has 40 million+ users.

For example for the 40 million users of way2sms, assuming that the advertising rate is $0.01 per 1000 page views (I'm not sure about the actual rates). And assuming an average of 10 page views per user per week. Which gives 400 million page views a week.

Then the advertising earnings will be $4000 per week. (The above is just an example, I'm sure I made a lot of wrong assumptions)

  So the way2sms business model is to buy messages from network
  operators and give these messages free to the users, and recoup the
  cost from advertising revenue gained from page views.

I'm assuming kik does somethig similar.

A brief interview with the founder of way2sms can be found here.
And another article here.

Edit : I did some reading up on Kik, I didn't find much but I think they use a freemium model where their app and basic services are free but they charge for some additional services.

For example, they charge money for some stickers.


prevent google play from showing books only I want to prevent google play from showing any books because there are some inappropriate books and google play's parental control didn't work perfectly(as they said not 100%).

I don't want to disable all google play, I still need to install apps .

I've seen this question and looked under Settings -> Apps -> All, I see google play store and google play services but I don't see "google play books" or anything like that(I see "content share" but I don't know if this is what I want).

I have device sony xperia P android 4.0.4 but I need instructions for a Samsung device as well(my aunt's one, don't recall device version).

I prefer not to "root" the devices(but I'm ready to do this if it's the only option).

If the Google Play Books app is installed then you can disable that using the method you linked to in your question. However, the store-front of Google Play Books is part of the Google Play Store and cannot be disabled. Maybe it could be hidden with some root modification but I doubt whether such a modification to do this exists. I suspect much of this is managed on the server-side (as Andrew T.) mentioned and so hiding it would be the only possibility.

You can make sure that no books can be downloaded without the password for the Google account by opening up the Google Play Settings and setting Require password for purchases to For all purchases through Google Play on this device. Note that this also affects apps, music, etc.

Sorry this isn't possible! I suppose you could always send a feedback request to Google...


Backlight turns off on high brightness Mine LG G2 has a very strange backlight issue. The backlight is working on low brightness levels, but turns off after 40% of brightness. Under very bright light I still can see that the image is still present on the display, so the screen is working itself. When I change brightness level back under 40%, the backlight turns on again.

What could be faulty? Screen or motherboard?

It turned out that motherboard was faulty. I've replaced the motherboard and the issue has gone.


Google Voice question I'm traveling internationally soon and will have unlimited internet usage but regular calling/texting will be restricted or I'll have high roaming charges. So I'm wondering how Google Voice works... is it like a relay where someone calls my Google Voice number and and then Google calls my regular number to complete the call? Or is it pure voip and will work through internet service alone? And will call quality suffer/improve depending on internet quality/speed? Thanks in advance

A Google Voice number forwards any calls it gets (and I believe texts) to numbers you set up. There is an option where all calls to that number can also ring in Google Hangouts.

If you are travelling, you could download Hangouts on your phone and make a temporary Google Voice number forwarding calls to your home phone. When the number gets a call it will ring your home phone and in your Hangouts app if your phone has access to internet.

If you choose to answer it in Hangouts, it's the same as having an internet call with the person who called you. Call quality will suffer/improve depending on internet quality/speed.

If you are going out of US/Canada, I don't know if you will be charged for calls. Most questions can be answered here


I bought an Android ringtone at Google Play Store on my PC. How do I transfer it to my phone and select it as my ringtone? I bought an Android ringtone at Google Play Store on my PC. How do I transfer it to my phone and select it as my ringtone? The song is Money Talks by ACDC. I bought it at this link: Google Play link to buy ringtone

Follow this -

Menu > Settings > Sound > Phone ringtone > Sound picker > Music library > Select tone

Remember, this is the general way to pick a tone in Xperia (Sony) phones. Terminology may be different in other devices.


Android security patch level from the future? Device: OnePlus One, non-rooted, stock Cyanogen OS

I installed an OTA update today (27 August 2016).

Now, the Android security patch level shows a date from the future (1 September 2016).

Why is it such a date?

GiantTree's explanation sounds plausible but there is a bug report raised on first of this month for a patch released last month with similar concern : Issue 218947:  Security Patch Level shows the future date?

There has been no revert on this from Google, so the cause is uncertain. OP may star the bug report to be updated by Google


How to create a shortcut to a text file I have a text file somewhere on the SD card.

How can I create a shortcut to this file on the "desktop" to open it immediately?

(HTC Wildfire)

Linda File Manager allows you to do that. Just long press the file and select Create Shortcut. A shortcut icon shall appear on your Home screen

As a side note, it is also a nice file manager.

There might be tons of other options, though.


Certain applications icons are missing in Nova Launcher I have Nova Launcher (Prime version) installed on my Galaxy Nexus phone and I have noticed, that some of applications are missing in this launcher. In particular:

Voice Search, and
Sound Recorder

I can see these applications in Settings > Apps > All:

and in Google Play, but there is no sign of them in Nova Launcher. Icons to these applications are not present in NL's menu (app drawer), not on any of desktops and I can't even add them to desktop because, when long-pressing desktop and selecting Add to Home Screen > Apps, neither of these applications is listed on application list:

When I open up my app drawer in Nova Prime, I also can't see these apps. Notice, that I don't have Apps and Widgets tabs in my app drawer, because I have modified these. I've added my own tabs and removed Widgets tab, which I don't use at all. However, what concerns me the most, is the fact, that my app drawer contains different menu options in context menu than in case of other users (see geffchang's answer as reference). I have Play Store and Nova Settings:

While other have Show Hidden Apps and Edit Tab.... This, however, is just a strange issue (and possible a clue), but doesn't change much, because, if I go to Nova Settings > Drawer > Hide Apps and select Show Hidden Apps from context menu, then my Hidden Apps list still does not contain these two, I'm looking for (Voice Search and Sound Recorder). This list contains only these applications, that I see in Add to Home Screen > Apps list.

I have absolutely no idea, why I can't see these two applications in any of Nova Prime lists and how to add them to either home screen or app drawer. Can anyone help here?

They are probably hidden.

If you go to Nova Settings > Drawer > Hide Apps do you see them listed there with ticks next to them? If so, un-tick them and they will re-appear in the drawer.


Disappearing Apps on Galaxy s3 During the download of an app, or after the app has finished downloading, it will automatically disappear. It will be recorded in the Play Store as being "Installed" but it is nowhere to be found on my device. What is going on!?

The app is not being removed from your device, but it does get removed from the launcher.  This means that the icon to start the app has been removed.

You can add the icon back again by going into "All Apps" and find its icon, then long-press it to drag it onto a home screen or folder.


How do I enter twrp recovery? I unlocked (not rooted) my HTC One XL using official HTC method. Then I install goomanger and installed latest open recovery script TWRP 2.3.0.0 evita. goomanager said that it was installed. Then I tried to boot into recovery from goomanger (there was a note that root access will be acquired and if this doesn't happen I have to go to recovery manually). Nothing happened I was still in goomanager.

From  TWRP website -->You must be S-OFF or have taken HTC's unlock to use a recovery on your device!

So I booted into fastboot and then selected recovery and pressed power button. See the screenshot for what happened. I got the 'briliant' screen then black screen with mobile and green something above it and then black screen with mobile and red triangle. The red one stays there for 2-3 minutes and then mobile restarts into normal mode.

I want to run twrp to install cm10

Installing a recovery and flashing your rom

Download your recovery.img or wahtever the name is to your fastboot folder.
adb reboot bootloader
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot reboot recovery
Now use your recovery to flash your rom.

At this point you may not be able boot into your rom if you do not have S-OFF.But give it a try. If it works then forget the next few lines.

Copy the boot.img file from inside your rom and copy it to your fasboot folder.
adb reboot bootloader
fastboot flash boot boot.img.

Now you can reboot to boot into your rom.


Files and folders are visible on computer, but NOT visible on Android's file explorer I have Nexus 6 running on Lollipop. I am seeing folders in Android File transfer on the computer which are apparently not real, or at least not visible on the phone in file explorer.

Here, you see the "Music" folder on PC,

But not on Android,

In addition to seeing the folder only when I look from the computer. This seems to be the opposite problem everyone else has. What is going on here?

It's due to a difference in permissions.

When you are looking from the computer, you are accessing the phone over ADB or MTP, which is likely running with special privileges, such as 'shell' or 'root'. When you are looking from the app on the phone, you are running as a certain Android 'userId' and 'appId' in a sandbox which does not necessarily have access to other user's files or many system files. In fact, Android 4.2 and later uses file namespaces and bind mounts to make other user's files completely invisible (not even mounted) when another user is logged in. Even a root file explorer will not see unmounted files.

The only way to see all system files is to be running as root. The only way to see all of a particular user's files on external storage is to be logged in as that user, thus forcing the system to mount the appropriate external storage folders.


Nexus 5 failed recovery due to /data partition I got a nexus 5 off of eBay, the seller said he had tried to root it and failed so I thought I would have a crack at it.
I thought it would be an easy restore but I ran into a few problems:

Phone originally came with 6.0.1 installed.
On android 5+ I could not access the standard recovery screen, and when I pressed power+volUp it just said formatting /data and would not move from that.

Rolled back to 4.4 and I got into the ususal recovery screen.
Tried to do a factory reset, but it again stuck at formatting /data.
I left it the entire night while I slept and it was still saying formatting /data. in the morning, nothing had changed.
Trying to boot the phone normally just left it on the 4 circles startup screen.

I've tried doing a full flash of stock android with each seperate part manually.
Also /data is unable to be mounted in any custom recovery, like it is corrupted or locked somehow.
With the stock recovery, it cannot be detected by adb, but in cwm it can. However, it still doesn't allow access to /data.

Checking the /data folder in adb shell shows it's completely empty, and the same with system even after flashing and flashing again.

Can anyone advise me as to what might be the problem here?

I used this link to repair my /data directory:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/general/howto-repairing-corrupted-data-partition-t2577447

Fortunately I was able to boot into fastboot mode the usual way ( Volume down and power at the same time ) unfortunately TWRP kept looping after erring on the corrupted /data folder. I ended up replacing TWRP with "Philz Recovery Nexus 5" because it booted up normally. I then formatted the /data, /system, /cache directories. That fixed the /data directory error and corruption problem. I was able to load CM13 successfully after that. I had to use a OTG external USB drive to load Philz Recovery Nexus 5, CM13 and GApps. I hope this helps. I'm sticking with Philz Recovery Nexus 5. It fixed the problem!


Upgrade Android to a new major version in Virtual Box Is it possible to upgrade an Android OS in Virtual Box to the next major version?

I've installed Android v7.1, but want to upgrade to v9.

I've been unable to find an ISO for v9, so I wonder if there is an internal upgrade process I can use.

You don't find an Android x86 9.0 image because now (2019-03-03) they are still working to get the Android 8.1 release finished.

As far as I know the Android x86 project does not provide the possibility to upgrade an existing installation. The recommended way to get a new version whilst keeping the existing app data is to use two partitions, one system partition and one data partition.

Therefore an "upgrade" can be done by creating a new virtual machine, with an empty system partition and the existing data partition for the old installation:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/android-x86/5XrE2lo7uac


Show Unread Messages on email shortcut? On my old phone* my gmail shortcut would list the number of unread messages I had in my inbox.
I can't figure out how to do this on my Razr. Is there a good app/widget I can use for this if there is nothing built in?

*An HTC Incredible.

Perhaps you had the Google Unread Mail app on your old phone?


Forward MMS via EMail I've send someone a pretty long MMS (just text) but he wasn't able to receive. Is there a way to retransmit via EMail. E.g. copy the whole text and paste it into an email instead?

Thanks.

I think so.

Find the message you sent in the "Messaging" app.

Long-press on it.

Choose "Copy message text".

Now run the mail app, compose an email, and in the body of the message, long-press, and choose "Paste" from the pop-up menu.


Where to place .mp4 files in Nexus 7? I have connected my Nexus 7 to my Macbook, and I am using the app Android File Transfer.

I want to place an .mp4 movie, but I am not sure where to place it. I have tried placing it in the Movies folder, but then when I go into my Nexus and go to Play Movies and TV, is not there.

Where am I supposed to place that file, so that I can open it from Nexus?

Are you talking about Google Play Movies & TV? I think this is only for rented / purchased movies in Google Play.

To play an MP4 file on your device, try an app like MX Player.


Acer Iconia Tab 10(A3-A40) not booting I deleted the rom and recovery(by mistake) from my tablet(Acer Iconia Tab 10) and at least it booted in a bootloop, now, after 4 hours, the display is not even turning on, I tried to recharge the tablet and when I plug in the USB, the recharging sign shows up on the display.
I cannot even access fastboot or recovery.
Is there something that I can try ? Or its dead.

If your tablet has Mediatek MT8163A SoC then all you need is:

SP Flash Tool To download firmware from PC.
Stock Firmware for MT8163A Iconia Tab 10.
Use Download Only to download the missing system.img and recovery.img


Restoring purchases made with In App Billing How can I switch the Play Account used for in-app billing?

No matter which account I "activate" in the Market app, all in-app purchases only go through the first account which is contrary to the experience when purchasing normal apps.

When purchasing normal apps, the billed account is the one that was active in the Market app at the time of purchase.

This causes a problem as I am also unable to restore my in-app purchases unless the account that made the purchases is the primary account on the device.

I asked Google. This was their response.

  Thanks for writing in. I understand you would like to know how to
  choose what account in app purchases are billed to. I apologize for
  any frustration this has caused. When you go to make an in app
  purchase the purchase is going to be billed to what ever account was
  used to download the app the purchase is going through.


Gallery is not opening I have multiple issues in my android device and I believe all are related to Gallery.

Gallery is not opening.
No images in Google Photo.
When I go to File Manager > DCIM > Camera, I see all images. If I open any of these image files, it gives me an option to opens files with Google Photo.
Phone is not in silent/ vibration mode. However, phone doesn't ring for any incoming calls and alarm.
I open media players like Music, MX Player, etc; I don't see any audio file in any location. But I can play audio files, if I go to File Manager.

I did..

Reboot device multiple times
Removed and reinserted battery and
Did Clear Data and Clear Cache for Gallery

However, issues not fixed.

I don't want to reset my android device. Can these issues be fixed without doing reset?

Please guide me. How to fix it?

EinfoMail

Your phone has malwares that hide files by adding a .nomedia file in every folder, and such folder should not be scanned and indexed by multimedia players.

Download ES Explorer, go to its settings and enable Show hidden files. Afterwards browse to every location where your photos, videos, music are stored and you should see a .nomedia file, delete it. Your files should now appear.


Possible to connect Android phone to a port on router My son wants to connect his Android phone to a port on his router. The details of phone and environment follow.  Any advice on whether this is possible would be much appreciated.

Phone: WIKO
Model: U FEEL

Android version 6.0 (08)

Developer Optoins: ON

USB Debugging: ON

Verify apps over USB: ON

Select USB Configuration:

(possible options)
- Charging
- MTP
- PTP
- RNDIS
- Audio Source
- MIDI

Disable USB audio routing: ON

Show all ANRs: ON

Sorry I violated the forum's strict posting rules....
I found answers to both my questions on a couple of other forums - so, sharing KNOWLEDGE
 1. both my son's WIKO and my SONY XPERIA XZ have reportedly had the driver removed or incapacitated in the Linux kernel and as neither phone is ROOTed there's no way strightforward way to install a driver
 2. and yes Robert, I meant the RJ45 Ethernet port


Accidentally i have uninstalled my home launcher there is no launcher in my phone.i also switched off and switched on . it showed only samsung nothing else.My device was already rooted and i thought by factory data reset it would work but now i can't  even open the recovery mode.i guess my phone is empty. please help me to fix it.

First thing first:

You have to Factory reset your phone and then reboot it, most probably it will get switched on. Then you create or login with Google ID (you can as I did it in my old Micromax A76).
Now tap on setting===>app===>Google Play===>launch. (If you have logged in, you can easily launch Google store by only this method if "Home Launcher" is uninstalled in any rooted Android device.
Now install any 3rd party launcher from Goggle like Go Launcher, Solo Launcher or any launcher.

Enjoy :) You have got your phone back from a Coma ;)

P.S.  emphasized text Please make sure you are not doing Factory reset again without putting the apk of your current launcher in root folder.

Feel free to ask anything regarding this post.


Can I play movies on an Amazon Fire HD from an external USB hard drive? I read the some Android devices are able to mount USB hard drives or pendrives connected directly to the miniUSB of the Android device:

http://www.greenbot.com/article/2155300/how-to-hook-up-a-usb-flash-drive-to-your-android-device.html

I would like to know if the Amazon Kindle Fire HD is able to do so.

Can I play movies on an Amazon Fire HD from files in an external USB hard drive?

Edit: I didn't realize you are pretty experienced and probably know most of this already.

TL;DR: root device, install Stickmount via ADB, profit. Physically speaking, grab a USB-OTG cable and use that to connect your device. Probably a bad idea to run any hard drive that isn't externally powered, but flash drives work great.

So I don't have one of the devices physically, so I can't guarantee that this will work. However, I have fiddled with one of my friend's devices separately, and have done extensive work on my FireTV, so I'm fairly optimistic this will work.

Your first step will be to root the device. This means that you have access to all parts of the OS that Amazon was previously restricting. This will allow you to install Stickmount, which is an app that enables your device to mount external storage.

Once you have downloaded the APK, follow the XDA-Developers page on installing Minimal ADB and Fastboot. This will be used to connect to the android device.

You have a couple options on how to connect. You can either use a USB cable, and there's lots of documentation for that, or you can connect via wifi. I find wifi connection to work fine, so I'll leave instructions for that method.

1) Drop the apk of stickmount into the same folder as adb.

2) Run adb per the instructions for your machine from XDA-Developers.

3) Find the IP address of your Kindle.

4) Run the following commands individually:

adb kill-server

adb start-server

adb connect (IP address of your device- probably 192.168.1.xxx or thereabouts)

adb install (filename of Stickmount- probably something like stickmount_xxx.apk)

If successful, Stickmount will have been installed on the Kindle.

Run Stickmount to make sure it works, then restart your device. On reboot, you can plug in the external storage via a USB-OTG cable. I'd strongly advise against using a self-powered hard drive- I'm not sure how much power SSD's draw, but a spinning drive is definitely out. You're totally safe with a flash drive or card reader though. I did this a lot with my Nexus 10 on a road trip- worked great.

Once rooted, you have a couple other options. I won't clutter this response here as they are unrelated, but you can install the google play store, use XBMC/Kodi, and a lot more. Feel free to ask any questions you have about that.