Obtaining Ip address loop for LG Escape 3 I recently came back home from vacation and attempted to reconnect my phone to my home wifi, only to find myself in a great struggle to get my phone to loacte the IP address. It continues to insist that my connection is poor and conveys the words "avoided poor network". However I know the truth to be quite the opposite for all the other devices in my house connect without issue. But for some reason my phone refuses to obtain it. Need help to resolve this problem please!

Hey I've had this problem before forget the wifi the reconnect if that doesn't work tell me


Thumbnail images and screen shots have disappeared after installing booster I've had this phone (ALCATEL 918) for a few weeks. I felt it was moving exceptionally slow. So, I downloaded booster.

Then, I noticed that all of the thumbnail images and screen shots have disappeared. Other then that, everything else works fine. How do I fix this?

This booster probably deleted all the cache files from your phone and as a result you don't see the thumbnails of your previous photos.

Go to

sdcard/DCIM/

and delete the .thumbnails folder & restart your phone. That should bring back your thumbnails.


Rooting an unbranded tablet I bought one of these simple cheap Chinese no-name tablets: HDMI, Bluetooth, HD display, dual-core CPU. Unfortunately, it came without official Google apps such as Market and Gmail. I tried different ways to install these apps. Every time I got a Force Close error.

I'm using Ubuntu as my workstation and looked with adb for the device. Found one, good! The command lsusb gives me

Bus 001 Device 031: ID 18d1:4e22 Google Inc. Nexus S (debug)

I've tried obtaining root access on this device, without any success. Information about the hardware is attached as a screenshot, made with Quadrant Benchmark.

I have tried these tools:

SuperOneClick
UniversalAndroot
EasyRootICS

BusyBox is installed but without su. Cannot remount /system, because its not permitted.

Cannot login with adb root, it fails with the following message

> adbd cannot run as root in production builds

If you don't know what device you have, it's hard to get any assistance.
Without any warranties of success, and without assuming any responsability by what may happen to your device, I can suggest that you visit UnlockRoot, known to work with tons of devices, may became a solution for yours.
The process is done with three steps:

Your device must be in USB Debugging mode. Turn it on, go to Settings-> Applications-> Development and check the box.（Look Here）
Connect your device to your PC, Run UnlockRoot.exe.
Click "Unlock Root", enjoy!

And it's reported to work quiet well, see last entry labeled "What are the Risks of Rooting?".
The FAQ section is also quiet useful.

Read the documentation from the website and proceed at your own risk.


Not able to access 3G Data when no Wi-Fi connection Since I updated to Lollipop on my Moto G, I cannot access the internet when I am not logged into a Wi-Fi connection.
Maps tells me that I'm offline, Chrome tells me that I am offline.
I go into Settings/Data usage and toggle the Cellular Data and Cellular Data Limit switches, same results.
Toggle back to normal, same result.
Restart phone, same result.
Check settings for individual applications, nothing changes.
Any idea of something I'm missing?

that was weird.
the day after I posted this, I dialed the magic 4636 number, changed nothing in the settings and the mobile data was working allright. I was confused.

Then today, it happened again.
Mobile data was unavailable, there was a ! over the signal strenght icon. I ran the Ping test and I got this:

Ping IPAddr: Fail: IP Addr not reachable
Ping hostname : Fail: Host unreachable
HTTP Client test: FAIL : IOException.
This also disabled the normal calling capability of the phone (see other post :error: call not sent. Unable to make outcalls?)

I turned the phone OFF and ON.
It booted allright and now I has H+ and full mobile data usage.

So I thank you for the help, and I hope the workaround will be good enough to close the issue for now.


Unexpected "insufficient memory" warning w/ adopted SD card According to this answer, I expected to get 64GB internal storage by adopting 100% of 64GB SD card to 32GB phone.
Though I've got the warning when total data size reach to 32GB.

Please let me know what I should do to expand the internal storage.

Steps I tried

Run following command.

adb shells
sm list-disks
sm partition DISK private

No setup wizard starts. It adopt SD card silently....

Go Setting > Storage to make sure the SD belongs to Internal Storage.
Reboot the device.
Go Setting > App. And made apps to store in "SD card".
DL contents through app.

Current Storage Status

Setting > Storage > Internal Storage section

Internal: 31.99GB
SD: 0.3MB

Setting > Storage > Internal Storage section > each detail page

Internal: 9GB
SD: 23GB

I've found the solution.

It is the "migrate data" function.

You need to go Setting > Storage > SD card of internal storage, then run "migrate data" function inside the right top menu after running commands.

I didn't do this because I want to put just certain apps to the SD card,
but seems like I can't.


How to download .docx document to the phone from Google Drive? Currently using Google Drive version 2.18.252.01.45 and I have a .docx document in my drive that doesn't download to the phone as a .docx document. It downloads as a .pdf document. I tried looking for options similar to those found in a web browser which allows you to 'Download as', but the Android app doesn't have that option. It automatically converts the .docx document to PDF and then downloads it.

Any way to download a document to Android from Google Drive in its original format?

You can download docx documents as stated here:

Which file formats can I download?
You can download files in these formats:

Documents: HTML, RTF, DOCX, OpenOffice, PDF, EPUB, Text.
Spreadsheets: CSV, HTML, ODS, PDF, XLSX, TXT (only for a single sheet).
Presentations: PDF, PPTX, TXT.
Drawings: PNG, JPEG, SVG, PDF.

Using version 2.19.013.08.35 of Google Drive, it does not convert docx documents to pdf.

Open Google Drive, go to the folder your file is located.
Click on the 3-dot, then click Download.

If you are still unable to download documents as docx, verify that you have not by mistake converted it to pdf,


Failed to find init.goldfish.rc adb shows that I have  init.goldfish.rc present in the emulator device. I guess this file must exist somewhere in PC.  However I could not find the file in the PC. Why it is so?

Do an adb pull /init.goldfish.rc and the file will be on your PC :-)


Get rid of duplicate songs on phone when using Google Music I've uploaded my mp3s to Google Music. I also physically have the files on my phone. But now when I use the Google Music app it shows the songs on my sd card and the songs I've uploaded to the cloud.

Apart from deleting the files on my phone, is there a way to tell Google not to sync songs I already have?

I think that there is no other way as to simply delete the files on your Android device. Make sure you have a copy of the files on your PC or an external HD. I am not sure if one can download the mp3s easily from the Google music cloud. You have the files in Google musics cloud, why do you need them on the device too? The music App will cache the files on the device for fast/offline access.


Find carrier allocated public IP address Fido has a service where they allocate a public IP address for some fees. I have paid the fees and apparently they have allocated my phone a public IP address. In normal circumstances, I should be able to see the IP address in my device settings (status information), but it shows "IP address unavailable". Fido customer service is not able to help, saying that they only have instructions for the iPhone. For any other phone, I should contact the manufacturer.

Any idea how I could go about finding the public IP address that I am paying through my nose for?

Carrier: Fido in Canada.
Phone: Samsung Galaxy S2
OS: Android 4.0.3

You could always use the browser hit one of the many web pages that will tell you what your IP address is. WhatsMyIp being one such.


How can I clear recent searches from search bar in Chrome? To be clear, I don't want to clear my search history in general. I just hate that when I go to search something a few bars beneath my search shows my three most recent searches. I don't mind search suggestions, I just don't want my recent searches showing up every single time.

I've included a screenshot of what I mean.

click image for larger variant

Thank you for your help!

Here is an easy solution to disable recent search history in Google Chrome's (Android) search bar (as shown in OP's screenshot):

First of all you have to make sure you sign out of your google account, you       can do it from google chrome's settings. The first thing that appears is your account, click on it and search for close session in chrome.
Signing out is necessary for the option to disable search history to appear. Remember this is not your account's search history, but rather the app's history.

At the bottom of google.com (or rather you can access it  fromhttps://www.google.es/preferences) go to 'settings' -> 'Search settings' -> 'do not save searches' -> Make sure you click SAVE button at the bottom of Search setting page.

Now you can sign in again.

Those annoying purple recent searches should now be gone and never reappear!


How do I easily create an image/button on my Android home screen which links to a website? I know the below example is of a custom home screen app, much like Yahoo Aviate, but I'd just like to place custom designed buttons (like the "Attractions" button in the image below) or images on my home screen which links to websites that I specify links to. Is there an easy way to do that?

When I wanted to do this, I found the available apps sorely lacking, so I wrote a home screen widget which can do this. The image can be a static one, or you can refresh it from the Internet periodically (e.g. from an RSS feed). You can set it to open a website when clicked, or launch an app of your choice (amongst other things).

The app is called Showr, and it's a free download from Google Play. (There's a "pro" version with more options.)


Are Amazon "Parental Controls" redundant if I disable "In-App Purchasing"? In the Amazon Appstore settings, there is a preference to enable Parental Controls. When set, this causes all apps (that are installed via amazon appstore) to require the amazon password before being able to make an in-app purchase. You can also specify an optional PIN to use in lieu of the full amazon password. According to the details, this only affects in-app purchases, and it does not hide 'mature' apps or enable any filtering.

Another setting is In-App Purchasing. This preference is active by default, but it can be disabled to completely remove the possibility of in-app purchases.

By default, no password is needed for in-app purchases, and the in-app purchasing ability is active. For both of these permissions, you are required to enter your amazon password to change the permission.

My question is this: If I disable in-app purchasing completely, is there a need to also enable parental controls?

Since the preference itself cannot be altered without typing in the password, I feel like the Parental Control preference is redundant for my purposes.

In short, you are correct.  Disabling in-app purchasing completely via In App Purchasing option makes password-protecting under the Parental Controls settings redundant.

It's definitely confusing, and could have been better accomplished by having just one setting with 3 options: Disable, Allow, Allow with a Password.  It's possible that these two settings used to work differently on older versions of this app, and developers decided that keeping the settings separate would be less confusing to existing users than combining them.


Samsung Galaxy Note 4 stuck in reboot loop - what is the problem? Here is the situation: My phone (Samsung Galaxy Note 4) turns on and works perfectly fine if I am do not click on any app.

Then say I click on some app. If I try to press too many things in too short an interval of time, then my phone restarts itself. Also if I clicked to turn on data or WiFi, then the phone reboots regardless of whether I select an app or not. When the reboot is complete, it displays a much lower battery level than it had when it turned off. Then it reboots again, and continues a few times until the battery hits 0%. Then I need to charge it up.

(*) if my phone was plugged into a charger, then this does not happen - it never reboots, and never has any issues. But if I keep it plugged into a charger all day, it effectively is no longer a smart phone, but is more of a desktop PC

Questions:

What is wrong with this phone? How can I find out what is wrong? Can it be fixed? If so, how?

Note: I am a novice, I don't know much about technology other than how to use my device for day to day stuff. It is not rooted or anything like that.

Update: I went to a Samsung repair centre where they concluded that this was a hardware issue, and the hardware needed to be replaced. (The cost of this was £200, so it does not represent value for money in my opinion)


Stop SD card from constantly unmounting due to underpowered I had problems with constant unmounting of my SD card from phone when it was not on charger. The problem was with powering off some power when disabling display to save energy, but this power was needed to keep SD card mounted.

My phone is LG Optimus L1 II E410, but from what I found during my long search for solution, it is not the only phone affected.

How can I stop this from happening?

The solution is to install program Wake Lock and set the setting to PARTIAL_WAKE_LOCK. This keep necessary power for SD card even if of charger and with disabled display. It obviously cause a bit more battery consumption, but far less then constant SD card remounting. No root needed.


How to free Internal Storage by moving data or using symlink / bind-mount with Adoptable Storage? Galaxy S5 running LineageOS 16 (Android 9).

I'm having issues with running out of storage space, even though I have 128GB external SD card, merged with the internal storage. Is there a way to create a symlink from the internal memory to the external SD card, even though they are technically merged and aren't identified as separate storage locations within Android as a result?

I've never made symlinks on Android so I'd appreciate some pointers or resources on that as well.

First of all, symlinks don't work on Android's emulated storage. A workaround is to use bind mounts instead. See this answer for details.
But with Adoptable Storage you don't need to:

Create symlink to external SD card
Manually move data to external SD card
Bind mount a directory from external SD card

Because what you see as /sdcard or /storage/emulated/0 should already be on Adoptable SD Card.
When you format external SD card as Adoptable Storage, it's mounted at /mnt/expand/[UUID], which holds a file hierarchy very similar to /data partition, like /data/app, /data/data and /data/media etc. When you migrate your data to newly created Adoptable Storage, data from /data/media/ is moved to /mnt/expand/[UUID]/media/ and the later is now emulated and bind mounted at /storage/emulated (which apps see).

You can check this by executing df or mount command on a terminal app or adb shell.
Without Adoptable Storage:
~$ df --output=source,target
Filesystem                  Mounted on
/dev/block/dm-0             /data
/data/media                 /storage/emulated
/dev/block/vold/public:8,1  /mnt/media_rw/[UUID]

* dm-0 is FDE encrypted userdata partition, vold public volume is external SD card or USB drive.
Before moving data:
~$ df --output=source,target
Filesystem                  Mounted on
/dev/block/dm-0             /data
/data/media                 /storage/emulated
/dev/block/dm-1             /mnt/expand/[UUID]

* dm-1 is FDE encrypted Adoptable SD card.
After moving data:
~$ df --output=source,target
Filesystem                  Mounted on
/dev/block/dm-0             /data
/dev/block/dm-1             /mnt/expand/[UUID]
/mnt/expand/[UUID]/media    /storage/emulated

* Actually /data/media or /mnt/expand/[UUID]/media is emulated to /mnt/runtime/[default|read|write]/emulated which is bind mounted to /storage/emulated.
You can only move apps (along with their data) to Adoptable Storage which have installLocation set to preferExternal or auto by app developer. In case of auto, default install location (set using pm set-install-location) decides where app will be installed. See this answer for details.

If you want more free space, replace large directories (like /data/media, /data/app and /data/data) with mounts (or bind-mounts) from partitions (or directories) on external SD card. However (DAC and MAC) permissions should be taken care of, otherwise apps (or even OS) may break.

RELATED:

How to move apps from internal to external storage?
What is /storage/emulated/0/?
How disk space is used on Android device?


How to prevent SECUSO Privacy Friendly Net Monitor apps from shutdown without my permission I download the SECUSO research group - Privacy Friendly Net Monitor from https://f-droid.org/packages/org.secuso.privacyfriendlynetmonitor/ and install on my Android 7 phone which is not rooted. I run it to monitor which apps is connecting and downloading at the background (regardless I am on wifi or my phone mobile data).

I notice that the Privacy Friendly Net Monitor will shutdown when the phone is screen off, which I never permit it to shutdown as I want it to continuously monitor all the apps including those from Google (such as Google Play Store app, which is famous for notoriously downloading at the background without user permission.)

So, how do I go about to prevent Privacy Friendly Net Monitor from shutdown or stop running without my permission?

By default the app is battery optimised, which means once the screen is off and doze-mode  kicks in, it is stopped.

From Settings → Battery → 3 dots menu on top right → all apps → Netapp → Don't optimize
(that's on Oreo, may vary a little on Nougat). Once you do that app will run till you stop it manually.

OP has clarified further

  For Nougat, find the options 'lock screen cleanup' or 'off screen cleanup' from Settings → Battery and choose the option 'Don't Close' for SECUSO Privacy Friendly Net Monitor.


" Unfortunately, CloudAgent has stopped" When viewing images in the Gallery, the message "Unfortunately, CloudAgent has stopped". Then the screen goes black.  How can I fix this?

I have a Samsung Galaxy Pro 8.4 tablet, model SM-T320. The Android version is 4.4.2. This just started today.

To Log Out of Dropbox

While in the Dropbox application, tap on the Menue Bar (the 3-horizonal bars icon located at the upper left-hand corner).
After the Menue List populates the screen, tap the Gear icon (Dropbox settings) located at the upper right-hand corner.
When the Dropbox settings window populates, tap on the list item "Sign out of Dropbox" which is approximately the fifth item down on the list.

This will log you out of the Dropbox phone application.


Where do APN come from? When running a fresh ROM, the APN settings are defined by the SIM card inserted, downloaded from the network via some handshake protocol or are they predefined in the rom for each network ?

They are included in Android. The correct settings are determined by your SIM MCC and MNC (Mobile Country Code and Mobile Network Code). If you want, you can view the list of preset APNs by looking at the source code, for example at android-source-browsing.

The file name in this case is /etc/apns-full-conf.xml, but apparently it varies.


Web messages interface - How do I control if messages are sent as SMS or MMS? I've been using messages.android.com for a few weeks now and it's amazing, even if sluggish when "new conversation" is clicked.

The only issue I have is that if I'm texting more than one person it  switches to sending as MMS and I can't seem to control it. I tried this but that setting doesn't seem to be listed. I'm using the default Messaging app on a dual sim moto g5. My phone recently upgraded itself to Android 8 but it hasn't solved the issue. It seems to happen, even with very short messages, and even if it's just text without any subject or media. The message converts to MMS as soon as I add a second recipient. Any suggestions? I will add a Windows steps recorder when I have a bit more time. If I add two recipients to a text message on the phone itself it works as normal and remains an SMS.

It would be useful if someone could see if they get the same behaviour.

Another edit: the problem persists with the new interface, whether opened directly or through a redirection from the old one.

When you add a media item such as a photo to your message it automatically turns the message into a MMS


galaxy3 update that keeps updating for 3 days plus! My Galaxy 3 said there was an update to 4.3 available. So I connected a charger and started the upgrade. It warned me that I cannot use phone while upgrading, even for an emergency, bla bla. Of course, I continued with the upgrade, and it went through a couple of processes and then said android is now rebooting!

After it reboot, it came back on saying was upgrading my apps.

That was 3 days ago and is still saying it. I've taken the battery out, put it in, switched it off then on, etc. As I'm typing this, it's still saying the same thing! I can't do a thing with it now!

Any ideas to what is going on? Or is my phone now rendered useless?

It is unlikely that your phone is useless. From the symptoms you state, it sounds like you have done one or more of the following,

Rooted your phone
Unlocked the bootloader
Installed a custom recovery
Installed a custom ROM

If even any one of these is true, the OTA update will fail and redownload itself because it thinks it was a bad package download.


Does CPU and RAM affect MTP file transfer speed android? I am testing an application for file transfer using MTP the transfer speed is getting vary in different android devices. Can anyone help me to know what are the factors that may affect the MTP file transfer speed.

The number one factor in transfer speed is the actual R/W speed of the phone's internal NAND chip.


Does Andy emulator respond to computer keyboard while playing Android games? I'm using Windows 8 Pro in Dell laptop. I want to know, is there a way to assign the computer keyboard to the Android games? Screen tapping by the mouse is not enough to have the full control in the game e.g. Temple run, so I need help: Does Andy emulator respond to computer keyboard while playing Android games?

Try the Left Arrow and Right arrow keys or the Z and X combinations in your keyboard. This should work for you.

For swipe functionalities use Ctrl with arrow keys combination,

Ctrl+Right arrow ->  Swipe towards Right
Ctrl+Left arrow ->  Swipe towards Left


Multi-user option not available after modifying build.prop in Lollipop I edited the build.prop file in /system/ as per
Multi-user option not avilable in Android one after Lollipop update
namely, adding two lines of code to the end of the file:

fw.show_multiuserui=1
fw.max_users=5

I have rebooted and nothing seems to have changed (i.e., there is no user icon in the swipe-down screen)
I checked and the lines of code are indeed in the build.prop file.
I'm running 5.1.1 on a Lenovo Yoga TAB 3
Any ideas..? Thanks in advance!

I had a similar issue and searched for "users" while in the Settings app and it took me to a usable dialog box just as if I had got there from the icon. I added a user and it all worked.  So you just have to search from the magnifying glass in the Settings screen then click on the user you wish to switch to.


WebRTC in Android mobile phone how to get? I have brand new Samsung Galaxy S2 / S3 / S4. There i installed firefox/ firefox beta, chrome, chrome beta.

And tried webRTC but it fails, all tried but this WebRTC does not work then i installed Bowser browser still no luck.

Then how do i use this webRTC Please, i have seen some sites that webRTC is working in some mobiles already.

According to their bug tracker, WebRTC is currently broken on Firefox Android.  You can get audio or video, but not both, and attempting to get both results in your getting neither.

As for Chrome Android, it's only in the beta (M25 and later) and is disabled by default.  To enable it, type chrome://flags into the url bar, then scroll down and find the "Enable WebRTC" checkbox and check it.  It'll then prompt you to restart the browser.

Note that WebRTC in Chrome is really beta, not "Google beta" and has some issues, such as;

  Audio sounds choppy and warbled especially on devices where the CPU is heavily loaded
  Acoustic echo cancellation on mobile platforms is not working well
  Chroma components received from the Galaxy S3 camera drivers are swapped (colors look inverted)
  DTLS via OpenSSL on Android fails and needs to be disabled
  General stability and complexity issues

Another note, neither of these browsers quite follows the standard, so the people who are writing the sites need to be adapting for the browsers eccentricities and if they aren't being throughout, it will work on one browser, but not the other.


Google Services battery usage I recently updated to the 10.1 M snapshot of CyanogenMod for my Sprint Galaxy S3 (d2spr). Ever since I did the update, I have been seeing crazy high battery usage from Google Services. I have tried just about everything I can think of to shut it off, but nothing seems to be working. I'm connected to Wi-Fi most of the day, so I don't think 3G has anything to do with it.

Attempted Troubleshooting:

Turn off Google Account Sync (per this question)
Turn off Google Now
Turn off Location reporting

If possible, I'd like to fix this without using Juice Defender or any other battery management apps, but if that's what it takes, so be it.

So how can I get Google Services to stop sucking the life out of my phone?

This is most likely some app utilizing Google Services. You don't show the details screen to be reached when tapping the graph on top of your first screenshot. Please check there, and cross-check with How to deal with (orphaned) WakeLocks? -- the "keep awake" of your second screenshot suggest Wakelocks as the "source of evil". The part What if it is the Android System itself? should help you track the issue down further.

Another possible -- no, very likely candidate is found in another question I just stumbled upon: Google Services is killing my battery by keeping phone awake. Sound familiar? ;)


4k Photos or just video? I've seen in the updates that 4k 60fps has been added but I cannot find a setting to take 4k photos. The pictures don't look as good as the videos but I don't know if I am doing something wrong.

The "60fps" should indicate that it's only for video, which is consisted of many (picture) frames per second (fps).

4K video itself means "roughly 4000-pixel wide". This term came after the term 720p and 1080p for video, which both indicate "720-pixel wide" and "1080-pixel wide" video (the "p" is for "progressive" though, not for "pixel", but that's outside of the scope).

Photos, on the other hand, are usually calculated in megapixels (MP), which means "the total number of pixels in million". Considering a Camera app usually take a photos in 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio (width:height), for 4K-pixel wide, they are roughly 4000x3000 pixels (or 11 MP for 4:3) or 4000x2250 pixels (or 8.5 MP for 16:9).

According to GSM Arena, Xiaomi Poco F1 has a main camera up to 12 MP and selfie up to 20 MP, so there shouldn't be any problem to take "4K photos". There should be a setting on the stock Camera app to set the MP. Otherwise, try 3rd-party Camera apps that are able to.


Using macbook USB charger for android tablets and phones I am looking into finding a USB OTG cable/adapter that allows me to connect USB peripherals to an Android tablet while charging it. Ultimate goal is to get the power from a car's cigarette lighter (possibly using a USB adapter which provides 5A/3.0A or 2.4A)

While researching, I found out there are number of issues including, not all devices truly support this mode. (I heard most samsung devices do. Anyway to find a certain device supports this, before buying?) And certain adapters have a physical switch and doesn't really support simultaneous charging and data transfer/USB hub mode.

I am wondering if I can use the adapters that claim to charge and act as a hub for the Macbook, which has a single USB C port.

Lot of these adapters (designed for Macbook and Chromebook pixel) provide 14.5V/2.0A which makes me worried, as my phone charger only provide 5V/3.0A (Nexus 5X which has quick charging).

Is it possible to connect a phone or tablet to one of these adapters and not get damaged by the extra power? And would the adapters work under the power of the car cigarette lighter which only provide 5A/3.0A, when they possibly expect 14.5V/2A from a macbook charger instead?

Fundamental thing is that you are contemplating laptop chargers , designed for much bigger capacity batteries to charge your cell and then plan to use the car charging, in between- not a healthy combination and recipe for problems

  Anyway to find a certain device supports this, before buying?

No proven way AFAIK...you would need to research product and user reviews and ask around in device specific forums or write to manufacturer

  Is it possible to connect a phone or tablet to one of these adapters and not get damaged by the extra power?

You would not get fast charging for sure
Chances of damage are high mainly due to high voltage levels - for details , see How do I select a non-OEM charger for my device?

  And would the adapters work under the power of the car cigarette lighter which only provide 5A/3.0A, when they possibly expect 14.5V/2A from a macbook charger instead?

Unlikely that they would work


Control PDF presentations on Linux -- Samsung Galaxy Note 2 I use LaTeX for all my presentations and therefore use a PDF viewer as my presentation software. I would like to be able to control my PDF presentations using my Galaxy Note 2. I'm looking for an app. to help me do that.

Features I need

Navigate slides from phone.
See slide preview on phone.
Linux compatible.

Bonus features

Ability to annotate slides using S-Pen.
PDF-viewer agnosticism (i.e. works with most/all PDF viewers).
Free.

Connectivity with either Bluetooth or WiFi would be acceptable.

Is there such an app. around? Barring that, is there a general purpose Linux remote around?

Try gremote, it's good for presentation, but difficult to configure


How to remove apps from "all downloaded" in Play Store In the new Android Market/Play Store (3.5.15) they have now got a list of "all downloaded" apps.

I have had an android phone for a good 2/3 years now and the list is huge, plus sightly more questionable apps which should have been lost in the ether of the internet have now been dredged back up to haunt me.

Can I remove apps from here?

Thanks

No, it's not possible. The android market is plagued with issues like this one.

As of version 3.9.16 you can finally now remove applications from the "all" tab in the my apps list. You can even select several apps at once by long pressing one, then selecting the others.
These apps are removed from the Website too.

Source: Android Police


How to encrypt an external SD card natively? There are several questions regarding the possibility to encrypt an external SD card on Android. None of them are satisfactory. They either point to a third party solution (e.g. BoxCryptor, Cryptonite, EDS, LUKS Manager) or refer to a ROM specific GUI-way to encrypt. So my question remains:

How to encrypt an external SD-card with built-in kernel features? There is support for dm-crypt and eCryptfs.

For further reading:

What is encryption?
Android + encryption on the G1 using cryptsetup and LUKS
How does Android filesystem encryption work?

EDIT:

Since Marshmallow it is now possible to encrypt an external sd-card nativley with aes-cbc-essiv:sha256 as an adoptable storage. Sadly, this makes the internal storage of an android device unusable. In the light of the recent changes introduced in Android 6.0 I want to ask my question again and rephrase it:

Is it possible to encrypt an external SD-card with aes-cbc-essiv:sha256 without using it as an adoptable storage?

For further reading:

Decrypting Android M adopted storage
Android 6 semi-adopted storage
How to decrypt Adopted Storage?
Corrupt SD card formatted as internal storage

There is an option in Android 4.2.2 or higher that you can encrypt your SD Card on: Settings > Security > Encrypt SD Card. You need a screen lock to encrypt it. Once you do that, it will be encrypted.


Google talk/voice not ringing on my PC when I am logged in on my Android phone I use my Google voice number as my main number at my desk. The calls ring in Gmail and I answer them there as well as make calls there from my address book. With fellow Gmail/GApps users, I also receive calls via the "voice chat" feature in GMail. However, ever since I got my Galaxy S3, if I am not active in the GMail window, voice chats ring only on my phone and Google Voice calls do not ring at all unless I go back and do something in the GMail window prior to the call. The calls just ring and ring and eventually go to voicemail (in the case of Google Voice calls). Google voice is configured to send calls only to my PC - I do not want to receive calls on my Android while I am at my desk.

This Chrome extension offers an always-running background process for Google Chat. This has worked for Google Voice for me and may give the GV/gmail chat protocol the priority that you seek (If you happen to be using Chrome). Ideally the fix should come from Google making GV a higher priority, but this could be a good work-around for you.


Wifi access point with USB-OTG ethernet? I want my phone to act as a ethernet capable wifi access point (WAN via ethernet).

When I use USB-OTG with an ethernet USB adapter attached to my Galaxy Nexus (non-rooted stock Jelly Bean) I get regular internet access just fine. Only thing I'm wondering about is the fact that 3G is shown in the status bar although mobile data connection is disabled. The connection goes over ethernet.

My Problem appears when I want to share this connection via wifi (hotspot). The hotspot is enabled and the other device (or whatever) is connected but it doesn´t get internet access...

Is this a known problem? Any ideas how to get this working?

Edit: It's not about 3G tethering, thats works fine. The problem is tethering while the phone is connected with the LAN over an RJ45-Ethernet adapter.

Some carriers disable 3G tethering in order to make more money, so if your carrier has installed software on your phone before hand to stop tethering the only way to make it work is to root your device and install an application that will allow you to do that.

The reason why it only connects is maybe because creating a hotspot to share files/resources over a LAN is allowed but to access the internet isn't. Right now, the FCC is forcing Verizon in particular to allow users to be able to share their phone's 3G internet.


use wav file for sound notification when receiving a new Facebook/Google+ message? How can I change the notification in my Android 2.3.5 device so that I can use a given wav file for sound notification when receiving a new Facebook message? If this is not possible with the Facebook app, is it possible with the Google+ app?

For using custom ringtones, I suggest Rings Extended app along with any file manager to browse the contents of your SD Card.  This will allow you to pick any supported sound file to be used as a ringtone in any app.

In Google+ app, go to Menu -> Settings.  Under "Ringtone" you can select the WAV file (pick "Rings Extended" when prompted, and navigate to wherever you saved the file), and "Notification settings" will give you finer control of which actions will trigger the notifications.

I don't use Facebook, but I imagine the app has similar controls in its settings.


HTML signature in Gmail app Is it possible to set a HTML signature in the Android Gmail app somehow? I set something like

mytitle

as a signature but the HTML tags didn't parse.

If you can suggest another app that allows HTML signature that will also be cool.

One current work around would be to create a draft in gmail that has the signature and use it in the mobile app.


Droid Explorer does not recognize Android Studio as a valid Android SDK during install. Trying to install droid explorer on a Win7 laptop.

To get Droid Explorer installed and working, do I need to:
1. Install older version of Android SDK?
2. Wait for Droid Explorer to catch up?
3. Do something tricky and undocumented?

Thanks in advance to all who answer.
Bill

Disclaimer: I am the lead developer of Droid Explorer.

I do not use the Android Studio SDK, nor do I have it installed. But what I can tell you is the following:

To be considered a valid android SDK for Droid Explorer to use, it has to meet the following criteria:

adb.exe must exist in the /sdk-path/platform-tools directory

It can also exist in /sdk-path/tools directory, as this is where it originally was located.

in /sdk-path/platforms there must be at least 1 platform. It will be named something like android-23.
Droid Explorer installer will check HKLM\SOFTWARE\Android SDK Tools\. If it finds a value there, it will set that as the initial directory of the SDK. It will still verify the tools in the directory.
Droid Explorer will also check that aapt.exe exists in the /sdk-path/build-tools directory.

If Android Studio SDK does not meet these requirements, then it will not validate the SDK as valid. These checks are made because Droid Explorer uses these tools, and even others in these directories.

The best way to get Droid Explorer to work is to install the SDK using the official SDK installer. You can set up Android Studio to use that path for the SDK.


Help with resizable widgets on Samsung Galaxy S 2? I'm using the default launcher (TouchWiz 4.0). Some of the widgets can be resized which is great, but unfortunately it seems many others cannot be resized at all.

What causes this discrepancy?
Is there any other way to resize those seemingly non-resizable widgets?
Is there a way to tell in advance whether a widget (for example, one I am seeing on the market) is resizable this way?

Stock Android widgets are not re-sizable (although this is supposedly a feature that will be coming soon). If you can re-size some of them one of two things is going on: either the developer of the widget made it that way, or Samsung implemented this ability to work for some widgets. In the case of the latter they probably had to set it up specifically for the widgets that do it, so it is unlikely that any you find on the market are going to be re-sizable via TouchWiz. However, you do have another option. Launcher pro is a homescreen replacement app on the market; the paid version (yes the free version is misleadingly called launcher pro) offers resizing widgets as one of the added features. To my knowledge that would work for any widget regardless of how the developer made it. So if you're willing to put a couple bucks into it, you can re-size any widget that you want.


Downgrade Nexus 4 from Android 4.3 to 4.2.2 I updated my Nexus 4 to Android 4.3. I don't like it, so I want to return to version 4.2.2. How do I go back to a previous version?

You can find the official Factory Images from Google's Factory Images for Nexus Devices page, and the download contains all that you need to downgrade. Unfortunately, this means you'll lose all data on the device, so be sure to make backups beforehand.

Basically, you'll have to download and extract the package, install drivers if necessary, boot your device into fastboot mode and use the script (flash-all.sh for Linux/Mac or flash-all.bat for Windows) from the package to flash the image. More detailed instructions can be found on XDA.


I tried to bypass factory reset protection on a Galaxy S4 but it didn't work I've been trying to bypass the Google Account credentials on a Samsung S4 I was given (it had already been factory reset) and, following the instructions in this answer, I inserted a USB drive via the OTG at the Google Account notification - but nothing happens! ie, no, popup or new page, just the annoying 'This device was reset etc' page and the unhelpful option to enter an email.

What can I do now to access the APK from RootJunky?

There are plenty of tutorials on YouTube on how to bypass the FRP. It's quite easy on S4 though. You can't see the USB OTG just because it is not enabled on your phone. Try the keyboard hack to bring the browser or bring the e-mail app. I can guide you form there.


Not able to install google apps after following the suggested steps I have a retail tablet(Crystal Audio, GR) that after many tries I have managed to root it, with Kingo Root. I can the application SuperSu installed and when I am trying to perform root actions, it asks me for granting privileges. Everything godd, up here.

I have followed the steps described here (moved apks to system and try to install them etc) but I cannot install them. After tapping the apks and clicking install, it returns with an error "Installation not done". I have tried to do it with adb, but I am not allowed to remount /system as rw(kernel issue?).

How to proceed? Any ideas appreciated.

The solution that seemed to work, at last, was the following. I connected the tablet with USB into my PC. Then downloaded the signed package of gapps for my Android version, from http://Goo.im and moved it in the same dir as the adb executable.

After that, I booted the tablet in recovery mode, chose the option "Update from ADB", and run the command "adb sideload gapps.zip", where gapps.zip is the filename downloaded earlier. Everything run good and I can now see, the necessary services.


how to fix error message e:/unable to mount usbstorage on Samsung Note 3 - Sprint Variant I have the above device rooted and installed custom recover twrp 2.6.x.x. I keep seeing the message: unable to moutn e:/usbstorage. And I think this is messing with my attempt to install Cyanogenmod 11. I checked the MD5 hash of Cyanogenmod and it is good. I have also tried older versions from the same nightly page. I just get this one error. When I flash the phone, if I ask twrp to check the MD5, it fails. If don't ask for it, it says that there is no hash file and reports that install was a success. But instead the phone goes into a boot loop. I saw this link about the same issue on a different phone. Here is the link Script / Fix Soft Brick Loop_ EFS partition_01.11.13 Some of the people on the site say that the script worked for their Note 3. Others say that the script is not for Note 3. Also the download site seems to be malicious ( according to my malware software; so I can not download it ). I need help to fix this issue. I do have a stock image to flash my phone if anything breaks. I also have the rooting and twrp flashing tools and procedures. I do it in my sleep now. I do not know if I should start messing with PIT files.

I found out the issue was with the image I was using. My experience was that all of the CyanogenMod 11 nightlies created the loop, and the only version that worked for me was the "snapshot" build.


Push Android Exchange Calendar to Google Web Calendar Let me start off by saying this question is essentially an updated version of Access synced Exchange calendar from desktop browser but not a duplication

I have a work phone with Exchange access over VPN, let's called it me@work.  This syncs to an Android phone running the VPN tool but uses my personal Google account me@home.  I don't want or need to carry the work phone around during non-business hours, but it's great to know "oh I have a meeting tomorrow morning" or when making personal plans to know what my schedule is like without having to say "Let me check my work phone later to make sure I'm available"

me@work uses the Google native calendar app on Android.  I don't currently sync my personal calendar to my work phone, but me@home is the main Google Account on that phone.  Is there anyway to publish/sync those appointments to https://calendar.google.com/calendar with an app on Android?  This would enable the events to show up on the webpage, and since they're syncing with my personal Google account they would likewise show up in my personal phone.

As bonus points, is there a way to have this be a one-way or isolated sync, so my work calendar doesn't show personal events?

My company's Exchange server is only available over VPN, so I can't just sync directly to my personal phone.

It is a little bit late but maybe there is a solution now: Someone else had the same problem and asked me for a solution. I have created an Android app for this purpose now. It can copy/sync a calendar (e.g. your Exchange calendar) into another calendar (e.g. a new Google calendar that you create in your me@home Google account). This way you can see your work events in your me@home Google account but your personal events won't appear in your me@work work account.

It is a one way sync from your Exchange account into your Google account:

Exchange (me@work) -> Android calendar -> SyncCal -> Android calendar -> Google (me@google)

You can find the app here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.calengoo.synccal

It can be used for free but it also contains an In-App purchase for an automatic sync.


Is it possible to create a shortcut that launches a web page in Firefox when using another browser as default? I have a web page that I visit that I'd like to open in Firefox via a home screen shortcut (it uses SVG, which isn't supported by the default browser).    Firefox doesn't show in the list of possible shortcuts, nor do I see any option in Firefox to create one.    Btw, I like Firefox, but I'm not ready to make it my default browser yet, so I really want to continue to use the stock Browser for everything but this one shortcut.

I'm running Firefox 7.0.1 / Fennec 7.0.1 on Gingerbread 2.3.4

I've never used Firefox for Android, but if it is the same as other Android browsers, then you should be able to create a home screen bookmark and choose which browser to open the bookmark in (unless you previously saved defaults, then you need to clear the defaults first).


Sony Xperia ZR fastboot driver I am trying to get the fastboot driver for Sony Xperia ZR (dogo) for Windows 7 x64.

I found a page with instructions which pointed me to a Sony site where you can download a android_winusb.inf file which one is supposed to copy over the one in the Android SDK folder under extras\google\usb_driver\.

Then, I put the phone into fastboot mode by

Powering it off
Pushing the Volume Up button while connecting the phone via USB to the PC.
The light turns blue and in the Windows Device Manager, I can see a new S1Boot Fastboot entry under Other devices.

After right-clicking on that entry and selecting Update Driver Software..., then Browse my computer for driver software, I pointed to the Android SDK folder where I previously put the android_winusb.inf file (see above).

Unfortunately after clicking Next, there is a message Windows was unable to install your S1Boot Fastboot and Windows could not find driver software for your device.

On this thread, I found a link to a thread on XDA Developers where one can download a "fastboot package" and "32/64bit drivers", but I am hesitant because these are EXE files from an unknown source and the thread's title suggests this is for Xperia Arc, not ZR.

Are there any "official" drivers for my phone?

UPDATE:

I also found a great Sony webpage listing "All Android downloads" which has white papers, source code and drivers for all(?) devices, except the drivers for the ZR are missing.

UPDATE 2:

I have seen this comment to a question concerning fastboot drivers and USB device IDs, so I tried to replace device IDs for SingleAdbInterface, CompositeAdbInterface and SingleBootLoaderInterface (sequentially, not all at once) with the one which I got from the Device Manager, which is USB\VID_0FCE&PID_0DDE&REV_0100. Unfortunately this didn't make any difference, the drivers are still not recognised.

While playing around with the INF files, I found that the one supplied by Sony actually does work, you only need to "force" Windows to use it for your device. I am not sure if that has anything to do with the unsigned nature of the driver or that Windows cannot verify that the driver is compatible (see below), but it simply doesn't seem to accept the driver with Sony's INF automatically.

I order to install the driver, I did the following:

In the Device Manager, right-click on the S1Boot Fastboot entry and select Update Driver Software, then Browse my computer for driver software and Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer.
Select Show All Devices, then Next.
Click Have Disk... and then Browse... to the android-sdk\extras\google\usb_driver directory.
Then the Model list is populated with three entries, select the one called Android Bootloader Interface and click Next.
Click Yes on the Update Driver Warning message mentioning that Windows cannot verify compatibility of the driver with the device.
Click Install this driver software anyway on the Windows Security message saying that Windows can't verify the publisher of this driver software.

After that, I was able to run fastboot commands on my device (I only tried devices and reboot so far).

On a side note, I found it interesting that you actually don't need any specific driver binaries such as DLLs from Sony and that the drivers supplied with the Android SDK seem to be sufficient, except for the INF entries with the correct device IDs.


Can you factory reset an Android device but not wipe away info on the SD card? I am looking into factory resetting my 2.2 Android tablet. Is there a way to do this without wiping the contents of the SD card?

Factory resets do not normally affect the external SD card, e.g., /sdcard/external_sd.  Some devices will wipe everything else under /sdcard (like the ASUS Transformer) while others will not (like the Samsung Galaxy S).  So it depends on your device and which "SD card" you're referring to, and also the filesystem layout — some devices will mount internal/external SD storage in different places than what I mentioned above.


How to recover data off a broken phone? i have a samsung galaxy grand 2 which have a broken screen that isnt responsive at all, and im desperate to get some important files and images off of it, but the problem is usb debugging is off, its locked with a pin and doesnt support an OTG, i havent tried to use ADB commands yet cause i dont have any experience and the phone doesnt have a custom recovery either, but its flashed from jellybean to kitkat. i will be very appreciated if someone can give me a solution?? what kind of options i have here?

After assessing your situation closely !

You only have 1 option.
The fact that you have no OTG, means no access is possible to enable ADB.. You also can not access it in any other way.

A few years ago, ADB would automatically be enabled on every boot, the system would then boot up and configure ADB as per user settings... This allows many root access programs to work correctly ( the reason most repeatedly restart the device )   ...

You may have to write a script for running batch commands,  You can do this easily on Windows

adb restart
adb wait-for-device
adb pull /storage/sdcard0

A simple script used to exploit the vulnerability...

You would save that text file as commands.bat   ( .bat is a batch file )  and run it...

This probably won't work however...

Your only option I could find, cost money and time.

LCD & Digitizer - Front panel replacement

Replace the whole front panel yourself...

People have already Assembled the entire front LCD & Digitizer, so no hassles trying to pry the screen off...

You just,

unscrew the old back
Take the back half off
Plug in the new front half   ( LCD & Digitizer panel )
Screw it back together

...
It's fairly cheap to do it yourself...

This answer is not a guide but just an example of possible solution's.. Please be careful and take all necessary precautions whenever taking apart electrical devices.


Oneplus 6 gets stuck on Fastboot Mode when booting to TWRP after system update After upgrading my Oneplus 6 to Android 10 from Android Pie using the System Updater, I tried to reinstall TWRP using the both the most up to date image from https://dl.twrp.me/enchilada/. I tried both the most up to date image and the one I had used previously to install TWRP.

When I run fastboot boot twrp.img in the bootloader, it gets stuck on "Fastboot Mode". If I hold the power button, the phone turns off and I can boot it again normally. How do I boot to TWRP properly?

I fixed the problem by using the TWRP link from this website which I got to from this xda page. It got past fastboot mode and into TWRP.


Nexcom VTC 6200 installing Android 4.2 or higher I've got a Nexcom VTC 6200-NI-DK box wich is a bit obsolete but nevertheless I'd like to install Android on it. As far as I understand its spec is far from being top notch:

CPU - Intel Atom D510 Dual Core 1.66GHz
GPU - N/A
RAM - 2Gb

I've tried different images of Android-x86 from Android 8.1 Oreo down to Android 4.2 JellyBean but I could only run them in VESA 800x600 mode or lower and their performance was inacceptable (I tried to switch off animation and optimize Android from inside, didn't work).

My question, is it possible at all to achieve good-enough performance of Android OS on this piece of hardware? Would it make sense to research into making a custom build, possibly with custom drivers or dropping some unnecessary parts of Android, e.g. media services? This box is going to be used very specifically, pretty much for calculations using some Android software, but interaction with UI should be smooth.

I used to own a PC with that same CPU. It ran Windows 10 so-so, that is well enough and not too terribly slow. It should run Linux acceptably fast. Android should run as fast as Linux. I'm not sure why your Android experience with it hasn't been positive since Android is simply a different OS on a Linux kernel. You might try running a Linux distribution on it to see if your hardware will run acceptably. If you are still set on running Android instead of Linux, you can continue your efforts if you found your hardware could handle Linux.


Linux fails to mount Android device in USB MSC mode I wish to mount my Sony Xperia ST21i (Android 4.0.4) under Linux (Debian) via USB. However, I get this error:

# mount /dev/sdb /mnt
mount: no medium found on /dev/sdb

What I did so far:

On the phone side: Settings > Xperia > Connectivity > USB connection mode: set to Mass storage mode (MSC), instead of the default Media transfer mode (MTP).

On the PC side: dmesg yields

[...] usb 2-1.3: USB disconnect, device number 12
[...] usb 2-1.3: new high-speed USB device number 13 using ehci-pci
[...] usb 2-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=0fce, idProduct=e170
[...] usb 2-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=4
[...] usb 2-1.3: Product: Android
[...] usb 2-1.3: Manufacturer: Android
[...] usb 2-1.3: SerialNumber: **********
[...] scsi14 : usb-storage 2-1.3:1.0
[...] scsi 14:0:0:0: Direct-Access     SONY     Mass storage     0000 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[...] sd 14:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[...] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk

For comparison, when mounting a cheap memory stick, dmesg yields

[...] usb 2-1.3: USB disconnect, device number 13
[...] usb 2-1.6: new high-speed USB device number 14 using ehci-pci
[...] usb 2-1.6: New USB device found, idVendor=1307, idProduct=0165
[...] usb 2-1.6: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[...] usb 2-1.6: Product: USB Mass Storage Device
[...] usb 2-1.6: Manufacturer: P Technology
[...] usb 2-1.6: SerialNumber: 00000000000280
[...] scsi15 : usb-storage 2-1.6:1.0
[...] scsi 15:0:0:0: Direct-Access     UT165    USB Flash Disk   0.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[...] sd 15:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[...] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdb] 3948544 512-byte logical blocks: (2.02 GB/1.88 GiB)
[...] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[...] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 00 00 00 00
[...] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdb] Asking for cache data failed
[...] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[...] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdb] Asking for cache data failed
[...] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[...]  sdb:
[...] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdb] Asking for cache data failed
[...] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[...] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk

Several lines more - is this significant? Does this mean, I need to configure my phone differently before I can hope to mount it?

Following advice in some related threads, I created an udev rule,

# cat /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", SYSFS{idVendor}=="0fce", MODE="0666"

but this had no effect.

This commonly happens when you're trying to mount a disk when you should be mounting a partition on that disk. Use ls /dev/sdb* to see if any partitions (such as /dev/sdb1) exists on the disk, and then mount that instead of trying to mount the whole disk.


Does CyanogenMod Xperia Z3 Dual support LTE on any SIMs? Wiki does not really say word about that: https://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Z3dual_Info

Stock image does support it.

If it doesn't, then what is current progress in context of dual sim?

Always try to look at the specs directly from the manufacturer.  Sony says LTE is supported on some variants of the device.  CyanogenMod doesn't really have anything to do with it, since the radio code is not usually open-source and is not bundled with CM.

GSM Arena is another good place to get device specs.


Does LineageOS or OpenGApps have a GMS License and GMS Certification? Some time ago, I have installed LineageOS on my Samsung Galaxy S2, together with the OpenGApps suite. I have registered with Google and enjoy access to the phletora of Google Play apps on this phone.

Now, is this use of Google Play from an ASOP based Android legal, or problematic? Since, I really doubt LineageOS, nor the OpenGApps project has properly gone through the GMS License and GMS Certification which seems to be required to obtain proper access to Google's apps?

Note: This question has arisen around the Ban of Huawei from using "Google services" as per this article: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/may/19/google-huawei-trump-blacklist-report

I think, Huawei should be no different than LineageOS, when it comes to using ASOP and installing the play store via OpenGApps.

Google's stance is that GMS is granted to a device, which then stays with it regardless of any custom ROM the consumer may install. In other words, if you get a stock device that has GMS, then you're allowed to install OpenGApps on any third-party ROM you put on it. However, you're not allowed to install OpenGApps on a device that never had GMS.


What is this CyanogenMod 13 icon symbolising Thanks in advance for those who will help.
:-)

The widget in question is Power Control, one of Android's default widgets. The icon you're asking about is Sync. As described in the page I linked to:

  Press the Sync icon, second to the right, to cut the power to your Droid's Sync functionality. Sync keeps your contacts, email, calendar and other features readily available and constantly updated, which saves you time and effort when you're using your phone.


Is it possible to get notifications for specific email senders? I just want push notifications when my boss sends me email.

You could try the solutions mentioned in this answer. Otherwise we're need more details on what kind of email and phone setup you have.


Add peripheral Hardware where screen was I have been playing around with some old android devices.

I took a broken screen / digitization off one LG and the device is fine. Running in shell and voice assistance do describe screen.

My question: Can I hook up some peripheral input or output where the original input / outputs were and write new drivers. I know this is a daunting task. But someone has to do it.

Basically the display should have a power + and power - I could hook a different device up to and when I unlock screen the device receives power. The input method is much more complex, I know. Looking for somewhere to start. Been googling for hours.!

I am keeping a journal of my activity here:
Google Doc

Not for the screen itself. The connector used for the screen is not for general-purpose input and output. It's connected directly to the framebuffer hardware, so all it can do is stream pixels very fast to the panel.

You might have more luck with the digitizer (touchscreen). It depends which particular interface is exposed. If it's only where the touchscreen "film" connects to the controller, then all you can do is replace it with the same touchscreen, because the signals passing on that connector are only the raw touch positions, which the controller interprets and turns into touch events. On the other hand, if the controller is on the side that's not present any more, it might be that the connector is on a SPI or I2C bus, in which case you can hook another SPI or I2C device, and you'll need to make a kernel driver in order to talk to it.

To go any further in this direction, you'll want to join our sister site, Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange, and ask there. They'll need a lot more details about the connections: photos, pinout diagrams if you have them, part numbers of any components on the downstream side of the connector.


adb install apk successful on device (or emulator), but not found I am using command line to install apk on devices and emulators. There is only one device at one time, so I don't have to specify the device's name.

adb install file.apk

output:

Performing Streamed Install
Success

I check on the device (or emulator), but can't find the installed app.
Could you please help?

I kid you not. In my case, I was comparing two apps(app1 and app2) and what I was actually doing was install the app2(adb install in app2 directory where the apk path and filename happened to be identical to app1), when I really meant to install app1, and it simply said "Install Success", which was true; the app2 was indeed installed.


How can I run Android applications on my PC with the Android emulator? Is it possible to run Android applications on PC (with emulator)? I have Android SDK on my PC and I want to run Angry Bird on it. Can any body help to me?

I guess what you mean is to install applications from the market on the Android emulator. Well, normally this is not possible and also not suggested. The emulator is mainly intended for development purposes. The problem is also that you'd need to get the Android market in order to be able to download apps (Angry Birds in your case), but the emulator doesn't have the market app installed.

However, there is an interesting article by how-to-geek which describes how to install the Android market application on the emulator:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/21862/how-to-enable-the-android-market-in-the-google-android-emulator/

I didn't try it myself, but you may give it a try. Personally I think the overall user experience of playing Angry Birds on the emulator won't be great :)


Can I connect Android device (Galaxy Tab) to my iPhone to use its 3G data plan? I have two devices:

iPhone with sim card, including data option
Galaxy tab without sim card

As the iPhone always has an internet connection, I want to use it for the Galaxy Tab as well. Of course I could just swap the sim card, but I'm looking for a more elegant solution.

Beginning with IOS 4.3, the IPhone also has an option to create a personal hotspot to allow other devices to use its internet connection.
Unfortunately, this only seems to work over Bluetooth or USB.

As USB is out of question, it looks like Bluetooth is my only hope. Therefore my question:

Is there any way to convince my Galaxy Tab to use a Bluetooth as "Internet connection" ? If not, is there any other way to achieve what I'm trying to do here?

MyWi for iphone will do it but may need to install wpa_supplicant.adhocfix on galaxy to accept adhoc network.  I did this on my nook color and it works really well.


How do I know if an Android tablet supports Project Butter? As far as I know, Project Butter is just shorthand for versions of Android OS that have quicker touch screen response, close to the "physicalness" of iOS devices.

But how do I know if a particular Android device has it?

Will a version of the OS with Project Butter (for example, Android 4.1) have silky-smooth touch response on ANY device it is installed on?

I'd like to use the answer to this question to buy a lot (20) identical tablets on ebay, so hopefully there is a way to answer the question for a particular device without having it in my hands.

"Project Butter" is Google's name for the UI latency enhancements implemented in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Any Android device running Android 4.1 or later will have those enhancements.

Remember, though, that software is only part of what makes an interface smooth and 4.1 isn't a cure-all for lag. Slow hardware will result in a slow UI regardless of the OS. Your best bet is to find a tablet with 1) 4.1 or higher, 2) good specs, and 3) good reviews of its performance.


How do I flash a Samsung device using the distribution on samsung-updates.com? I'm hoping to flash the stock rom back onto my device so I can update the PRL. I downloaded the file on samsung-updates.com. The file that I download was found "Firmware archive" for Sprint's SPH-L720 (Galaxy S4).

A comment said the SPR was for regular users and the XAS one was for engineers. Not exactly sure what that means, but I downlaoded the SPR file changelist 1927016

  SPR-L720VPUEMJA-20131030154609.zip

Now when I look inside I have two files,

L720VPUEMJA_L720SPTEMJA_L720VPUEMJA_HOME.tar.md5
SS_DL.dll

What does these files do? Why do I do with the .dll? How do I flash my device with it? Do I simply load the .zip into Clockworkmod and boot up? Should I, or should I not wipe cache and Dalvik after I do that? I've already backed up my current version of CM and data using CWM.

Is SPR-L720VPUEMJA-20131030154609.zip stock ROM? If yes, you can use the Odin tool to flash that ROM.

I assume have already installed Samsung Kies (so phone drivers are installed). With this done, open Odin (don't change any settings). Load L720VPUEMJA_L720SPTEMJA_L720VPUEMJA_HOME.tar.md5 into the PDA section into the ROM. Put your phone into Download Mode (Vol Down + Home + Power), and plug it into Odin. Odin should be able to detect that phone. When it does, start the flashing process.


Use Galaxy Note as digitiser tablet for PC So the Samsung Galaxy Note has a stylus and the screen is supposedly a Wacom digitising tablet with 128 levels of pressure sensitivity. Has anyone tried to make it work as a Wacom tablet for a desktop? I'd even be interested in kludge solutions (eg, you draw a shape, it transfers it over wifi, and an app on your PC stores it in the clipboard, so you can just paste it somewhere).

Unified Remote could satisfy your desire in another way. It can make your Note run as a touch pad and as soon as you have a stylus pen you can open Photoshop on your PC and start painting in it with your stylus.

Unified remote has a free and a full version.


How to type a question mark without using the shift key in Swype? One of the reasons Swype is so great is, of course, that I can write very fast no matter how lenghty is a word. But whenever I have to use a question mark, or an exclamation, I have to hit the shift key, then the punctuation, then shift again to continue writing. Is is possible to have a shortcut for this?

The fastest way I've found is to actually swipe from the "m/?" or "z/!" keys directly to the space bar. That'll insert a punctuation mark and then a space. In the same fashion, you can insert a period or a comma. The other similar shortcut I use creates an "'s" by swiping from the apostrophe to the "s".

Some similar suggestions can be found in Swype's online reference, specifically in the "Swype Gestures" section of http://www.swype.com/tips/advanced-tips/.


Is there an alternative DLNA player for Logitech Revue under Google-TV? The Logitech Media Player included with the Logitech review is problematic - occasionally pausing causes it to stop or jump from video playback to music, etc. I am not seeing any alternative DLNA players in the Android Market that run under Google-TV. Are there any others out there that I am missing? Running Honeycomb 3.1.0.

The aVia Media Player is compatible with Google TV and is available in the Android Market on Google TV.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.videon.android.mediaplayer


Same Apps for multiple tablets Possible Duplicate:
  Can bought android apps be shared between devices you own?

I am thinking about purchasing an android tablet for each of my four young children. If I purchase an app or e-book or book on one tablet, will it download for free onto the other three? Or will I need to re-purchase it for the other three?

Yes, the applications can be downloaded on each device as long as each device uses the same Google account in the Android Market. Your account's ownership of the app persists even if you have to delete it for some reason, such as running out of space.


Durable settings of Screen timeout I often set Settings -> Sound & Display -> Screen timeout to never timeout. When I turn off the device the settings is 1 minute again.

Do you know how to make the settings durable? My version is 2.2 (Froyo)

Try this if you added apps and somehow changed some obscure setting. Nothing to do with firmware, whoops.

Setting > About device > Repair and formatting tools - Delete device configuration and installed applications

Failing that or if you're using it for reading & something similar. You should try one of those apps like "Tasker" where you can prevent screen dimming events during other apps of your choice. There's dozens (possibly hundreds) of apps that will keep your screen active.

Screen On Toggler
KeepScreen
Setting Profiles
Profile Scheduler
FastBright (if you're having trouble with it routinely waking up and using power, once you've got it working right that is)

If you haven't already, go here to Customer Service & contact the professionals that are paid to provide you with support. Perhaps this is a defective tablet.

Good luck.


Use Charles Proxy to monitor traffic from an android game Can I use Charles Proxy to monitor traffic for an online android game like PUBG. If yes then what all information can I get from this? Can I use this to monitor the packets which are sent to the game server while playing the game and get the information like the ping I am getting while playing the game?

Online games usually use UDP (and sometimes also raw TCP and/or HTTP(s)) traffic, but Charles is a web proxy that captures only HTTP and HTTPs traffic. Therefore you will only see a small part of the traffic.

The in-game ping usually bases on the UDP traffic, therefore using a pry will also not help you to get your ping time. AFAIK PUBG has a built-in ping time viewer that can be enabled in-game.


How can I re-install the stock Android 2.2 calendar? I mistakenly deleted the stock Google Calendar application from my Android 2.2 phone (Samsung Europa GT-i5500). My phone is rooted. I can't recall what program I used for the deletion, but I have backups of 4 files saved on my desktop PC:

com.android.calendar-[big number].apk
com.android.providers.calendar-[big number].apk
com.android.providers.calendar-[big number].properties
com.android.providers.calendar-[big number].tar

How can I reinstall this application using these backups?

You can restore the calendar from your backup files. Two of them should be of interest to you.

com.android.calendar-[big number].apk
com.android.providers.calendar-[big number].apk

The first one is the actual calendar, while the second is a helper app for it that stores it's data.   To reinstall either use Titanium Backup, a file manager (there're plenty in the play store) or adb. With the latter type:

adb remount
adb push /path/on/pc /system/app/Calendar.apk
adb push /path/on/pc /system/app/CalendarProvider.apk

into the terminal. Now reboot.


Why did my phone lose the ringtone configuration? I've assigned a default ringtone and one other ringtone to my wife. She called me two days ago and the phone played the Galaxy SII ringtone. Next day, somebody else called me, and the same happened.

So, I assigned the ringtones again, but I was wondering if this happens often, does it happen to others, is there a reason it happened to me (did I do something wrong)...

Probably it's a bug. Last night, the OS updated itself, and the ringtones were not affected.

I don't know if it could be your case, but if your phone is connected to your computer with UMS (USB Mass Storage) enabled along having a custom ringtone stored on your SD card (/ringtones folder) instead of MTP this will give you this kind of problem.

The phone will use a default ringtone since it cannot access the SD card files, because the UMS mode requires exclusive access to the mass storage.


Prevent entering PIN code before lockscreen I have a Samsung Galaxy Mini. I'd like to know if it is possible to prevent the user from entering the PIN code before unlocking the normal pattern, since it recently happened to me that someone got access to my phone while it was charging and almost locked up my SIM completely by entering incorrect PIN and PUK codes.

Thanks

There is no way I am aware of for doing what you want. But why you need the pin unlock, just remove it from settings and stick with the unlock screen,, in this way you will not have your sim locked


Haptic feedback on samsung galaxy s3 mini I have recently bought a Samsung galaxy s3 mini and there is no haptic feedback on my soft buttons or typing a message, there is only a vibration key press on my lock screen. I have tryed going into settings, language and input, keyboard setting but there is no vibration on key press option in any of the settings I have looked through. Can someone help me please?

Haptic feedback is still there. Go to Settings > My Device > Sound and it should be around the bottom of the options. It is labled haptic-feedback

Your keyboard should have its own option, but it depends on the particular keyboard.

Samsung Keyboard: Click on the 'cog' icon beside the space bar.  Click 'Vibration'.

SwiftKey: Settings > Sound & Vibration > Keypress Vibration.


What is the FWDN mode? I accidentally pressed a button when turning on my android tablet and it says (typos included):

The Device enter FWDN Mode
Please Connect USB to PC or Reset
The Device Waitting........

What's the FWDN Mode?

As per my comment in the above, I would gauge a guess, its some sort of a F irm W are D ow n load

A specialized mode particular to that device to enable updating - think of OTA firmware update but using some proprietary software to download the firmware - possibly radio baseband, or a ROM update...


How to check what file formats Google Docs app supports? I went to All apps in the Settings app, and then when looking at one, for example, Google Documents, I was gonna disable it but I got to looking at the information on the app. It says, some defaults set. Now, I do let some family members use my phone. I don't use Google Documents, never have.

My question is how I can know which apps are using Google documents as a default?

Google Docs app can handle a large number of office text format files (.e.g MS Word .doc .docx .rtf ...).

If you try to open such a file format using an app that can't read those format itself it sends the document to another app that supports this format. Which app is used is not app-specific, the association is saved for each document type system wide. Therefore there is no such thing like a setting for apps that are "using google documents as a default".
You can see see and mange the file associations in the system settings.

Also any app can make use of Google Docs, e.g. a mail program that uses an external program to view attachments. Therefore there is no way to detect apps that can make use of Google Docs. Therefore theoretically any installed app can make use for Google Docs. To narrow it down you can say that any app that handle files (from file-system, mail, chat, file sharing, ...) can make use of Google Docs.


Languages that an App is available for, on Play Store? I am not sure when it changed but as of right now I am unable to see what language an App is available for on Play Store.

I wanted to compare size of some Apps on App Store vs Play Store and was wondering if the significant size difference can be attributed to a language support. For ex, WhatsApp on AppStore is around 158MB(https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/whatsapp-messenger/id310633997?mt=8) but on Android, if you try an App downloader service like, ApkPure, it shows around 32MB(https://apkpure.com/whatsapp-messenger/com.whatsapp)

This is baffling considering its WhatsApp and you would expect to be available in multiple languages and at least as many as there are on the iOS platform. For that matter, you can clearly see the supported languages for WhatsApp on the Apple platform.

So, how can I find the languages an App supports?

You can not compare iOS and Android Apps. They are written in different programming languages, they contain different libraries and they are executed on totally different runtime platforms.

Furthermore an iOS is a fat binary containing one app multiple times - currently usually two times: One 32bit binary and one 64bit binary.

On Android side only native libraries are contained for each platform. For WhatsApp you mentioned it looks a bit different: There are different APK files, one for each platform. The APK files from ApkPure only contain the libraries for ARMv7a (ARM 32 bit). Their size is about 4MB - this makes the APK again smaller.

Conclusion: Multiple languages are most likely not the reason for app binaries to get large.

Regarding the supported languages the iTunes link clearly states the different supported languages.

For Android the info is not available on a website. You have to download the app and the use the aapt tool from Android SDK:

Windows: aapt dump badging "WhatsApp Messenger_v2.18.122_apkpure.com.apk" | find "locales"

Linux: aapt dump badging "WhatsApp Messenger_v2.18.122_apkpure.com.apk" | grep "locales"


Where is debugging mode on Kindle Fire? I want to connect Kindle Fire with Eclipse to develop apps but I don't see any entry like "Development" in "Settings". What's wrong with it? If it doesn't exist on KF, is there any way to do that?
When I open Manage on Windows XP, a yellow exclamation mark appears on Kindle. Is its driver missing?

It is always enabled on the Kindle Fire. You simply need to add the Fire's device ID to your android_usb.ini file so that the Google ADB drivers will find it. You can do this from the command line very easily with:

echo 0x1949 >> "%USERPROFILE%\.android\adb_usb.ini

Then restart adb

adb kill-server
adb start-server

And you should be good to go.

If it still won't recognize it then you may need to go into the "Manage" menu and uninstall the Fire, then unplug it and plug it in again (I don't remember if that step was necessary).


Stop Facebook using GPS I have set location to off but I can see it is still trying to use GPS from the icon in the top left corner.

Where in the settings can I switch this off for Facebook only? Despite Messenger location servvices being set to Off, everytime I open the app it tries to get a GPS lock.

I am running the latest stock Nexus 4 firmware and Android 4.2.

AFAIK PDroid is the best solution. (Except you need to be rooted) You could even set a custom GPS location per app.

Permission Explorer is a good alternative.


How to install Magictricks from recovery mode? I am trying to root my old OPPO F1s following the tutorial on this link.

I am stuck on step two of rooting using fastboot.
When I enter the recovery mode and try to install the Magictricks.zip in my phone storage, it gives me the error message saying installation failed.
I also tried many other tutorials providing different packages and each time I try to install them using recovery mode it just always fails.
Currently, I haven't done anything that I can think of that may result in this failed installation cycle.

Any Idea how to install .zip on Oppo phones in recovery mode?

Also, I can't see SD card option in recovery mode while installing files.How can I get that as in most of the online tutorials and demos people do get this option?
My phone configurations:
Model: Oppo f1s A1601
Ram: 3GB
Android: 6.0
and enough space in both SD card and phone internal.

Try this Magisk app that I obtained from my friend's Repository which will help you to download Magisk.zip that you'll flash via custom recovery only and you'll be rooted

Note: If you haven't installed TWRP or CWM it won't install the zip. Configuring and using Fastboot are the basics you need to be and to flash the recovery though.

If new to these, read this guide here and get TWRP recovery from it


Is it possible for my Sony Xperia Neo L to take other earphones besides SONY earphones My Sony earphones are damaged, I've got other earphones (non-SONY) but are not accepted by the phone. Is there a way to make them work ??

There are different standards for headset plugs, and Sony has started using the CTIA layout for it's smartphones since 2012. I couldn't find the official documentation on the differences, but it's pretty well explained here (In german, but the pictures speak for themselves).

The gist is, on regular headsets the order of the pins is ground-mic-right-left, but on CTIA it's mic-ground-right-left.

To get regular headsets working, you'll have to use an adapter, but if I'm understanding this correctly, headphones (that is, without a microphone) should work normally.


Insufficient storage availalable when there is plenty My Samsung Galaxy Note 2 started giving the insufficient storage available after trying to transfer app to my SDCard using DroidSail Super App2sd lite.

I uninstalled it before realizing there's a problem and now cannot install it again to try to troubleshoot it.

I tried installing from Google PlayStore:

AptoIDE
and samsung app

some random apps and some successfully installed but the majority didn't.

I was running Android ver.4.1.1 and rooted and decided to upgrade to 4.1.2.

I upgraded successfully and rooted again but nothing changed.

I have:

5.34Gb/11.07GB available in the internal storage
24.61GB/29.81GB on the SD card and
0.92GB/1.75GB RAM.

I rebooted, cleared the RAM, unmounted SDCard and re-mounted but nothing worked.

Please help!

I have found the solution that might help lots of people. I was able to install rom toolbox pro, I tried to fix the permissions but that didn't help then I changed the setting under app2sd that was set to save everything to extSD regardless of what it is TO auto as it should be by default i think and now i can install anything from the playstore without getting any errors. I think Droidsail super app2sd changed that setting behind the scene. Anyone who played around an app like APP2SD and has the same issue as I did will probably be able to solve it using my method. Good luck!


How to move phone contacts to Google? When I create a contact on my Android phone, I can choose to store it to the SIM, the phone or to Google.  If I choose phone, is there an easy way that I can move or copy that contact to Google (so it shows up in GMail, for example) at some later time?

EDIT: I'm using the Samsung Vibrant, T-Mobile's variant of the Galaxy S, running Android 2.1.  The edit menu for contacts shows options for Edit, Delete, Link contact, Mark as default, Send namecard via and Copy to SIM.

This is the simplest way that I found to do it with my Samsung Galaxy S:

From the main Contacts screen, hit Menu, then More, then Import/Export, then Export to SD card.
Connect the phone to the PC and mount the phone's SD card as a removable drive.
Open browser to GMail, select Contacts then Import.  Select the file on the phone's SD card, then Import.

Voila!  On the next sync, they're back as my phone as Google contacts.


Only 1 arrow flashing when connected to wi-fi Recently when I connect to my companies  wi-fi network, it  says I'm connected with 1 bar the up arrow flashes white but the down arrow does not flash at all and I can not use any apps internet, nothing! (I never had this problem before)

Can someone please help. I have reset my phone, turned it off and on 100 times , clicked forget network and retyped in password etc.. says I'm connected to network but no internet?

I use Samsung galaxy note 2

Here's your solution to the only one arrow of wi-fi is blinking issue

long press your wi-fi network, an option will appear 'modify network' click this.
Go to advanced setting and change your Ipv4 address from 'static' to 'DHCP'.
After this also if your problem is not solved then contact to wi-fi owner.


Is my device infected/hacked? Today on a normal navigation with firefox a fake popup said

"your firefox is infected with 2 virus"

then android ask me to give to firefox the "vibration access" of course i refuse.
And then firefox ask me to going to google-play to download antivirus.

I deinstall firefox and reinstall..and the page with advice disappear.

I download then the "free antivirus" from google-play(not the antivirus wich firefox want to force me to download) and do a scan..no virus found.

But now with linux I do a nmap on android device..and port 554(rstp) tcp
is open!
Why is open?Is my device infected or what else?

Solution found,there is something strange on my net because i see 554 port on every machine!

But if i did a telnet outside this machine..554 doesn't answer.

I investigate..meanwhile i'm happy my android is not infected,firefox probably take a fake virus.


Which .iso to download to install Android on my home PC? I checked the Android-x86 downloads list. It contains .iso files for Laptops. I want to install Android on home PC.

It all depends on the device where you're going to install this Android port.

If you access the download page of the Android-x86 Project, you'll find a short description for every available ISO to point you out onto the proper download.

Assuming that you're out to try the latest, Android-x86 4.0-RC1 live and installation iso:

for AMD Brazos platform
for ASUS Laptops/Tablets   <-- Best bet if your referring to a desktop PC or a Laptop.
for ASUS Eee PC family
for Lenovo s103t tablet
for Tegav2 (Atom N455 tablet)

For the purpose of completeness,

Here's a small description of the Android-x86 Project - Run Android on Your PC:

  This is a project to port Android open source project to x86 platform, formerly known as "patch hosting for android x86 support". The original plan is to host different patches for android x86 support from open source community.


Do different phones have different accelerometer quality? Is there a way to measure it? I'm creating an Android application that basically detects the vibration of a car on streets and saves the data in a file that I'll analyze later. But I'm curious to know if there's such a thing as an "accelerometer accuracy" on different phones.

If there is, is it possible to measure the accelerometer quality of a specific phone? What are the parameters I should be paying attention when I want a phone with a very good accelerometer sensitivity and accuracy?

The quality of the sensor is mainly determined by the used sensor chip.

For a lot of devices you can find the info which sensor chip is used for providing the accelerometer/gyroscope sensor data. E.g. you can find it in a tear-down article of the device.

With that info you can review the technical data-sheet of the used chip(s) and compare them or ask the electronic tinker scene on the net for their thoughts or recommendations.


Modify hosts file on Android without rooting device Is it possible to add entry to hosts file on Android without rooting phone?

I am contractor working in remote and I have to use AirWatch and Cisco AnyConnect to get access to VPN, but if I root Samsung tablet (SM-T700, 5.0.2) then I can't get access to VPN. All what I actually need is to access web application behind that VPN with either Firefox or Chrome. It's just adding: ip.ip.ip.ip jbossWorker100.intranetOfCompany.com

I already rooted tablet, changed host file, but then I can't get access VPN, and if I unroot it then I can get through VPN but I can't get to the app.

This is not possible. You can, however, run your own DNS server on a local network, that could emulate this behaviour on all appliances that are connected via it.


Can't install TWRP on Galaxy A3 (2017) I want to root my phone, but first I was trying to install TWRP. The phone is Galaxy A3 SM-A320FL (2017).
(Edit: System is Android 7.0)

What I did:

Turned on OEM-unlock and USB-debugging on the phone
Installed the Samsung USB drivers on my laptop
Turned off phone, went into "Download Mode" by pressing Volume down - Home - Power
Started Odin. Connected the phone. In Options I ticked only "Auto Reboot" and "F Reset Time"
Clicked on AP and selected the TWRP file and hit Start
Then PASS was flashing in Odin and the phone rebooted immediately.
Turned it off and tried to enter recovery mode. (I think I did it with Volume Up - Home - Power)

...and then a blue screen came and said "Installing system update". After a while it changed to a blue screen that said "No command". Then after a while it changed to a screen that I think is the standard recovery tool. So no TWRP. I hit Reboot and the phone rebooted normally.

Then tried to do the whole thing again with a different TWRP file but it went exactly the same. I'm newbie with all this so I might be using a wrong TWRP file or something, I also seen tutorials where it says dont thick Auto-Reboot and they press all sorts of button combinations. I don't want to brick this phone so I wanted to ask how to do this right before I try it again. Thanks for help!

For those that came here, the problem is that when booting, twrp is erased by stock recovery. The goal is to avoid the normal boot.
Firstly, uncheck "Auto Reboot" in Odin.
Then finish others Odin steps, and when you see PASS here we go:

Volume down+Home+Power to exit installation/start reboot process.
Instantly when something change (screen should turn black) switch to Volume UP+Home+Power (combinason to enter recovery mode), and there it should be okay.
(if you are too slow it will again boot normaly and twrp will be gone again).


GS3 automatically answering incoming calls Why is my GS3 automatically answering incoming calls. I am not using a headset/bluetooth.
The phone can be in an entirely different room when a call is automatically answered.

Is your Settings > Language And Input > Voice Command for Apps 'On'?
Sometimes it picks up something in the background and answers the calls.

If turning off that doesn't work, try to do a factory reset on the phone.

Unfortunately, if even that doesn't work, you will have to get it inspected at a Service Center.


Remove duplicate contact information After merging contacts from different sources like Facebook, Twitter, Exchange and Google+, it was apparent to me that now my contacts contain a lot of duplicate information such as the same email addresses, birthday date, website address.

Ideally, all those redundant entries should be merged as well so not to clutter things.

I've looked almost everywhere but could only find information relative to just merging issues with contacts.

(If it matters, I am using Android 2.3.)

Visit the Contacts app in a desktop browser and sign in with your Google account with which your device is getting synced.  Once done (you should have successfully synced your contacts before this), the more button (as seen in the image) has option to merge.


Is Android's system recovery a firmware thing or Android thing? Can factory reset be prevented? I'm researching on how to protect my phone from being able to be reseted by thieves. Doing some research online I figured out that the main method of putting a stolen phone to work again is to do a factory reset through rebooting and using some combinations of volume + power buttons to activate the factory reset.
I'd like to know how this reset works. I've seen that on a Moto G 2nd gen, it had options like 'factory reset' or 'recover from SD card'.
First of all, this program, let's call program A that starts when you press the volume + power is running from firmware or kernel? Can it be erased?
I'd guess it's firmware, but it'll only accept a new system from an SD card if it's signed. So, the option a thief would use is the factory reset.
Supposing that I cannot block the program A from running and neither modifying it to supress the factory reset option, is it possible that I can make it factory reset to a custom OS, not the installed one? This custom OS could not work or have some monitoring programs.

Android recovery is part of boot.img located in /boot partition. Hold key press signal for bootloader and recovery mode are hardcoded in android bootloader (ABL). ABL listens to keypress signal and boots bootloader or recovery mode. In Qualcomm Snapdragon devices, if ABL is corrupted, then Qualcomm's Extended Bootloader (XBL) fallsback to EDL mode for flashing device partitions.
See the bootflow of device with Qualcomm's SoC:

In this image, it shows kernel boots recovery which is not the case anymore. In A/B slots, recovery is part of boot.img so it can be directly booted by ABL.
Android has weak implemented physical security. Someone with physical access can access bootloader and recovery mode by hard restart of the device and pressing key combinations. Hard restart is hardwired to the SoC. By pressing power button for 15 seconds, SoC reboots and this feature is independent of the OS but reboot policy like hold press delay timer is hardcoded in firmware of SoC.
If factory reset protection (FRP) has no unpatched vulnerabilities, it will prevent reuse of stolen device after factory reset without authenticating your account. But OEMs implement it poorly and its bypassing methods become quickly available.
A good security design is when an unauthorised person shouldn't even have authorisation to factory reset the device. Android 8+ devices are fully capable of authentication for bootloader mode and recovery mode. Modern android devices are equipped with TEE which wakes on boot and in Qualcomm devices, it is awaken by XBL. TEE can perform biometric authentication or can use PIN authentication of screen lock even if the host OS is not loaded yet. Why AOSP and OEMs are not enforcing it doesn't have a justifying execuse.
Whether your bootloader is locked or unlocked, there's no anti-erasure protection. But atleast with bootloader locked, fully patched FRP can't be bypassed.


How can I get my phone to boot again? I have a Samsung Galaxy Mini (GT-S5570) and the ROM I'm using is CM10.1, I was messing with the developer options and I saw an option called "simulate second screen" and I  clicked that and selected 720 then it froze. I rebooted it and stops at the end of the boot animation and get stuck there.

Any ideas please?

Did you try "Volume Up + Menu Button + Power Button"?
That should get you to Recovery Mode and you should have an option there to Factory Reset your phone.


Modifying Samsung ROM and flashing it on a device I downloaded a Samsung firmware for my Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 (SM-T230) device and would like to remove certain applications and files from the firmware and then load it into the mobile device using Odin.

Is this possible? How do I extract the files from the firmware, modify them and then compress it again to use it with Odin?

Thanks for the help.

Try looking at this Removing files from & repackaging CyanogenMod ROM zip files. It doesnt deal with Odin, but provides you with valuable working  information. You should be able to use an archive program on PC and recompress to .tar, .gz, and others. Dont forget to re-sign the archive. Keep a copy of your untouched ROM until you have the modified ROM tested and running.

The ROMs are signed with a signature. When repacking if they don't get signed they will fail in flashing. This link will help explain it.

So basically after downloading the firmware you have to rename it so  you can extract the files, change them as you need, recompress them again and re-sign them, so you can flash them using Odin. Its as simple as that.


Changing custom ROM to another one or to stock rom Can jump from any custom rim to any other by just having twrp recovery installed ? Or do I need to first come back to stock ROM and again install another custom ROM ?

If you want to switch to other custom ROM just go to TWRP/CWM and perform the wipes and flash it, no need to install stock ROM. If you want to go to stock ROM than you'll need pc with software to flash firmware or via download mode on phone.


Hard Reset and Factory Reset is not working anymore When I am trying to do factory reset, my phone only restart. And I cant perform Hard reset because if I want to go to recovery mode, it will restart only. I seems like the recovery mode is destroyed. Is there any solution in this problem? .

phone specs(According to CPU-Z)

;ChinaPhone

:Hardware: MT6572

:Android 4.4.2

:Root Access: Yes

. ->recently, I can perform this two methods and I can Access recovery mode(power+volume up), but suddenly it goes like that. PLS HELP!!

although I'm not sure but try pressing the power button the home button and the volume down at the same time after you've turned off your cellphone and then use the volume up and down keys to select factory reset but you have to remember the gmail synced to your device and the password to be able to re-use it


Can the Droid Eris be charged on a PowerPlate Wireless Induction Charging Base? Can the Droid Eris be charged on a PowerPlate Wireless Induction Charging Base?

eldarerathis is right.  The PowerPlate is a two part system.  1. The Base and 2. The Receiver.  The receiver clips onto the phone and is specific to the phone.  It looks like the powerplate system replaces the battery cover on the blackberry and is a snap-on cover for the iphone.

Duracell makes an inductive charger that is compatible with the Eris.  PowerMat doesn't have an Eris receiver but they have some universals.  Or you could hack your own solution.