How to root the Galaxy Attain 4G (SCH-R920) on MetroPCS? I have an Galaxy Attain 4G (SCH-R920) on MetroPCS running the Android™ 2.3 (Gingerbread).

How can I root this phone?

Rooting the Galaxy Attain 4G (SCH-R920) on MetroPCS

A step by step tutorial accredit to Zhelezaka from http://forum.x-drivers.com/.

Requirements:

Necessary Files: all files hosted on my DropBox account!

Odin3 v1.85;
Attain Rooted Update;
Attain 4G PIT File;

Setup:

A PC running the Windows Operating System; I've used Windows 7
The cable to connect your Android device to the PC.

Tutorial:

Download all files from the "Necessary Files List" to a folder on your desktop;
Extract odin3_v1.85.zip to a folder on your desktop;
Locate and open the Odin 1.85.exe to open up Odin3;

If the User Account Control (UAC) pops up, accept the execution of the file.

Click on the PDA button.
Navigate to the location where you downloaded the Attain-Rooted-Update.tar file and select it.

Click on the PIT button.
Navigate to the location where you downloaded the Attain-4G.pit file and select it.

Do not forget to extract the file first, since the application only works with the Attain-4G.pit file inside the ZIP you've downloaded.

Make sure that repartition is unchecked.
This is important as checking this will most definitely brick your device!

Note that when you select the PIT file, it gets checked, you need to uncheck  it yourself.

Power down your device;
With your device switched off, press and hold the Volume Down + Home + Power buttons.
Then press the Volume Up key to enter the Download Mode.
Connect your device to the Windows PC.
You should see the ID:COM field light up yellow when you do this;

If this does not happen, it means that you don’t have the necessary drivers installed.
You can download Samsung Kies and install it to rectify this problem.

Android SDK
Samsung USB Driver

Your Odin3 screen should now look like the picture posted below. Again, make sure that the Re-Partition tickbox is unchecked before you click Start!

Click on Start.

Note: Once Odin3 says "PASS" and your device reboots, your Samsung Galaxy Attain 4G should be rooted!!
If you are in doubt though, the usual way to confirm is to download Root Checker from the Google Play Store or look for the Superuser app in the app drawer.

Useful links:

Samsung Product Page
GSMArena Device Specifications


Where exactly does Android get its contact suggestions from? I have a phone right here (Evo 3D), it has no service (except my wifi) and I've only added an obligatory gmail account which has one contact.

No Facebook, no Google+, no Twitter, etc.

Yet I got a "matched contact suggestion" notification. What is that? Where did it come from?

My main phone (TMO G2) with all of the services never gets these things and I'm not familiar with that at all.

Insight appreciated.

As long as your WIFI has internet connectivity, Android will be able to communicate with Google's servers.

There is one thing that people get wrong when it comes down to contact suggestions, be it Facebook or Google: They imply that they are the only ones that have saved the contact somewhere. But it's also the other way round. Which means that, the contact that was suggested to you has most likely your gmail e-mail address saved in his address book.


Getting "ssid bytes size out of range" error on Android 10 if WiFi is enabled I have OnePlus 7 Pro that got updated to Android 10. Since then, the phone randomly reboots. It seems it's related to WiFi since the random reboots almost never happen when WiFi is turned off (regardless if it's actually connected to a network or not)

Logcat:

Error: AndroidRuntime

*** FATAL EXCEPTION IN SYSTEM PROCESS: ClientModeImpl
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: ssid bytes size out of range: 64
    at com.android.server.wifi.util.NativeUtil.decodeSsid(NativeUtil.java:278)
    at com.android.server.wifi.WifiScoreCard.computeHashLong(WifiScoreCard.java:588)
    at com.android.server.wifi.WifiScoreCard.access$100(WifiScoreCard.java:63)
    at com.android.server.wifi.WifiScoreCard$PerBssid.<init>(WifiScoreCard.java:380)
    at com.android.server.wifi.WifiScoreCard.lookupBssid(WifiScoreCard.java:530)
    at com.android.server.wifi.WifiCandidates.add(WifiCandidates.java:374)
    at com.android.server.wifi.WifiCandidates.add(WifiCandidates.java:393)
    at com.android.server.wifi.WifiNetworkSelector.lambda$selectNetwork$0$WifiNetworkSelector(WifiNetworkSelector.java:911)
    at com.android.server.wifi.-$$Lambda$WifiNetworkSelector$Z7htivbXF5AzGeTh0ZNbtUXC_0Q.onConnectable(Unknown Source:15)
    at com.android.server.wifi.SavedNetworkEvaluator.evaluateNetworks(SavedNetworkEvaluator.java:279)
    at com.android.server.wifi.WifiNetworkSelector.selectNetwork(WifiNetworkSelector.java:900)
    at com.android.server.wifi.WifiConnectivityManager.handleScanResults(WifiConnectivityManager.java:342)
    at com.android.server.wifi.WifiConnectivityManager.access$900(WifiConnectivityManager.java:73)
    at com.android.server.wifi.WifiConnectivityManager$AllSingleScanListener.onResults(WifiConnectivityManager.java:425)
    at android.net.wifi.WifiScanner$ServiceHandler.handleMessage(WifiScanner.java:1429)
    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:107)
    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:214)
    at android.os.HandlerThread.run(HandlerThread.java:67)

PID: 28683
TID: 28862

The following error message says:

FATAL EXCEPTION: main
Process: com.google.android.gms.persistent, PID: 30417
DeadSystemException: The system died; earlier logs will point to the root cause

This is consistent and the same exact error shows up every time the system crashes/reboots.

Why, and how to fix this issue?

The error message is caused by SSIDs containing more than 32 bytes.

According to the Wikipedia,

  Unlike basic service set identifiers, SSIDs are usually customizable. These SSIDs can be zero to 32 octets (32 bytes) long, and are, for convenience, usually in a natural language, such as English. The 802.11 standards prior to the 2012 edition did not define any particular encoding/representation for SSIDs, which were expected to be treated and handled as an arbitrary sequence of 0–32 octets that are not limited to printable characters. The IEEE 802.11-2012 defines a tag that the SSID is UTF-8 encoded and when interpreting could contain any non-ISO basic Latin characters within it. Wireless network stacks must still be prepared to handle arbitrary values in the SSID field.

Note that the limitation is 32 bytes, not 32 characters. While each character in ASCII encoding is 1 byte, characters in UTF-8 encoding can take up to 4 bytes. Example:

Test consisted of 4 characters and 4 bytes.
テスト consisted of 3 characters but 9 bytes.

If the offending SSIDs are in your control, then the simple fix is by reducing their byte size (length).

The check on the Android-side that produces this error message was added on April 2019, which is between Android 9 (August 2018) and Android 10 (September 2019).

  NativeUtil: Perform range checks on ssid bytes size

  NativeUtil.encodeSsid/decodeSsid should perform range checks because the
  output/input is coming from binder/hwbinder interfaces which assume
  the ssid is not malformed (i.e within spec mandated size range).

  Most of the callers of these methods already handle
  IllegalArgumentException (including the hidden network list built in
  WifiCondControl). This should fix the reported issue of a hidden SSID
  added with size > 32 causing crash in wificond.


Huge "system data" file on SD card I am running out of space in my SD card on Android ICS and I noticed that a huge file "System data" is taking up to 500MB. Is this normal? How can I reduce its size?

I have never seen such a file on ICS.

You could simply try to move the file to your PC and see if everything works. I think it's pretty safe to do so, because critical system files are usually not placed on the SD card.


Something eating CPU on Sony XPeria XZ, how to find out what it is? I have two Sony Xperia XZ devices, bought both very recently in UK as used-with-warranty. One is working great, but the other (which has a 3 logo come up when booting) apparently has something using CPU all the time. Why I think so:

Phone is warm even when not used
CPU-Z and the like show frequency not falling under 1200 MHz, and usually over 1400 - while the other has it hovering under 1000 and sometimes hitting 330.
Antutu and especially GeekBench 4 results are worse than the "good" phone

So how can I catch the "perpetrator" and get rid of it? AVG and MalwareBytes scans find nothing. And the phone behaved like it was just factory-reset when I started it, so I'm not sure a factory reset would be of much help.

Use ADB and its logcat feature to see log of system and activity of processes.

Also you use adb shell top to see processes and consumptions


Installing TWRP on a Samsung device, no fastboot (using ADB or other ways) My device (Samsung Galaxy S3 I9300) is not detected by fastboot in Download Mode, but it is detected properly by adb. I want to install TWRP as my device recovery. Is there any way to install it using adb instead of fastboot?

There is a question about the problem of detection of the device by fastboot on this site (which has no working answer yet). But my question is not how to solve that problem. If you like to answer that problem please see this page.

There is no fastboot mode on Samsung. You must use the ODIN mode, which is an alternative to fastboot. On Linux there is a client application called Heimdall which talks to phones via Odin mode. So the answer to your question is ODIN or Heimdall. ODIN is the proprietary Samsung PC application, Heimdall is multiplatform open source alternative.

Alternatively, if you are able to root your phone somehow, you can put TWRP (or any other recovery) on your phone by rewriting the recovery partition via shell but this can be tricky and I wouldn't recommend it unless you know exactly what you are doing or willing to risk bricking your phone. If interested, I can write a generic how-to too but I'd rather leave it to someone with more experience on that - I only did it like 5 times.


Voice command slow with large contact list? On my HTC Hero running 2.1, the voice command is slow - both startup and processing.   I have a large contact list (on the scale of 1000 contacts), and I suspect that is the cause.  Does anyone know if there is a correlation between the two?  If so, is there a solution other than trimming the contact list?

I have a similarly sized contact list and I've found that the Voice Dialer is both slow to load and slow to find responses on my Moto Droid (on 2.0, 2.1 and 2.2).  I stopped using the Voice Dialer and started using Voice Search (aka. Voice Actions) by saying "Call Jane Smith mobile."  I've found Voice Search to open quickly and to find contacts quickly. Both of those apps came preloaded on my phone and are from Google.

While I don't know the architecture of either app it would make sense to me that the Voice Dialer would be affected by the size of the Contact list more directly than the Voice Search app.


Prevent overheating when tethering When I tether my phone and download big files or large numbers of them, and download is non-stop for a few hours, my phone (Nexus One) overheats. Is there any way to prevent that, except avoiding overusing the net?

This has happened in multiple devices, so it's not a hardware malfunction; it also happens both in the original ROM and CM7.

You could physical approaches, such as setting a fan blowing across the phone or other airflow maximization (e.g., if you can stand it up, then both the back and front are exposed to air).

Lastly, if it doesn't interfere with the radios, you could try resting it on an upside-down heavy-duty aluminum jellyroll pan ("cookie sheet") which will function as a heat sink.

You can combine approaches of course; a fan blowing over the jellyroll pan will be even better.

That you're getting several hours before overheat tells me you're close, so you probably won't need to do much to dissipate the heat. Standing the phone up may be enough. A fan almost certainly will be.


Low storage notification with 18GB Free! I've googled a lot on the issue and came up with many dead ends.

Basically a few hours ago my phone hit 0% and died, and when I got home and plugged it in it throws me a 'storage space running out' message and is EXTREMELY laggy for the first few minutes after booting.

I've tried deleting /data/log as one post suggested, however that folder does not exist.

Here are screenshots of my storage + the error.
https://goo.gl/VPeMn7

Any ideas/advice/suggestions?

My device is a LG G3 (AT&T)
Running Android 5.1.1,
Paranoid Android 5.1
777 Kernal

Sounds like a corrupted file in the operating system.

What i would suggest doing is reformatting back to factory settings.

on the phone go to  Apps > Settings > General

Tap Backup & Reset uncheck Back up my Data (if you want a clean slate). Leave it checked if you want to keep your pitures and other documents.

Tap on Factory Data Reset after doing so it should start reformatting

PS. also remember to clear your sdcard cause there might be of a virus
i would also get a antivirus for your phone as well.

Hope this helped :)


What is the meaning of an "eye" system icon on Samsung devices? This is a Samsung device showing an "eye" system icon on the notification bar.

What does it mean?

AFAIK, it is the Samsung feature which keeps the display turned on for as long as you're looking at it. This is helpful if you're reading something off the display and don't want it to sleep.

The setting/feature can be disabled in Display Settings of the phone.


How to Have Device Encryption With Magisk Systemless Root Installed? I am currently owning a OnePlus 3 64 GB device rooted with Magisk v13.0 (96f8efc) and MagiskSU's systemless root, and using the following ROM, which is based of Android 7.1.2 (Lieanage OS): Resurrection Remix OS (version: RR-N-v5.8.3-20170624-oneplus3-Unofficial), and the build number is: Resurrection Remix Nougat 7.1.2_r17-NJH47B.

I have tried the encryption setting, but it didn't (possibly) go well, as I ended up having short (possibly) 30 seconds soft restarts with my phone after the encryption process completes, and the only way to end this soft bootloop was to do one hard reboot. I also saw some missing apps (such as Maps) after the (faulty) encryption process. Furthermore, and this is the most important and annoying thing I found, is that once I set a password/pattern/pin after the encryption, and add the option to require it after booting, it will not be changed later, even if I changed it later on and added the same option of requiring it on reboot, the first would still persist.

I would like to know if there are steps (and possibly better ROM suggestions) that I could do to achieve full security using device encryption, while still benefiting from Magisk's systemless root that has the option of Magisk hide (using MagiskSu)?

I don't want to expose my data to thieves, as booting into recovery mode would show all my personal information as if I am running the device on root, and with that, you can easily wipe the lockscreen password by deleting the password database.

Really appreciate any help on this matter.

This was an old problem with Lineage OS based ROMS, where the encryption just didn't work properly. The problem is that ones the encryption is set, it cannot be changed in the GUI. However, I had a success in the past where I changed my encryption key through vdc cryptfs changepw command that can be run on the Terminal app from the developer menu (or any terminal emulator) with a required root access, and you can only change an old password to a new password, an old pattern to a new pattern, ...etc, but not a pattern to a password, ...etc.

I believe the issue has been resolved in the latest Lineage OS (correct me if I am wrong), as I am using another Lineage OS dialect called Havoc OS that have this issue perfectly resolved!


Android phone: suddenly unable to connect to wifi I'm having trouble connecting to a wifi network on my android phone.
I was connecting just fine for the last few months, but today it just stopped connecting.
It's not airplane more, and I haven't run any updates.
I tried "forgetting the network" and reconnecting again, but it keeps saying "Couldn't connect to network".
Have I been blocked? Is there anything I can do?

The solution that worked for me (LG V30S, Android 9) was to go to Settings -> General -> Restart & reset -> Reset network settings (the wording may be different since I translated from Swedish: Inställningar -> Omstart och återställ -> Återställ nätverksinställningar).


How to edit splash.img which displays the boot logo in Snapdragon chipset devices? As far as I know, most devices powered by Snapdragon Chipsets stores the boot logo (splash screen that shows up when device is switched ON) in a partition named 'splash' which contains splash.img

Is there a way to edit the splash.img file or create a new one?

Additional Info:

It seems there is some script/software for HTC phones to edit the splash image, but it seems it will set the image (picture) resolution to that of HTC phone's resolution.

My device is: Yu Yuphoria

I later found out how, and created splash.img for a few devices..

[GUIDE] How to Create Custom Boot Logo (splash.img) for Snapdragon Devices


Meaning of Options in FastBoot Flash Menu I've just bought my first Android device, a Motorola Moto G. Following the official guide on Motorola website, I learnt about FastBoot Flash Menu. Here there are several options. I'd like to know what everyone means.

Well, I don't know what all of them mean but I can get you started. You are currently in the bootloader.

Recovery: This is the partition in memory that has a recovery installed. A recovery program allows you to connect via adb (android debug bridge), flash update zip files (or ROMs), perform backups (nandroid backups), wipe data, factory reset the phone and some other stuff.

Factory: This option will restore your phone to factory settings. In other words, it will wipe all your data and the phone will start back up like it was new.

That's all I know.


HTC Desire 526 stuck "Proccessing" after factory reset I just recently factory reset my htc desire 526 and when I turned it back on, this happened

and then this happened

I've tried going into recovery mode and rebooting from there, i've also reset from the recovery screen, but every time it leads up to that point.
its currently been stuck there for like 30-40 mins,

Help appreciated, Thanks

Turning it off taking out the battery and the sim card replacing the battery and turning it back on got my phone past that page. Rekia87 was right.


Will after i batch restore on titanium backup will it restore to the same location? I have done a backup with titanium backup (except system apps) More I am switching to another ROM.
My question is when I will batch restore then will my internal apps(apps not installed in SD card ,installed on phone storage) that I have installed will be restored to same location as of previous ROM?ie . internal apps to internal and SD card apps to SD card.

Switching to same ROM version android 4.1.2 JellyBean

Thanks in Advance!

Yes. Don't worry. It usually restore in the same location. Even if it doesn't it isn't supposed to cause problems. You can always move them.


setting a default launcher Ok so I rooted my samsung galaxy note 10.1 today. I immediately bought the full version of adw launcher and installed it. Now I have a bit of experience with Android and launchers so I have tried all the usual methods of setting a default launcher.

I tried the home key then "always use" method. I tried clearing the default on the stock launcher. And I've been looking at other methods but none sound like anything I want to risk doing with my new 500 dollar tablet.

Does anyone know of a simple and straight forward method of setting a default launcher?

EDIT:: It was asking me to select a default launcher despite the fact that i had said that i want it to always use ADW EX. In the end the solution was to simply use Titanium Backup and remove all the other launchers. =)

(Sent from my rooted Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 using Google Chrome)

The simple and straightforward method to set the default launcher is the one you used:

Tap the Home button.
Tap ADW.Launcher.
Tap Always.

If this isn't working for some reason, then it might help to describe what the device is doing instead.


Dynamic launcher with Tasker? I'd like to use Tasker to switch my launcher: when I'm at work I need certain apps to be easily available, while when I'm home I want Nova launcher with all my apps. How can I do that? Thanks.

Any solution you find will require root, due to Android's security limitations (3rd-party apps cannot change the default action for intents).

http://www.reddit.com/r/tasker/comments/11swoq/how_to_use_tasker_to_swap_between_launchers/ looks promising, I'll summarise it quickly here.

Requirements:

Tasker
Secure Settings
A second launcher installed
Root access

Install Secure Settings, grant it root access and under Options → Root access make sure Package Manager is enabled.
Go to System settings → Apps, open the entry for your current launcher and press Clear defaults.
Press the home button, select your alternate launcher (probably the "at work" launcher in this case) and select the 'Always' option.
If you have more than two launchers installed, you must proceed with step 5. Otherwise (if you have exactly two launchers installed), skip to step 13.
Open Tasker, and add a new task in the "Tasks" tab (named something like "Disable stock launcher").
Add an action: Plugin → Secure Settings.
Click the edit button next to 'Configuration'.
Pick 'Package Manager' under 'Root actions'.
Click the question mark (?) in the top-left corner and select your stock launcher (or whichever launcher you do not want to use at all).
Make sure the grey toggle in the middle is set to 'Disabled'.
Press the Save button in the bottom-left, then the green check in Tasker.
Press the Test/Play button in the bottom-right; this will disable your stock launcher (or whichever launcher you don't want to use).
In Tasker, go to the profile you want to use your alternate launcher with (probably "At work" in this case).
In the Entry task add a new action: Plugin → Secure Settings.
Edit the plugin configuration: Edit → Package Manager.
Select your alternate launcher (the "at work" launcher in this case).
Set the grey toggle to 'Enable'.
Press Save in the bottom-left, then tick the checkmarks to commit.
For the exit task, do the exact same, except make sure the toggle disables your alternate launcher rather than enables.

N.B. As always with tasks involving root access, there is a small risk of ending up without a usable launcher; as long as you follow the instructions in the Reddit post, you should be fine.


How can I re-enable keyboard typing? From voice? I'm now stuck with Voice Input as the only typing mode because I accidentally chose it.

How can I re-enable keyboard typing?

You should be able to choose a default keyboard (i.e. Google Keyboard instead of Google voice typing) through your settings. Navigate to Settings -> Language and Input (titled similarly on most devices), then select an option other than voice input. If necessary, you can deselect the voice typing option to disable it entirely. The screen should look something like this:


Receiving calls over Wi-Fi first I just got an android 2.2 prepaid phone (no data plan, so I'm planning to have 3G off). I would like to find some service/android app combination that would let me receive calls over Wi-Fi on Skype or Skype-like app if I'm connected; and then redirect to the phone itself if I'm not. I looked into Google Voice, but it doesn't appear that there is a way to set up an order preference...

Ideally, I'd like to be able to port my old phone number (from my service that I'm about to disconnect) to this service.

Does anything like this exist?

You might want to take a look at Asterisk, an open source PBX.  You can create a dialplan that will ring your Skype or sip address first, and then switch to your prepaid phone number. With version 1.8, Asterisk supports Google Voice in addition to Skype. Dialplans are completely configurable, however this does entail setting up a server to run Asterisk. The good news is that the minimum hardware requirements are very low; you can even run it on a consumer router running custom firmware such as DD-WRT, OpenWRT, and Tomato.

A couple places to get you started:

Asterisk: The Definitive Guide - a free book Oreilly book, written for an older version, but still a great primer
Asterisk 1.8 documentation


Gmail app syncing contacts automatically I have multiple gmail accounts on my phone. I only want 1 account to sync contacts. I know how to stop it from syncing contacts in the future but I do not know how to stop it from syncing the contacts when adding the G-mail account originally.

You can simply deactivate automatic synchronization on your device; when you add a new Gmail account, contacts won't be synchronized. If then you want to synchronize your contacts for one account, you can go into your device settings ("Account" section) and activate synchronization for that account.

For example, I have a Huawei Y560, and I have to go to Settings --> Account --> Google, then choose the account; there will appear a list of options that I can synchronize just clicking on.

Otherwise, you can also activate synchronization for one account via Gmail app ticking the related voice in settings.


How can I use Whatsapp without scanning any QR code? My phone is broken, and I need to use Whatsapp. I already tried Whatsapp Web, but it is asking for me to scan a QR code, which I can't. Is there any other way to access my Whatsapp account through my PC with the help of an OTP or something?

Nope. Currently QR code is the only way to access the messages on your PC. The messages never leave your phone, they're merely just displayed on your PC, unlike Telegram or other messengers, where messages are synced online through their servers.


How to open multiple PDF files at once? I would like to open two PDF files at the same time. However, it seems like "doing more than one thing at once" is a concept which has yet to be invented in the tablet world. Is there a way to do it?

Ideally I'd like some sort of MDI interface where I can view files side-by-side. The next best thing (option 2) is a tabbed interface where I can see the files one at a time but switch between them. The next after that (option 3) would simply be to have two files open but use the app switcher to jump back and forth between them.

At first I thought that I'd be able to use Firefox as a container and could make option 3 work - but Adobe don't seem to have released their NSAPI plug-in for Android. So files are opened in their standalone "Reader" app.

The next failed idea was to use Firefox and PDF.js. This actually works, but PDF.js is so ridiculously slow that this is not a viable option.

Then I heard about "Dolphin" which supposedly has a PDF plugin, but after trying the browser out, before even getting to the stage of downloading the plugin, it's clear that this app is buggy and useless.

Frankly, I'm not in love with the idea of using a web browser for this task anyway.

The other idea is to install several different reader apps, but this is a horrible, ugly solution, and I assume I'll have to either pay up or accept ads.

Are there any simple ideas that I've missed? Is there some way to get "Reader" to not close the current file when I want to open another PDF?

To answer my own question: while I haven't found a completely satisfactory solution to this problem, I have discovered in Adobe's Reader app the "Recents" list - which shows recently read documents in the descending order of last-opened date. This, combined with the fact that the Reader app remembers the position of each document that you read, and the fact that the "Recents" menu is only a click of the back button away, gives a workable solution to reading multiple documents at a time, albeit slowly.

I wish that someone from 1998 could come back in time and give us proper multitasking. How great it would be!

For now, I hope this idea helps someone else.


Enabling GPS flag on android preferences: what is the battery impact? Even if there are many questions regarding Android and GPS my doubt is really specific to the user level location settings.

Supposing I've enabled the GPS settings, say from the Power Control widget, and no application is actually requesting location updates.. what is the impact of this situation on battery life?

Does the settings location flag start some activity in background, maybe a location service?. Is some radio activity initiated by having the flag on? or can I assume that if no app will register for updates my battery life will be more or less the same?

Normally your battery life will be the same. Only if applications start requesting GPS updates the battery will be affected. The switch from the Power Control is just a shortcut to prohibit / allow applications to enable GPS location updates.


Google Voice SMS messages not showing up in Hangouts I'm using Google Voice to send text messages to someone.  I've chosen to send the messages through Hangouts. The messages are being sent successfully and the recipient gets them but they don't show up in the chat log in hangouts.

However, they are showing up in the stock Messages app. Shouldn't the messages be listed in both apps?

I was having this problem too. But I went to Settings > Apps > Messaging and disabled the stock messenger app. Then everything goes through hangouts. But I ended up just going back to the old Google Voice app bc I couldn't get my phone calls to work right with Hangouts. It wasn't forwarding right, so I missed calls, and it wouldn't use my Google Voice voicemail system (it kept using my stock VM system). If you have any help with these, please let me know.


Is there an Android web browser which can upload files from a local file system? I am considering buying and Android tablet and want to know if this function is possible.

The stock android browser, as long as the website uses a file upload control it can.

I just used the upload tool on twitpic, which uses flash, allows me to select audio, video or image files, and uploads them to twitpic.


How can I root my Nexus S? I recently unlocked the bootloader on my Nexus S, and I am looking at ways to finish rooting it.  Every reference I find seems to be written assuming non-Google hardware, but the Nexus S is supposed to be open.

Your best source probably is Nexus S: All Things Root Guide -- which is a compilation/collection of several guides. Here you can probably pick your minimalist solution as well as go for the "big thing". In case you need some addional sources (easily to find with a simple Google search, by the way, as that is what I just did):

Root and Recovery for the Nexus S: Quite decent, looks really easy: Only a few steps involved.
Guide to Root Nexus S: a detailed guide
Nexus S: Full Update Guide: Full guide from root up to CyanogenMod CustomROM
"nexus s" rooting guide: Google Search which turned all the above up on its first result page ;) And probably has many more on the following pages...

Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying you didn't search (your question clearly indicates you did). I put this just for reference by other interested readers here, who might need more details.


How can I configure Google voice access so that I only have to say "hey Google" once? After I say "hey Google", Google voice access is letting me say a few voice commands. However, after a few ones, I have to say "hey Google" again to be allowed to give further voice commands.
How can I configure  Google voice access so that I only have to say "hey Google" once?
I did disable "time out after the speech":

I've just updated the voice access application to the version 5.0.35 and the issue is fixed: there's no more timeout, i.e. voice access stays activated until one closes it.


What should I do before root? I am going to root HTC Desire (with Android 2.2).
How can I do best backup, and how can I get sure that I won't lost my whatsapp history and other files?

Download Titanium Backup, it can backup and restore all your apps, whatsapp included. If you want you can also install a custom recovery like twrp to backup the entire device memory and firmware


How can I screenshot the Nexus 7? Possible Duplicate:
  How to take a screenshot with an Android device?

I want t take a screenshot on my Nexus 7, but none of the apps work.

How can I take a screenshot on my Nexus?

If you are using the stock ROM, you can simultaneously hold the power and volume down buttons for 1-2 seconds. A screenshot will be captured.

If you aren't using stock, you should check the ROM's power menu (hold down the power button).


Every time I connect my Android to my Ubuntu it asks me to allow the connection, can I change that? I have a Galaxy J7 and Ubuntu 16.04 on my Linux box.

Every time I connect the phone to the computer, it asks me to ALLOW the connection.

Is there a way to add an authorization for that one computer to connect automatically and without an ALLOW each time it connects?

I found a couple of answers to similar questions, but from like 2010 and 2012. The answers on those did not seem to make any sense for the J7.

Revoking USB authorisation in developer settings (enabled by tapping "Build number" 7 times ) fixed the problem for OP and they needed to authorise only once and not on each time it was connected, as earlier

Probably it was because of authorisation being "forgotten" on the device or a handshake issue between PC and device


Mysterious and whimsical selection of ringtones recognized by clock as alarms I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab A with S pen. I am trying to add additional alarm sounds to the list used by the native alarm clock app provided by Samsung, as these lack personality and often fail to wake me. I copied all the ringtones from my phone to Dropbox, and then exported them to the Ringtones folder with the Dropbox export feature.
Of the sixty-odd ringtones so exported, exactly four appeared in the alarm clock list of available sounds. I can discern no pattern in the ringtones so appearing. All 60 are all of the same file type, .mp3s. They are not especially long or short, nor large or small. They are neither clustered together under any file sort view nor evenly spaced. I have played all the files with six different player apps, all such apps that I have installed. With one exception, every app played all the files without difficulty.
The exception is the Sound Picker, invoked via the plus sign at the top of the clock's list of alarm sounds. The Sound Picker shows the four ringtones the clock sees, and four more, again with no obvious pattern; also a bunch of short snippets of some lecture that I do not recognize. The sound picker allows me to add exactly one of these new sounds to the clock's list. Adding another removes the one previously added.
I am completely befuddled by this and have no idea how to proceed further. Any insight or diagnostic suggestions welcome.

I found, through no insight of my own, a mysterious solution to my mysterious problem. My ringtones appeared in the new location at a rate of one per several hours. Three days later they were all there. Why so slow? No idea. There was no visable reformatting of the files.


How can I determine why my phone won't sleep? When my phone won't go to sleep, what is the best way to trouble-shoot what the problem and/or offending app is?

(In my case I am running CyanogenMod, and so I don't know if the solution will be the same or different than for stock Android)

First, look at which apps are runnng (including services).  Then use Titanium Backup to freeze on of those apps (exclude regular system apps/services, unless you've determined nothing else is the culprit) and see if your problem stops.  If you haven't found the offender, un-freeze and try another.


How do I Disable Android Device Manager on Sold Device? I am a GSuite user and a ZTE Axon 7 device that I recently sold via SWAPPA was setup with Android Device Manager. I did a factory reset on the device, but when the buyer powered on the device, he said that the device indicated that it was already associated with a Google account and he would need the credentials to configure it. I went into the standard Find my Device and tried to remove it, and it appeared to have been removed from whatever screen I was on, but the buyer is still complaining. I am still seeing the device here: https://www.google.com/android/find I wondered if GSuite's device management might be at play, and just went there to "delete" it. Am wondering what else I can do?

An answer that works... Give him your email and password to unlock the device. Once they are in and working, change your password.

Yes, it has potential risks, but 99.99% of the time this would work out just fine.


Why can't android connect to an ad hoc hotspot? Possible Duplicate:
  Why can't my device see an ad-hoc WiFi network?

One thing I have noticed about almost all android-powered smartphones is that they find it so difficult to connect to ad hoc wireless hotspots. I can connect most wifi enabled devices to this ad hoc connection(created with an iPhone 3G app, MyWi) but not android phones. Is there a fix for this situation?

As far as I know, this is something inherent to Android itself. I'd go further to say that if you've ever used an Android device that could access ad hoc WiFi it's something the manufacturer added.

I would love it if someone could prove me wrong on that though.

So as for why, I suppose only Google knows.


Phone borked after clearing dalvik cache On my Huawei G300, I cleared the dalvik cache from CWM and on rebooting, Android recreated it as expected but once the OS finished loading, all the apps started throwing up "Unfortunately x has stopped" and in particular Google Keyboard is doing that every 5s or so. On the first boot, it then dropped back to the Android boot animation, so I pulled the battery, rebooted into CWM and cleared the dalvik cache again and after that, at least it hasn't done that.

From System Settings - Apps I can see that Internal Storage only has 12MB free and 744MB used (it was actually 84KB free at first!). System Settings - Storage shows the Internal Storage has 137MB Free and 2.05GB Total though, so I guess they're referring to different things by "Internal Storage".

I use Link2SD and so most of my apps are linked to the 2GB Internal storage. I also have a 32GB SD card installed.

So if anyone could advise what I can do to fix this screwup, I'd be grateful as it's unusable at the moment. I managed to get Titanium Backup to run and update my backup, so I've got a current backup of my apps and data. ES File Explorer works as well but not much else.

Never mind. I managed to uninstall some apps to free up some space and then after rebooting, I was able to use Link2SD to move the Dalvik Cache, which gave me about 230MB free instead of 12MB!

I still had some problems so cleared the Dalvik cache again but that put it back on the Internal Storage and used up all the free space again, so I had to uninstall a few more apps and move it again but at least it's usable now. I'm getting a new phone this week anyway, so I won't waste much time getting it perfect, as I'll just wipe it and reinstall a clean ROM before giving it to a friend.


How can I set up different notification tones for each of my email accounts? I have a Bionic running Android 2.3.4. I receive mail on a few accounts via the stock Email app and would like a different notification tone for each e-mail account. Can that be done?

This feature is already provided by many email apps including official Gmail app. Gmail app even allows to set different notification tone of different labels.

In Gmail, go to Settings ~> [Email-id of attached Account] (under Account Settings section) ~> Labels to Notify ~> [Label Name] ~> Ringtone (from pop-up). If your Gmail app doesn't have these settings, time to update it.

If you don't use Gmail app, specify your email app for further help. If your app doesn't provide this feature, you can't add it by your own in most of cases (unless app allows plugins). So, switch to another email client app.


Some app keeps turning on mobile data There is some app that turns on mobile data. I turn it off but on sleep or power up it is back on. It is very annoying and potentially costly since I do not have a data plan. (this seems like an intentional way to rip off consumers... off should mean off)

Hi I saw this post and sympathise with the originator. I was using Battery Defender App which worked quite well. However I kept finding mobile data turned on regardless of what I did. This was wasting money for nothing as I just use my wifi at home for internet access etc. I don't need or use this when I am out. I eventually fudged the issue by changing the APN. This worked ok except mobile data was still swithced on all the time doing nothing.
In battery defender the app overrides the phone settings and reactivates mobile data. As far as I can tell there is no way of changing this in the app.
Hope this helps someone


After upgrading to Android 6.0.1 (Marshmallow), can't send or receive SMS texts? After upgrading to Android 6.0.1 (Marshmallow), I can't send or receive SMS texts.

I'm on a Galaxy S6 on Verizon. I tried rebooting in Safe Mode, disabling Google Hangouts, uninstalling Mighty Text, with no change in status. I used Samsung Messages, Google Messenger, all with no results. I don't have permission to edit my Access Point Names.

Help?

I had the same problem. I fixed it by doing this:

Go to Settings -> Privacy and Safety -> App permissions -> SMS

Turn off the Messages app and turn it back on.


Help while installing stock rom.zip While installing the stock rom the steps include

Open TWRP
Clean Cache system data
Install stock rom

When I clean the system data the stock rom zip that I have kept in the sd card also gets deleted. How am I supposed to install the rom ?
I am using TWRP , on a moto G2(2014), an the stock rom is android nougat 7.1

Place the ROM zip file in /data/media , that won't get wiped, when you wipe with TWRP

That's assuming you don't have an external SD.

See this for more -What's the difference between Data and Internal Storage?


Very high mobile data usage reported by carrier, no evidence in phone My phone is a galaxy Note II, I found out yesterday that I breached the 5 GB limit of data usage for the month when the carrier completely cut my data connections.
I went to check the reported usage in the system settings and it just shows 687 MB used for the month, the highest usage app is facebook with just a little over 100 MB used.

Now here's some facts:

Running Ditto Note 3 v 3.2 (android 4.3) (based on XXUEMK9) (Baseband: N7100XXUEMJ9)
Never used tethering this month
I always keep 3G off at night and when I'm on WIFI

How do I find out what could have caused all this data usage?
The detailed connections report from the carrier will come in 2 months so I can't know anything yet from that, I'd like to try and figure out something now.

I will be getting a data plan upgrade that will allow me 500 more MB for the month but I'm afraid that if I don't do something fast I might end up wasting all the data again, for now I'm planning of clean flashing the newest release of the rom but I'd like to know if there is some app that will let me monitor data usage in a more detailed way as it seems the built-in android graph doesn't record this hidden data that was used.

Turns out it was the carrier that messed up something as it seems I wasn't the only one to get this issue, so I didn't really use all that data.


Heimdall error: Setting up interface failed! While trying to know the pits available in my phone (Samsung GT-I9082, the Grand Duos) heimdall (in Linux) throwed me this error.

What does it mean?

How to resolve it?

There are a few options here, let's do the easiest first:

Do not boot into Download mode from the "4 way menu" from the device, this will cause issues. Ensure you turn the device off and boot into recovery with the Volume Down + Power buttons.
Ensure USB Debugging is enabled on the device.
Ensure samsung-kies has no processes running, or just uninstall it completely. It causes a LOT of issues with USB Drivers.
Ensure you have the correct USB Drivers installed for your device.
Try a different USB port, and cable if possible.
Try deleting /System/Library/Extensions/Heimdall.kext and reinstalling Heimdall
Try running this command: sudo kextload /System/Library/Extensions/heimdall.kext if you get an error then point 3 is your error!
Ensure Heimdall has the correct permissions: sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/heimdall.kext
Reinstall your OS (Linux) from scratch (this is a rather nuclear option to be honest)

Finally this is more general for other users. If you are using a Mac OS run the following:

$ sudo kextunload -b com.devguru.driver.SamsungComposite
$ sudo kextunload -b com.devguru.driver.SamsungACMData
$ sudo kextunload -b com.devguru.driver.SamsungACMContro


Security of locked Android I connected my Andriod phone to non-safety pc but phone was locked. Should I worry, Can pc install a malware to locked android phone?

If you have Android 6 or higher the PC cant harm your phone if:

Your phone hasnt USB-debugging enabled or the PC isnt trusted
The phone IS NOT in sideload or download mode
You didnt allowed MTP or any stuff like that


How can I install a custom ROM on my Xperia S without unlocking the bootloader? I have an old Xperia S and have rooted the device following the instructions here:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2417672

From my research, people are saying that I don't need to have an unlocked bootloader to get a custom rom on the device but most guides are for devices with an unlocked bootloader (mine is not unlockable).

I have copied SimpleAOSP onto the storage card but not sure where to go from there as the phone wont boot into recovery mode (I think because the bootloader is locked). I've tried using FlashTool but am not getting anywhere.

Current Android version is 4.1.4. Build Number 6.2.81.96. I'd like to install SimpleAOSP from here:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-s/s-development/rom-unofficial-simpleaosp-l-xperia-s-t3105420

To install a custom rom you must have unlocked your bootloader. However for Sony phones, the process is a little more work. Sony has a website that provides IMEI code that you can use to unlock.
This is how you unlock the bootloader:

Simply go to the stock Sony dialer and type ##7378423## to access the service menu.
Tap Service info > Configuration > Rooting Status. If Bootloader unlock allowed says Yes, then you can continue with the next step. If it says No, or if the status is missing, your device cannot be unlocked.

This link will provide further instructions to get the IMEI number:
http://developer.sonymobile.com/unlockbootloader/unlock-yourboot-loader/

I see that you already have downloaded the custom rom into the phone. Although when unlocking bootloader, the device storage will be wiped and factory reset. Make sure to do a backup of important files. (SD card remains untouched)
Have the custom rom on the computer for later transfer.

To install the custom rom, you must have a custom recovery; TWRP for instance.
After this process, you will be able to flash any custom rom of your choice.
Simply follow this tutorial to manually flash the TWRP recovery:

http://theunlockr.com/2013/02/14/how-to-install-twrp-recovery-on-the-sony-xperia-s/

After this part, the only thing remaining is to flash the custom rom. In TWRP, choose flash from storage and navigate to the rom file. Remember to wipe dalvik cache after flashing to get a stable boot. Note that first boot may take a while longer, so there is no need to worry.

Happy flashing!


Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge camera glitch My friend has the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge for about 2 months and her front facing camera is turning all her pictures a red negative effect on it. I will show an example  the other camera settings work perfectly fine, it's just the front facing camera with the selfie function. The video front facing camera works fine also. She is going to take it back to the shop but she said her old phone, a Note 4, had a similar problem. Occasionally when she is using her front facing camera, it'd go to the red negative effect. I hope I can get a reasonable answer on why this is happening other than her supernatural belief of ghosts. I'll include another picture that is using her back camera.

I too getting the same problem.I restarted the phone then it's works again properly.


Set Kiosk mode in Chrome for Android I'm trying to set the --kiosk and the --kiosk-printing flags in Chrome for Android on my Galaxy Tab 10.1.
All the instructions that I can find here and elsewhere tell me to go to chrome://flags and set the flag there. But neither of these flags is mentioned in the list there.
What do I need to do to set kiosk mode?
I'm using Chrome 39.0.2171.56 on Android 4.0.4

It is not possible to do this in Chrome on Android; you can achieve what you want to with Kiosk Browser Lockdown instead.


Password protected video I want to protect my instructional video with a password. There is a use case.

When a user wants to play an encrypted file (update: file located on user's android device), the encrypted file will pop up a dialog box to request the user to enter a Playback Password. This dialog box will display the machine ID of the user's android device. The user can send his/her own machine ID to you, and you can create a Playback Password based on the user's machine ID. After that the user can use this Playback Password to play your file on his/her device. Since the Playback Password is created based on the user's machine ID, the user will not be able to share the Playback Password with other users. Since the Playback Password is bond to the user's device, the user will not be able to re-distribute your files.

Is there some software that helps me to obtain this purpose?

I seem to have secured the streaming video from the web site well enough, but a lot of the members want video files on their devices because they don't want to have to deal with wi-fi to play the video while they conduct the class. (update: I'm not good in English. I meant file need to be located on user's android device. No streaming)

There is no doubt someone can just shoot the video from the screen, but I want to slow down the proliferation of my video.

What about an app like Android Video Protector? It is advertised as being exactly what you're looking for:

How to protect video files on Android Platform?
Android Video Protector Solution contains two software, there are Android Video Protector and PPVM Video Player. Android Video Protector is a video encryption software running on Microsoft Windows Operating System, it uses a password to encrypt the video you hope to protect, and supports 4 types encryption modes:

Device Binding, One Device, One Password
Non Device Binding, All Device, One Device ID, One Password
Non Device Binding, All Device, One Password
Encrypt video only

How to playback the encryption video on Android Platform?
Because the video is encrypted, the general video player can't playback this video, PPVM Video Player is the player running on
Android Platform and supports playback the encryption video. it
firstly check the playback password, which can be generate using
Android Video Protector, after complete the password authentication,
it will playback the encryption video.

I have no idea if these programs are reputable or if they work. The Android app is a direct download from their website (not the Google Play store) - proceed with caution at your own risk.


YouTube Premium: Downloaded videos - Original channel deleted? I have subscribed for YouTube Premium and have downloaded some tutorial videos I want to keep. However, the channel owner will be deleting his entire channel soon.

Research online is difficult and I'm seeing mixed results, where some say the downloaded videos are kept when this occurs, and others saying they are deleted as well when the channel is deleted.

Will the YouTube app save these videos? If not, how can I hang onto them?

From Google Support - Delete your channel, which addresses this from content creator view

  Closing your YouTube channel will permanently delete your content, including videos, comments, messages, playlists, and history.

Also here, support says

  ...  If you delete a video, it's permanently deleted — you can't recover it through YouTube.

(Emphasis added)

So, the videos are lost. Even if you download them for off-line viewing, you will not be able to play them because they aren't available any more. For more details on off-line viewing see this answer. It's an old answer but still valid because I see many videos which I bookmarked or downloaded go missing because of channels removed / videos being deleted because of ownership disputes (private videos) in addition to YouTube updates.

Your best bet may be to reach out the content creator and explain the situation to them and explore if it is possible that they upload to a private cloud and give you access (provided this arrangement doesn't run foul of YouTube copyright)


Perfect voice recognition, but Voice Commands don't work I'm using a Dutch Nexus 5 with stock Android 4.4.4 KitKat but have the voice language set to English (US). I have the latest files for offline speech recognition for English (US). Google Now, "OK Google"-detection and audio history are enabled, and it all works like a charm. It instantly responds to "OK Google", and transcribes my (English) statements flawlessly.

However, Google Now always starts a search. Whatever I say, it is never recognized as a command. So, whether I say Say 'How are you' in Spanish, Set alarm for 8 PM or just Help, it just starts a Google search on the exact phrase I said. Obviously that's not very helpful. How can I fix this?

(There are only three commands that I've found that do work: call, dial and text.)

According to Google's help pages on using Voice within the Search app, the Voice Actions only work for a limited set of languages:

  For most of these tips, you need to be using Android 4.1+ in English,
  French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, or
  Brazilian Portuguese. Some voice actions are not available in all
  languages and countries.

They are not referring to the Search app's "Language" setting, as that only governs language in which search results are returned.  You must change the system-wide Language setting to one the supported locales under Settings -> Language & input.  Unfortunately there is currently no way to use Voice Actions under other locales.  Google however are always improving their Search app, so it's possible that Voice Actions will become available in your country's language soon.


How water resistant is the HTC Desire? I read on another question that the Motorola Defy is a good choice if you want a water resistant phone. I assumed I wouldn't get the phone wet so water resistance was not a factor I considered when I was deciding which phone to buy. As it happened I ended up buying an HTC Desire.

However I do occasionally find it convenient to operate the phone in light rain, or with wet hands. So far no problems apart from a slightly unresponsive touchscreen sometimes, but I'm wondering how much of a risk am I taking here?

Could operating the buttons while they are slightly wet cause permanent damage to the phone? If so, how likely is it to happen in practice?

Mostly I'm interested in the HTC Desire, but if you have had a similar phone that was damaged by a small amount water then that would be interesting too.

If the water finds its way into the circuitry and causes a short, that could be bad, but I don't think there is any good way to quantify how likely that is to happen to any phone.  I have a Moto Droid and get it a little wet all the time and have never had a problem, although I have heard of people bricking their phone under the same circumstances.

If you do actually get it wet and it dies, it may not be bricked.  After it dries out it will probably work again.  You can aid the process by putting the phone in some rice or just blowing dry warm air on it.

It's also worth noting that many phone manufacturers install moisture detecting stickers inside the phone.  On the Droid it can been seen through a little hole under the battery cover that shows red plus signs on a white background.  If that gets wet, it'll bleed and that way if you try to return a broken phone and say it just died the tech can see if you got the phone wet, and even if that's not why it died, it'll void your warranty.


Installing Android ROM on a HTC HD2 on the SD card - Performance impact? I'm currently running Android on my HD2 using the internal memory. However I'm having terrible issues with the memory filling up and I can't seem to solve it. I considered installing Android directly onto the SD card, but was told by a friend that it would slow down the OS so bad that it would hardly be possible to use.

So my question here is quite simply; will there be much performance impact by running Android from an SD card?

Adding bounty now, due to lack of patience.

I'm looking for an answer derived from personal experience or believable online sources
I won't accept probablies and maybes

Quite a few people dual boot Nook Colors (internal vs sd card).

Take a look at this xda thread on running CM7 on the sd card (for the Nook Color) and this thread about booting from sd card performance.

In short, it really depends on the read/write abilities of the sd card you use. A crappy sd card is going to give crappy performance.

(Sorry for the specifics to Nook Color, but in general, it should be similar)


How do some android apps remember that this is not the first time they are being installed? Some android apps are can remember whether they were installed on the same device earlier. Suppose you uninstalled an app a year ago. After one year if you install that same app again, that app will be able to recognize that it was installed before on the same phone.

This technique is used by online applications to permanently ban users from ever creating a new account again if they have been banned from using the service once. When such users create a new account by reinstalling the application later, these apps are able to detect their "first time presence" and send this information to servers so that user can be banned again.

How they do it even after clearing their data and uninstalling them completely? It means they keep some file somewhere in the phone, which is not deleted after uninstall. How do I disable this detection?

There are multiple ways to identify a unique device or its user:

Keep a file in some (non-default) directory: You already said this; apps can often write to the internal storage of a device. This method is easy, works offline and is not the easiest to spot (place the file in some system-like directory and nobody will bother deleting it).
Keep track of a devices unique ANDROID_ID (unique per fresh installation): this method is simple but requires internet access, at least on the first use. It's not very intrusive and does not persist in case of a factory reset. It's also unique per user. See this information.
IMEI: Very intrusive, unchangeable but requires a SIM-capable device. The IMEI is unique for each device, cannot be changed and doesn't follow the user, meaning that if you sell your device, the new owner will be greeted with a screen telling him that the app was already on the phone.
Follow a user's Google account: This is pretty much the same as the ANDROID_ID approach but requires explicit permission (Android 6.0+) from the user to access. Apps that take advantage of the Google account ecosystem (e.g. highscores and achievements in games) can thus follow a specific user and gain more information than just whether the app has been installed or not.

2, 3 and 4 require a network connection and a server on the side of the developer.


Can I restore my contacts on new phone? I was using Samsung Galaxy S Duos, which was stolen 2 months back. I now have a new Android phone - the Micromax. I thought I lost all my contacts, but somebody insisted that you can restore it using Gmail account even though I never manually performed a backup of my contacts. I remember the day when I took the phone, and it asked me for a Gmail account.

For my profile and I gave the Gmail account and also always "Account sync" option was on in my mobile.

Now my questions are:

Can I still get those contacts restored on my new mobile? I have not manually done a backup, just the Gmail account that I set when I got that phone was in sync.
If yes, can I get it on Micromax cell also?

First, make sure that your contacts from your old phone were saved as Google contacts. You can do that by going to: http://www.google.com/contacts from any computer and login in with the Google account you used on your old phone.

If your contacts are there - you're in luck. Just add this Google account to your new phone and the contacts will be synced.


Play Store error: Error while retrieving information from server, when trying to install apps I cannot install applications from the Google Play Store. When I try, it says "Error while retrieving information from server."

My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S4, running Android 4.3. How can I fix this problem?

These steps should fix this.

Go to settings> apps >play store. Then tap clear data and cache
Go to settings>accounts>Google then  remove account
Reboot your phone
Log in with your Google account and open play store.
Done.


start app automatically at reboot I have an old-ish Google Pixel (gen1) phone that must have a hardware issue, and crashes/reboots every once in a while (every hour or so). It's unusable as a proper  phone but I thought I could reuse it as a single app kiosk-style screen. For example, I could have my Google Photo Albums displayed or I could use it as a stock ticker.

Is there a way to make a specific app start and take over the screen on reboot for Android?

Attempting to accomplish with automation. Using Automate to demonstrate how to do it:

Select the Broadcast Receive block. Click on it, in the Action section, select "Boot completed". Click Done.
Select App Start block. Click on it, in the Package section, select the first app you wish to start at boot. Click Done.
Save and give it a name. Link the blocks as seen on the image below.
In the Settings, select "Run on system startup".
Don't forget to give the necessary permissions when asked. Press start.

Every time you reboot your device, after the boot has been completed, the app will be launched.


Can I cancel an Android update? My Motorola Ultra is running 4.4.4 and I've been holding off on upgrading to the next one since I don't want to lose any possibility of getting root. However, this morning when the notification popped up, I accidentally selected "Don't remind me, just update at this time", the time being noon tomorrow. When it tries to start the update, is there anyway I can stop it?

I've already found this hopeful answer:

I just spoke to Google directly. The Nexus 5 under settings, apps has
something called Google Play services. Not store. If you uncheck the
notification box in Google Play services and restart the phone the
notification for the Android system updates will stop in the
notification bar. Worked like a charm!
From: How do I skip an Android system update and stop its notifications?

Moreover, if your devise had been rooted, you should be able to install Disable Services and find the SystemUpdateService under Google Services Framework. Disable it.
As you have device with Android Kitkat please read also that article: https://www.droidmen.com/how-to-stop-downloading-of-android-os-update-in-android-phone/
It should work.


Install custom Android version on a foreign phone I'm sorry if this has already been answered or is obvious, I'm not experienced with Android. I recently got a new Android phone from ZTE, but it turns out that it was made for the local market (China) and as such most apps are in Chinese, and Google Play Store and Services are not installed (I tried manually installing from the .apk several times and the app either did not install or did not launch). I'm wondering, can I just wipe the phone and just install another Android version on it, one that would let me install GP Store?

If it matters, my phone is the ZTE Axon 7.

Installing Play Store and other Google Apps requires functionality not give to ordinary use apps thus these apps need to be installed in the system partition.

However, the system partition is inaccessible to unmodified phones without root (admin) permissions. Also installing Play Store requires to perform some modifications to the system which cannot be done when Android is running (regardless of Android version). Thus these tasks are done by a special mode known as the recovery mode. The default recovery mode shipped with the phones are designed to prevent modifications to the system and thus the Android Modding community has created custom versions like (CWM, TWRP, Philz, etc).

First you need to configure you computer to connect to you phone via ADB (Android Debug Bridge).

Download ADB and Fastboot drivers (Windows | Mac) and install it on your computer. This will also install the drivers.

Then you need to install a custom recovery:

Download TWRP recovery for your device here.
On your device, go into Settings -> About and find the Build Number and tap on it 7 times to enable developer settings. Press back and go into Developer Options and enable USB debugging.
From your computer, open a command prompt in the folder you specified when installing the drivers and type: adb devices. You should see an entry like: <Sl. No.>    device.Note that you might see a prompt on your phone asking for permission, if so, accept it.
Type: adb reboot bootloader. Your phone will switch on and will be in the fastboot mode.
Your device needs to be unlocked before it can flash custom images. To unlock your device type: fastboot oem unlock.
Rename the file you downloaded in Step 1 to twrp.img and copy it to the folder you specified when installing the drivers and then type fastboot flash recovery twrp.img followed by fastboot reboot.

Now to install Play Store:

Download Google Apps from here after selecting ARM64, 6.0.1 and pico (I assume you are on the stock ROM).
Store it on your phone in an easily accessible location and type: adb reboot recovery on your computer.
Let the recovery start and when presented with the options press Install.
Navigate to the location where you save the file in Step 2, select it, and swipe across the slider to confirm.
After it is done press Wipe Dalvik cache followed by Reboot System.

That's all you need for Play Store.


Camera app can't access sd card anymore after formating it as internal I recently formatted the sd-card as internal on my Android 7.1.2 (LineageOS 14.1).
Now the camera app is showing an error message that it can't access the sd-card anymore. The error message is: "couldn't access sd card".
I can't find the setting to change the storage folder of the camera app.

Does anybody have an idea how to fix that?

Meanwhile I found the solution. In the app settings I had to delete the app data and cache.
That set the settings back to default which solved the issue.


Google Maps blue arrow does not appear on the blue location dot (to show direction) My Google Maps app shows a blue dot to indicate my current location, but (unlike on all of my friends' Google Maps), the blue dot does not show a compass-based arrow to indicate which direction I'm facing.

How can I fix mine so that I can know which direction I'm facing?

I've seen online that other people have had similar problems on iOS.

By the way, I've tried clearing cache, force-stopping the app, changing my language and fonts, calibrating my compass, and I've read these tips too.

I want the direction-indicating arrow so that I know which way I'm facing even without entering a destination and switching into Navigation mode.

Also, double-tapping the "blue target" symbol in the bottom right (as suggested here) does not change that symbol into a compass (or do anything different from single-tapping, which centers the map on my current location).

I'm using Android 6.0.1 on a Motorola Moto G4 Plus.

P.S. This question is not relevant because that person can see the blue arrow, and my blue dot has no arrow at all.

I thought the Moto G4 Plus had no compass. I own one I like it but I thought it had no NFC or compass in the hardware. Maybe that is causing some of your issues?


How can I take a screenshot of the notification bar dropdown? Sometimes I get a notification in the notification bar, I pull it down, and then I want to take a screenshot. I press the power button to make the screenshot, a menu appears to either shutdown, restart or make a screenshot. When this popup menu appears, the pulldown menu disappears. I've tried another screenshot app, but that didn't work either.

How can I take a screenshot of the notification pulldown menu?

You just have press and hold volume down and home key for some time


Text message on multiple Messaging applications on same device Presently, I am using stock Message app(Lineage 14.1, System app). Now, I have installed and made Google Messenger as default app(installed from Play Store). When a message is received, a message notification is displayed(Google Messenger). I opened Google messenger app and deleted that  message. But, while I opened stock message app, the deleted message still visible. Why is this so?

This is possibly because when a message comes in to your phone it is caught by both applications and saved. The data is duplicated across both applications and if you delete from one it is not deleted from the other.
If you do not wish to use the reinstalled messaging app you cad either remove its privileges or force stop it.


Apps say "bad password" for good password I tried logging into Amazon for the first time on both my Android devices (S7 & Tab2) using the password that works on Windows and got a "bad password message". I even tried changing my password and, no joy. This happened last week. Suddenly, yesterday Yahoo mail started returning a bad password error, even though I can still sign in on Windows. Again even tried changing my password. The mail program was working fine until about noon yesterday. Has anyone else run into this? Nothing has been changed on either device, except using an Orange SIM in the phone for about a month, normally AT&T, mail worked during and after the change back to AT&T.

I found an "interesting" solution to the problem. When I create a password, I enter it into a password protected document. I have been copying and pasting the passwords, so there is no issue of entering different passwords between the Android and Windows logins or mistyping them. As an experiment, I used the "Forgot Password" function in the Android apps. Then I pasted the exact same passwords I've been using and "changed" the passwords in the Android apps. Now I can log in using the same passwords and don't get the "Bad Password" error in the Android apps, and can still log in the Windows version. This worked for both apps that were having the issues. Go figure. Still haven't figured out why, especially why the mail app that had been working suddenly stopped.


google maps not working offline even though I downloaded maps My phone is a Nexus 4, running Android 5.1.1

I am getting this error when I try to go to a postcode in London

But I have downloaded offline maps of London and surrounding areas.

e.g. if I go to "My Places", I can see 3 offline maps, including London *

@Czar points out that the map files seem rather small...Maybe that is the cause, though I have an issue there too.  It doesn't give me a box to draw around what I want to download, it gives me a screen where I zoom out to how much I want, but if I zoom out too far it says it's too big.  It is only letting me save areas that are quite small like around < 30MB.

Note- in this question I stated that I clicked 'my places' to see offline maps that was the case in the version I had, where I had the issue. The current google maps has offline maps in the menu. Google maps can be updated from the google play store.

Firstly, make sure your Google Maps is up to date.  :-)

After that, double check and make sure your "bounding box" is large enough to encompass the desired off-line area.

Here's an image for reference:
https://imgur.com/a/hYDv9ee

My first clue was the fact that your downloaded offline maps data size seemed rather small. For reference, my average size US city offline map on my Pixel 1 device clocks in at around 300MB.

The larger the area needed for offline use, the larger the data downloaded to your device. I believe the cap in terms off single offline map chunk is around 1.5GB.

Note added by barlop:

  The Google Maps version I had which seemed to be an earlier version,
  was limiting the size of map I could download, and with that earlier
  Google Maps version I wasn't getting a box either, just an area to
  zoom in and out of. The solution for me was to update it which can be
  done from google play store and tapping update.  Then I could draw a
  box to a good size and offline maps worked.


Is it possible to disable roaming entirely, not just networking during roaming? When trying to google the solution to this I mostly just find instructions on how to disable data connections during roaming.

To clarify why I'm asking, I have a contract with a small local phone company and they have a roaming contract with a large local provider. When roaming on the large providers network I get calls at the same rate, but no 3G network. My phone seems to quite frequently choose to go roaming even in areas where the home network gets full strength signal.

Is it possible to stop an android phone from connecting to roaming networks?

Just go to flight mode or remove the SIM card when you are on roaming.


Can Truecaller Android get Caller ID on 2G connection? Just curious. Truecaller emphasizes that it requires 3G/Wifi connection in order to tell caller ID? Does this mean that if I'm in area where only 2G is available and no Wifi is available Truecaller cannot get a CallerID for me?

People install Truecaller app.
The app uploads all your contacts name, mobile number, photo and other details to its server.
The app queries its server with the number which is calling you and gets persons name and displays it.
So you see Truecaller needs internet access to function whether through the Wifi / GSM/GPRS/EDGE etc. network. So you are in a location with only 2G and no Wifi, Truecaller cannot get a CallerID.


Sony Xperia Tablet Z cannot paste into webmail in (Firefox) Strange problem here... I have COPIED a URL link from the browser and can paste this into Notepad, but when I go to my Hotmail account using Firefox, I cannot get any option to PASTE to appear.  Long press does nothing, and there are no options I can find to 'paste' the clipboard item.  Very frustrating, and help much appreciated

Seems the only solution turned out to be a workaround.  By using an email Application instead of a browser to manage emails, we are able to copy and paste as you would expect.


How do I turn off the "suggested news" stories on Chrome's homepage in v70? Chrome 70 - homepage now showing "suggested news" stories and is sucking up data and is slow. The flags solution is now gone in Chrome 70. How do I get rid of this stupid news feed?

Flags solution works but with a different flag

Chrome://flags
Disable enable-ntp-remote-suggestions

(Click to enlarge)


What does 'extract exception, please check files' mean? I've been trying to open a .zip file on my Android device, and whenever I try it tells me the same thing over and over again:

  Extract exception, please check files

What does this mean?

I went through all my files, and then when I try to extract the .zip file again, it gives me an empty folder and says that same message.

Can someone please help? What am I doing wrong?

The most likely explanation is that the compressed file is corrupt. Are you trying to uncompress a rar file, or a standard zip file? rar extraction is only supported with certain processors.

The easiest way to tell, is to try and extract the same zip file on a computer, and see what it says.


''insufficient space on the device'' – but my sd card has plenty space? I bought my Android phone a month ago (a Prestigio 3350 Duo) and installed maybe 5 apps on it, so according to the memory card I have almost 2 gb of free space, and 28 mb on internal storage. But when I try to install some apps it keeps showing off that message.

I don't know why, tried to clear cache (which helped a little) – but still I can't install an app of about 34 mb.

Can someone help me fix this problem? I know there're similar posts but I appreciate any help. Thanks :)

It has worked on Kitkat so may apply to older versions of Android

Settings > Storage > Phone Storage ( or could be Internal storage, wherever Google Play Services is) > apps > Google Play Services > Click Clear cache
(on the same page) Manage space > Clear all data > Manage search storage > clear now
press back button <- twice and you will end up on Google Play Services - App info page > press Force stop
Find Google Settings among applications or under Settings > Google settings > click on menu button on the page > Clear app data

Now you can launch Google play store and download desired application

Hopefully it works for you as well. Feedback will be appreciated.


Line in the middle of screen It showed a few months ago, before I upgraded to ICS. It changes its color depending on wallpaper.

Anyone know how to fix it or what caused it?

That is a Hardware problem and can be solved only by taking your phone to a Service Center.


Native email app showing email account password on lock screen of Galaxy S2 Dear Android community,

Recently I have set up a personal email account on the native email client that comes with the version of Android I have (4.1.2). After I have set it up and could receive/send/sync emails and all, I have decided to remove that account from the native client.

Now, the password that I used with that email account via that native email client is being displayed on my lock screen, under the time.

I want to not see it there anymore (obviously!). Has anybody had the problem before ? Any idea on how to solve this ?

Thanks in advance for your input :)

Look in Settings -> Security -> Owner Info.

It is the only one place, to my knowledge, where you can set up text under the clock on the lockscreen before 4.2.


Install APK from external_sd I'm tearing my hair out trying to figure this out. I've read that you can copy an APK file to the SD card and use the browser to activate the installer to install it with this:

file:///sdcard/yourApp.apk

(from: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4268803/android-how-to-install-apk-from-sd-card)

But, I cannot seem to get that to work with external_sd card. I've tried

file:///external_sd/yourApp.apk

I keep getting the following message:

"Data connectivity problem - The Web page contains an error."

If you have a Samsung phone, some of them have separate "internal" and "external" SD storage.  If it's on the external SD card, then you need this adress: file:///sdcard/external_sd/yourApp.apk


How to turn off Viber's new SMS income message notification I am getting double SMS notification, i.e. one from system SMS app and another one from Viber. I don't want Viber SMS notification and need to turn it off.

I'm looking in Viber app's setting but I cannot find where to turn it off. All I can find is the below snapshot; but I guess it helps to reply the SMS message via Viber text message and save my mobile fee. I don't want the notification though!

Any work around for this please? Great appreciate.

Go to viber, in the bottom corner you should see 3 lines stacked on top of one another (Menu) click on it, then click on Settings, then on Calls and Messages, and you should find that option.


What is this part responsible for? The one behind the sticker in Galaxy S3 Below is an image. What is that part responsible for?

I'm asking because lately I had some problems with the GPS in my Galaxy S3, and I found out this sticker doesn't stick well. I think, but am not 100% sure, that when I hold it with my finger, the GPS works better.

I've been in a phone repair center, and I've been told that this is not related to the GPS, and that the GPS antenna is in the right, but they couldn't answer as of what this part is for.

While it's not clearly identified what this specific sticker is and covers, based on this teardown, it does look as though the chip is on the direct other side of the board from the connector that touches the component on that sticker, suggesting the connector is directly attached through the board to that chip. So my instinct is that you're correct that it's related to the GPS. I cannot confirm this without a doubt, but everything lines up.


WhatsApp re-registration after backup I want to flash a custom rom on my S3. I was wondering if I take a Titanium Backup of all the applications and data on my phone, would I need to re-register (sim verification) for applications like WhatsApp, Tango, Viber etc. even after I restore the data?

When you flash a custom rom and you are coming from different version of android, restoring app data may cause some problems. If you restore your Whatsapp's data may cause crashing that App. So its better not to backup data,backup just that Application. If you are flashing same android version it may not cause issues. And you don't need to re-register.


How to bypass lock screen in Cyanogenmod 7.2 I set up my phone to use a gesture based unlock, and told it to hide the unlock button.  Now the gesture isn't working and I can't get past the lock screen.  For the standard Android lock screen, there is a feature whereby if you enter the wrong pass code 5 times, you can press a button to enter the username and password of your Android account to reset the lock screen.  Is there any way to do this, or any other way to bypass the lock screen on Cyanogenmod 7.2?  I have adb shell access to the device.

The answer to this question is hideously complex.  It requires ADB set up on your mobile and PC.  Cyanogenmod enables adb on the device by default.  Instructions for setting adb up on the PC can be found here.

With the phone connected to the PC, using a command prompt go to the directory containing adb, and start a shell.  On my system the command to do this is as follows, but it may be different on yours.

cd "\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools"
adb shell

You will then get a prompt consisting of a single # if all is well.  Enter the following command:

sqlite3 /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db

The prompt will then change to

sqllite>

Enter the command

select * from secure;

This will produce a list of parameters.  The one you are looking for will be something like:

440|lockscreen_gestures_disable_unlock|1

The number on the left hand side is an <id> which varies from phone to phone.  The next command is then

update secure set value=0 where _id=<id>;

So in this example the command would be

update secure set value=0 where _id=440;

Reboot the phone, and the unlock button will have returned and you will have access to the phone again.


How to connect Android mobile with PC using Teamviewer app using Wifi connection without internet? I know we can use the teamviewer app to connect to PC using internet connection for remote desktop connection.

But I want to know if it is possible to connect the PC with Phone using the Wifi connection. Both the Android device and the computer are on the same network, and I want to connect them directly, without needing internet access.

Teamviewer has an option to connect to PC's within same LAN. But these settings needs to be configured in the systems to be communicated.

I don't know how to change these settings in my phone. Does anyone know how to achieve this or know any better free app that allows remote desktop connection using wifi, without needing internet access?

For that you need the full version of TeamViewer.

reference: http://www.teamviewer.com/en/help/40-Can-TeamViewer-be-used-within-a-local-network-LAN-only.aspx

You can establish Remote control sessions on your local network directly by using IP addresses or computer names. By default this feature is deactivated because software firewalls may open an acceptance dialog when configured this way.

To activate the LAN mode in TeamViewer full version and Host module:

In the menu click on Extras and then on Options
On the General tab activate Accept incoming LAN connections

When selecting accept exclusively it will display the IP-address of the computer in the ID-field.

A connection can now be established using the IP-address or alternatively using the host name.


Unlock phone with a different button I have a Nexus 4, and everything is OK, but I have realised that the power button is not working as well as I want. Sometimes I have to press it twice or push harder, so my question is: could I set up my phone to unlock with a different button, for example with the volume buttons? Is there any solution in case that the power button becomes inoperable?

A week ago or so I started using Gravity Screen Off.


How can I stop the Music app from launching when headphone is plugged in? I have a Moto Droid, running Android 2.2 (Froyo), although this behavior also existed on 2.1.   Whenever I plug something in the headphone jack, the Music app will start up (sometimes with a bit of a delay) and start playing something (generally Christmas music).
More often than not, I'm plugging in headphones to use Google Listen to listen to podcasts... if Listen is already running, I may end up with both apps playing at the same time.

The Music app doesn't seem to have any settings that would affect this behavior.  Is there some way, short of deleting all of the music so that there's nothing to play?

It's been reported as a known issue on code.google.com. There's a long list of 79 comments which seem to indicate that rooting and adding a program called "Autostarts" fixes the problem. This is obviously not something everyone is going to want to do... be careful if you go that route.


Google Play "can't establish a reliable connection to the server" I have tried all methods to make Google Play work but it still says this:

Please help me.

If you have root, try to delete your hosts file in /system/etc/hosts.

Back it up first.


How to view the files on mnt\sdcard on PC and how to set default download and save location The directory mnt\sdcard is the location where all the downloads and the received files are saved, however this file cannot be located on the PC if connected using USB Cable. Moreover, it seems that this file is on the Phone's Internal Memory and not in the Memory card

It seems that, like on the Atrix, /mnt/sdcard is your internal storage, while /mnt/ext_card is your real sdcard. You can verify this if you check their seizes: You know the size of your sdcard, so you should be able to point that out. The internal will probably have a size which is not a multiple of 8 (most likely, it will be 6 GB or the like).

If you are unsure how to check this, you could e.g. use SanDisk Memory Zone1 or, even better, Storage Analyser2, which should make it easy to point out:


Is there a way to make my tablet turn off when not charging? I am planning to mount my android tablet to my car with a charging cable permanantly left in. The idea is as soon as I turn the car on, the tablet starts charging,  and as soon as I turn the car off, the charging stops. (I'm prepared to accept the reduced battery life as a result).

It would be ideal to have the tablet turn on automatically as soon as the car does, and turn off automatically once the car does. I have found a way online to have the tablet turn on as soon as it starts charging, but I cannot find a way to make the Tablet/Android turn off once the charging stops. Could you please advise if there is an app, or a file that can be added/changed to make this happen?

For rooted devices:
To have your device power off as soon as it stops charging, You can use an app called MacroDroid.

On the main page of the app, press on add macro  → battery/power  → power connected/disconnected  → power disconnected

press on actions (found, on the top)  → device actions  → reboot/power off  → power off  → ok.

press on the ✓ on the bottom right of the screen, and give a name to this action.

Now, when your phone is charging, and you unplug it, or in this case, turn off your car, it will automatically power off.
Non-rooted devices:
As far as I know, you cannot automate this action on non-rooted devices.
Therefore, the best suggestion I can give, is to have the power off dialog show up as soon as you turn off your car. That way, all you have to do is just press on power off.

Download MacroDroid.

On the main page of the app, press on add macro  → battery/power  → power connected/disconnected  → power disconnected

press on actions (found, on the top)  → device actions  → Android shortcuts  → power options  → ok

press on the ✓ on the bottom right of the screen, and give a name to this action.

Now when you turn your car off, the power off dialog will popup and you can press on power off


Rooted Froyo phone, deleting apk files doesn't free up internal memory I am constantly running into storage problems on my 2.2 Froyo Samsung Galaxy Ace. I decided to delete some memory intensive stock apps that I didn't need, and deleted the .apk files using Root Browser Lite. I also tried uninstalling via Titanium Backup.

However, deleting / uninstalling these apps has had no impact on my storage. eg Swype.apk (which I don't use) weighs in at 20mb. Is there anything else I need to do to benefit from this?

If you get an error like "insufficient memory", "storage low", or the like, this usually refers to the /data partition. That is not only where user-installed apps go to, but also their data.

You tried to free some space by deleting "pre-installed apps". They are usually referred to as "system apps", as they reside on the /system partition. So deleting them usually does not free up space on /data (to be more precise: it only frees up little, as those apps store their configuration and data there). Which explains why your "delete operations" had not the desired effect.

Following the insufficient-memory tag, you will find a lot of questions dealing with this issue. I heartly recommend you visiting its tag wiki first, which gives you some "first aid". For more information, check the highest frequented questions next. If there are still remaining points, feel free to ask a new question addressing those.

PS: This 3-step of "tag wiki", "tag faq" and "remaining questions" fits in many places. Unfortunately, our tag wikis don't receive the attention they deserve...


Where are cached email messages stored in the Gmail app? Google recently disabled one of my Gmail accounts (and will apparently take several days to re-enable it), but luckily I have some emails I need right now saved in the Gmail app.

Is there any way I can download them to my computer? In what folder are they stored on Ice Cream Sandwich?

Gmail usually stores its data on internal storage:

/data/data/com.google.android.gm/
├── cache
│   ├── download
│   └── webviewcache
├── databases
├── files
├── lib
└── shared_prefs

From this directory structure you may guess some things. I'm not sure what exactly is stored in the cache subdirectory except for downloads (the extracted Nandroid backup I've got on my workstation comes from a device where Gmail actually wasn't used). Your messages (in fact, your entire mail contents) are however stored in a SQLite3 database: databases/mailstore.<address> -- where <address> is your mail address.

So if you can pull this directory to your computer (which might require root privileges), you could use a graphical SQLite frontend to explore this database. The messages table will be your primary target.


Brand new Galaxy Nexus not booting I know someone who bought a Galaxy Nexus recently, and he finally unboxed it today and straight away inserted the SIM and battery and plugged in to charge. Hours later when we tried to boot it for the first time, nothing happened. Removed and reinserted batteries, changed sockets, attached the USB charger to a PC, etc. but we still have no idea if the phone has charged or charging or if it's a completely defective item.

Please help me troubleshoot it.

Okay, somehow or the other, I got it to work using tips gleaned from various links from Googling 'brand new Galaxy Nexus not booting'. I haven't figured out the issue, but I had the phone plugged in without the battery and inserting the battery then showed me battery charging image on the phone for the first time, but it quickly died out and I couldn't start the phone. After subtly pressuring the battery randomly, I got the charging screen back and switched it on.

Some of the posts in the aforementioned Googling suggested there might be slight defects in the Chinese-made Galaxy Nexuses (apparently it was made in both Korea and China), and mine is made in China. It might have to do with the battery not getting placed just right. I suggest to anyone facing similar issues to try to see if there's any effect with inserting the battery with the phone plugged in as I did in my case.


Someone is installing apps in my android I have a Xiomi Redmi HM1SW   with android 4.3 and MIUI.

I notice one month ago that some process is installing apps in my desktop that I don't selected.

How can I disable this option? or kill this malware app?

Thanks,

If you install security 360 from Google play, it should find all malware, and help you remove it.


Disable auto-app switch on Xperia Z3 when headphones are plugged in I know this is supposed to be a feature but it's just plain annoying at this point. Anytime I plug in my headphones, it will automatically open up whatever my primary music player is (PowerAmp right now) and start playing the first audio file it finds.

I seem to remember there was an option in the phone's settings to change this but I can't find it. Checked "Xperia Connectivity" and "Sounds and Notifications".

Suggestions?

It's the Smart Connect app. You can simply toggle it off under the Events tab.
Smart Connect starts up any app or action that you have associated with specific accessory such as Headphones.


Using Jorte, how can I see which Google Calendar an event is associated with? Galax-S (Vibrant), Android 2.1, Jorte 1.2.5

I'm using Jorte (a replacement calendar app).  How do I see which Google Calendar a specific event is associated with?  Note that this is while viewing an existing event, not creating a new event.  When creating a new event I see the Calendar selection combo box just fine.  Thanks!

With the default Calendar app, when viewing an event the individual calendar is listed right at the top. Additionally, each calendar even is color-coded.

If Jorte isn't displaying that to you, it sounds like a shortcoming of the app and something you should petition the developer to fix.


View HDMI output on Android Phone I have a raspberry pi: it is normally run 'headless' (sans monitor).   I would like to be able to connect the video output on a Samsung Galaxy Phone.  For this exercise, the solution must use a wired connection (HDMI, USB) and not rely on a network connection (SSH / VNC or similar).

My Google search brings up articles of how to cast video from the Android device through HDMI.  I would like to wire and direct HDMI into the Android device's display.

Questions:

Assuming there is a cable that can bridge HDMI into the Android device: does Android support wired HDMI capability?  What is the nomenclature for the capability?

Bonus: can the same thing be done from the raspberry pi's USB port?  That is, direct the video out through a USB port, through a USB cable and into the Android device for display?

Assuming there is a cable that can bridge HDMI into the Android device: does Android support wired HDMI capability? What is the nomenclature for the capability?

Nothing in the Android Compatibility Definition Document indicates that such a feature is supported by Android.

Consider that HDMI inputs on a PC is usually done via specialized capture cards and that you are asking for physical input to device which normally operates on battery. Remember that any hardware that isn't being sold/used as a 'feature' is a waste of space and power on a phone.

  Bonus: can the same thing be done from the raspberry pi's USB port? That is, direct the video out through a USB port, through a USB cable and into the Android device for display?

You would need VNC but this thread indicates that it is possible over USB:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=105336


Disabling safe mode or removing apps from safe mode I use a Droid 3 which has not yet been rooted. I need to remove access to the Browser or the Play Store. I already have an app called "program encrypting" which disables access to selected apps unless the user has a password. However, when the user enters safe mode, all downloaded apps are disabled, allowing the user to use the Browser and the Play Store.

I am curious if it is possible to disable safe mode in some way, or changing the button combination to enable it. I would also be fine with removing those applications from appearing in safe mode. I am new to rooting and such, and I would appreciate being able to remove access to these apps in the safest, quickest way possible.

That's something I'd say is impossible without rooting. Safe mode is for the case an app goes havoc, so it must disable all user apps (for the havoc-app to not be started, so one can uninstall it or clear its cache/data). Which means, in order to exclude an app from being excluded (oops), this app must be "converted" to be a system app (i.e. it must be installed on the /system partition) -- which only is possible with root-permissions (or if the app ships within the ROM).


How can I check the OS version of an Android device? I just bought an Xperia x10. How can I check what version of Android it has?

Look at Settings -> About phone -> Firmware version (or similar).