Screen capture app with audio Does the Android OS allow for screen recording with audio? Is there an app that can do this?

I have been using android debug bridge to capture video of the screen, but that comes without audio.

I have tried a couple apps , but have not found any that do audio. I found one that uses the mic to record the speaker, which is obviously pretty crappy.

To create promo videos of my apps, I use ScreenRecorder. It allows you to record with audio and maintains screen orientation of the app being recorded. I don't think your device has to be rooted. It has a high rating and over 10 million downloads.


How to find the real manufacturer of my device? Often when we buy phones in contract or otherwise, the vendor company puts its own logo and branding on hardware as well as firmware.

Is there a method to help determine the real identity of a device to root it and perform other functions?

One tool that came to mind, is CPU-Z.

  Description

  Android version of the popular CPU identification tool for PC, CPU-Z
  is a free application that reports information about your device.

  SoC (System On Chip) name, architecture, clock speed for each core ;
  System information : device brand & model, screen resolution, RAM, storage.;
  Battery information : level, status, temperature, capacity ;
  Sensors.

Permissions :

INTERNET permission is required for the online validation
ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE for statistics.


Is there a way to mirror my screen to a PC with sound? I just want to make app reviews in video. Some of these app's eventually will be games, so if I can mirror video to my PC and capture the audio at the same time it would be great. So, my question is : Is there a way to mirror my screen to a PC with sound?

Download third party software Wondershare MirroGo. It works great (Not promoting).
Some instructions to follow:-
 - You can download Mirror Go from Here
 - After downloading and installing, Enable your phone's USB
    debugging, see here -  How to enable USB Debugging.
 - Simply connect your phone with USB and accept the adb authorization
    request pop-ups on screen and you're done.
Main advantages of this software is that:
 - You can render your phone's screen on Desktop/Laptop.
 - You can play games/movies/songs through MirrorGo.
 - You can control your phone via MirrorGo through Mouse/Keyboard.
 - You can record your screen via MirrorGo during the live view of your phone in your laptop/desktop.
You can Also use MirroGo with MobileGO ( an advanced software to backup your whole phone with one click and tons of features and works for Iphone too).


Restrict Mobile data but exclude some apps My daughter has a mobile plan that has a restriction on the data she can use each month. But it comes with unlimited Facebook, 4square, Instagram and Twitter.

I want to setup her phone so that she can use as much of the above 4 apps as she wants but the rest of the data gets restricted above the cap.

It is a Galaxy S2 running CM10

Can this be done?

You are running CM10 in your phone. So its rooted. You can restrict Mobile data usage with some exceptions for specific apps by an app called Droidwall fro playstore.
This app is seful to specify which apps can use Mobile data and which cannot.


How to start a Google+ Hangout from android/mobile phone? So Google just released a new version of the Google+ app that has Hangout support. But how do I start a Hangout on my mobile phone?

That is actually not true.  As of yesterday you can.  Here are the instructions.

Make sure you have updated to the newest version of the G+ app. You should have version 2.3.1.242969 that came out yesterday.

From there you need to go to messenger and find the person you want to hangout with and send them a message. Once you send them a message you will see a hangout icon appear in the top right corner. See here for more information.


Slow Charging Battery! I have a Samsung galaxyS3 the battery has been charging really slow. It can take up yo 10 hours to charge 100%. I have tried every thing I can think of. I've tried a new charger, new battery, shut down all apps running in the backgrond, taken out the battery and held down the power, volume and home screen button, deleted junk apps. I've thought about reseting my phone but idk if that would help or just make more work for me. Also I put both my old and new battery in a friends phone and both batteries worked fine. Any ideas?

It might be worthwhile to invest in a charge only cable. I use one for my tablet at home and in my car.

The quality of the usb cable will also make a difference. Cables do go bad. It sounds like you have ruled out all the other options so this might be worth trying.


How to install cyanogen mod 12 lollipop? I have an unrooted Samsung ace 2. How do I install cm 12 lollipop on it ?

Your phone is not official supported by CM12, but there is at least an inofficial build some enthusiasts created. Go to CM Unofficial Ports List. There are two inofficial builds created by different teams, so take time and read which one seems better.

But in such inofficial builds not everything may work, also I think you should somehow know what you are doing before starting to flash such ROMs.


Create whatsapp database from emailed conversation? I recently switched phones and lost most of my whatsapp conversations. However, some of them I emailed to myself previously. Is there anyway to turn the text file sent by email into a database so I can restore it to the whatsapp app?

Nope you cannot do it. This has been explained in a previous question which should help you understand the reason.


Disable popups on cancelled Sprint service on LG G2 I have an LG G2, and recently got a cell phone provided for by my place of work, so I cancelled my Sprint service.

I want to use the phone as a gaming device for my kids, but I keep getting error messages popping up regarding the fact that it cannot connect to the sprint network.

  LTE : ESM-0 EMM-19
  EHRPD : 5
  MIP : 67

They pop up very frequently, and I cannot find a way to disable them.

TL;DR: Is there a way to disable the popup error messages related to no service on a Sprint LG G2?

Not sure about the error message and making it go away. But you could always put the device into airplane mode and still use WiFi. That should stop the device from trying to connect to the Sprint towers.


Moto g 2 Battery is draining within 3 hours My motog 2 is draining the battery drastically as fast as it can. Please help me. I couldn't carry a charger all the tym. I have consulted the customer care service they provided me two links to reboot and reset the settings. But it doesn't works. Help me
thank you.

Battery draining is common problem and there are various solutions and guides found by little searching I can give a few pointers that may help.

Disable location from Google Settings, disable all connections you are not using(Bluetooth, GPS, NFC etc.)

Check from battery monitor(Settings) which application or service is draining the battery most. Disable unnecessary aplications from Settings>Applications>All>Select an app>Disable. Also disable unused account synchronizations under Settings -> Accounts -> Turn off Sync.

There are also good third-party applications for monitoring battery statistics as for example GSam battery monitor
and for saving battery use Greenify

Further information can be found on XDA.


Are RAM and storage physically located on smartphone's SoC or not? I started to learn about Android-based devices' hardware and already have learned about SoC, which includes CPU, GPU, connectivity modules, etc in one chip. I have found an example of SoC structure (Snapdragon 600):

Some sources say that SoC also includes RAM and storage, while others say that RAM and storage are placed on other chips which are separately soldered to the motherboard.

Which answer is correct? I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, I'm a newbie. Also, maybe you have some helpful articles to read. Thank you!

Both answers are correct.

A SoC can contain RAM and flash but it does not have to. What variant is used is chosen by it's manufacturer and therefore every device type can have a different SoC and motherboard layout. And as there are dozens of manufacturers and hundred of different Android devices sold you will find any combination of on SoC with or without integrated RAM and flash.

If you are interested in a specific device check the device tear down section from iFixit for example. They usually mark the different chips on the motherboard so that you can identify which chips are separate chips (e.g. flash memory and/or RAM).

Some times even devices that share the same name like Samsung Galaxy S10 contain different SoC and motherboards. In this case the devices for the markets USA, Canada, China and Japan have contain a Qualcomm Snapdragon instead of a Samsung Exynos SoC.


Is there some SSH server for android-x86? I am using Android ICS x86 build for debug purposes in VMware Workstation, but I can't find any ssh server, so how can I install ssh server on it? I've tried SSHDroid, Dropbear SSH and some others - all they doesn't work, because they request ARM architecture.

You can have a look at Servers Ultimate on Play. The SSH server itself works on all devices and command line works on ARM and x86.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.icecoldapps.serversultimate


Recover cached website data I went to settings then sites and downloads then manage website data and deleted cached info. Can I restore that info? in Samsung Internet browser on a Samsung tablet?

The short answer is No.

The web browser cache is part of the app-internal data of the Webbrowser app. Unless you made a backup the deleted data is gone.

Data recovery on Android is very complicated as you first require root permissions and then need a tool that is able to parse the used file-system of your device and find deleted files. I case of some deleted JPEG images there is a small chance to find them back, however a webbrowser cache comprises of several apps and is most likely saved to dozens of fragments in the flash memory which makes a recovery very unlikely.


I can't edit or crop my phone's home display wallpaper on portrait mode Device: Samsung Galaxy Y S5360

Why can't I edit or crop images or photos in portrait format on my phone? What do I do to fix this issue?

When I try to change the home display wallpaper of my phone, the landscape crop mode works just fine. But when I try to use the portrait crop mode, it doesn't work.


How to make it possible to save raw photos on Samsung Galaxy A3 2017? I have a rooted Galaxy A3 2017 (SM-A320F) running Android 8.0.0. I'm trying to capture raw photos, but neither the stock Camera app nor Open Camera show any relevant options (I have enabled Camera2 API). This option wasn't present before rooting too. On another phone, unrooted Galaxy Note8, the option is present at least in Open Camera.

So I suppose the option is somehow disabled in my A3. Can it be re-enabled without switching to a completely different firmware? How?

Note that another question proposed as a duplicate is 1) asking about very old version of Android — 4.2.2, which doesn't have Camera2 API, and 2) asks simply whether there exist any apps with such functionality, which today is of course yes. So this one is not a duplicate. This question is about how to re-enable the missing raw photo support instead.

Camera2 API alone doesn't necessarily mean you can shoot RAW, though you can run the free app Manual Camera Compatibility. If it shows that your phone supports RAW, you should be able to shoot RAW with the Manual Camera app itself.

Photoshop Lightroom is another app capable of capturing and editing RAW, so maybe that's worth a shot aswell.


Notification light in silent mode on Lollipop With Android 4.4 on my Nexus 5, when I set the notification volume to 0, the notification LED would still pulse when receiving a notififaction. This is the setting I usually want.
Now, with 5.0, I cannot find a way to keep the phone completely silent but still receive notifications via the LED.

Did I overlook a setting, or did Google really mess up that badly?

The best solution I have found so far is purchasing the popular app "Light Flow" for currently $2.49 and in this app activate "Show LED in priority mode". Then just set the phone to priority mode and you have pretty much the same behavior as in pre-Lollipop. Still annoying, though, to have to use an extra app for this. There might be free app alternatives, but I already wasted too much time for this and didn't search for that.


Cyanogen installs bloatware automatically I'm using a OnePlus One, running Cyanogen OS 13.1 (build date June 16, 2016), stock, non-rooted.

I usually disable/uninstall all bloatware like a knee-jerk reaction.

But recently I've noticed that some of these apps re-enable or re-install automatically, namely Cyanogen One Note Plugin, Email by Boxer, etc.

How's this even possible? How may I disable/uninstall them permanently without rooting?

If the apps in question appears to be user-uninstallable but keeps coming back, they might be in /vendor and /system/vendor. But if they are only available for disabling, then they're real system apps.
Either way, you'll need to gain root to access and eliminate them. As you have pointed out, unlike CM, COS doesn't come with root, so it might pose a problem.


Why can't a keyboard on the Samsung Galaxy S3 collect passwords? When I enable an input method (a keyboard app) on a Nexus device, I see the following confirmation message:

  This input method may be able to collect all the text that you type, including personal data like passwords and credit card numbers. It comes from the app Highway. Use this input method?

I understand this warning. Because of the way an input method works, it has the ability to collect everything I type, and I have to trust the author not to abuse this ability. But when I enable an input method on my Samsung Galaxy S3 (and maybe other Samsung devices; I haven't tried), I get a different message (my emphasis):

  This method can collect all of the text you enter, except passwords, including personal data and credit card numbers. It comes from the app Highway. Use anyway?

I've checked entering a password into a web form, and setting the device password. In both cases, it still uses the (3rd-party) input method I choose to enter the password. So why does Samsung claim that the input method can't collect passwords? Are they doing something incredibly clever in their version of Android, or are they just talking nonsense?

As a programmer I find this interesting.  Password fields can be (and usually are) treated differently than normal text boxes.  Given that Android is open source I guess it's possible that Samsung has at least attempted to include code that prevents a password field from passing information typed in it back to the keyboard application, but like others have stated I am skeptical.

In order for a keyboard application to collect your data it has to include the extra step of capturing your input, storing it somewhere, even if it's just temporarily in an instance variable, and then sending it on to a third party.  I would be interested to hear what Samsung says about this and how they supposedly prevent it, but I'm guessing that's an answer we aren't likely to get.


Retrieve a List of Application Versions I want to retrieve a list of installed applications on KitKat and I also need their version numbers. I know I can use adb shell pm . . . to obtain a list of all packages, but I need the version for each application. I want to use ADB instead of manually clicking on each app inside of app manager. Is there a command that will give me that information?

Thanks.

In ADB shell issue the following command:

dumpsys package packages

This gives you all the information about installed packages, including the version number. You can then play around with grep utility to narrow down the results to only the lines you need:

dumpsys package packages | grep -E 'Package \[|versionName'

The above returns something similar to this:

Package [com.android.voicedialer] (41cb1a08):
versionName=4.4.2-323cb6b305
Package [com.android.defcontainer] (41cb4750):
versionName=4.4.2-323cb6b305
Package [ru.ok.android] (41cb7200):
versionName=3.7.5
Package [org.koxx.pure_calendar] (41cb9818):
versionName=3.3.3
Package [com.android.phone] (41df4fe8):
versionName=4.4.2-323cb6b305
Package [com.gsamlabs.xposed.mods.enablebatterystatspermission] (41cbc008):
versionName=1.2
...


How to disable "save password to Google?" prompt? I am currently using a Galaxy Tab A 2016 on Oreo and the above prompt pops up everytime I log in an app. Is there a way to disable this prompt?

Thanks.

FYI, for future readers, I believe the correct way to disable this feature is by going to:

Settings > General management > Language and input

Then, under "Input Assistance," set "Autofill services" to "None."


How to enable audible alarms while making phone calls? I often need to use a timer while making phone calls. No matter what timer I use they never play the alarm sound while you are on the phone, they simply emit a brief "beep" and vibrates (if the timer was configured to vibrate of course).

I need an audible alarm. Is there any way to use a timer with an audible alarm while making a phone call?

It used to be possible, a few Android updates back (can't remember which Android version), but not any more it seems, at least not out of the box.

I've tried the stock Clock app, Ovo Timer and Timer (by Opoloo). In all three cases alarm signals are only played as expected while not making a phone call.

I have not tried it, but CircleAlarm mentions:

  Handling an alarm that rings during a call.


[Fixed]Nexus 5 displaying static screen I am using Nexus 5 for at least a year. Suddenly the screen went crazy and it started turning off and on again. I tried to turn it on, but it didn't work, the screen was black. After a while, I could turn it on, but the screen was displaying static noise like this (not my phone):

I had my phone with USB debug mode enabled and used this Java application to mirror my phone screen. There was no problem using my phone from my PC, but the screen still was static. The touchscreen is working, but I asked a tech guy and he suggested to change the display. I bought the part and replaced it myself, but it didn't work (same results).

Now I've been researching a little more and I found out that the problem could be the charging port mic flex connection to the display. Can someone answer me if they have faced this same issue before and how they fixed it?

Fix:
It seems the flex connector (see image) was damaged by water, I replaced it and everything was fixed.

I faced the same problem after updating Android OS to 5.0

The scenario was:
I updated the Android OS to 5.0 and within some days my phone automatically shut down and also the screen gone OFF some times automatically.

As my phone was under warranty period , so i went to service center and they change charging port and reset Android OS to 4.4 .

Now again I updated Android OS to 5.0

But after few hours same problem occur, again went to service center and this time they change motherboard. But after few days problem again occur again and this time they change motherboard again, charger and USB Cable and they also suggested to not use other companies USB cables instead of original.

Now 3 months are passed and there is no sign of problem and I am using it on system on debug mode too, but avoid to use other USB cables.
(Note: 2 times my screen gone OFF in between - I long pressed again and again on Power button then it gone shutdown and I restarted phone again to work perfect)

So I guess information may help you and you can go for the same.

Thanks and best of luck for your device.


email adress on facebook app How do I make the facebook app "forget" my e-mail address? It's driving me insane... Since I'm a little paranoid, it seems that if I lose my phone, all anyone has to do is to enter my password into my "undeleteable" facebook app e-mail login address.

So, am I clear enough? I've tried clearing the data, clearing the cache, but EVERYTIME I open the facebook APP, THERE'S MY FREAKIN' E-MAIL ADDRESS!!!

Your email address is stored as part of a "user account" on the device.

Settings => Accounts => Facebook : Menu => Remove Account

After clearing your cache and data for the app, and removing the account, your email should be removed. But, every time you log in it will add the account back into the settings.


Is a screen protector useful on a Gorilla Glass phone? I bought a 2nd generation Moto E phone. According to this page at GSMArena.com, this phone has a "Corning Gorilla Glass 3, oleophobic coating" screen.

I have seen many on-line shops selling "tempered glass screen protectors", a layer of plastic one can buy to put over the screen. I found this useful with some older devices I had, where the screen could easily become dirty and scratched. I am mostly concerned about being able to easily clean away fingerprints and to avoid having scratches caused by fingernails or creating worn out areas of the screen, due to frequent use.

Is such a screen protector at all useful on a Gorilla Glass screen?

No matter how hard glass can be, it still is limited to the Mohs hardness of the material (<7). In day-to-day use, it has to face the occasional harder matters it encounters, such as Quartz (7), SiC (9.5) or even Diamond (10) grains hidden in sand.

As for the oleophobic coating, while the quality of the original coating is superior to those on the 3rd-party tempered glass films (not to mention plastic films which has no such coating), it still will gradually wear out especially under repeated friction of fingers and organic solvents such as Alcohol, and once it does there's no going back unless you replace the screen itself.

Applying a film, in both cases, is a sort of degrade in experience: you lose the general smoothness and gain a bit more scratches on the film itself, but in exchange, once the scratches or wear of the coating accumulate to a certain level, you could just replace the film at a very low cost, and the experience will be close if not equal to new.


What does "loudness compensation" in the volume settings mean? In my CyanogenMod 10 sound volume settings/equalizer (at least, for headset), there is "loudness compensation" (with values from "disabled" to "strongest").

What is its effect?

(I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S, GT-I9000.)

Loudness compensation boosts the volume on the high and low ends of the frequency band.  As you might expect, the higher you set it, the more it boosts.

It's mostly useful for balancing out the sound on cheap headphones, which tend to have poor response at the upper and lower bounds of their range.

If you're putting worthwhile sound equipment in/on/around your ears, you probably want to leave it disabled.


Are there any issues if buying a Samsung Galaxy S3 without memory? If I buy a phone without memory or minimal memory, can I change to a memory card that I buy somewhere else? I was thinking of a class 10 32gb or 64gb.

Are there any concerns with doing it this way?

Are you talking about removable storage (microSDXC)? It's not required, and it's expandable up to 64GB.

Without removable storage, you will be using the built-in storage which can be either 16GB or 32GB.

Source


Wi-Fi Problem in I9001 Galaxy S Plus with CM11 ROM I have recently installed [GT-I9001][ROM][ION][4.4.4][KTU84Q] CyanogenMod 11.0 by ADC-Team - Release 17 [EOL] on my I9001 Galaxy S Plus. But after a while I found that my WiFi can't find any router around. Flash and reset factory doesn't works. How can i fix that?

Finally found a solution:

Warning: You will lost all saved Wifi passwords!

Install Root Browser app.
After turning off WiFi, Go to /data/misc/wifi/ and open wpa_supplicant.config with an editor and delete network section until end of file:

// delete section:
    network={
        ssid="some wifi ssid"
        ...
    }

save and close file.

Open Settings->Wifi (don't turn it ON!)->Advance (three vertical dots in button right) and open Wi-Fi region code and choose one of them, for example United State.
Now turn On your Wifi, so it should list all available networks around. Enjoy it! :)


What changed between versions of the Amazon Appstore? The original version of the Amazon Appstore was v1.07002, and it appears to still be working fine, so the upgrade to the new version (v1.07003) is apparently not mandatory (unsuprising, given the tiny version increment).  What is the difference between these two versions?  Is there a release log anywhere?

Edit: I believe it's at v1.11 now, feel free to generalize this question.

After you posted this I got curious too but I couldn't find a change log.  I emailed Amazon support and asked what changed and where I could find a release log and here's what they said:

  Unfortunately we do not have a change
  log detailing the changes made between
  versions of the Amazon Appstore app.

  I will forward your feedback on to the
  Appstore team who will take them into
  consideration. Customer feedback like
  yours is what allows us to continue to
  improve and provide a quality product
  and experience.

  If you have any other feedback please
  let us know via email or at
  1-866-749-7771

  Thanks for contacting Amazon.

This is actually the most direct answer I've gotten.  I've emailed them a couple other questions and got boilerplate responses that looked like they were for different questions.


How to flash Stock Recovery without PC I'm trying to get back to stock recovery. Currently I don't have access to a PC. A few days ago, when I tried flashing the recovery.tar file via Odin, it failed. How can I get back to stock recovery? I have the recovery file in both formats i.e. .img and .tar.
Any help will be appreciated.

My Device : Galaxy Tab 4 SM-T531 Android 4.4.3 Stock

Oooo also download pem it generates passwors for when you extract the tar file in mobile odin other way is twerp flashing it


Moto G5 Plus with Square or PayPal chip reader? Square doesn't provide any compatibility information for this phone, and PayPal doesn't provide phone-specific compatibility information at all.

Does anyone have evidence that this phone works with a CHIP reader (not interested in swiping)? I suspect that the Square and PayPal Bluetooth (not earphone jack) readers work, but can't find hard evidence.

Yes, they should work with your phone.

Squire:
This device is compatible with the Moto g5 plus according to squire compatibility page

PayPal:
According to the devices compatibility page, it works with any Bluetooth enabled phone that runs Android 4.0 or higher, and has the PayPal here app.

According to Gsmarena, the Moto G5 Plus is running Android 7.0 and higher, and has Bluetooth access.

Put the two together, and it should work.

Just double check that the PayPal here app is compatible with your phone, by finding it in the play store, and check if it allows you to download it.

Strangely, on the compatibility page it mentions that the phone has to have an earphone jack, even though this is a Bluetooth device. (But that's still not a problem being that your phone has an earphone jack anyway)


Updating OTA after changing /etc/system files I manually modified /system/etc/mixer_paths.xml in order to boost volume on my Nexus 5 when listening to music with a headset. As a result I am still running version 4.4.2 as whenever I attempt to update OTA I get "Error!" screen. I suspect it has something to do with my modification of the system files but am not sure. So I have two questions:

What is causing the update to fail?
How can I fix it?

I would like to do both of the above without loosing any of my data/applications.

(I would not be surprised if a question similar to this one has been asked before Android SE, but I lack experience to determine which of the questions that already exist is actually the same as my question.)

As far as I know, you first need to unlock bootloader to root a nexus device (I'm not a nexus user).

Now, in order to update your OTA, it is mandatory to lock the bootloader and then perform the update.
I'm a HTC user, and I faced the same issue. What I did was flashed the stock recovery, locked the bootloader and performed the update. Everything went smooth.

I'm sure nexus follows the same path.


l format my Huawei G700-T00 and now l cannot install it again Please how can l reinstall google playstore on my Huawei G700-T00. i have tried to install it three time

You can get the .apk of Google PlayStore over here get it downloaded over the device memory and try installing it ! I should work for you !

PS: Don't worry about the source it's coming from a trusted source i.e. AndroidPolice


Google Navigation forgets/ignores "Access to my location" setting - Nexus 4 Every time I attempt to use Google Maps Navigation on my stock (rooted) Nexus 4, I get the Searching for GPS screen.  The phone never finds GPS though.

I've found that if I go to Settings>Location Access and switchAccess to my location off and on again the Navigation app finds GPS instantly, every time.

Nevertheless, the next time I try to use navigation, I will have to do this again.

Has this been reported as a bug anywhere, or is there a fix?

I'm on Android 4.2.2.

Uninstalling the Yahoo Weather app worked for me.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2293566&page=2


Android 2.2 : How add device admin I can't figure out how to add / remove device admins from my HTC Desire running Android 2.2

Where in the settings screen is this feature located ?

Any help would be highly appreciated.

It should be located under Android Settings > Location & Security.

But you need apps that support this feature in order to make full use of it. If you have a Google Apps or an exchange account your admin will be able to use the corresponding features like password reset etc.

Certain apps (examples: Llama / WidgetLocker / WaveSecure) when made as device administrators are then allowed a higher level of access to system features.


Lock Screen is showing Junk Characters Intermittently, my lock screen will start to display junk characters. A power cycle will clear up the problem but I'd like to know how to keep this from happening again.

The first time it happened in the afternoon and the second time happened overnight so there's no commonality in usage or behavior or updates that I can see.

Update: I've just tried to change it back to the default font and now it's showing up in my notification bar all over the home screen.

You have to restart to fix it :( not a good answer but I've been having the same issue. It was definitely after upgrading to lolipop. It may come back, usually during charging.


How do I get rid of the "Battery fully charged, unplug charger" popup screen? Every time my Note 2 gets fully charged, it beeps and (more annoyingly) turns the screen on to tell me to unplug it now that it's fully charged.

I'm not going to unplug it overnight.
I don't want that happening in the middle of the night waking me up.
I also don't want that happening during the day at work.

How do I disable any and all notifications that it's fully charged?

Here's an option to try:

Go to Settings> Sound> Battery Full Notification. Un-check this option and see if that fixes the issue the next time you charge your Note.


How to select file to attach to E-mail from "My Files" I'm using the stock e-mail client in Android 4.3.  I have a file in my Downloads folder that I want to send in an e-mail.  When I try to attach, it asks me where I want to get the file from.  Most of the apps are unhelpful (Images, Video, Calendar, etc.)  The only one that looks like is helpful is "My Files" which has an icon of a folder on it.  Why it doesn't offer any of the File Managers I have installed, I don't know.

But when I tap on "My Files" and it brings up a file explorer, I can navigate to the Downloads directory, but when I try to select the file to attach, it pops up a new "Complete action using" modal dialog.  If I try to open it with anything, it goes to that app, instead of returning me to the Email app.  There is a Cancel/Done selection in the upper right, but only Cancel is allowed.  What do I need to do to cause a selection (so that the Done option is allowed) without it popping up something that prevents me from completing the action?  I have already looks at the menu (no help) and have tried long tapping (does nothing until I release, then brings up the same modal dialog that a short tap does).

It may be your file explorer isn't written well. You could try to use a different file explorer, such as ES File Explorer.

Or, try going about it from a different way. Instead of using your email program to look for an attachment, use your file explorer to 'share' the attachment, and choose to share it via your email app. It will add the file as an attachment and open your email app. As long as your email client is listed as a possible 'share' app, this should work.

If neither of those work, try getting a new email client. Since the email client isn't showing all of your file explorer apps when selecting to add an attachment, it may have written its own (poorly designed) app selector.


How can I fix a Droid Razr Maxx's power button? Suddenly, today, the power button stopped working.  I tried to turn off the screen and it wouldn't.  Everything else works just fine.  Eventually the screen timed out, and wouldn't turn back on.  Plugging it into a charger turns the screen back on, but that's fairly useless away from power...

I had heard that soft reset (power button+volume down) fixes it, but not even that worked.  It would only register it as volume down.  I plugged it into adb and rebooted it that way, to no avail.
What can I do?

The power button is handled at a very low level by something like a watchdog, so if it's not working, the problem is probably in hardware, not software. That means it probably needs physically replacing. Take it to a repair shop and have them check it out.

Even if you don't think you did anything to break it, it could be the result of an earlier impact: e.g. it cracked the circuit board, but only after continued use has the crack broken the electrical circuit.


Sale items Playstore If you buy an item that is on sale in play store, and remove it from your device, can you still reinstall it at a later time?

Yes... I do this all the time when apps/games I might like come up for sale cheap or free, or major titles I might use someday, although they don't have to be on sale. In fact, I often don't even let them install and cancel the download. They are always in your apps list or "Library" as it seems to be called now, to be installed later.

Once you have purchased an app, regardless if it is on sale or not, or whether you actually install it or not, the license (and thus the future rights to install the app), are tied to the Google account you used when you purchased the app. As long as you use the same Google account, you can reinstall the app to the same or any compatible device that is connected to the Google account you used to make the purchase.

You will notice if you have paid for an app that it will appear in your list or searches with an Install button instead of a "price" or purchase button, you can click it and select the device you wish to install it on without paying again.


Bring HTC Wildfire back to the original rom I am an HTC Wildfire user. I have successfully installed CyanogenMod 7.2 on my device, but after over a year of use I want to bring it back to the original HTC rom, if possibile. In order to do that I have tried to follow a few tutorials that promised to do just that. Needless to say they all failed.

My HTC has mounted HBoot 0.80.007 and it is in S-On state and, maybe I am wrong, but I figured I should update the HBoot to 1.01.001 at least and in order to do that I need to acquire the S-Off. So I tried to download the Revolutionary utility but I had no luck in providing my Wildfire serial number.

As a result I am clueless about what to do. Can anyone please illustrate what I need to do to bring my device back to the original rom?

In one of my attempts to I was trying to upgrade the hboot from 0.80.0007 to 1.01 and luckily flashing the device with RUU_Buzz_Froyo_HTC_WWE_2.22.405.1_Radio_13.55.55.24H_3.35.20.10_release_160191_signed.exe it also brought my Wildfire to the stock rom.


Package verification failed in recovery mode I have one tablet and I'm installing a .zip file from stock recovery, but it gives the following errors:

Opening update package...
Verifying update package...
Verification failed
Installation aborted.

What causes this type of errors?

It sounds like the bootloader on your tablet is still locked. By default, most Android tablets will only boot and run stock recovery images and ROMs, for security. It verifies that the ROM is signed by the original manufacturer (or the carrier, for carrier-branded devices). You need to unlock the bootloader to let it know you want to run an unofficial image.

See the bootloader-lock tag for more details, and a starting point to find out how to unlock the bootloader on various devices.


Will encrypting my Droid X2's SD card make me lose the ability to view files on it from my PC? I recently purchased my first smartphone, a Droid X2.  I was listening to the radio and heard security advice about protecting data on smartphones.  It specifically said you should install antivirus software, password protect and encrypt your data on the smartphone.

Under Settings & Security it has the option for Data Encryption.

Should I set up data encryption and will I lose the ability to plug in my phone to my laptop and edit or view data on the SD card?

We have data encryption on a laptop at work.  If I use this feature and encrypt my memory card I am unable to read the data on my personal computer at home.

According to this forum post, the SD card is not fully encrypted.  Rather, after you enable encryption any new data is encrypted.

So for example, if you take a picture, then enable encryption, then take another picture, the first picture will be unencrypted but the second will be encrypted (assuming your pictures are saved to the SD card).  If you pull out your SD card and try to look at the pictures elsewhere you'll only be able to view picture #1.

However, putting your phone into PC mode and connecting it to a PC will allow you to view and copy both the encrypted and unecrypted files.  At least according to that post.  So to answer your question: No, you will not lose the ability to plug in your phone to your laptop and edit or view data on the SD card.


How do I press power key on a bluetooth keyboard? How do I lock my Android device using the bluetooth keyboard?
How do I call up "Reboot, Airplane mode, etc." menu from keyboard?
Can I issue a forced poweroff from bluetooth keyboard, like when holding the power key?

Is your Android rooted? Has it got a button designed for that purpose? If your Android is rooted then you would have to manually install a app (Search google for something like 'Bluetooth Android Keyboard Power Options') and if your device is not rooted then it is nearly impossible to give a Shut Down command from even a app, though I could be wrong


Configure screen on/off: charging/time of day I want to configure my tablets such that if the device is plugged into a charger and it is between, say, 7 am and 10pm, then the screen doesn't turn off, otherwise, it will. Is this possible?

Edit ------

You can do it easily enough with Tasker. You can create a task that:

checks if the device is on charge (to do it you can either use the extended variable %myPOWER provided here or create your own global variable)
checks for the time of the day
sets the screen timeout to 'never'

Create a task with two actions.
The first one:

Choose Display ->  Display timeout
Set all sliders to the maximum, it means never power off the screen
Add this 'if' condition (tap the plus sign at the bottom of the page): %myPOWER = ac (use 'Math: Equals' to set the field in the middle)

For the second task, set minutes to your normal timeout time and add the condition: %myPOWER = none.

Now create a profile:

Choose 'Time' as the context for the profile
Set from 7:00 to 22:00
Enter the name of the task you created


Facebook non-official app for contact sync I want to remove official Facebook app from system because its a piece of crap, but I am not doing it because it syncs my contact with Facebook. I add someone friend and I get her phone no. and email id in my smartphone (provided her privacy settings permit it). It also syncs photos and missing data with existing Google and local contacts.

I have tried FriendCaster's contact sync. It sucks because of Facebook's privacy policy. Facebook doesn't share phone nos. and email addresses of friends to any app.

So, all apps which login using oAuth have problems with contact sync (correct me if I am wrong). I don't have problem sharing fb password to an app if it can do pure Facebook contact sync. Is there an app?

Have you tried HaxSync? I use it to sync high-res profile pictures to my contacts, but I also use the Facebook sync, so I don't know which one syncs the phone numbers and emails.


What Percentage of Android Devices Runs on x86 Architecture? This question might be redundant or a possible duplicate but I am using an NDK library that runs only on ARM devices. Is there a way I could know what percentage of Android devices can my app support based on CPU architecture just like these statistics on Android Platform Versions?

I ended up with this conclusion after searching a lot.
Useful info in Unity Stats.

ARMv7: 98.1%

Intel x86: 1.7%

However I was not satisfied so I verified it from many resources.
According to Android Documentation.

armeabi was deprecated in r16. Removed in r17. No hard float.

and

Historically the NDK supported 32-bit and 64-bit MIPS, but support was
removed in NDK r17.

Summery after searching a lot

mips (deprecated)
mips64 (deprecated)
armeabi (deprecated)
armeabi-v7a (required — most popular architecture nowadays)
arm64-v8a (required — newer version of armeabi-v7a)
x86 (optional, very limited number of devices, like  Asus Zenfone 2, Genymotion/ Android emulator)
x86_64 (optional, very limited number of devices, like  Asus Zenfone 2, Genymotion/ Android emulator)

I should also mention that ChromeBook are using Intel processors based x86 and x86_64 architecture. (Only add these architure when you support ChromeBook)
Conclusion
If you app supports armeabi-v7a and arm64-v8a architectures because they have around 99% of Android devices.
Important Suggestion
Do you worry about app size (you should), you should split your apk for multiple abi. Android studio and play store support uploading multiple apk, so that app has only 1 architecture ndk files.
So this will be much efficient to build multiple apk.
Important links

What is ABI Management and CPU architecture
Unity Stats CPU VENDORS
Unity Stats on Android Hardware
Split apk guide
Find your device abi
Largest mobile database


android cast for windows with 30fps using usb? I am looking for a free solution that can cast (mirroring)
 to windows pc using usb so i can debug on my android phone but i don't have to use my phone to see the app
like this one https://github.com/yangh/sevensquare

Try downloading this app called "AirDroid" from Play Store.

It has a feature called "AirMirror" which lets you mirror your phone screen over WiFi(root required) or USB(no root needed).

I've been using it for a few years and it's pretty stable.


Has anyone found out why some BIONICs won't charge fully on non-BIONIC wall chargers? This seems to be a fairly common issue.

Upon attempting to charge my Motorola DROID BIONIC with two non-Motorola microUSB wall chargers, I couldn't get the phone past 40%. With the Moto charger, it charges fully (though apparently pretty slowly).

I know the BIONIC's battery is a 3.8v, and my chargers are all 3.7, but the voltage difference doesn't seem large enough to cause a problem. Is is possible the BIONIC can read the difference in the voltage, even if it is small, and is coded not to fully charge on these non-Moto chargers?

Both HTC chargers I've tried were 200mA. It seems maybe the amperage is too low to charge the phone. I'll try and find a higher power one to test.

I doubt this.  I've charged my BIONIC using the following:

Griffin technologies Power Jolt Dual car charger - rated 1A
Motorola car charger for original Motorola DROID - rated 850 mA
Motorola Wall charger for original Motorola DROID - rated 850 mA
Motorola wall charger for BIONIC - rated 850 mA

In addition, I've used 3 different USB charging cables connected to my computer in 2 different ways - to a powered USB 2.0 HUB as well as directly off the motherboard USB rear connector.

USB gold plated ferro-core cable from monoprice connected to powered USB hub - rated 500 mA
USB original Motorola cable that came with the BIONIC connected to the powered hub - rated 500 mA
USB gold plated ferro-core cable from monoprice connected to motherboard USB - rated 500 mA
USB original Motorola cable that came with the BIONIC connected motherboard USB - rated 500 mA

All have charged the phone perfectly fine.

In addition, I've also charged the spare battery in the battery charger using the Griffin in the truck and both Motorola wall units at home to a full charge.

So far, I've had no issues with charging.  Now, any charging performed through the computer USB and / or powered USB hub takes much longer than car / wall charging, but that;s to be expected, with a 35% increase in amperage in those versus regular USB.

I also have the power saving elements of the UI completely disabled, and I live in an area with only 3G access, but I have not disabled 4G on its own.


"Item not found" when trying to use remote support on Anrdoid How can I help my brother with his Android phone. I am in the USA. He is in Cape Town, South Africa on a Huawei P9 lite. He was able to download and install Teamviewer Quicksupport from the Android Google Play Store . I was able to see specifications about his phone. Alas when I tried to start "remote control" it prompted him to download an add-in which it could not find.

On my side I am using Teamviewer 11.0.63017 License:Free

Some time back, They (for some reason) had to change the link for TeamViewer. It is now here (Google play). Once downloaded, you can use it in quick support or stand-alone, depending on your needs. If this fails, it may be down to a region issue- in which case, install an APK instead.


WiFi Drops When SIM Inserted When I insert SIM card in my ZenFone 5, it WiFi is disconnected and stucks on "Serching for WiFi..." and don't show any WiFi. I think its because of WiFi regional code. I live in Iran. How can I fix this problem?
Thanks.

It seems to be WiFi region code problem or something.

I also had the same problem. My parents live in Iran and when I brought the phone to Malaysia, it's fixed. But when I sent it back, same thing happened after they inserted the SIM card.

I found a link that might be useful, it might help: http://repo.xposed.info/module/com.majidse.xwifix. I still haven't tested it yet though.


Can Android Device Manager remotely erase my stolen phone's data AFTER synced gmail account's password has already been changed by me? My android phone has been stolen. The thief took out the sim and immediately turned it off.My Gmail account was synced to it and I tried to remotely ring,locate and erase data using gmail on PC.However, since the phone was off and having no internet connection, the access was being continuously denied.When I tried erasing data remotely, a message appeared "Request sent". After that I changed the password to my gmail account that was synced on the stolen mobile android device. Now I have the following concerns:
1) Since request for erasing password was already sent before the password was changed by me, does this mean that whenever my phone will be turned on, the android device manager will wipeout/erase all data or will it show an authentication error since the password has been changed and gmail is no longer synced.

2) If I ask the network service provider to block my phone, can it still be traceable by the imei number?

3) Any other information as to how to get my phone traced back or atleast erase all the data? (I have the Imei number with me)

1) The phone is still tied to your Google account, it just can't sync any data because the password is incorrect. ADM will still issues the Erase command, and if successful you will receive an email with a message noting it was received by the device and it's approximate location if available. The fact that you changed your password after the fact is not relevant. (I do not have a reference for this, it is from practical testing)

2) No, the service would have to be active otherwise the tower blocks communication to that IMEI, thus it cannot locate it. That said, even if the service is active the carrier likely would not reveal it's location even to law enforcement without a court order and that is almost impossible to obtain for just a stolen phone.

3) No, sorry... Once you no longer have the phone in your possession your options are pretty limited, what happens next depends on the phone and the Android version. You have pretty much done all you can do.

Most likely the thief performed a factory reset and all your data is gone anyway, the information on a device is rarely what a thief is after. Their primary concern is a quick turn-over of the device for a cash. Best case scenario at this point is you had a newer phone with Marshmallow and FRP will make it worthless, next worse would be they were able to bypass FRP or it was an older device and they got a few $$$ for it, and the worst case scenario (and least likely) is they were able to access your device and you have all your credit card information, etc on it locally and they hit pay dirt.

TBH, at this point there isn't much you can do except buy another phone and move on.


Moving apps from android phone to nobis tablet Is it possible to transfer the apps from my phone the HUAWEI Raven H892L to my NOBIS NB09 tablet if I hook them both to my laptop even though I don't have internet ? I really need the help on my nobis tablet I have two internal storages one is empty and the other is maxed out full but nothing is downloaded onto it no apps except for the ones that came on it So what does anyone say about all this.

Possible by copying APKs from Huawei to Nobus.

Download one of the many apk extractors on the Google play and extract the APK of the apps you want to transfer.

Connect the Huawei device into the computer through MTP Mass Storage and copy the extracted APK to the computer then to the Nobus.


Battery draining fast I have Samsung Galaxy S2 GT-I9100, I had purchased new battery three days before and charged until it's full, after an hour I found my mobile switched off. I would like to know the how to rectify this issue.

According to the site: http://blog.gsmarena.com/samsung-i9100-galaxy-s-ii-thorough-battery-test-results-are-out-even-better-than-the-galaxy-s/

The battery should last 82 hours, maybe the one you bought may have been used previously, or it already came with problem, this is not normal, it is certainly a problem in the battery itself and not in the cell phone.


Is there any tool that tells me the min and max battery consumption rate of an app? Is there any tool that tells me the min and max battery consumption rate of an app?

Apps don't consume battery.  The device consumes the battery as it does things like run apps.  So the only way to measure battery use is physically.

Fortunately, devices record battery use themselves.  There is most often an area in Settings where you can view the approximate percentage of battery used by apps, cell standby, etc.

You could also kill/remove everything except your app and see how long the battery lasts on a full charge, and compare it to how long the battery lasts without your app running.

The best way to ensure low battery use is good design, though.  Your app should not be busy waiting, otherwise it will consume much more battery than needed.  You also mention (I think) that your app won't work if the phone is rebooted.  Plenty of other alarm apps work after the phone is rebooted, so I think you need to look into that.


Missing "Emoji for English words" in Google Keyboard add-on dictionaries I've been running Android 4.4 on my Galaxy S4 active for years and recently realized that I've never had access to emojis on my phone. I never really cared too much for them, but I don't like the idea of not having access to something that's so commonplace nowadays so I decided to look up how to get them on my phone.

I did some research and it seemed like it would be a simple installation of "Emoji for English words" under the add-on dictionaries in the Google Keyboard settings. Well, even after refreshing the add-on dictionaries page the emojis never appeared, and a google search for my issue results in nothing really fruitful.

Granted, when I'm using google keyboard I can hold the enter/return key and I'll get a very basic list of emojis but it's limited to stuff like :-) and :-$. About 15 of those face emojis and 24 other basic symbols. That's it. No hot fire emoji, cry laughing emoji, nor the underlined 100 emoji. I need these to be hip with the kids.

I like using google keyboard but the lack of emojis is really starting to annoying me into wanting to use anything else. If anyone's got any ideas or suggestions on a fix, or even a suggestion for another great keyboard app that does have emoji support, I'd be eternally grateful.

Updates to the Google Keyboard app have made the emojis you are looking for available through long press of the Enter key.


Discharge while in airplane mode (with image) Something weird happened today morning. I charged my phone yesterday night and gone to sleep after 2 hours or so. When I woke up, my phone was at %30 charge and I was pretty confused. Because before going to sleep, I just opened my morning alarm, closed wi-fi and set the phone to airplane mode.

After checking the battery info, I got something like this,

http://i.imgur.com/7FEn7cF.png

Clearly, my phone discharged linearly while I sleep. I am using a samsung s4.
What is the reason behind this? Is this problem related to the phone or android ?

Download wakelock detector from the google play store, if it happens again open wakelock detector and it will show you cpu and partial wakelocks (will only show partial wakelocks if you enable advanced mode), if the largest cpu wakelcok is "PowerManagerServiceWakelock" this means the largest wakelock is the combination of all the items listed in partial wakelcocks.
I would suggest (if it happens again) looking for anything over 7% and doing a web search for the wakelock name, and seeing what you can find.

If it doesn't happen again, problem solved.

I would also recommend you don't kill background processes, instead install greenify (play store) which blocks the processes you select from starting.

Other than this we can't tell you the reason due to androids default battery diagnostics not being very good.

It is most probably the software, if you download Nova battery tester and run it, it will tell you your battery capacity, and you can then compare this to what it should be to verify it isn't a hardware fault.


Dash charging on lower than rated voltage - possible? My OnePlus 3 dash charger is rated 200-240V. I will be travelling to a 100V country and wondering

(a) If my dash charger can be plugged into a 100V socket without damaging it or the phone and

(b) Whether it will deliver Dash charging speeds.

Simple answer is No, it will not work the way it is supposed to, if it works

Any charger for that matter any electrical appliance can only deliver what is expected of it when it operates under the conditions it is designed for.

That is what standards are meant for and that is what makes it mandatory to be adhered to

Your charger work may work erratically charging normally but definitely not dash charge, while it may not damage the phone. Quite likely the charger won't even fit into the wall adapter there !

See this for more
Complete Guide to Using the Correct Charger or Power Adapter (and What Happens If You Don’t)

Even within standards, compatibility and ability to fast or dash charge is tricky at times as you can see from the table for one plus 2  from OEM site given the nature of dash or fast charging

So, how do I charge?: Use a power bank to charge your mobile, Googling should help you find one that is rated for 100 V. Quick search throws up one such power bank. It may be easier to request somebody in the place you are visiting to buy it for you


Last Android update removed icons from several apps I have a Moto G 3rd generation, and updated it with latest Android version (24.11.25). After the Update the icons for some APP disappeared.

I think it were all the applications i had moved to my SD card.

The APP is not showing on my desktop neither on the menu that shows all applications, but its still installed, because i can open the APP from its page on play store and it is on the list of installed applications on the config page.
How can i restore the icons to these apps?

Go into Applications, click on the app affected, force stop, then select the storage, then click change. Force stop may restore the icons, but if you prefer you can move the apps back to internal for safety.


How can I disconnect a phone from Google's data backup service? Right now, I have two phones - my now-old Galaxy Nexus and my new Galaxy S5. I want to keep my Galaxy Nexus around as a Chromecast controller and (via wi-fi) streaming media device. As such, I want to remove apps that aren't useful to me for this purpose without affecting my Google backups that helped me set up my S5 quickly. However, when I go to uncheck the "Back up my data" option on the Backup & reset menu, it says that disabling it will delete all my data from Google's servers. I don't want this, since my S5 should continue to use this service.

Is the fact that I have an S5 with this setting enabled sufficient to prevent my backup data from being wiped from Google's servers? If not, how I can unlink my Galaxy Nexus from this service? Or, alternatively, do I need to? The only thing that I'm trying to avoid is unnecessary syncing of apps and settings to a device that I want relatively free of apps.

In the event that I'm running on some false assumptions, I want the apps and settings on the S5 to be the ones restored on a new phone or following a reset. I effectively want the apps and settings on the GNex to be ignored as far as other devices are concerned.

You don't need to do anything. Every device using Google Backup with the same Google account keeps its own separate set of data. When you sign into your Google account for the first time after a factory-reset, the device will look through all the backup sets and try to pick the most recent one from the same device. It'll restore from that set of data, and use that to create a new backup set.

Only if you sign in on a completely new device that you haven't used before (not even before a factory-reset) will it choose a set from a different device: in that case, the most recently backed-up set.

So, you can leave your Galaxy Nexus backing up to its own set, and your Galaxy S5 backing up to its own set. If you factory-reset one of them, it'll restore the apps and data from the same device.

For a much more complete explanation of how Google Backup keeps track of different sets of backed-up data, see my answer to Google Backup: Multiple devices using the same account - what happens on Restore?


Why do the buttons on my Incredible occasionally light up? I've noticed that sometimes the four buttons at the bottom of my HTC Incredible sometimes light up for a couple seconds at a time, even when the phone is just sitting unused on my desk.  Until now I've attributed this to a software bug, but I recently noticed it doing this while I was digging around in my email on my computer.

Does this indicate data transfer?  Or does it have some other significance?

You phone should light up when you activate it.

When an internal process either stops or wakes up you phone (like you said to start data transfer) or on other actions the lights can light up.

When a process crashes my phone lights up the control keys too, usually with a buzz.


Unplugged my cable while upgrading via Odin My cable was unplugged while my Samsung Galaxy S2 I9100 upgrading with Odin. Now, nothing appears on the screen, even when I plug the charger. How can I fix my device?

You will have to Switch ON the phone in "Safe Mode" by pressing the Volume down, Power, and the Home button all together. Then, factory reset the phone, and upgrade it through Odin; or on a safer side, use Samsung Kies for upgrading to a new OS.


Bigger Notification Bar? Is there a way to make the Notification Bar thicker?

I recently bought this case and it makes it incredibly hard to pull down the notification bar.

I was wondering if there was a way to thicken the notification bar, without completely hacking the phone?

I have a Motorola Droid X

If you have a launcher like LauncherPro or ADW Launcher, you can just hit the menu button in any homescreen and click NOTIFICATIONS. That however doesn't help if you're in another app and want to bring down the Notification area, unfortunately.

In LP, you can also configure a swipe action to pull down the Notification area.

There's also HelloStatusBar which is an app that when clicked will bring down the bar. One workaround maybe to launch it and then while in another app, long-press HOME to make it show in the recently used app list.

If it works, I would recommend exsbar which allows you to assign the long-press search button or long-press camera button to this function.


GPS Rollover on Android Smartphones Regarding the GPS weeks rollover which took place on April 06th 2019. all the websites are talking about the phenomenon but they are not explaining what are the side effects on end users devices if the week number will be 0000.

How an Android smartphone GPS users could be affected regarding this rollover from 1023 to 0000 weeks ?

Regards

From what I know the rollover is not the only problem, also an additional week counter 13 bits is introduced. A new data format (with larger data) can of course cause problems if unsupported by the GPS receiver firmware.

Also I have read that some GPS devices use the week counter for plausibility checking of the received data. If the week is smaller than the manufacturing week the data have to be invalid so the simple but bad logic. After the roll-over it will simply reject all incoming data as the receiver thinks that the received data is invalid (e.g. because of radiointerference).


Using both a firewall and vpn on android Is there a way to use both a firewall and a vpn app on android. I have tried allowing the vpn through the firewall but one invaraibly goes off when I start the other. Is there some way around this -- to establish two tunnels at the same time.

The firewall not stablish a tunnel, this only open or close ports, you can use but you need not close ports of VPN and maybe network of VPN can use other proxy if for example is you home network and you use firewall on your home router. You can use firewall and VPN, both, but is important that firewall not close ports of your VPN.


How can I set up a VPN connection on my Nexus One? I often check my mail at my office using the VPN connection which bridged my PC with the Microsoft Exchange Server and so that I can check mail using Outlook.

I want to do the same thing when I'm out of my office and on my Nexus One mobile phone. But I don't know how to set up a VPN connection like the way I do it on my PC.

Below is the screenshot of how I set up my VPN on my PC. Please share if you know a solution for me. All helps are welcome and very much appriciated!

I don't know about older versions of Android, but from my 2.1 version it is pretty straight-forward. From the Home screen go to Settings and tap "Wireless and Networks." Then "VPN Settings" and Add VPN and follow the prompts from there.


Zombie Scramble keeps returning to life! Scramble, by Zynga (go figure), has apparently figured out how to re-enable notifications for itself without my interaction. I have turned off notifications in the application settings menu for android on my stock unrooted Galaxy S4 numerous times, but it somehow seems to turn itself back on within 24-48 hours.

So my question is in two parts:

1) As a programmer, I'm very curious, what method does Zynga use to continually re-enable notifications for Scramble?

2) How do I disable their re-enabling notifications?

This is happening because of an issue (or a feature?) on stock Samsung firmware.  Whenever you reboot the phone, the "Show notifications" setting of apps that were moved to SD Card will revert to its original state, which is to allow notifications.

The work-around is to move the app back to the phone, and the setting will persist across reboots.


How to restore/add google search to android browser - Samsung Galaxy Ace GT-S5830L I own a rooted Samsung Galaxy Ace GT-S5830L.
My carrier decide it was a good idea to remove Google search from the default android browser replacing it with a absolutely useless search engine they provide (which I hate with the burning passion of a thousand suns).
If I go into the browser's settings > Select search Engine, I get the carriers engine as the only option.

Is there a way to install google search or restore the browser back to a non carrier customized version?

I already have Opera mini installed but I want to use both so please do not suggest this as a solution.

Since you are rooted, you could try to replace the Browser app with one from a "stock" rom that doesn't have the different search engine. The problem would be if the device is odexed, you might not be able to just replace the app. in which case you would have to install a completely different ROM for the device.


How to install the application in SDcard (android phone)? Possible Duplicate:
  How to install APK files on SDCARD.

I would like to install the .apk file into the SD card. Can I do this? If yes then how could I able to perform this in my HTC hero android phone?

This can "officially" only be done if you are running android-2.2-froyo and you set the app to install on the sdcard.

If you are not running android-2.2-froyo then the only way to do it is with some "hackery", which involves partitioning your sdcard, symbolic links and some other things. There are some custom ROMs that would have this built in

The non-froyo methods also involve having your phone rooted.


Chrome Refreshes On Orientation Change I recently wiped my phone and reinstalled the same custom, rooted, stock ROM.

Since then, when I rotate the phone, Chrome rotates the display (as expected) but then refreshes the page.  The loading bar goes across, a YouTube video will stop playing, and depending on the page the scroll position is lost.

Before, the display would simply rotate in place without issue.

I have never seen this behavior before and I cannot find any relevant setting to change it, including in chrome://flags.

What is causing Chrome to refresh when I change the screen orientation?

I disabled the DPI override for Chrome in the App Settings app for Xposed, and the problem went away.

Now I'll search for a different way to adjust Chrome's DPI.

Notes:

This issue did not occur in Chrome 52, the stock version for this ROM
Clearing Chrome app data did not fix the issue

In the end, I set the DPI for the entire phone to match the desired DPI for Chrome, via the ro.sf.lcd_density setting in the file build.prop.  I then changed the DPI of other apps as necessary with Xposed: App Settings.


Is it possible to play sound in mono? I'm in a workplace that only allows one headphone in. This makes some music pretty awful, only having one channel. I'd like to mix my audio into one channel, but this seems to be a bit more difficult than you would expect. I don't want to buy a paid app, and I'm playing music from my Google Music library, so alternate players aren't an option.

Is there any way to do this digitally? I don't want to have to buy an adapter and have it sticking out of my phone, risking my headphone jack, just to play mono.

I'm on a Droid X2 running CM9. I know some of the manufacturer ROMs had mono options, but it's not in stock Android or CM9.

There's a  setting under  accessibility options for mono audio.  I  haven't tried it yet,  but it may be what you want.


Cisco Webex app on Android 6.0.1 phone My android phone spec says:

1) Dimensions are 3.00x5.96x0.32 inches

2) Display Resolution - Horizontal and vertical resolution of the primary display - 1080x1920

Installed Cisco webex app from Playstore. Phone connected with WIFI access point.

But, the Cisco webex meetings guide says:

Your tablet must meet one of the following requirements:

Screen size 7.1 inches or larger and Android 3.0 or later
Screen width 6000 dp or larger and Android 3.2 or later

I could not test the webex link that will be used for my interview, next week, until the host is available.

Does this phone spec support Cisco webex audio/video call?Dimensions are 3.00x5.96x0.32 inches

Only one device fits the dimensions you've shared, and that's the Huawei GR5, which is a phablet with screen size of 5.5 inches, which doesn't fit any of the requirements. But even if it's not that specific model, it's not physically possible to have a bigger screen fit in those dimensions. So even if you're not talking about the Huawei GR5, your device still doesn't meet Cisco's requirements.


Apps disappear from start screen but still in the apps menu Sometimes when an app updates it's icon disappear from start screen (launcher) but still in the apps menu.
What is the reason for this and how to avoid disappearing? Samsung S7

An app can define one or multiple start icons. Each start icon is assigned with a different "start activity" (a different screen in the app).
If an app is reorganized internally this "start activity" may change. As each app icon is assigned to a fixed "start activity" the old app icon you have placed on your home screen (launcher) is no longer valid and is therefore removed.
In the apps menu always all start icons of all apps are displayed. Therefore if the start activity of an app changes the old icon is removed and the new icon is added. Often old and new icon are exactly identical and also the icon text is the same, thus it is not obvious why the icon on the start screen was removed but in apps menu it is still present.


Getting a Galaxy Note 3 N9006 to work like a normal phone I'm an American living in Beijing. I had a Galaxy Note 1 for a bit, and loved it. I recently bought an unlocked Galaxy Note 3 N9006, which is a Chinese variant of the Note 3. Unfortunately, because of China's ongoing feud with Google, it doesn't have a Play Store, Gmail, or any of the other Google apps that made me love Android in the first place. The system is ostensibly in English, but there are lots of China-specific things about it: every app on the Samsung store is in Chinese, warnings and so forth also tend to be, and my only two options for searching are Baidu and Bing (both of which I hate).

What I want is for the phone to run like one that I would buy in America. I'm open to rooting it, or installing a different type of firmware, but I'm unfamiliar with what that stuff really means, or how to do it.

Is this possible? Or will I be stuck with a Chinese phone forever?

Problem solved! I flashed CWM to the phone using Heimdall for Mac, then loaded a gapps file from a zip I had copied to the phone. Works like a charm. Thank you RossC for all your help.


Can I automatically turn off WIFI completely whenever not connected to a network on Android 10+ Here's my problem:
I used to run Lineage 16 on my Pixel3a, which still had the "profile" option where I could do things like "When my home network is not within reach, switch to another profile". I used this to turn off wifi when leaving the house and it worked very well. Important: This did not need my location services to be on to work.
Now I've upgraded to Lineage 17.1 (Android 10) and this option is gone. I am now looking into how to rebuild that functionality.
My phone is rooted (via Magisk), and as a software developer I am ready to use all tools I have available.
What I've tried: I've built an app that periodically checks if I am connected to one specific SSID (since that is all I can see on Android 10 anymore - "Am I connected to "my-ssid"?) and then turns of wifi using the shell and sulike this:  sudo("svc wifi disable"). sudo() is my function that opens a process and talks to the shell.
The problem is I don't think there is a way I can guarantee my app always runs, and I'd like this to also work when the app is off? It doesn't even need to be a specific SSID, I'd be happy if my result is: "If we're not connected to a wifi network for more than 3min, turn wifi off.
so what other options do I have? Tasker, just like my own attempt, kind of works but only with location services on, which I'd like to avoid. What else can I do. Can I run some kind of script or a job just on the shell or so?
Is there anything I can do with Magisk or Xposed?
Happy for any help here - the internet is full of links and tips, but they all target older OS versions. Btw the source for my (extremely rough draft) app is here if anyone is curious.

With methods described below, when the phone disconnect from your wifi network, wifi will be immediately switched off. Also they don't require the Location Services to be on.
A. Xposed Edge
Open Xposed Edge, go to More triggers > Wifi Disconncted > Wifi > Turn off.
B. Macrodroid

Open Macrodroid, click Add Macro.
Click the + on the right of Trigger. Click Connectivity > Wifi State Change > Disconnected from network. Click OK. Select your network(s).
Click the + on the right of Actions. Click Connectivity > Wifi Configure > Disable Wifi. Click Ok
Give your macro a name. Press back, save the macro. The macro will look like this:

C. Automate

Open Automate, click the + at the bottom of the screen to add a new flow.
Click +, Connectivity > Wifi enable?. Click the Wifi enable? block, set Options to Immediately. Click Save.
Click +, Connectivity > Wifi network connected?. Click Wifi network connected? block, Don't click on pick the network, but enter the network name (SSID) manually. Set Options to Immediately. Click Save.
Click +, Date & time > Delay. Click on the Delay block, set the duration to 3s. Click Save.
Click +, Connectivity > Wifi set state. Click on the Wifi set state block, select Off. Note that this block is not officially supported for Android 10+ and might not work.
Link the block has shown on the image below. Press back. Give your flow a name. Press Start to start the flow.

D. Ping your home router
You can use a script in combination with the app mentioned to ping your home router. When the pings are successful, the phone wifi stays on. When they are unsuccessful, disable you phone wifi.


Neo V with 4.0 ICS update -- battery problem My Sony Xperia Neo V battery performance has gone down very badly after upgrading to ICS.

It mainly happens when I have my mobile data/internet turned on. How can I improve the battery performance?

Well you can try managing battery life with JuiceDefender, which does a great job at disconnecting data connections when not needed and turning it back on when needed. I can personally attest to this fact although I use gingerbread on my Xperia Neo V. Give it a shot and see


Howto get device's features with adb Howto get device's features with adb i.e. whether it has e.g. accelerometer, screen is capable landscape mode, etc.

These values are set in XML during build:

<feature name="android.hardware.sensor.accelerometer" />
<feature name="android.hardware.screen.landscape" />

Sdk:

adb shell getprop ro.build.version.sdk

Complete list:

adb shell getprop

Through the package manager:

adb shell pm list features


How do I back up my samsung S5 data. I have a Samsung S5 and without no reason the screen has stopped working, its totally black the lights are still active. I have taken it to the mobile retailer and they have tried to reset it by taking the battery out etc but with no joy its not fixed the problem. They have said it needs to go for repair. But I have photos on the phone that I would not want to loose. I was advised by the shop to download Kies onto my lap top and then I could back up my phone data. Having downloaded the software today and plugged in my phone I am still left with the problem of unlocking the phone with a totally black screen I cannot see the keyboard on the screen to type in my password. Therefore my question would be how can I unlock the phone with a totally black screen?. And is there a way to save my data and my photos?

You can definitely back your data up. Even if the screen is broken or black.

First, boot your S5 into recovery mode like this:

Switch your Samsung Galaxy S5 completely.
Boot into Galaxy S5 recovery mode by pressing and holding Volume Up, Home and Power keys at the same time.
Release all three buttons when Samsung Galaxy S5 screen flickers and the main screen of Recovery mode appears.

Your phone should now be in recovery mode. If your phones' screen doesn't show any signs of life during this process like some sort of flicker, repeat the process and check through adb with

     adb devices

until it shows your device id.

Once it shows your device id, enter the following in the command prompt

    adb shell
    echo "persist.service.adb.enable=1" >>/system/build.prop
    echo "persist.service.debuggable=1" >>/system/build.prop
    echo "persist.sys.usb.config=mass_storage,adb" >>/system/build.prop
    reboot

Once you've completed that, you can download a free software that when run on your pc allows you to control your android device. Including touch response and swipe for screen unlock or password entry. The software is available at the link provided. I've personally tested this with multiple android phones including s3, s4, and s5 and it does work. (kids can be dangerous around phones :/).

Hope all this helps

References

Boot S5 into Recovery

Control device with broken screen


Play Store app download 100% then starts over to 0% I can successfully download small apps like solitaire, but when I try to download larger apps/games that are 65 MB large, it downloads 100% then it starts over until I go in and cancel the download.

I have plenty of room on my phone and it can download apps (like booster, cache cleaner, etc) from other websites. I also have restarted my phone.

What could it be?

My suggestion is to clear your Play Store data, by accessing the app's info from your phone's Settings, and tapping on Clear Data. Please note that you'll have to reconfigure the Play Store's settings, afterwards.


Should I turn off Galaxy S7 Fast Charging My wife just got a Samsung Galaxy S7.  She said it gets really hot when charging the phone, even if its just a regular charger, not a fast charging charger.  Also, if she is using GPS in the car, the battery will drop even when plugged into the car.  I am trying to figure out if there is any benefit to disabling fast charging in the settings.  For example, using a 1.0 amp charger (i.e. a non-fast charger), will the phone charge less quickly, more quickly or the same if Fast Charging is disabled, compared to the default setting of fast charging on the phone.

Thanks

What I get from  you is :

You wanna know why the battery drains when using GPS despite having
it plugged in:

Basically GPS is heavy on battery, explained here.Using GPS,as has been stated in the article, involves connecting to around 3 or so satellites at a very slow pace(50 bits per second) which means her phone at the time was using a lot of power.Depending on other factors in play namely

  what other apps were running, what charger adapter she was using and
  what cable was hooked to her phone from the car charger.

Let's start from the car adapter she was using. GS7 chargers are rated at 1.67A and 2.0A. Her car charger adapter most likely was rated lower meaning it wasn't producing enough power to sustain the power being utilized by the phone when functioning with GPS.

    Note: Using a lower rated wouldn't explicitly mean your phone wouldn't charge it might charge extremely slowly or it might not charge at all or it might even discharge (this is when power output is less than 500ma)

Now if she happened to have been using a properly rated car charger, the cable she was using would most likely be the problem.Reference here.I don't want to go into that deeply open the link for more in-depth info but basically some knock-off cables don't take professional physics into plan and hence you get some 'wires' that were intended to charge cheaper phones not your Gs7 premium flagship phone. If you get low rated car charger + bad cable = no charging at all.Couple that with heavy power usage and you're basically doing more damage to your battery than helping it.

Why her phone gets hot when charging(both during fast charging and
normal charging)

Well basically this is simple physics. P=IR^2 i.e Power=Current(I)*Resistance *Resistance(R^2) you're battery has internal resistance that's a constant. When using your charger with a fast charger and with the option enabled on your phone you'd notice it gets hot fast this is because fast charger inputs more current and your phone is trying to get as much of this current as it can.A basic principle world over is no machine is 100% efficient. The battery will take as much power as it can but will also have wasted energy.This is from the power that has been produced but isn't taken up by the battery. This wasted energy is emitted as heat.Which explains why the battery heats up both with fast chargers and normal chargers.

Try as much as you can to refrain from using accessories that weren't provided with your phone at purchase.Also refain from using fast charging all the time as a hotter battery = shorter lifespan refference
The last link also provides cons and pros of fast charging.


Can I add a shortcut to a locally stored file? I'd like to add a shortcut on Android 4.2.1 to a local pptx file.

Is that possible ?

In fact it's easy to do using a file explorer application.

I used ES File Explorer but I suspect other programs have the same feature.

Using ES File Explorer, you have to navigate to the file, then do a long click on the file icon until a menu appears. Then you choose Shortcut. Nothing shows the operation works but a new icon will be present in the launcher.


Why does Google Pay require location permission? Google Pay uses mobile numbers and UPI to transact money.

Why does it require location permissions?

Apparently, Google Pay is more than just for payments. One of its features (or bloat) is that it can find jobs for you based on your profile and location, et al.
Per Google Pay Help:

How do I find specific types of jobs?
We recommend jobs for you based on your profile info, location, preferences and your activity in the app.
To find specific types of jobs, make sure that you update your profile info, location and preferences to reflect the sort of jobs that you’re interested in.


Google Maps won't work Google Maps app takes like half a minute to update my location every time, navigation instructions don't update when I move, and it doesn't automatically reroute, I have to restart navigation.

I can't use it, it doesn't work at all! How can I fix this?

Motorola Moto G4 Play
Android 6.0.1

Now it worked. After trying lots of things, the way I made it work was just reinstalling the app.


Android 6.0 Marshmallow adoptable storage - Why is it still using internal storage? I have a 32GB MicroSD card adopted as internal storage on my Moto X Play (XT1563), and I've noticed that some apps don't completely move over to External Storage (specifically .obb files), despite what this new feature in Marshmallow is supposed to do:

  When external storage media is adopted, it’s formatted and encrypted to only work with a single Android device at a time. Because the media is strongly tied to the Android device that adopted it, it can safely store both apps and private data for all users.
  from: https://source.android.com/devices/storage/adoptable.html

Motorola's website is more specific:

  Once a card has been formatted as internal storage,  both your device internal storage and the card will show up as “device storage” under storage settings, and you will be able to  move applications which were in internal storage to the card. Moving an application, its media files, obb files, and data to the card. Moving applications to the card can be done from application settings (settings->apps->select application->change storage location)
  from: https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/answers/prod_answer_detail/a_id/109134/p/1449,9582

For example, I've moved Mortal Kombat X (~1.3GB) to the SD card and the majority of its data is in an .obb file sitting in internal storage in /data.

This doesn't make sense because in an app's AndroidManifest.xml the developer must specify the android:installLocation manifest attribute in order for an app to even be allowed to move to an external SD card. But in this case, it wouldn't matter since the SD card is seen by Android as if it were internal storage so it shouldn't have any issues installing there.

Why is my internal storage still being used?

As mentioned in the comments of the question, this is by design.

According to the docs:

  Apps can be placed on adopted storage media only when the developer has indicated support through the android:installLocation attribute. New installs of supported apps are automatically placed on the storage device with the most free space, and users can move supported apps between storage devices in the Settings app.

In Nougat+, we could even force most app to be movable even without the developers support by toggling Force allow apps on external switch inside developer options.

See here for more: https://www.reddit.com/r/GalaxyS7/comments/5qi1mj/with_nougat_now_we_can_finally_transfer_90_of_the/


samsung s4 has suddenly started calling through Skype instead of the local network My samsung s4 has suddenly started calling through Skype instead of the local network. I have not set any defaults. I have also uninstalled skype, it still goes through skype, then stops then I have to call again then it goes thtough the network. How can resolve this? please help

Looks like it just went in NSA mode. You can check in Settings->Apps, switch to the "All" tab, and slowly and carefully check the entire list whether Skype really has been removed (it should no longer be found here then).

If you find it there, make sure to really uninstall it. If it will not leave in peace, you can make it leave in pieces:

If you not already have one installed, get yourself a terminal emulator (e.g. Android Terminal Emulator). Open it, and enter:

pm uninstall com.skype.raider

This advices the "package manager" (pm) directly to remove this app.

If nothing of the above helps, please edit your question and add some details: Is your device rooted? Do you have an ADB setup available?

If your device is rooted, you can directly check for the app without the help of GUI elements. Via adb shell or above mentioned Terminal Emulator (lines starting with a # are comments and do not need to be typed):

# become root. This will popup a confirmation box, confirm:
su
# now we look for the data directory of the Skype app
ls /data/data | grep skype

If the prompt returns without any information, there is no Skype data directory. If it, however, returns something like com.skype.raider, the data directory is still there. Still being root, you can also check for Skype's .apk file:

ls /data/app | grep skype

If Skype is still there, this should yield something like com.skype.raider-1.apk. You can also list the packages known to the system, which does not even need root:

pm list packages | grep skype

And you could see if root powers help accomplishing what failed with the error message you described, and re-issue a

pm uninstall com.skype.raider

With ADB available, you could do all this in a much more convenient way from your computer:

adb shell
su

Then continue as described above. Note: If su was successfull, the command prompt should be prefixed by a #, otherwise it remains prefixed with a $.


Charging from different USB cable I have USB cable meant for Sony Xperia, the USB cable can be detached. Will using this USB cable to charge other phones like Nexus cause any issue?. I am not using the entire charger, I am just using the USB cable to charge through PC. Will it cause any issue to the battery in long run?

No, this won't cause any issues. I am having the same case as yours (using Xperia L's USB cable with a Nexus 4) and haven't faced any issues with Nexus 4 or the Xperia.


Flashlight on lockscreen on Galaxy S5 I am soon going on a field trip and would like to give my friends the ability to use the flash light from the phone without giving them the pattern to unlock the phone. Is that possible to add the flashlight/torch to the locked screen just like the camera?

I have a Galaxy S5 with Android 4.4.2

Not without a different ROM but you may be able to add one to the notification area. Try this, I don't know how well (if at all) it works on the S5 but it's worth a shot.


App for running a (simple) web server on Android? Possible Duplicate:
  Viewing web pages offline.

Hi,

I just got a new Acer tablet, and was looking forward to reading HTML files in addition to PDF on my tablet during my commute: case in point being the Android documentation which is available in offline form in the doc/ directory in the sdk install.

So I copied the doc/ folder from my PC to my tablet, and browsed to it using Astro, but was saddened to find that HTML files on the SD card are not easily accessible by the browser, which brings me to my question:

Is there an app (preferably open source), which can provide a basic web server (only localhost, simply serving HTML, JS, CSS and image files) so I can access files by typing URLs such as http://localohost/android-docs/index.html ?

I have looked at iJetty, but it seems to be doing too much. I just want to serve files, not do much Java.

Thanks in advance.

-A

I do not know if this will help you but.... I have a similar problem with my Droid X.  This is what I did--it might work for you:

On your home computer or notebook, download Opera, the free browser.  Install.
Go Opera Unite within the browser.
Install the proxy server (may be named web proxy).  The Unite web server app will also work.
Follow the instructions.  Choose a folder on an attached drive (example C:\nameoffolder)
Fire up the app.  Note the URl which is generated.
If you did this correctly, you now have a webserver installed within the Opera browser.  You can configure whether you want this to be public or private.
Now, go to the Acer tablet.  Open up any web browser --it need not be the Opera browser.
Insert the URL you previously copied.

If your html files are hyperlinked, you should be home free.

As long as Opera browser with the Unite apps are running on the "original" computer, you can access them as a web page on your tablet.

Good luck!


Wrong music player when connecting to car after Android update I have a Huawei P10 and I use BlackPlayer for playing music. When I start my car and my bluetooth is active my car (Volvo V40) automatically connects to my phone and starts playing music.

Yesterday I did an update of my phone, now my EMUI and Android versions are both 8.0.0, and since that update when my car and phone connect, my phone starts playing music with the standard build in music player. Before the update it used the (installed by me) BlackPlayer.

When I go to my settings and look at the standard selected app to play music it shows that BlackPlayer is still the default to use app. How can I make BlackPlayer start to play again when I connect to my car?

I have a Huawei P10 model VTR-L09 with EMUI and Android version 8.0.0

After some recent updates the problem is gone


Does Google offer a support number for the Android OS as a whole? If not, why? My grandfather's contacts are missing on his Galaxy, and a quick Google search on the error "Sync is currently experiencing problems. It will be back shortly." shows numerous results, solutions, etc etc, none of which seem to be applicable in this situation.

Now, obviously I could ask here, but that guarantees no quick solution, and the contacts are needed soon to make important calls. I looked into Google Support, and that page doesn't offer an option for support with the Android OS in general. Instead, it sends you to support at Samsung.com, since this is a Galaxy, and that page is a dead end in regards to my problem.

We dont have time to wait for an answer from a support forum or ticket. I'd like to just get on the phone and call Google for a general Android OS issue. Is this possible? Where can I find the number? I've looked everywhere.

No, Google does not provide a general service support number. Google provides the base Android operating system with components like a contacts manager. Both the phone manufacturer and the service provider may customize the OS, use their own applications, or replace stock applications like the contacts manager. Google is not able to support these customizations.

In the US, I would expect the best tech support service to be from your carrier at local stores. They are the ones with dedicated personnel who can physically touch your phone and show you how to do things.


How can I read OL Chiki characters on Android? OL Chiki characters are not displaying on Android phone whose Unicode range is [1C50-1C7F] .

I know of only two processes to display such characters:

By installing OL Chiki Unicode font. But my Android phone does not support font installation.
By rooting the phone for installing fonts. But I do not want to root.

So, how can I install these Unicode, or how to read or display these Unicode characters on my phone?

Not all android mobile handsets support Ol Chiki, may I know which brand & model phone you are using, and whether you want to see the menu in Ol Chiki or just want to write in Ol Chiki.

If you just want to see the menu, try out this video link & if you want to type in Ol Chiki, visit this site for fonts download search on google.

Note : By implementing these steps not all locations may show Ol Chiki as some are system driven & which cannot be override by these methods.


How to use "/etc/hosts" file as only DNS on Android? On my Android-based device I need to block access to all websites except ones are in a whitelist. I know that on desktop Windows I can list allowed hosts in the hosts file and then switch the DNS in the network adapter from automatically obtained to 127.0.0.1. And now I can access only websites from the hosts file.

I've tried the same thing by adding allowed hosts in the system/etc/hosts file  on Android and then I've added the line

new_domain_name_servers="127.0.0.1 $new_domain_name_servers"

to the beggining of the file /etc/dhcpcd/dhcpcd-hooks/20-dns.conf as described by the link.

And then I've restarted my device.

But I still can access all websites, so the solution doesn't work. And even if I just add a website to be resolved as 127.0.0.1 in the hosts file and clear browser cache, the website is still opened.

PS: I'm interested only in a solution which could be done on rooted device only (Android 4.0.4)

Add allowed hosts to /etc/hosts and define these firewall rules to block any outgoing DNS queries on standard UDP port 53:

~# iptables -I OUTPUT -p udp --dport 53 -j REJECT

* May also use less rude DROP target in place of REJECT

To be on safe side also block TCP port:

~# iptables -I OUTPUT -p tcp --dport 53 -j REJECT

iptables is part of stock Android releases. You need to add these rules on every boot. Use init.d script or define init service: How to run an executable on boot?


Gallery opens itself on ZenPad10 while the screen is off I've got myself an Asus ZenPad 10 (model P023) last year, and I'm more than happy with it but there is one small issue I have with it: sometimes, while the screen is off, the Gallery app launches itself and wakes the screen up.

While not particularly a hinder, I haven't been able to reliably reproduce it; it usually happens when I put the tablet down, but not always. I know that I can double-tap on the screen to wake it up (which is a great feature), but that's about it. I have tried to swipe the screen in various directions, and tapping more than twice, each with more than one finger too, to no avail.

Note that although I'd like to know how to stop it from happening, I'm mostly curious about how it happens.

The Android version running on this is 5.0.2, Gallery version is 1.5.0.150826_3_PROJ.

After fiddling with some options earlier, I actually came accross the answer on accident. This is from a feature called ZenMotion, something ASUS started implementing in their Zen phones and tablets, I believe.

Note that not only this answered my question, it also showed me that there were 5 other shortcuts available, with each letter being able to be linked to a different app if I chose so.


Music transfer and playlists Is there an app that will allow you to make playlists with your music (on your computer) and then transfer those playlists, and the associated MP3 files, over to the phone?

I'd prefer not to have to "Sync" stuff because of all the headaches that syncing carries with it, but I just don't see anything in the market that has this functionality.

As a further answer I forgot there is Media Monkey which just has basic USB copy which will do what you want - let you make a playlist and just copy it to your phone.