Can a carrier-sold Nexus 5 be reimaged to the default Google Nexus experience? I'm eligible for a phone upgrade with Sprint and the Nexus 5 is one of my top choices at the moment. Normally they bundle their phones with bloatware (like their Connection Optimizer shudder) which I would like to avoid.

Can a Nexus 5, purchased from Sprint, be flashed/reimaged/reset to be identical to one purchased from the Google Play store?

Some caveats:

I imagine rooting the phone might be a necessary step in this process (should one exist) but I'd prefer the phone to be "unrooted" after completion.
Ideally the process should not void the warranty on the device

As a side question: are the differences between a Sprint-offered Nexus 5 and one bought straight from Google Play significant enough (annoying enough?) to warrant all this effort?

Unless the Google Play version is designed to work with Sprint's network, I don't think there is a process to do so.

However, there is good news.
First, Nexus devices (even from the carrier) tend to be mostly to entirely bloat free. For example, the Verizon Nexus 7 2013 is completely stock. Verizon loves to put bloat on their devices too...

Second, even if there is bloat on it, it should be very simple to root and remove the bloat. In the process, you'll have to wipe your data, so if you want to use that option, you'll want to do it right when you get the phone...


How to set the Data Billing Cycle to one day in Nougat? My ISP provides me with 1GB data per day. So the data billing cycle in Nougat would actually make more sense to me if I could somehow make it show the amount of data I've used in a day and then have it reset for the next day.

I'm using Resurrection Remix ROM 5.8.5.

Is there a way to do this?

I reckon it is difficult to adjust the billing cycle to 1 day (if possible). However you can try third-party applications such as 3G watchdog, which is much flexible in terms of adjusting billing cycles (daily/weekly/monthly or custom cycles)

For instance, you can set a daily data plan which of course expires on next day, to start a new cycle (with option to carry over any unused data to next period:

Additionally, there are widgets which reflect current data used, and amount left.


Why do some Android apps need access to my SD card and fine location? I understand why apps like Maps need to know my specific location, but is it safe to allow any application to access these things? Are there any clues as to which apps are safe and which aren't?

Also, when I take pictures does it save my longitude and latitude at the time the picture was taken? How can I get to this setting?

Depending on your phone / software, there should be an option somehwere in the camera app, something about geotagging or storing location data (being the same thing).
(Just open the camera app, click menu and scroll through the settings)

As far as app permissions are concerned:
Does your app really need your location?
Most likely not. Maps, navigation, GPS tools, geocaching tools, foursquare and pretty much any app that is designed to and downloaded because of their handling of location data all need the fine location (well, to be fair, foursquare doesn't as long as you don't use it as a substitute for google places).
Just ask yourself: Does the new version of Angry Birds really need to know where I am? Nah. From then on it's just one of two things:
Either you ignore the permissions since your really like that app, or you stick by your principles and don't download the app.

However, to be safe, simply disable GPS when you're not really using it anyway (for navigation or something), once GPS is disabled, apps won't get your fine location, only your estimated location based on last know location or wifi triangulation or whatever is used to get your estimated location via wifi.


Memory Expansion For Asus Eeepad Transformer Hello I am planning on getting the 16GB version of the Eeepad Transformer, however I would want to upgrade the memory via the expansion slot.Does anyone have an idea up to how many gigs the expansion slot supports ?

When you say memory do you mean storage capacity? As far as im aware there is no way to increase the 1GB memory it is supplied with.

EDIT :

This site states 32GB expansion limit for SD card, which seems like its porbably correct :

http://www.techwench.com/asus-eee-pad-transformer-review/


How to do GREP text searching without root? There is busybox and there are terminal emulators that include grep, but they require root to run. It would be better if they could also run without root but with limited access. I only need to grep (read-only access) files in the user data storage.

Is there a way to do grep text searching on Android without root?

There are many text editors already, but they only support ordinary text searching by jumping to the text position, which is not nearly as convenient as grep, where one gets the desired results in a list at one place.

You are mixing up two things:

Installing a binary like busybox system wide from within an app (which includes grep)
Running a binary

The default app based installers for busybox require root access to install busybox system-wide. This is true, however this is just because it is an app. Once the binary is installed you don't need root access.

Additionally even without root you can also install a busybox (or whatever) binary on your device:

You need to activate Android Debug Bridge (adb)
Copy the binary onto your phone (if it is not already there): adb push busybox /sdcard/
Copy the binary from the sdcard section (where it can't be executed) to different directory like /data/local or /data/local/tmp: adb shell "cat /sdcard/busybox > /data/local/busybox".
Then make it executable using adb shell chmod 0555 /data/local/busybox

Now you can execute it using its full path from within a terminal app or inside adb shell:

/data/local/busybox grep ....


How to forward emails in MailWise I use MailWise to check my Exchange emails.

Now I need to forward an email, but I can't find the function for it.

Can you tell me where it is?

Open the email you would like to forward.

Click on the "more" 3 dots. it is there under Reply all.


Save contacts to phone or Samsung Cloud? I am unsure which is the better option.

Phone because that's what it's made for.

Cloud because if I want to move phones, they come too.

Where should I compartmentalize my contacts?

If the choice is only between these two, I'd say go with Samsung cloud. Or if you can choose another, choose Google Contacts or Outlook Contacts. These because it will be easier to sync them to a non-Samsung device if you decide to jump the ship in the future.

A cloud backup is recommended because:

They will still sync to the device and remain on it just like phone contacts do.
If you lose your phone or it suddenly stops working, your important contacts will still be available on the cloud and you can download them to your new phone.
Contacts are easier to access on multiple devices. Say if you switch phone or keep 2 phones. And you can also get your contacts on your PC.

One disadvantage of cloud is that if you (or your child) mistakenly deletes the contacts from one device, then the deletion will get synced to other devices as well and you may lose important contacts.

You might want to save your Contacts locally on the phone if you have privacy concerns and you do not trust the cloud with your contacts. Do remember to manually back them them up periodically by exporting them and transferring to your PC.


How to run virtual machine on my nexus device? Are there any virtual machine players such as virtualbox, I can use to run .iso images on Android? If I need the device to be rooted that is fine, but I prefer a portable solution

It really depends on which OS you want to run. Regardless, whenever you want to run a OS meant for computers (x86 architecture) on a mobile device (ARM architecture) a fair amount of time and processing power is needed to convert instructions from one format to other.

I'm not sure if there is a one stop solution like VMware on Android like that can run both *Nix and Windows OS's.

You can try the app Windows, Linux, Unix Emulator but I'm not sure how far it will be successful.


Why is "Android OS" uploading so much data? After switching from my Nexus S to a Nexus 4 I noticed that my phone was transferring huge amounts of background data.  Like 70 MB in 15 minutes.  As my data plan only allows 300 MB per month I was not amused.  Even when connected to WiFi, it often (but not always!) was uploading tons of data.

According to the "Network Usage" the culprit was "Android OS".  So I tried to limit the background data of it only to find that "Android OS" seems to be the only "app" which doesn't offer this option.  Great.

Well okay, that's what firewalls apps are made for.
I configured AFWall+ but that only cured the symptom not the cause.

Next I redirected the traffic to a laptop with a WiFi card and used the usual tools (tcpdump, wireshark) to analyse the traffic.  Result: many many uploads to some Google servers but SSL encrypted so no chance to see the contents.

I kept investigating and found this very interesting article on Android data usage.
Apparently Google has began expanding its cloud-based backups of the phone settings so that it now also does backups of the data of some apps.  So, I turned off "Back up my settings" in the Privacy settings and whoopiedoo, the sending stopped and the data traffic returned to a normal amount!

There is a post in a Google forum with similar experience: Something within the Android System—maybe Backup—is using up all my data allowance.

I started looking in the Android documentation and found that there is such a thing as "Android Backup Service" which apps can use to backup their application data to the Google cloud: Data Backup

And there is even an CLI utility "bmgr" to interact with the Backup Manager.

But I cannot find any information about how the phone owner can find out which application is backing up which data, or how to influence or stop this.  I'd be happy to use the backup service—it saved me a lot of time when switching to my new phone—but the way it is implemented now it's definitely unusable.

After talking to my former coworker and Android expert Izzy who was clueless too, I decided to post this issue here as—like he said—I will find the best experts here.  Well, let me know if you have any idea about this.  Any hint is welcome!

The list of applications with backups as well as how much space each backup uses is on your Google Account Dashboard under "Android Devices".

Unfortunately, there isn't, I believe, any way to control it other than turning it on or off entirely.


How to recover data from a formatted device [rooted, flashed] I've accidentally formatted my phone, via. fastboot oem unlock.

I've already tried Wondershare, EaseUSMobile Saver.

Actually, I need my photos which has been shot by camera.

Till now I'm only able to fetch social photos.

PS - My phone is rooted & flashed.

Any suggestions?

Try downloading and installing Undelete App from the PlayStore and follow these simple steps:

Select the storage device from which you want to retrieve your data i.e. Internal or External.
Once selected scan the selected storage, the process will take 2-10min depending upon the memory size and data stored.
Once the scanning completes you will be presented with retrievable data in tabs: File, Pictures, Music, Videos etc.
Remember Recovered data returns to its origin, i.e wherever it was saved before they were lost.

PS: Always remember action fast over it's the key to get your deleted data back.


How to flash a RUU on a rooted HTC One X (Evita) using TWRP Is it possible to flash a ruu on a rooted HTC One X (Evita).

Actually, I have a AT&T HTC One X (evita) and I want to flash with an international rom of HTC One XL. It will be good if any one know a link of rooted stock rom of HTC One XL international version.
I am no more using AT&T and dont want any AT&T apps.

RUUs are flashed using the bootloader, not recovery. Reboot into the bootloader and install using fastboot.


LED light and Lollipop update My LED light will not work now with the most recent update how can i fix this? I'm also having issues with my phone telling me when i have a text ( where before i would get my notification at the top of my phone ( i use Textra) now i'm not notified unless i have the notification set for my locked screen but i hate that. i don't want a bunch of notification on my locked screen.  I have the Samsung Galaxy S5

Any help is appreciated.

Honestly I had this problem as well... no matter what I had done about it I was having problems with it. In the end I took out my SD card and did a factory restore. It fixed my problem and it might be what you have to do to fix yours. I recommend taking out the SD card if you have one because I tried with it in and even factory restoring didnt work for some reason.

hope this helps!


portable Wi-Fi hotspot configuraiton How it is possible to enable portable Wi-Fi hotspot from ADB shell or by editing some configuration files on Android Jelly Bean?
I need to do it interactive for automatic test server

If you have root on your phone, you can use Wifi Tether for Root Users.  I have a Droid4 with Jellybean and got it working after installing the latest version.

For my Droid4, the following settings worked:

Device-Profile: Generic ICS/JB (wlan1)
Setup-Method: Netd-Ndc (master)


Using Laptop's internet on Android Phone Possible Duplicate:
  How to set up reverse tethering over USB?

We all know as to how to connect our android phone with our laptop so as to use our laptop's internet connection in our android phone.

But my question is how to be directly connected to internet on the laptop and connect my Samsung Galaxy Y mobile to it, so as to use the laptop's internet connection in the mobile.

Reason: Why I need to do that.
I Live in the country of India. MTS was the first country to launch 3G Plug-and-Play Modems in India. I have one of those. The device has a direct connection and does not requires insertion of a SIM card. I can connect it to my Laptop and use the internet service, but it is not possible to connect it to the mobile phone.

P.S: Fell free to migrate it to SuperUser if you guys think it belongs there.

Turn your laptop into a WiFi hotspot. See Turn Your Windows 7 Laptop into a WiFi Hotspot with Connectify as an example. In a GNU/Linux system, use hostapd for this purpose. (Actually, if you don't like the idea of writing a configuration file for hostapd, the popular NetworkManager tool also supports managing an AP now, but this is not available through its GUI tools; it requires a manual tweak in its configuration file for mode=ap. ">Reference in Russian.)

Then use WiFi from your mobile phone to connect to the laptop's WiFi.


Android G2 touchscreen is left-right reversed The touch screen on my Android G2 is suddenly reversed. I touch an icon on one side of the screen and an icon on the opposite side is selected. I slide to pick up the phone and instead the sound is turned off.

I scoured the web for an answer but all I found was this question.

http://community.htc.com/na/htc-forums/android/f/99/p/8610/37534.aspx#37534

Anyone know how to fix this?

A friend had this issue with his new HTC Desire Z. It had this issue right out of the box. The only solution he found was resetting the device to the factory settings. If you try that, make sure you have a backup of your data! The app MyBackup Pro (non free) has always worked for me....


The dimensions of my home screen and app drawer have reduced I had my note 4 sm-n910c running marshmallow rooted by supersu chainfire. Today i hit the pro button on supersu and gave it a restart....eversince i have everything shrunk down to small sizes .even the touchwiz, internet all had crashed and wouldnt work, so i had to switch to touchwiz easyhome and chrome. Finally i understood its the dpi problem and restored it using build.prop method. But the dimensions of my homescreen and app drawer dont touch the bottom of the screen. I cant upload my images here but to be exact.the buttons or the scrolls which represent number of pages used to be 14.5cm diagonally but now they are just 10.5 cm diagonally. Youtube whatsapp everything works on full screen. Even the camera had a 10.5 cm covered and the rest area is a black screen. Also my notification bar and other things are still small but managable.

P.S - i have tried dpi combinations and thats not the reason for this malfunction. Also everything still looks thin and small

Try su then wm density reset and wm size reset from ADB shell.

Please remove any lockscreen protection - including swipe - prior to doing this, so that if anything goes wrong you're still past the lockscreen and therefore still has ADB access.


How do I do a completely clean installation? I've tried a few custom roms and now I want to reset my phone (they're all unstable).

Wipe data/factory reset from recovery doesn't cut it. It leaves a lot of stuff behind.

How do I do a completely fresh installation?

It's a Galaxy S currently running on a ROM based off JVT Gingerbread 2.3.5. CWM is installed.

When you do a factory reset/data wipe, it does not put anything back from the stock firmware. When you install a new ROM, doing the reset just puts it in the "new" state for that ROM.

To restore back to stock, you will need to download the stock ROM for your device from SamFirmware (or another place if you know of one). Then you can use ODIN or Heimdall to restore the device back to its original state.

These are the steps that I took when I initially reverted my device back to stock (keep in mind this was about a year ago, so the files (version) used probably changed, but steps should be the same.

I couldn't give you downloads for everything because you did not say what device you have. Samsung made like 8 different versions of the Galaxy S.

You will need the USB drivers for your device if you don't have them installed

Download ODIN
Download 512 PIT
Download JFD tar

Note that all 3 of those are from the same thread. It also wouldn't hurt for your to read that post too.

Open Odin, plug in your phone, then put it into download mode.

To expand on this because a lot of people were asking "how to put in download mode". The easiest way I found to actually do it, if you can can connect via ADB is to do the following:
# reboot download
If you can't get that to work, try how i mention below (phone off, battery out, hold vol+ & vol-), or try searching these forums for "vibrant download mode" you will find other things that "work" for people

load the PIT file in appropriate area.
load the .tar file in the PDA area.
DO NOT check 're-partition'.
Click start, let it finish.

Hopefully ODIN doesn't fail for you here, but it did for me, dont panic

At this point ODIN failed on me. and I got the "mobile-!-pc" image.
Now, pull your battery and unplug USB
I also took out the SIM and sdcard at this point.
bring the phone to download mode again

plug the USB back in (the phone should be off)
Hold down vol+ & vol-
Put battery back in
press power
re-run ODIN as mentioned above (if needed)


Other apps to manage permissions? I used to use -  and loved - LBE Privacy Guard which allowed you to revoke specific permissions from specific apps.

Ever since AT&T finally pushed out Jelly Bean for the S3 though, it no longer works, and puts my phone into a endless reboot loop.

Searching in the market, I couldn't find any other app that does this (though the are plenty that just let you SEE the permissions of all your apps).

Anyone know of another app that does the same thing as LBE?

LBE works on JellyBean -- just not the version you install from the Playstore. The boot-loop problem is a known issue (so nobody can understand why the developer did not even place a note on the app's playstore page).

On XDA you can find multiple threads discussing this issue, and at least one of them also holds modified versions of LBE to download. Take e.g. a look at:

[APP] LBE Security Manager v4.3.2738 (this is a new version only released in Chinese -- but some XDA members provide a translated version here)
[APP][ROOT] LBE Privacy Guard - Most Powerful privacy protection app for Android
[APP] LBE Privacy Guard v2 is now available

Alternatives to LBE would include:

PDroid Privacy Protection
PDroid Manager (Open-Source alternative to it)


Power being eaten by screen usage This morning, when I woke up my phone was out of battery power. So when I checked the battery usage I see the message Display had been used 90%.

This kind of situation had never happened to me before. I was surprised as I always turn off my mobile screen by clicking the power button.

Why has this happened even though I turn off my screen?
How can I avoid that kind of situation from happening?

Android Version: 4.0.3

Mobile: HTC One X

Keep in mind that on the Battery Usage screen even though per-app breakdown always adds up to 100%, it does not represent the full capacity of your battery, but rather only the used portion.  In other words, if your phone is reporting current battery level of 65%, the breakdown is for the other 35%.

Since nothing really happens overnight, it's not unusual for the "Screen" to be shown as taking 90% (again, that's 90% of the used up 35%).  That just means you've used the screen for a little bit, and then nothing else consumed too much battery.

It's possible that you had too little charge left over from the day before and not having the phone plugged in overnight pushed it over the edge.


Facebook stuck notification "cast device not connected" I have a notification that can not be removed,created by the facebook app with message "Cast Device Not Connected".
I did notice that it happens any time I open a facebook video where catable device is available. (I use lg g3 with Lollipop 5.0)
How can I remove this notification?

Quoted from Lifehacker, referencing Android Police:

If you’re using the Facebook app—and there are plenty of reasons not to—you might have noticed a weird, broken Chromecast notification in your shade recently. Here’s what’s causing it and how to fix it.
As Android Police discovered, this notification is being caused by a bug in the way Facebook handles videos. The app now supports casting videos which is nice, but when you play a video, the notification you see above appears with two buttons that do nothing. The only way to get rid of the notification is to force close the app.
According to the site, this is a bug with version 100.0.0.20.70 of the Facebook app, but the problem is not present in the beta app, version 101.0.0.10.70, which you can download from APK Mirror here. Alternatively, you can download the stripped down Facebook Lite from APK Mirror here. Or, just use the mobile site like we’ve recommended for ages.


Browser keyboard refresh shortcut for Android 2.3.7? I would like to know if there is any way to associate a keyboard shortcut for refreshing a webpage in Android with physical keyboard version 2.3.7.

There are several interesting browser shortcuts available:

Menu + J: Back
Menu + K: Forward
Menu + R: Refresh active page
Menu + F: Find
Menu + B: Open bookmarks
Menu + H: Browsing history
Menu + S: Open browser settings
Menu + I: Zoom in
Menu + O: Zoom out

(Source: Android Browser keyboard shortcuts)


How to root a samsung galaxy S3 lite(Samsung S6790) How do I root a Samsung Galaxy S3 Lite(Samsung S6790).

I have tried using towelroot v3 which returns

This phone is currently unsupported

and framaroot which also returns

Your device seems not vulnerable to exploit included in Framaroot

This led me to try using KingoRoot which ran for like 15mins and restarted my device. After I reconnected my device, on the menu it still had the option root which confirmed that the phone had not been rooted

Are you sure that KingoRoot did not root your device? It is reported as working for the Samsung Galaxy S3 Lite. Please verify with a Root Checker if you have root.

Another known method for that device is DF ROOT (direct download). This app may be in Portuguese, so if it is, here are the instructions in English:

Open DF-ROOT.
Go to "Fazer Root."
Choose "Root."
Now go to "Batal" and close the application.
Open SuperSU, it will ask to update the binary SU, select "Continuar."
Select the "Normal" option and then "OK."

Both were reported working in this XDA thread.


Can't log into my email using Nexus 7 email client I want to use the email app on my Nexus 7 to access my university email. These email accounts are provided by Microsoft.

After I enter my account name, on the second screen, it asks me about Account Type. POP3, IMAP or Exchange.

I tried

with POP3 > enter password > Incoming server settings(used defaults) > When trying to sign in "Couldn't finish : Couldn't open connection to server."
with IMAP, it asks for "sign in with password" or "sign in with google". In both cases, I get the error "Couldn't finish : Couldn't open connection to server"
with Exchange I get the same error. But in this case the email server asks for a "client certificate", I haven't selected anything for that option.

What are the options (POP3, IMAP, Exchange) and how to setup this email client for my university account?

You need to get this information from your university. Ask the IT department to walk you through it or just give you the necessary information.
From what you've said:

  email accounts are provided by Microsoft.

seems to me they're using Exchange in a Windows domain (I could be wrong). Therefore, you'll need a server link, domain name, username, and password.

Also, on a separate note, you should do some research on how email works and email protocols (POP3, IMAP, SMTP, Exchange, Gmail, and so on). Here's a helpful link: Email protocols: POP, IMAP and MAPI


how to move photos to sd card on VFD 300 I can browse my photos on the phone's HD, it even says at the top select destination, but there doesn't seem to be a way to actually do that! I've set it so all new photos are saved to the SD card, but the ones already on the phone I can't seem to move.

You can use either the gallery app or your file manager to manually move your pictures/videos

Gallery

Open your gallery
Open the album you want to move
Long press on any picture
On the top left of your screen, press "select all"
I'm the menu press "move" or "cut"
Select a folder on your sd card to move the items to, or create a new one

File manager

Open your file manager
Find the pictures you want to move
Long press on one of them, and press "select all"
In the menu press "move" or "cut"
Select a folder on your sd card to move the items to, or create a new one


How to set a device-wide in-app-purchase block? Similar to the Apple iOS' "restrictions mode", is there a way to bar in-app purchases device-wide?

Would prefer a solution for unrooted devices, but if the only way is by rooting, so be it.

The play store is password protected for every purchase, so the main issue is not preventing the purchase itself,
 but something like blocking the opening of the play store or the forwarding of the screen to the store, something in that line.

I've never tried this, but apparently you can install Advanced Permission Manager on certain versions of Android, and block the billing service for each application that requests it. You do have to go through your apps list and change permissions one by one, but you can search apps based on permissions they request.


Security risks in case of activation of developer options Is there is any security risks if I enabled  developer options in android phone (by clicking 7 times on build number)? Are there any risks when this option is showed in menu but switched off by toggle button?

Explanation:

No, there is no (technical) security problem with developer settings enabled. The reason why they are usually disabled is that they aren't important for regular users and some of the options can be dangerous, if used incorrectly. Not dangerous as in security, but your phone could do weird things because you enabled some option.

Additionally,

Sometimes, clicking this automatically enables developer options. Do not worry. The steps are easy for disabling.

We assume that you have already clicked 7 times.

Click "developer options".
Slide the on-off switch at the top to off.
Now your phone is like it used to be.

  Note: step 2 might be slightly different depending on the OS of your phone.


Google Tasks not syncing (events do) on the phone I have a OnePlus One running CyanogenMod 12.

I started using tasks within Business Calendar 2 PRO app heavily. They synchronize using google tasks. So I can see my tasks in google calendar. This works well with my Nexus 7 2013 tablet and PC and worked well with the phone too. The phone recently stop synchronizing correctly and does not want to work again.

Screenshot - Sync (Click to enlarge image)

I noticed that arrows stay present after trying to sync the Calendar. First they wiggle instead of turning awkwardly and end up staying there. The events get synced, the tasks not.

I also have a "Sound Search for Google Play" syncing problem, but I turned that one off for the reason so that it does not interfere.

I have no idea what to do. Once I had a similar problem with Google Keep and I managed to find a card that was causing some db problem on google site - I removed it and synchronized and it started working again. But I could not see anything interesting in the logs this time.

Following instructions worked for me:

On my HTC M8, I went to Settings → Apps → found the Business Calendar 2 PRO app (it is listed as "Business Calendar") → cleared  Cache → cleared data of the app (did not need to uninstall/reinstall).

I went back to the Business Calendar app on home screen and it wanted to set up as new but my calendars and most of the data synced very fast (I think it is because I did not uninstall the app).

I had to again choose my tasks' Gmail account and then Tasks were synced correctly!
Also, check your other settings for calendars and others.  I have another Android phone so I use it to confirm that settings match.  The tasks on other phone were syncing fine on Business Calendar.


Why does Android check email and play store when sync is off At night, or at work, my Android is usually offline. For me it's enough to only check email when I like to do so.

However, every time (or most times?) I switch on mobile data on wifi on my phone, it also seems to sync email (corporate Exchange account only, NOT the gmail app), and also checks for Play store updates for my apps. Same goes for Cyanogenmod updates.

Why does it do so? What's the use in turning off Sync, when apps can just ignore the setting and run background checks whenever they like?

I think you've misunderstood the sync settings. They're not intended as a way to stop apps performing background operations. The sync settings for each app come from within that app, like any other app settings, so the exact behaviour is up to that app. Because the sync settings are part of the accounts mechanism, they're usually used to control data attached to that account (e.g. if you have the Evernote app installed and an Evernote account signed in, the sync setting within that account just controls syncing the data owned by that account; it doesn't control any other kind of background processes).

OS and app updates aren't covered by any of the sync settings, so you wouldn't expect those settings to change their behaviour.


How do I stop warnings appearing when I increase the volume? I am using Nexus 4 with Android 4.4.4 stock. Whenever I increase the volume while listening to music on my smartphone, I get a warning that listening at high volumes can cause problems to the ears. Is it possible to stop this message appearing?

I would prefer not to root the smartphone yet.

If you are rooted, you can try one of the following

1.NoSafeVolumeWarning in Xposed Framework

2 .Media Tweak Settings in  Gravity Box


fastboot stuck on sending 'boot' I'm trying to flash cm13 boot.img to my phone and it stuck on this for more than 20 minutes:

$fastboot flash boot boot.img
target didn't report max-download-size
sending 'boot' (5760 KB)...

and after I disconnect the cable I get this error:

FAILED (data transfer failure (Protocol error))

here is the result of other fastboot commands. since I already erase the system, boot, and recovery, fastboot is the only way I can interact with my phone.

$ fastboot devices
BX90319AH2&ZLP  fastboot

$ fastboot erase boot
erasing 'boot'...
(bootloader) Erase of partition 'boot' requested
(bootloader) S1 partID 0x00000003, block 0x00000148-0x00000179
(bootloader) Erase operation complete, 0 bad blocks encountered
OKAY [  0.183s]
finished. total time: 0.183s

$ fastboot erase system
erasing 'system'...
(bootloader) Erase of partition 'system' requested
(bootloader) S1 partID 0x00000004, block 0x00000182-0x000007c1
(bootloader) Erasing block 0x00000200
(bootloader) Erasing block 0x00000300
(bootloader) Erasing block 0x00000400
(bootloader) Erasing block 0x00000500
(bootloader) Erasing block 0x00000600
(bootloader) Erasing block 0x00000700
(bootloader) Erase operation complete, 0 bad blocks encountered
OKAY [  5.745s]
finished. total time: 5.745s

p.s. I installed cm12.1 on this phone before without any problem.
any suggestions?

Alternatively, because I'm guessing you're in a process to flash a new Custom ROM and you want to flash manually using fastboot, you can look for a compatible custom recovery, download it and place it in the computer you're using. On fastboot, if bootloader is unlocked, as it probably might be since you're already on custom ROM, write these commands

fastboot boot [path-to-custom-recovery]

It will boot up on a custom recovery that you downloaded

Select Wipe
Advanced Wipe
Check system, dalvik, data, cache
Swipe to wipe
Back to install
Locate the zip and install it or send it from computer using adb sideload


Cannot find SDK or point to it, both programs installed Cannot make this work...Windows 7, have installed DE and Android SDK...
I can go to this path using regedit HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DroidExplorer\InstallPath

BUT I see no "sdkpath". I've tried pointing the DE to the Android SDK directory in hopes of finding SDK anything...NOTHING. What am I missing ?

After you install the Android SDK, you have to run the studio.exe or studio64.exe before you install DroidExplorer.  This might install a bunch of platform updates.

Check this post of Ryan's for a full explanation of what to do.


Where is the Android log file to see if app installed correctly? Possible Duplicate:
  How can I view and examine the Android log?

Where is the log file. Why not logs/system.log? I see a log using app but nothing about install information.  Like failures to install because of xyz.

The only log I remember, that contains installation success/failure info is the one that can be accessed via ADB (android debug bridge). The command is:

adb logcat

But you might not have the Android debugging tools installed, so an easy way of looking at the logcat is to install aLogcat from market. Because that log is a memory buffer (I learned it form stackverflow).

Man, I sure want an easier way to get that info, but this is the only method I can remember.


Does Samsung Galaxy S keep GPS location in camera taken photo metadata? Does anyone know if Samsung Galaxy S GT-I9000's camera taken photos keep information about GPS location from when they were taken?

Thank you

It can if you turn the function on in the settings.  In the settings menu there's an option for "GPS", that when checked turns on geotagging:

via GSM Arena & CareAce


Tilt left and right is not working in bluestacks Hi I am trying to play Top free games' Bike Race game in Bluestacks software for Windows. I installed it and I started to play the game. But I am not able to tilt action for adjusting my bike. How can I do that?

I've tried the left and right arrow keys and also with ctrl and alt key combinations. I read this post on How to mimic the tilt function in bluestacks but its not working in my Windows 7 PC. I'm using Blue stacks beta-1 version.

UPDATE:

I contacted the support team of bluestacks and they suggested to upgrade to the latest version. Updated the version and tried but still I have the same issue.
My current bluestacks app version is 0.9.25.5401

You can always try the arrow keys first to mimic the tilt functions

Left arrow key for tilting left side.
Right arrow key for tilting right side.

Also try the keys Z and X to tilt left and right respectively according to this site and also this site has the same information about tilting.


Decrease default vibration length on notification? Is there any way to decrease the duration of vibration on receiving a notification? I want to keep it short, like you can do it for WhatsApp messages.

I'm running 5.1 on Moto G 1st gen, not currently rooted.

Automation is the preferred option. Many apps are available. I prefer using MacroDroid , since it is free (upto 5 macros) and easy to learn. To understand how MacroDroid works and the settings required for your Android version, see  my answer

Note  This is not tested on Lollipop  as I am on KitKat but should work. Ensure appropriate settings for lollipop are made

Your macro would look like this

Trigger:

Incoming Notification → From →choose Application (in addition to application you can customise depending on the text content of notification)

Action:

Vibrate →Short buzz (Ten other variations possible like Rapid, slow, increasing, decreasing etc)

Constraints: None

Edit:  For more details and explanation on MacroDroid, please see my answer here How to prevent brightness from going to full when the battery low popup appears?


What exactly is in AOSP? With recent news about Google shifting more and more of the Android experience out of core Android and into Google Play Services, I got curious.

If I were to download Android's source code from the AOSP page today and compile it, what will I end up with? Besides the binary drivers for individual hardware devices and the various Google services, will I end up with a working version of Android?

My motivation for asking this is to find out how much of the experience people  associate with Android is actually part of the AOSP.

You don't need to compile the source code to get an idea of what AOSP looks like; if you download the Android emulator, it includes a default device image that is just AOSP plus a few developer tools, without any of the Google services. This sums up to:

The linux kernel, dalvik VM, Java libraries, and Android framework
Stock Launcher (including the various lock screens)
Stock Keyboard
Stock Browser (NOT Chrome)
Calculator
Calendar (syncs to Exchange)
Camera
Clock
Download manager
Email (syncs to IMAP and POP)
Gallery (which also include a Media Player)
Messaging
Music (NOT Play Music)
People
Phone
Search (local apps, people, and the web via Google, NOT Google Now)
Settings
Various app widgets

Almost all of the essential Android framework are part of AOSP (e.g. Intent system, Permission system, Activity/Service system, Content Provider system, App Widget system, Daydream system, standard UI Elements, Notification Bar, Dalvik VM, JIT Compiler, Java standard libraries (Apache Harmony), OpenGL and Renderscript, Multimedia framework, Connectivity framework, GPS, Sensors, etc). The only significant part of the framework that aren't AOSP is Google Cloud Messaging, which handles Push service, and Play Store services, which provides application updates, in-app billing, and game services. Since these services are highly dependant on Google servers, they cannot really be a part of AOSP. All of the Android Development tools are also part of AOSP.

Some important Google Apps that aren't part of AOSP includes Gmail, Google Maps, Youtube, Google Now, Google+, Chrome, Hangout, and Play Store.

Here are some screenshots taken from Android 4.3 emulator:

The launcher, with some stock widgets, enough said:

All the apps in AOSP pretty much fits into one page, this has been the case since early Android:

All the widgets:


searching emails in s3 I want to search for old emails/senders/subjects etc. in my samsung galaxy s3 email app. There doesn't seem to be a search function. Any ideas how to do this, or alternative mail apps which you can recommend? Thanks

On my Samsung Galaxy s3 I can hold down the menu button inside the built in mail app - This enables the search function.

You can search for

All
Title
Sender
Date
Attachment
Advanced (which is a combination of Title+Sender+Date)


Upgrade Samsung Galaxy II  to Android 4.0? Is it possible to upgrade Samsung Galaxy SII's Android 2.3 to Android 4.0? If yes, how do I do it?

Samsung has released an official update to 4.0.3, just do the normal update procedure with Kies or OTA. There may be some delay on the release based on your region but it either should be available already or coming really soon.


Android App Downloading But Not Installing My Device is Motorola Moto G 1st Gen. running Android Lollipop 5.0.2

From the last 2-3 months, my phone is not installing apps. It downloads the app and even shows installing but never completes. After showing "Installing " for some time, the notification will go. If I go back to Play Store, it says "Install" and not Installing. So I have to repeat the same procedure.

I have tried clearing Data and Cache of Play Store, Download Manager, Google Play Services. I have over 5 GB space available on phone.

I have tried the above solution many times but it doesn't works. The only thing I don't want to do is factory reset.

 Update:  After I updated to Android 5.1, apps started to install properly so I think it was a bug related to 5.0.2

Try following the methods below:

How about you try installing the app by manually downloading it's apk which I believe, shouldn't disappoint you.
You must have "Unknown sources" enabled from Security option in Settings menu in order to be able to install APKs.(Settings>Security>Check the Unknown Sources option).
For example, visit http://www.whatsapp.com/android/ and click on Download apk, when download is finished you shall copy the apk file anywhere in your SD Card or internal memory which you can access, or download the apk right-away in your smartphone. You your favorite file explorer(I use ES File Explorer) and navigate to the apk file location in your smartphone and touch to open it just like you would open any file and you will get an option of installing the app.
Power off your Moto G and reboot to bootloader by pressing Volume up + Volume down + Power button and you will be taken to bootloader, from there you should use volume down to scroll down to Recovery option. Use Volume up or Power button to enter Recovery mode and than wipe cache(do not execute wipe data as it will wipe the internal memory/sdcard) which can take 5-10min if on stock ROM. When done, reboot and post if you face the problem again.


Can I update my [rooted] phone using downloaded OTA zip file? how? My phone (HTC One M7) is rooted, so I can't update it simply by accepting update option in the settings menu.

I downloaded a zip file from a forum for an OTA available for my phone.

Now how can I use this OTA zip file to update my phone? How can I do that?

My phone:
HTC One M7, rooted, bootloader unlocked, S-on.

thanks.

These OTA files check for every part(file) of the update if a checksum still matches. If your rooting procedure touched some files on the system partition or you removed some preinstalled files this check will fail and the updating procedure will stop because of an assertion error.

As you already found out you need to restore your system partition to the expected state inside the OTA update(matching checksums) install the update via recovery and re-root as this procedure deletes all changes not included in the OTA update package from your system partition.


Google Play services for Instant Apps downloads/installs itself without authorization, downloads/updates other components, how to disable? Background
"Google Play services for Instant Apps" has installed itself onto my device without my permission. It broke functionality of my firewall (AFWall and couple of other apps). And it is updating itself and other apps/components without permission.  When I uninstall this component, it downloads itself again and installs right back. (That is, most likely it is "Google Play services" that's actually doing this in the background)
There are no confirmations and no notifications of anything downloading, updating, or installing. The way I discovered it was by noticing that some functionality of my apps was changed/broken. So I used an app ("System Info for Android") and it shows that in fact this "Google Play services for Instant Apps" was installed a day ago.
My question is: how do I completely disable unauthorized updates of an Android device, yet preserving the following functionality:

Contacts Sync
Google Play Store
Google Maps App

In these screenshots, you can see that all settings responsible for automatic updates are switched off. Therefore this download and installation is clearly unauthorized and should not be happening. The screenshot of Instant Apps setting shows up after the thing is already installed. Leaving just the global setting from Google Play Store.

Settings › Apps // Settings › Google › Instant Apps (turned OFF!) // Play Store Settings (Auto Update turned OFF!)
It has all started after I followed a misleading suggestion, you can see in this screenshot, to update "Google Play services":

click image for larger variant

Update 1:
What I've discovered so far is that something (most likely "Google Play Services") is requesting the download + install. The way it's doing it is placing the request with Google Download Manager. Unclear what triggers it, but if watching device closely an icon from Download Manager does show up in notification indicating download percentage. However, upon completion, it instantly disappears. Still, there is nothing indicating installation.
What I've tried so far:

Install the following as user-level instead of system-level apps that they are originally: Google Account, GP Store, and Service Framework  (com.google.android.gms; com.android.vending; com.google.android.gsf) This didn't work. The download is still requested and subsequently, installed.
Seems any way of blocking installation will make it download again and again (until your data is used up). So most likely best approach would be to prevent the downloading in the first place. I wasn't able to install Download Manager as a user app, which seems the part that needs to be controlled.
Blocking Download Manager and/or Play Store via firewall is possible, but that breaks down the only trustworthy way of downloading apps.

Update 2:
Downgrading to the previous version of GP Services (v11.3.02) worked for a few days, but today GP services for Instant Apps was downloaded and installed. So, doesn't matter which version you use. Most likely Google will update all phones this way regardless.
Update 3:
So now Google is updating itself on regular basis pretty much whenever it feels like it. If I'm streaming a movie, crippling my speed, using up my internet bandwidth for which I pay money per MB. In this image you can see 3 Google apps were updated without permission.

Update: In recent android versions you can do it from Settings -> Google -> Instant Apps -> OFF.

  Original answer follows below:

In the best case scenario this should be enough to block Instant Apps from auto-updating.

Run on device via a terminal (connectbot, juicessh, etc).

pm hide com.google.android.instantapps.supervisor

Or, if running via adb on a pc while connected via cable (or wifi adb), then use:

adb shell pm hide com.google.android.instantapps.supervisor

Unlike pm disable pm hide also works on non-rooted devices. So far, I didn't see any more Instant Apps notifications appearing.

If the above does not work for you then another approach would be modifying the SELinux context of the file/folder (e.g. with chcon).

To revert the pm hide command above use:

pm unhide com.google.android.instantapps.supervisor


Pushing files to my tablet from PC I have a Sony Tablet S.

When I'm browsing the Google Play webpage on my PC, I can install applications by just pushing the Install button and choosing my device - all done on my PC. Then a moment later, automagically, the application is installing on my tablet.

Is there some similar functionality to send pdf/mp3/mp4 files to my tablet from my PC?

I think most similar way to do this like what Google Play does, is:

If your files are saved on PC, and your device is connected to the same network as your PC (including local networks without internet connection), then you can use remote android controllers, like free and powerful AirDroid to upload files from PC to the device (batch files and folder transfers are supported).


Reading ReStructured text on android? I found/got referred to  this book : http://www.djangobook.com/

Which had a github page having files in the .rst(ReStructuredText) format.

What is a format that I can compile this to so that it can be read by some app on an android device and how?

rst2pdf is an application that can be used to compile Restructured text into pdf.

To read a pdf on your android should be trivial-ish. Grab any pdf reader.


One specific game/app refuses to install As the title says, one single game on the app store that I had installed beforehand without issues, now refuses to install at all. The playstore keeps giving me error -506 over and over, and that's when it installs the game, it downloads the game as it should but does not get past the installing stage because it keeps tossing error -506. Googling didn't help either because googling it only gives me topics about other error codes that are not related to mine at all. Please, if anyone knows the solution or possible fixes to this, suggest them to me here so I can finally play the game again.

Possibly the error is because you have got a dead data directory corpse somewhere from that one specific app from a previous install of the app. Once you uninstalled it it did not clean up after its self properly. You can try adb to get the remnants of the app with the command:

adb uninstall (package_name)

Looking like:

adb uninstall com.one.specificAPK

If that does not work and you have rooted privledges then use a root explorer and navigate to /data/data/ once there look for that one specific apps corpse. It should be a white file delete it.

If that is unsuccessful then there is an app called SdMaid (no affiliation) that has a corpse cleaner that should do the trick.

If that does not work then try Google's suggestion of one of the following:

METHOD 1:

  Go to Setting >> Go to Application Setting (In some devices application setting is named as apps).
  Go to, All the apps > >Find the Google Play Store >> Clear Data and Cache
  Once you have clear everything, Next you need to Force Stop the application.
  Similarly, Find the Google Play Service >> Clear Data and Cache
  Also, Find Google Services Framework >> Open Google Services Framework >> Clear cache and data
  Now, Restart your device and try to download the app.
  It has worked for many users and hopefully it will work for you also. If it didn’t worked for you, go to next method.

METHOD 2:

  Go to Setting >> Storage >> Scroll down and select “Unmount SD card”
  Open Google Play Store >> Download the app again that was giving you the error message
  After successful installation, Go back to Settings >> Storage  >> tap on “mount SD card”
  If above steps didn’t work, also try removing your SD card before installing.

METHOD 3:

  Go to Setting >> Accounts >> Google
  Remove all your Google accounts
  Go back to Google play store and Sign–in your account information
  Accept all the Google terms and setup Google settings then Run Google Play Store and download the app.
  Removing and adding the Google Account has solved the issue for many users as there was problem with the Google account. If this help you to fix the error then the job is done otherwise head to next method.

METHOD 4:

  Most of the users have found this solution to be working fine. After changing the storage setting users were able to download the app without any error message displaying on-screen.
  Steps to change the Storage Setting:

  Go to Setting >> Storage >> Preferred install location
  Tap on Preferred install location, a box will pop-up with different option
  Select “Let the system decide” option
  Open Google Play Store >> Download the app again that was giving you the error.


How to backup Viber chat messages to Gmail automatically? I see that Viber app has the feature of backing up messages and send emails.
I want to do that automatically so as all my Viber messages are safely backed up.
How can I do that with Viber app?

The only way you can do this I've found is if you install Viber on your pc.  A code is sent to your phone that you confirm. That's it.


VCF files to Galaxy S7 I have a Samsung Galaxy S7 running Android version 7 (Kernel Version is 3.18.14.12365438). I want to import my PC contacts from Outlook 2007 or my iPhone 6S. I also generated the .vcf files, which include photos of the contacts.

All the files have been in the download folder on the phone. How to continue and update the contacts?

As you have the contacts in form of .vcf file(s), you can use the Contacts app's native import functionality:

Start the contacts app
Tap the "3-dot-menu" (top-right of the screen)
From the drop-down menu that opens, chose "import/export"¹
On the next page, chose "Import from SD card"²
A file browser should open and let you chose the file to import. Pick your .vcf file
Now your contacts should be imported. If you have multiple files, repeat above steps.

Visualisation of the process (click image for larger variant)

¹ if there is no "import/export" directly in that menu, check the sub-menus – e.g. Manage contacts or Settings
² might be phrased slightly different, like "import from internal storage"


How can I see which websites use up most of my foreground data? Every month I use up most of my mobile data in Chrome. This is the foreground data, not background data, so the data saver settings don't do much.

My plan is to avoid those websites that use up most of my data. But to do so I need to find out which websites do so.

My mobile data usage only charts per app, and while I know it's chrome, I have no indication which website is most to blame.

Is there a way of recording this, either in the browser via flags/policy/settings or on a system level (system settings or another application)? I've used VPN apps as a  firewall previously but they ended up using a lot of battery.

How can I track website data usage on chrome?

As I discussed a similar issue here: Android app to show what apps/processes are currently using data. The same workaround is applicable in this case too.

I will focus on this specific part however:

  How can I track website data usage on chrome?

It is still possible using the mentioned tool: Network Connections

To get website specific usage just open the app and navigate to Current Connections Tab.
The log is given in two formats i.e IP address or hostaname. If you want the Ip address resolved to hostname simply tap, Resolve IPs to Hostname option.

It should appear like this:

I produced this log, when I was browsing StackExchange website, and from the screenshot you can see it gives the data usage associated with the website an if you open another website it also shows data usage specific to that hostname and sub-hostname associated to that particular website.

Only part that I am not sure is giving a very finer log on per website basis that can be stored as a seperate log, AFAICT you could periodically start live capture of traffic and see the sites which generate a lot of data usage.


Bulk word import into Gboard I moved from my Redmi to Mi Mix 2 now and used the Mi Mover app but unfortunately, the words in my used keyboard Gboard weren't restored. Neither does the internal synchronization work, it says something like "sync is not available for devices with G suite accounts or Android for work profile".
Couldn't yet find a working solution for this issue, so I'm thinking about re-adding all words but don't want to do this one by one. I have a wordlist as a text file that would cover at least 80% of my custom words. Any way of adding this at once to Gboard dictionary?
Apart from Gboard dictionary, there seems to be a common Central Android custom word dictionary. Is Gboard also considering words from there? In case it is, maybe there's some API/interface to this Central place so I could add those words at least there, so they could be used by Gboard (and also by other keyboard apps should I ever decide to switch).
I don't mind which way to go in case at least one of both could be achieved.

I have just managed to move my Swype dictionary to Gboard and would like to share my technique. Please bear in mind that I am not able to program, so this technique is aimed at novices like myself. I used Android 9 on a Samsung Note 8.
I know it looks like a long and complicated process, but that's just because I've broken it down into small steps: if you have less than a thousand personal words in your vocabulary the whole thing shouldn't take more than about half an hour. At the end of the process, I uninstalled the two apps which I had installed, but that of course is up to you.

Open Swype and go to Edit My Dictionary.
Install and open Universal Copy: I found it on the notification bar
Tap the top-right icon which is a dotted square surrounding a solid rectangle. This will select everything on the screen. Then press the Copy icon which is two overlapping rectangles
Because I have Word on Android, I opened a new Word document and pasted into it the words that Universal Copy had copied. (It would probably have been quicker to use ES File Explorer to create a plain-text .txt file, but I did not think of this until too late).
Press Enter after the last word pasted so the cursor will be on a new line
Go back to Edit My Dictionary and scroll up until the words you have already copied have disappeared at the top of the screen
Go back to Universal Copy, which means going back to the notification bar at the top of the screen, and repeat steps 3 to 6 however many times you need to copy all the words from your Swype dictionary. (I have more than 700)
Optionally, go through the Word or .txt document you have just created, cutting out all the repetitions of "Personal Dictionary" which Universal Copy has faithfully copied each time it saw it on the screen. Also, remove any unwanted words on that list.
If you created a .txt document, call it wordlist.txt. If you created a Word document, you will need to Save As wordlist.txt. I had to do this and the next step on the PC but  I'm sure it's possible to do it on the phone.
Whichever way you created this wordlist.txt file, move it to the root of the SD card
Install and open User Dictionary Manager to import this file into your Android Personal Dictionary.
The most difficult part for me was finding the path to the root of my SD card. In the end, I found it on a Google app called Files, by selecting the file and then tapping the Information icon on the drop-down menu. My path was /storage/14B5–E887/wordlist.txt. Obviously your SD card will not be called 14B5–E887, and depending on your version of Android and your phone, you may have a different path altogether.
The most satisfying part was checking this had worked by going TG board, choosing Settings, Dictionary Personal Dictionary, English (UK) and seeing all your Swype words appear… For some reason in duplicate :-( but this does not seem to matter.


Ringtone shortened with lollipop Having issue since update to Lollipop on Samsung Galaxy S5.
When phone rings, sound comes on for 1 second, off for 3, one for 1, off for 3. This happens with Zedge and system ringtones.
I have changed ringtone to one from the system. Checked settings til I'm almost blue in the face. Thought it might have something to do with motions, but no.
any suggestions?

i searched over and over for a solution and finally found it this morning, remembered you had the same problem and had to post this for you...
follow these steps:

go to settings...
go to accessibility
go to answering/ending calls
uncheck the "using voice commands" box

and that's it...test it to be sure but it worked for me... i hope it works for you as well...

let me know if it worked... i need to know it worked for you too...


Samsung Keyboard language switch + Accessibility service I've faced an issue that Samsung Keyboard disables functionality of language switching using space bar... after upgrade to 4.4.2 KitKat. That was messed on a forums a little bit and everybody agreed that Accessibility services should be disabled to enable this functionality...

But I have 7 services and DO want to use at least 4 of them... e.g. one of them forward notifications to my Sony SmartWatch... It become pretty useless without this service...

I really like Samsung Keyboard and want to use it... (I do use continuous input switching to voice input some times... and really love space bar switching of language)

How can I enable both language switching and Accessibility services?

GT-I9505

This answer explains why it's not possible to change the keyboard layout when an accessibility service is on.

I faced the problem on my Samsung Galaxy S3 with Android 4.3 (I9300XXUGOE1), installed Google Keyboard, and use it instead of the default Samsung keyboard.


Cannot copy files in recovery mode which made Google nexus S unusable I have a Google Nexus S, bought last year and it was working fine till last week. It came with Android Ginger Bread, and I rooted the phone and installed several custom ROMs including Cyanogenmod. Recently I installed Android Jelly bean ROM, and it was working fine.

Last week, I wanted to try the Cyanogedmod 10 (on Jelly bean). I went to recovery mode for taking a backup. But I saw a recent backup which was taken before 2 months. I thought that should be fine. I cleared all cache and did a factory reset for getting ready for the new ROM.

Now something went wrong!

I tried to reboot the device, but I could only see the usual animated CROSS logo( with four colours) for ever. I even left the phone for more than a hour. But it is not rebooting. //SO CAN'T RELOAD THE PREVIOUSLY WORKING OS

I tried restoring from the previous backup.. It shows that "installation complete".
After that while rebooting the device just hangs in the same place. //SO CAN'T RESTORE FROM MY PREVIOUS BACKUP

I thought of copying the new rom in the device. I could not succeed. I tried adb command through my SDK.
ADB is not listing my device. In all the forums it is mentioned that to enable the USB debugging from the phone.
I cannot do this, because I cannot go into the device OS other than recovery mode.

I even tried some GUI stuff like Android commander / QtADB but every thing needs USB Enable from the OS Menu.

Finally I tried mounting disk from recovery mode.
Whenever I mount the disk, Windows 7 is fixing the file system errors and bad sectors for a while and shows "no problems were found" and it is ready to use. Here something weird happens. I can copy the files in windows explorer and can see the files in the device thru explorer,

BUT when I unmount and browse from the recovery mode the files are not there. (may be the files are copied in cache) //SO I CAN'T COPY ANY FILE TO THE DEVICE.. ( May be here I am doing something silly. )

My phone is now unusable!

Any advice/tips is highly appreciated!

Cheers Kum

Prerequesites:

unlocked phone ('fastboot oem unlock' command)
installed Android SDK with accessible adb and fastboot executables (both are part of the SDK)
Cyanogenmod 7/9 or 10 image from get.cm (or whatever ROM you want)
Nexus S CWM recovery image from clockworkmod.com

Steps:

Flash the CWM recovery image:
Switch off your Nexus S, press volume up & power to enter fastboot mode
Command to flash: fastboot flash recovery recovery-clockwork-6.0.1.0-crespo.img
Boot to recovery (e.g. via fastboot boot recovery-clockwork-6.0.1.0-crespo.img)
Enter a shell into the running CWM: adb shell, from there mount a tmpfs file system (used just for the update): mount -t tmpfs none /sdcard (This circumvents the sdcard completely, you don't need to format anything)
Push the ROM image to the tmpfs (adb push cm-10-20120827-NIGHTLY-crespo.zip /sdcard/)
Install this via CWM (the regular way)
Follow the remaining usual steps (GApps, wipe, etc.)


HTC Thunderbolt Killing the home app? Something that has been extremely aggravating me recently is that my HTC Thunderbolt seems to be automatically killing the home app whenever it needs space in it's ram.

I notice that this happens when I do something processor intensive like downloading a new app. When I press the home button, it will just display a white screen that says "HTC" on it, and then go to the home and open up a toast saying "loading" just like when the phone first boots up.

At first, I thought it was some of my other apps that were causing it, such as "advanced task killer" and "juice defender ultimate", but I uninstalled Advanced Task Killer, and disabled Juice Defender, and it is still happening.

Is there a way to stop this?

If your home screen is dying like this, check your debug logs (if you have adb installed). My guess? You're running out of RAM and Android is killing the home screen process to get more RAM.

You might want to stop some services (or root & remove stupid carrier bloatware).

CyanogenMOD and some other custom Android builds will allow you to "lock" the application in RAM, but honestly that can cause as many problems as it solves.

On my older phones (HTC Dream / HTC Magic) the culprit at the time was K-9 mail.


Custom keyboard shortcuts for Android I am trying to create some custom shortcuts for often-used words/phrases using the built in dictionary, but have run into a roadblock.

I'm trying to follow the instructions in this blog post, specifically:

  Tap Settings, Language & Input, then “Personal dictionary.” (Note: the exact settings may differ depending on the make and model of your Android phone.)
  Tap the “+” sign in the top-right corner of the screen, then enter the word or phrase (like “on my way”) you’d like to make a shortcut for.
  Next, type a brief shortcut that’s easy to remember; for example, “omw” for “on my way.”
  Tap the Back key, and you’ll see an entry for the shortcut you just added. Want to add more shortcuts? Tap the “+” sign again.
  Now, go to the Messaging app, compose a new message, and tap one of your new shortcuts—and when you do, the phrase you entered will appear in the row of auto-correct options just above the keyboard. Tap the phrase to add it to your message.

However, I'm not able to find these settings on my Galaxy Note 2. How can I do this?

In the first step itself I am stuck. Didn't find any option for 'Personal Dictionary' sort of thing.

Tap Settings, Language & Input, then “Personal dictionary.”

Not every device has this feature. I tested on my samsung-galaxy-s-3, and it doesn't have this option either, but the nexus-7 and nexus-10 do. I'm not sure whether the feature was only added in 4.2-jelly-bean, or if it's just missing from Samsung ROMs. Either way, you probably want a third-party text expander app as others have suggested.


Default ATI Path Change setting on Samsung Galaxy A20 I've just purchased my Samsung Galaxy A20 and was configuring my settings, and I'm unsure what this specific setting does.
ATI Path Change (Both)
[0] Physical UART path
[1] AP path
[2] Both ATI, No RmPC

I accidentally hit my screen and it chose an option. Now I'm unsure what the default setting was.
I've tried to look it up but no luck to help guide me on the right or default setting was.
I've chosen "Both ATI, No RmPC", but which one was the default setting?


How to change android primary google account During the "in-app purchase" I am unable to switch the Google account I would like to use for "in-app purchase". Currently, in order to change the primary Google account on Android operating system, we have the following ways:

Remove other Google accounts, leave only one Google account.
Perform factory reset on our devices.

If we perform factory reset, we will lose all data that we have not backed up or unable to do backup. And, we have to re-install the applications that we need to use.

If we choose to remove other Google accounts from our systems and leave only one Google account, if there are applications installed from Google Play Store by using the Google account that we want to remove from our systems, then we will not be able to remove the account from the system unless we remove those applications. However, sometimes we may forget which account we used to install an application from Google Play Store.

My question is that is there any other way to switch between the accounts?

I believe I had a similar problem.
I just bought the Moto X on Verizon.  I linked 3 Google accounts to this phone (including my wife's to sync our calendars.)
The phone chose my wife's account as the primary so when I sent text messages they would be sent from my wife's Google account.
SOLUTION:
I went into the Google+ account app, logged out of her account and then the phone asked me which one to log into.
Problem solved to change my primary account without factory reset.


Samsung s duos not booting into recovery I have flashed the recovery.tar using odin by following this tutorial http://www.droidiser.com/2012/10/how-to-root-samsung-galaxy-s-duos-install-cwm.html

but after this,when I try to boot into recovery mode by pressing volume up+volume down+home+power key simultaneously,it shows samsung logo followed by cwm recovery icon but then it just goes off and boots up normally.

what am I doing wrong ? please help...

I had to release the buttons just after samsung logo and not after seeing cwm screen


i am not able to receive my calls at my galaxy Y after updating the android 2.3.6 i am not able to receive my calls at my galaxy Y after updating the android 2.3.6 although I can call in regular way.  whenever a person calls me he get phone busy notification, while i got a missed call notification with ringing any tone. I will be very thankfull if you help me in this concern.

After reading alot of blogs I tried one thing and it worked. First of all I saved all of my contacts on SD card then I removed it and apply sttings ____privacy settings____"Factory Data Reset". After that I'm receiving my incoming calls in regular way even after inserting the SD card. I import all my contacts from sd card again. You ca also try this


Google plus photo editor (downloading editing tools problem) I am using a Micromax Canvas a74 which runs on Jelly Bean. I have Google Plus installed on my phone, which has another app named Photos that helps to sync our photos to Gogle's cloud storage.

My problem is when I clean my cache using Clean Master it clears the local cache on my phone, which makes download the online editing tools for the 'Photos app editor'. In other words, when I try to edit my photos using the Google+ editor, it will download some editing tools to my phone's cache, and when I clear my cache I have to wait for the app to download the tools again before I can edit a photo.

Is a way (or an app) to erase the cache using an ignore list, which can ignore system default apps?

I found a solution.

I recommend using UClean instead of another cache cleaning app. It has an ignore list for system apps, so I could add the Google+ Photos app to the ignore list and prevent the cache from getting cleared.

It also has a folder ignore list, where we can specify the folders to be omitted at the time of cache listing. So UClean fixed my problem.


Is there an app that allows me to remotely access and play my hard drive's music files? Is there an program that allows me to remotely access and play my hard drive's music files?

I found and downloaded a program called 'sockso' that would have worked, if it was still supported, at least it would have allowed me to access and play music off of my hard drive through an open port.

I simply want to set up a program on my laptop (accessible via wifi) and access it from my phone or tablet.

I desire an program that remotely either plays my hard drive resident songs randomly or allows me to set up a play list.

There are probably a million ways to do similar things using other techniques, but:

I want the files to be physically on my laptop's hard drive and
Accessible remotely (a resident program running on the laptop is OK).

Some apps that shows up in quick search on Play Store:

Samba Network Music Player -- runs using Samba sharing and folder (having music) should be shared (via Properties).

  Listen to your network stored music collection as if it was all on your phone!

  Enjoy music right away, no complicated setup required. Samba Player works with shared folders from Windows, Linux, Mac, home routers, media players, network drives (NAS) or any network device that can share folders.

  works over WiFi, Ethernet or even in Hotspot mode.
  music formats: MP3, MP4 audio (m4a), Ogg Vorbis (ogg) and FLAC (on Android 3.1+)
  indexes your music collection for fast browsing without the lag of the network.
  smart streaming lets you enjoy your music better on slow networks
  download the playlist with one click and listen to it on the go!
  edit, shuffle and repeat your playlist

Soumi: Network Music Player -- You need to run a server like FTP/SSH/WebDAV, or just share a folder and allow sharing through network settings in Windows.

  Scan, catalogue, and play music files alike from internal/external SD card, shared folders on local network, FTP/FTPS, SFTP, WebDAV servers, Dropbox, Google Drive, and other cloud services that support WebDAV protocol like BOX, CloudMe, ownCloud, etc., through WiFi or mobile network. It has easy intuitive user interface for instant searching and browsing music by artist, album, genre, as well as folder.

  It can also cache music files from the network folder when added to a playlist so that you can play them later when not connected to any WiFi or mobile network.  It uses SAMBA/CIFS protocol to access the network shard folder, i.e., no uPnp or DLNA server is required.
  Key features are:

  Plays music from shared folders on local SMB/CIFS network, e.g., Windows share, WiFi drive, NAS, USB drive attached to router, etc.
  Plays music from FTP, FTPS, SFTP, and WebDAV servers
  Plays music from Dropbox, Google Drive, and other WebDAV based cloud services like BOX, CloudMe, ownCloud, etc.
  Play music from internal/external SdCard and attached USB drives
  Supports multitasking, e.g., it can play music, cache playlist from network, scan folders, etc., all at the same time
  Browsing and instant searching by artist, album, genre, and title
  Find, browse and play music by folder
  Instant sorting by title, album, artist, genre, year, album count, song count, time added, play time, etc.

 Finding answers for this question is  trivial. There are so many apps available on web and waiting for one query from Google like "how to stream music from PC to Android" or "network stream music from PC to Android", etc. Have fun diving in plethora of apps. :-)


Communicating offline between different android devices I have multiple android devices that need to operate in areas with limited network connectivity. At the same there, I need the data capture on one of them to be immediately available on another device in the vicinity. The different devices can connect to one host device which can host the wi-fi and hence be in the same LAN. Then, what are some good ways to use the host device as a server that can persist and expose data?

This is fairly simple actually. With "ssh server" (ice cold apps is a good one), you can install it on each android device, and then connect from one device to another across your Lan. Of course if you have no network connectivity you won't be able access the Web, but it should be possible to push pull data using rsync (you will need busy box and root to gain full functionality), but it is certainly very possible.

Although, depending on what you actually want to achieve, some easier options are available - eg for simple file sync, you can use bittorrent sync, even without an Internet connection


stuck while updating android in samsung GT-I9003 while updating my samsung GT-I9003 using odin i removed the cable now my phone is showing a logo of a mobile and a computer. please help please

Seems like there is a software corruption. Try the following steps.

Turn off the device.
Go to Android System Recovery screen.
Wipe data / factory reset and select delete all user data.
Reboot system.


How do you access the graphs in Xlythe Calculator App? I have recently downloaded the Xlythe Calculator App (link to Play Store here). The app claims to support graphing functions. But I have no clue on how to do so. Will anyone help?

So, I have been looking around the calculator, and I eventually found out how to graph the functions. I decided to answer my own question, so that it could be a reference for future users. Here's how:

Open the App, and swipe left. You should see this screen:

Screenshot (click image for larger variant)

Notice the X there (last line, previous to last symbol)? That's your variable for graphing. The graphs are rendered for Y=f(X), and you must type f(X)=[insert function here].

For example, let's say you want to graph Y=sin(X). Simply type sin(X).

The graph will be rendered as you type. It should be done as you finished:

Tap the graph to get a more interactive graph-based userface.

Keep in mind, this calculator cannot graph implicit functions. Furthermore the graphs aren't gridded. A more advanced calculator would be Desmos Graphing Calculator.

Happy calculating!


Retrieve Files From Device in Bootloader I'm working on an android application. I accidentally turned on a developer option(I'm guessing RTL Layout), and now I get the message "..System UI has stopped working". I tried to clear the cache partition in recovery mode and that did nothing. I don't mind doing a factory reset but I just want to get files off the phone as I don't believe a backup. (My phone is the Droid Turbo if that matters)
When I connect it to my computer via USB it is not recognized. I believe it was set as PTP connection on my phone. It does not show up when I run adb devices. However in recovery mode, when I choose "apply update from ADB" it shows up when I run adb devices(with the word sideload next to it), but I cannot seem to find it in the device manager. I tried to pull/backup through adb but I get "error: closed". Is there any way to retrieve my photos/etc before/after I factory reset. Thanks!

Did u tried to boot phone to fastboot mode, on my phone I do that this way:
 Pull out battery for 5 sec, put battery back, an then hold power + volume down key.
Than u can try using pull command.
What device do you have?


Babbel languages learning apps won't play sounds The Babbel language learning app doesn't play sounds anymore; this used
to work for me for a while but now doesn't.  Sounds are the central
feature of the app which makes it superior to the PC web application, so
this is very important for me.  The Babbel support was not able to help me.

System information:

Babbel app, version 5.2.1
Android version 4.0.4
Device Sony LT22i (Xperia P)
Internal storage: 769MB free, total 1.2GB

What I tried:

Clear the cache.  This helped for a short while but no more.
As per advice of the Babbel team, I uninstall the Babbels apps;  then after a few minutes I re-installed again but nothing change to my sounds problems.
Restart the device.  Like for the cache, it worked again for a short while.

The problem might be related to the size of the lesson, or the amount of speach examples, respectively.

What can I try get the sounds running again? Thank you!

I have installed Babbel app(version 5.2.1) and it works fine on my Xolo Q1010i.

I had even tried cleaning the cache and reopening the app again, but then also it works the same way. Maybe you should try restarting your Sony LT22i and give it a try then.

Hope this helps!


unable to install app on my phone micromax a106 I m unable to install app on my phone micromax a106 .iit shows sufficient space in storage. BT error comes out as not enough space.

This phone seems to have very little space for files. As you don't mention how much space has left for a user to install apps I will think it is too low to be any useful to any kind of user. The only real choices, that can work in this kind of situation, are the two I am describing in this question.

Be aware that these two solutions have as a requirement for the phone to be rooted. If these two solutions do not fit you, you can always try to uninstall big apps from your phone and install smaller ones that do the same job.


Cannot format userdata, Fastboot refuses to detect I have an OpenSUSE Leap 42.2, with adb, fastboot, and heimdall all present. My Android tablet is a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 (model: SM-T713). I am attempting to flash Lineage OS onto it.

I have already flashed TWRP onto the tablet via heimdall, but TWRP fails to mount /data. It continuously spits out errors along the lines of E: Can't mount /data (invalid argument) and Couldn't mount /data, and cannot find crypto folder.

After some research, I discovered a solution is to run fastboot format userdata to erase the /data partition.

However, fastboot format userdata hangs:

$ fastboot format userdata
< waiting for device>

My tablet is in download mode, and is plugged in to the computer via USB. lsusb detects it, but adb devices and fastboot devices cannot detect it.

Is there any way to allow Fastboot to format my tablet?

I was using an unofficial release of TWRP, as at the time there was no official release. However, the official release for my device added an "Erase Data" button, which allowed me to succesfully flash Lineage.


Allow sending premium SMS on Samsung Galaxy J7 On Samsung Galaxy J7, I accidentally set "never allow" in sending premium messages. Now I can't activate some services directly.

I searched and found that Samsung Galaxy S phones have a setting called "Premium SMS", but there isn't anything like that in J7, either on:

Settings - Applications - Application manager - Messages - Permissions, or
... Permissions - More - All permissions

How to change the setting for premium SMS on Samsung Galaxy J7?

On one case, it is showing under Apps - Special Access - Use Premium text message service, and it can be set to "Always Allow".

However, there is also a case where the messaging service does not show.


Block Connection to Specific BSSID's? I am setting up my friend's network for his kids. I have Tomato firmware running on their Linksys with OpenDNS filtering as well as timed Access Restrictions (ie, no more internet access after 11:30pm). That's all fine and dandy as long as my friend's son's phone stays on his network. However, he is getting access to a friend's router nearby (however, he does not have data on his phone; so I don't need to worry about that).

In Tomato, I can go to Tools > Wireless Survey and I can see all the BSSID's that are all around their house.

I also have rooted my friend's son's Android phone. Is there any way to block the phone from connecting to specific BSSID's? I have AirDroid installed and can access the root files from my house. Is there some file in there that I can edit?

Might be worth a shot to try this:

$IPTABLES -A "afwall-reject" -m mac --mac-source 00:00:00:00:00:00 -j DROP

the switches in iptables are case-sensitive.

Replace 00:00:00:00:00:00 that with the MAC address of the BSSID that is transmitting wifi beacon packets, and password protect it to prevent mitigation attempts in trying to override it.


Safestrap app won't run after installing recovery -- "Unfortunately, Safestrap has stopped" I can install Safestrap 3.72 (Safestrap-JFLTE-3.72-kk-B01.apk) and then install and use the custom recovery without a hitch. However, once the custom recovery has been installed and the phone is rebooted, the Safestrap GUI app no longer runs (I want to run it in order to uninstall the custom recovery, and the manual instructions for uninstalling from a shell prompt that I found here didn't work). Every time I try to start it, I get the error message

  Unforunately, Safestrap has stopped

I've tried reinstalling the APK, both with and without uninstalling the app first. It always installs successfully, and SuperSU requests root permissions the first time I run it after reinstalling, but it always crashes immediately. I've also tried uninstalling and reinstalling BusyBox.

This also happens if I start from scratch, by re-flashing the stock NC5 ROM and doing a factory wipe/reset from the stock recovery (yes, I've also tried wiping from the Safestrap recovery). Starting from the out-of-the-box config, I follow this process:

Root the phone using Towelroot
Install BusyBox
Launch the BusyBox app and click INSTALL to install the tools
Install Terminal Emulator
Launch Terminal Emulator and invoke su and then setenforce 0
Install the Safestrap APK.

At this point, the Safestrap app runs just fine, and I can install the custom recovery. However, after that, Safestrap won't run anymore (crashing immediately with the error message above).

Phone info:

Model: SCH-I545
OS Version: KitKat 4.4.2
Build: NC5 (same issue if I upgrade to NG6)

Okay, it turned out to be something silly. The problem is that SE status reverts to Enforcing when you reboot. So, you have to set it to Permissive with setenforce 0 again before the first time you use Safestrap after a reboot.


Why won't my nexus 7 update to Jelly Bean 4.2? I was notified that there was a system update, but when I applied it the tablet was still on the older version of Jelly Bean. I've even done a factory reset and tried again, but no luck. Are there any logs that I can look at to track down the problem?

This turned out to be a hardware issue. I had two relatively pleasant conversations with tech support at google play and asus. Since it was a new purchase I just returned it.


Can't access Recovery Menu Milestone a853 I'm trying to flash a Cyanogenmod 7.1.5 on my Motorola Milstone A853. I can access the Bootloader (version 90.74) and started RSDLite 5.7 and used a base sbf file, which flashes normally.

When I reboot the device I can access recovery mode by pressing Camera, but when I access the recovery mode by pressing Volume UP and then press Camera the recovery menu does not open.

I see videos on YouTube, read a lot of tutotials, but I don't know what to do. Is there another way to do this?

Power on the Milestone:

Press the power button and X button and when a triangle appears, press volume up key and camera buttion.


How to reorder, add or delete home screens in the native Droid Maxx launcher? When booting up the Droid Maxx and not using a custom launcher, there are five swipe screens by defualt. Is there a way to reorder, add or delete screens? Usual two finger pinching or twirling has no effect.

Motorola devices are mostly loaded with a very basic Android build with minimum customization. The launcher which they provide is also very basic and light weighted and do have a lot of features. So if you are looking for customizing your home screens then you are not going to find any option in their default launcher.

You need to get a launcher from the Play Store. I will suggest the Google Now launcher. Its very basic yet has quite a few interesting features. I used it in my Moto G (1st Gen.) and it used to work pretty well. There are other good launchers too like Nova, Apex, etc. you can give them a try too.


Poor performance with portable wifi hot spot. Is this normal? I'm using an HTC Desire HD to create a portable wifi hotspot on a 2G connection (yes, I know, but its all I got sometimes) so I can use my laptop for simple internet based tasks.  My 2G connection on the phone seems to max out at about 40kbps (unrelated, but is this normal?).  However, the connection is pretty much unusable by my laptop which seems to gain a maximum of about 300 bytes/sec download speed (strangely though, it gets almost 4kbps upload).

So,
1) Any idea what's wrong?
2) If the phone's 2g connection is capable of 40kpbs, is it reasonable to expect a portable wifi hotspot client to be able to use all of this capacity?

Thanks!

In theory you should get full speed but this things can be dodgy sometimes. Make sure you make these speedtests at the same spot and at the same time to avoid congestion and diffrent signal strenghts effecting the test.

You can try USB tethering and see if the speed improves. If you can't find usb tethering in settings there are apps that should allow you to try this.

You can also try to put the phone to a better spot (signal wise) when using the wifi tether.

On an unrelated note, please try to be more precise when using units such as kbps. You used bits 3 times and byte once. A small(normal) b means a bit and a large(capital) B a Byte. One Byte is 8 bits. 40 kbps (kilo bits per seconds) is 5kB/s(kilo bytes per seconds). Please do the tests again and edit your question with the correct numbers with correct units or post in a comment.

It is also possible that your computer is doing some stuff (such as cheking for windows updates or antivirus definitions) that might effect your speedtest. Also the compter might show the results in a diffent unit than your phone, so the numbers are smaller but the speed is the same.


Netflix shows 5.2 error on Samsung when trying to watch series and movies For some reason, I am suddenly getting a 5.2 error when I try to play videos. I found this on Reddit, but no one found a soltuion. Rooted devices can fix it, so here is my question:

Is there any way to solve the error on unrooted Samsung devices?

Checked the Netflix help center, but the 5.2 error isn't listed.

As usual, removing the app, clearing data, restarting device, tried over 4G, restarting netflix app, tried online and offline, previously viewed and unviewed, series and movies and every other suggested solution to different errors.

Nothing works. Any ideas if this is fixable, or if it is a Netflix issue?

Checking reviews on Google PLay reviews of the Netflix app and Reddit (see link above) there are a lot of people affected by this (5.2 error). It looks like it is Samsung only, as I can't reproduce it with my tablet (non-samsung)

I recommend you contact netflix directly. There is an old APK that they will provide to circumvent this problem. its a temporary fix but it works


How can I access the data for the Android calendar app on my phone? I have been using the Calendar app on my android phone, and I want to access the data for this app so that I can export it. I cannot find a "com.android.calendar" folder, nor can I find any file or directory with "calendar" anywhere in the name. Where would I find it?

Here's why I want the data: Although the android calendar app "syncs" with my Google calendar account (as in, events on my google calendar appear on my phone), any events that I added through the app on the mobile device do not get uploaded to my Google calendar. After a while, I realized that I should use the "Google Calendar" app instead of the default "Calendar" app that came with the phone. But I would like to export the events from the android calendar to my Google calendar. Is there an easy way to export the data from the Android calendar app to the Google calendar? It appears that at least one other person has had this problem.

I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 mini with android version 4.4.2.

Most likely, you don't have root access. If you've that, look into /data/data.

The folder you're looking for is at /data/data/com.android.calendar/ but the stuff you need is under /data/data/com.android.providers.calendar.

Hope it helps!


How to get files off of Nexus 5 Android when LCD Screen + Touchscreen doesnt work? So I have a Nexus 5 Android 32gb phone that boots up but the LCD screen and touchscreen doesnt work. I know because it gets detected on my computer. Also the bootloader is still locked, which means I cannot flash a recovery image to it. Also I do not have usb debugging on so I cannot connect via adb.

I have a bunch of family photos on the phone and would like to get these files off. What other alternatives can I do to get these files off?

I even changed the LCD screen and that doesnt work neither. It's possible that some chip on the motherboard is fried, but I'm not even sure how to test something like that. However I do have the proper tools for micro soldering, but not sure how to go about this.

Another option I was thinking about is extract the SD chip on the board and implant it to another nexus system. This requires extreme micro-soldering work and reballing. The sd chip that the nexus 5 uses is the following: SDIN8DE4-32G

Totally loss on what to do next.

If you have ADB debugging turned on, you can give Vysor a try: http://www.vysor.io/

PS: If you can't get to it because the phone is locked, attach a computer keyboard to the phone and unlock it.


what does "auto-fit pages" do in the browser In the stock Android browser, what exactly does "auto-fit pages" do?

From my experimenting with it, the answer appears to be "Diddly-squat".

Perhaps a better question would be "What is is supposed to do?"

Auto-fit is supposed to force the text to wrap based on the size of your screen when you zoom in on a web page.  I think.

As long as I'm connecting the right term with the right action, it has limits.  For instance, the page width doesn't actually change, and images and side bars won't change position, shape, or size.  Basically it's designed to keep you from scrolling sideways to read the text of an article.


randomly trying to call will not ring once, beep and hang up I've been experiencing this problem quite randomly.  I've asked some friends around who have Android phones as well and this happens to them as well, so my first thought was that this is an issue with Android.

I try to call a number, and without ever hearing it 'ring' anytime, I get a Conditional Call Forwarding Active message and a small beep, and it hangs up.  I then re-try, and sometimes the call goes through, sometimes I get the same message.  Sometimes, on occasions I have to try 4 - 6 times to be able to make the call. On very rare occasions, everytime I try I keep getting the message, beep, and hangs up.  This is extremely frustrating.  Any idea how I can look into this?

My phone is a Samsung Galaxy Note 2, stock Android (4.3 as per latest update).

Update 1

This has nothing to do with Call Forwarding apparently.  I've disabled it from the Call Settings, and now it still happens, without showing the Call Forwarding activated message.

As strange as it may be, I did find a solution to this problem.  I noticed that if I switch data / 3G, the call would immediately go through.  I've tried this a lot of times where I couldn't call, switch off 3G and it immediately works.

Also, I've recently switched to CyanogenMod from the native Samsung Android installation, and I don't recall this happening again.  Not sure if it is some kind of bug in Samsung's version of Android.  I'm also using a more recent version of Android, so that could also be the reason.


How do I unlock bootloader and root LG Optimus Zone 3 (VS425PP)? How do I unlock the bootloader on LG Optimus Zone 3 (VS425PP) in a simple, easy to follow steps?

Then how do I root the device and return to a fully functional cell phone that is stable and rooted? Can't get any help from using FlashFire, KingoRoot, SuperSU.

You cannot unlock the bootloader on the LG Optimus Zone 3.

However, you can root the device using a system-wide root strategy -- thus avoiding the inevitable risk of modifying the boot image, KingoRoot is the best method -- however, you must be running an older firmware build such as vs425pp2.

To downgrade to vs425pp2, you will need a KDZ or TOT firmware package and LGUP Dev Edition.

Once the root is established, you may use SuperSU-Me Pro to substitute the KingoRoot binaries with SuperSU root binaries. Then you can use FlashFire to upgrade back to a more recent firmware build, maintaining root with the EverRoot feature.


Settings has stopped on Nokia 8 I bought a Nokia 8 two days back, and updated it to Android Oreo 8.0.0. No more updates are available.

I have only installed some basic everyday apps such WhatsApp or Facebook.

I'm able to change wallpapers from the gallery. However, if I go to Settings > Display > Wallpaper, an error pops up, saying "Settings has stopped; open app again".

What can I do to correct this?

Clearing cache+data for the Settings app and restarting phone did not solve it. Rebooting into safe mode also did not help.

On repeated trials, I see a slightly different screen.

I finally went ahead with a full reset. It was solved, but caused some other issues on the side.

Trying out various approaches to reproduce the issue, I found that disabling the Google Wallpapers app can cause it. I do not know how it was disabled in the earlier case, or if at all that really was the cause.


Motorola Defy does not sync to GMail I have purchased a Motorola Defy some time ago, and imported my address book from my old featurephone using the SIM card.

Under Settings / Account now I have two accounts listed in the Motoblur section (the motoblur account and an email account), and one account listed under Other accounts (the gmail / google account).

Now I would like to sync all contacts to the google account, but it won't: it has synced only the new contacts I added, but the old contacts are in the telephone only. What is the correct way to sync contacts to the gmail account?

I am running official froyo firmware, french version.

So it turns out that there is no other way than to do it manually, and it is not difficult at all :)

Get MyPhoneExplorer (I am sure you can do it using the Phone Portal too, but MyPhoneExplorer is just SO convenient :)
Go to the Contact tab, right click on any contact, click on Export/Import, Export all contacts, and select the csv format
Check that the CSV file is OK opening it in Excel for example
Open GMail, go to the Contacts link and click on Import, select the CSV file and import
Now return to the phone explorer, and delete all your contacts
Click on android's Settings - Accounts, click on the GMail account and click on synchronize contacts. All your contacts are restored to your phone, but now they are linked in GMail.