DNS error on laptop when tethered to non-rooted Android 5.1 device I am trying to hotspot my laptop from a non-rooted Android 5.1 phone (ZTE A110). On IPv4 and IPv6 I get Connection Status: Enabled - with high speed quality - but No Internet Access.  When I run Windows network diagnostics it says: The DNS server may be experiencing problems, contact your ISP.  However that is pointless as the phone itself is connecting fine to the internet.  What am I doing wrong please?  (Tethering Worked fine last week to the same laptop from the same ISP but a different phone running Android 4.4).

Try enabling the developer options on your phone, and set the usb config to RNDIS manually (this should happen automatically when you set on usb tether, but [driver issues?]) If that does not do it, go for the USB debugging option, --not that either?
 OEM unlocking is next.. (these are all in the same developer menu)..

-I am not 100% if the OEM unlock is just to enable the bootloader, but when fixing this, I remembered a nasty little tid-bit how yankee phones' ability to tether is sometimes disabled, just to enable Service Providers to sell two internet-plans instead of one..
So, now all fired up, fighting for my rights, I just went all ham on all of the above, and now my tethering experience is smoother than ever.


Podcast app with Google Reader integration (Google Listen alternative) I'm looking for a podcast app that would have the same features as Google Listen without the buggyness...

From what I've seen, most apps that feature "Google Reader integration" only offer importing, not syncing.

Is there an app out there that does podcasts and only podcasts, that I could simply point to my Google Listen folder in Google Reader, and have it sync subscriptions and read status?

I'd have to double-check on the reality of the sync/import part of the question, but you may want to look at BeyondPod. It claims that it will sync read/unread status, but I've not used that capacity. I've used it for years (on WinMo long before Android was available on a phone) and have loved using it.


Does Nexus S Wifi and GPS have issues? So there I was, happily reading reviews about Google's/Samsumg Nexus S building my judgement whether to buy it or not after my Nexus 1 got stolen. Happily enough there were very few posts on issues with the phone and most reviews would state quite triumph for Samsumg for it's gorgeous screen and for finally getting rid of it's dreaded GPS bummer.

Decision made and finally got my own brand new NS. In general terms, the phone is pretty smooth, very responsive - haven't seem an android phone this smooth in a while. I'm pretty happy with it. However, there are two issues which are bugging a lot: the WiFi and the GPS. Since I've read these reviews I mention in the beginning I'm not too sure whether they design flaws or just I got (un)lucky with this one.

My GPS is definitely crap. I have that "GPS test app" and even when it has like 7 satellites in sight it still wont manage to get a lock as quick (if any) as other phones I've been comparing it. E.g. And old HTC Magic sitting next to my NS got a lock in like, 5 seconds while mine took almost 20 - then lost it. Also, after acquiring the lock, it has an average of 20-30 meters error while the HTCs and Nokias are like pin-point 5m<.

As for the WiFi, I'm not sure if is just a display issue or if the reception is really bad, but being in the same room as the router, about 4 meters away, the phone shows two strength bars only. I figure that the reception could be just fine and the display could be just bad parametrized so I've got the "WiFi Analyser" app it says my signal is at -78dBm (which with a little googling apparently means pretty weak).

What do you guys say? Are those known issues? Are there Fixes? Should I send it back?

I just reaaaaly don't want to root it get custom Roms and try and try.. This thing is brand new, should work as it is.

If nobody else is having the issue, I'd send it back for a replacement.  You probably just got unlucky.  Though you might also want to compare the WiFi signal strength with your other phone, and try some speed tests to see if it's actually an issue or if the number of bars is just misleading.


i wanna access the internet with my tablet via the second device I got a tablet without wifi connection, and a device with a SIM card and internet access. I managed to get a Bluetooth connection between those two devices. Now i wanna access the internet with my tablet via the second device. Is there a way given through android to dial into the internet ? I thought about implicit Intents or Bluetooth tethering, but didnt find anything yet.

i hope u got what im asking about ;)

ty in advance

Depends on the other device.

There must be an option for sharing the internet over bluetooth in other device's bluetooth connection settings.

If you turn it on, you can connect to internet on your android tablet.


Samsung 20 delete phone contact Brand new samsung 20 will not allow me to delete a contact without phone # and stays on recently added and home screen

quite a strange thing, considering the fact that your phone is new.
well, there are basic steps to deleting contacts:

From a Home screen, swipe up from the center of the display to access the apps screen.
Tap Contacts Contacts icon.
Select the desired contact.
Tap the Menu icon Menu icon (upper-right).
Tap Delete.
Tap Delete to confirm.

maybe if the phone is required for content to be deleted, you could try add some random number just to refresh the contact? vfwbe then you will manage to delete it...


Is it necessary to have an unlocked bootloader to root a device? My LG Stylo 2 Sprint Version running on Android 7 Nougat has a locked bootloader. LG made sure that the bootloader can't be unlocked.
This article states that it's possible to root with a locked bootloader.

When the boot loader is locked, and the manufacturer doesn’t provide a legitimate method to unlock it, you usually need to find a flaw in the device that will serve as an entry point for rooting it.
First you need to identify which type of boot loader lock you have; it can vary depending on the manufacturer, carrier, device variant, or software version within the same device. Sometimes, fastboot access is forbidden but you can still flash using the manufacturer’s proprietary flashing protocol, such as Motorola SBF or Samsung ODIN. Sometimes signature checks on the same device are enforced differently when using fastboot instead of the manufacturer’s proprietary download mode. Signature checking can happen at boot time, at flashing time, or both.
Some locked boot loaders only enforce signature verification on selected partitions; a typical example is having locked boot and recovery partitions. In this case booting a custom kernel or a modified recovery image is not allowed, but you can still modify the system partition. In this scenario, you can perform rooting by editing the system partition of a stock image as described in the “Rooting with an Unlocked Boot Loader” section.
On some devices, where the boot partition is locked and booting a custom kernel is forbidden, it is possible to flash a custom boot image in the recovery partition and boot the system with the custom kernel by booting in recovery mode when powering on the phone. In this case, it is possible to get root access through adb shell by modifying the default.prop file of the custom boot image initrd, as you’ll see in the “Abusing adbd to Get Root” section. On some devices, the stock recovery image allows applying updates signed with the default Android test key. This key is a generic key for packages that do not otherwise specify a key. It is included in the build/target/product/security directory in the AOSP source tree. You can root by applying a custom update package containing the su binary. It is unknown whether the manufacturer has left this on purpose or not, but this is known to work on some Samsung devices with Android 4.0 and stock recovery 3e.
In the worst-case scenario, boot loader restrictions won’t allow you to boot with a partition that fails signature verification. In this case, you have to use other techniques to achieve root access.

This seems counterintuitive, but is it necessary to have an unlocked bootloader to root a device? Otherwise, do any of the methods mentioned in the article work?

No, it's not necessary to unlock bootloader for rooting. But flashing custom ROM or recovery is not possible without unlocking the bootloader because locked bootloader verify the ROM or recovery being flashed for company's official signature and custom ROM doesn't contain the official signature. So you cannot install a ROM or recovery of your choice on your device.
And also on some devices, you have to install a custom recovery for installing SU binary which is needed to get root access. In that case, you can't even get root access without unlocking the bootloader.

As per XDAForums,

  In case of nougat, You have to flash some custom recovery for your
  device and flash SuperSU using it.

And you have to flash custom recovery TWRP which will only be done by unlocking the bootloader as you can root without unlocking the bootloader (only in the case of direct root if available) but you can't flash recovery without unlocking the bootloader.

So the only option you have now is to unlock the bootloader. If you really want to root, make a full backup of the phone through software like MobileGo and proceed. Why hesitating?

You can read more here or here.


How to check if an Android device supports eSIM? I'm using Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2. I found there's Mobile Plan in Network & Internet settings. But I'm not sure it is for eSIM.
When I tap on it, it says: "Network has no known provisioning website"
How to check if an Android device supports eSIM?

To post Rahul's comment as an answer:

eSim depends upon carrier and mobile manufacturer. Top end devices like Pixel, Apple, nuu and top  smart watches support esim. In India Airtel and reliance jio support esim. I think Asus doesn't have such feature even if it is pure android from Google.

To see if it supports that, check manufacturer specifications. If those aren't available in detail, GSMArena.com is a great resource.


What is the difference between NB and WB entries in mixer_gains.xml? LineageOS for my phone has these sections with entries in the mixer_gains.xml file:

<path name="gain-incall_nb-handset-mic">
<path name="gain-incall_nb-handset-mic">
<path name="gain-incall_nb-speaker-mic">
<path name="gain-incall_nb-speaker-mic">
<path name="gain-incall_nb-dex-speaker-mic">
<path name="gain-incall_nb-dex-speaker-mic">
<path name="gain-incall_wb-handset-mic">
<path name="gain-incall_wb-handset-mic">
<path name="gain-incall_wb-speaker-mic">
<path name="gain-incall_wb-speaker-mic">
<path name="gain-incall_wb-dex-speaker-mic">
<path name="gain-incall_wb-dex-speaker-mic">

But I can't find what NB and WB stand for, or their difference, which makes it hard to know which to alter.

(I'm guessing they could stand for "no <something>" vs. "with <something>" but that doesn't help much)

The abbreviations here stand for narrowband (nb) and wideband (wb).

You can see the list of supported media formats, including the supports audio codecs here:
https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/media/media-formats

For example, the quite common AMR-NB codec.


Are there any Google devices that support capabilities in their default kernel? If I systemless root (no modification done to /system partition) a Nexus device, would I be able to able to set capabilities on executables without changing the original kernel binary ?

I often want to manage files without restrictions from my terminal (requireCAP_DAC_READ_SEARCH). However, I also want to not use the superuser.
The required things are tools for setting caps along kernel support for using them (it doesn't rely on other user space things).

The problem is, I don’t own such device. So I can’t tell if it would work on any of Nexus 5X Nexus 6P Nexus 9 Pixel C.

Though the question is old, it keeps on appearing on top of Unanswered (my tags) questions. So I think I should answer this :)

AOSP'S SUPPORT FOR CAPABILITIES:

Question is specifically about Google devices, I have never used a Google device. However what I can say for sure is that Linux (process) capabilities must have been enabled on most of the devices (if not all) running as low as Android 1.6. Reference is found in init and system_server, both very primary components of AOSP. In Android 4.2, for instance, installd - another core component - was made to run with dropped capabilities.

Filesystem capabilities were one of the major Security Enhancements in Android 4.3 which removed set-uid/set-gid from binaries like run-as, setting file capabilities on them. This caused revolutionary changes in Android's rooting journey.

Support for Ambient capabilities was added in Android 8 which discourages the use of file capabilities:

  File capabilities, in turn, present a security risk since any process executing a file with file capabilities will be able to gain those capabilities.

Many init services depend on them e.g. storaged, including my own sshd and dnscrypt-proxy services.

KERNEL'S SUPPORT FOR CAPABILITIES:

Coming to the kernel part, building kernel without capabilities isn't optional:

  From kernel 2.5.27 to kernel 2.6.26, capabilities were an optional kernel component, and could be enabled/disabled via the CONFIG_SECURITY_CAPABILITIES kernel configuration option.

And:

  In kernels before Linux 2.6.33, file capabilities were an optional feature configurable via the CONFIG_SECURITY_FILE_CAPABILITIES option. Since Linux 2.6.33, the configuration option has been removed and file capabilities are always part of the kernel.

The oldest common kernel version on Android repositories is 2.6.39 which includes support for file capabilities too.

Support for filesystem capabilities on kernel side must have been delayed from some OEMs but they had to switch, because otherwise functionalities would break. For instance surfaceflinger (Android's surface composer) won't work without file capabilities since Android 7.1.

Mainline Linux kernel 4.3 was patched in in Sep'15 for Ambient (process) capabilities, backported to Android kernel 3.18 and 4.1 in 2016. So they are necessarily a part of kernel.

CONCLUSION:

On Linux distros, a very few programs make use of Linux capabilities. Though there is pam_cap, mostly (or all?) distros still use set-uid on su, sudo, ping, mount, passwd and so on.  But on Android capabilities are deeply integrated in framework and core services. Removing them would require editing hundreds or may be thousands of lines in AOSP and kernel source. It makes no sense that an OEM (particularly Google, who developed AOSP and modified Linux kernel for Android) doesn't make use of this free-of-cost security feature when it's readily available in Android kernel. It's a pure OS related feature, doesn't demand any extra hardware support. So any phone from any manufacturer must have capabilities supported.

QUESTIONS:

  would I be able to able to set capabilities on executables without changing the original kernel binary?

Yes, you must be.

  The required things are tools for setting caps ...

I have been using capsh, getcap, setcap, getpcaps from libcap and netcap, pscap from libcap-ng without any problems. But I prefer Ambient capabilities, those are easy to configure and don't depend on any filesystem features like Extended Attributes as in case of file capabilities. You can also use listxattr, getxattr, setxattr and removexattr tools from xattr_syscall_wrapper to manipulate security.capability or any other XATTR directly.

From your comment:

  I just noticed the /system/bin/ping command isn’t setuid on my real Samsung device, suggesting CAP_NET_RAW

Android's ping neither has set-uid nor CAP_NET_RAW. It creates a special non-RAW socket IPPROTO_ICMP which - unlike IPPROTO_RAW - doesn't require any privileges.

FURTHER REFERENCES:

In addition to 10+ references given above, here are a few other parts of AOSP code supporting and making use of Linux capabilities:

Core components: Bionic libc, init, trusty (OS)
External components: libcap, libcap-ng
Daemons / services: zygote (forked apps and system_server), hostapd, wpa_supplicant, dnsmasq, logd, netd (NetLink manager, private DNS), debuggerd (test), sdcard daemon, performanced, incidentd, mtpd, traced_probes (perfetto), racoon (IPSec), wificond, a number of HAL daemons including rild.
Executables: reboot (init), dumpstate, tcpdump, strace, iputils (ping, traceroute etc.)
Minijail: A dedicated sandboxing tool and library which revolves around capabilities. adbd makes use of this library to drop privileges.
SELinux uses capability class to grant / deny capabilities to domains.

It concludes that Android highly depends on Linux capabilities, it's not a little-used feature.

RELATED:

What special privileges “/system/xbin/su” does have w.r.t. root access?
Permissions, Root User and Linux Capabilities: Linux vs. Android


GPS for WiFi only MiPad I have a MiPad which works only with WiFi. How do I use it as a GPS device? Google map isn't able to access my location and my MiPad doesn't support tethering.

I found the solution on MIUI website here:

(Click image to enlarge)

  Prerequisites:

  Have a device that has GPS built-in and tethering/hotspot.  In my case, I'm using the Xiaomi Mi 3.
  Download and install TetherGPS Lite on both the Xiaomi Mi 3 and Xiaomi Mi Pad.

  How it works:

  In the Xiaomi Mi Pad, enable Settings-Developer Options-Allow mock locations.

  GPS location must be enabled on both devices.

  On the Xiaomi Mi 3, enable Settings-Wireless & networks-Tethering & portable hotspot-Portable hotspot.

  On the Xiaomi Mi Pad, enable Settings-WLAN and I connect to my Xiaomi Mi 3 hotspot.

  Start TetherGPS on both devices.

  On the Xiaomi Mi 3, click on Start Server.
  On the Notifications bar, you will see the IP of the TetherGPS Server.  Note it down.

  You will also see that your device will be searching for the location until it is found.
  On your Xiaomi Mi Pad, click on Start Client.

  Under the Notifications bar, if you find that TetherGPS Client is not working, go into the TetherGPS app.  Uncheck "Automatic Broadcast IP" and key in the IP you noted down earlier.  Click on "Stop Client" and on "Start Client" again.

  If the setup is working, you will notice that both Notifications bar will show the connection time of TetherGPS.
  Start your Google Maps or any other navigation apps and enjoy driving from point A to point B using your big 7.9" screen.


Apps auto updating even if disabled? I have been using Android for a couple of days now (coming form iOS), so I am not familiar with it.

I have disabled automatic update of apps in the Play Store. Nevertheless, I received a couple of notifications stating "14 apps have been updated", or the like. I have now lost such notification, so I cannot replicate its text exactly (I do not know if there is any way of recovering it).

What could the cause be?

In Play Store settings set "Auto-update apps" to "Do not auto-update apps". And it is now off.

What might have happened:

You received a notification that there are apps that HAVE updates but have not yet been updated. In this case it just notifies you and asks for further actions.
The update process might have started automatically before you disabled the updates. In this case all apps that started updating will finish updating but after that no further auto-updating will occur.


What is this `adb` utility I keep getting advice to use? In a bunch of questions on this site I see answers telling us to execute adb shell or adb logcat and so on.

Now, I'm not an entirely clueless user, so I downloaded and installed Termux and have a shell prompt when I can type in commands, but - where does this adb thing come from? Do I download it as an app? It doesn't seem to be installed by default (On a Redmi 3S, Android 6.0.1).

Also, it seems like it's some kind of permission elevator. Is it like su? If not, how is it different?

About adb

To put it shortly, adb (Android Debug Bridge) is a utility made to be installed on a computer, in order to let it gain a shell on a phone that's either connected via USB cable, or on the same Wi-Fi network.

On certain devices running Android Lollipop (5.1.1) and possibly lower versions of the OS, it was possible to trick a device into connecting to itself, since the adb client came bundled in the phone as well. This is not possible any more because, from Android Marshmallow (6.0) onwards, Google removed the adb binary from the phones to reduce the usable attack surface.

It is possible, though, to manually reintroduce the adb client on a phone, without needing to compile the binary yourself. Refer to the adb tag wiki for more info about this topic, as well as about installation on a computer and general troubleshooting.

Where to get it

Some time ago, in order to obtain adb and another utility, called fastboot, one had to download the full Android SDK from Google, if they wanted an official package. Nowadays, a small, official bundle has become available, as XDA says. It includes binaries for the most common operating systems.

How it works

The adb client, installed on your computer, makes a connection to a plugged or otherwise detectable phone, by means of an internal server. Then, the user will be able to send a variety of commands to the phone itself, which will be listened to by adbd, a daemon residing on the phone.

When using adb, you impersonate the user called shell (UID 2000). This user is special, in that they can grant app permissions and access more information than a simple user. This fact, though, does not mean that adb is the same as su, as the latter lets you impersonate any user.

More info about adb and its workings may be obtained by looking at the official documentation.

Issuing commands from a phone

The majority of commands that can be issued via adb tend to be utilities that come preinstalled in a phone.

In order to access them, you need to install a terminal emulator app on your phone (note that Termux is special, in that it specifies its own PATH, thereby ignoring system binaries). This will, for example, let you issue commands such as logcat directly on your mobile device. Remember to omit the adb prefix, though.

It is worth mentioning that, should you lack root permissions, the range of commands you'll be able to execute and the info you'll be able to access will be significantly less than if using adb, because the UID that invokes them will be the app itself, and apps have less permissions than UID 2000.


How to set one Ringtone for Contacts and another for non contacts? Is there an Android App that can perform one ring for anyone in my Contacts and another ring for anyone not in my Contacts?

I know how to go in and set individual ringtones, but I have 350 contacts.

Actually, all I would need is an App that sets a ringtone for any number that is not in my Contacts list.

If not, would that be difficult to create?

You can do this on android by going to contacts, then groups tab.

You then need to click the menu button and create a new group. Give it a name and choose a ring tone then click add members and click select all (top left). This will add all your stored 'known' contacts to the group, and will use the selected ringtone for their incoming calls.

Anyone who rings who is not in this group will use the normal default ringtone.

Hope this helps
Dan


where are Android Chrome bookmarks? What is the path of the bookmarks file for Chrome in Android 4.1.2? eg is it in the /sdcard/data directory or somewhere else?

As far as I know, they are stored under:

data/data/com.android.chrome/app_chrome/default/bookmarks


External usb bluetooth do not work in android 4.0.4 kernel 3.0.8+ I have insert a external USB Bluetooth dongle to a Tablet via the USB port and try to turn on the Bluetooth in the Android but fail.

So, how do one know if the USB Bluetooth dongle can be supported for a tablet that have a USB port? (Given that the USB Bluetooth dongle have been tested to work fine in a desktop PC and there is no further information on the tablet manual on which Bluetooth dongle is supported for the tablet.)

This is the problem with all tablets which do not have in-built Bluetooth support.

is there any application which can compile/root/install Bluetooth device driver to my android tablet?So that I can use it for headphones/ file transfer etc.

I don't think that android supports external bluetooth adapters. From this Google+ post it seems like CyanogenMod is adding support for it soon. Depending on what device you have you may be able to root and install this.

If this is not an option then you would need to provide more details on what device you are trying to use the dongle with.


Why does Google Play show the currency AED for Egypt? I used HMA to change my location but the google play didn’t show the corresponding currency. For example, it showed AED for Egypt, CZK for Myanmar, UAH for Congo. Which location should I move to get the currency of Egypt?

For more information, when I haven't logged to google account, google play store shows Egypt currency. However when I create new account, add a Egypt Billing address, it show AED currency.

As bizarre as it may seem, this is likely happening because you are signed in with your Google Account while accessing the Play Store. Sign out of your Google Account, clear all caches and history and then visit the Play Store and you should see that the currency will now be changed to the currency in Egypt.


Resume broken apk download I am trying to install Asphalt 8 game which is 1.35 GB in size. However my wife network is erratic due to which the downloading stops after sometime. Is there any way to resume the download from the same place as currently the Google play store starts afresh.

Get the game directly from Gameloft (or if the free version is missing, get it from p2p).

On Linux/Mac, use wget to resume your download. On Windows, use a freeware from snapfiles to resume your downloads.

The problem then will be to transfer the game from your computer to the android device.


Ways to retain nonexistent WhatsApp number All this while, I've been using WhatsApp with an old cellphone number which is now defunct. I now plan to switch over to a new phone. This means that I'll need to freshly install WhatsApp, but the catch here is can no longer use the old number because it's going to try sending the verification code which is never going to reach. Any ideas how to go about this?

I will finally need to update the new number in WhatsApp.
Have to root the phone and move the titanium backup copy from the old device to the new one and gamble with it. I don't think this option is going to play out too well.

Directly from the Whatsapp FAQ:

Requirements:

The number you wish to use (the number you will change your account to) must be able to receive SMS and/or calls and have an active data connection.

On the old phone:

Open WhatsApp.
Go to Menu Button > Settings > Account > Change number.
Enter the number currently verified on WhatsApp in the old phone number box.
Enter the number you want to use in the new phone number box.
Complete the verification process.
Create a manual backup by going to WhatsApp > Menu Button > Settings > Chats > Chat backup > Backup.

On the new phone:

Transfer your chat history from your old to your new phone.
Open WhatsApp.
Verify the number you want to use with WhatsApp

Important Notes:

Your old WhatsApp account associated with the old phone number will be deleted.
Be aware that the Change Number process does not automatically transfer your chat history or media to your new phone. (How to manually transfer your chat history to your new Android phone).


How do I press "Up" if I do not have an "Up" button? Hi all I'm using a Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830 and I wanted to test a "Snake (Game)" app.

When I launched the app, this is what I have:

Samsung Galaxy Ace does not have an "Up" button, I was wondering what are the steps I'd have to take to simulate one?

GO keyboard also has an up button.

You'll just need to launch the editor.


Can a non-rooted Android 4.0.3 smartphone’s ROM be backed up? Possible Duplicate:
  Full Backup of non-rooted devices

I am using a smartphone running non-root Android 4.0.3 and am also a desktop Linux user (Ubuntu 12.04 amd64).

In Linux/Ubuntu, I could backup my whole system (whole partition) into a file image and when necessary, restore my whole system (including MBR) back on my desktop computer. (e.g. using "clonezilla")

It seems that there are similar Android apps (e.g. ClockworkMod) for system backup (Android rom backup) on a rooted Android device. However, I am not sure whether there is similar system backup apps for a non-root Android device ? Could anyone tell whether it is possible ?

I have difficulties in using root-device rom backup apps such as "ClockworkMod" as my smartphone (ASK SP404) is not a branded smartphone and I could not find any rooting procedures for this phone, although there are good discussions on the web that talk about this, e.g. HOW TO ROOT your Android phone. (This thread talks about Android rooting procedures for many branded phones, but not my phone ! )

It would be great if anyone could suggest a rooting procedure for my phone, or some directions that I could try. Thanks in advance for any advice.

To answer your first question, you cannot do a whole image backup from within Android without root, as no application or service you can run will be able to read the system partitions.

If the "recovery" console (a small, BIOS-like image installed on the device) contains backup support, it has access to the raw partitions and could create a "Nandroid" backup image (see About the android recovery mode).  If your phone's default recovery does not support image backup (it would be somewhat surprising if it did), you may be able to install a new recovery, without "rooting" the Android installation.  Booting into recovery is very device specific (e.g., hold down power and volume down), and its features (and replacability) are fairly specific too.

If you have a recent Android Development Kit (ADK) installed, you can use the adb backup (and adb restore) commands to backup your installed apps and (some of) your data.  But its not a complete image/ROM backup.  I can't find any official documentation, but this   XDA Dev Forum post goes over it in some detail.

To your second question, see: How do I root my Android device?  There are suggestions and pointers there that may work for you.


How to resolve boot loop problem on android PumpKinx 10.1" tablet I've android PumpKinx 10.1 tablet with 5.1 Lollipop android os.

I did take backup of its stock recovery image.

Since there is no custom recovery image for this device I tried to flash it with twrp recovery image. But after running below command, device goes into bootloop.
I've tried many methods but no success.

fastboot flash:raw boot twrp.img

Any help would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Update :

Every time this screen comes

Then if we go for normal boot or recover mode goes to this screen

Recover mode has these options but none of this is working

I Believe you are using some non branded (fake or Chinese) device and unfortunately the device don't get updated officially. But you can do a couple of things with it first restore and enjoy the previous version, or contact the manufacturers of the device they will send you, your desired ROM, it will take a couple of working days. I had this issue back in the day, all I did to restore it and hard reset. After two days I got an email, but they wanted me to pay for sending me the new ROM.
visit this link you will understand more. http://androidmtk.com/flash-stock-rom-using-smart-phone-flash-tool


Nexus 6 with developer preview no mobile data The mobile data 4G/LTE is not working on my nexus 6 and I think it is because of the beta preview of android nougat latest version announced today. When I was with marshmallow it was working fine but now even when I asked people in the store to set up the APN it is not working. 2G/3G also don't work but I can receive and give calls to other numbers. Anyone having the same issue?

Edit: It turned out the problem was from the mobile operator. I should probably have checked that first.

I have the developer preview on my Nexus 6 as well as on my Nexus 6P. But I don't have any issues like you have. But I read a post on the internet with a similar issue. Did you flashed the preview via the normal system  update method ?
I suppose that is the case with you. What fixes this problem is to manually download the system images from Google Developer site and flash it using ADB and Fastboot.

 It is an easy process to do. It has a batch file called flash all.bat (I dont remember accurately ) or with a similar name (might be runme.bat). Once you run that script just wait. Your phone will restart several times and under 2 mins the process will complete.

 Download the system images for Android N
 Scroll and choose your device and the download will be initiated. Good Luck


Unable to Login to or Forget a Network My Android tablet worked fine up until a couple of months ago.  Now I cannot use internet on it.  It is not possible to forget a WiFi network.  It will not allow me to add a new network (5GHz for example).  If I enter the password for the valid network it 'sees' it comes back with 'authentication problem'.  The password is correct.  All other devices in the house fine including iPads, iPhones, Windows computers.
Do I bin the Android crap?

Factory Reset apparently is the answer.  Came up straight away.  Having to blast the tablet every time you want to use the internet is not convenient.


Which versions of Android support VPNs? Which versions of the OS can be configured to connect to a VPN?

VPN capabilities (PPTP, L2TP and IPSec) for Android were included from version 1.6 (Donut) onwards.


Where are the settings for stock swype? I have a Samsung Galaxy S from Sprint that has Swype pre installed. The latest OS update included some changes to Swype that are making me completely insane. The biggest issue is that it auto-corrects words when I'm finger tapping accurately. So a message to my sister that meant to say "Pfft. Just come." got auto corrected to "Orgy. Just come." I'm totally exasperated!

I can't find Swype settings on my phone. I looked at http://www.swype.com/tips/swype-basics/ but the only thing I get when I longpress the Swype key is the option to toggle between input methods. I can't access any further settings.

Settings > Language and keyboard > Swype on a Galaxy S2


Why does android make hotspots with a different subnet mask that a regular home router? For example we typically get 192.168.1.XXX addresses from a home router, but an android phone gives out addresses on another 192.XXX which makes it problematic for connecting devices with each other in the same house.
Why does it do that: and if it's only for security reasons: can it be reverted to use the home router's subnet?

Note: This answer also applies to Apple iOS and other operating systems, which have hotspot (tethering) capability.
The WiFi or cellular network you connect to, is usually IP wise under the management of that networks DHCP server. It controls who get which IP. If your phone joined that network and would start handing out IPs that are "owned" by that network, you would over time run into an IP conflicts.
To solve this you could "bridge" those two networks, allowing your tethered devices to request an IP from the original DHCP server. But this will often fail, especially in cellular networks, as you will only be entitled to a single IP on that connection.
So for maximum compatibility, operating systems will use NAT when deploying hotspots (tethering). NAT hides the facts that your phone is sharing its connectivity with additional devices, allowing them to access the Internet.

...can it be  reverted to use the home router's subnet?

Technically you could, but those networks would remain separate thanks to NAT. You would end up with two 192.168.1.xxx which could not talk to each other. If you need your devices to talk to each other, your best option is to connect them to the same WiFi network. This will work best with private networks, as many public/Hotel WiFi might prevent this behavior.


where is the option to enable MTP? So, I had the notification record to enable mtp/foto mounting option. It's now disappeared and I'm not able to find it in the settings page.

Can you tell me where is the option to enable MTP?

(I know it's a stupid question I really can't find it)

On Nexus 7 2013, Settings > Storage > Hamburger icon (top-right) > USB computer connection.


(Re)boot an Android phone from USB I own a Samsung Galaxy Note 1 (not rooted) and its lock button doesn't wrok anymore. That means I couldn't boot my phone if it happened to be turned off.

But I need to restart it now because it's buggy.

Do you know a tool on PC that would allow me to call for a reboot via USB ? (The USB debugging option is activated).

If not, do you know a way to boot an Android phone without this Lock button ?

Thanks in advance.

Real Reboot

Works on Android 2.1 - 4.2.1 No Root
4.2.2 and up needs root.

For a PC method you will be using Android Debug Bridge, commonly called ADB. Here is a link for a download. It's from the XDA Forums. Read the page while your there and get some good insight on ADB.

After installed to the computer, open a command prompt (L shift + R mouse click) in the folder that has the ADB file. Make sure you have your device drivers installed and the phone plugged into the USB on the PC.

Type : adb devices (make sure device is seen)
Then: adb reboot (reboots device)

Here is a link to the Android Developers website that will give you full detail about the inner workings of ADB


How can I change the rate at which Gmail checks for new emails? How can I change the rate at which Gmail checks for new emails?

I've noticed that when I receive a new email on my Gmail account, it sometimes take up to 15 minutes for the notification to show up on my phone (Samsung Galaxy s9, Android 9).

The new mail system does not use the classical POP/IMAP wherein there was a scheduled check on the server for new messages. Now, the notifications are directly pushed to the device by using the Google Play Services infrastructure.
Most Android phones use Doze to preserve battery life. That is if the device is not being used for some time, it will enter a battery saving mode wherein it will not actively listen to incoming push notifications, instead it will wait for some time to do a routine check. As soon as you move the phone, it should wake up and do an instant check.

Most phones will have a way to partially allow the apps to continue to work normally under the lockscreen. The settings will depend on your device, but you can try looking into: Settings > Apps & notifications > Special app access > Battery Optimization. In there, disable the battery optimization for Gmail app.

Screenshot:


Media players are showing duplicate files after moving them So today I moved the entire 'Download'(which contains music and asmr I downloaded from YT with those mp3 sites) file from my phone storage, to my SD card. Then I went to my music player app and it showed the music and asmr titles double. I panicked and went to move back that file to my phone storage.
After I did it, I went to check my music player, and it showed me 3 times! I uninstalled the app and installed it back, but it still showed me double. I installed another music app, and it showed me just one time. I went back to the previous one and tried to play both titles to see if it works. The first title worked, but the second one didn't.
I checked the details of the songs, the first one showed me that it's from  /storage/emulated/0/Download/(the title of the song).mp3 and the second one showed me /storage/548F-6D80/Download/(the title of the song).mp3. So I downloaded another music app, and it showed me double there too. I tried the same thing, it was the same, first worked, second didn't. So I tried to delete the second one(the one that didn't work) and it was deleted, but the first title remained.
I went to my first music player and it didn't show that music title twice again! So I did the same with the other ones, delete the one that doesn't work, and it didn't showed me double again! Right now I tried to move only the music to my SD card, to see if it would show me double again, and it didn't! Does anyone know what might have been the cause? I also searched the music titles(before I found the method to delete them) on my SD card, and it showed me the file with 0 items.
Maybe it showed me double because it saw only the file with 0 items in it?

The music players get their information from the central Android Media Storage database (part of the Android OS), therefore both players were showing the same information.
When moving a large number of files around you have to keep calm and wait until the database has updated/re-scanned all entries. This happend automatically in background and can take some time depending on the number of files moved.
If after a few hours the situation is still not correct reboot the device, that should trigger a full re-scan of all media files.


"Fastboot devices" command doesn't work after macos high sierra 10.14.4 upgrade I recently upgraded my 2016 MacBook Pro to High Sierra 10.4.4 update and since the update "fastboot devices" command hasn't been working. "fastboot" itself gives a response but "fastboot devices" command gives
ERROR: Couldn't create a device interface iterator: (e00002bd)
ERROR: Couldn't create a device interface iterator: (e00002bd) error. It comes twice on the window.

This might be a regression in android-platform-tools. Try fastboot version 9dc0875966c0-android from android-platform-tools 26.0.1 as it works for me on macOS 10.14.4


Is it possible to use same modem firmware on different phones? Can I flash a modem file of a phone to another model? If we can't flash the modem file can you tell me what hardware or software the modem file depend so that it is different for different phone?

You might be wondering why I want to flash modem file even if everything is working fine is that I got volte by using this method.

As login is required to view the link I will explain how I got volte. I download the firmware of yuphoria 5010a which is mostly similar to my phone's specifications. And also downloaded the stock rom of yuphoria 5010a. After that I flashed firmware, rom on my phone using fastboot. I then updated the volte patch which the phone manufacturer released for that phone and installed it and I got volte working on my device.

But the only downside was that I am only able to use volte with 32 bit rom not the 64 bit rom.

Also can you tell me how to clone or backup my entire device (including the critical file such as modem, boot,etc) so that while I would be doing lot of fiddling I can restore my device to its current state without losing anything including the volte which I obtained by flashing the modem file?

My Device : Yu Yuphoria
(5010)

ROM : MIUI 8.1(android 5.1)

No, you can't flash firmware designed to work with one android device to another one.

There are some bizzare situations where this does work because devices have identical hardware (Coolpad F1 and Micromax A310), but this is very unlikely to happen and you shouldn't try it.

As for a device backup, you can make a nandroid backup using CWM or TWRP and copy it to your computer.


Does my cell phone alarm run off the battery or does it need cell service Will the alarm in my phone go off when programmed if I am in a poor cell reception area?

Yes, it will.

The default alarm is built into Android and uses the alarmManager to schedule when to sound the alarm.

It will always go off, unless the device is powered off or in silent mode (however some ROM's have separate volume controls for alarms and other volumes).


How can I access multiple user spaces from adb? I am running KitKat on a tablet with two users: primary (owner) and secondary. I need to access a file generated by an app of the secondary user.

When I plug the tablet into my (Ubuntu) desktop via USB, it mounts as a media device (MTP), and shows me the base folder for the currently active user. [1] But the file I want is elsewhere on the system, so I connected from the command line via adb shell instead.

Connecting via ADB gives me access to deeper folders (/mnt /proc etc) but I couldn't find the file where I expected it [2], so I looked in /sdcard anyway. To my surprise I recognised the contents as the base folder of the owner account, even though the currently active user is the secondary user.

This also tells me that, if I ever need to, I won't be able to access the base folder for the secondary user via adb shell.

How can I access the tablet from adb shell as the secondary user, rather than the primary (owner) user? (Being able to access the secondary user's files is good enough.)

[1] I'm not sure what the proper term here is. I mean the folder with Android, Download and Pictures, specific to a particular user.

[2] FWIW I am exporting an OPML file from Flym. Flym reports that the OPML export is generated at /storage/emulated/10/Flym_123456789.opml but I can only get as far as /storage/emulated - there is no subfolder called 10, only legacy which is the same as /sdcard (the primary/owner's base folder, not the secondary user's base folder).

The legacy/ locations are always pointing to the data of the currently active user. Let me first point to a few related questions/answers explicitly dealing with those multi-user storage issues for some background:

Why did /sdcard/ turn into /sdcard/0/ with 4.2?
Confusing internal memory folder structure

So to find the files of the secondary user:

list the sub-directories of /data/media and /storage/emulated
restrict your search to sub-directories whose names are simply "numbers"
the 0 candidates belong to the owner, higher numbers are of secondary users
external storage is something different: /sdcard/0 points to the internal sdcard, while /sdcard/1 should be the external (if available). Similarly for storage attached via OTG

Remember you might need to be root to access data of a user other than the one currently active on the device.

Also see:

Android Folder Hierarchy
our tag-wikis for file-system and files


What's the difference between a NANDroid backup and an ADB backup? Could anyone explain the difference between a backup made using NANDroid and a backup made using ADB i.e. using the adb backup command? I've read that both are capable of creating full system snapshots but I haven't been able to understand the difference.

The more technical the answer, the better. Thanks.

The answer can be found in the backup  tag-wiki. In short:

ADB Backup is the newer file based backup scheme introduced in Android 4.0. It creates a backup of the file system tree and files. Better explanation would be it's a logical backup, as files are mainly grouped by apps. Side-effect is that files not having a clear relation might be missing from such a backup. It's secure, because you need to unlock the lockscreen first to proceed and one can also encrypt the backups themselves. Backups can be done online. This method allows finer-grained control over what gets backuped and restored.
Nandroid Backup is the older partition based concept, i.e. it creates images of the file systems (think of Norton Ghost or rather the dd Linux tool to have something to compare with). A better term here would be physical backup, as it is a blockwise copy. A recovery mode that supports this method (e.g. Clockworkmod recovery) needs to be installed and started. Backups can be created and accessed without entering the lockscreen passphrase. This method is an all-or-nothing approach, restoring individual apps is not possible (without 3rd party support by Titanium Backup Pro, for example)

Find some more details in above mentioned tag-wiki, which also links to further ressources.


Rear camera and flash tourch is not working!!on Nokia 3.1 I am not able to use Rear Camera and Flash Light in My Nokia 3.1. Front Camera Works Well. When I open Camera App, by default it Opens with Front Camera. Rear Camera Option is Not Found. (Front Camera works Perfectly Fine)

Even when i opened WhatsApp and Take a pic, only front camera is shown. No Button to switch To Rear Camera. (Front Camera works Perfectly Fine)

Seems like an hardware defect with the camera. If a restart doesn't fix it, then you can should bring it to a Nokia Care point.


Cannot root phone by installing superuser.zip CWM v6.0.5.1 Stable Xiaomi redmi 2 runs MIUI 6.2.4.0(KHJCNBK)

In order to install CWM, I downloaded both the adb and fastboot, I extracted recovery.img in the folder, together with them. I entered fastboot mode.

Then, in fastboot I ran:

fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

fastboot reboot

Now I booted CWM into recovery. It I ran this superuser file, which matches my phone model. It installed, had done! at the end:

 However, when I exit the menu it asks me whether to root the phone ( with root access is missing at the top ), I tried both yes/no, it reboots, but phone is still not rooted. What's the issue here?

You did succesfully installed the superuser framework but you need to install SuperSu what controls everything. Follow steps below to successfully install SuperSu:

Download SuperSu from the play store here.
Open SuperSu and you should see something like this:

Screenshot - Update SU binary (Click to enlarge)

Click continue.
Click normal. (If you see message for more then 5 minutes then reboot and try the other option)
Reboot your phone and now you should be rooted. Check it with a root checker app like this:

ScreenShot - Root check, Success (Click to enlarge)

Consider purchasing the pro version to support the developer here.

Hope my answer helps.


Unable to connect Galaxy S3 to PC via USB I've had my Galaxy S3 for a few months now, and have always been able to connect to my PC via USB. A few days ago, it suddenly stopped working. I've found many other Android.SE threads, but none have been able to answer my question.

Symptoms: when I plug the phone in via USB, the phone beeps, I get a lightning bolt on my battery, but that's it. There are no USB options in the pull-down status bar, and the PC does not recognize that a device has been plugged in. Click screenshot for full size.

PC System: Windows 7 x64 with the latest drivers and Kies software from Samsung.

Phone info:

Samsung SGH-i747
Android version 4.0.4
Baseband version I747UCLG1
Kernel Version 3.0.8-704434-user
Build number IMM76D.I747UCALG1

What I've tried:

My wife has an identical Galaxy S3--I plugged her S3 into the same cable, and it was recognized immediately. So I know the PC and cable are both working correctly.
Uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers several times anyway -- alone AND with the Kies software.
Every USB port on the box
Factory data reset--both from the setup menu, and the diagnostic bootup menu
USB debugging mode, both on and off.
Changing the UART and USB settings in the *#7284# PhoneUtil. After my last factory reset, it's set to PDA/MTP+ADB.

Anything else I should try? Is there a way to determine if the USB plug on the phone is bad?

Edit: screenshot from my wife's phone, using the same computer, same cable:

Update: Try cleanup and reinstall of drivers as mentioned here. Seems to have worked for others.

This seems to be a known issue, and many have had success by using a different cable, connecting to a USB 3 port etc, but clearly, those won't work in your case.

Not sure what your usual usage is, but for file transfers, you can use Airdroid, which connects through wifi.


Force app to stay active My phone has very low memory (2 GB of ram) and thus any app that is running in background is automatically closed after a minute or so. It appears in the task manager but when I open it, the app doesn't resume but rather starts up again.
However, apps like zoom or WhatsApp calls are not subject to the same background limit.
My question is, can I force other apps to stay active as well?

Go to Settings -> Apps & notification and list all applications.
Select your Application, expand the menu "Advanced" and choose "Battery":

check that your App does not have any restriction and can use battery in background

Go to "Battery optimization" and list "All apps". Find your application, click on it and choose "Don't optimize".


How to stop Firefox for Android from constantly displaying its Mozilla tab Every time I let my phone display turn off, and then unlock it and return to Firefox, or just go to another app or hit my home button and then go back to Firefox, it's showing its Mozilla tab. That's the one that lists the following items: About Firefox, FAQs, Give feedback, Show product announcements, Telemetry, Crash Reporter, and Firefox Health Report.  I can hit the back button on my phone and get back to whatever page it was viewing, but then as soon as I leave and come back, that list is up again. I'm using Android version 2.3.6 and Firefox version 32.0.3 on a MyTouchQ phone.

I think this question here on the Mozilla Support site is a similar problem to yours:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1013146

Otherwise...try uninstalling/re-installing the app. Also...you could always download a different browser.


Does USB tethering degrade droid batteries? I want to know if tethering with my Xperia Neo V via USB will affect the battery capacity in any negative manner other than the usual.

No. There's no relation between those two things.

If you connect your phone via the USB it gets charged. It doesn't matter if you don't use the USB connection at all or transfer files or tether your data connection or do any other stuff while it's connected.

The charging circuit doesn't even know that it's connected via USB and that there's data flowing. It just happily charges the phone with the power supplied via USB.

Side note:
The battery (LiIon) degrades over time, if you use it or not. There are however differences in the speed of degradation, depending on usage, storage temperature and charging state (best is around 60-70% charged as far as I know). This is however the usual degradation which you asked not to factor in. And this degradation definitely doesn't change if you tether or not.


Can't record voice in Whatsapp I'm using s5 duos and I'm on a custom rom for sometime now and I just noticed something wrong that the voice icon is partially hidden and I can't access it.
I have attached a screen shot.
Is there any way to acess the voice icon?

Screenshot (Click to enlarge image)

First, reboot your device. Try to reinstall Whatsapp. Disable any mods like custom DPI, custom theme, Xposed, etc...

Hope my answer helps you!


Sprint HTC shift: delete all gmail contacts with no phone number After syncing my phone with a gmail account, all of my gmail contacts were loaded onto my phone... Now any app that pulls all my phone's contacts, such as RingDroid, will include hundreds of email addies I don't care about at all. Is there any way to wipe all these no-phonenumber email contacts?
Unsyncing is not a solution, the contacts remain. And please don't tell me to revert my phone to factory settings over something so rudimentary as this.

Open the "People" application and press the menu key, and then "view" and click "only contacts with phone numbers"


Copy data from android phone How do I copy all the content from /data/data/ from a rooted android phone to the PC or SDCard ?

ES file explorer so far is unable to copy
adb pull does not find the content of that folder
adb shell does not seem to have a pull or push command

Or I'm doing both wrongly...

After copy, how do I put the files back (and replace, if needed) ?

Since the device is rooted, there is a good chance that a custom Recovery is also installed. I was able to copy all content from /data/data of Android 4.2.1 to my Linux PC by using following instructions:

Boot into custom Recovery and mount Data.
Enter adb pull /data/data/ ~/<TARGET_DIR>/ in terminal on Linux PC, or enter adb pull /data/data/ C:\<TARGET_DIR>\ in command prompt on Windows PC.

It will take sometime in processing and the final result would be something like:

5847 files pulled. 0 files skipped.
554 KB/s (269059005 bytes in 473.725s)

Enter the following commands to see size of /data/data:

adb shell
du -h /data/data/
exit

Enter du -h ~/<TARGET_DIR>/ in PC's terminal to see size of your target directory.
See if those two output matches, which it would.

Or,

Though I would still use the aforesaid steps for ease, you may try the following solutions too:

Make a Nandroid backup of Data from custom Recovery and then extract ../data from the backup in your PC.
You can also save Nandroid backup in SD card and then extract the relevant content using Nandroid Manager.


Where does Google Play store its ebooks on an Android device? In the Google Play Books Android application, there is an option to keep an ebook on a device if the user wants to do it. So when you decide to do such a thing, the ebook may be stored somewhere on the Android device. I would like to know where the ebook is stored. I searched in /mnt/storage and I only found Aldiko ebooks (in the /mnt/storage/eBooks folder), not the Google Play eBooks.

Thanks for your answsers.

PS : if it can help, I do this on an Archos G9 101 tablet.

I checked several sources on this. Googles own help page states:

  The Google Play Books app automatically stores books in the location with the most free space, whether that's your device or your SD card, as of when the app was first launched. If you've upgraded your app, your books will continue to be stored in the same location they were before the upgrade.

Which is not very precise. A discussion on the Archos forum reveals a setting available in the app (Settings> Storage location), but there you can only chose between internal and external storage. But the same thread as well as another one on XDA reveal the path as being /data/data/com.google.android.apps.books/ (which is the apps data directory on internal storage), the Archos forums thread also mentioning Android/data/com.google.android.apps.books/files/volumes/, which could apply to the "external storage".

As I don't use Google Books, maybe you could check those locations and confirm.

  Note that accessing /data/data/* requires "root powers". Without that, you probably won't see anything in that place.


Insufficient Storage Space problem I have 53 MB of free storage on my internal Storage. But, still, when I am trying to re-install whatsapp messenger, (which is merely of 17.53 MB) after uninstalling it initially, it shows Insufficient Storage Space.
Specifications:
Model Number : Micromax A58,
Android Version : 4.2.2

What should I do to solve this memory problem?

Suggestion 1:
(At your own risk)
Go to Settings > Apps.
Select Google and Clear data.
Select Maps and Clear data.
Select Chrome and Clear data (only if you have logged in to Chrome and made sure that all your bookmarks are synced to Google Servers).

Suggestion 2:
(If memory is too low, try Suggestion 1 at your risk and then try this)
Install the app Clean Master and Clean junk

Suggestion 3:
(At your own risk)
Root your phone (rooting can be risky and might essentially kill your phone if not done properly with full knowledge).
Install Link2SD and move all apps to external SD card

Suggestion 4:
(least risky)
Go to Settings > Apps, select the 'Downloaded' tab and then select apps one by one and move them to external/USB card.


Enable Camera Shutter Sound Switch on roooted Samsung Exynos with Android 9+ This question has been asked a lot of times, but since new versions of Android rolling out the given answers are not accurate any more. The old solution as root was to rename the *.ogg sound files in the system/media/audio/ui folder but since Android 9 the sounds are hardcoded into the Camera App. On devices in countries where it is forbidden by law to take sneaky pictures (Europe for example) Samsung had to remove the switch from the options where you can disable the Camera Shutter Sound.
My question is: how to put back the switch into the Camera App options menu?

After days of searching I finally found out how to do it. The solution was to change the "cscfeature.xml" file in the folder corresponding to your country code. This file is encrypted, so I've written down a step by step guide. (no xposed or magisk modules needed, only root access to the filesystem):
add Call Recording en Shutter Sound options to your Exynos phone by adding 2 CSC options to cscfeature.xml

check your csc code (about phone > software information > service provider sw > last 3 letters: [CSC])

in root explorer goto: /system/product/omc/[CSC]/conf/cscfeature.xml

download OmcTextDecoder (https://github.com/fei-ke/OmcTextDecoder)

put the downloaded "omc-decoder.jar" in a folder together with the encrypted "cscfeature.xml" file on a linux pc

open terminal and cd to the folder where you have put the files

run: java -jar omc-decoder.jar -i cscfeature.xml -o cscfeature_decoded.xml

open the "cscfeature_decoded.xml" file in a text editor

add the following lines to the file:
<CscFeature_VoiceCall_ConfigRecording>RecordingAllowed</CscFeature_VoiceCall_ConfigRecord>
<CscFeature_Camera_ShutterSoundMenu>TRUE</CscFeature_Camera_ShutterSoundMenu>

save the file and rename your old "cscfeature.xml" to "cscfeature_encoded.xml"

encode the edited file by running the following command in terminal:
java -jar omc-decoder.jar -e -i cscfeature_decoded.xml -o cscfeature.xml

copy the changed and ecoded file back to your phone: "cscfeature.xml" and backup the old one to "cscfeature.bak"

reboot and you will find the shutter switch in the camera settings!

extra options:
https://www.askvg.com/tip-enable-hidden-secret-features-in-samsung-galaxy-smartphones/


Manual icon change now apk wont install Well I've went into the res folder to spruce up an app icon figuring it would look much better with the modified alternative.

The icon png 's are stored in about five different folders.

res\drawable-hdpi-v4

res\drawable-mdpi-v4

res\drawable-xhdpi-v4

res\drawable-xxhdpi-v4

res\drawable-xxxhdpi-v4

res\raw

In each folder there are mainly 3 icon files as png's

icon.png

large_icon.png

widget_icon.png

Of different sizes \large_icon.png being the largest I assume this would be the main app folder icon that displays as the package installer and home screen icon.

I've made changes to the icon that is being used to replace the current one's by copying them over and replacing them with the same file name for each.

The icon being used is the same for each, Around 57kb.

After successfully replacing the icons, rezipping the package and changing the .zip to .apk the app shows up with the changed icon and will install but when the install is completed a notification comes up saying not installed.

Figured out what the problem is. After editing an apk it needs to be resigned to instal properly. Resigned it with zipsigner as auto-testkey, install error is gone now.


How can I turn off the "allow automatic updating" for an app? Once I've checked off the box to "allow automatic updating" for an app in the market, is there any way to undo this without uninstalling and reinstalling the app?

Moto Droid running 2.2

UPDATE:  Apparently I am losing it.  Originally it happened with PDAnet.  I accidentally clicked the checkbox and as soon as I did the option disappeared.  I tried restarting the market, restarting the phone but the option never reappeared.  I uninstalled it and reinstalled it and I had the box back, unchecked.  I was afraid to test it out on other apps until the answers below confirmed that either it was an isolated bug or I was crazy.  Needless to say I have the option to uncheck it now.

On the HTC Incredible I just searched for the particular app in the market, selected it and unchecked "allow automatic updating" from there. Hopefully it works that way on your phone (and others).


How to change my default save location from sd to internal memory card of phone? I have a dooge x5 max pro android 6.0 . How can i change the save location by simple steps?

The steps for changing default Storage is the same for many Android devices.  You just need to go in Settings > Storage and charge the Preferred Install Location to SD Card.


How to extract default ringtones from Android device? I just bought a new phone and I do not like the default ringtones/notification sounds, but I like the ones on my old phone.
When I plug my old phone into my computer and go to This PC\KYOCERA\Internal storage\media\audio\ringtones like I have been told to go to for the default ringtones, the only ones that show up are a couple of custom ringtones I had put on previously. I want to extract the default ringtones like AT&T Play On and notification sounds like Syrma, so that I can put them on my new phone.
I would prefer not to install drivers/programs onto my computer, but it would be okay with installing an app on my phone if necessary. I have the default Windows 10 programs on my computer, as well as and file commander and the rest of the default Android 5 apps on my old phone.
Any help would be much appreciated.

You probably need a file browser on the phone to access (need root), or adb pull
The built-in ringtones are located in
/system/media/audio/ringtones

... instead of your Internal Storage.
You can also extract them from a ROM .zip file downloaded from elsewhere without looking into your phone. Just navigate to the same path above and take all files out there.


Application self uninstalls I have a Galaxy S4, Eu version, not rooted updated a few days ago to Lollipop.

Today 2 strange things happened:
The phone was connected to charging cable but charge was interrupted when it was at about 80%, this morning I found it at 64% (checked on battery graph).

One app that I use daily, installed in main memory disappeared from home and from installed apps. If I search for it on play store it proposes to install it, not to open it.

I do not know if the 2 things are related. I did not uninstalled any app in the last few days and I am sure that yesterday the missing app was there perfectly working.

Do you think there is a chance to recover the data of the app? I tried to browse phone memory (connected to pc) but I cannot find anything. Maybe there is a better way?

Do you have an app cleaner, like 360 security or cleaner app? If so, uninstall it because some cleaner apps delete the apps. I have same issue: no app in home screen, but the apps data is in the folder Android/obb or data.

Uninstall Cleaner apps
Delete the .obb file in Android folder and reinstall again.


All apps crash all the time I have a Sony Xperia U which worked fine. I did not change anything lately.

Today all apps crash on startup. Even Play Store, com.google.process.gapps and android.process.acore. The media gallery seems empty too. Whenever I start something, it crashes, except for opening system settings.

When I connect my phone with my computer the internal storage seems completly empty - so I can't backup anything.

Is there anything I can do to recover my phone and to keep my data like pictures, contacts, ...? *

I tried the save mode, but the erros occur there too.
I tried to boot in Recovery Mode, but all button combinations did not work. I also tried in USB debugging mode using ADB, but that did not work too.

* Since Play Store is not working I can't install any backup tools.

Try booting into recovery and backup there if you have an option. If not, then wipe it there or with the key combination: Volume Up+Home+Power
Source: www.phonetipsandtricks.com/tips/sony-xperia-u/hard-reset-factory-reset-14/


Unlock Samsung S5(SM-G900W8) bootloader without rooting I am performing some tests on android devices, to properly do this I need to first unlock the device bootloader and run my tests on the device after which I then root the device and perform the tests again. I was able to unlock the bootloader for an HTC One m8 device using the offficial HTCDev instructions and then rooting by using TWRP Recovery and SuperSU. I need to replicate this process step by step for a Samsung Galaxy S5(SM-G900W8) device but I can't figure out how to unlock the bootloader for the device without rooting first. I have tried to follow the instructions here but it gets stuck in odin mode(step 7) and I have to do a battery pull. My question is how does one unlock the bootloader for this device nd then go about rooting it? Thank you.

Unlike HTC, 1) most older non-AT&T/Verizon Samsung devices have their BL unlocked by default, and 2) Odin to Samsung is fastboot to others, just you can only access it with Odin/Heimdall on PC.

Just find suitable images (e.g. TWRP) and flash away with Odin.


How do I root a Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini LTE (GT-I9195)? How do I root a Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini LTE (GT-I9195)?

These instructions are courtesy of arco68 over at xda-developers, who is also the person behind the software downloads linked here. All credit to him/her! You can also visit this link for the original instructions from the author and up-to-date file downloads.

Now don't be fooled by how few steps arco68's instructions have; you will need about half an hour to do this if you've not done this before, I reckon, if you want to be careful and not rush it.

As a prerequisite, download Samsung KIES and make sure that the drivers for your phone are installed correctly. Otherwise, Odin Tool will not read your S4 Mini properly.

Download the Odin tool and the ClockworkMod recovery to your Windows PC. Extract both of these archives.
Download the rootkit S4Mini_RootKit_v2.zip to your device's SD card. Do not extract it. Place it in the root folder.
Turn off the phone. Press and hold Home, Volume Down and Power simultaneously. The phone will turn on and you will see the following screen:

Connect the USB cable. Press Volume Up. The screen changes to this:
                                                         (the fields I blurred out will say something like "Original" initially, can't quite remember)
Run the Odin tool you unzipped in step 1.
Uncheck F. Reset Time. Click the AP button. In the dialog that appears, select the "recovery-clockwork-6.0.3.7-serranoltexx.tar.md5" file that you extracted in step 1.
Before you continue, read this step in full because it requires quick action. First you take the phone in your hand. Then you get ready to press and hold Volume Up and Home as soon as the phone vibrates. If you're only a second too slow you'll have to repeat from step 3 (see below).
Now that you're ready to press and hold Volume Up and Home, click the Start button in the Odin tool. It only takes a few seconds before the phone vibrates. Feel the vibration and immediately press and hold Volume Up and Home.
Once the phone shows the S4 logo with the words "recovery booting", you may release the buttons.
If you did everything right, you will see this screen:
                                                         But if you see a black screen like this:
                                                         then you've messed up – power off the phone and continue from step 3.
Using the volume up/down keys and the Home key, select "install zip", "choose zip from sdcard", then "0/", then the zip file "S4Mini_RootKit_v2.zip" that you saved to the SD card in step 2.
The zip will be installed and you will be told that your warranty is now void (which is not necessarily the case, of course). You may now reboot and enjoy your rooted S4 Mini!
When you choose to reboot, you will be asked "ROM may flash stock recovery on boot. Fix?" I suggest you choose No because you don't really need ClockworkMod anymore (although I think I pressed "No" and ClockworkMod remains installed regardless).

For the record, the reason I'm posting this here is that I didn't even realise I got the wrong screen in step 10, so I wasted a whole hour messing around with it. But I can't post this tip on xda due to their draconian requirements for posting replies. So I thought I'd just write up instructions in such a way that others can edit them here.


Best way to back up home screen layout on Android? I have a Motorola Android phone in which I have around 400 apps that I have put into folders and carefully chosen a layout which has taken me a long time. I want a way to back up this layout and Motorola doesn't offer a this service (which other major phone manufacturers do). I know this can be done by using Nova Launcher and other launchers which have back up options but this means I have to recreate my layout again in Nova Launcher as it can't import my current layout from the Motorola Launcher which will take a long time.

Is there a way to at least dump all the current apps I own into Nova Launcher? Does anyone have any other ideas (other than getting a new phone)?

Arrangement of apps whether on home screen or in app drawer is part of app data of launcher app. If your launcher app doesn't offer support for Import/Export of user settings, than try using adb to backup your launcher app's data. Verify the backup and see whether the user settings were indeed backed up not.

If adb solution is not useful than the only way is to get the device rooted and use a root based backup solution, such as by directly copying user settings from launcher app's data directory, or by using an app based backup solution such as Titanium Backup app.

Note: in all likelihood rooting the device would destroy all of your data.


How to Remote Control Android smartphone, if not in same subnet I'd like to "Remote Control" my Android 2.3.x (Oxygen 2.3.2 ROM) from my PC. I know that there are VNC servers available and also apps like "Remote Web Desktop".

This works fine, but only if the mobile phone and the "controlling PC" are in the same subnet, or if traffic from PC -> mobile phone is routable.

At work, this isn't the case for me… :/ The Wifi devices are in a seperate subnet, and the office network devices cannot reach the Wifi devices. That's done on purpose and is to be accepted as an unchangeable fact (at least for the time being).

If the mobile phone were a normal PC/Mac/Linux system, I'd install TeamViewer on it and be all set. But there's no TeamViewer server for Android, is there?

Well, what are your suggestions? How can one remote control the Android smartphone from a Linux (or any…) system, if the PC doesn't "see" the mobile phone?

I do have USB and Bluetooth available, if this helps.

Cheers,
Alexander

If your phone is rooted (which I'm assuming it is since you're running Oxygen), you could try androidscreencast. It allows you to interact with a rooted phone over USB using mouse and keyboard. It's not the fastest solution, but then again, neither is a VNC server and the like.

There's a fairly decent walkthrough on how to set everything up on How-To Geek. You'll also need to have adb in order to use androidscreencast (the Android SDK is one way; there's probably also some places you can directly download the necessary binaries).


How do I get the hidden achievement in the new Google Play Games app? I've heard that there's a secret "easter egg" achievement in the new Google Play Games app, how can I get that achievement?

From the main listing of games in the Google Play Games app, you need to swipe the old Konami Code:

↑ Up, ↑ Up, ↓ Down, ↓ Down, ← Left, → Right, ← Left, → Right (and then when the retro button grid pops up), B, A, ▶ Start.

You should then see an achievement notification pop up.

Here's a YouTube video that demonstrates how to do this.

via Android Central


Preventing your device from vibrating whenever it gains or loses its mobile network connection I've been using a Moto G (2nd generation) running Android 6.0 "Marshmallow".  I was playing with the settings, and changed some setting.  Now, every time the phone loses or regains cellular service — for example, when I'm in the basement, or when I enable or disable airplane mode — the phone vibrates two or three times.  The vibration is noisy and annoying.  What can I do to prevent it from happening?

I found a relevant CrackBerry.com forum post by Kathy Mansfield.  The post guided me towards a solution that works.

Open the Phone app.
Press the three-dots icon in the top-right-hand corner of the app.
Tap "Settings".
Tap "Calls".
Tap "Voicemail".
Uncheck the "Vibrate" option.

The forum poster explains:

If you have a pending notification, like a voicemail message you've not retrieved, you'll see the icon for the message. Every time your service is lost and regained, it will vibrate because of the voicemail notification. I suppose it thinks the notification is new. ...
Alternatively, you could just clear the ... voicemail message and hence the notification.


A way to copy data from android? I have a samsung s4 on android 6.0.1 and the phone has a cracked and unresponsive screen. I tried to plug the phone to my computer so see if I could copy pictures from my internal drive but it wouldn't work. I tried  adb pull since I have root access and developer option was always enabled but I get error: insufficient permissions for device: verify udev rules.
adb devices  shows 9a22b563  no permissions (verify udev rules); see [http://developer.android.com/tools/device.html] I think this is happening because of my locked screen. It is stopping adb from working properly. Is there a way to get my data back by disabling the lock screen?
I have root and custom recovery access but unable to reboot to recovery due to adb not giving access.

You can manually boot to recovery without adb. Therefore turn your phone off and then press the power button, home button and volume up (at least as far as I remember) simultaneously for several seconds. This should boot the phone to recovery and you can try to use adb although I don't know if you now have the needed permissions.


Is it safe to use compression for nandroids (backups) created by custom recoveries? Many custom recoveries, like TWRP, have an option to use compression when creating nandroid backups.  By default, this option is typically disabled.

Is it safe to use the compression option?  Are the only downsides the time that must be spent to compress the nandroid and the possible need for temporary working space to perform the compression?

Any other reasons why that option is typically disabled by default?

Hope this helps

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2001834

I've used compression for a long time, won't stop anytime soon.


Will my new Xiaomi RedMi Note 2 prime work for LTE network? I just bought this smartphone, and I am confused if it will work in my area and if it will work for 4G and LTE. I called the support of T-Mobile, and they said if it configured correctlly, it will have LTE for 2100 frequency in LA area, but many posts online say the opposite.

Device:
http://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_229219.html#customer_review

Frequencies for this device:

2G: GSM 900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz
4G: FDD-LTE 1800/2100/2600MHz

T-MOBILE frequencies:

**T-Mobile network coverage**

Created by tmo_ian on Oct 16, 2012 8:55 AM. Last modified by tmo_kim on Oct 13, 2015 8:26 AM.
Voice over LTE (VoLTE)
VoLTE (Voice over LTE) allows you to place and receive calls on our LTE data network. Phone calls are connected with a clear and rich experience. You never know when you might need to check Facebook while talking to your mom and sharing your Mobile Hotspot with your friends. All of this, on our amazingly fast 4G LTE network. Here's some of the highlights:

Switch between 4G VoLTE and Wi-Fi without dropping a call!
Enjoy crystal-clear calls with our new HD Voice service.
Browse the web with speed while on a call.
Placing a call connects twice as fast.

4G LTE
T-Mobile's advanced 4G LTE network is smoking fast! With incredible speed, you can do more using our nationwide 4G LTE network. 4G LTE delivers up to 50% faster speeds then 3G. If you're in an area served by 4G LTE, you can expect blazing fast speeds because of our expanded capacity. Check out our coverage map to see all the places we have 4G LTE.*

Frequencies: Band 2 (1900 MHz), Band 4 (1700/2100 MHz), Band 12 (700 MHz)

4G (HSPA+)
With 4G, theoretical maximum download speeds range from 21 Mbps up to 42 Mbps. You can take advantage of incredibly fast download speeds, and even use voice and data services at the same time.

Frequencies: Band 2 (1900 MHz), Band 4 (1700/2100 MHz)

L700
This is also referred to low-band spectrum, it adds increased building penetration as well as covering greater distances. This will be used in metro areas to improve in-building coverage and in rural areas to improve our LTE footprint.

Frequencies: Band 12 (700 MHz)

L1900
L1900 is being used primarily to update our current 2G towers to LTE. Many of our current LTE devices already support L1900 band 2. Check out this device list for phones that are compatible.

Frequencies: Band 2 (1900 MHz)

3G (HSPA)
With 3G, theoretical maximum download of 14 Mbps. With 3G, you can use voice and data services simultaneously.

Frequencies: Band 4 (1700/2100 MHz)

2G (GSM, GPRS, and EDGE)
EDGE, our enhanced 2G service, delivers a theoretical maximum download speed of 236 kbps. GPRS, our 2G service, delivers a theoretical maximum download speed of 114 kbps. Typical speeds are between 35 kbps and 45 kbps. Keep in mind, voice and data services cannot work simultaneously when on GPRS or EDGE.**

Frequencies: Band 2 (1900 MHz)

Requirements
It's important to use a device capable of the network type you desire, and you should be in a location that has cellular network coverage. Check out our coverage map to see what areas we service, and check out Phones & Devices for device specifications.

Should I return this phone ? :)

No. Keep the phone, it's all right. You will get 4G if your APN settings are configured correctly and you have a working 4G plan.

But for your information, what T-Mobile calls "4G" is actually a kind of enhanced 3G (HSPA+) whereas "real" 4G is LTE.

This phone can access 4G in India, on a hardware basis it should be capable of accessing 4G in the US, unless you got a carrier-locked handset.


Why is Google Music preinstalled outside of the US? I've noticed on many phones in Canada and I think in the EU nowadays come with Google Music preinstalled. If Google Music is only available in the USA, then why bother putting it on the phone?

Google Music (or Play Music as it's called now) isn't just used for music purchased from the Play Music store, or for music stored in its cloud service, it can also play music stored locally on the phone, or on inserted SD cards.

My UK Galaxy Nexus has it pre-installed, even though the Play Music Store and cloud storage service aren't available here. It is just the latest version of the built-in Android Music player, and works perfectly well for playing MP3s saved on the phone, even if you never use any of the cloud services or the store.


Motorola Moto G 2014 freezes on lock screen Since today I've been having a problem with my Motorola Moto G 2nd Gen(2014). When I boot it up, it works fine for a few minutes (except from the WiFi, which doesn't auto-connect for some reason, happens every time), and then it goes into sleep mode. When I press the power button, the screen turns on again and the lock screen shows up, but it's completely unresponsive. Sometimes it freezes before going into sleep mode and it freezes my home screen. I then get a popup "Google App is not responding" and killing it just gives me an unresponsive black screen.

I've looked the problem up on the internet and I got some answers stating I had to force reboot and that would help, or even wipe the cache partition. I've tried both of those, but the problem persists. What do I do to get my phone fully working again?

Okay, so I found the solution a while ago and I haven't experienced any problems since, so I guess it works.

I tried different options to get the device working again, but to no avail. The only possibility left was a factory reset, so that's what I had to do. Here's what I did:

I made sure the backup settings on my phone were all set up.
I used adb backup from my computer to make a nearly full device backup, as suggested by Lucky in the comments. More info here: Full Backup of non-rooted devices

For this, make sure you have a password set and configured in the developer settings. This is really important because it might not work otherwise and you'll lose data (happened to me, would not recommend).

Then I reset the device. https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/answers/prod_answer_detail/a_id/99825/p/30,6720,9151 for more info how.

It took some time to reconfigure everything and redownload apps, but after a week or so, my device was back to normal and I haven't had any freezes since.


How can I change the Locale in the default browser? I have a Nexus One with Android 2.3.3 and I use the default browser. My phone doesn't have "Swedish" as language setting, so I use English. But now when I use Google, I'm not redirected to the Swedish edition (google.se), probably because the browser doesn't use a Swedish locale. Is there any way I can change the locale for the browser? I have looked in the settings but couldn't find it. Any suggestions?

On the google website homepage itself in your browser, scroll down to were it says:

iGoogle Settings Help

press 'settings'

and turn off 'allow use of device location'

I have then found my browser always goes to google.com (were it was going to google.de)

EDIT

I've just seen you want the opposite. So perhaps turn this option on!


Access the call-log to complement what has been banned by policy I used to use Appliqato's Call Recorder.

A few days ago Google Play's policy changed so no call-recording application could access the call-log information. This means now the calls are like "anonymous" and you "have" to listen to them to identify them.

This represents a handicap: If you get a bunch of calls (say 50 per day) and you leave the batch for one week, you can face to have to "manually identify" 500 calls easily which is absolutely a no-brainer.

Instead, the "normal" call-log from the phone has the call numbers stored.

Question

Is there any way I can download the call log information in a machine-processable way?

I'd do a script to post-process call logs and match the date and time to identify the numbers later.

If you used a free edition (not the Pro), you can get an older version from ApkMirror.

Older versions of the Pro edition can also be found online, but since distributing it is not possible legally, you will only find it on dodgy websites where you must be very careful in order to avoid malware.


My Youtube app won appear anymore if I click home. What's wrong? Previously, when I click home on my s9, if my youtube app is playing a song for example, my phone would go to home but it would still display the app like this.

And when I click on it, it would maximize like this.

It's not PiP (I think), because I don't deliberately set the app like this, it just automatically does it when I click the home button. I could even browse chrome and open other apps and it would still be there on the lower right..

But now, suddenly, it's gone!
When I play something on the app and then click home, it just closes. The preview window doesn't appear anymore and nothing is playing.

I'm just wondering what I did wrong and how I could fix it. I don't like using PiP because it's not automatic and I like how it would automatically just preview itself before.

It depends on where you are from. What you're seeing is the PIP mode of YouTube.
For most parts of the world, it is only included with YouTube Red. So, maybe you had a YouTube Red/Pro subscription or Trial which has expired.

YouTube also enabled the PIP for free to all users in the US. That is, even those who don't have a paying plan. So, do you happen to be from the US? Plus, they could be testing the free PIP support in in other regions too.


How to mount the SD card in T-Mobile G2 from a Linux host (workstation) This question is similar to Mount disks from Samsung Galaxy S i9000 to Linux System over USB cable but I want to get it to work on my stock T-Mobile G2.  The G2 does not have any USB configuration in Settings>>About Phone.

On the same machine running Windows XP, when connecting the phone via USB, I can see it mounted and made available as disk E:.

I have gone into Settings>>Wireless & Network Settings>>Tethering & Portable Hotspot and enabled "USB tethering" while connected, and I got the "Turn On USB Storage" option.

The phone is charging while connected to Linux, so I know there is some handshake between the host and the device.

When I connect my Samsung Spica to my Gentoo laptop, I get this in dmesg:

[380540.638713] usb 1-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 2
[380540.763249] usb 1-3: config 1 has 1 interface, different from the descriptor's value: 3
[380540.763258] usb 1-3: config 1 has no interface number 0
[380540.763745] usb 1-3: New USB device found, idVendor=04e8, idProduct=681d
[380540.763759] usb 1-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[380540.763769] usb 1-3: Product: GT-I5700
[380540.763775] usb 1-3: Manufacturer: Samsung Electronics
[380540.763782] usb 1-3: SerialNumber: 57000da3e1f8
[380540.770454] scsi55 : usb-storage 1-3:1.2
[380541.771209] scsi 55:0:0:0: Direct-Access     GT-I5700  - Card               PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[380541.773123] sd 55:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[380541.778920] sd 55:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk

After enabling USB Mass Storage in the phone (the phone should prompt you on the notification bar), I get this messages:

[380708.007194] sd 55:0:0:0: [sdb] 1982464 512-byte logical blocks: (1.01 GB/968 MiB)
[380708.026714] sd 55:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[380708.029668] sd 55:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through

At any rate, these messages pointed me out which device file I should mount to mount the phone, in my case the device file is sdb, I simply create the /mnt/spica/ directory and do mount /dev/sdb/ /mnt/spica/.

Note though, if you used Gnome and the gnome's auto mount is set up correctly (i.e. it should just work out of the box, unless you disable it), then this all should be automatic. When I'm on Gnome environment, Gnome will usually prompt me to mount the phone on /media/ and the phone should show up on Computer like any regular USB stick.

  The phone is charging while connected to Linux, so I know there is some handshake between the host and the device.

The phone can charge on any powered USB port, it does not need to do any handshake for charging.


My PC doesn't recognize my galaxy note 4. But it did when I purchased it. My questions is just as titled.
When I got my new galaxy note 4 last month, I connected it to my PC and my PC showed my new note 4 so I was able to add video files.
But now  I connected my note 4 again to my PC to store all data from cell to PC cause it's full, my PC doesn't recognizes note 4. What should I do?

2 options , both worked for Me when i had the Same issue:

If u use your fingerprintscanner , make sure you unlock your Phone After plugging it in

Second is to try Samsungs Software Kies and follow the programs instructions


myTv+ app returns error code 101 when running on Android TV box I have installed an IP TV app, myTv+ (https://mytv-plus.com/mytvws/) on my Huawei smartphone and it worked fine.
I tried to install it on the Android TV box (MXQ Pro 4K), but it's simply not working, just getting error code 101. It appears when running the app. The install just goes smoothly, but the code appears on the splash screen.
I contacted the developer and he said this app is designed only for the smartphone.
Is there any way I can force the app to work with the Android TV box?

Looking at the decompiled code there is some error method that is called with 101. It looks like this code is only executed when the parameters sent to the app on startup are not as the app expects:

On Android TV apps are started using a different "parameter" (android.intent.category.LEANBACK_LAUNCHER) where as a regular Android app is started via android.intent.category.LAUNCHER.

I have not checked it in detail but it looks like the app tries to process the parameters and fails as it does not understand the parameter used by Android TV and then displays the 101 error message.


Safe mode on LG Optimus 2X I accidentally added a task to Tasker which reboots the phone on startup.
How do I boot into safe mode on LG Optimus 2X to disable it?

If your G2x is rooted, the easiest work-around would be deleting the Tasker's data from recovery.  Download and install Android SDK and LG's drivers for the G2x.  Reboot the G2x into recovery mode (preferably ClockworkMod), connect to PC, and in command prompt issue the following commands:

  cd C:\AndroidSDK\platform-tools\
  adb shell
  su
  rm -rf /data/data/net.dinglisch.android.taskerm
  reboot

This should remove all Tasker profiles, including the "bad" one.


How to fix infinite bootloop problem in rooted karbonn Sparkle V I have Karbonn Sparkle V and it has marshmallow before I root it.

when I root my phone using Android One toolkit, its restart my phone after showing message rooting completed.

But when it restarts phone stuck on boot display and after that, I try to recover my phone via recovery mode nevertheless problem persists.

Someone plz help and thanks in advance.

Simplt Flash it with a new stock rom
firstly if you can access adb then backup your data..i dont think you have access to adb..but if by any chance the you can use
ADB Command:-

"adb pull /storage/sdcard0/ C:\folderyoumade"

Download your stock rom from here:-

http://www.mediafire.com/file/uqdnsantv1ytqfx/Karbonn_Sparkle_V_1783956_Lollipop.zip

and then flash it...dont interrupt the flashing process because it can result in a dead state of your phone.


How can I force my device to pull more watts from charger? I have three devices, Nobis nb7022 s, droid mini, asus memo pad 7 (me170cx). I am using a charger that has a rated out put of 2000ma. The nobis draws 8 to 10 watts from the wall outlet. the droid mini and asus can only pull 3 watts from the same charger and cord. the asus is only a few weeks old while the droid and nobis are a about a year old.

What is the reason for the difference in power draw? the droid came with a 2 amp charger. Is there anything I can do to make the droid and asus draw more power and charge faster?

Additional information:

I believe the problem may be that the Droid Mini and Asus may think they are connected to a computer.

Short Answer

Devices mentioned have different battery capacities. They are meant to be charged with different rated current and therefore different power ( Asus device is 3950 mAh, Nobis is 2500 mAh, Droid Mini 2130 mAh capacity).
OEM proprietary charging methodology  can also significantly vary current. For instance, Note 2 charging current is 1600 mAh while Xperia charging current is around 600 mAh for similar size battery
You can force higher current for faster charging but not advisable (unless OEM offers a way)
What you can do to ensure rated current is delivered is covered

Long Answer

I do not know how you are measuring power in watts directly , but power is given by this equation (ignoring power factor or efficiency of charging)

P (Watts) = Voltage (Volts) x Current (Amps) (or corresponding milli units)

  Reasons for difference in power drawn

Voltage supplied by a standard USB wall charger is 5V. That leaves us only current to be varied to obtain varying power

Typically, current drawn by the charger is dependent on

a) Charging Rate Charging rate is a measure that governs at what current a battery is charged and discharged. At 1C, a battery rated 1,000mAh charges at a current of 1,000mAh. In an ideal world the battery would be fully charged in 60 minutes. At 1C, the same battery discharges at 1,000mA. Ideal charging rate is accepted to be around 0.5 to ,0.8 C for maximum battery life (battery life is measured in discharge cycles). This rate is decided by the OEM and coded in the charging algorithm implanted on ROM and varies

b)  Battery Capacity (mAh) or size as commonly referred. Charging rate is varied dependent on this by OEM. Battery capacity of your Asus device is 3950 mAh, Nobis is 2500 mAh, Droid Mini 2130 mAh

c) Battery Type  Not really relevant since most mobile devices and tablets use Li-Ion or Li-Po batteries

Li-Ion or Li-Po charging When you charge a battery at charging rate decided by OEM, it goes through four stages of charging (Constant Current Charge,Saturation Charge and Ready No Current and Ready), see Figure 1 of BU-409 Charging Li-Ion. As you can see from graph voltage and current vary so if you are measuring current using an app like Ampere and derive wattage from current reading, you could end up in wrong comparison if you are not measuring in the same stage of charging
OEM proprietary charging methodology can also significantly vary current. For instance, Note 2 charging current is 1600 mAh while Xperia charging current is around 600 mAh for similar size battery

You are comparing  Power between Asus (3950 mAh), Nobis (2500 mAh), Droid Mini (2130 mAh), which by itself is not an apple to apple comparison and in conjunction with factors above

Droid and Asus power drawn is similar owing to capacity of battery being similar, whereas Nobis capacity is nearly double compared to Droid,so it seems fine and there is no need to "force" more current to be drawn. Doing so will result in poor battery performance. Simply put, forcing the battery to charge faster by increasing the current will result in a battery that discharges faster.  This is covered in my answer and in the Battery University link above

However, to answer your question

  How do I increase power drawn?

Using apps from play store which claim to charge faster
Using "fast chargers"
By flashing a kernel which permit you to alter charging current, if your device is rooted

** I do not recommend options 1 and 2 for reasons mentioned in my answer. Option 3 is safer by comparison but needs to be cautiously tweaked and you need to understand the risks.

  How to ensure getting maximum (rated) current

Don't use power intensive apps  while charging. Reasons
Get the right combination of chargers and charging cables by measuring current with Ampere or 3C Battery Monitor Widget to rule out charger cable problems resulting in low charging current.
If you are replacing charger cable, go in for a shorter thicker cable (24/ 28 awg) rather than longer, thinner cables as the former offer less resistance to current
Cleaning the charging port of your device by blow drying it to dislodge lint or dirt that does accumulate when your phone is in pocket or outdoor usage (they cause poor connection and increase resistance )