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My Android 2.3.3 emulator has four different keyboards: Japenese keyboard Chinese keyboard Android keyboard Sample Soft keyboard I uncheck all of them so that I can use the hardware keyboard. After a few seconds, it gives an error message saying that the process <code> com.android.inputmethod.latin </code> not responding, with a Force Close button. Moreover, I close and restart my emulator to find all the keyboards checked! The reason why I want all unchecked is as follows: When click the cursor to a position where I want to insert some text (at least on Whatsapp, I face this problem), the cursor remains there for 3 to 10 seconds (!!) and then the keyboard shows up on screen and the cursor goes back to where it was! This is not the case when all the on-screen keyboards are disabled. How do I make the keyboard disabling setting permanent? UPDATE: This was beyond my imagination and very annoying. The input methods other than soft keyboard are back and even enabled once I rebooted the emulator! Why does the sdk just refuse to retain the settings?? | DONE: I backed up all my contents of my old emulator, created a fresh emulator using <code> android create avd -t <TargetID> -n <EmulatorName> -a --abi <CPU/ABI-Used> </code> To aid finding out the correct value of <code> <TargetID> </code> and the admissible values <code> <CPU/ABI-Used> </code> corresponding the same as per your choice of the API level, I used <code> android list targets </code> You will then find that the Snapshot option is available, when you edit the same AVD from the Android Virtual Device Manager. So check the snapshot. And when you launch, be sure you have checked "Launch from Snapshot" and "Save to Snapshot" options. Now use the <code> rm </code> commands in the <code> adb shell </code> to remove the IMEs. (I will make it clear soon how one does that) You close and next time you open it through <code> emulator </code> command, it loads from snapshot and the permanence of the IME settings (or for that matter any system settings) is achieved! (P.S.: Only when you change the hardware configuration will you need to actually reboot, in which case you cannot launch from snapshot as it was saved for a different hardware configuration!) As the question indicates, all I want is that my hardware keyboard is active and I really don't care about the 4 input methods there. It never occurred to me that I could simply remove all IMEs: Here's how: Mount the <code> /system </code> folder. Retrieve the apk names of the IMEs by going into <code> /system/app </code> and displaying its contents: <code> aneesh@nb-14:~$ adb shell mount -rw -o remount /dev/block/mtdblock0 /system aneesh@nb-14:~$ adb shell # cd /system/app # ls Phone.apk Development.apk Email.apk Calculator.apk ... .. etc. </code> Next just do <code> rm <IMEapkname>.apk </code> For instance in case of the Japanese IME one executes <code> rm /system/app/PinyinIME.apk </code> Since this trick, for me, didn't work thus far for the sample soft keyboard: I came out of the adb shell and did: <code> adb uninstall com.example.android.softkeyboard </code> UPDATE: Once you ensure that the snapshot has saved properly (try launching from snapshot via terminal/AVD manager, it must not produce errors) and don't want to make further changes to the system applications or hardware configurations, do launch the emulator with the <code> -no-snapshot-save </code> option: <code> emulator -no-snapshot-save -avd Andreud </code> so that you can launch from snapshot like before and avoid aberrations that occur while saving to snapshot (lest it should produce error saying it was saved for a different hardware configuration). Moreover you can save some valuable seconds it takes to save the snapshot. So this way your overall android emulator experience improves! | Keyboard Settings on Emulator revert on restart | android |
I have a developer tablet, and I also need some peripherals connected via USB to my tablet and debug cable at the same time. I tried to connect USB hub to my tablet using OTG cable, by got the problem - tablet can use peripherals, but PC doesn't show the device in <code> adb devices </code> . Is it possible to connect debug cable and USB peripherals to my tablet at the same time? | No, this is not possible. In order for your device to be in debug mode/ connect to the computer with the debug cable, it needs to be connected as a slave device. The OTG cable tells the tablet to go into host mode. So now your computer is telling your tablet to be a slave but through the enumeration with the OTG cable the tablet believes it needs to be the master, there's a quarrel and it appears the tablet wins and is the master and thus your computer does not acknowledge the tablets existence. If you need the debugging tools have you looked into adv wireless debugging? (Sorry I can't find the link right now but I've used it in the past and know it is somewhere on the developer.android.com site) I couldn't find the link so I figured out how to do it again: 1) Open the command prompt and navigate to your sdk/platform-tools/ folder. 2) Type <code> adb tcpip 5555 </code> 3) Type <code> adb connect <your device ip address>:5555 </code> 4) At this point you unplug your device and type <code> adb logcat </code> 5) At times, such as unplugging/plugging into a USB device, the logcat will become disconnected, just redo steps 3 & 4. | Using USB peripherals with hardware debug | android |
Is it possible to use a Samsung Tab WITHOUT using a Google account? I don't like Google to monitor all my activities. | Yes, it is. When you first boot the device, it asks for your Google account. Just select the option "I don't have a Google account" and then the option that says you don't want to create one. Note that you can't use some Google services like Play Store which require a Google account. | Samsung Tab2 without Google ID | android |
The phone is fine. But. If... after I had a phone call on my Samsung i9220 then the screen turns black. If I press the button on the top right on the phones side I can see the "Desktop" for about ~0.5 seconds, but the screen turn black again. What could be the problem? The phone had been reseted several times and I can't find a setting for this in the "Settings". It has Android 4.1.1 and I think there is no update for the Samsung i9220 Android version yet, so it's up-to-date. | The problem could be your proximity sensor, which is located on top of the front of your phone. Basically the way it works is if you're on a call and you put your phone to your ear, the screen will go out to avoid your ear messing with the touch screen. If you are under warranty, have it checked on your nearest service center. I had this problem once, told my service center that I think the proximity sensor is the problem, then they fixed it in under 30 minutes. Check out this question and install the apps from the top answer and see for yourself: stackexchange-url ("How do I test that proximity sensor on Galaxy Nexus works as expected") | Screen turns black after a telephone call on a Samsung i9220 | android |
Since upgrading to CyanogenMod 10, the dropdown notification when I connect my phone to the computer no longer appears. How do I mount the SD card via USB MSC in Jelly Bean? Note that the drive still appears to the computer, just empty. My phone is an Xperia Arc S. Update: I see no mass storage mode under USB connection settings: Settings screen (click image to enlarge) | Seems as if Google is evil¹ and removed that option from Jelly Bean to enforce their DRM schemes². I found however a tool which restores it: Automated Framework Kit ¹Like we didn’t already know that . ²I have no idea what was the rationale behind it, but remember it’s the company which has a mail service that’s immensely popular despite not properly working with any major mail client. | How to enable SD MSC mount in Jelly Bean? | android |
I have LG L5 (e610 model) device with Cyanogenmod 10. When I connect the phone to a computer with Linux (I have mtpfs installed), I can see both internal storage and the SD card. However when I navigate inside them, I can't see some of the files. For example, if I open file manager app on the phone, I can see several files in the <code> Internal storage/Notifications </code> directory, however the directory on the computer only shows one of those files. If I switch USB connection type to PTP (camera) - as OS X doesn't support MTP natively - Image Capture sees the phone as a camera, however it can only see about a third of all the images present on the phone. I don't have a Windows machine to try, but I suspect the results would be similar. I tried upgrading Cyanogenmod to the latest nightly, clearing and reinstalling it - same results. Any idea as to what is going on? How can I make all files appear on the host computer? | This is apparently a known bug in Android which is not even acknowledged by Google since Oct 2012 — depending on the method of creating files on the Android device, these files may remain invisible when accessing the device using MTP, until the device is rebooted. Known workarounds include: Use USB storage mode instead of MTP, if it is supported by the phone. This is apparently not an option for LG Optimus L5 (e610), because this phone has unified internal storage (file storage is in <code> /data/media </code> on the same <code> ext4 </code> filesystem as <code> /data </code> ), which cannot be exported as an USB storage device. Clear data of the “Media Storage” app, then use the SDrescan app to rebuild the media database (discussed here). Share files over the network using third-party apps such as AirDroid or one of Samba server apps (in the latter case you will need to have root to make the server reachable from most clients, including Windows). | Not all files are visible over MTP | android |
Is doing a factory reset via System Settings the same as a factory reset via Recovery? Via System Settings in Samsung Galaxy S4: <code> System settings > Accounts > Backup and reset > Personal data > Factory data reset </code> Via Recovery: Vol Up + Home + Power > ... I'm not sure about the exact procedure; Recovery seems to have disappeared from my phone. Will these clear the same set of data, or are there slight differences? | I never heard there's a difference: factory-reset is factory-reset (which is why both methods are often mentioned alternatively to each other: if you still can power up your device manually, you can use the corresponding item in the Settings menu -- otherwise, you can go via the recovery-mode ). Usually, the menu item in Settings says something like "Reset to factory defaults", while the corresponding entry in recovery says "Wipe data and caches". Now, what is a factory-reset, in technical terms? Resetting all settings to the defaults of the currently installed ROM, while deleting all data and user-installed apps. How is that done? By... wiping <code> /data </code> (user-apps and data, plus Dalvik Cache) and wiping <code> /cache </code> (app cache) Now comes the circular reasoning: Isn't that what the corresponding entry in recovery says -- "wiping data and caches"? | Is doing a factory reset via System Settings the same as a factory reset via recovery? | android |
It seems with USB chargers for my android phone, not all are created equal. The first pic is the official charger which came with my phone (galaxy nexus). It charges quickly, from 0 to 100% in a couple of hours max. The second pic is a cheapy I got on ebay to use at the office. It works but it's slow as a wet week, can take 6+ hours to charge and if I use the phone while it's charging, it seems to drain faster than it's being charged. The two chargers below seem to be the same spec (5V / 1A) and from my limited understanding that <code> P = V*I </code> they should provide the same power, right? What else do I need to look for when buying a charger, and is there any way to tell in advance if it is going to be slow or fast (apart from testing them out)? (click images for larger variant) ps: I'm aware that charging from a computer USB port can be much slower than using the wallwart, because the computer USB ports can sometimes be current-limited to 500 mA. | Lies, damned lies, and equipment specs. I can print up a lovely sticker that says it'll output 1000A. Doesn't mean it'll output that. It's significantly cheaper to make a low-power supply than it is to make a high-power power supply. Making the latter means you need a bigger transformer (with heavier windings), larger capacitor(s), larger inductor(s) and higher current rectifier(s), all of which add up to more money. If you're trying to make stuff on the cheap and aren't worried about pesky things like ethics, you'll go with the lower end components and massage the specs (by testing at low temperatures, etc. This is especially common with computer power supplies which specify output at 25C, even though they would actually operate at ~40C unless you're using them inside a refrigerator), use theoretical values rather than actually testing the product (saving money on QA), or just outright lie about the specs, the latter of which is probably the case with this charger, for reasons below. One big red warning light that your charger is substandard is that the CE mark (which is used to indicate conformance to EU standards) is fake. The shape of the letters and their spacing is wrong. A real CE mark should have the letters each forming a half-and-a-bit circle and should link up if you continue the arc, as shown below. A cursory glance at the mark on your charger shows it looks nothing like this. The CCC mark (indicating compliance to Chinese standards) is also fake. Other warnings signs include having no manufacturer listed and improper capitalization (should be mA, not MA, unless they're claiming is can supply a billion amps.). In essence, to determine if a charger is likely to be substandard, apply the same thoughts as you would for determining whether a product is counterfeit. The only real difference between a substandard product and most counterfeits is whether a manufacturer's label is forged or not. | Why are some USB chargers slower than others? | android |
got my new HTC One today and now i wanted to set up something that i can put all my desired music for the smartphone in a folder on the pc and then they get automatically synchronised on the smartphone. is this possible? i often change my songs and i dont want to always copy them by hand, thats a pain... Jottacloud has something in the right direction, but it isnt fully automated i guess | Playing with words: if you want a folder to sync, have you tried FolderSync ? Should be perfect for this purpose. You can sync entire folders between your PC and your Android device, and also use different cloud storage services. Thanks to an integrated Tasker/Locale plugin (in the full version ), you also can automate it to your wishes. But even without Tasker/Locale , it offers User specified sync interval or specific sync times . | Best way to auto-synchronise music between HTC One and PC | android |
Every night for the past few days my phone installs a new app that I never saw/wanted/heard of before. It all started with AppCaster (Which I never installed on my phone, it just showed up one morning). I have uninstalled AppCaster and every other app that was installed without my knowing, and new apps are still showing up on my phone over night. I have downloaded and installed Avast which shows no issues after a scan. I have checked the sites with access to my google account and I don't see anything that looks suspicious. Has anyone else solved a similar issue? Does anyone have any ideas of what could be downloading these apps to my phone? How can I make it stop? | Here is a possible solution. My son had recently unwittingly installed AppCaster on our home PC, and this was causing the apps to be pushed to my phone. I uninstalled it from the Programs and Features under Control Panel, where AppCaster goes by the name "Mobile App Sync". | Apps install on their own | android |
When I connect my Kindle Fire and give the "adb devices" command this is what pans out: <code> aneesh@nb-14:~$ adb devices List of devices attached D026A0A0305501NC device </code> If there is no other USB device online, I can get away by simply typing <code> adb -d </code> followed by the command, as say developer.android.com, or if there is no other device online, no issues at all! If there is more than one USB device online, then I have to type the name to uniquely specify the device to operate on. The name is some combination of upper-case characters and digits as seen above. Can anything be done to make it name the Kindle Fire in a more user-friendly manner, the way it names emulators? Any help is greatly appreciated! | What makes this easy is using tab-completion to complete the device ID. Type <code> adb -s D0 </code> and press Tab . The plugin in your shell will run <code> adb devices </code> to find the full device ID and complete it on the command line for you. You can then type in the rest of the command. <code> adb </code> is a tool for developers, and even developers don't usually run it by hand from the command-line: both the main Android development environments (Eclipse-based and IntelliJ IDEA-based) have GUI wrappers. There's not really a need for it to be any more user-friendly than it is. | Kindle Fire's actual name on the ADB Devices List Not user-friendly | android |
I'm developing a simple apps for my own purpose using PhoneGap Build. For convenience, I'm pointing web browser, on each device where I want to install & test such app, to application download site on PhoneGap Build and download <code> .apk </code> files directly from there. It works like a charm on every device, that has original system (i.e. first Galaxy Tab, first Google Nexus etc.). When I'm trying to do the same on my old <code> LG GT540 </code> , which has non-standard Cyanogen Mod 7 ROM, download process fails. I don't get any extra information, only download manager adds status bar notification, that download failed and I can try to restart it, by touching that notification (no effect). This is first time I run into such situation. I've heard many times about many factors that could prevent installation of <code> .apk </code> file, but never about not being able to download it. My Internet connection is just fine, and this is related to <code> .apk </code> files only. I can download any other file types using web browser. I can also install <code> .apk </code> files manually, once I deliver them by cable to phohe. Has anyone else got similar experience or know, what is going on here? | Summing up the solution from above comments on the question itself: Finding the culprit First step is to get to the logging information on your device, to figure out some more details on what's going on. Multiple choices to do so: get a logcat app from the Playstore. There are many, and as long as you run Android 4.0 or below, none of them have issues. Starting with Android 4.1, apps can only see their own log entries (so a logcat app only sees what it writes itself, which makes it quite useless) -- unless your device is rooted (your CM7 is), and you convert the logcat app into a system app (which can be done e.g. using Titanium Backup ★ root ). To find a suiting logcat app, simply use this playstore search -- AFAIK none of them comes pre-installed with CM. get it done from your PC. See stackexchange-url ("Is there a minimal installation of ADB?") for how to get ADB installed on your Linux/Mac/Windows computer, and how to set up its configuration so it recognizes your Android device. Then either use <code> adb logcat </code> from the command-line , or a graphical interface (e.g. QtADB, as described in the linked question) Solving the issue As you followed above device, you were able to pick the corresponding error message from the logs: the app was looking for a folder named <code> /mnt/sdcard/download/ </code> , which did not exist -- instead there already existed <code> /mnt/sdcard/Download/ </code> with a capital <code> D </code> . The problem behind this little thing is: While the underlying file-system (FAT) supports mixed-case file/directory names, it does not differentiate correctly: <code> cd download </code> doesn't work due to different spelling, but <code> mkdir download </code> conflicts, though. So the solution, in your case, was to rename the existing <code> Download </code> directory to <code> download </code> . While I still hold this as a bug in the apps used (they should be able to work around the issue, at least by asking the user where to download to), this simple trick at least enables you to download the <code> .apk </code> files now :) | Can't download custom APK files on Cyanogen Mod 7 | android |
I have the app Tasker, I want to know if there is a way I can create a task that changes the state of the lock screen setting "lock screen when power button pressed" from on to off and vice versa? | I'm not sure if the following will be a perfect match for you, but you always can adjust it once you've got the idea. In my example, I will refer to Tasker only: not having worked with the Secure Settings myself, I can only tell things about it from the hear-say and what I've read. Basic Tasker knowledge assumed: Conditions: <code> State </code> → <code> Wifi Connected </code> , parameter: <code> SSID </code> set to your WiFi's SSID <code> State </code> → <code> Display </code> is off Task: <code> Display </code> → <code> Keyguard </code> off 1 This is with plain Tasker , and should solve half of your problem: When connected to the specified WiFi, and the Display is turned off, turn off Keyguard. As soon as you turn on the display, the condition is no longer met -- and Keyguard would automatically be activated again. Problem will be: if you do not take any immediate action, that probably locks your screen again (first action of keyguard). To prevent this, you could try adding an exit task: Exit Task: <code> Tasker </code> → <code> Wait </code> , parameter is the time interval (start with e.g. 10s) <code> Display </code> → <code> Keyguard </code> on 1 This would cause the Keyguard re-activation to be delayed by the given time interval. I did not try this -- it might very well be that keyguard still would lock the device, even though you already might do something in another app. But you have already noted the "footnote sign", so let's go for that: 1 Instead of handling Keyguard directly, let Secure Settings do that. I know it has the ability to e.g. have Keyguard only come up once (initially) when a condition is met. This would simplify things greatly: the Task then would be <code> Plugin </code> → <code> Secure Settings </code> , and the Secure Settings parameter should be to set Keyguard as described: "only needed once initially, then no more until the condition is no longer met". Also drop the "Display off" condition: when the display is off, you cannot unlock it either (you see where your problem most likely was). So it should work as you have intended -- after the first unlock. Not exactly what you wanted (one-time unlock is still needed), but almost . The Exit Task would not be required in this case, as Tasker automatically reverts back once the condition is no longer met. Play a little with this, maybe Secure Setting even allows for something better. | Can I use tasker to override "lock on power button"? | android |
The BatteryManager class doesn't have the metric for current: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/os/BatteryManager.html And then I have found this post: stackexchange-url ("stackexchange-url It seems that the author also found it was not possible to get current value from the Linux entry. I also downloaded the widget called CurrentWidget into my Nexus 7. For the current value, it shows "no data". So probably a current sensor is required to get the current value and some android systems just do not have such sensors. Then how can the android system know the current battery level? Maybe it will just use the voltage of the battery to infer that(voltage will decrease during the discharge)? But then it would be very coarse-grained. Someone says that there is some 'trick' used to estimate the battery level without current values in Android(probably based on Voltage?). Is there any reference? PS: for some reason, I know current value can be recorded on iphone 3GS | Battery level estimation is usually performed by a special “fuel gauge” chip; different phone models use different chips. E.g., Samsung GT-I8150 (Galaxy W), according to the kernel config, uses the Maxim MAX17043 chip, which, according to its datasheet, does not have any inputs to measure the current — it has only a battery voltage sensor. According to the manufacturer's description, this chip uses “a sophisticated Li+ battery-modeling scheme, called ModelGauge™ to track the battery’s relative state-of-charge (SOC) continuously over a widely varying charge/discharge profile”. Some information is available in the datasheet, but details of this “ModelGauge” scheme do not seem to be publicly available. BTW, the driver used for Samsung Galaxy W seems to apply some corrections to the charge level returned by the MAX17043 chip, so probably the estimation performed by the chip is not ideal. Other fuel gauge chips (e.g., MAX17047) measure both voltage and current, and sometimes also the battery temperature. Such chips can probably provide a more precise estimation of the battery charge level. Again, the datasheet does not provide all details of the used method. However, even if the fuel gauge chip used in a particular phone can measure the current, accessing that information from Android might be impossible for several reasons: The chip might just use the current measurement internally and not expose it to the outside. This is not the case with MAX17047 — it has registers holding current measurement values, which can be read over the I2C bus. The kernel driver for the fuel gauge chip might not have code to expose the current measurement information to user applications. Even if the kernel driver makes the current measurement information available (e.g., through some sysfs file), Android does not have a standard API for such sensors — neither BatteryManager nor Sensor have anything appropriate for an electrical current sensor. Therefore the CurrentWidget app that you have found may work only on some models for which the developer has information about accessing this nonstandard sensor. | How does the Android estimate the battery level without a current sensor? | android |
If I have an Android device that has no internet connection and I would like to use a PC as a time server. What should be the right procedures? Is it that I should install a NTP server on my PC and then .....? How can I set the Android device to detect the time from the time server on my PC? Thanks! | That should be the correct approach. As you noted, time sync needs a source -- so setting up a NTP Server on the PC will provide this source. Now you need to have some NTP client on your Android device. Searching Google Play for "ntp" brings up two of them right on the first page: ClockSync (I use this one, and am quite happy with it; still running it with the default NTP server configured -- but in your case, you will have to change this: as you can edit the time server used, this should be no issue), and NTPSync - Time Synchronization are two examples running in the background. If you prefer something permanently visible, Atomic Clock Wallpaper seems to be a candidate. Just follow the search link for more candidates :) | Time server for Android | android |
I got the Samsung Galaxy Note shv-e160l (Korean version) as a gift, running the stock ICS 4.0. I want to flash official indian JB ROM (of the GT-N7000) on it. Is it possible if I root my device? | No, do not try to do this, or you will brick your device. SHV-E160L and GT-N7000 have completely different processors (Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8060 for SHV-E160L, and Samsung S5PC210 for GT-N7000); e.g., see this comparison . There are some custom ROMs for SHV-E160L in the xda-developers section for AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717 (this device is closer to SHV-E160L, but also not 100% compatible, so look carefully and use only ROMs which are made for SHV-E160L). | Can i flash indian rom in korean galaxy note? | android |
What is a bootloader unlocked phone? How we can make use of it while creating or flashing ROMs? What are advantages of unlocked bootloaders over locked bootloaders? Why does not any OEM generally make bootloader unlocked phones? I am pretty naive in this topic. Thanks in advance. | Every Android phone has a bootloader that instructs the operating system kernel to boot normally. But you need to understand one thing here that as Android OS is an open source OS and is available on a variety of different hardware, every manufacturer has their own version of bootloader specific for the hardware present in its environment. (...) A bootloader is usually locked on an Android device because although it’s an open source OS, still the manufacturers want you to stick to their Android OS version specifically designed for the device. In order to apply this concept, manufacturers lock the bootloader. ( Source ) Essentially, the advantages of having an unlocked bootloader for your device is that the manufacturer of that device has granted you the right to modify the operating system (Android) present on the device. It's interesting to note that the term "unlocked" bootloader would seem absurd if we were talking about a PC; the freedom to boot any OS you want has always been taken for granted on that platform, but because locked bootloaders are so common in the mobile world for many different reasons, it has become something odd for the bootloader to be "unlocked". The reason that bootloaders are locked on some devices are fairly obvious: the manufacturer of the device wants to be in control of what software is running on it. Since devices are often locked and tied to a contract, having control of what code runs on the device is essential. It's also a question of support; if you were the manufacturer, you wouldn't want to handle support calls from people all over the world who had accidentally bricked their phones by flashing corrupt software onto their devices. In a sense, locked bootloaders protect (some) users from themselves. Depending on your point of view, this can be good or bad. For a corporate customer buying devices for employees, access to the bootloader probably would not be high on the wish list. Please let me know if there's anything in this answer that is unclear and I will try to elaborate. | what is a bootloader unlocked phone? | android |
On some of the screenshots I've seen the pattern unlock use a much larger grid instead of the default 3x3. I can't find any way to change the size of the grid in the settings. Can I somehow change the grid size on the stock unlocker or is that some custom stuff? The screens look like they're from a stock ROM. | The bigger pattern lock is a Cyanogenmod feature that was introduced in 10.1 late last year. I do not believe it is currently included in stock android. https://plus.google.com/+CyanogenMod/posts/eHpv1QCoRuc | Change the size of unlock pattern grid | android |
I have a Bluetooth radio on my car but the volume wheel is broken. I am wondering if there's a way to make my Android act as a remote control for the radio, allowing me to increase its volume. I don't want to play music from my phone, only control its volume. | It depends. Usualy when you would pair a device to you car audio player, the player would only want the files on it. But that depends on the player and what type of connection it makes with it's paired devices. So basicaly I think you will have to try and see if it works. | Can I adjust a car radio volume by Bluetooth? | android |
When I play a podcasts on my android phone using pocket cast 4.2.3 I notice that the details are scrobbled to last.fm. It is happening because I have set my last.fm app to scrobble. I want to scrobble every music playing app I have but I do not really view pocket cast as a music app. How can I stop scrobbling from pocket cast? In last.fm scrobble settings I see that there are various categories of apps to scrobble from Scrobble Android Player: Scrobble the built-in Android music player SLS support: Scrobble apps that use the simple Last.fm scrobbler API ScrobbleDroid support: Scrobble apps that use the ScrobbleDroid API Where does Pocket Cast fit into those options? | Last.fm picks up the intents apps like Pocket Casts and Google Music send to bluetooth devices, and hacks that into their scrobble implementation. I guess they figured Google were never going to support them explicitly so that was their only way in. To stop Pocket Casts from scrobbling you'd un-tick the Google Music option in last.fm. The fine people of Pocket Casts (read: us) are planning to put in a setting that turns off that bluetooth data, which would also turn off scrobbling. We looked into the last.fm API and there's nothing extra we can send to tell them to ignore us, which would be a better solution, since it would mean keeping the blue tooth meta data as well. | Isolating pocket casts from scrobble for last.fm | android |
I've read a lot of articles about this problem but I can't resolve it. I decided to install my developer application on phone using wifi. To do this I need to do some things with my phone. The first step is to unlock bootloader. I stack on step 8, <code> fastboot oem get_identifier_token </code> shows info <code> < waiting to device > </code> . <code> adb </code> sees my device but <code> fastboot </code> can't. An idea? My phone is <code> HTC Wildfire S </code> and these are steps which I am following: I restarted phone and entered into <code> FASTBOOT USB </code> mode I tried to run <code> fastboot oem get_identifier_token </code> command but without success. I use Windows 7 Professional and my phone is recognized as <code> HT1CSTR05155 </code> . | Problem solved. At the end I saw that drivers for android were not installed. I installed drivers from this site http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2126036 and device is visible by <code> fastboot </code> . One thing I don't understand is why <code> adb </code> saw device and <code> fastboot </code> not. | fastboot doesn't see device | android |
Yesterday, I got a Foursquare friend request in the notifications panel. The only running services at that time were, I believe, the same that are running now. Definitely there was no Foursquare service running. I hadn't used Foursquare in weeks. From Settings: Settings Google Services (GoogleLocationService) WhatsApp My Calendar Google Services (Cloud to Device Messa…, Google Messaging Ser…) Maps Android keyboard I was logged into Google Latitude. By what mechanism did the friend request reach the notifications panel? | When Google Cloud Messaging receives a message from Google, it sends a broadcast to the related app. The app can receive this broadcast even if no service was running, and it can respond by starting a service, or by creating a notification from within the broadcast receiver itself. Part of the Android developers' documentation explains the process step-by-step. There's a lot of detail there that you only need to know to write an app that uses Google Cloud Messaging, but it might help satisfy your curiosity. | Where does the Foursquare notification come from? | android |
I'm concerned that enabling sideloading of applications may allow malware to be installed. However, I'm aware that Android gives a "Do you want to install this application?" dialog while installing an APK, intended to prevent unauthorized software installations. I'm wondering if a workaround exists that can defeat this security measure. Barring unintended behavior such as security vulnerabilities, does enabling sideloading make it possible to install or run applications of any kind on the device without consent? | No. Installing packages is still a privilege reserved to the package manager, which is a system app (i.e. it's inside the ROM), and the package manager doesn't offer an interface to avoid the confirmation dialog. This is by design. That said, if USB debugging is enabled (in the developer options), you can use <code> adb </code> to install an APK file from a PC, with no user interaction. This possibility exists regardless of whether installing apps from "unknown sources" is enabled. USB debugging is a so-called secure option: only system apps can change it. | Does enabling sideloading allow applications to be installed or run on the device without consent? | android |
I keep hearing about services and broadcast receivers . What's the difference between them, and how do they affect the operation of my Android phone from my point of view? | Android applications have three kinds of components. In general, users don't need to know about them: they're a way for app authors to program particular behaviours into their apps. But if you're watching your apps' behaviour closely such as with a task manager, or if you are automating things with an app like Tasker, it's helpful to understand how they fit together within the system. An activity is the most familiar type of component: it's a window you can see: either full-screen or dialog-sized. An activity only runs while it's displayed on the screen. Once you leave the activity, Android will keep that app in memory ready to be started again, but the activity won't run, meaning it won't use battery or network. An app starts an activity using an intent . The intent can specify explicitly which activity to start, or it can specify an action to perform (such as opening a particular file). If more than one activity can "handle" the intent, you see the dialog asking you to choose one. A service is another application component. Once another component (maybe an activity, or another service) has started a service, it runs in the background until it stops itself. This means that a service could be keeping your phone awake (using a wake lock ), running down the battery, or using lots of network data, without anything showing on the screen. Apps can use services to do long-running processes in the background, such as downloading files from a server, or checking for email, or checking your location. Although services don't show up or interact with you directly, they still show up in the "Running apps" list. From the Settings app, choose Apps or Applications manager , and then Running . You can stop a service that way, but it's not usually necessary. Because services aren't directly visible, Android considers them less important than activities, so they'll be the first to be killed when your phone needs more memory. Broadcast receivers are the third kind of component. Like services, they only exist in the background and don't interact with you directly. But unlike services, they can't stay running or perform long tasks: they exist to respond to events. And unlike activities and services, more than one broadcast receiver can be started in one go. A component broadcasts an intent, possibly to one app, but more often without specifying a particular app. In this case, the intent usually represents an event that's happened, such as the battery running low. The system finds all the broadcast receivers that have registered an interest (using an intent filter ), and runs each in turn. Each broadcast receiver can react straight away, for example by creating a notification, or it can start a service or an activity to take further action. As soon as the broadcast receiver has handled the event, it is stopped and will not run again until another similar event is broadcast. An example of all three components working together is when you download an app from Google Play. First, the Google Play activity provides the visual interface for you to choose the content to download. The list of apps might be one activity; clicking the "install" button starts another activity to show the confirmation or payment dialog. When you confirm, the dialog activity starts a service. The service will continue to download the content even when the activity has finished and is no longer running. But perhaps the phone loses Internet connection while the new app is downloading. If this happens, Google Play's download service will register a broadcast receiver, with an intent filter to say that it's interested in network connectivity changes, and then the service will stop itself. When the phone connects to the Internet, the system broadcasts an event. Android will start the broadcast receiver the Google Play service registered, along with any other broadcast receiver waiting for that event. In this case, the broadcast receiver will start the download service again. The service will create notifications as the download proceeds, and when it finishes, it will send its own broadcast to inform other apps that the new package has been installed, and will then stop itself. In turn, this will start broadcast receivers from other apps, to update the list of apps in the launcher, etc. In summary:- An activity represents a window on the screen; a service performs a possibly long-running background task; a broadcast receiver runs for a short time, to handle an event. All three are started using intents, but using a different mechanism. The launching app has to state explicitly which type of component to start (by calling a different method in each case). When an app starts an activity using an intent, it only starts one activity (possibly showing the "Complete action using..." dialog to let you choose which), and the same goes for services, but broadcasting an intent may start several broadcast receivers, possibly from different apps. As a user, you interact with activities directly; you don't interact with services, but they can slow down the phone and consume resources; you don't interact with broadcast receivers, and because they're short-lived you don't need to worry about managing them. | What's the difference between a service and a broadcast receiver? | android |
I bought a Samsung Galaxy S4 a while ago. One annoying difference compared to my previous Android device that I've noticed on S4 is that I cannot access the internal storage and SD card directly by plugging the phone into the USB port of my computer (I use a Macbook Pro with OS X 10.6). It seems that I need a Mac app called Kies developed by Samsung to access the storage and SD card on my Galaxy, which is very inconvenient. May I know if there is any way that I can access the storage and SD card on my Galaxy S4 directly, as if from a USB flash drive? I was able to do this with my previous Android device. Thank you! | The closest solution I have found for Mac OS X is to install Android File Transfer ( http://www.android.com/filetransfer/ ) on the computer. With this, I am able to access files on the internal storage and the SD card directly within an Android File Transfer window, and perform basic file management operations like copying and deleting. This app also supports some keyboard shortcuts as well as drag-and-drop to and from Finder. It isn't as convenient as Finder itself but it is the closest available substitute I have found for this device. | Access Samsung Galaxy S4 storage and SD card directly | android |
I've a Wintouch Q75s Tablet running on Android 4.0.4 ICS. I was using its Wi-Fi with no problems until yesterday, the Wi-Fi didn't want to turn on. I've noticed that my MAC address changed to Unavailable which I think indicates an error. What can I do to use my Wi-Fi once again? I contacted the vendor but they didn't respond. Is there any hope my Wi-Fi can run again? Edit : It started happening when I removed the wpa_supplicant. Now the WiFi does not want to turn on. However, the portable hotspot starts successfully without any problems. Edit : The problem was solved by flashing a new firmware from Wintouch's website, the firmware was Q75SJ30401.IMG (Barcode Q75SJ304xxxxx) A list of available firmwares for Wintouch devices can be found here Thanks for everyone who helped me :) | As it turns out, the problem was caused by deleting <code> wpa_supplicant </code> . Wikipedia can offer a little insight on what that means: In addition to being a full-featured WPA2 supplicant, it also implements WPA and older wireless LAN security protocols. It further is responsible for the job to review a list of currently visible networks, select one of them, provide any additional security information needed to authenticate with the network (e.g. a passphrase or username and password) and add it to the preference list to enable automatic reconnection in the future. As it is said: curiosity killed the cat -- and deleting <code> wpa_supplicant </code> makes it quite impossible to use WiFi. There are three corresponding files on Android: <code> /system/bin/wpa_supplicant </code> is a binary (i.e. the program itself) <code> /system/etc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf </code> is the default configuration (as the path correctly suggests, in the read-only <code> /system </code> area), which also includes device-specific settings, plus some "inline documentation" in form of comments <code> /data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf </code> is located in the writable part. It repeats some of the contents from the system file (most likely copied from there on initialization -- as <code> /data </code> gets completely wiped on a factory reset, those things must come from somewhere), but skips the comments. Furthermore, this file memorizes those networks you've connected to, including SSID, encryption used, and the passwords, all in plain text [sic!] -- that's where those "WiFi password recovery" apps get their information from So if the latter config was deleted, it simply would be re-created after a boot. Of course, all your saved networks would be lost -- but that's a minor issue compared to the others: If the system-config file gets lost, the binary does not now where to look for the interface, as that's configured here (e.g. <code> ctrl_interface=tiwlan0 </code> ). This would also explain the missing MAC address: no known device, no known MAC address. Still, recovery from that should not be too hard: there are not too many different interface names, and other settings (like the chipset used) can be taken from specifications -- so root provided (which is the case, or you could not have deleted it), you could re-create a matching file with a little try-and-err. If the binary was removed, options are narrow without a backup. Having a similar device available running the very same ROM, you could extract the binary from there (the config as well, or course). If you have at least an image available for your current ROM, you could extract it from there as well. If all above fails: Yes, flashing a ROM would solve the issue as well -- as this ROM should contain the necessary files. It's quite unlikely you damaged your hardware that way. | Stuck on "Turning Wi-Fi on..." | android |
I'm using Cyanogenmod cm-10.1.0-RC1 on my Samsung Galaxy S3 (at&t US version) With either a headset or bluetooth, I'm only getting audio from the right side. It doesn't matter which output device I use - all are only playing on the right side. Is this a known issue with CM RC1 or is something else causing this problem? The getprop("ro.bootloader") checks are all failing for the nightly builds, so updating after RC1 has been problematic. However, if RC1 is the culprit, I'll take extreme measures to update to a different CM version. Thanks for any advice. | I had the same problem with google music. If you move the music slider to a different position, it will output sound on both sides, but the bug appears again once it changes track. I believe this is a bug on Cyanogenmod 10.1 RC1. I just updated to RC4 and the bug seems fixed. Yay! | Audio playing only on right side on my Galaxy S3 | android |
There's an app called Automagic which uses flow charts to create workflows that let you perform custom sequences of actions on your Android (essentially macros, but with an advanced interface for editing them). Can somebody please explain how to use the periodic trigger? I've tried using it to kick start a flow, but it never fires. I've ensured that the flow is enabled, I've checked the logs and there's nothing about any problems occurring with launching the flow. | At the time of this writing, there are apparently issues with the Periodic Timer trigger. (According to this forum post ) Using the Period Timer (Inexact) trigger instead works, but is still not very consistent. (Which, yes, I realize is not to be expected since "Inexact" is in the title of the trigger) | How do I use a periodic trigger in Automagic? | android |
Google recently introduced " Google Play Game Services integration " in play store games. How can I list games that supports "Google Play Game Services integration" using play store App or using play store site? | A search of the Play Store for the phrase " Game Services " finds about 20 games at the moment. Additionally this Google Docs spreadsheet lists many games with game Services integration: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?key=0AiTeFLs7RHJYdFZGUFQ5MFlIU2IzNFpmQTAzc0JhMk | How to search Games with "Google Play Game Services integration" in play store? | android |
Why I do I have to have both Services Google Play and also Shop Google Play applications on my phone? They take quite a lot of memory space, which is quite small on my ZTE SKATE . I have an SD card with about 6GB space, but I can't move these over there. And when I try to delete Services Google Play it downloads on its own when I go to Shop. Why is Google doing this? When I got my phone I had only Google Shop there. Now this. I'm running out of space and there aren't any other apps that take a lot of space like this and I could delete/uninstall them. Can anyone tell me what exactly is the difference between these two apps and why I need to have them both installed? And if I don't need them, how can I get rid of one of them so I have more space? | Google Play Services is a library used by other Google and third-party apps. It allows apps to use: Google Maps layers to show maps in other apps Google+ sign-on and sharing the new Google+ gaming functionality for match-making, leaderboards, and to store saved games "in the cloud" Google Cloud Messaging to sync data from the Internet to your device efficiently Location services to set up "geo-fences" so they can respond to locations and activities more efficiently than if they accessed your location directly It's a lot of functionality that could have been made part of Android itself, but making it a separate library allows Google to update it directly, so app developers can rely on it being up-to-date on every device: unlike Android itself, which some manufacturers and carriers don't bother to update for older devices. If you were to remove it, any apps that rely on it would stop working or behave unpredictably. | Services Google Play and Shop Google Play why both? | android |
I have got the phone of my sister in law. It is a LG Optimus L5 e610. While trying to flash CM it has been bricked. It is constantly rebooting after media scanning. It reboots even in the bootloader (CWM 6.2.8). The bootlaoder shows that the sdcard can't be mounted. The time the phone stays in android is to short to use adb. The phone has been rooted using this guide . This guide has been used to flash CWM. Well hence I can neither use adb to replace anything in the filesystem nor use the recovery to install a zip. Is there any way to get this phone back working? | The problem was the difference in unlocked bootloaders between e610 and e612. Finally I ended up using the few seconds before the reboot to write the backed up bootloader and recovery back via dd. Wow I hardly often do backups, but this time it was quite helpful. | LG Optimus L5 e610 randomly reboots | android |
I have a Samsung Galaxy Mini (GT-S5570) and the ROM I'm using is CM10.1, I was messing with the developer options and I saw an option called "simulate second screen" and I clicked that and selected 720 then it froze. I rebooted it and stops at the end of the boot animation and get stuck there. Any ideas please? | Did you try "Volume Up + Menu Button + Power Button"? That should get you to Recovery Mode and you should have an option there to Factory Reset your phone. | How can I get my phone to boot again? | android |
I'm trying to connect my Galaxy Note 10.1 (running Android 4.2.2) to my Mac OS 10.8 machine via USB. I used Android File Transfer, but it gives me an error that says: Could not connect to device. Try reconnecting or restarting your device. | I found a reason of my problem. Before installing Android File Transfer i installed KIES. After installing AFT i uninstall the KIES. i understand that when i uninstall the KIES uninstall USB driver too. So installed KIES again and AFT is working!!! Its really cool application! | Problem connecting Galaxy Note 10.1 to Mac OS X Mountain Lion | android |
I upgraded to Jelly Bean on my AT&T HTC One X last month, and ever since then it's like my phone has just given up on life. I had to upgrade through the installer package from the HTC Website and was walked through the process by HTC tech support. Things that have been happening: HD Widgets would stop working off and on, the widgets I've had on the screen would simply disappear Tasker crashes constantly and profiles don't work. I have used this app on my last 2 phones as well as on the HTC One X since I got it back in Nov. Swype is no longer my keyboard and no matter what I do I can't seem to get it back. most importantly : My microphone quit working on phone calls. It still works on speakerphone, but no longer works normalls. Other various weird happenings here and there . I swear it's like my phone is haunted or has become sentient and given up on life. These are all apps I have used for a very long time and have never had issues with. At least 2 of them are very popular and respectable apps. (I would link to them, but Google Play is unfortunately blocked at work) My phone is not rooted. I have not dropped my phone in water or even dropped it on the ground. Literally nothing major has changed in the past 2-3 months except the Jelly Bean update about a month ago. If you need any more information to help me get pointed in the right direction to resolve my issues, please let me know. | If those problems started right away after the update: did the update process include a factory-reset? If not (and nothing else helps), this might be your chance: Backup all things you can backup (luckily on JB that's not too big an issue, see stackexchange-url ("Full Backup of non-rooted devices") -- but I recommend to have all your apps into separate packages, as otherwise a full restore might bring back your problems). Then do a factory-reset. Before restoring anything, check if your problems are gone. Then restore your apps one-by-one (just to make sure to not bring back the problem). As for the backup process: check with Helium - App Sync and Backup , this is the easiest way to go. You can mark all your apps, make sure to check that <code> .apk </code> files are included (by default, Helium only backups data), and give it a go. Helium creates separate backup archives per-app, so you can restore them separately. Make a copy of the backup folder to your PC, just in case -- if restoring via Helium should fail for any reason, this still gives you the chance to use <code> adb restore </code> via USB. Background: It might very well be that some settings got messed up on update. A factory-reset will erase all your apps and data, plus the Dalvik-Cache (optimized app code -- this might be the culprit if it doesn't 100% match the new Android version), so all settings revert to "default". Your Android system ROM (JellyBean) will not be reverted to what you had before, so no worries for that :) | My HTC One X seems to be self destructing after Jelly Bean update | android |
When looking at my photos in the Google+ app, at the bottom is a footer that says "Backup failed" with a retry button. The backup still fails when I click Retry. Is there a way to find out why Auto Backup is failing so I can correct the problem? | Taking advice from this post: http://productforums.google.com/d/msg/google-plus-discuss/d3s4VKI3yWo/bq39QiqknWoJ Another solution that worked for me was turning off Standard size in the Auto Backup settings altogether. When taking a new 8MP jpg using my camera and when Photo Size was set to Full Size in Google+, all the photos seem to be successfully uploading without error. This further confirms that the error is arising when Google+ is trying to convert larger jpgs to standard size. I tried taking pictures at different resolutions, from 1.9MP to 8MP. 3.8MP and below uploaded without a problem. Anything with a higher resolution still failed. So, the solution for now seems to be: take pictures at a lower resolution or Change the Photo Size setting in Auto Backup from "Standard size" to "Full size" | Google+ Auto Backup failed | android |
I'd like my Samsumg Galaxy S4 verizon phone to be able to connect to my preferred wifi networks (office and home) automatically, while at the same time turn off the 4G LTE data plan. As of right now, I have it set up such that it'd connect auto to wifi, but when I am connected to wifi I still see the 4g LTE active. I could deactivate the 4G LTE and activate it later, but I am looking for a way to do this automatically, no user involved. Any ideas? | Usually, mobile data should be turned off automatically by the system when WiFi is connected. If you're sure it's mobile data which is on, you could try some automation tools to handle this, e.g. Tasker (Condition: WiFi connected, Task: mobile data off), or Llama - Location Profiles (here I don't know the steps, but it can do that as well). | How to automatically connect to a wiFi network and turn off 4g LTE | android |
Is it possible to take screenshots freely in a non-rooted Nexus 4 mobile? How? | Press the right-hand Power button & left-hand Volume Down button at the same time. This will take a screenshot which will show in your slide-down notifications area. It will automatically be saved in the <code> Screenshot </code> folder in your Gallery. | Screenshots in non-rooted Nexus 4? | android |
I am using a Sony Xperia Go mobile device with Android Gingerbread (2.3.7). Whenever I try to use Tethering (USB/Mobile Wifi Tethering), I could not immediately access website using my laptop. However, I know that there is an Internet connection because I can access websites using their IP address in my Google Chrome in my laptop. I tried <code> nslookup </code> in command prompt several times, trying to query Google's DNS servers (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) and 192.168.43.1 (my phone). I always get the error <code> DNS request timed out. </code> However, after several restarts, turning on/off Data and mobile hotspot, it would suddenly work and all the DNS requests through command line would get responses. But there is no definite number of restarts. Just today, it took me about 30-45 minutes doing this routine of restart-turn off hotspot-turn on-turn off mobile data-turn on. Every time I do this, I can use my mobile phone to access the Internet. So, that is not the problem. The mobile phone can connect to the Internet. I also use AirDroid. AirDroid is also working normally and I could access it in my browser. So there really is an established connection between the phone and the laptop. It's just DNS requests are not pushing through. I have tried this for both mobile hotspot/USB tethering. My mobile provider allows tethering and I have a mobile data plan. Can you help me determine what is causing the DNS problem? This happens almost every day. | I ended up manually changing my DNS server to tether Internet from my mobile phone. My phone uses a local DNS server from my mobile carrier which I was able to trace using CompruebaIP . Any other DNS server is blocked by my mobile carrier (Globe Telecom). I reckon that my phone's DNS service is not properly working. When tethering, the DNS provider should be my phone which serves as proxy when connecting to my mobile carrier's DNS servers. Thus, I had to set them manually on my laptop. I am using Windows 8 and my phone is an Android Gingerbread 2.3. So basically, the problems are: My mobile carrier is bad . They are blocking other DNS servers and are monopolizing DNS requests. This isn't good because their servers aren't that good. My phone's DNS service appears to be broken . This means my laptop could not connect to the DNS service of my mobile phone which then forwards DNS requests to my mobile carrier's DNS service. Fortunately, after two months of despair, I was able to resolve this. This is what I did: Find out what the actual DNS servers are my mobile carrier is using through CompruebaIP . Manually set my laptop's DNS servers to the one used by my mobile carrier. Even better, I retained Google's Public DNS server 8.8.8.8 as my primary DNS server and used my mobile carrier's primary DNS server as my alternate DNS server. So, now, I can use my mobile phone as my Internet provider for my laptop whenever I am not at home or at work without having to change anything every time I use it. | Android Tethering DNS Problem | android |
I am using an SGS+ with 512 MB RAM (which leaves about 380M for the OS) running the CyanogenMod 10.1 Beta build 2013-04-15 (Android 4.2.2 on Linux <code> 3.0.73-rc1-PhenomKernel-V3 </code> ) and as soon as firefox has to load a page with a couple more gifs or large images the music player (Apollo) is being killed. I'd rather have the front app being killed than having to stop listening to music. I tried the App RAM Manager Pro on setting Hard Multitasking without any success. So, how do I protect the muisc player from being killed? | Couple options : Use the swap file feature of your RAM Manager. That'll give you more (up to 256MB more) memory to play with and might be enough to stave off the music player kill. Toss the RAM Manager and use something (Like MinFreeManager or manually edit the values in <code> /sys/module/lowmemorykiller/parameters/minfree </code> 1 ) that will let you manually specify the Low Memory Killer's parameters. For the latter, since your priorities aren't the usual ones (kill foreground before killing background, rather than the other way around), you want to toss the presets (which assume "the usual priorities") and set the values as such. Specifically, you want to set the VISIBLE_APP (an app that is not on screen, but is doing something, in this case, cranking out tunes) value to be lower (and thus lower on the kill list) than the FOREGROUND_APP (exactly what it says on the tin) value. Further information on what the LMK does and what all these values mean can be found on stackexchange-url ("my answer to this question"), which is probably more relevant to your question than the one it was an answer to. 1 As I mention in my other answer, values in this file are in pages, which are 4KB. 8192, for example, is 32MB. | Protect music player from being killed? | android |
I'm using Galaxy Note. And I got this weird noise with auxiliary jack while charging in the car. There is no noise while music is playing, and there is no noise if the charger is unplugged. How do I solve it? | After a lot of Googling around, I found 2 possible solutions: Hardware solution: Kensington Noise Reducing AUX Audio Cable - haven't tried it myself. Yet some guys at android central report it worked for them. Software solution: Aux Noise Filter app - Tried it on my Galaxy Note. Works like a charm. | Got weird noises with auxiliary jack while charging in the car | android |
I've got a new Android 4.1 tablet. I am trying to run an old app which was created for Android 2.1 and relies on the menu button, and I am not an Android programmer (yet). Can somebody points me to a ready-made application which returns the new menu button? (this trick seems to show how to do it: http://lancelotmobile.com/blog/mobile-air-app-compatible-with-android-4/ ). Any idea? | When a newer device loads an app that targets an old Android version, it displays a menu button on the system bar, near the home, recents, and back buttons. It has the same "three dots" icon that you see on newer Android apps. Pressing this has the same effect as pressing the menu key on a device that has one. | simulate the android 2+ menu button on an android 4 tablet | android |
could anybody explain what is this download mode? As described in here stackexchange-url ("How to root Innos A35") as I hold vol up +vol down 5 seconds and at the same time connecting the USB cable to my computer it shows up a removable disk and unknown drivers in windows 7. My phone is also Innos A35 device locally sold as i35 from dialog telecom. What are those? And what is this <code> download </code> mode? But unlike the recovery mode, I didn't get a screen up. Is these two modes all coming from ROM. what kind of code is there on ROM. [Well in x86 computer I could review a opensource bios implementation, any idea on Android ARM ?].Where that consoles come from? Where is uboot located? Is this download mode is a mode that programmed into a ROM, where I could not change it? I have read the boot procedure of a typical android phone. But can't organize the info with this. | Download mode is for flashing radio firmware/ROM upgrade through official means. Some devices uses U-Boot over the generic boot, it is a boot-loader code found in read-only ROM chip on the board, which uses a certain memory address offset, in which the kernel from the <code> /boot </code> partition gets loaded into that specific certain memory address offset and jumps into that address and the kernel starts running. For details of the generic LK boot which is employed by most, if not all, Qualcomm based devices, see stackexchange-url ("this") As for Download mode, for example ODIN is commonly used on Samsung devices to flash ROMs, those devices needs to be in download mode prior to flashing. However, ODIN is not the official way to do it, rather Kies, is the official route in upgrading the firmware, this is for Samsung devices for example. | what is the download mode | android |
I have Xperia V 9.1.A.1.140 and I just rooted it using "Root Many Android" (see closer decription on XDA ), and now I installed Titanium Backup and every time the app loads it requires permissions multiple times and every time I try to uninstall and app, why is that? EDIT: And here is the solution - I also rooted it with motochopper (again described at XDA ) which installs the SuperSU, and in now only asks the SuperSU for permissions only once and it's working fine now. | So here is what I did: First I tried Bin4ry method's from XDA with the 3rd option, it installs Superuser, but its buggy and it doesn't remember the permissions. So then I did it with Motochopper method from XDA which installs SuperSU, and the root apps now require permissions from SuperSU just once, and it's working fine. After that I safely deleted Superuser. | Xperia V require root permissions every time | android |
Is there a plugin or any other way to use swype but force it to auto-replace special characters like <code> č </code> with <code> c </code> , <code> ž </code> with <code> z </code> etc. ? As currently Swype is predicting words - for example: <code> "Španija" </code> and it would be great if it would be replaced with <code> "Spanija" </code> as it would then have 160 characters in SMS message instead of 70, like when using special characters. | Enter the message application, click the menu button and enter Settings, select "Text input mode" and change the option from Automatic to GSM Alphabet. When you type in the message it appears as special characters but when the message is sent it is automatically converted to normal text. | Swype remove special characters? | android |
I have the both Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 devices. I want them to have the same (at least similar) list of installed applications and their settings. How can I synchronize them, so that I do not need to install and set everything up two times? | Android lets you backup settings & data for installed apps, but doesn't have a straightforward way to sync the actual installation of them. If you prefer not to manually search/install each app from the device itself (it gets really tedious) you can do what I do: 1) Go to https://play.google.com/apps to view the apps which are already installed on one device. Select the app you want to transfer over to view it's details page. 2) If the app is compatible with both devices (most probably will be but not all) click the button that says INSTALLED . 3) Select the other device where you want to install it and click INSTALL . You'll still have to repeat this for each app you want to carry across, but I've found it to be much easier to do it with a mouse in a web browser than searching/installing | How to sync Nexus 4 and Nexus 7? | android |
I've updated Google Talk to "Hangouts (replaces Talk)". Now whenever I get a message, I receive two notifications: one from the new Hangouts app and the other from the old Talk app. How do I disable the notification from Talk? Device is Samsung Galaxy S II running Android 4.1.2. | As Izzy pointed out in the comments, the package name of Hangouts is the same as the one for Google Talk: <code> com.google.android.talk </code> . Therefore, even if Talk was built in to your ROM, it should be 'overlaid' by Hangouts. However, it's possible that there's some Google Talk service that didn't get killed by the upgrade process. If that's the case, a simple reboot should solve the problem. | Getting double message notifications after replacing Talk with Hangouts | android |
I recently use 2-step verification to sign-in my Google account. But after turning this on, I cannot sign-in my phone since no SMS is sent to my phone. What can I do to sign in now? | If you signed up for 2-step verification , you may need to enter an application-specific password in place of your regular account password. You can generate an application-specific password when you are authorizing access to your Google Account. This process takes a few minutes, and you only need to do it once per application or device. Note: For Android devices running 4.0 or higher, you do not need an application-specific password and only need to submit your username and password. You'll be directed to another page where you can enter a one-time six-digit code. To check if 2-step verification is on or off, visit https://www.google.com/settings/ . | Cannot sign-in Google account on Samsung Galaxy S with 2-step authentication | android |
When I add an MSN @live.com email account the Galaxy S4, it doesn't pick the Display Name set by Exchange. From the web interface, it shows the Display Name set as the full name (e.g. John Smith), but on Android, all out-going emails have the username set as the Display Name (e.g. jsmith). The Display Name for office365.com email accounts seems to be working fine, but not for @live.com email accounts. Further more, Android doesn't give the option to re-set or update the Display Name in Exchange ActiveSync email accounts. That options is available under IMAP and POP3 email accounts only. Is this a new issue? Has anyone been able to fix this? I called Samsung and they couldn't find a solution in their support knowledge base, asked me to contact my Cellphone Carrier. I called my Callphone Carrier and they said it's out-of-scope for their Support and that I should contact Samsung. | For posterity's sake, I'd like to point out that after doing research online, I have found out that this is an issue plaguing Samsung Galaxy S2 and S3 as well. Most of the discussions on this issue end with, "Why don't you just get a @gmail account?" Since I refuse to have an email with numbers in it, I am going to stick to my more professional looking email on @live.com. I don't want to put an ugly email like jsmith223@live.com on my resume or any other correspondence for that matter. Anyhoo, long story short, if you have a hotmail email address (@hotmail.com, @live.com, @outlook.com, etc) and you value a synchronized mailbox (meaning, having all sent and read messages marked as such on your desktop, web mailbox and phone regardless of where you sent or read a message), then don't get an Android device until there is concrete evidence online of someone being able to show that it works. POP3 is archaic technology from the mid-90s. IMAP isn't a whole lot newer, but you can still get by with IMAP. Unfortunately, Microsoft has refused to offer IMAP services on hotmail accounts. So your only options are POP3 and Exchange ActiveSync (EAS). | Galaxy S4 - Exchange ActiveSync picks wrong Display Name | android |
I'm using Google+ Instant Upload to automatically sync all of the photos I take on my phone over a Wi-Fi connection. I also use Google Drive to backup my documents, music, pictures and videos folders. Is there a way to sync Google+ Instant Upload with Google Drive? Ideally the way it would work is I would take photos with my phone, they would sync to my Google Drive "pictures" folder and then Google Drive on my pc would sync them into my photos library. Is this possible? Will it be added in the future? | There is a thread on Google Groups that covers this issue. By the answer provided by AnaLikesLattes , this is being considered and possible prepared by Google Staff since 5/1/12: Android Instant Upload to Drive Hi all, Thanks for your input. We've heard many requests along these lines, and are definitely looking into potential solutions on our end. I will do my best to keep this forum updated once relevant features start to become available. In the meantime, please keep posting your requests about the Drive Android app! We're always excited to hear from our users. Cheers, Ana As far as I can tell, this is not yet implemented and a year has passed. Since both applications are from Google and they alone can take the necessary steps to have this feature implemented properly, I would suggest to you and any interested person to visit the thread and leave the "feature-wish" there. App Suggestion While it would be great to have a native solution for this problem, stackexchange-url ("Oliver Salzburg") commented on my post at Google+ about this issue refering the app suggested bellow, that I've just now tested and is working beautifully sending all of my files to my desired destination on the Google Drive. FolderSync Lite FolderSync is a application that enables simple sync to cloud based storage to and from local folders on the device memory card. It currently support multiple SkyDrive, Dropbox, SugarSync, Ubuntu One, Box.net, LiveDrive, HiDrive, Google Docs, NetDocuments, Amazon S3, FTP, FTPS, SFTP, WebDAV or windows share (Samba/CIFS) accounts, and support for more platforms are planned. You don't need more than 5 minutes to complete the 3 basic steps: Add your Google Drive account Add a folderpair Start the sync process | How to sync Google+ Instant Upload with Google Drive? | android |
Why does internal storage keep growing over the time for no reason? At some point it becomes simply impossible to update apps, due to lack of sufficient memory space. Not even cache cleanup can save it, and I have moved as many apps as I could to SD card with no help. Apps need to be uninstalled then installed again on every update. Depending on the app this is problematic since they have lots of custom settings, and I have never seen that automatic Google servers backup and restore working whenever I needed it. Fortunately for stock preloaded apps your settings are not lost, since you can just remove updates since stock version, not remove it. This indicates one of the main causes of this problem at least: app updates are somehow incremental, and performing the above workaround will somehow save some space, with same result of app updated to latest version. So innocent everyday app updates are no reason for causing internal storage to fill up. What workarounds can I do in order to overcome this problem, besides the obvious ones like removing stuff or buying a new phone? I think I heard about re-partitioning phone memory to make internal storage point to external SD card, but I wonder if it will make things too much slower, for example. Please, point me to good solutions, even if they require rooting. | Summarizing the answers and comments on a more objective approach. Please edit this and add any verified procedure that objectively may help with this annoyance. You could try the obvious things like removing unused apps, cleaning up system cache , etc. If your phone is rooted, Link2SD helps a lot by creating symlinks from original app locations to the SD card . Android will think the apps are on internal storage, but in fact they are just linked there, real location is the SD card. Specific apps, the biggest ones, can be selected for the linking process. You may try removing updates from stock preloaded apps, for only then updating to the latest version directly . These apps seem to take more and more storage while getting updated over time. That was my case with Facebook for example, one of the most problematic about storage usage. This workaround should not delete app settings, since app cannot and will not get uninstalled at all. | How can I fix internal storage growing for no reason? | android |
My screen is totally destroyed, it's black and unresponsive. The phone turns on just fine, though. I just got my new phone and I have to send this one back now. I want to wipe the phone before I send it back, but I'm not sure how. I don't care too much about sending back a rooted phone, it seems Asurion doesn't really care about that from what I've read, but I don't want my personal data on the phone when I send it in. What are my options to wipe the phone without a screen? I've already read a lot of threads on other forums and here on the subject, but everyone seems to say to wipe through ADB shell. Well, I can see the phone in ADB, but I am unable to enter SU through ADB shell. I assume it's because the screen is locked, and I have no way to unlock it. Others have also said to wipe through fastboot in ADB, but I am seeing conflicting recommendations and I'm not sure how to proceed. I'm not that proficient with ABD, so I want to make sure I don't mess this up. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. | You can obtain the <code> adb </code> and <code> fastboot </code> utilities as part of the Android Software Development Kit (or separately from third parties, but watch out for Trojan binaries). If you install the SDK, you will need to install the Platform Tools and (if using Windows) the USB Driver for Windows. Once you have them, from whatever source, this is what you will do: Reboot the phone to the bootloader (fastboot): <code> adb reboot bootloader </code> adb may not work if the phone hasn't previously been placed in USB Debugging mode. In this case, boot the phone to fastboot mode by first powering it off, then powering it on by holding all three of the Power, Volume Up and Volume Down keys at the same time for two seconds, then releasing all three keys, then touching Volume Down twice, then Volume Up once. Check to see if the phone is in fastboot mode. If it doesn't show anything, wait a few seconds and try again: <code> fastboot devices </code> Wipe the user data/cache: <code> fastboot -w </code> | Razr Maxx HD, How to wipe data with broken screen | android |
The application Market Feedback Agent (process com.google.android.feedback) has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again. I keep getting this error message when YouTube crashes. I click to report the problem, then this error occurs. I tried to manually visit https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.feedback to check for an update but nothing was found. Android version 2.3.4. Neither Verizon, Motorola, nor Google will update it. How can I fix this problem? | The first step for any of these force close issues is to clear the cache and/or data from the problem app. Whether it's the Play Store or YouTube that is the problem is unclear; you may end up doing both. Open <code> Settings </code> <code> Apps </code> Scroll down to the app you want and tap to open App Info. (If it's a system app (without updates) you may need to swipe left to "All" in order to find it.) Tap the Clear cache button. If that doesn't work, return and tap Clear data See also: stackexchange-url ("App X isn't working correctly. How can I fix it?") | The application Market Feedback Agent has stopped unexpectedly | android |
I have an app that performs a license check and will not work if a check doesn't succeed within x amount of time since the last successful check. Will this license check fail if I am connected to the Internet in a foreign country? The app in question is Final Fantasy III (com.square_enix.android_googleplay.FFIII_GP) . However, most other paid apps perform license checks, so this is a question of broader scope. | Usually no - however, it's my opinion that this is a rather vague question that can't be accurately answered without knowing the app developer's policy or whether the app is locked to a particular region. | Will a license check fail if I am in a foreign country? | android |
So on my Nexus 7 (currently clocked at 1300mb RAM) Google Racer works fine. However, when I use it on my Huawei Ascend G300 (only clocked at ~30mb less RAM) it says it is too slow. This doesn't really make any sense? They have almost identical RAM? | The amount of RAM is not the main factor that determines how smoothly a game runs. The other items on the spec sheet are just as important: What model of CPU it has (ARM 11, Cortex-A8, Cortex-A9, Cortex-A15, &c) How many CPU cores there are (some games benefit more from having multiple cores than others) What clock speed the CPU runs at (measured in GHz) What model of GPU it has (e.g Mali-400MP4) What clock speed the GPU runs at (measured in GHz) and there are many other important factors you probably won't find written down anywhere, such as the clock speed of the RAM, what kind of memory controller it has, and the size of the CPU and GPU caches. The software makes a big difference too: for example, if the power management driver (supplied by the manufacturer) is inefficient, the CPU and GPU may spend most of their time running more slowly than the rated clock speed. In addition, the pixel size of the display makes a big difference. For example, if you made a tablet with the exact same hardware as a Nexus 7 but a 1080p display instead of a 720p display, you'd find many games would run much slower on this device, simply because there are more than twice as many pixels to process and store in memory. One of the reasons that unbranded devices are so cheap is that the manufacturers often invest in the 'headline' specs, but then skimp on the other components, or use inefficient software. For example, it's commonplace to use a GPU that looks good on paper, but cripple it by only giving it a very slow connection to the device's RAM, through a cheap memory controller. The only way you can really tell how smooth your games will run is by measuring on the device: ideally with the game you're interested in, but more commonly using a benchmark such as GLBenchmark that represents an 'average' game. That's why review sites like to include benchmark figures as a big part of the review of a new device. | Huawei G300 not fast enough for Google Racer | android |
i'm looking for a way where i can use the power button to turn off the screen and activate the swipe lock. If the phone is left untouched/unswiped for 10 mins the password lock should come on. There is one difference between this and similar posts i have seen, my Phone is encrypted so i cannot turn off the password as part of the method of doing this. At the moment the power button turns off the screen but can be unlocked at the push of any button which often results in unintended phone calls in my pocket, after a certain amount of time left untouched the password lock kicks in. I've heard an app called Tasker can do something like this, will it also work with encrypted devices? All i would need it to do is activate a swipe lock on pressing of the power button Thanks | You are correct: an app called Tasker can do this. The feature you want to turn off/delay is called Keyguard : turning this off disables the password/PIN lock screen. So you could setup a task turning that off on the condition the screen is turned off, then wait 10 min, and re-activate it again. Additionally, you might want to take a look at the Secure Settings addon for Tasker , which gives you some more fine-grained options towards this (and plenty of other benefits). Using this addon, you could e.g. have your device require the PIN/password unlock only once, and then not asking for it anymore (useful e.g. at home). | Use Tasker to swipe lock the screen for 10 mins then require password thereafter | android |
I just got my S4, on a Canadian network. While everyone seems to have I9500, I have the M919V. It's next to impossible to find any useful information on Google regarding this model. Can I use the same custom ROMs as the I9500 users? There is a way! Read my answer below! | I have found out more about this variant! Hopefully this helps people in my situation. This device is on a Canadian network called Wind Mobile. The model M919V can use the same roms as the T-Mobile variant, which is M919. I have flashed CyanogenMod nightlies on it, it runs awesome, and even for a nightly it is very battery efficient and stable. Strongly recommend it to anyone. I had to use ouhds instead of ClockWorkRecovery (they re the same things though). It still goes through Odin, but you will have to follow the instruction online. There are a few sets of instructions that can be found through Google. These are the instructions I followed: http://droidviews.com/2013/root-and-install-cwm-recovery-on-sprint-galaxy-s4-sph-l720-and-t-mobile-galaxy-s4-sgh-m919/ *I am not responsible for any damage you cause to your device, just sharing my thoughts/ experience. | Samsung Galaxy S4, weird model, can I custom ROM? | android |
I have Samsung P-3100 Tab. I have youtube android application installed. I am having the following complaints with youtube player (Probably I do not know how to get to these, so this question! ) 1) If I hold the Tab in Landscape orientation, then the video occupies the whole screen (which is as expected). However, I cannot see the screen size icon on the screen, to change the screen size from "Full Screen" to normal screen Mode. I have to rotate the Tab to Vertical orientation to see see any comments or related videos. (this is very annoying!) :( 2) There is no volume controller on the screen anywhere. Is it because youtube app rely on the volume controller on the Tab? I am sure other people might have faced the same issue. I googled for this issue but I couldn't find anything helpful. | There isn't a non-fullscreen layout for YouTube for 7in tablets, only for 10in tablets. There's no button there because there's nothing to switch to. The developers evidently think there's not enough room to see the video and display other information usefully at the same time. You're right about the volume control. Because Android already has separate volume settings for media, notifications, and the phone ringer, and it guarantees the presence of hardware volume controls, it's considered bad design to put additional volume controls on the screen. | Volume controller and screen size controller missing from Youtube app | android |
My problem is that I need to add outgoing com port to my android device (Nexus 4) Windows 8 x64 connected via Bluetooth. This is usually done by using Bluetooth settings on the PC and then from "COM ports" tab yo "Add" -> "Outgoing port". However, when I try to add my device it shows me error "The device you have selected does not have a serial port service running". For Incoming port it work fine, but that's not the option I need. I've also tried to connect Samsung Galaxy S3, Nexus 7 and rooted Nexus 4. Both on Windows 8 x64 and Windows 7 x32. Nothing worked. Then I connected an old phone which uses Symbian 8(?) and it worked fine. Of course the devices are paired before I try do add COM port. I did good search on Google, but I did not find a way to "turn on serial port service". There's an app (Serial Port API Sample) which supposedly should help with my problem, but it doesn't - I can't get it to work, always showing an error. I need the outgoing port so I can control my device like a modem by using Matlab. | This is just based on a bit of research, not my own experience: Android phones, unlike your Symbian phone which worked, do not expose a Hayes-command modem as a built-in externally accessible service. There may well be such an interface internally for communicating with the “baseband processor”, but in order to control it from another computer you will have to install an Android app and/or modified OS which forwards the commands it receives from an external source. I don't know whether such an app already exists. (Further questions on how to get the scheme I described working might be better asked over at stackexchange-url ("Stack Overflow") as they would be essentially about programming Android.) | Cannot add Outgoing COM port for any android device | android |
I need to emulate an Android 4.2 device in Vmware Workstation 7.1. I downloaded the image android-x86-4.2-20130228.iso from http://www.android-x86.org/download . I tried to run it as a live-cd and also installed it on the VM harddisk (much like described at http://www.walterdevos.be/installing-android-x86-4-0-in-vmware-player ). In either case I got the following console screen: taken from this topic in the google groups . So, you may see the problem occurs not only in my environment. I tried recommended setting from the topic ( <code> ... nomodeset vga=(any unreal mode such as 987877 or 5785 etc) </code> ) as a possible workaround. Nothing helps. The question: how to fix the problem and run android-x86 in Vmware Workstation? | Over time new versions of Android-x86 appear, and the problem is solved now by the next available release - build 20130725 with Android 4.3. | Android-x86 in Vmware workstation fails to start | android |
It used to be under Settings, there was a Search With Camera option which would boot up the camera and allow you to take a photo which you could search with. Since the last google now update, I can't find it. Has it been moved to another spot or did they get rid of it? | Do you have Google Goggles installed? It's required still for that feature to work in google now. | What happened to camera search on Google Now? | android |
I am not sure whether my understanding about alarms is wrong, so I thought of posting this question. I keep forgetting tasks so I thought of installing the best "To-Do" android app. What I simply wanted from the application is this: If I want to set a reminder, say on May 19th 2013, at 9.00 A.M and I want a a loud alarm that will keep ringing until I dismiss it or snoop. Every famous app that I tried (Astrid, Wundrelist etc), provide a reminder feature to be associated with Tasks, but these reminders to go Notification area. Some of the "to-do" apps takes the reminder date/time as alarms, but they again send these alarms as notifications. The problem with notification is that, it only makes a very simple sound (as if a message has arrived), that too only once. I want these reminders to ring as alarms not as notification. Do you know any apps that does this?. For example, the alarm that we can set in clock.( but clock doesn't provide a specific date/time) | Astrid has this functionality. Add a task by giving it a title and then clicking ADD A DUE DATE if you wish. This opens a page where you can tap a due date + time. Click OK after making the necessary changes. Click the blue + sign on the right to add the task to your list. Now tap the task to edit it - Scroll down if you need to and select DETAILS and then REMIND WHEN DUE & OVERDUE Choose the options as you see fit and ensure that the RING/VIBRATE TYPE is set to UNTIL I DISMISS ALARM. Click ADD AN ALARM and choose when you want to be reminded. To avoid this rigmarole in the future, you can choose to set by default that reminders should ring constantly until you dismiss them. Click SETTINGS > NEW TASK DEFAULTS > DEFAULT RING/VIBRATE and then select UNTIL I DISMISS ALARM Also see REMINDER SETTINGS where you can choose a ringtone of choice. | Why alarms in "To-do" applications are shown as notification | android |
Apple iOS devices display the following warning and suspend operation should they overheat: Temperature [ iDevice ] needs to cool down before you can use it. Does the Android OS contain similar functionality? (For reference, I'm using a Nexus 7, running stock Android 4.2.2 without root or unlocked bootloader. However, this question is intended to be device-agnostic. I have not experienced any overheating—the tablet does get warm under load but by no means excessively so. I'm just wondering if any protection exists at the system software level in stock Android.) | Provided it can read the CPU temperature, the Linux kernel will detect an overheat condition and gracefully shut down the device in the event overheating occurs. However, Android does not contain built-in mechanisms that selectively disable components or reduce heating in the manner iOS does , such as by dimming or turning off the screen, stopping charging, reducing the power of the cell antenna, or disabling the camera flash. | Does the Android OS provide any overheating protection? | android |
What is the difference in Auto Backup and Instant Upload? | They're the same thing, auto backup is basically just a new (and more appropriate) name. The only thing that changed is that now it uploads your pictures in original quality (part of the reason why they bumped up everyone's google drive limit to 15GB) | Google+ Auto Backup vs Instant Upload | android |
About 3 months ago I bought my LG Optimus 4X HD (aka P-880), which shipped with Android 4.0.3. I searched the settings up and down, and was quite surprised there were no SIP settings available. I'm very sure SIP support was added to AOSP with Gingerbread, so it had to be there with ICS! Did LG remove them from their Android installation? Is there any way to get them back? | Is the SIP functionality really gone for good from the Optimus 4X? Actually, LG really seems to think their (European?) customers don't need SIP. Most likely official argument will be that carriers either exclude SIP usage from their mobile data plans (at least here in Germany, many do). So they removed it. Ooops. That was only half true: They removed it from the obvious places, that is. You might not find it in the settings. But luckily, they just removed the link to the settings screen -- all the code still seems to be there! Ah! Still available! So how to access it? I found it more accidentally while playing with Apex Launcher . Long pressing on a free space on one of the home screens, like you want to add a widget, opens the expected menu. Select "Shortcuts" here. On top of the next screen you'll find an item called "Activities", which I long ignored -- unfortunately! But after stackexchange-url ("a very interesting chat session with Dan on broadcasts versus intents versus activities"), I had to dig into this. And found that: activities of the phone app (click images for larger variants) The top entry in the first screenshot clearly reads Sip Settings -- so I added that shortcut to my homescreen. And what should I say? Yesss! It's the long missed settings screen, from where you can configure your SIP accounts (and define whether you want the device to listen for incoming SIP calls)! So if you miss something that should be there, this might be a place to look for it. Besides, as reputated users as ASE we're always told to watch out for hidden gems in new places -- so you might want to look further: list of apps with activities (click image for larger variant) You see, other apps have also activities they made freely available (they might have even more which are kind of "private" to them). The numbers to the right tell you how much activities the corresponding app has made "public". Try them out! You surely will encounter the one or other force-close when you try to start such an activity (as it might expect parameters), but it cannot hurt. You might find other interesting things! Are there other ways to discover/call such activities? Sure, Apex is not the only one. There are other apps available on the playstore which let you explore available activities, such as e.g. Package Explorer or Stanley . And you also can use e.g. Tasker to start your discovered activities. Besides: With that, most of the "shortcut-apps" available on the playstore you won't need any longer this way. Just inspect the Settings app, which seems to declare each and every page it has -- so you can directly jump there from your newly created shortcut! Does this apply to the Optimus 4X only? For sure not! This functionality should be available on any device. I just cannot promise you to find the SIP settings on all of them. Or anything else you've seen in above screenshots :) | Where did the SIP settings go to on my LG Optimus 4X? | android |
I'm in the middle of an "Upload All" but I don't see anything online yet? Is it an all or nothing upload? My upload keeps getting stuck on the next to last item. It would be nice if I could see the first 356 of 358 items while the last 2 items are uploaded (or not). | It should show your pictures as they are added (AKA not all-or-nothing). I'd try rebooting your device, also check if maybe your battery level is low (under I think 20% it doesn't upload, similar to dropbox) | During a Google+ Instant Upload, is it all or nothing? | android |
I call somebody, or somebody calls me, we are talking. Now, during the call I got SMS and I cannot hear anything because the SMS notification is playing. So how to disable this notification when call is active? Thank you in advance. Samsung Galaxy Ace 2, Android 2.3. Note: I am interested in setting this once and for good. Not something I have to remember to switch off each time I make/get a call. | Since this is of the Samsung Galaxy family, the following may help you: On my Galaxy S3, the setting is controlled as 'Alerts on call'. See: Dialer\Call Settings\Call Alert\Alerts on call - uncheck this and calls will not be interrupted with notifications. | How to disable SMS notification during phone call? | android |
I have an Exchange account, e.g. <code> hub@domain.com </code> , that I forward all my emails to from all my other accounts. But I need to reply to these messages using different accounts, e.g. reply to a work email with <code> me@work.com </code> - how could I do that in Android? Default Email App in 4.2.2 Hitting reply on an email in my hub account does not let me change the account to send the reply with (e.g. work account). I can go to my work account and compose a new email there and copy paste the original email and subject and receivers manually, but that is cumbersome. TouchDown Only supports Exchange accounts, but no IMAP, which I need to set up my other accounts. Solution? Is it doable With the native app would be best solution (is there anywhere to submit feature requests for Email app?) With any other email app that I have not tried? | K-9 Mail allows to choose the "from" mail address when composing a message (or replying to a received message). Click the "from" address field and a pop-up menu will appear which allows you to choose the appropriate account. K-9 supports pop/imap/exchange(via webdav) accounts. Pictures for illustration compose window: account chooser: | reply with a different account - multiple email accounts | android |
Is it possible to activate Device Administrator via ADB command instead of tapping "Setting -> Security -> Device Administrators --> Select App --> Activate" on handheld? If it's possible, how? | It's not possible. The settings code is specifically written to prevent this. The closest you can come is to bring up the Device administration settings page in the Settings app. You can do this with: <code> adb shell am start -S "'com.android.settings/.Settings\$DeviceAdminSettingsActivity'" </code> | Activate Device Administrator via ADB | android |
A captive Wi-Fi or captive portal being a Wi-Fi network that redirects all websites to a page, usually with a form to log in, enter a code, or accept some T&Cs. My samsung-nexus-10 can detect when I've connected to a network with this behaviour, and brings up a notification to tell me, but my old htc-desire can't. When was this feature introduced? | As best as I can tell on GrepCode, functionality relating to walled gardens (captive portals) was added to <code> WifiWatchdogStateMachine.java </code> in 4.0.1. I can't find it listed in the Android API reference to confirm exactly when it was added, but that would seem to match with your Nexus 10 having the feature but not your HTC Desire. | What Android versions have captive wifi detection? | android |
I'm using Tasker and have a step of List Files. I grab that result and stuff it into %files. I then go into a For loop reading %files and under items %files(). However, this is giving me the full path to the files such as /storage/emulated/0/Tasker. All I'd really like is the file name. Is there a step I can do before I enter this loop to truncate the variable results? Goal would be to just get a list of file names and not the full path. Thanks. If this should be moved over to stack overflow please let me know. | You can use a <code> Variable Split </code> action with a splitter of <code> / </code> to get the pieces, then use <code> %VAR(<) </code> to get the filename. If the fact that the full filename is in an array already gives you problems, copy the array element into a non-array variable first. From your comments, it sounds like you have this code: <code> List files Dir /storage/Tasker/project/test/ Variable %files match *.wav For Variable %files Items %files() Variable Split Name %files Splitter / Popup Text %files(<) End For </code> It's probably not a good idea to use %files as both the "Variable" and the "Items" portion of the For loop. Try using %file for the Variable, then replace all references to %files inside the loop with %file. Please correct me if I've not captured your code correctly. | Get list of filenames via Tasker | android |
I'm running aCal on my Samsung Galaxy S / Gingerbread and it isn't updating. Adding events pushes them out to my CalDAV server, but I don't see any events. In aLogcat I see an awful lot of errors: W/ActivityManager( 110): Permission Denial: broadcasting Intent { act=android.appwidget.action.APPWIDGET_UPDATE (has extras) } from com.morphoss.acal (pid=11107, uid=10003) requires null due to receiver com.android.settings/com.android.settings.widget.SettingsAppWidgetProvider and E/aCal DavParserFactory(14157): IO Exception when parsing XML I can't figure out how much of this is aCal , how much is my phone, and how much is bad data from my CalDAV server ( Chandler Hub ) | It looks like an update to aCal has resolved my issues. So I still don't know how to troubleshoot, but it is working. | How do I begin to troubleshoot aCal? | android |
I have AlphaRev Oxygen R2, 4Ext Touch Recovery, AN-Droid 2.2.0 with Android 2.3.3 on my HTC Desire. But I have only 304 MB of available internal storage space after the first boot up. Now I installed Shazam and it shrank down to 296 MB. Shouldn't this number stay the same when I install an app? I mean I have formatted my SD card in 4Ext and created a 2 GB Ext4 partition for apps. Are the apps being installed on internal memory anyway? How do I check that? And if so, how do I tell it to install to the SD-Ext partition instead? This ROM is supposed to come with integrated App2SD+. Ain't that right? If not, can you suggest another ROM that has integrated App2SD+ or tell me how to set it up manually? I want memory, man!! This stupid phone comes with only 147 MB of memory available for the user apps and data. I don't know what the hell they were thinking when they designed it. In response to Izzy This is the output of the <code> mount </code> command. <code> sh-3.2# mount mount rootfs / rootfs rw,relatime 0 0 tmpfs /dev tmpfs rw,relatime,mode=755 0 0 devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,relatime,mode=600 0 0 proc /proc proc rw,relatime 0 0 sysfs /sys sysfs rw,relatime 0 0 /sys/kernel/debug /sys/kernel/debug debugfs rw,relatime 0 0 none /acct cgroup rw,relatime,cpuacct 0 0 tmpfs /mnt/asec tmpfs rw,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0 tmpfs /mnt/obb tmpfs rw,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0 tmpfs /app-cache tmpfs rw,relatime,size=8192k,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0 none /dev/cpuctl cgroup rw,relatime,cpu 0 0 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system yaffs2 rw,relatime 0 0 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /cache yaffs2 rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime 0 0 /dev/block/mtdblock5 /system/data yaffs2 rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,nodiratime 0 0 /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /data ext4 rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,nodiratime,commit=50,bar rier=0,nobh,stripe=64,data=writeback,noauto_da_alloc 0 0 /dev/block/vold/179:1 /mnt/sdcard vfat rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,u id=1000,gid=1015,fmask=0702,dmask=0702,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,iocharset =iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0 /dev/block/vold/179:1 /mnt/secure/asec vfat rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relat ime,uid=1000,gid=1015,fmask=0702,dmask=0702,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,ioch arset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0 tmpfs /mnt/sdcard/.android_secure tmpfs ro,relatime,size=0k,mode=000 0 0 /dev/block/dm-0 /mnt/asec/se.fmckl.regnr-1 vfat ro,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,relatime ,uid=1000,fmask=0222,dmask=0222,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mix ed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0 /dev/block/dm-1 /mnt/asec/com.fingersoft.benjibananas-2 vfat ro,dirsync,nosuid,n odev,relatime,uid=1000,fmask=0222,dmask=0222,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1, shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0 sh-3.2# </code> Output of the <code> df </code> command. <code> sh-3.2# df df /dev: 207168K total, 64K used, 207104K available (block size 4096) /mnt/asec: 207168K total, 0K used, 207168K available (block size 4096) /mnt/obb: 207168K total, 0K used, 207168K available (block size 4096) /app-cache: 8192K total, 0K used, 8192K available (block size 4096) /system: 256000K total, 213132K used, 42868K available (block size 4096) /cache: 40960K total, 1388K used, 39572K available (block size 4096) /system/data: 151168K total, 113812K used, 37356K available (block size 4096) /data: 2064144K total, 444856K used, 1619288K available (block size 4096) /mnt/sdcard: 28544368K total, 9550336K used, 18994032K available (block size 163 84) /mnt/secure/asec: 28544368K total, 9550336K used, 18994032K available (block siz e 16384) /mnt/asec/se.fmckl.regnr-1: 3124K total, 1040K used, 2084K available (block size 4096) /mnt/asec/com.fingersoft.benjibananas-2: 33212K total, 30996K used, 2216K availa ble (block size 4096) sh-3.2# </code> Does this make any sense? | I will try to answer my own question here. The short answer is: get a ROM that just works! (No, not a room, a ROM! Get a ROM!) Here is the same screenshot image of the <code> SD & phone storage </code> menu, this time with a ROM called SuperNova . You can find an installation guide here . As you can see from the image I now have 1.86 GB of internal storage space. No additional apps have been installed yet, except for some apps that came with the ROM, and the stock HTC apps that came with the phone. How-to You will need root and S-OFF before you continue. It's also possible to install this ROM with S-ON, but it will require some additional steps, for more details see the developers website. You will also need a custom recovery like Clock Work Mod (CWM) or 4Ext Recovery. The latter is recommended. You will also need to flash stock HBOOT, if you don't have that already. You will find the stock HBOOT on AlphaRev website. Go to the download page of developers website. Download "SuperNova 2.4.0.1 Extreme ROM". You will see at least three mirror download links. Here's one direct link to Dev-Host . Power off the phone. Enter HBOOT on the phone. Enter recovery (I used 4Ext Touch Recovery). Format and partition the SD card with one Ext4 partition and one FAT32. Power off the phone and take out the SD card. Mount your SD card to the computer. Copy the Supernova_2.4.0.1_signed.zip file to the SD card. Put the SD card in the phone. Enter recovery and choose "update from zip". Select the file above. This will now flash the new ROM. Reboot the phone. First boot will take longer time than usual. When you get to the setup wizard, skip setting up a Google account. Reboot the phone. You will see a blue LED go and off. This means Data2SD is loaded and working. Now you can setup your Google account and Wi-Fi, and what not. Remember, complete installation instructions can be found here . That web page can be overwhelming, especially for newbies, which is why I tried to put it in a more condensed form here. If you run into the "Download was unsuccessful please try again" message when downloading apps, this means that the app you're trying to download is too big and the Android Market cache is too small. This problem is covered in the FAQ at developers website, it's question 28. The suggested workaround involves using Scriptmanager app and a script, and this must be done every time you reboot. But I have found that installing the latest version of Play Store (replacement for Android Market) manually solves the problem permanently. Here's a short how-to on that too. Download the APK file for Play Store . Connect the phone to the computer. If prompted, choose to mount as disk drive. Copy the APK file to the SD card. Disconnect the phone. Go to menu, settings, applications, and enable unknown sources. Start a file manager app (I used ES File Explorer, but ASTRO is good too). Browse to the file (/mnt/sdcard/) and tap it to open. You'll be prompted if you want to replace a system app. Tap OK to continue. | Why do I only have 304 MB of available storage space? | android |
I am trying to explore the options of connecting a 3g dongle to the car charger. And then connecting a Smart TV Android stick into the 3g dongle to get Internet. It will be great if I can get internet from the USB connection and not have to waste Wifi (how ever little) battery between the 2 devices. Questions Is it possible to get internet via USB on the android stick ? Can it get power from the USB too ? Will starting the car have bad effects on these devices ? | You may get what you want, if you find a model that includes this functionality already (like e.g. the older Archos G9 tablets did) but it will not work out of the box for most models. There's the autopatcher project ( thread on XDA ) that enables 3G dongles for modem-less tablets (but it is limited to certain custom ROMs like CyanogenMod, AOSP, rooted Google stock Android and others). Regarding the power question: That's up to the exact model and you will need to find out by trial and error or get that info from searching Google/specs/etc. The same applies to your last question (but in general, those TV sticks are built to be plugged in and out and need to survive sudden power losses just as phones need to because they tend to run out of battery juice). | Smart TV Stick (Android) connects to 3g dongle for Internet | android |
I just saw this vídeo about Google Now, but I don't have the same behavior on my Motorola Razr D3, with Android 4.1.2. I got the search results, but with no voice reply. Is it the voice reply exclusive for Samsung phones? | Voice reply isn't exclusive for Samsung phones: I get it with the same "what's the weather" query on a nexus-7 . But it's controlled by a setting in Google Now. From the main window, go to the menu and choose Settings . From the settings page, you want Voice , then Speech output . Set it how you like. But take note that you only get a voice reply for the special queries that Google Now is programmed for, not for web searches. To get a list of these special queries, press the microphone icon and ask, "Help." | Why my Google Now on my Motorola Razr D3 will not reply with voice? | android |
I have a Galaxy Tab 10.1 version 1 and i put some text on the lockscreen and have sync updated my device and I can't undo this text. Is there a solution without resetting it? | Go into the Settings app. Choose Security , then Owner info . Uncheck Show owner info on lock screen . | How can I get rid of text I have put on my lockscreen? | android |
How to disable status string "On Android with IM+" when using IM+ for skype? I do not want to show that I am away from PC. | According to this site , it's possible to change the status by tapping it and selecting another status message. It's possible that this is not available in the free version, since they usually contain ads. | IM+ Disable status string | android |
According to the Android Developer Dashboard , the market share of Android 3.2 is only 0.1%, and no other 3.x version has even as much as that. Versions 2.x and 4.x have all the market share. Can someone please explain why there's a whole major version of Android that is apparently unused, while the previous and the next major versions are in wide use? Was 3.x quickly replaced by 4 and all devices forced to upgrade? What would have made 3.x so bad that no one uses it? | Honeycomb was a tablet-only version of the OS It was only ever released for a few devices The source code was never released not released until the source for Ice Cream Sandwich was available, and even then the Android devs noted that 3.x source was not complete It never had much in the way of market share See also: stackexchange-url ("What percentage of users use each of the Android versions?") stackexchange-url ("Is Android 3.0 Honeycomb only for tablets?") | Why does Android 3.x have no market share? | android |
My HTC Desire X recently updated to android 4.1. With that update, the FM radio disappeared. How can I get it back? I can't find an app the does this in the Play Store. Are there other ways? | The problem is solved by restarting the phone. | How to get fm radio back after Desire X was updated to Android 4.1? | android |
I noticed this feature in Android 4.2 but was wondering how you can use it to forward all traffic over a VPN connection? When editing a VPN under advanced settings it has a Traffic Routes option that you can put network identifier in that it will forward traffic for. Most people currently seem to root their phone and use SSH tunnels which seems a bit overkill for such a simple feature. here's the screenshot of the input box I've mentioned. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4K9I61FVkYiVXZOMWpYOGVlVmM/edit?usp=sharing | Turns out you can forward all traffic over the network by entering 0.0.0.0/0 You can then check by doing a google search for your IP and it should now be the public IP of your VPN's gateway | How to forward all traffic over a VPN (without rooting) using Forwarding Routes | android |
Is it possible (in built or via an app) to silence the phone when it's connected to a particular wireless network, and then unsilence it when the network is out of range. Use case : When I'm in the office on the company's wifi I want my phone to be quiet, but when I'm back home (or not connected to a wifi, e.g. outside) I want the ringer volume back. | This isn't built-in functionality, but it's something you could achieve with a trigger/event app such as Tasker. This kind of app runs in the background, and lets you configure certain actions to take (such as turning off the ringer) when certain events occur (such as seeing a particular Wi-Fi network). Tasker's not the only such app, but it's very complete and has some users who contribute to this site, which means that if you have questions setting it up you can probably get them answered here. See tasker . | How to turn off ringer when connected to particular wifi network | android |
How can I reset website permissions on Chrome for Android? I have face detection software hosted on my home server (192.168.1.7:8020), and if I go to 192.168.1.7:8020/face-detection.html I used to get a notification about my tablet camera usage. Every time I clicked "allow" it would work. But I missed "allow" button today and clicked "reject". Now I can't find where or how to reset media permissions for this particular page/site. I'm on Nexus 10 with Android 4.2.2 (3.4.5-gaf9c307) using Chrome 26.0.1410.58 with WebRTC flag on. | Try this: Menu - Settings - Content settings - Website settings From there you can clear data for individual sites. If that doesn't work, maybe look into Remote USB Debugging: https://developers.google.com/chrome-developer-tools/docs/remote-debugging | Reset Chrome website permissions | android |
Sorry for the vague question title, I am open to suggestions, but I am not sure how else to phrase this. I recently got a new phone; the Nexus 4. When I got it, NFC tags were working fine. They would scan successfully about 90% of the time (as good as it gets with NFC it seems). Now, all of a sudden, it is down to 0% success. About once every couple minutes it will make the faint low-pitched jingle it makes when it detects NFC but does not read successfully (successful read results in higher pitched jingle). What happened?! I can't get it to read anything no matter what I do. Tested with 2 tags here at work. I will try a couple more when I get home too. I was trying to install a custom NFC apk today to allow NFC while the screen is locked, but even when I revert back to stock apk I get the same behavior. I didn't test NFC today before attempting to install the custom apk, so I don't know (or think) that is what has caused this. Anyone have any ideas? Seems so bizarre that it would just suddenly stop successfully scanning NFC. I flat out REFUSE to send it back to LG. They already had it once and I didn't get it back for 2 and a half weeks. EDIT: I have also tried removing some of the apps I have installed in the last couple days (avast and tasker specifically). Could rooting the phone have something to do with it? Really stuck here. EDIT #2: So I have restored from some old (nandroid) backups I had. Still no dice. Probably going to attempt a factory reset when I get home at this point (my original settings and apps are so far gone now anyway). But honestly, it looks like it is hardware at this point, which has me extremely irritated. This would be the second time sending my phone in, and the last time I sent it in, I had to fork out for a manufacturer defect. This time, I'll probably crack it open and attempt the repair myself. Pro Tip: NEVER BUY FROM LG. | Looks like this might be hardware, but not broken hardware. EDIT: See comments below, but I suspect this is actually the tag hardware I was using and not the phone hardware causing the problem. This appears to be a design flaw with the nexus 4 and I would absolutely love to hear from any other nexus 4 owners who use NFC tags. I managed to get it to work consistently with some tags at home (i.e. not broken hardware). The only tags I can get to work though are "sticker" tags. The other tags I have are wrapped in some kind of hard plastic enamel to protect them from damage and allow you to carry them on a keychain etc... (also some which are specially designed to work near metal and other sources of interference, they did not work, I assume because they are also thicker than paper). Any NFC tag that was made of the thicker plastic (i.e. not a pure sticker) would not scan, I am thinking this has to do with range. I could get them to scan somewhat inconsistently so I know the tags were ok (also tested on other phone). They also scanned better when I removed the back cover, but this cover is literally 1mm thick. Maybe 1.5mm. It's a Ringke Slim. So I have to conclude there is something internal to the Nexus 4 that is ruining the range. Seems like a massive oversight, but what other conclusion can you draw from the results I have so far? Will update if I learn more. Does anyone have a nexus 4 and use a thicker NFC tag (basically anything that is not paper thin)? If so, let me know, otherwise I'll accept this answer in a few days. | What causes NFC on Nexus 4 to stop working? | android |
I copied music files from my computer to my Galaxy Nexus phone, using the command <code> adb push Music /sdcard/Music/ </code> , and the stock Android music player is not detecting these files (while others do). I'm able to view these files in my Android file manager application, but when I mount my phone as an MTP device, the music folder is empty. Is it related to partitioning? I see two partitions with the same content, <code> /storage/emulated/0/ </code> and <code> /storage/emulated/legacy/ </code> . | I'm pretty sure that while <code> adb push </code> works to get the files there, it's not the supported way to get media files onto your Android device. This means that it doesn't set the flag that tells the Media Scanner that new media which needs it's meta-data indexed and added to the media library has arrived on your device. One way to force the media scanner to rescan your storage is to just run an app like Rescan SD after you've copied the files over. | Android Music Player is not detecting Music files | android |
I'm on Android 4.1.2, in a Motorola Razr D3, and every time the mobile power off, or I reboot it, the default display sleep time will get back to 15 seconds, and I have to set it to 1 minute again, as I want it. Other configurations like "Language" or "Auto-rotate screen" are not resetting. In opposite to stackexchange-url ("this question"), I did not installed any battery saver software. Although the SmartActions app comes with the phone, and I enabled the "Low Battery Saver" option which would reduce the bright of the screen when the battery is low, I don't think it should affect the sleep time, even more with full battery. I disabled it to test, and there was no change. Any idea why it's resetting this configuration? | The LockerPro app was reseting my screen lock time to 15 seconds. (the Android system should offer a way to check who is changing the system settings) | Every time I reboot the system, it will return the default display sleep time to 15 seconds, how to fix this? | android |
Aware that this is a bit mental, but can I install Ruby on a Galaxy S4 running Jelly Bean 4.2? A console where I can install gems, rake routes and run the Rails server, and browse to my application by putting 0.0.0.0.3000 into Chrome? Would be excellent for testing little ideas and concepts I have while on the go! Aware that Android isn't UNIX, but good God if they can install it on Windows, they can install it anywhere! | The Android Scripting Environment said to plan on Ruby . Might be worth a check how far they got; at least they're tagged "JRuby" at Google Code. According to their project page : Scripts can be run interactively in a terminal, in the background, or via Locale. Python, Perl, JRuby, Lua, BeanShell, JavaScript, Tcl, and shell are currently supported, and we're planning to add more. But be also aware of: SL4A is designed for developers and is alpha quality software. An interesting article on this topic which you might want to read is Hacking Android during the holidays . It describes an (successful) attempt to setup and use SL4A to be used with a.o. Ruby. | Can I install Ruby and Ruby on Rails on an Android? | android |
I was browsing with the official Facebook app and when sending a picture to a friend I used SkyDrive as the folder where to choose my files from. Then I accidentally made it the default folder. So now, whenever I want to send an image, the app always directs me to SkyDrive instead of getting it from the phone's gallery. I already tried resetting to defaults and deleting the data of the app, but that didn't work. That's why I think it might be a phone-wide setting. I just can't seem to figure it out. Phone is a Desire X, running Android 4.1.1. | A possible solution is to reset all the defaults: <code> Settings > Apps > Menu > Restore App preferences (or something, I have a Dutch version installed) </code> | Reset application specific or phone-wide default image folder | android |
How can I display my Android ICS Samsung Galxy S3 Screen on a Laptop or Monitor Screen? Are there any fast quick programs which do this? | There are lot of apps to do that. One is droid@screen; you need to have access to Android development toolkit for that though. Extremely sorry for not providing the links, here are the links droid@screen http://droid-at-screen.ribomation.com/ please install the USB drivers of you phone, instructions about how to use it is given there on the site. If it asks for ADB you need to download Android SDK from here http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html (Got to other platforms, download SDK. ) ADB will be present in platforms tools inside the SDK | How could I view that Android Screen on a computer or larger screen | android |
Hi my aim is to get an idea of the slowdown 3rd party apps face on android, relative to the stock browser, on the SunSpider JavaScript benchmarks. In this post I would like to focus on Twitter since it is available on both iPhone and android. As everyone is aware there are restrictions on iOS which means that 3rd party apps perform significantly slower on JavaScript functionality relative to Safari (the stock browser on iPhone). I have an iPhone 4S with iOS 6.1.3. When I run the benchmark SunSpider 1.0 JavaScript Benchmark (see lower down for how I run SunSpider inside Twitter) then I get the following : Safari : 1833ms +/- 1.3% Twitter : 6900.1ms +/- 0.3% (Chrome browser etc also perform around this time). Therefore I see a slowdown of 6900.1/1833 = 3.7 times. What sort of slowdown do people get on Android (when comparing Twitter to the stock android browser)? Note I run sunspider inside twitter by doing a search for "sunspider h". Then the 5th result from the top is : "The H - News JavaScript benchmark Sunspider reaches version 1.0..." I click the hyperlink and then in the resulting webpage scroll down to the hyperlink in the line : "The new version of Sunspider is available to use...". In this way I run sunspider from within Twitter. | As I mentioned in the comments the Twitter app doesn't seen to have an in-app browser so I'm using the Reddit Is Fun app instead since I know it does. I think that all in-app browsing uses a WebView so it should be the same across all apps. The WebView and Chrome both use the WebKit engine but Chrome seems to use a more up-to-date one. I tried out SunSpider on a few different devices and on the S2 with the Browser. Nexus 7 <code> Running Android 4.2.2, Chrome 26.0.1410.58 Chrome: 1747ms (WebKit 537.31) In-app: 1720ms (WebKit 534.30) </code> Nexus S <code> Running Android 4.1.2, Chrome 18.0.1025.166, Chrome: 3443.7ms (WebKit 535.19) In-app: 4307.1ms (WebKit 534.30) </code> Samgsung Galaxy S2 <code> Running Android 4.1.1 Resurrection Remix v3.8 ROM. Browser: 1488.8ms (WebKit 534.30) In-app: 1614.2ms (WebKit 534.30) </code> I ran the tests twice as I was suprised at the speed of the Galaxy S2 compared to the Nexus 7 but got roughly the same figures. | Sunspider : performance of 3rd party apps relative to stock browser | android |
I know the iphone had a similar feature built in. I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S4 with Android version 4.2.2 | You can access the built-in graphic equalizer by going to Settings , then Sound , then Audio effects . | Is there anyway to increase the bass in Jelly Bean? | android |
first time here and I'm in sort of despair! I recently purchased a 32GB (class 10) memory card for my Samsung Galaxy S2. All went fine, the card was recognized, I could write and read from it, both, on the computer and the phone so I set it as the default storage for my camera. The problems start here. Last week, after shooting some videos, I wanted to check them at home but realized that the videos and some of the photos are not shown, the videos cannot be played by the phone or dropbox player or VLC on computer, jpg's are corrupted too. I tried formatting the card, but the problem still persists. I'm pretty stumped right now and don't have any ideas on how to fix this. Any help appreciated, thanks! | This might be some compatibility issue -- despite the fact that it seemed to work fine initially. It's not the first time I read such in connection with a class-10 card. I'd recommend to get yourself a class-6 (good enough and fast enough -- only in rare cases you would really note any difference), maybe preferably from a different brand than the current class-10, and give that a try. Chances are very good your trouble will disappear this way. | Images and videos not readable from SD | android |
I'm trying to update (Documents to go Main app) in my device. When I'm trying to install it an error comes out says <code> an existing package by the same name with a conflicting signature is already installed </code> . I have root access on my device. Is there anything I can do? | First, if there's a signature mismatch and I'm sure the original app comes from a trusted source, I'd doubt the source the "update" comes from: the <code> .apk </code> very likely is manipulated, and might include malware -- so be warned! I do not know the "one mobile market" you've downloaded it from, so I cannot tell for sure. If you still want to install the new <code> .apk </code> : Yes, removing (uninstalling) the previously installed app and the installing the downloaded version should work. If the first one was installed as a system app, you will need the appropriate system tools to uninstall it (e.g. Titanium Backup -- which you then could also use to create a backup before removing the app, just in case). Alternatively, if you know the right command line tools, you can do it also via <code> adb shell </code> . As the app in question does not require to be made a system app, installation can be done normally without any root stuff: just tap the <code> .apk </code> in your file explorer, and let the normal installer do its job. After that, watch out for any strange behavior -- just in case the <code> .apk </code> introduced malware. | An existing package by the same name with a conflicting signature is already installed | android |
Everytime my battery ends, and the phone turns off, I'll have to login to google again? Isn't there a way to keep my login information even if the mobile restarts? By the way, I use double check login, but after the first confirmation with the sms code, it should not ask for the login again. | It stopped to ask my password after about 4 reboots, or 4 days. I don't know what was causing the problem. | I always have to login to google again? | android |
Whenever I receive a phone call on my DROID RAZR MAXX, the phone speaks the words "Verizon Wireless" in a female voice and then begins playing the ringtone. If I put the phone into airplane mode, the same female voice says the words "Loss of service". Then when I turn airplane mode off, she says "Verizon Wireless" again, sometimes twice in a row. What's going on? What is this feature? How do I enable or disable this? My phone is running stock JB 4.1.2. | These voices were the result of having the so-called "Roaming tone" enabled in the Sound settings. Strangely, the description of this setting is: Roaming tone Set notification tone informing the status of cellular service After disabling this option, she no longer speaks to me when I receive a phone call or turn on/off airplane mode. Though I have no idea how a speaking voice is considered a "notification tone"... | Why does my phone say "Verizon Wireless" when I receive a phone call? | android |
I plugged in Nexus 4 to my windows machine(XP Service Pack 2) and it didnt recognise or install any software automatically. I downloaded Google USB Driver from SDK Kit and installed it and now it shows up as recognised device in the Device Manager, but how do I copy files to Phones Storage ? There s no send to option as its not connected as a USB mass storage(which is not there in this device as well) | The XDA article How To - Connect Nexus 4 to XP like MTP device describes the steps needed for Windows XP as follows: Connect your Nexus to PC. Go to My Computer> Properties> Device Manager and double click on MTP device Go to Details and copy (Ctr+C) info like (USB\VID_18D1&PID_4EE2&MI_00) (you can copy it from here too, if it is identically) Unplug Nexus from PC. Go to C:\Windows\inf folder (it's hidden) Find a file "wpdmtp.inf" and open it with any text editor (Notepad) Modify or Paste (Ctrl+P) what did you copy at step "3" as bottom I showed. <code> ; Installation inf for devices supporting Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) ; ; Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. ; [Version] Signature="$WINDOWS NT$" Class=WPD ClassGUID={EEC5AD98-8080-425f-922A-DABF3DE3F69A} Provider=%Msft% LayoutFile=layout.inf DriverVer=02/22/2006,5.2.5326.4762 [DestinationDirs] MTP.Files.Kernel = 12 MTP.Files.XPRT_USB = 11 MTP.Files.Core = 11 MTP.Files.UMDFDDriver = 12,UMDF ; copy to system32\drivers\umdf [Manufacturer] %MfgName%=Generic,NTx86,NTamd64 ; ;Device is identified by Microsoft OS descriptor ;If your device does not support it, use specific VID & PID for identification ; [Generic.NTx86] %GenericMTP.DeviceDesc%=MTP, USB\MS_COMP_MTP %GenericMTP.DeviceDesc%=MTP, USB\VID_18D1&PID_4EE2&MI_00 ; [Generic.NTamd64] %GenericMTP.DeviceDesc%=MTP, USB\MS_COMP_MTP %GenericMTP.DeviceDesc%=MTP, USB\VID_18D1&PID_4EE2&MI_00 </code> Save and close the file. Connect your Nexus to PC Go to Device Manager and update MTP driver. Tick chekbox "Install the software automatically (Recomenden)" on driver installation dialog and install driver. Wait for a moment and you can see Nexus 4 like an MTP device. Now you should see the MTP device, and be able to transfer files to it. Hope this solves your issue :) | How do I transfer music files to Nexus 4 | android |
I did a huge amount of googling but the information out there is overwhelming and I either have to get a 1:1 reply on this or try and test different options - which would suck if I fail. Basically I got a Nexus 4 a few days ago, and I rooted it, staying with the same ROM. Right now there are lots of apps, customisations, user settings, custom desktops and saved passwords/account information. How can I make a 100% backup of all the information so that it's 1:1 with what my phone is right now when I do a restore? I have made an 'adb backup -apk -shared -all -f' and a clockworkmod recovery backup, I also have the Titanium Backup app, but all of these seem to cover different parts of data to be backed up. Is there a one-stop solution? Thank you! | I'm afraid there isn't really a "one-stop solution". As you already noticed, all the different backup types have different goals, all of them have their pros and cons (see also our stackexchange-url ("backup tag-wiki") for an overview): while a Nandroid backup covers the entire system at partition-level, it's not the easiest when you want to only restore parts. On its own, it's an all-or-nothing. Luckily, there are other tools which can deal with those backup files: you can restore single apps with Titanium Backup , and even read single files from them (see: stackexchange-url ("How do I view/mount nandroid file on device?")). Titanium Backup covers almost everything on an app-and-settings level, and can read from Nandroid backup files -- but it cannot create a full Nandroid backup. Also, restore between different ROMs can be a little tricky (but that applies to all solutions), at least when it comes to system files. Still, it does a good job even then when using its "migration mode" ADB backup is a good thing, but only available with Android 4.0 upwards and also restricted to "apps and settings". Additionally, it requires a computer to attach the device to for backup/restore. The latter can be avoided using apps like Helium - App Sync and Backup , which run directly on the device and use ADB as backend. I found the best solution on rooted devices is a combination of Nandroid (offered e.g. by ClockworkMod Recovery) and Titanium. For non-rooted devices, choices are rare: neither of the two are available there, which leaves the user with ADB backup as the only half-way complete solution. | Best way for a COMPLETE backup? [Rooted Nexus 4 with stock ROM] | android |
I have a Micromax A110 Canvas 2 device with Android ICS 4.0. A few day ago, the Google Play Store app updated automatically with a new look. After a week I updated my device with Jelly Bean 4.1. So I got the Play Store with an older look (without an update). I was hoping for an auto update. But even after two days, the Play Store remains without an update. So how can I update the Play Store myself? | Usually, Google Play Services will always run in the background and if there is an latest release of the Play Store is available, it would updated automatically. You may enable Google Auto Sync and check whether it works. If not, there may be some problem with Google Play Services. Alternatively, try installing the apk from XDA . | How does the Google Play Store get updated? | android |
A friend has two Transformer TF300 tablets, both upgraded OTA to the (apparent) same JB 4.2.1 version, but one has tablet-style notifications (lower right corner) with the Home, Back, and Recent apps buttons left justified on the bottom, and the other has notifications on the top (like a phone), with the back, home, and recent buttons centered at the bottom. Is there a setting that controls the notification style, or is there some non-obvious difference in the software versions? | Asus provides two launchers in their 4.2.1 rom - they differ as you descibed in your question. The one with the notifications in the lower right is the same one as used in their 4.1 rom and the one with the notifications at the top is the vanilla Android 4.2 launcher. You can switch between them at will by opening settings and then navigating to Device -> Launcher (it requires a reboot to switch). | Two Asus Transformer TF300s, same JB version, different skin | android |
All over the internet it says there is a five pointed star to the right of the URL in omni bar. This is not the case with the version of Chrome packaged with the Samsung Galaxy S4. How can I create a bookmark? There's only one button. The tab button. | Hit the menu button (bottom left of the phone) and then click on the star (which will be at the top right of the dialog which appears). The star is only to the right of the URL on the omni bar on the desktop version of Chrome. | Create bookmarks in Chrome mobile browser. (Galaxy s4) | android |
My galaxy mini was running GB 2.3.6. I recently rooted my phone and installed CM 7.2. Now it looks like my battery is getting drained a little quicker than before. From what I have heard CM increases performance while giving a better battery life. So is my case an exception? Can somebody suggest methods to increase battery life after installing Cyanogenmod? | I can think of two reasons why a CM ROM might reduce battery life: CPU governor: The cpu governor controls the frequency of the CPU depending on the requirement. Your ROM might be using a governor that favours performance over battery life. Selecting a governor that achieves a good balance between performance & battery life might help you. You can learn more about cpu governors here Battery calibration: The battery status is stored in a file called batterystats.bin. Its possible that your phone is using the same batterystats.bin that came with the rom. You can use an application like Battery Calibration to regenerate this file with new/accurate stats.(a myth according to this ) | Does Cyanogenmod reduce battery life? | android |
I've tried installing CyanogenMod on my Samsung Galaxy S3 device. I was amazed by its smoothness and speed, but I've missed some of the apps of the official Samsung ROM, such as the camera, the keyboard, and the contacts list. I've tried installing them using the recovery mod (like installing a zipped ROM), but it didn't work. Is it possible to install Samsung apps on vanilla roms (like CyanogenMod) on my device? If so, how? I also wonder if a similar thing can be done on other devices (like installing HTC apps on and HTC device which has a vanilla ROM installed in it). | Unfortunately, it's not possible. Those apps rely on parts of the TouchWiz framework to operate. No TouchWiz, no apps. The only way would be to install a custom TouchWiz based rom. It would give you some of the performance improvements of CyanogenMod but with access to the Samsung apps. | How to install Samsung (or other manufacturers) apps on Vanilla ROMs on Galaxy S3 | android |