Still can't change Google Play country I've tried:

updating my google wallet (UK credit card & billing/home address).
set default home address.
changed postal code on gmail.
force stop and cleared cache on Google Play app.
cleared the browser cache (both on the phone and on the PC).
Used a GPS spoofer + setting localisation to GPS only.

I live in the UK, but I bought my new phone back home (in the Faroe Islands).
This is my first Android device, so I'm new to the play.google environment.

The only thing I can think of that is causing it not to work, is the fact that I cannot purchase things in the Faroe Islands (in Google Play as well as play.google.com) Since all suggestions online say that I have to "buy" an app, then clear the cache, etc..

Soooooeh, any suggestions? :p
My device is not rooted and I'm running Marshmallow

Any help is much appreciated c:

Method 1 (Requires 2 Phones signed in with same google account):

Phone 1:

Open Google Play Store and Download HotSpot Shield or Zenmate.  Once
you have downloaded.
Clear cache and data of Google Play Store by going into Settings ->
Apps -> Google Play Store.
Now open VPN app (Zenmate) and Change your location to UK and connect
the VPN. Open Google Play Store and Accepts the terms.
Accept the terms.
Now Move out of Google Play Store.
Do not exit the app from the background.

Phone 2:

Now perform the following steps on Phone 2.
Clear cache and data of Google Play Store on Android Phone.
Open Google Play Store. You don’t need VPN on this phone.
This time, accept the terms and rules. It will take you to UK’s
Google Play Store.

Phone 1:
Disconnect from VPN and Head back to Google Play Store.

Method 2: (Same thing on a single phone, but you will need VPN everytime you use Play)

Install the VPN app provided by your VPN provider on your Android
device.
Choose a VPN server belonging to UK.
Establish a VPN connection.
On your Android device, go to Settings -> Apps.
Under “Downloaded”, search for the Google Play Store app.
Click on it.
Press “Clear Data” and “Force Stop.”
Exit settings.
Relaunch the Google Play Store App.

I have tried Method 2, it worked for me.
For both methods, you need a VPN which provides a UK server(free/paid depending on you).

Set server locations where you want your Google Play location to be, most of the VPN's provide free access to US servers.

I had the same issue and the easy answer was that I had to change the country in my pay.google.com, that is where it was taking the wrong country from.
After I changed the address associated with my payments, the change country option became available in the google play profile, and I could change from Hungary to Spain.


System app Uninstallation without rooting How to Uninstall system apps without rooting? I have tried many applications but all of them require root permissions. Please help.

You can't uninstall them without root. You can disable them, though.
If space is your concern, get an SD Card. If memory is your concern, Disable them.

or You could Root your device.


What useful Android Shell commands do you know? There are questions pertaining to the use of the Android Shell or to finding a documentation of the Shell commands on Android. Since I haven't found anything convenient, I would like to use this thread to compile a list of "useful" Android commands. I am going to add commands as they are posted.

App Management

Use Android package manager pm

usage: pm [list|path|install|uninstall]
       pm list packages [-f]
       pm list permission-groups
       pm list permissions [-g] [-f] [-d] [-u] [GROUP]
       pm list instrumentation [-f] [TARGET-PACKAGE]
       pm list features
       pm path PACKAGE
       pm install [-l] [-r] [-t] [-i INSTALLER_PACKAGE_NAME] [-s] [-f] PATH
       pm uninstall [-k] PACKAGE
       pm enable PACKAGE_OR_COMPONENT
       pm disable PACKAGE_OR_COMPONENT
       pm setInstallLocation [0/auto] [1/internal] [2/external]

Examples

Install the package com.twitter.android-1.apk from the SD card

pm install /sdcard/com.twitter.android-1.apk

List installed packages that contain the term twitter

pm list packages | grep twitter

Show the install directory of the twitter package

pm path com.twitter.android

Processes

top

Lists all running processes / apps with live updates showing CPU usage, PID,...

ps

Lists all running processes / apps and allows filtering using grep

Examples

ps | grep apps

Lists all running apps on your phone

Mounting

mount -o rw,remount -t "filesystem" "Device" "Mount Point"

Allows you to remount your partitions for write access or to mount images.

Examples

Write access for the root filesystem

mount -o rw,remount -t rootfs /

Write access for your /system partition

mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system

Write access for /system using busybox

busybox mount -o remount,rw /system

Mount the contents of myimage.img, viewable in the folder myimage

mount -o loop /sdcard/myimage.img myimage

Other

getprop can show interesting details from the device configuration, such as DNS servers, gateways, GSM details, running services, build parameters, version info etc.

here is /system/bin
I haven't gone through yet to add documentation though, my apologies.
I have made a google doc where I and some friends plan to put our documentation over spring break. If people want to help out, it would be much appreciated.
Android Shell Commands

/system/bin contents:

  BasicHashtable_test

  BlobCache_test

  InputChannel_test

  InputDispatcher_test

  InputEvent_test

  InputPublisherAndConsumer_test

  InputReader_test

  Looper_test

  ObbFile_test

  String8_test

  Unicode_test

  Vector_test

  ZipFileRO_test

  adb

  am

  app_process

  applypatch

  applypatch_static

  asan

  asanwrapper

  atrace

  audioloop

  bmgr

  bootanimation

  bu

  bugreport

  cat

  check_prereq

  chmod

  chown

  cmp

  codec

  content

  corrupt_gdt_free_blocks

  dalvikvm

  date

  dd

  debuggerd

  decoder

  dexopt

  df

  dhcpcd

  dmesg

  drmserver

  dumpstate

  dumpsys

  flash_image

  fsck_msdos

  gdbjithelper

  gdbserver

  getevent

  getprop

  gzip

  hd

  id

  ifconfig

  iftop

  ime

  input

  insmod

  installd

  ioctl

  ionice

  ip6tables

  iptables

  keystore

  keystore_cli

  kill

  linker

  ln

  log

  logcat

  logwrapper

  ls

  lsmod

  lsof

  make_ext4fs

  md5

  mdnsd

  mediaserver

  mkdir

  mksh

  monkey

  mount

  mtpd

  mv

  nandread

  ndc

  netcfg

  netd

  netstat

  newfs_msdos

  notify

  ping

  ping6

  pm

  pppd

  printenv

  ps

  qemu-props

  qemud

  r

  racoon

  radiooptions

  reboot

  record

  recordvideo

  recovery

  renice

  requestsync

  rild

  rm

  rmdir

  rmmod

  route

  run-as

  schedtest

  schedtop

  screencap

  screenshot

  sdcard

  sendevent

  sensorservice

  service

  servicemanager

  set_ext4_err_bit

  setconsole

  setprop

  sf2

  sh

  showlease

  skia_test

  sleep

  smd

  stagefright

  start

  stop

  stream

  surfaceflinger

  svc

  sync

  system_server

  testid3

  toolbox

  top

  touch

  uiautomator

  uim-sysfs

  umount

  updater

  uptime
  vdc
  vmstat
  vold
  watchprops
  wipe


update xnph44s to xnph05q the problem:

I am using a OnePlus One. Current CM version - 11.0 XNPH44S. I got the update notification to XNPH05Q and when i click "download update" it downloads the update(i dont know where). And when i click "install update" it reboots and automatically goes to CM recovery mode(i dont need to press the power and volume down button).

As most of the forums suggested, I do the following:

Apply update > choose from internal Storage > 0/

but i dont find the correct file to select. And so I simply reboot the system and download the file cm-bacon-5fa8c79c0b-to-5229c4ef56-signed.zip and put it in the internal storage.. then i do the following:

reboot (automatically goes to cm recovery)
apply update
choose from internal storage
0/
select the zip file

the installation starts...

Same problem has been posted here at xda-developers forums but no solution is given... also, i tried the instructions from the forum of oneplus one.

Note: i dont have much idea on flashing twrp, etc.... you can consider me a noob.

HELP!

My solution:

The problem lied in the ROM installed in my phone. So, I rooted the phone, installed TWRP recovery, flashed SU binary and then flashed the updated ROM.

The most easiest way to root is given here. After following the video tutorial, download the ROM you want to install then flash it using the TWRP recovery.

Go to Recovery mode, select Install,  look for the ZIP file and select  Install zip.


How do reset my phone when it won't go past the sercurity check and wont let me type It's not letting my type anything and it's been turned off for a while and this screen is still here

You could use the recovery mode to reset the device. To enter recovery mode,power off the device and then hold down the power and volume up key. Then use the volume down button to scroll down to 'wipe data/factory reset' and press the power button. Then, scroll down to 'yes, delete all user data' and press the power button. Finally, after the reset, scroll up to 'reboot system now' and press the power button. After the reboot, your device should be fully reset.
;)

You can use adb of android SDK to reset your phone. Just put your phone on recovery mode and connect it with a USB to your computer and start adb on your system and from there you can do many of things. Just checkout the adb commands and their uses.

Second thing what you can do is put a custom ROM in your phone with help of a Flash tool of your phone and that will give you a new os with Complete fresh functioning in your phone.


Files show up on Nexus 5 but not in Windows 7 I have a Nexus 5 running Android 6.0.1 and all of my files appear on the media direcotries within the phone, but when I plug it in as an MTP device in Windows 7, only some of the files show up. When I add new files over MTP the opposite happens, they don't appear on the device. I've tried rescanning the SD card, I've tried rebooting the phone, I've tried rebooting my computer, I've tried reinstalling the Nexus device drivers. Please help.

Try to switch the USB mode to MTP/only charge or disable USB debugging and see if it works.


Run android on windows 7 All I want to do running Android on Windows 7 is using whatsapp for certain group discussion.

I tried BlueStacks, but it causing keyboard issue, at many times, certain key act like got stuck, keep repeating, and when this happen, I have to restart my windows.
quit the bluestack won't help.

now I want to try other (free) option, any recommendation?
youwave is not free.
I come across this androvm, but the file type is ova , no idea how to run it at present.

just to re-clarify:

I already running WhatsApp over BlueStack on my Windows 7 64 bits.

But it comes with a side effect, very bad. At time, my keyboard seems like got 1 key stuck, and keep repeatively pressing it unstopped.

the keyboard is absolute fine. I kill/quit BlueStack if I don't plan to use the WhatsApp, which is auto-start whenever i login.

when the funny keyboard issue happened, the only way to resolve it is reboot, quit the BlueStack won't help at all.

You could simply unplug the keyboard and plug it back in. Works for me every time.

You can use Bluestacks; works as emulator.


Locked out of my Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0 I have been locked out of my Galaxy Player. When I clicked on "forgot password" it told me to log in to my Google Play account. I forgot my password to it too. I need help to figure out how to change my password to it.

Is your phone rooted? If yes,  then

Power off your phone. Wait for 5 minutes (till it vibrates to indicate it's switched off completely or just remove the battery)
Press volume down+power button+home button (to boot it to bootloader)
It will ask your warranty is void bla bla bla., just click okay
Now navigate the menu with volume up (to go one level up) volume down (to one level down) and power button (to select)
There must be some wipe dat/factory reset
If yes then select it and wipe all - all yes' and okays' (it will not clear your media inside the internal sd)
When it finishes go back to menu and click reboot

And check if your password has been set to slide unlock

Checked and verified on many Samsung devices and other phone out in India.

Reset your gmail account password through web and try again.

Else you can wipe the phone data as suggested by @Utkarsh Kaushik


How do I diagnose a WiFi Error when the phone just reports "Unknown"? I have a Motorola Atrix (MB860) running Android 2.3.6.  Just today the Wi-Fi suddenly stopped working; On the Quick Settings display it just shows "Unknown", on the phone's Wi-Fi Settings display it just shows "Error" and Wi-Fi won't turn on.

I've tried turning it off and back on several times, and I've tried pulling the battery twice.  I have installed Log Collector, but looking through the log I can't see anything even remotely relevant.

Talking to AT&T (God love 'em) on a previous Wi-Fi issue several months ago, they just blew me off and said they don't help with Wi-Fi issues, so I am not confident in getting help from that direction. If I have my phone replaced, my company will force me to get an iPhone due to a new Apple-only company policy.  So I am on my own.

How might I go about diagnosing the problem?

Try to search for Google the appropriate Kernel for 2.3.6 (presumably you are running on 4.5.141 firmware). Then flash it. When I say "flash", I mean a flash by CWM. Good luck.


Why do Android phones have more cores than computers? Laptops have usually at most four cores, and dualcores are probably more common. I have recently switched from quadcore to dualcore and I can confirm there is a limited number of usecases for quadcore, even with CPU intensive tasks.

On the other hands, at mobile phones, quadcores, hexacores and octacores seem to be common. Why? What tasks can utilize them?

I understand that big.LITTLE can be a part of the answer. That is, the main benefit of so many cores is not the ability to use all of them simultaneously, but rather using a core with power consumption appropriate for the current workload. However, for example, the Snapdragon 625 has eight Cortex-A53 cores, which does not seem to be a case for big.LITTLE.

Maybe the ARM architecture has a lower point of optimal performance per watt. That is, having a single core tuned for optimal performance per watt results in a lower performance on ARM than on Intel. So, more cores are used in order to deliver the performance. This is just a hypothesis.

But even in this case, I don't see what workload can efficiently use, say, eight cores on a mobile phone. On laptops, I can imagine a few like full (non-incremental) compilation of a project. But on phones?

Games can be performance-hungry, but they usually require GPU performance rather than CPU, don't they?
Theoretically, multiple cores could speed up Android Lollipop/Marshmallow AOT compilation when installing or when upgrading (i.e., the phase “Optimizing apps 3/121”). I am, however, not sure if this can utilize multiple cores. As far as I remember the code, only one app is being compiled at a time, but maybe there is some parallelism within the compilation process itself.
Also Android 7+ could utilize multiple cores when compiling. But since it reportedly compiles when idle and charging, the benefit seems to be rather minimal. At least when one charges the phone overnight – I really don't care if it takes 30minutes or two hours in such a scenario.

As you've already noted, the big.LITTLE combination strategy (technically, HMP, Heterogeneous Multi-Processing clusters) is the primary reason for so many (and sometimes overwhelmingly many) cores. A mobile device often runs into multiple scenarios, both heavy load and light load ones included.

An extreme consumer-class example is MediaTek's Helio X20, which has 2 performance-oriented A72 cores, 4 balanced A53 cores, plus 4 energy-efficient A35 cores. That's very flexible throughout different usage cases. However, I think 8 cores 2 clusters is usually enough.

There's also another desktop-like example, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 series (S 800, S 801, and S 805). There are only 4 cores of the same microarchitecture in each SoC, with 2 clocked higher and 2 clocked lower. Qualcomm made these SoCs because they were very confident of their own microarchitecture (Krait 400 and Krait 450).

For games, even if they seemingly demand GPU performance rather than CPU, they still put a heavy load on the CPU. A GPU cannot work alone without something else supplying it with data to be processed, and that's one of the major jobs that the CPU is doing while you're gaming. In most gaming cases, the GPU only renders graphics, while all other jobs like loading data, resources and assets, and calculating in-game mechanics like the system, environment and physics are done by the  CPU. You won't observe a higher frame rate if you upgrade your GPU while sticking to a low-end CPU.

A secondary reason is how Android utilizes CPU resources. Android pretty much makes their own application environment. It uses nothing but codes (and APIs) from Java, but it has its own virtual machine named Dalvik, which was later replaced by ART (API Level 21). APKs have their executable codes in a "neutral" format, much like .class files in Java. Before they're run, the codes get compiled once more into the machine's native instructions[1]. The compilation process is multi-threaded and can utilize multi-cores for a performance boost.
And when an app is running, there are several other processes and mechanics (like the Garbage Collector) that run alongside, or parallel to the app. More cores can let the supportive processes run more efficiently, as well as the main app.
1. If you use a file type identifier, you'll find that "optimized" dex files are in ELF format, while the "neutral" dex files are just in a format of their own.

Another lesser reason is that ARM cores can't work as fast as an Intel x86 chip. The Intel x86 microarchitecture can be dated back to 1976, when the Intel 8086 chip started to be designed, which means that the x86 has developed over a long time. A single modern high-end ARM Cortex-A73 core is only as powerful as an Intel Clarkdale core, taking Core i5-660 as an example (GeekBench, single-core). This is because x86 is a CISC microarchitecture while ARM is a RISC microarchitecture. You surely don't want a phone that becomes laggy with only two or so active apps. More cores will help relieve the pressure. That's why dual-core SoCs are relatively popular only on smart watches. Who needs performance on a smart watch?

Interestingly, more cores will result in less power than a single core at the same load. The relationship between CPU frequency and power consumption is more than linear, so twice the frequency will always result in demanding more than twice, or even 3x or 4x as much power, while delivering less than twice the performance (due to other resource limitations like cache). So 4 cores can easily beat a single core at the same load, providing better performance and simultaneously demanding less power.

Further Reading:

Why 8 and 10 CPU cores in smartphones are a good idea – a lesson from the kitchen
Why some phones have two quad core processors and some have similar clocked octa core. Which is better one in terms of performance?

I think one of the main driving factors beyond a 4 or 8 (for big:little configurations) is just marketing at the moment.

One huge problem of the high core count is when you consider the size of the memory. Normally in desktop apps when you want to improve the utilization of multiple cores you need to duplicate structures and use much more memory then in a single threaded application.

This does not happen because RAM is very expensive (especially in the 2017/2018 RAM crisis situation). Marketing wants high numbers but controlling want to cut on component prices. If you see a balance which is less than 1 Gigabyte of RAM per core then you see a failed compromise.


How do RAM and processor speed affect overall performance on Android? Since Android can be installed on wide range of devices, I'm wondering how important RAM and the CPU speed are to the performance of a device.  There are always tradeoffs when something is increased and another one decreased!

Is more RAM or a faster processor better for general browsing and less mulititasking?  What if I'm interested in gaming or doing lots of things at once?  Will more RAM make up for a slower processor or vice-versa?

In the context of Android, more RAM means Android can keep more sleeping program in the RAM so they will be ready to be quickly resumed when you return back to the apps. More RAM means Android is going to spend less of its time killing and reloading apps from the internal memory/sd card, and instead spend more time doing actual work you care about. This means that more RAM usually give you better/faster task-switching. Also, more RAM means your homescreen is less likely to be killed; and you won't experience that 10-second-wait-that-feels-like-forever. Having more RAM also allows you to run complex apps that naturally requires a lot of memory, e.g. photo/video editor, complex games, etc.
A higher CPU is able to calculate things much faster, while this might look tempting at first, it is notable that most programs -- except for games and synthetic benchmark and possibly flash-heavy webpages -- are I/O-bound and not CPU-bound; in other word, most programs are waiting for network transmission, flash storage reads, DMA reads, touch event processing, etc to finish, instead of waiting for some calculations. In CPU-bound application, increasing CPU speed can mean less latency between touching the screen and the screen updating to reflect the touch event. However, up to a certain point, there will be no longer any noticeable benefit of adding even more CPU; beyond a certain point, the input turnaround will be much faster than our own brain's turnaround time (approx. 100-200ms) and we will not be able to perceive the benefit of adding even faster CPU. Also, note that input-to-output turnaround time depends on a large number of other factors, e.g. the latency of the cables, speed of the bus, etc. Second, having some extra CPU time to spare also means that Android can assign those spare CPU cycles to background processes, so background processes can run better.
Summary
More RAM:

better task-switching
can run more complicated apps or open larger/more complex files

More CPU:

faster turnaround between input and response (less lag) on CPU-bound apps
better background processing

In short, both are equally important; your own personal usage pattern will determine which is more valuable for you. If you generally stays in a single program and is sensitive to input-to-output latency then having faster CPU will be more valuable for you; if you constantly task switch between many different apps or if you need to run complex memory-hungry apps to open complex large files, then having extra RAM is going to be more valuable to you.

It's actually the memory bandwidth that is most limiting. Secondly, a good balance in specs, including RAM size, processor speed and parallelism.


Is it normal for my Galaxy S5 to always bring up a prompt to "check battery cover" when powering up/rebooting? I recently got a Galaxy S5 and I'm new to the android platform so apologies in advance if this is an obvious question.

I've noticed that my phone brings up a prompt during startup (after a full poweroff) stating to check my battery cover.  It looks like this:

Does this mean that the phone senses the cover being loose?  Or is this just a generic message that comes up every time I boot?

Generic message after reboot. It will show everytime and I think you cannot turn it off.


WiFi authentication problem I have got my android (Lenovo Vibe P1M) and for a couple of days my WiFi worked smoothly.But when i tried connecting it yesterday it says authentication problem.

While my family members can use the WiFi with their phones, I can't.

What I've tried so far:

1. turning my WiFi on in Airplane mode.
2. clearing data from google services framework.
3. going far away from my router and trying to connect.
4. factory resetting the phone once
5. Forgetting access points and resetting passwords.
6. restarting my hotspot several times
7. restarting my phone several times

nothing worked.

NOTE: I see this question has been asked before here but that doesn't solve my problem.

Does it mean there is a problem with my device?

In my case it was a full memory - deleted Gigabytes of photos -> worked


Android Phone Storage Full due to APKs My OnePlus Two has 64GB Internal Storage and no SD card.
It shows Phone Storage Full warning. When I investigated, I saw below stats and am unable to free space.

Settings > Storage & Memory > Storage & USB
Internal Storage 53.62 GB Used of 54.00 GB

Break Up

  Apps      14.00 GB
  Images   565 MB
  Videos    8.00 KB
  Audio     44.00 KB
  Other      38.94 GB
  Cached Data   3.64 MB

I clicked "Others". Next, "Explore" > "File Manager" > "Categories" > "Phone Storage" > "Storage Information".

  Images   170.57 MB
  Audio      1.98 GB
  Video      1.02 GB
  Others    14.9 GB
  Archives   538.09 KB
  Apks          35.46 GB
  Documents   117.16 MB
  Available        339.48 MB

When I check "apks", I see several apks for each app (which are presently installed or were installed in past). It looks like on each update of the apps, the apk file for each update in present on my phone.

I have tried some uninstalling apps but that does not remove all apks. I still see several apks for each app which I uninstall.

Example of apk names.

Facebook_140.0.0.24.91.apk  86.2 MB
Facebook_141.0.0.31.91.apk  86.2 MB
Facebook_136.0.0.22.91.apk  82.37 MB
Facebook_135.0.0.22.90.apk  81.79 MB
Facebook_130.0.0.45.70.apk  81.77 MB
Facebook_134.0.0.25.91.apk  80.69 MB
Facebook_132.0.0.20.85.apk  80.55 MB
Facebook_131.0.0.32.69.apk  79.53 MB
::
::
Facebook_114.0.0.20.70.apk  69.49 MB

Similarly for each other app on my phone.

OxygenOS version 3.5.8
Android Version 6.0.1
Android Security Patch Level March 1, 2017
Kernel Version 3.10.84-perf+
OnePlus@ubuntu-56 #1
Mon Mar 13 11:40:18 CST 2017
Build Number ONE A2003_24_170313

Please help. Any solution other than phone reset ?

After an apk is installed it can be deleted from a file manager and you keep your apps/games.


Battery drain with in no time in Samsung Galaxy Ace I have Samsung Galaxy Ace for almost an year now. The battery of my phone get discharged now with-in no time of charging. The battery status in Setting -> About Phone - > Battery use shown the following

Screenshot (Click image to enlarge)

I could not interpret what does this mean.

Is there some app which is eating up the battery or I need to replace the battery? Is it normal for battery of this model?

As we already have a lot of related answers to similar questions, just let me sum up here:

As said in my above comment, the screenshot does not provide much information without having related details available. All it says is: The overall battery consumption after ~14.5 hours is shared 50:50 by "Phone Idle" and "Cell Standby". Let's assume the battery level at that point is 80%, then each app had consumed about 10% of a full charge -- which could count as "normal". If on the other hand the battery level was 20% (or even less), it would be a bad sign -- pointing a.o. to bad reception (see: What is Cell standby and how can I keep it from eating my battery?) for the "Cell Standby" part.

I wrote we already have a lot of good answers on the "battery life" topic. Some are even listed in the "Related" (and now also in the "Linked") section of this question, as e.g.

What can I do to increase battery life on my Android device?
Is there any study on how which services/sensors consume the battery?

Many more can be found following the tag-link battery-life. Please follow those links for closer information.

As the "battery info" is giving you so few information, here's a hint to some helpful app: BetterBatteryStats. With that app, watch out especially for the "Wake Locks", as those keep your device from entering energy-saving modes. Check the configuration of the apps mentioned in connection with this (a good example could be an email app with a too-high polling frequency, where you e.g. could reduce the frequency from "every 5 minutes" to "every 30 minutes" to save a lot of juice).

EDIT: Another helpful app I just discovered is Battery Stats Plus, which helps you find the "evil apps" on your device. Brought to you by our friend at XDA Developers...

I have an Ace and have found a way to have my battery to last for literally days. It is at 50% currently and it has been 51 hours since I last charged it. I just turn off wifi, data transmission etc and at night put it in 'phone mode' and it makes the battery last longer.


How to downgrade Samsung Galaxy Mini S5570 from 2.3.6 to 2.2.2? I need help with downgrading my Samsung Galaxy Mini (S5570) from 2.3.6 to 2.2.2.

You can search and download "Samsung S5770 Android 2.2.2 firmware" in google or forum.xda-developer.com in Samsung S5770 section, you can get official ROM and Custom ROM there, then flash it via ODIN (if official) or via custom recovery if Custom ROM


Disable lock screen wallpaper on S3 Android 4.3 I can change the wallpaper on the lock screen on my S3, but is it possible disable it completely? I can't see that in the menus, I am only able to pick a wallpaper from the gallery.

You could try and change it to a black wallpaper. There is a No Wallpaper app on Google Play, which you install as a live wallpaper. It doesn't take a lot of resources.

Install a pitch black wallpaper on your phone.  Search it in Google Play Store and install the app.  Then you can go to your phone's settings, device, screen, wallpapers, choose lock and home screen, then choose live wallpapers and you will be able to display the "no wallpaper app".

If you choose just the lockscreen, you wont see the application but you can only choose from the gallery.

This is what I did on my Note 2.


How do I mount an NFS share on an CM 12? I'd like to mount an NFS share on my Android cell phone, with perhaps a mount-unmount button on the home screen. Any ideas of how to accomplish this?

My /system/lib/modules is empty. It doesn't have nfs.ko.

There are many apps that can do this:

Mount Manager
CifsManager

And also this thread on XDA-Developers suggest using BusyBox (it's simpler to just open the thread on go trough the discussion than for me to copy that stuff here, you'd need context to understand)

Finally, this research was done by a simple Google search, you should do your research before posting.


Samsung Galaxy S3 Neo shows the logo, then screen turns black So basically today I was going home, started listening to some music and BAM the music stops. The phone "turns on" and shows the Samsung Galaxy S3 neo gt something and then the screen turns black. And that happens in an infinite loop. It also happens when charging and when I remove the battery and put it back in, it automatically boots up, shows the logo and turns black. What do I do?

Probably the battery is dead, try to plug in a new one


Video player with chapter support? anonye knows if there's an Android video player that supports chapters embedded into .mp4 videos?
Similar to the player on IOS.

Thank you

There are only two of them.

SimpleCinema (by DeveloperRevolution): it works with both Quicktime-variant chapters and Nero-variant chapters. The former is more popular. It is a small player that just does one thing.

LVOE Media: If you are not sign language user, you probably will find its sign-language-optimized interface a bit weird, but I've tested that it can do Quicktime variant chapters, Nero-variant I did not test against this player.

Chapters in video files is a good feature, unfortunately most people don't know it exists.


Cannot charge due to low battery temperature on Lenovo P780 My Lenovo P780 won't charge because the battery warning always pop up & says that charging is paused due battery's temperature is too low. I have checked the battery's temperature & it is around -20°C. I am just living in the Philippines and only got this when I went back to work in Vietnam.

Tried to warm up the phone, but the temperature is still -20°C. I can only charge the phone when it is "OFF" & it takes very long time to charge; 5 hours charging & the battery is charged up to 60% only. Why this happens and how to fix it?

So what you have sounds like one of two things.

One, there is a software issue giving false readings off the temperature sensor. In order to diagnose this I would recommend installing a third party battery monitor which can monitor temperature. If this gives you a normal temperature you know its software and a factory reset should fix your problems. If it still is -20 than it could be hardware or just firmware level software.

Two, the temperature sensor could be broken or malfunctioning giving a false or default reading.

Either way if doesn't cause any problems a factory reset would either fix it or tell you what is wrong.

Let me know how it goes, I may have some other options for you if need be.

Put Tape into the center battry switch, 2 should be ok but in centre put tape


How to download and INSTALL apps in the memory card? (and not the phone memory) How to download and INSTALL apps in the SD memory card? (and not the phone memory known as Device Storage)

Since when I download something on Aptoide it says that my memory is full. The fact is, my device storage memory is full but my SD memory card is empty.

I have an Android based Samsung Galaxy.

check out this https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ljmobile.move.app
may be it can be helpful. There is a bit work but it get the job done.

Please visit this link :

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1278349

The post is to help you set your phones default install path to your phones sd card on any android device.


How can I add a Shared partition that Anbox can access? I know it's a relatively new and unstable application but I figured if anyone has suffered through the issue and solved it then they can help me too.

I've got Anbox running and Apps open up really quickly but these apps can't access storage making them unusable.

(Tap to Enlarge)

So is their a way I can make these apps access a certain folder or .vdi file or a partition? I'm trying to do this in Ubuntu 16.10 but it's still an Android Environment or Emulator,so  posting it here.

I managed a limited workaround using ES File Explorer installed on Anbox and adding a shared folder via Network → LAN


Is there a way to see the device's screen *live* on PC, through ADB? I am a vlogger and after getting HTC Desire HD, found out its camera was all I ever needed. However, I usually have to see myself while recording video, to control my facial expressions, and with a rear-facing camera it's just not possible.

I know ADB allows for screenshots, but is there a way to stream the screen output to my PC's display?
Not necessarily at 20+ fps, just a couple frames per second will do.

screenrecord
screenrecord is an internal Android executable that dumps screen to a file, and ffplay from ffmpeg happens to be able to play an H.264 encoded stream from stdin
First enable ADB USB access and then on Ubuntu:
sudo apt-get install adb ffmpeg
adb exec-out screenrecord --output-format=h264 - |
   ffplay -framerate 60 -probesize 32 -sync video  -

You might have to make the screen move a bit before you see anything:

Uncut demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVgeoMYm61Q
Explanation of parameters:

-probesize 32 -framerate 60 -sync video reduce the delay between the image on the phone and the image on the disktop (thanks to @arbuz)
we use adb exec-out instead of adb shell because shell might mess up some control characters due to being a shell (thanks to @Bowi)

See also: Use adb screenrecord command to mirror Android screen to PC via USB

Tested on Ubuntu 20.04, Android 11, Pixel 3a.

Airdroid is all you need.  Simple and easy to use. You're able to see your camera out put live but for some reason not able to record it. Your pc and android phone must be on the same WiFi network.


What can I do to increase battery life on my Android device? What can I do to get better battery life on my Droid? Battery life seems awful. Less than 15 hours or so on normal usage.

I played with this for a little while after getting my Droid, and found that there are a few easy things you can do that make a big difference.  There's also a lot of misinformation out there, so you need to do some testing.  I get 20 hours of regular use or 16 hours of heavy use.

Note that these are my results on a Motorola Droid with OS 2.1.  Your results may vary, particularly if you're using a different OS version!

Don't use Live Wallpapers.  They're cool, but they eat battery.
Don't use Sense UI.  That's HTC's home app.  Again, it's pretty, but not friendly to battery.
Prefer the back button over the home button.  The back button lets apps decide if they want to run in the background.  The home screen often leaves apps running when they don't need to.
Don't use app killers!  There's no need for them if you use the back button, and you'll end up crippling other apps because of non-obvious dependencies between apps.
Use WiFi whenever you have access to a network because it uses less battery than 3G.  (Shorter distance, lower power.)  Turn WiFi off when you don't have access to a network, otherwise it will keep looking for a WiFi network it can use (which drains battery).
Reduce the frequency at which apps refresh their content.  Common offenders are social media clients (Twitter, Facebook, etc.), email, and news or weather apps.
Finally, watch your battery usage under Settings -> About Phone -> Battery -> Battery Use.  This will show you what has been using the battery since it was last charged.  (So it shows nothing while charging!)  If anything unexpected is using the battery, consider replacing it with another app or service.

Best of luck, and enjoy your Android phone!

Try to do CPU-intensive tasks like downloading stuff, installing updates, watching video, etc, whilst connected to a charger. This will reduce the wear on your battery so it will perform well for longer.


White blocks in place of the numbers on the lock screen My phone (Samsung Galaxy S4) updated recently to Android 5.0.1 and now I have a problem with my lock screen.

Instead of the usual number pad with letters I have lots of white blocks in place of the numbers and most of the letters. Does anyone know how to fix this?

This happens on many Samsung Galaxy devices (S3, S4, S5, Note 2 and Note 3). Android forums are full of this and it has nothing to do with language settings.

Long-press power button to restart phone clears it up for some time (days to weeks), then it comes right back. As of this writing, there's no real solution, but apparently it's memory related. Did your phone perchance start giving you occasional random error messages "Unfortunately contacts has stopped working"?

actually if you go into your applications and clear the cache data (which is useless cookies saved from the internet) it fixes it and it should also speed up your phone.


Samsung Galaxy S5 Active no SIM Card I tried rooting my device with towelroot only to find out it didn't work. I went to bed before doing this, and when I woke up my phone said no SIM card, please insert in the notification bar. I got rootchecker from the playstore and it said my device wasn't rooted. I tried removing the SIM card, and then re-inserting it, which didn't seem to work. I then tried to factory restore my phone. It still didn't seem to work, so then I googled the problem. I checked my "about device" and everything seems ok. I then went to status and it seemed alright, I had IMEI number is there, but my mobile network type is unknown so is my service state, mobile network state, phone number. I have no idea how to fix it, so I thought I would make a thread of my own before I go into AT&T and try to talk to them about it. I can't call, access my mobile data, or text. Basically just an iPod with wifi.

Model Number : SAMSUNG-SM-G870A
Android Version 4.4.2

You have destroyed your gadgets mother board while trying to root your device with towelroot. Now the only solution is that you have to change the mother board
of your device.


Network unlock code not working I have bought a used Motorola Defy (MB525), rooted, running CyanogenMod 9 (ICS 4.0.4).

It is locked to work with only a specific carrier. I bought an unlock code, and unaware to this the previous owner got an unlock code from the carrier. Both are the same, so I suppose the code is correct.

When I insert a GSM SIM card from another carrier and turn on the phone, I get a message that roughly translates to "insert SIM network unlock PIN" (see image below).

When I insert the unlock code, it blinks a message VERY fast, I can't even read it, then it says "failed on requesting network unlock", or something like that.

I have performed this more than 3 times, does it mean my phone is locked forever?

I have also been told to remove CM9 and reinstall the stock ROM in order for the unlock to work, but (1) I have no idea if this would actually help, and (2) I have never changed a ROM before and, althouh I used CM9 to create a nandroid backup, I have no idea how to reinstall CM9 and then restore the backup.

I have followed this guide and my phone is now unlocked.

I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner user, because it involves pretty advanced commands and procedures, and uses ROMs and tools from untrusted sources. Proceed at your own risk!

The performed steps were basically:

Create a complete nandroid backup on the SD card.
Google for a stock ROM for the specific phone model I owned, and the specific carrier that it is locked to. I found one on a random forum. This is not recommended for obvious security reasons, but I was desperate. If your carrier provides an official stock ROM, I definitely recommend you prefer using it.
Googled for the ADB drivers for my phone model. In this case, the Motorola drivers worked fine.
Connected the phone to my computer and flashed the stock ROM. In my case, this actually downgraded my phone from android 4.0.4 to 2.3.3 and unrooted it.
Performed the unlock procedure using the unlock code I had.
Rooted my phone again, and installed a new recovery menu
Applied the nandroid backup from the recovery menu.

Result:

Phone is back as it was before, but unlocked.

Obviously you have network locked phone and correct unlock code. The problem is somebody typed wrong code too many times and therefor the phone won't accept the unlock code.

The solution is to hard reset the phone - search google for hard reset instructions. Once the hard reset is done the phone will accept your unlock code!

Best Regards,

gsmwong


Emoji Problems LG G3 Cyanogenmod Last night I rooted and installed CyanogenMod 20150625 Nightly on my LG G3 D855. I also wanted to replace the emojis in the system to iOS emojis. I did that and it worked, except for one, the red heart.

It's not showing in the emoji part of my keyboard and when I see it in texts, it's a black, small heart.

The things I tried:

Replacing the font file with two diffrent iOS emoji files.
Trying to change the emojis with two Emoji Switching apps from Play Store.
Deleting files that had emoji in the file name.

Every step I did gave me the same result. Any solution?

I faced with the same problem, and I found this GUIDE, I hope it will help you too!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/software/guide-fix-emoji-displaying-black-t3152314

You can also download the emoji packs from here: (the iOS pack worked me fine)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2618523


What's causing battery drainage by "Google Services" while packet data is switched on in a 3G dead zone? Here's a picture of my Samsung Galaxy S2 battery usage page. Around the point where the battery usage started diving, I had added a calendar remainder, sent an email (to a new contact) and browsed facebook (using their app) and twitter (using the web browser).

I've done all of these things many times before. What could have caused the sudden drain, and how can I stop it happening again when I'm not near a charger? (Updated question after picture.)

UPDATE

I've done some experimentation and made some observations. My workplace is in a 3G dead zone, but has 2G thanks to a repeater box someone has installed nearby.

For the past three months, I have left the phone with 'Sync' and 'Packet Data' switched on all the time. When at work inside the 3G dead zone, I sometimes switch on wifi. Before this incident, I've had no problems at all with battery power, despite leaving Sync on all the time.

After posting the original revision of this question, I charged the phone up while it was switched off, went home and only switched it back on when I got home. I had sync and 3G data all night and the battery wasn't rapidly draining.

This morning, the only change I had made was to carry it with me into my workplace and put the phone on my desk. I didn't switch anything on or off, I only carried it to my desk. It very quickly started heating up and I noticed that battery was rapidly draining as before.

I began to suspect that the dead zone was causing the problem. To test this hypothesis, I charged the phone up and switched off wifi, sync and packet data. During the day, I switched on wifi and sync in various combinations. (Text continues after picture.)

The kink in the graph is around 20 minutes where wifi and sync were both switched off, but packet data was switched on. During those 20 minutes, the phone was heating up and the battery was draining. When I switched packet data off, normal battery use resumed.

Conclusion: Something in my phone has a bug where the battery starts draining badly while in a 3G dead zone and packet data is switched on.

Remember, this only started happening very recently. I've had this phone since January and have left both packet data and sync switched on almost continuously. I've not knowingly had any software updates recenty and the 3G data availablity of my workplace has been consistently very bad for some time.

Does please anyone know of a fix?

(Many thanks to m'colleague Duncan Large for taking the pictures and helping test the hypothesis.)

It looks like your phone tries to build a 3g connection only if packet data is enabled. After all, 2g is just fine for voice and texts. But unsuccessfully trying to create a connection when there is no network costs a lot of power.

In my experience, phones normally cope just fine with that. My theory is that the 2G signal normally contains some sort of flag that indicates whether there is also a 3G signal. The 2G repeater would incorrectly send this flag -- possibly because the tower it gets its signal from sends it too. Thus your phone wastes energy trying to connect to a signal that only exists somewhere else.

If you cannot (or don't want to) replace the repeater by a more sophisticated model, you should turn off 3G altogether while in your office. GSM phones have a setting in Wireless & networks -> Mobile networks -> Network Mode that lets you switch between WDCMA (3G) and GSM (2G). I don't know what the setting looks like on a CDMA phone.

You can probably automate this with Tasker if you do want to use 3G where it is possible. Alternatively you could use a widget to change the setting manually without having to go to the settings menu. One app that provides a widget for this is Widgetsoid.

Also happened on my Samsung Infuse. It took me awhile to realize what the problem was. And also as you stated it never used to do it, only about the time the warranty expired. But yeah disabling my data while at work (which is a low signal 3g zone) fixed the problem.


Hide Alarm icon in the status bar I have at least one alarm set to go off daily so the "alarm clock" icon on my notification bar is really pointless.

Is there a way to make this icon hidden in Android Froyo or Android Gingerbread?

On Android Marshmallow, you can use the hidden System UI Tuner.

Open the quick-setting panel, then press and hold the Settings' cog wheel until it starts spinning. You then get an additional settings entry in System > System UI Tuner > Status bar, where you can hide the alarm.

if you are running Jelly Bean (or newer), there is the option of disabling all notifications from an app. The setting is per-app and can be found in Settings > Apps > (select the app) > uncheck the "Show notifications" box. The one caveat to this method is that the app will no longer show any notifications in the notification bar, but if that's acceptable to you than I've found this method to be an easy way to stop my notification drawer from filling up with unnecessary notifications.


Removing apk of inbuilt apps completely (without rooting) I'm working on Samsung Galaxy On7, Android 6.0.1-Marshmallow.

My internal memory is 8 GB, due to which I have disabled several inbuilt apps which I do not need at all.

The problem is that, these disabled apps are still taking up space, even though they are disabled and replaced by their factory versions.

Is there any way I can completely free up the space the Google apps are using up (like Facebook and its Manager, which are taking up almost no space):

(Click the image to enlarge it)

Please note that I do not want to root my phone. I had previously rooted my other phone with kingo root, but could never unroot it.

Unfortunately, that is just not possible. The apk of system apps resides within system partition. The privileges (access rights) required to make changes in system partition are not given to ordinary users. We can only gain such higher privilege through rooting.

That said, if you are dealing with space issues than you are looking at wrong front. System partition has nothing to do with those space issues since only a system wide update/upgrade makes changes in it. They are caused by data partition. It is possible that you may have updated some system apps, so now, they would be having an apk in system partition and another apk (the latest update) in the data partition (now that is one precious space). You can delete the ones in data partition by disabling that system app. When you attempt to do that you would get something like this:

OK, and the apk from the data partition would get deleted.

try sd maid, it will find large files, eg it  found thumbnails from 'gallery
' . I also changed to camera360 app that dont leave thumbnails so large in size.

use osmonitor app, it  will find the apps that at are using up ram , and you can remove them.

Finally use a firewall, i use 'no root firewall' and it disables access to the internet by app, you whitelist  the apps you need to access internet. eg Gallery was pinging the net, and why? photos are local


How do I set a custom SMS tone for a single contact? If it matters any I have an HTC Desire Z with the original Sense install.

We have this monitoring service at work that keeps an eye on the various servers and starts frantically SMS'ing me whenever things aren't working right.

I'd like to set a separate notification tone for SMS's from that one contact. How do you do that? Under the contact I have an option for the Ringtone, but there doesn't seem to be an option for the SMS notification tone.

Go into your contacts.  Open the contact you want to personalize the message tone.  Click "edit".  Then scroll down to the bottom and click on "ADD ANOTHER FIELD".  Tap to put a check mark beside "Message tone" then tap "OK".  Then tap on "Message tone" and your options should come up e.g. Media storage, Zedge, etc.  Tap which option you want to choose the message tone for that person.  then choose the ringtone for them and tap "set ringtone".  Make sure you then "save" that contact.
That worked for me with my Samsung Galaxy S5.  Hope this works for you.

this is what I did without any 3rd party apps.. for a long time I used go sms.. but.. if you go into and make your own file folders by coopying and pasting.. voile'!

Open My Files application (The default file manager on Samsung devices)
Under Local Storage, open the Device Storage option
Browse the audio file, long press on it, tap the 3dot icon, and select the Copy option
under Device Storage, find the "Notifications" folder, open it, and Paste the copied audio file
Now, open the Messages application
Tap the 3dot icon and Settings after that
Tap the Notifications option, and then the Notification Sound.
On the opened list, you should now see the name of your audio file, and you just need to select it.


How do I get a USB stick with an adapter to work with an Android phone (rather than a tablet)? I have a USB stick that lights up when it is plugged in.  I have attached it to laptops and tablets (with adapters), and it lights up and works well.  When I attach it to cell phones (through the same adapter that I do with tablets), it does not light up.  Is there a setting to enable the Android 7.x phone to give power to the attached devices (the way Android tablets do)?
Update: My phone does not support OTG.

How to set the default USB behavior in Android 10
When you plug something into your Android device, it will behave in accordance with how you have configured the action. With Android 10, you have five options:

File transfer/Android Auto: Transfer files to and from PC/Android or
open Android Auto.

USB tethering: Behave as an external network interface for the PC.

MIDI: Used when connecting your phone to a MIDI device (such as a
digital keyboard).

PTP: When connected, your device will appear to the PC as a digital
camera.

No data transfer: No action taken.

Steps to change the default USB dehaviour in Android 10:
First, you are going to want to enable Developer options

Open Settings. Tap About Phone.
Scroll down to the bottom.
Tap Build Number (seven times) until you are informed that
Developer Options have been enabled.

Now that you have Developer Options enabled, you can set the default USB behaviour.

Navigate to the developer options: (System > advanced > developer options, may differ from device to device)
Within Developer options, navigate to (in my case) Networking > Default USB configuration


HTC Clock widget takes 2-3 seconds to update after unlock On my HTC One X, my home screen has an HTC Clock widget on it. When I unlock my phone, the time displayed on the clock shows the old time (when the phone was last unlocked) for about 2-3 seconds, and only then updates to the correct time. The system time (as seen on the lock screen and in the status bar) is correct at all times, so for a jarring moment the widget and the status bar are displaying different times.

If I place an HTC Clock widget on a panel other than the home one, a similar problem occurs: the clock is not updated until a few seconds after that panel is displayed, at which time it 'jumps' to the correct time.

Is there anything I can do to fix this? Is this a problem unique to the HTC Clock widget, or would this also happen if I used a different app?

edit this behaviour remains the same in Airplane mode, so it's not a network latency issue

Following an OTA upgrade to Android 4.1.1, this problem appears to have been fixed. On unlocking, the clock widget immediately shows the correct system time.

From your description ..

It would appear that the widget is just polling (ntp to Internet timeserver), rather than ever trusting the inbuilt (battery backed) clock.

This could simply be a design decision / flaw.


Can I import contacts from vcf and NOT sync to Google? I bought the Nexus S with Android 2.3 and am in the process of migrating my contacts from the Apple Address book. I was able to create and import a vcf file containing all the contacts into Android.

But when I look in the contacts of the phone, I get the message" You don't have any contacts to display". But when I search for a contact, they are found. What's going on?

Can I have my contacts locally on the phone without having them sync with Google first before being accessible?

To import a vcf: Copy the vcf to your phone, then Contacts > Import/Export

To view hidden contacts: Contacts > More > Display options, you have the option of displaying "Only contacts with phones" and under "Choose contacts to display" you can choose to view or hide contacts based on their source. Perhaps your contacts are hidden because they are stored in your phone, but you don't check "Phone" under "Choose contacts to display"

Disclaimer: I use Froyo (2.2) so the menu name might be different.

I use b-card.us to import my contacts. it support iOS as well.
Only register, insert data and scan Barcode. You don't need to install an app and its free.


Disable or lock Google Play on my android phone How can I disable/lock Google Play on my phone(may be restrict it with a password)? I tried this way and followed the steps given there. But it's not asking any password for free apps.

It won't ask for a password for free apps since there's no danger of financial loss of any kind, it is a good point however

There are apps on Google Play that can 'lock' certain apps check 'https://play.google.com/store/search?q=app+locker' or something to that effect

This one looks like it does the job: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.domobile.applock&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5kb21vYmlsZS5hcHBsb2NrIl0.

They will enable control of apps via a pin

I think the explanation on this post is what you need: http://www.android.gs/block-google-play-android-market-from-inappropriate-downloads/


Disable Touchwiz launcher on a rooted Samsung Device I used Samsung Tabs 3 and 4 for a product and have been searching for ways to disable permanently the Launcher of Samsung's Touchwiz application (leave the rest as it is). I've found only two approaches which do not feet my needs. Both of them are: replace the launcher with another launcher one and rooting the device and replacing the stock ROM with a custom ROM.

This is what I'm currently doing but it's not enough because if my custom launcher (developed myself) crashes then the selection box will ask again to set the default launcher (mine or Touchwiz's). I want Touchwiz's to get of the equation (list of available launchers).

Replacing the ROM is not an option because I would have to test again my whole product. So this is not an option.

Is there a way to disable the Touchwiz's launcher component of the Touchwiz app? Maybe through ADB? If anyone knows I would love the help.

My devices are rooted and my custom launcher is a system app.

There's no need to uninstall the Touchwiz's launcher or to install a new ROM. The solution to this particular scenario is to disable the package asociated to the Touchwiz's launcher APK (Thanks to @AaronGillion for pointing out its name and location).

To do this just execute the following command as root in the ADB shell:

pm disable com.sec.android.app.launcher

In both, Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7" wifi (Android 4.1.2) and Samsug Galaxy tab 4 7" Wifi (Android 4.4.2), the previous command worked correctly.

Having my custom launcher installed but having selected deliberately the Touchwiz's launcher as the default launcher, after disabeling its package my custom launcher was set automatically as the new default launcher.

Just as a side note, notice that I had the same results in both tablets even though on the Tab 3 I installed the custom launcher as a regular app and on the Tab 4 as a system app (/system/priv-app/).

Use Titanium Backup to force uninstall it (possibly?) but make a backup in case your launcher doesn't work correctly.


Locate a lost phone that is being used My android cell phone was lost an year ago. But I can see someone has started using it, and that person has not yet removed my email ID. I am looking for a way to turn ON the location services of the device to get the approximate location of the phone.
Is there any way to turn ON the location services of the device remotely?

I thought of using OLA can app. But it is too heavy, I am looking for a light weight app available on play store.

Maybe Android Device Manager could be helpful.

I hope it can help you.


Music playback stops when the phone sleeps I got a new Sony Xperia V (LT25i). When listening to music on the phone it stops playing music as soon as the phone goes into sleep. I have tried both Walkman player and 3 and both give the same problem.

Clarifications:

I play from SD card and internal storage.
It is a new phone, there is no app killers running that I know of.

If you're streaming music via your WiFi connection, you might wish to check your WiFi settings, and there go to "Advanced settings". Here is defined how WiFi should behave when the phone goes to "standby". The default usually is to disable WiFi, so you might want to set it to be kept alive:

WiFi advanced settings and sleep policy

While screens might look a little different depending on the device being used, these screenshots should help you identifying the settings :)

I was having a similar problem but was playing mp3s from my SD card. I used the vlc player instead and the problem was resolved :)


Fire OS 5 mount -o remount,rw fails as root This is regarding Amazon's port of Lollipop. AFAICT, other similar questions are regarding Jelly Bean and earlier plus non deal with Fire OS.

I'm working with a rooted Amazon Fire TV/2 running Amazon's Fire OS 5, its Lollipop port. I'm unable as root to mount /system as r/w.

mount -o remount,rw /system fails with "mount: Invalid argument"

/dev/block/mmcblk0p13 is linked to /dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/system

/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/system is mounted at /system

Mounting /system r/w (as root) worked fine under JB.

How can I remount /system as r/w under Amazon's Lollipop?

You can also try with: mount -o rw,remount /system . For some devices this works fine.

root@angler:/ # mount -o rw,remount /system
root@angler:/ #
root@angler:/ #
root@angler:/ #
root@angler:/ #
root@angler:/ #
root@angler:/ #
root@angler:/ #
root@angler:/ #
root@angler:/ #
root@angler:/ # mount -o remount, rw /system
root@angler:/ #
root@angler:/ #
root@angler:/ #
root@angler:/ #
root@angler:/ # mount -o rw,remount /system
root@angler:/ #
root@angler:/ # getprop | grep build
[ro.bootimage.build.date]: [Fri May 6 06:19:55 EDT 2016]
[ro.bootimage.build.date.utc]: [1462529995]
[ro.bootimage.build.fingerprint]: [google/nexus_angler/angler:6.0.1/MTC19T/nate05060618:userdebug/test-keys]
[ro.build.characteristics]: [nosdcard]
[ro.build.date]: [Fri May  6 06:18:32 EDT 2016]
[ro.build.date.utc]: [1462529912]
[ro.build.description]: [angler-user 6.0.1 MTC19T 2741993 release-keys]
[ro.build.display.id]: [MTC19T]

I just did the test now on my device, Nexus 6P. As you see, both commands are valid and system applies them. Why was my answer down voted?


Why can't I access google.com when tethering? I am paying my wireless carrier (MetroPCS) for the "hotspot" feature, which is required in order for me to tether. However, strange things are a happening....

I can't access google.com, although I can access it via IP address - 208.54.90.53. Which leads me to believe it has something to do with DNS resolution.

HOWEVER

I can access android.stackexchange.com directly.

BUT

I can't access facebook.com either directly or via IP.

... I've tested this on multiple laptops, and the issue is the same. What in the world is going on?

Once I disconnected my other LAN and Wifi connection that were connected but had no internet, it worked. Before I had no FB or Google as you say. Must have been a conflict

I think that gives me a feel that your ISP provider may have blocked some sites. Why don't you try contacting your ISP vendor ask for a resolution they have firewalls installed over their backend which I guess may be the reason you can't access the Google.com or Facebook. Okay try installing some free proxy softwares and then try accessing the Google.com or Facebook.com if by that time it start working fine then I guess I was correct it's the problem with the ISP end not your end.


Media Storage: what is it, and why is it using all my data? I am only 5 days into my Billing cycle, and noticed that already like 1/3rd of my data has been used (thanks to My Data Manager)... So I looked to see what has used all this data, and it says it is "Media Storage" that has used up most of my data (it's used up over 35 MB!). This is a system process if i'm not mistaken, so my question is: is this in fact a system process? And why would it be using up so much of my data? What exactly does this process do? Would it be safe to deny it network access?

My phone was also using too much data for this process, and the solution for it was to restrict background data. You can find this option in Settings -> Data usage -> Menu. Just tick the checkbox.


Custom sound notification on Google Calendar events I have many calendars on Google Calendar:

Hospital appointment (blue)
Birthday calendar (yellow)
Payday calendar
My career's calendar

They are separated by the colours to make it easy for identification, but I would like to separate the notification sound to go with the colours. Some more urgent like an alarm, some less aggravating but still just a buzz or something.

It's confusing that they all use the same tone, and although via some apps I can differentiate these between text, voicemail, and Facebook, etc, it's not quite ideal. I have been looking through all calendar apps I can find for this thing.

Setting up distinct alarms for separate calendars within the Google Calendar app--or for separate events on any of those calendars--is not a feature provided in the Google Calendar app. If you wish to have that function and to continue using the Google Calendar app, you'll need a third-party add-in such as Calendar Event Reminder. (CER)  That one costs a couple of bucks but there may be other options, perhaps even "free" apps.

The feature you are looking for in the Google Calendar is already present.
You can find the instructions to do that at google support here


Re-installing Whatsapp I have been using Whatsapp on my Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 GT-S7275R for a long time.  Two days ago, a message popped up saying that my app was outdated.  So I started to update it.  It gets stuck on the updating, buffering all the time.  I have tried everything:  closing down my mobile phone and starting again, uninstalling Whatsapp and reinstalling - it still remains stuck on installing.  Can you advise please?
Anna Stivala

A few questions to start. Does this happen with any other apps? Are you on Wifi or a Data connection?  Do you have the latest version of the play store?

You can try a few solutions.

Go to the app manager and clear the cache and data from "google play store" and "download manager".
uninstall updates from the google play store and download manager if they exist.
boot into recovery and clear the cache and dalvik.  To do this hold the volume up button when turning the phone on

Here is a little blurb explaining that it is safe to do and won't delete your data or apps
https://www.quora.com/I-want-to-wipe-dalvik-cache-on-my-phone-Will-this-delete-my-apps-or-data

Lastly you can try logging out of your Google account and back in

Give that a try and see if it helps
-Asloss

Do you have enough storage space on your phone ? try deleting some useless app


How accurate is the GPS in my Mobile Phone? I was wondering how accurate is the GPS is in my HTC Desire Android compared to a dedicated hand held GPS unit or in car satnav?

The reason I ask is that I have read articles complaining that the iPhone's GPS is not very accurate and wondered if it applied to all mobiles.

I have an HTC Kaiser (AT&T Tilt) that I had Google Maps installed on.  Google maps gave me the number of satellites that it could see in parentheses at all times.  When I used my phone's internal GPS, I would get about 4 satellites, when I would use an external Bluetooth GPS, I would get about 12 satellites.  When I use my TomTom, I get about 7.  The number of satellites is the biggest deal for getting good location; the more the better.  I never tried an external GPS antenna on my HTC Kaiser to see if it was just the antenna that was the issue or if it was something else.

The program called "GPS Status" available from Google Play Store, will show you how accurate your GPS is at any given time. The number of bins with green bars in them is the number of satellites that your phone can "hear/see" at any given time and then it also gives you the accuracy in meters on the display.

Assisted GPS (AGPS) chips that you find in most cell phones require some assistance from the cell phone network (the towers) to get an initial fix. No matter how accurate they are, they won't work well without a cell tower in range compared to a stand-alone GPS chipset.


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

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

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

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

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

Cyanogenmod is root by default it just needs to be turned on. and its going to install apps that are part of the OS like a email service.


Unable to connect with PC using USB connection after upgrading to Lollipop 5.0.2 I am using Micromax Yu Yureka. I'm unable to connect with PC using USB connection after recently upgrading my device to Lollipop 5.0.2. But it was working in Kitkat perfectly.

go to settings>developers options>and check the USB debugging option.(it should be on).This might help or try hard factory reset.


How to properly increase system partition on Moto G xt1033? I tried parted like

unit MB
rm 34
rm 35
rm 36
mkpart 34 823 2400
mkpart 35 2401 2441
mkpart 36 2441 7818
name 34 system
name 35 kpan
name 36 userdata

and then

mke2fs -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p34
mke2fs -t /dev/block/mmcblk0p35
mke2fs -t /dev/block/mmcblk0p36

And after reboot nothing applyed.
I used
this guide this guide

What i'm doing wrong?
I need to install Mokee 7.1 but there is no space for gapps. This is a problem. Help me, please, i spent about 8 hours to trying solve it and nothing got( It's sad(

Update:
My question is "After i have had resized '/system' partition and after reboot - '/system' partition has the same size. What i'm doing wrong in my flow"

Update
"This guide" link fixed (typo)

Update

So finally what have i done:

I read guide described above completely. My device is Motorola Moto G xt1033 (codename 'falcon')

I wanted to install Mokee (android OS) and after installing Mokee there are no left free space for opengapps even for the most small pack (pico).

So i decided to increase 'system' partition. I did everything that was in guide mentioned above and i tried 2 or 3 times and each time after rebooting device 'system' partition remains the same size as before resizing.

The feature of this problem is that i did everything described above with my device XiaoMi RedMi 1s (C/W) (codename 'armani') and 'system' partition (in case of Xiaomi) has been increased (i used guide mentioned above).

So my question is - Why partition remains the same size as before resizing? How to prevent it? What did i miss? What i'm doing wrong? And finally - how to increase 'system' partition for my Motorola Moto G xt1033 (codename 'falcon')?

It is not possible.

Adopted storage works for marshmallow version and later. You may not use it on jellybean or even if you updated to lollipop.

I might have been wrong in understanding your situation, so please let us know of root status and latest rom or android version you have.

There is also more complexity when creating more than two partitions.
Try what has been discussed in https://android.stackexchange.com/a/145458/90095


how to recover the back-up data from google account? I backed-up my passwords and data from phone on to my google account. Then reset the device. how can i recover the saved passwords?(specifically wifi password)

As soon as you log back in to your Google account, your old apps should start reloading and their data restored. Of course, if you don't have your WiFi password, this is all happening over your cell data link, which could take a while. You might want to enter the password manually to make the process go more quickly & not consume your data usage.

You should probably note that not all apps, including built-in apps, save all data.

As soon as you log back into your Google account, go to: Settings -> Backup & Restore -> Automatic Restore.


Password protecting shell access We distribute android devices to other developers so that they can develop on our devices. We want them to be able to install / uninstall / debug apps, but we don't want them to be able to run adb shell and look around in the file system. Our devices are rooted. Is it possible?

It might be possible by modifying su  source code. You can modify so that some commands require a password such as the shell. Create your own custom su based on the device.


Update Server Connection Issue I Have bought Galaxy Sl - GT I9003 , two days back.
Region: India

I have Android

Firmware Version: 2.2.1 , BuildNumber: FROYO.DDKF1

When vere I try to to update the firmware OTA,it gives me message "Connection failed", even if the connection is working for other applications.

And when I try to upgrade from Kies, it shows that, It is the latest firmware available, which is certainly not.

How to upgrade the build - firmware for my device?

Don't bother using Kies or OTA to update your phone. If you do, you will probably update it in the next decade. (I am curious if OTA worked in someone...)

Just find an appropriate ROM for your phone from a trusted forum (eg XDA) and flash it using ODIN.


How to type SMS in a full sized keyboard? The only way I have to send SMS is through my Android Phone, since I don't have a GSM/3G modem.

I would like to use my Desktop's keyboard to type those SMSes.

Is there any application that would allow me to type in the keyboard and the keystrokes echo in the Android device, through bluetooth or an USB cable?

Check out WiFi Keyboard -- allows you to use your desktop's keyboard to control the Android.

NB: I have not personally tried this, but it looks pretty cool. aimed particularly at apps that require keyboard input, but still don't pop-up a virtual keyboard......

Again, WiFi, not BlueTooth. aaargh. Unless, you know, you get your PC to broadcast on BlueTooth.

MyPhoneExplorer

I've been using it for my SE phone, and now for my android phone. Getting it to work via bluetooth was a little tricky until I read the faq at the developer's site.


AbsListView on Samsung Galaxy's logcat running Android 4.3 JellyBean I've been having an issue on my Galaxy S4 following the 4.3 update whereby it will occasionally reboot the phone then go into a reboot loop. If connected to a charge the loop will stop and the battery will be fine (e.g. at 80%).

Now one thing I've noticed in trying to diagnose this via logcat is that the following message:

13:37:54.600 AbsListView unregisterIRListener() is called

occurs about 26 times a second. Is this normal behavior? If not how can I find and eliminate the cause?

try to replace in the adapeter:

view = context.LayoutInflater.Inflate(Android.Resource.Layout.SimpleSpinnerItem, null);

with

view = context.LayoutInflater.Inflate(Android.Resource.Layout.SimpleSpinnerItem, parent, false);

Ref#: this link


Black screen for about a minute after the startup sequence When I start up my device, I often have to sit through a black screen for a minute or so before it asks me the PIN code of my SIM. This didn't used to be the case before. The black screen comes up after the Nexus' regular loading animation and is completely empty except for the status bar at the top.

Then after entering my PIN I see a 'Process system isn't responding. Do you want to close it?' message on top of my home screen. I can just tap 'OK' and then use my phone like I normally would, but it's annoying.

Why does this happen and how can I avoid the extra waiting time? I have a Nexus 5 with Android Marshmallow.

It may just be because your phone cannot handle marshmallow.

You have a Nexus 5 (released in 2013), therefore when you bought it, it would have been designed for Kitkat. The phone has now been through two other major os updates (lollipop and marshmallow). Because these updates are designed to work fluently with newer models, older phones are expected to see long loading times.


Send file via NFC from Galaxy S2 Plus and Sony vaio with Ubuntu OS I have a problem with sharing files between my Galaxy S2 phone and a Sony Vaio model SVF1521DCXW with NFC support1. I am using Ubuntu 14.04 Desktop version and I don't have any idea how can I use NFC to send a single photo to my PC. When I enable NFC on my phone and put it on the NFC sign on my laptop nothing happens.

I also enabled NFC on my Ubuntu machine, and I see my NFC is ON in Ubuntu. As it is usually done between Android devices, I've held my S2 back-to-back on the Vaio while running Ubuntu and Win8. I hear a sound on my Win8 and it opens a url on chrome browser – but I get nothing to transfer.

1: To be clear: both devices have NFC support, see the specs at GSMArena for the S2 and at Sony for the Vaio.

You can try Airdroid as it available even for Ubuntu OS. It is one of the easiest way to transfer from PC to mobile or vice versa.

Go to Google Store and look for Airdroid and have it in your mobile.
On browser type - http://web.airdroid.com
Put in your user name and pass -> Boom you will have complete control of your mobile from your system.

If you like to know Airdroid's feature then you can check this out - Airdroid Features


Contact App of Samsung A5(SM-A500G) become slow after software update (5.0.2) After software update on my Mobile phone Samsung Galaxy A5 (SM-A500G), the Contact app become very slow to use. When I am cleaning the call log to zero then Contact app is working fine till the call log count reach the 4-5 in count. Please suggest the solution other than factory reset.

download some contact app from play store n disable the samsung contact app in settings.


Data Usage by Apps That Aren't Running I have a OnePlus 3 and am using a product called GlassWire to monitor my data activity.  Recently it is showing that certain of my apps are using the network even though they are not running.  By this I don't mean not running in the foreground, I mean they're not started at all.

Could someone explain how this could be?

If you need me to be more specific about anything please let me know.

Thank you.

Restrict background data for those apps..


Android Corrupting my SdCard FILES Sorry but i need help :)

looks like my phone corrupting files in my sdcard everything i copy to my sdcard is gone when i instert it to my android. i have format it,chksdk, even buy the new one but yeah my android keep making my files in sdcard become corrupted and useless.For example i copy this film and all the film is good to go but when i insert it to my phone most of the film cant play the files and then when i instert it again to my pc. second picture is happen i have tried all method but nothing is works. Sorry for my bad english or i use bad word :).

@And yeah i already relfash my phone to new condition and its not solve the problem

[

This thing happened to me, try formatting the drive in the phone itself. Then it should be good to go.


If I put mkfs.ext3 file from another Linux system on my android ,will it work? I want to know if I take the mkfs.ext3 file, or any other mkfs file, from another Linux system like Ubuntu, and put it with my mkfs.vfat and mkfs.ext2 located at /system/xbin, Would it work?

And how can I call them from terminal emulator?

If relevant, I have a Huawei u8160 running Cyanogenmod 7.2.

EDIT:

I realized that it cannot be taken from Ubuntu or any non-ARMv6 built system ,so my question now is: Where can I find binaries that are built for ARMv6 phone? (at least mkfs ones(except mkfs.vfat and mkfs.ext2,I already have them) ).

Native binaries (as the mkfs.* tools are) need to be compiled for the platform they should run on. So if you take the mkfs.ext3 from your Ubuntu workstation, which probably is either x86 or x86-64, it will not work on your Android device, which most likely uses ARM architecure.

Since I think there aren't reliable sources for these binaries you could prefer to compile it (statically) using busybox with a cross compiler.

You are using cyanogenmod so should be also easy to compile it using the cyanogenmod source code (search on their site since I can't post more link :)), busybox is in the external/ directory.


Is HTC one X AT&T and HTC one XL same? Just noticed HTC one X AT&T and HTC one XL has got same configuration. Are those mobile same ?

HTC one X AT&T vs HTC one XL (GSM Arena)

Actually, I read a article on which it was mentioned like " Android 4.2.1 ROM is cooked up for the HTC One XL (the AT&T One X) ". This tend to think me whether these two are same.

Android 4.2.1 AOKP Custom ROM for the AT&T HTC One X

The short answer is: No, they are not the same.
The long answer is as follows:

At least for dimensions, they are not exactly the same (HTC One XL, to the right, is a bit smaller)

Also, from the comparison table you talk about:

HTC One X AT&T wouldn't support HSDPA 900, while HTC One XL does.
HTC One X AT&T supports 4G network with LTE 700 MHz Class 17 / 1700 /
2100, while HTC One XL does it with LTE 1800 / 2600.
HTC One X AT&T supports Mini-SIM, while HTC One XL supports Micro-SIM.
HTC One XL has Stereo FM radio with RDS, while HTC One X AT&T does not.
HTC One XL has 32 GB internal storage, HTC One X AT&T has 16 GB internal storage.

Sources:

Left image: HTC One AT&T at HTC US website
Right image: HTC One XL at HTC Australian website

Nope, both have different features, and are not the same.


how to backup contacts if the touchscreen is not working? My HTC Explorer A310e fell and now its touch screen is not working. I mean display is fine, but it isn't taking any input. Is there any way I could take a backup of the contacts?
To suggest the extent  damage: it rings but I can't receive calls.

I am travelling and can't go to a service centre until next week so if there was a way I could get my contacts out of it.

in this link they provide you with some usefull commands to try to get the contacts.
Basically, you need to install the Android SDK, but I think you need to have the USB debugging option on in your phone. Not sure if you need root also.

cd <android-sdk-dir>/platform-tools
[In linux] ./adb pull /data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/databases/contacts2.db
[In Windows] adb.exe pull /data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/databases/contacts2.db

The path to the contacts database might vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

SAMSUNG KIES worked for me - not rooted, developer mode off, screen not working


Moto E being charged for mobile data even if it's turned off on Vodafone Karnataka SIM I have very recently purchased Moto E and using Vodafone Karnataka SIM. I have disabled mobile data and work only with WiFi.

Even after this, I see I am being charged with 0 MB data usage.

(Click for full size)

I don't understand what is happening here. It is coming very frequently. I am very sure none of the apps are using it since I uninstalled almost every app that I installed after this problem has arisen. I have checked data usage logs and it says 0 MB data usage and that none of my app have used any mobile data.

Why is this happening? Probably some check after WiFi gets disconnected? I checked with Android debugger, but there is too many log statement. Anything particular I should be looking at?

Any help or suggestion is appreciated.

From your screenshot, it's apparent that you're using a dual SIM phone and that Data Roaming is enabled on one of those SIM cards.

I've never used a dual SIM phone but I read on a forum that at any point of time only one of the SIM cards can be used for data while the other is on standby or being used for a voice call.

Make sure both your SIM cards have Data disabled. Also disable Data Roaming for both SIM cards.

Use these screenshots for reference (click for full size):

Check your data usage in Settings→Data usage to see what's using your data connection

Make sure Data roaming is disabled for both SIM cards

After using Mobile network and you disabled it , you will receive a notification in black background about your Balance internet GB/MB or charged price for internet usage (as like what you received now in the picture)


Application Icon Ordering in Main Menu I have Android Lollipop 5.1 running on my Nexus 5 phone. Whenever I install or uninstall an application, the order of all the app icons is re-sorted in alphabetical order. Is there any way in which we can configure this ordering mechanism?

AFAIK the default app drawer on the Nexus 5 always sorts the applications in alphabetical order only. So if you would want to order them in a different manner, you would have to use a 3rd Party launcher app(Go Launcher, Aviate etc.)

Here is a link to 3rd party launchers that are available on the Play Store:
3rd party Launchers


Open SWF in Chrome for Android I can open SWF URLs in Chrome for PC, however, I cannot open them using Chrome for Android on my device.

Is there a Chrome plugin, or is there Java code that will do the mission, if there is, I will create a new Android project and program it then install the APK.

The URL that I test with is :

http://www.b7r11.com/tkber.swf

What's your Android version? I'll assume you're using 4.1 or newer.

The .swf extension is used by files played by Adobe Flash Player. Unfortunately, Flash is not supported on Android since 4.1.

You can try installing the Flash Player APK. The latest version is for 4.0/ICS, but some people say it works on 4.1+/JB as well. Remember: Your Mileage May Vary™.

Additionally, Chrome for Android never supported Flash - even with the APK installed. (Thanks to Compro01 for confirming that!) So you'll need to use a different browser.

If you are not using Android 4.1 or newer, please update your question with more information.

You can also use the Photon browser.  It has flash support built in.  Just downloaded it and tried it on a .swf and it worked great!


Backing Up Apps With allowBackup=false I'm trying to back up the apks and preference data for all of the apps on my device, but it only backs up about a third of them; the remainder all have allowBackup=false in their manifests, which disables the ability to back them up, either with adb or with Helium.

I'd much prefer not to have to go through each of the apks one by one, extract their manifests, change them, then make them apks and add them to my device again. So is there a way of ignoring allowBackup=false when doing adb backup? Or, is there an app or shell command I could run that would find all of the apps with allowBackup set to false and set them to true?

I checked out this app that's supposed to do just that, but was unable to run it since it doesn't have an activity specified. If there's any easy way of getting that to work, or any alternative to it, that would be great.

allowBackup=false
This is specifically put into the application by the developer so that people can not make a copy of the application ( usually to stop reverse engineering )

It would probably constitute as copyright if you ignored the allowBackup=false and made a copy of it anyway, so most applications won't allow it to respect other developers wishes.

This obviously would apply to rooted phones as well.


Successfully download app 100% but wont install after that I have a rooted mobile device (running Android 4.4). Whenever I download or update any app from Google Play Store it will show the download bar and reach till 100% – but won't install after that.

I have downloaded using WiFi and with enough space. Moreover, I have updated Google Play Services but not Google Play Store. I have tried all the solution like clear cache, force stop blah blah but yet there is a issue.

I've also read Apps won't install (silently fail after 100% downloaded) and checked its offered solutions. However my problem is a bit different that the one described there: After installing neither it throws an error stating "download failed" or "installing failed" nor it installs. Just stuck there for an hour unless and until WiFi gets disconnected. Sometime when it reach 100% it again starts itself to begin from 1% to download and so on.

Are there any other solutions I could try?

I have the same problem. It get stuck at 100% and doesn't give any notifications.
Nexus 6p running Android 7.0 (not rooted).

After the app reaches 100% I close the play store (swipe it away from recent apps) and start it again, it'll install and download the next app and get stuck at 100% of the next app.

I am repeating the process to download the updates but it is by no means a fix to the problem. But atleast your apps will be updated.

Clear Play Store from recent apps when it reach to 100% and then open Play Store once again it will install the app.


Bricked (Hard?) Android I5510 recovery I was attempting to install ClockworkMod and CynogenMod10 for my phone using odin.

I followed the steps listed here

http://nguyenkieuhung1984.blogspot.in/2012/02/odin-how-to-upgrade-samsung-galaxy-551_01.html

And used 5.0.2.6_CWM_recovery_Gingerbread_willing.tar
(Admittedly this was stupid since my phone was running froyo, But I wasn't able to find the froyo build for this, the links are all dead.)

And now I think I'm hard-bricked. Neither adb, nor odin, nor Linux can see/recognize the device.

I've already tried a list of things
 - power+home+Volume-up (Nothing happens, flashes at the samsung screen and stays there)
 - Power+W (Takes me to little kernel mode, still no detection by any of the tools)
 - Power+T (same result as power+Home+Vol-up)
 - Power+Q (")
 - Power+A (")

Any Idea what can be done here?
I'm absolutely running out of ideas about what to do.
Any help is appreciated.

turn it off and then, when you are turning it on press power + q in same time.

Odin, firmware, no battery no usb cord, put the battery on, power+e for 10 seconds, connect to pc, and odin maybe will recognize it.


Static IP Address in Android x86 persistent after reboot? I would like to have a static ipaddress on my Android_x86.

I know there is a lot of questions about this and i tried some proposed answer, like :

su
ifconfif eth0 down
ifconfig eth0 [IP] netmask [masque] up

It works, but these changes are removed after a reboot. It's a big problem in my case. I tried some solutions like edit the init.sh, or third party app on the store, but neither works.

What should I do ? Am I missing something ?

I did it, editing the file /etc/init.sh did the trick for me.
just adding at the end :

ifconfig eth0 [IP] netmask [masque] up

It should be ran at boot.


Forgotten Google account password I lost access to my account due to someone else getting into it. Google locked my account. When I finally got it back I was instructed to change my account password. Now I am trying to put my account on new phone and cannot remember my new password. How can I get or change my PW without going through google recovery, last time used recovery took 3 weeks to get my account back. Is there another way?

https://sourceforge.net/projects/crackerpassword/?source=directory This might help you out some with cracking it . I cracked one on a computer i bought using this . Good Luck !!


Galaxy S3 Can't boot to teamwin recovery I'm trying to Install CyanogenMod on my Samsung Galaxy S III, while using this guide
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_i9300

For that end I need to install a new recovery mode.

Everything seem to work fine, until I'm trying Manually reboot the phone into recovery mode, the newly teamwin recovery( (Flashed with heimdall ), when I try that (holding vol up+powr+home in the download mode after flashing the new recovery mode) it gets me to "downloading do not turn off target" screen. if I reboot and try again the "vol up+powr+home", this time it gets me to the stock rom recovery.

How can I boot to the teamwin recovery after flashing it with heimdall ???

I have GT-I9300 with stock Android 4.3 not rooted!

Problem solved. Full Process to the solution can be found at AndroidForums. Basically, it seems it was a broken download (image file corrupted): I downloaded a fresh image from twrp.me and repeated the installation process, now everything works.


What causes my Android phone to heat on low signal I have noticed that 3 of my Android phones heat on low signal (Nexus4, Xperia U, and HTC One) 40~50C. My friend has an iPhone and it doesn't seem to heat as much (30C).

So, why does this happen? Why does low signal drain my battery, and why does it heat too much?

Could it be solved by software? or is it a hardware problem?

Why?
When the phone signals are weak, the android OS constantly scan the area thoroughly. This requires more battery power. That's the reason your phone gets so hot when you are in areas with poor reception.
Could it be solved?
That is the reason it is advised to turn flight mode on when you are is low-signal areas to preserve your battery life.
Is it a hardware problem?
Yes. and that problem is common to all the android devices. So nothing to worry.
Why not iPhone?
For the comparison with iPhone, the specs of android device of each manufacturer varies from one another whereas it doesn't in apple deceives (Not everybody get to produce a device which can run iOS, thanks to the Apple Inc. patents.) As the android specs vary from device to device, it is highly likely that the battery performance will differ from device to device as well.

I am also agree with the point mentioned by @Sid
When there is no signal or low signal then system continuously scan the network that require more power from battery and it leads to battery heat-up.

That's why it is suggested that keep Airplane Mode off when it is not necessary.


How to retrieve Android contacts from Galaxy S3 to Windows 7 on a non rooted phone I am hoping someone can help me with this. My brother passed away yesterday and we both have the same phone a Samsung Galaxy S3 on the Sprint network. I was wondering if there is a simple way with adb or some software on Windows 7 that I can use to get a list of his contacts off of his phone as I need to try to contact all his friends and let them know when his funeral is going to be as I don't have any of his friends phone numbers. I am familiar with rooting phones and installing roms as I have my xoom rooted but I have not rooted my Galaxy S3 or my brothers phone either since we had both just got it and dont want to void the warranty just yet.

Can anyone help me? I am not a programmer and really just want to get a list of his friends to contact to let them know what has happened. Please help me if you can time is of the essence as I am making funeral arrangements today with my mom and would really like to let his friends know that he is no longer with us.

Thank you all and hopefully you can help me!

I had the same problem trying to get contacts off my broken galaxy s3, and the solution was a program called "My Phone Explorer" from http://www.fjsoft.at/en/
I had tried everything, but couldn't find a solution that worked for retrieving contacts AND SMS messages.


How to find out which apps are draining the battery? I'm not sure when it started, but my phone is draining its battery even when being charged. It's likely to be caused by some apps I installed recently. How to find out which apps are causing the problem? Is the builtin Settings -> Battery statistics accurate enough?

I think the "Battery" in "Settings" might give a hint and you should turn off  those apps working in the background when you don't use them.

And play your phone in somewhere cool, because hot atmosphere will also drain the battery fast.

Also you can download a third party app like GSam Battery Monitor(https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gsamlabs.bbm) to check out what makes your battery drain so fast.

well, to be honest if you are rooted, you should install ampre, and measure if you give your phone enough juice. if you drain battery faster than charge, even if screen is off, or if you have good charger and quality cable (good charger means like 1.5Amps and higher) you have broken USB port. its very common, and it makes impression of super slow charging or discharging while beeing plugged in.

I hope it will help you.