Get into fastboot mode without root or hardware buttons I own a relatively unknown Chinaphone, the CUBOT GT72+ (MTK6572 SoC) - on which I was attempting to gain root access. No known exploit-based root methods exist for this device (which runs on Android 4.4.2), so I found myself having to dissect boot.img using the MTK-Tools Perl-scripts.

After unpacking the boot image, I made some modifications in the initramfs, they are as follows:

Modify default.prop, setting ro.secure to 0, ro.debuggable to 1, and ro.adb.secure to 0.
Add the rootsh binary to /sbin.
Modify init.rc to mount /system as a rw filesystem, since (re)mounting /system is somehow not allowed by the kernel, even when root.
Replace adbd in /sbin with a version provided by a package called adbd insecure, which was supposed to automatically grant root access to adb-connections.

(Please note: Before replacing adbd I had also installed the su binary in /system/bin and the Superuser.apk package)

Now this is where the problem comes in: the hacked adbd no longer allows me to connect using adb. It shows the device - with an id of 0123456789ABCDEF as offline in the devices listing of adb.

Now, using an adb shell, I could simply get root by typing 'adb shell' followed by a simple 'su', and ta dah: root shell! Yet, somehow, the permissions on the su binary are all messed up - since when I use a terminal emulator on the device itself: I get presented with a 'Permission denied' error. Applications are not getting root, either. (I suppose the permissions are messed up somewhere, chmodding went fine, but chowning did not. Also, busybox is still missing.)

And here's the final problem: the phone does not have a way to get into fastboot mode using hardware buttons, so I found myself having to type 'adb reboot bootloader' to get it into fastboot mode... which, well, obviously doesn't work anymore. And to reflash boot.img I need to get into fastboot mode.

My device does work just fine when turned on (although not rooted), but I really want to reflash boot.img to get the proper adbd back. There is a button combination to get into recovery mode, but that doesn't provide me with a connection in adb. Sideload mode does seem to come up in adb, yet flashing any Update.zip has so far not been succesful (maybe due to a crippled adbd?), even though I have tried various methods of crafting (signed) Update.zip files with the only purpose to reboot the device into fastboot mode.

The device does come with a proprietary flashing tool, but that only works under Windows XP. I do not own any computers running Windows. And especially not XP. (The adb version I run on my computer is the latest provided by Debian (sid), so it should be quite recent.)

Now the question remains: How do I get my device into fastboot mode?

If you've had problems flashing your phone through adb, you should really consider the Windows XP installation route. I've had to look around for some compatible  drivers,as I've been experimenting using Windows XP and even Windows 8.1 with success using SP Flash tool. As one of the the answer given before in this thread, you don't need ADB to flash files to your phone SP Flash tools; just the required drivers and connect the phone to the computer with the battery removed.

You could try VMWARElinux to install Windows XP on with with required drivers/ files, etc. I can confirm VMWARE windows allows USB devices to connect to it, including this phone. I've flashed through it with success. Don't know if the Linux version does, though.

After lots of research and headaches I've finally managed to fully root my phone. I've posted my files so you can try it out here:

http://www.needrom.com/download/cubot-gt72-rooted-rom-twrp-recivery/

Best and luck and regards.

Did you properly change adbd permissions?

Look for other files in the same directory with adbd for permissions value. Most probably it will be 644 but be sure.

Note: adb is a service and need to be properly run at start so reboot after changing permissions


Can Google Drive be deleted from a Samsung Galaxy Express? I have a Samsung Galaxy Express phone running Android 4.1.2

Is there a way to delete Google Drive from the phone [without rooting it]? In the Application Manager, there is no DELETE button for Drive. The only buttons are to FORCE STOP and UNINSTALL UPDATES.

I don't beleive so. Drive (I beleive), along with Gmail, Maps, etc is a required app that Samsung must include with their phones, and it can't be uninstalled - at least not easily without the likes of rooting.

If you see a button labeled "uninstall updates", that's a system app which you cannot remove without root powers. User-installed apps never have that "uninstall updates" button, for a simple technical reason:

a "system app" has its original .apk file installed on the /system partition, which is mounted read-only. If it receives an update, it thus cannot simply replace its original .apk – so the update gets placed on the /data partition (along with the user-installed apps).
a user-installed app gets installed straight on /data – so if there's an update, it replaces the originally installed .apk.

Hence, by the simple existence of a button labeled "uninstall updates" you can tell that's a system app. You then can push that button: after uninstalling updates, in most cases it changes its lable to "disable". Push that button again, and the app is "disabled" – i.e. doesn't turn up in your app drawer, on your homescreen, or anywhere else except for Settings › Apps (where you could re-enable it when needed). That's the closest you can come to uninstalling without rooting your device.


Simplest way to transfer files from PC to Android device (wireless) What's the simplest way to transfer files (often around 100 MB) from PC to Android device, with wireless connexion ?

Should I use an application for this?

Remark 1 : I want to set "wifi=off" after the file transfer is done, because I never use it except for the file transfer. Moreover I really would like to do a direct transfer PC -> Android device ; no Dropbox or similar tool.

Remark 2 : I have a Samsung Galaxy 3.6 Player YP-GS1CB (limited to Android 2.x as far as I know)

Remark 3 : If possible, I would like to be able to see the Android device's microSD card filesystem from computer, access to subdirectories, copy files there, etc.    Would a FTP server on the Android device be a good way to do it ? If so, with which app?

Airdroid can perform file transfers and it runs on 2.2 and above.

All features:

SMS: send and receive individual or group messages.
Apps: Import and export .apk files.
Files: Manage files on Android and transferring files between Android and computer.
Photos: View and manage photos on Android and transferring photos between Android and computer.
Music & Videos: Play and manage music & videos on Android and transferring them between Android and computer.
Ringtones: Set music as ringtone and export any ringtone.
Contacts: View and edit all the contacts.
Screenshot: View the real time screen of Android devices, take static screenshots. (root required)
Camera: See through the lens of both front and back camera, also supports flashlight.
URL: Push url to Android and open automatically open it with Android browser.
Clipboard: Share clipboard content between Android and computer.

I developed WiFi FTP Server, which should solve your problem. I would recommend that you put the phone in wifi-tether mode and then transfer files.


Cannot open Gallery to delete files, due to running out of space I have a rather funny though annoying problem. I've filled the memory of my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 up with photos, videos, apps and offline maps, and now I have a "Not enough storage space" warning. I would like to delete the photos and videos I do not need, but when trying to open the Gallery, I get a message "Not enough space. Delete unnecessary items such as ... pictures, videos..." So I need more space to run Gallery to free some space. Any workaround?

While several hints can be found in the insufficient-memory tag-wiki, you case seems a little special – as you report to still have ~75 MB free (3 times the limit this error should be triggered).

This should even enable you to install a file manager (if you have not already done so, or a useful file manager was pre-installed). So in order to remove some photos/videos, you could start the file manager and look into the "usual locations". I've put that terminus in quotes, as different apps seem to place them into different locations.

Most photo apps save their images below /sdcard/DCIM, many use their own folders here. But as that is not related to your "phone storage" (SDCard, whether internal or external, should never trigger that issue), there might be a similar folder on phone storage. Irritates me a little, but I've read that before a few times. So make sure to use a file manager supporting this (alternatives below). Next to the DCIM folder, also check Pictures, Photos, Video, media, Music, and Documents, if they exist.

A good alternative to "local" file managers (apps that is), there's always the option of using ADB (if you've not yet installed it, check out Is there a minimal installation of ADB?). In case you're not used to the Unix/Linux command line, tools like QtADB might come in handy, offering a graphical file manager (amongst other things). On a rooted device, and with the help of adbd Insecure, you could even access the entire file system this way (careful!).

go to settings/storage/pictures & videos and start to delete items after you delete a few you can then go to the camera and now access it normally.


Where are the captions stored for images that are sent or recieved in WhatsApp? When sending images in WhatsApp, there is an option to add caption to it. This caption is visible on image, at the receiving end, but when this image is copied or forwarded, only image is sent? (although the selection shows image caption also selected)

Is the image caption not in the image file itself Or its stored separately somewhere locally and so that part is dropped?

How can I forward the image along with its caption?

This is a bug in Whatsapp. It should send both image and caption.

It's present both in Android and iPhone versions. Doesn't matter if you user the FORWARD ("Arrow/Forward") or the SHARE feature, both loose the original caption.

You and everyone with this problem can (and should) send a bug report thru the app by accessing the Settings panel > help > Contact us.

This is the workaround I found: instead of forwarding select share,
-> then select Whatsapp -> select contact or group -> type caption again on image... too much effort but will work for emergencies.

Links to similar issues reported

How can I send WhatsApp's image captions to email with images?

http://www.androidpit.com/app/com.whatsapp/problem-in-forwarding-picture-messages-with-some-text-in-it


Flashing English ROM on Korean Samsung Galaxy S3 I got my Samsung Galaxy S3 (SHW-M440S) but it was bought from South Korea. At first, it was all Korean. But after some time (or some tweaks), I managed to set it to English. (No, I am not a Korean).

Can I flash the firmware to a real English version (using ODIN or any other software)? I entered the model number because I might do something wrong but everything is in Korea (SHW-M440S firmwares).

Another problem on my phone is, it will only send an SMS if it has 80 or less characters on the message.

I wouldn't advice this, you can see other questions on here about people asking if they can use different model numbers on their phone and everyone says no.

A suggestion to you would be the following, go on the XDA website here link and type in your phone AND model number into their search bar. From there you should be able to click on their forum for Android Development, from there you can select a Custom Rom to flash to your phone

As you said you are new it is required to firstly root your phone before flashing a new ROM, as you haven't provided your Phone Model I cannot give you a direct link on how to root your phone, if you can update this detail I could find you a link afterwards.

Also if you decide to root your phone flash a custom rom please note that it is your risk, doing so will void your warranty and if you end up with a bricked device(not working) I or anyone giving instructions in any links you use cannot be help responsible.

With regards to the problem with only Sending a SMS if it's 80 Char or less, I am not 100% sure as I haven't experimented with various different Custom ROMS but there may be a option that you can select to try and fix it, personally I would post another Question on this website just for that issue

All the best


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

I know of only two processes to display such characters:

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

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

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

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

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

If your device is rooted, you can install Santali Ol-Chiki Font (a Unicode font).


Does the Samsung Galaxy S2 support DC-HSDPA I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 running Cyanogenmod 10.1.3 which equates to Android 4.2.2.

I would like to know if my phone will support DC-HSDPA or not? Will it just work?

Is there anything I would need to do in order for it to support DC-HSDPA like upgrade the RIL or is it just not capable at the hardware level?

After some testing over the weekend with a service provider who provides DC-HSDPA I can confirm that the Samsung Galaxy S2 does not support the protocol.

They say on the site that it does not support 4G or the faster DC-HSDPA. Having an S2 myself, it would be great if we get a hack for it with the the cfw. Just gotta have hope.


How do I log off from WhatsApp? I'm trying to exit WhatsApp, but it seems that there is no "Log Off" button. Currently, when I want to exit, I turn off my Wi-Fi/cellular data.

How do I log off from WhatsApp?

after some experiments i think best way is use Force stop button in Application manager
go to Setting > Application manager > WhatsApp and tap Force stop button

As say Here:

  Android do not kill the apps totally when you exit from it, this button is for close completely the app and remove it from the stack (apps running), also this button free the memory used by the app

so Thanks to User pacoespinoza  this is what i want to do!


Are there any stats of Android version distribution by region? The dashboard shows global distribution, and I wonder if there's a way to find out the difference in Gingerbread distribution between say, India and Europe.

Not for those "ancient versions", but for Android 4.0+ you can find some stats in Christina's Blog. Giving the example matching closest to your question:

This statistic I found from statista.com where you wil find different distribution of Android operating systems used by Android phone owners in October 2015.


Keyboard shortcut to switch languages with a Logitech K480 or MK270? Backstory:
For years I've been using android devices to type in multiple languages. At first I had to use an app like AnySoftKeyboard or fiddle with android settings every time I wanted to switch languages, which was quite annoying.  At some point, possibly soon after I acquired a Logitech Android Keyboard, I accidentally pressed Ctrl+Space and was immediately presented with a popup Toast message:  Hebrew.

So I discovered that I could switch languages with Ctrl+Space.  At first I thought it had been a CyanogenMod update, but later that conclusion appeared to have been a mistake...

Now that keyboard is in its last life, so I got two new ones, both from Logitech:  The K480 and the MK270.

Problem:

The K480 is a Bluetooth Multi-Device keyboard.  That feature works well, but Ctrl+Space does nothing.  The keyboard does have a built-in language switching button, but it only works on iOS and MAC.  Other options such as Shift+Alt and several other permutations do not work either.

The MK270 is a wireless Keyboard/Mouse combo officially for Windows PCs.  It comes with a tiny USB wireless receiver, which I plugged into my phone with a micro to normal OTG USB cable, and the keyboard and mouse work just as expected...   But again, Ctrl+Space and other combinations do nothing.

More Details:

I should mention that I'm using an LG G2 running a custom build of CyanogenMod based on Android 6.0.1.  I'm using the SwiftKey app for the keyboard in lieu of any of these, but I don't think that should make a difference.

If I connect all three keyboards to the G2, the android keyboard can switch the language for itself, but the K480 and MK270 still type in English even when the Android Keyboard is typing in Hebrew.

I also paired the keyboard with a friend's Galaxy S5, and it immediately prompted him to choose a keyboard layout for it.  He can choose Hebrew and then it works on his phone in Hebrew, but again none of the keyboard shortcuts will change that.

Question:

How can I switch betweeen keyboard languages on the G2 from either keyboard?

on K480 try holding "right shift" and use "right ctrl" to toggle languages

Hold right shift and then press spacebar


open multiple URIs with one click (similar to desktop Firefox "open all in tabs") I want to open a folder of about 20 bookmarks in a web browser with one click. So far I have not found any browser or any addon that will do this, but maybe I am overlooking something obvious.

An alternative option is a very good speeddial-type app that will help me track which which bookmark was opened last so I can manually work through a list of 20+ bookmarks.

The problems I am trying to solve are:

make it convenient to open many bookmarks at once.
if I have to open them one at a time, provide a way for me to keep track of which bookmarks have already been opened in this session so I can manually open the next one as I go through the large list of bookmarks.

I have already tried Firefox sync, Dolphin Connect, XMarks and several other solutions and none of them do what I need.

It's not a perfect solution but it should help you out. Following preformatted text is a very simple script that can open a series of bookmarks which are tagged with a particular keyword. Each bookmark would be opened in the browser selected as default for the bookmark's URL type.

Script

#!/system/bin/sh

list=/data/media/0/bms_list;
keyword="$1";
browser="$2";
mkfifo $list;

# force-stop default browser
[[ "$browser" ]] && am force-stop "$browser";

# get URL of bookmarks associated with the supplied keyword
content query --uri content://org.mozilla.firefox.db.browser/bookmarks --projection url --where "keyword='$keyword'" | busybox sed 's/.*url=//g' > $list &

# Take each URL from the saved output and launch it using the default browser
while read line; do
    am start -a android.intent.action.VIEW -d "$line" --activity-exclude-from-recents;
    sleep 1;
done < $list
rm $list;

Prerequisites

Here are the hard prerequisites for the script to work:

You must have root access1.
Busybox must be installed and available under PATH variable.
Firefox Browser for Android is required. It is required because Chrome doesn't support tags, the bookmark folders are not visible through Chrome's content provider and it would be painful to me if I begin to parse Chrome's bookmarks file available in its private directory. I didn't test with other browsers so that's another reason why I made Firefox a prerequisite.

It is to be noted that you're not required to use Firefox browser as your daily driver, but only to make and keep bookmarks in it for them to be sorted through particular keywords. Firefox browser doesn't support multiple keywords for bookmakrs, as of v44.0.2.

To add a keyword: Bookmark a link in Firefox, go to Bookmarks tab, long press on your bookmark → Edit → add your keyword under Keyword.

I've not tested with a keyword containing a space so if the script doesn't work with a keyword containing space(s), replace space(s) with _ in your bookmarks and then try the script.
I've only tested this solution with Firefox and Chrome so I can't guarantee that this would work with any browser. However, common sense dictates that if it is a browser for casual browsing, it would have registered for an intent having a URL data type, so the browser should have no problem with my script.

Note: For some reason, Firefox couldn't handle the series of bookmarks after some time and crashed. (It actually crashed every time.) On the other hand, Chrome v45.0.2564.95 didn't crash even for once.

Here's how the script can be executed after saving it under /sdcard with extension .sh:

Running the script

Install a terminal emulator app and execute:

su -c 'sh /sdcard/FILE KEYWORD BROWSER'

Example:

su -c 'sh /sdcard/bms_launch.sh Stack_Exchange com.android.chrome'  # this would launch all the bookmarks tagged with the keyword Stack_Exchange in the default browser com.android.chrome

Things to know:

FILE: file name of the script, e.g.: bms_launch.sh
KEYWORD: the keyword to which all associated bookmarks should be searched for and be launched in default browser
BROWSER: package name of your default browser. To know the package name, follow View app's full package name?

Note: it is not necessary to provide package name of the default browser. I used it because I had to force-stop Chrome as Chrome was causing some complication without a force-stop.

Convenient execution

How you would execute this script in your device is upon you to decide. I can recommend these two methods. Any of them would be enough.

a home screen shortcut made through Terminal Emulator app to a custom command on your home screen.
Tasker, to create an icon on home screen, tapping which would execute the script.
assigning script to a pie using LMT launcher.

1 Root access is needed because I don't know how to generate (and easily parse) a list of bookmarks from some browser dynamically. Even if I can have such a list, I wouldn't be able to go on unless I know that those bookmarks can be sorted using a tag or a keyword. This is why I chose Firefox and root access.

The dependency on a single keyword might cause inconvenience but I've given you a (possibly good) idea. If your preferred browser supports multiple tags/keywords for bookmarks then you should have no problem in tweaking my script per your needs.

Instead of storing bookmarks in a browser, you could save the links on your homescreen, and then put them all in a folder. Itd be quick access, and ive never heard of an android browser doing that. If youve heard of tasker, you could probaly set something up that you want


What is the difference between: Rooting, Jailbreak, ROM, Mod, etc.? What is the difference between:

Unlocking the bootloader (prerequisite for doing many, though not all, other things below)
Rooting
Jailbreaking
ROM
NAND and Nandroid
Operating System
Mod (e.g. CyanogenMod)
Recovery (ClockworkMod, Amon Ra)
Custom Kernel (e.g. LeshaK's kernel)
Firmware
Driver
Over The Air (OTA) update
Fastboot
SIM unlocking
Flashing
SPL (Second Program Loader)

(any other often-confused terms that I've missed?)

Rooting and Jailbreaking are essentially the same things, Jailbreaking is the iPhone users' word for what Android users call Rooting. Rooting is when you gain "Root" access to the phone giving you the power to do anything you want to it (it comes from the Unix Root User, essentially the Unix equivalent to the Windows Administrator account). Normally you're prevented from being Root for your own good, as it's very easy to break your phone once you have root access, and quite hard to break it without. More info: What does “to root a phone” mean? and I've rooted my phone. Now what? What do I gain from rooting?

A Nandroid backup is a backup of your phone that is an exact image of the state of your phone. So you could make an exact copy of your current phone, then do major changes to it, and then restore to your previous backup by flashing the backup back to the phone. Flashing means to copy or to install.... you are essentially wiping the device and restoring a previous state (a backup) or you are flashing a new ROM (see below).  NAND is your device's flash storage, which is why copying files there is called "flashing".

The Android operating system is the software that manages the hardware in an Android phone such as the screen, data communications, storage, camera and GPS. It provides a common layer that allows applications the use of and access to these resources on a range of different devices without the app having to know anything special about the actual hardware that it is running on. The Android Operating System also includes a number of standard apps and services such as the Contacts, Camera, Photo Gallery and web browser apps and allows the user to do such things as control the screen brightness or connect to wifi networks.

Although the real definitions are different, in the Android world, ROM, Mod, and Firmware are all used as if they mean essentially the same thing. They all refer to a customised version of the Android operating system that has been modified to work on a particular brand of phone with a specific set of customisations or changes. This can be done so that an old phone like the G1 can be given a brand new version of Android, such as 2.2 even if the manufacturer has decided not to provide it. Or could be to provide extra functionality not available in the manufacturer's supplied version of Android, or to fix problems in the manufacturer supplied version.  More info: What's the difference between an AOSP ROM and a stock ROM?, What are the advantages of a custom ROM?, Why are there so many different Android kernels and Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?

A Driver is what tells the Android software operating system how to talk to all the different hardware that is in an Android phone. When someone is putting together a ROM for a particular phone model they will need to include of all that phone's drivers inside the ROM (for things like the cellular modem, WiFi access, the particular camera type, the specific processor, etc) otherwise the ROM either won't work on that phone, or will only be able to work certain parts of the phone and, for instance, may not be able to use the front-facing camera, or may not be able to connect to a WiFi network. This is exactly the same as when you plug something new into Windows and it runs the New Hardware Added wizard and goes looking for a new driver before you can use it.  Drivers are loaded by the kernel, the core of the operating system.

An Over The Air (OTA) update is when your phone receives an update to its Android operating system "over the air", ie it is sent the files automatically over the cellular network from either Google or from your phone network without ever needing to be plugged into a PC. This contrasts with the way that, for example, the iPhone was originally updated where it needed to be physically plugged into a computer running iTunes to get its updates.

The bootloader controls how the device boots.  Google's PC-side tool for getting into the bootloader and other related tasks is called Fastboot, and running the bootloader interactively may be called "Fastboot mode".  A locked bootloader will verify the Android system partition and restore it to stock if it doesn't match, whereas an unlocked bootloader doesn't do the same checking, which is why unlocking the bootloader is required to permanently root a device.

The term recovery is often used to mean several different things. It could mean a mode of operation for the phone. For example, to boot into recovery mode on Atrix 4G MB860 olympus, one must:

power-off the phone
hold PWR and VOL DOWN buttons simultaneously until phone display shows "Fastboot"
touch and release VOL DOWN repeatedly (seven times) until "Fastboot" changes to read, "Android Recovery"
touch and release VOL UP button to choose this option
Finally, when the phone displays a triangle surrounding an exclamation point adjacent to a green android robot, then either:

if using Android 2.2 (Froyo), then touch lower-right corner of phone display
if using Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), then hold both VOL UP and VOL DOWN buttons simultaneously

to enter Android Recovery mode.

This is a mode of operation that allows the user to make major changes to the phone. Or recovery could also mean the recovery partition on the phone. Or recovery could also mean the image file (filename.img) that can be flashed to the recovery partition. For example, the Atrix 4G MB860 olympus ships with a stock recovery image flashed to the recovery partition, and booting into recovery mode on such a stock phone allows the user to make some major changes to the phone:

reboot system now
apply sdcard:update.zip
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache partition

It is possible (though this usually requires an unlocked bootloader) to replace the code that executes in Android Recovery mode by replacing the stock recovery image that the manufacturer installed on the recovery partition with a custom recovery image like ClockworkMod. Installing and executing the code in a custom recovery image often allows the user to make many more comprehensive changes to the phone and also often allows the user to make Nandroid backups and restore these backups to the phone.

The bootloader may also play some part in flashing firmware, though this is usually part of recovery.  While you normally don't want to mess with the bootloader, advanced users will often flash a custom recovery like ClockworkMod (though a locked bootloader may prevent this).  This allows one to flash firmware that hasn't been signed by the manufacturer (such as custom ROMs), since stock recovery usually checks for the signature, and do advanced tasks like complete Nandroid backups.  Recovery is a bit like the BIOS boot screen on PCs in that you get to it by pressing a special combination of buttons as the phone starts up.  Recovery can also do things like run an update file from the phone's SD card, or let you connect from a PC via ADB (Android Debug Bridge) to manage the device from the command line.
More info: What is the relation between ROM Manager, ClockworkMod and Nandroid? Which one(s) do I need?

Many mobile phone networks that sell GSM phones on a contract restrict the phone so that it can only be used on their phone network, this is known as a SIM lock, network lock or subsidy lock. This allows a provider to ensure that a phone that they've subsidised can only be used on a network that will help them them recoup that money. The phone reads the IMSI code of the inserted SIM card and checks that it corresponds with the allowed country or network codes that the phone has been programmed with. SIM unlocking removes this restriction from a phone so that any network's SIM card can be inserted and used. This generally involves typing a code into the phone's dialler that removes the lock. There are different ways to get this code depending on your device and network, some networks will give you the unlock code once you reach the end of your contract's term, some manufacturers publish these codes on their websites, some manufacturers embed these codes into their devices in a way that can be extracted by an app and some require use of special PC software to reprogram the phone. The SIM lock is usually implemented in hardware/read-only firmware, so it's generally not possible to unlock your device without a code.
More info: Can I use my device on a different carrier?

Related: Another question that explains some parts of the Android platform in terms familiar to users of traditional computer systems is:
In normal computer terms, what are the different parts of an Android system?

Over The Air update refers to an official update from your device manufacturer and carrier, the update being pushed automatically to your device.

OTA update is basically an official firmware update, as it covers the whole Android stack (drivers, firmware, kernel, VM, applications).


How to find and remove malware from some chinese smartphones? I am planning to buy a chinese smartphone. However, I've read that some come with extensive spyware straight from the factory.

Will I be able to detect such malware (Android.Trojan.Uupay.D and the likes) using any (free) android antivirus ?
Is it really impossible to remove them (GData says so) ?

Will I be able to detect such malware (Android.Trojan.Uupay.D and the
  likes) using any (free) android antivirus ?

No, if it was detectable by a free or even paid antivirus, the company wont ship the device with the malware, as it will bring down sales drastically. They have a reputation to maintain!

  Is it really impossible to remove them (GData says so) ?

No.

If you want to be 100% sure that the device is clean, then you must remove the OS that came with it and flash a trusted(opensource) ROM like official CyanogenMod. So before buying the phone, check if you can get one. Here is a list of devices that support CyanogenMod.

If a official cyanogen or other ROMs are not available and you still want to buy the same device, an impractical advice to the average user would be to port/compile CyanogenMod or AOSP from source.

I'm thinking on only one way. After receiving your device, root it!
Why root? Well very simple.
After rooting the device go to the location  /system/app and remove any "bonus" application who you got on the cell phone.
Plus, after that install some antivirus application to your device, I recommend Kaspersky Internet Security, and/or Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for malware ofc.

I'm using both of them on PC and my Android device, and I'm very pleased with their abilities.


Changing default video player in Google Chrome for Android tl;dr

When you open any video, default HTML5 player is used.

What I want is to make Google Chrome to use custom video player whenever it wants to playback a video

Longer story
My real goal is to stream video content from Android to AppleTV via AirPlay. I found a nice app called streambels which is capable of doing that.

The only problem is when I am trying to watch video on Google Chrome, I can't stream it so if I could change the default video player would allow me to pass the video to broadcasting app. And life would be so great :)

Use Dolphin Browser.  I think what you are asking is impossible for now on Chrome.


Do Not Disturb for specific duration in Samsung S8 Quick Settings I've just switched from a Sony Xperia Z3 (6.0) to the Samsung Galaxy S8. On the Sony I could set Do Not Disturb mode for a specific time (15 mins, 30 mins, an hour, 2 hours and so on) using the Quick Settings menu.

This was a really useful feature when going into meetings, presentations, movies etc. But I can't find this feature on the S8 - there's only the option to enable DND mode (and leave it on) or schedule it between specific times.

Is there anyway to get the great 'DND for 15/30/60 etc. minutes' feature in the Quick Settings on the S8?

I can see in Google's documentation for the Pixel that the feature that lets you set how long DND mode should last (15,30,60.. minutes) is there in the Pixel, just as it was in my old Sony Xperia:
https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/6111295?hl=en

Unfortunately it looks like Samsung removed this feature with their Touchwiz overlay, so you're only left with scheduling DND between specific times or enabling it forever.

To bring back this feature I ended up having to install an app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cabooze.buzzoff&hl=en

Galaxy S8 has the feature. Its there in sound settings.

From home, swipe up to access Apps.

Tap settings app icon Settings > sounds settings icon Sounds and vibration > Do not disturb.

Tap On/Off to enable the feature.

You can also schedule the mode.

Tap Turn on as scheduled, and set the Days, Start time, and End time.

Source: http://eguides.sprint.com/support/eguides/samsunggalaxys8s8plus/content/samsung_galaxy_s8_s8_plus_ug/do_not_disturb.html


QFOTA always downloading always 0% I saw the question about the qfota download update package is always loading but never is complete. I have turned my tablet off and back on. No help.  Called Verizon customer service and they had me do a factory reset. It is still trying to download but always on "0%"....... Help!!!

Q fota,always downloading.
It is over the air,turn off WiFi
Then you will see it downloading,
Then you can turn WiFi back on.

Keep letting it update. Eventually it finishes. No help from Verizon and so I had no choice but to let it run. Took about 6 weeks.


Turn phone on with ADB or Fastboot? My power button seems to have busted, is there a way I can boot my phone using ADB or Fastboot or some other command line interface?

When your phone is not turned on it can't have a adb service running (Disregarding the possible technical difficulties it would also be a security issue.)

Try the following instead:
 1. Take out your battery and connect the phone to a charger
 2. Your phone should now turn on.
 3. Insert your battery.

It worked on my current and on my previous phones (ZTE Blade and Huawei U8220) but it may vary by model and manufacturer.

Yes, you can turn it on using fastboot.

Enter in fastboot mode, on the prompt type fastboot reboot.


Watch Coursera's videos with the video app on Jelly Bean Coursera has a html5 based video viewer that works on the android browser on Jelly Bean, but I would like instead to use the video app, in order to have full screen and better controls.
On my Kindle Fire (first version) the Silk browser automatically opens the video with the video app and then returns to the html5 player when the video ends.
Is there a way to achieve this on Jelly Bean?

I am using a galaxy nexus S but shouldn't matter.
Thanks!

I just download the videos upfront and watch them with MX Player.

There are a number of unofficial applications in the market (Google Play, Amazon). I've also developed my own application: Coursera On The Go. A free version is here! Coursera On The Go Free


How do I investigate the memory Usage? I've a Micromax A74 with (rooted) Android 4.2.2. Recently I've faced the crashing of some application and started to analyze the usage of RAM.

Settings>Apps>Running is not helpful:

Sometimes I found only 2 MB free!

I want to know which applications are consuming the memory?

I've also tried top -n 1 -m 8:

But I can't figure out the top applications which cause for lowering the RAM.

On GNU/Linux I can run top -n 1 -o %MEM which displays the applications that consuming most of RAM but such feature isn't available with /system/bin/top or busybox top.

So, How do investigate which applications are consuming a lot of memory? so-that I can force-stop them.

Note: Don't suggest any app like ram booster, it is the different question.

It seems you wanna order by ram usage, I believe that is

top -n 1 -m 25 -s rss

But I get it from your question. Thanks.


My wife shares her Google calendar with me. How can I see her events on my Android device? As what I described above, my wife shares her calendar to me, I can see her events on Goggle online calendar, but on not my Android device. How can I sync that?
My phone is Android 4.1
Thank you

I encountered this problem too when trying to get my Facebook events and shared Calendar events (which were appearing on desktop) to appear on the mobile app. I solved it via the Calendar app's settings:

Go to Calendar->Settings

Find the email address the shared calendar is associated with

Select the shared calendar (if it isn't appearing click 'Show More')

Click on the 'Sync' slider to enable that shared calendar

The shared calendar events should now appear

Guidance screenshots:

Click image for larger versions

None of this worked until I rebooted my phone.  Then I had to go in to Calendars and select the one I'd added via the web. Worked great. Thanks.


"Access Point Name settings not available for this user" This was probably an issue before but only became an issue when I changed providers in a foreign country. Running CM12.1 nightlies.

I can't connect to data and get the above message when I try to manually enter the APN settings.

I have tried:

The other fix on this site to change permission in com.android.providers.telephony to 660 from 751 but that resulted in non-stop error messages from the phone app.
Upgrade to the latest nightly with the new SIM inside. No change in service or in ability to change APN
Delete the data and cache for the settings app
Wipe cache and Dalvik cache.
Downgrading to CM 11 milestone

edit: I should mention this fixed issues with Sprint for me, but perhaps googling in this vein could lead to finding a similar fix for other carriers.

tl;dr: I booted to recovery (TWRP), wiped, flashed CM12.1, 5.1 GApps, and the sprint.zip file from this XDA post and got LTE back.

I'm not positive my issue was the same, but the symptoms are very similar so I'm adding the solution I found. My LTE was working fine on CM12 and CM12.1 for perhaps 3+ months. My phone battery died overnight a couple days ago, and when I powered it on the next morning it didn't have LTE anymore.

Not only that, but I was getting the "APN settings not available for this user" under Settings -> Mobile Networks -> APN settings. After googling, and googling, and googling, I think I tried about every solution suggested for this issue:

setting /data/data/com.android.providers/telephony/database/telephony.db to higher permissions (e.g. 761)
deleting telephony.db and telephony.db-journal and letting the system re-create it (theoretically in the "proper" manner)
using *#*#4636#*#* and playing with the preferred network (LTE/GSM/CDMA, LTE only, etc.)
Turning on wifi, rebooting, waiting a while, and then turning it off and trying to connect to data
Adding a custom APN, which often wouldn't even save if I had the "APN settings not available for this user", and didn't seem to do anything otherwise.
I even went back to stock (upgrading radios and firmware in the process) by applying the latest RUU here. This updated my radios (I was on 3.31.651.2), and allowed me to update PRL/profile while I was at it. I didn't even have LTE from the stock ROM.

I ran into post where someone mentioned "the Sprint APN fix" so I googled for that and ran into this post, which points to this XDA post with the fix.

Downloading that file (sprint.zip) worked great for me, despite that post being ~2 years old. I just did the following:

boot into TWRP, wipe as usual as if installing a new ROM
flash CM12.1 (I used the most recent M8 snapshot from 09-01-2015)
flash 5.1 GApps
flash the sprint.zip file
wipe cache/dalvik

Rebooted and had LTE right away during setup. Soooo relieved, as this was killing me. I'm still puzzled as to how it could have gotten goofed from a previously working setup, but at least it's behaving now. Hope this helps others.

I experienced this problem. I found that the message "Access Point Name settings not available for this user" is misleading. It actually means "you haven't added any APNs yet", not "this user does not have the credentials to use this feature."

The solution (if you can call it that) was, at the APNs screen when the message appears, I found the button that allowed me to add a new APN.


No Google Play Store on Huawei devices, nor within Huawei HiApp store I recently got a Huawei P10, but there is only Huawei HiApp store, not Google Play Store. I want to download the Google Play Store, but I cannot find it in the HiApp store.

How can I install Google Play Store on this Huawei device?

Huawei devices (and other smartphone brands) whose default ROM originates from China, have a certain geo-restriction that prevents accessing most Google apps and services and most (if not all) don't ship with Google Playstore pre-installed.

Instead the OEM based store called HiApp, is the default app store, with which you can download more apps. Fortunately the process of installing Google Play store is not a big hassle at all if you reside outside China (otherwise you might need to install a VPN beforehand).

Using the HiApp store app, you can simply search and install Google Play store in a few taps as shown in the screenshot:

You coud also you the web version of app store here: http://appstore.huawei.com

alternatively you get still get the .apk file on apkmirror and side-load it normally.

PS I have a Huawei tablet with China ROM, that did not have Google playstore preinstalled and I simply used the above process, and it works well  alongside microG.

The Google Play app should already be installed on your phone. Look in your App drawer.


Successfully activated USB host mode using terminal emulator; now mass storage won't work I have a Huawei u8160 running Cyanogenmod 7.2 .

I've recently been digging into USB host mode and I finally activated it. However when I connect my phone to the PC it doesn't give me a notification about "USB connected". It only charges the phone (that means it's connected).

How I activate USB host mode :

su
insmod /system/lib/modules/ehci-hcd.ko

or by using Module Loader App.

How I tried to deactivate USB host mode (which failed):

su
rmmod ehci_hcd

and when I list the mods using lsmod it returns that ehci_hcd mod isn't there

My question here is how can I deactivate the mode in a way that USB Mass Storage would work?

NOTE: I saw USB Mass Storage Not Working question and it doesn't work.

Instead of ehci_hcd, use ehci-hcd instead:
su
rmmod ehci-hcd


Homemade update Sony Xperia to Android 6.0 Marshmallow and DRM restoration I have a Xperia smartphone, Android 4.4.

Is it possible to upgrade my device with new Android 6.0 Marshmallow, and restore previously backed up DRM keys so Sony proprietary features can work as before? Or maybe the keys are bound to specific Android version?

I know about the tool Backup-TA and about the fact that Sony has recently released AOSP version for Xperias.

Please, if you can, give me answer which will be more than 'yes' or 'no', I always like to understand the way things are :)

PS. Sorry if this questions is unclear or could be a duplicate. Let me know about it please. I just could not find any information on the web about restoring DRM keys into new system version.

If you have a backup of your ta partition running a specific firmware it is for that specific firmware. Firmware in this case means the specific version of your firmware (e.g. build number). You cannot restore it.


Getting crash while deleting mesage? I am using LG P500 Optimus one, recently upgraded to Gingerbread.  Sometimes when i read any messages and delete the same, Messaging service crashes with a Force Close error, how to rectify this problem.

I am not sure if you as end-user could really fix the underlying problem. That's why it's always a good idea to send those bug reports that are (sometimes) shown after a force close occurs.

But what you could try is to delete the application data, but this will eventually result in losing all your messages. Go to the Preferences -> Manage Applications -> Choose the Application -> Delete application data

Turn off the confirm before delete option. Worked on my Sony Z1.


How to transfer Android contacts to iPhone? I want to move contacts from Android phone to my new iPhone. Do you know how to move Android contacts to iPhone?

You can use the Android application made by Apple : Move to iOS.

The applications will let you easily transfer your contact and a lot of other data (messages, photos, Google account, bookmark) from your Android phone to your iPhone.

I think you could try an application to transfer your contacts to PC first and then you can use iCloud or the application to put contacts into your iPhone.


How can I prevent my screen from turning off while on a phone call? When I'm on a call my screen turns off after X seconds.  Half the time I can't get it to turn back on without pushing the on/off button, which I have set to terminate a phone call (because half the time I can't get the screen to turn back on).  Is there a way to just turn this "feature" off?

In case it matters:

Phone: Samsung Vibrant
OS: 2.2 / FROYO.UVKA6 / 2.6.32.9

Keep screen on during calls

That setting is not available on all phones, but if it was it would be under:
Home > Settings > Call Settings > [Display >] ...

But as for the difficulty turning the screen on

Be sure that the power button does not end calls (Settings > Accessibility > Power Button ends call : make sure it is UNchecked)

Then just pull the phone away and press the power button to turn the screen on.

The best way that I find is to cover the screen for a few seconds and then release. This is the same mimic as if you are calling into voicemail or a feature for which you are required to press a key. This is the best means that I have found to keep all features enabled.
BTW: I find it odd that you have the power button set to hang up. I believe this is a feature you setup in order to advert another issue. Maybe solving the hang up feature problems will assist with this one as well?


Random apps keep installing on the phone Here is a screenshot of these apps. I never downloaded them:

Screenshot (click image for larger variant)

Many times these have been deleted by me but they are download as well as installed by themselves again and again. What should I do? Also, these apps I never installed all at once rather one by one.

There are several ways of trying to treat this.

Download some antivirus apps and see if they can find the app responsible. Unfortunately, this is not likely to be successful.
Run a factory reset. If the malware has not embedded itself into the operating system, a factory reset will delete whatever is causing this.
Flash the stock operating system. Almost all cases of viruses inside an Android device end up having to use this solution. By reflashing the stock operating system (essentially reinstalling Android), there is absolutely no chance the virus will survive the process. The stock ROM can be found  on the manufacturer website for almost all phones. Guides for how to flash ROMS exist for almost every popular phone ever produced. This is not for the faint of heart or those who are not good with computers. If this is the case, try to contact a friend who is. If the phone is still under warranty, this process will void it. Therefore, if I is under warranty, try to contact the manufacturer for repair first.

Good luck!

Solution below working fine for me.

“My phone is not rooted but still infected by this malware. Apps are automatically installed on my phone without my permission..”

What I did is installing this two apps.

Adds on Detector
Stubborn Trojan Killer
And run it few time.

Based on my experience, unwanted new apps keep installed on your phone because your phone infected with Trojan apps ‘Android Systool’. This Trojan cannot be easily rid, it root deep on your phone system and working as a magnet to do illegal apps download on your phone. Seems the developer makes money from installing as many apps that sell advertisment as possible on victim phone.


Reducing upper volume level My 3 year old son is making his first steps with our Android tablet (Nexus 7). He hasn't mastered the correct usage of the volume slider so he pulls the volume to the max whenever he is using it. Is there any way to configure the maximum volume setting?

There is currently no way to limit the maximum volume.

This has been asked on XDA Developers and there was only the one response since the beginning of August.

Viperaudio can lower max gain and output pevels.


Jelly Bean resource Usage I have a phone with 512MB of ram. The company has launched the Jelly Bean update for the phone. Currently my phone is running Android ICS 4.0.4 which has alot of lag and frameloss issues, So I am thinking to update to JB. However I am concerned about the memory usage of JB.
So my question is:

Whether JB uses more ram than ICS?

Jelly Bean uses pretty much the same amount of RAM. There's not much of a difference.

Performance-wise, Jelly Bean is much better. It will even make phones with 512MB RAM feel smooth, with some lag still, cause you know.... 512MB RAM, but it should feel much better than ICS.

512 MB RAM is too little for gingerbread, let alone ICS. And you're thinking of jelly bean. Jelly bean is meant for phones with around 2 GB RAM.  Ofcourse Jelly bean uses a whole lot RAM than ICS.  You should downgrade to gingerbread or possibly froyo so that phone works well without any lag and freezeups.  Even if you downgrade to gingerbread, you should not install more apps from google play because 512 is just enough to run gingerbread without more apps. BTW, why did you buy a 512MB RAM only phone? Should have purchased at least 1 GB RAM phone. Android is becoming a heavy resource consuming system and 1 GB is minimum the way applications are being launched. Its becoming more and more bloated by the day


How can I install .jar files on my Android? I downloaded some 3D games, unzipped them and got .jar files. How can I use these in Android?  I have a Galaxy S running 2.1.

Although Android uses java, it doesn't support normal JAR files. Instead it uses an Android specific format called APK. The main difference is that Android does not use the normal Java Virtual Machine, but contains it's own Dalvik Virtual Machine that's optimized for Android.

No, you cannot install jar files in android, to install applications from jar we need J2ME support which is not in android phones.


my Xperia l not starting I tried to install a custom rom on my Xperia L,but it aborted.
Now my handset isn't booting up, when powered on it just shows SONY logo.
What should I do now ?

Try to flash the custom ROM again, starting with flashing the boot partition from fastboot. Before doing that re-download the whole ROM and if you can, check it for defects. The fact that the phone draws the SONY logo proves that the bootloader is still working, so you should be able to do this. Pulling out the battery and powering up the phone while keeping the volume up key pressed will put the phone in fastboot mode (the blue LED will light up), from which you can continue.

you need to complete the flash.. download xperial l generic rom and flash it again..


How do I change the time zone (which is disabled) in Honeycomb on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1? When I first turned on my Galaxy Tab 10.1, I told it to automatically set the time.  Unfortunately now the time zone is set to GMT+00:00 in the Date & time settings, and is disabled (so I can't change it).  How do I enable the time zone setting so I can change it?

I downloaded a free app called TimeZone Changer to fix this problem. Still don't understand why Samsung disables this.

You can go into the calendar app and under settings there is a checkbox titled "use home time zone".  Check that box and then you will be able to adjust the time zone.


Prevent switching keyboard layout when pressing Shift+Space on an external keyboard When I use a Galaxy Note together with an Apple Wireless Keyboard, pressing Shift+Space switches keyboard layout. This is really annoying. Is it possible to disable it?

I have the same issue with the Samsung Galaxy S5 and a bluetooth keyboard. I was able to install Gboard (google keyboard from the app store) and this fixed the problem.

You can try ctrl+shift. This option better works for the XP. May be it can also work with you.


How to stop com.seven.Z7.Social Hub from keeping my phone awake? com.seven.Z7.Social Hub is regularly keeping my phone awake for hours and hours. How do I stop it from doing so?

Thank you

I eventually just stopped using the app. Not worth my headache. Thanks for the help.

This app is a Russian application erroneously installed as a "system" app (same package name as the Email hub). If you're rooted you can use something like Titanium Backup to remove the app. Otherwise you can try these instructions from an Android Authority article:

  Removing the application on un-rooted devices seems much harder,
  however success has been reported by clearing the Play Store’s data
  and cache from Settings>Applications – Afterwards, just launch the
  Android Market application to re-acquire the current market state and
  Google Play application.


Unable to reach Google Play does not recognize my device I have the HUAWEI G520-5000 mobile phone which was bought in April 2013 from China during a business trip. The device, despite of being locked for China Mobile carrier, is working properly for my carrier (Cosmote) in Greece. I don't have problems with talking or accessing the internet. My problem is that my Google account does not recognize my device and I can not use the Google Play store and it is impossible to install even the simpliest application. I suppose that the problem is the Android OS on my device which seems to be modified by China Mobile and Huawei (only Chinese apps are accepted by the device and the s/n of the OS is also pretty strange (something like 123456ABCD).
I would appreciate if somebody could help me out with my problem. Thanks

The following worked for me, but requires root:

install Total Commander
open it
browse to /system/etc
look for a file named hosts
long-press the file, then chose to edit it via the CMD editor
comment out the second line (place a # in front of the digit)
save the file (approve superuser request for Total Commander when asked for)

Now the problem should be solved!


How to read out the data in HTC Desire SMS backup file? Unfortunately my HTC Desire SMS app crashed (HTC official android 2.2), all SMS and MMS were lost. When I tried to recover from a previously backed up SMS file (generated by Desire SMS app), but it didn't work, prompting failed to recover. But I found actually most of SMS and MMS had been recovered, with some important ones still missing. I want to open the backup file directly to read out the missed SMS, how to do it? Someone said the backup file is SQLite file, right?

All the messages in Android are stored in an SQlite database on the mobile. So, I guess this Desire backup application simply copies this database to an accessible folder (presumably sdcard).
Since it's an SQLite file, you can simply download and use an SQLite Browser and view the SMS in there.

Try the unix strings command against the db file directly. This will search the binary db file for human readable strings and print them on the console.


Device Can't Power Down I have an Android device which had a custom os..It was for educational purposes and I could not even open another app on it. After the end of the subscription period I thought of using the device. I tried opening it's recovery mode but instead opened some factory or diagnostic mode which was in Chinese. By mistake I pressed the power key to select an option ending with "emmc" and now It boots but shows a black screen with navigation buttons and time...Any keys pressed make no effect and I am unable to shut it down. When I press the power key for a few seconds it reboots but shows the same screen. I just want to shut it down somehow. Please Help!!

Edit: I found a way to shut my phone down. I connect it to my pc and then press the power button for 10 seconds then the screen goes off and the charging percentage shows up after a couple of seconds, I pull the usb cable out and the screen disappears and voila ! My phone is switched off.

Thanks for all your response.


Remove "Recent files" from My Files app in Samsung Galaxy Core Prime As you can see the "Recent files" in the picture, it's really annoying - it remembers every image which I just opened, thus violating my privacy.

Note that "Recent files" even remembers and shows my hidden images (which Images or Gallery won't scan and show).

I can make the "Recent files" forget about my recent images by going to Settings -> Application manager -> All -> My Files -> Clear data (check the second image), but that's just exhausted.

Is there anyway to completely remove this annoying "Recent files"?

In the past, I used Samsung Galaxy V and it doesn't have this  "Recent files", then why my Samsung Galaxy Core Prime has?

(Click image to enlarge)

Disable "Recent File"
1 Long route:
Settings -> Application manager (or Apps) -> All -> My Files -> App Info -> "the Gear" (immediately below the three dots bar) -> Customize My files home -> Disable "Recent files"
=> in this route, the three dots bar leads to "Uninstall updates".
2 Shorter route  (You don't see the "Gear", because you clicked directly on "My Files"):
My Files -> The three dots bar -> Settings -> My files settings  -> Customize My files home -> Disable "Recent files"
3 You have better eyes than I do:
Settings -> Application manager (or Apps) -> All -> My Files ->  "the Gear" (located on the right of the name) -> Customize My files home -> Disable "Recent files"
4 The final stage (this is where you should arrive)

In fact it is possible to do so. You just need to remove the cache files from Gallery and My Files then it removes recently added folders from Gallery and recent files from My Files.


Can't switch/close tabs in the Chrome browser on my Android tablet I just recently purchased a cheap tablet (DigiLand DL701Q 8gb), as my first foray into Android.

I've been using the pre-installed Chrome browser but I can't figure out how to switch tabs or close them. I've searched for hours and all I could find was that the little square icon with numbers in the top right is the tool for tabs, but tapping it does nothing.

I've tried double/triple tapping and swiping, but it still does nothing. Tapping and holding on it opens a popup message with the phrase "open tabs" but tapping that also has no function. I've tried every combination and method I can think of, but nothing works. Only one time did I manage to switch to a different tab and then quickly close it, but this was a result of me desperately mashing the square icon in frustration and I haven't been able to replicate it.

I currently have 7 tabs open and I have no idea what they are or how to view them or how to close them. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Click the three dots, choose "Settings", then turn off "Merge tabs and apps". Now tabs will work like they used to.

(This solution was improperly proposed as an edit by an anonymous user.)

I had the same problem. I was never able to find a way to exit those tabs so I just went to Settings → Apps → Chrome, then deleted data. Nothing bad happened, and those 8 tabs I couldn't remove are no longer there to annoy me.


Operator Data not working post the Lollipop Update I have a Moto G first gen,

Post the lollipop update the operator data is NOT working. Its just WiFi which is working.
What I have done:
Updated to Lollipop - Thru WiFi
Checked - Operator Data Not Working

Solutions which I did, which was recieved from Google Plus community & Moto Care Agent (Live Chat)
1. Cleared Cache
2. Did a soft reset & rebooted With Sim & Without Sim
3. Did a hard reset & rebooted with Sim & Without SIM

PS: My first SIM slot is tampered & not working. I just have the SIM 2 which is working.

Check your APN settings :
Settings -> wireless & networks -> more -> cellular networks -> access point names.

Theses settings are provided by your operator, or you'll easily find them by internet.

My solution: enable flight mode, then disable it. It worked for me.


Battery performance of Dual SIM phone running only one SIM Does a dual-SIM Android phone running only one SIM yield almost the same battery life as a single-SIM phone?

Will both the radios be running all the time regardless of whether both the SIMs are present?

From Wikipedia:

  Battery life (talk time and standby time) of active dual-SIM mobile
  phones is reduced, typically by about a third. For instance, Device
  manufacturer Samsung declares a standby time for its Champ Duos E2652
  Dual SIM phone of 476 hours when used with one SIM card and of 322
  hours when used with two SIM cards. To compensate the shorter battery
  life, some Dual SIM phones ship with better capacity batteries, for
  example newer Lenovo P780 have a 4000mAh capacity.

Wikipedia also describes different types of dual-sims, such as:

Pseudo-Dual
Dual SIM Shift: Accepts 2 SIMS; only 1 active at a time; 1 signal bar
Dual SIM Dual Stand-by (DSDS): both active; 2 signals, but only 1 call at a time
Dual SIM Full Active (DSFA) Dual SIM Dual Call/Dual talk: both active; 2 signals, and can process both calls at the same time. I think this one would consume the most battery.

UPDATE 2013-09-23: The answer to your 1st question is NO, as described in the quoted Wikipedia text above. For your 2nd question, I don't know, but I assume it wouldn't run since there is no SIM. Probably also the reason why it consumes lesser battery.

If one SIM used on dual SIM phone, then the battery life increases. It also depends upon network range, i.e. if poor network connection then it consumes more battery than usual.


How to use dirty cow exploit? I got Sony m4 aqua with locked bootloader, android 6.01 and july 1 2016 security patch, no DM verity...
I would like to freeze few factory apps via adb's pm disable command (or any other way possible).
I've tried to run "su pm disable package.name" but the su command is not recognized for some reason.
I am Linux noob but I got android studio with SDK and NDK installed on lubuntu machine (got it also on win7 machine).
Can someone explain me the steps to take in order to gain root shell access with DirtyCow exploit (or any other way) to be able to freeze apps?

The reason the command isn't working for you is because "su" is a binary that gets installed by rooting your device. Without a proper root you have no "su" command.

In order to use the dirtycow exploit you have to compile the binary for your device's architecture.

Head over to https://github.com/timwr/CVE-2016-5195 and download or git clone the files.
(Optional) If you do not know your device architecture then on the phone install the "Droid Hardware Info" app from Play Store, open it, and swipe left to get to the System tab. Next to the label "Instruction Sets" will be your supported architecture.
On your computer open a terminal and navigate to where the dirtycow files are (extract if needed). Then simply type "make (insert architecture here)" without the quotes. This will create two binaries inside the folder at libs/(your_architecture)/ called dirtycow & run-as. Alternatively, if you have USB Debugging enabled then simply attach the device and type "make root" and it will push the binaries into your device at /data/local/tmp, then automate a few ADB commands to exploit and grant you a limited root shell.
If you don't see the terminal user icon as # and instead see a $ then the exploit didn't work at some point. Since the files are still on the device I would suggest to then try and manually patch run-as by using adb shell and typing the following...

chmod 777 /data/local/tmp/*

dirtycow /data/local/tmp/run-as /system/bin/run-as

/system/bin/run-as

If this doesn't prompt you as root user (#) then the exploit won't work for your device in this fashion and you'll need to do some digging why not. If this happens try opening an Issue on the Github repo, it's still pretty active so you should have an answer before long.

For all readers that are struggling with sony m4 'low storage' problem, and come accross to this page, hoping that dirtycow can help them. Just to note that it CAN NOT.

Dirtycow on marshmallow can not do anything because of selinux restrictions. And on lollipop there are already so much successfull exploits already.

No need to waste your time on android ndk compiling, except for knowledge-test.

Above accepted answer is good explantation of 'how to compile dcow proof of concept'. But it can not even ls current folder where it's run. And word limited inside 'limited root' should be bold to 100px font or renamed to "dummy root", so that kali-linux-hacker-wanna-be-s can not keep the air of misleading mystery around it.

/data/local/tmp$ run-as
/data/local/tmp# ls
opendir failed, permission denied


Messages app stuck notification bubble I have had an odd problem where the Android Messages app had a notification bubble with a number of 1 or higher. That is, the app acts as if there is one unread message. Looks kinda like this:

But when I check inside the sms messages app, I see no unread messages, no unsent messages, no drafts. There shouldn't be a notification bubble. The app acts as if there's a hidden message always there.

How can I get rid of this number?

The OP originally wrote this in the question, so I'm posting it as an answer so the question stops showing up as "unanswered":

I dealt with this for a year or so, as it wasn't super significant, it just bugged me. I use an Xperia Z5, where Sony has their own messaging app clone, which I disabled soon after buying the phone. I used hangouts before finally switching to Android Messages, where I experienced this notification bug. To fix the problem, I simply enabled the built-in Xperia messaging app, and found a sneaky unread message: an undownloaded mms image sent to me a year ago. I deleted the message and the notification bubble went away. I went back to the Android Messages app and the notification bubble didn't come back.
For those who have a pure android experience and use the default messaging app, I suggest switching to another sms app. If upon choosing said app as your default sms app, said app shows you the same ghost notification bubble, then you have a ghost message that didn't show up in the Android Messages app for some reason or other. I hope this helps a brave googler somewhere.
tl;dr
Temporarily switch to another SMS app. You may have a ghost message that isn't showing up in the app you normally use. Delete the ghost message and switch back.

I went to settings--storage and clicked Apps. Then chose messenger and clicked clear data. That removed it.


Is there any way to edit ODT documents on Android? I need to edit my OpenOffice documents.

Is there any version of LibreOffice for Android?

Or

Is there any ODT texteditor app for Android?

There is AndrOpen Office

AndrOpen Office is the world's first port of OpenOffice for Android.
You can view, edit, export office documents using full features of the OpenOffice.
AndrOpen Office has 6 components:

Writer (a word processor)
Calc (spreadsheet)
Impress (presentation graphics)
Draw (drawing)
Math (equation editor)
Base (database)

* AndrOpen Office is forked project from the Apache OpenOffice project.
AndrOpen Office is not affiliated with the Apache OpenOffice project.

A Quick note, default app on android phone such as "QickOffice" should work. try opening the doc as 'open As' then select quick office if available on your device.


How to get rid of Sprint's notifications for ad-supported voicemail On my Galaxy S4 (Sprint), I regularly get a voicemail icon in my notification bar with the message:

  With this update, you will be able to enjoy premium Ad-supported features such as inline playback and auto forward to email.

I have no interest in "enjoying" these features, and I cannot figure out how to make it go away.

"Allow automatic updating" is not not checked.
I have no messages that haven't been listened to.
I do not want to disable all notifications from the voicemail application, as I would  like to be notified when I have messages.
Clearing the notification makes it go away for anywhere from 5 minutes to a day, but it always comes back.

Is there any way that I can disable this specific message?

Accept the update, it doesn't charge you unless you subscribe to the premium package. Aside from that, you could decompile the apk and remove the push notification for updates.

Please try the following:

Android Settings
Application Manager
All Apps (drag page to the left)
search your app and tap on it
make shure, the box show notifications is unchecked
Problem solved?


Noob confused about ROM's I have a HTC Incredible running 2.2, and i understand you need to Root first before anything else, got that, but now I am confused about the ROM thing.

I would like to Root to uninstall the default HTC apps that keep causing my 'Low Memory Errors'.

If i install Gingerbread, is that a ROM like CM7 is?

Confused as to what exactly to do after a root, can i install Gingerbread without rooting?

If i want to install HTC sense, is that a ROM??

Thanks for the clarification here, i've searched numerous forums, but can't seem to find specific answers.

When you are talking about an Android ROM, you are really talking of a group of programs, including the Android base system, that are put together to work with your phone and that once installed are what you see and use when you start your phone without installing any app from anywhere else.

You can imagine that the ROM is the operating system of your phone plus the “default applications” that come with it.

The thing with Android is that is open source, so come people have managed to build systems configured to offer the user some things the original manufacturers of the phones don’t offer. This is the case of CM7 (CyanogenMod 7).

If I install Gingerbread, is that a ROM like CM7 is?

Gingerbread is the codename of a version of Android, the 2.3, to be exact.

Andorid 2.1 --> Eclair
Android 2.2 --> Froyo
Android 2.3 --> Gingerbread
Android 3.x --> Honeycomb (only for tablets)
Android 4.0 --> Ice Cream Sandwich
Android 4.1 --> Jelly Bean

CM7 is a ROM that uses as base system the Android 2.3 system, so you can say that CM7 is a ROM based on Gingerbread.

Confused as to what exactly to do after a root, can I install Gingerbread without rooting?

That depends. If HTC offers an official ROM upgrade to Gingerbread (version 2.3 of Android), you can. If HTC doesn’t offer this update, then you can only install an unofficial ROM (like CM7).

If I want to install HTC Sense, is that a ROM?

HTC Sense is a pack of applications developed by HTC to customize their phones and make themselves unique.

HTC Sense is not a ROM, but you can find ROMs for your phone that are based on the official ROM with Sense and some of the other parts of the system changed.

Rooting a phone is the process to gain full permissions. It is the equivalent of being the administrator of the system. Once you are root you have full access to the system, so you can change it.

Yes, HTC sense is basic ROM provided by HTC. If you want to increase your phone speed and internal memory you can keep your original rom and make it fast and full of memory by using link2sd with root privilege.
Just root your device and use link2sd to create links of your apps to sd-ext


Google Contacts - only My contacts, not Others I have Samsung Galaxy Note II, Android 4.3

I have synchronized it with my Google Account. The problem is that when I search for a name, it also searches all the contacts I have ever send an email to. I want it to search only My Contacts (the name of default group in GMail of contacts I have saved manualy), not Other Contacts. Is it possible? Thanks

EDIT:
I'm not looking for how to display only certain group. I'm looking for how to search only in certain group.

On my phone (moto x) I had to go to the People app, touch the three dot icon, and touch "contacts to display" option. Then select the "back up assistant" option instead of any other option in order to only display those contacts that are stored on my phone.

Go to google.com/contacts and group all your contacts. On the phone, use contacts to display and choose the group you wanted to display.


Phone app shows all contacts even when contacts app is set to show only gmail contacts I have two source of contacts in my phone(Lineage 14.1), gmail and whatsapp.

In the contacts app, I have set the option to only show gmail contacts.
It works properly (first screenshot). But in the phone app, all contacts are shown, thus getting most contacts twice (once from gmail, and once from whatsapp; second screenshot):

I tried using different phone app, but the result is same.
I tried merging the contacts using the mergings apps on play store, but somehow the contacts reappear after using whatsapp.

Is there any solution? A similar question was asked years ago How to show only gmail's contacts in the Contacts app? , but it doesn't have an working answer.

The sync might be on. And all of your contacts are synced with Gmail. Thus it's displaying them.


File servers for Android? Do any good file servers exist for Android that do not require root?  Ideally, it'd be nice to just be able to have an SMB share, but the only app I was able to find for this (Samba Filesharing) requires root.

I'm currently using FTPDroid, but it's pretty slow (I'm getting about 200 KB/s downloads on my n600 wifi).  Are there any better options?

I'm using a Verizon Galaxy S3.

If all you want to do is access your device from a Computer, my favourite app is AirDroid. Allows you to browse files file a lot more. Doesn't require root. I've found that I can get 1.5 / 2mb/s on a busy network

I created WiFi FTP Server for this purpose.


Something is opening Spam URL in my Browser, how do I find out what did this? Sometimes, when using my phone, suddenly my browser (Google Chrome) opens up and tries to open a Spam URL. This will occur again and again, until I restart the phone.

It does not seem to be related with the app I am using at that specific moment, and it keeps happening even if I kill all running apps.

Now I wonder: Is there a way to find out what is making my browser open this URL? Is this logged somewhere, or can this be logged somehow?

Android Version is 5.0.1, device is a Samsung Galaxy S4.

If you use android studio, you can connect your phone and enable usb debugging, then simply filter the LOGCAT for "http://" and find your culprit.

Here's a URL on DDMS:

http://developer.android.com/tools/debugging/ddms.html


Disabled screen lock - don't want to clear credentials I am using Samsung Galaxy Note 3 N9005. In order to use the university WiFi network I need to install an authority certificate (WiFi credential). To do so, the device made me installing a look screen (Pin or Password), any other lock screen choice is not available and grayed with a message "Disabled by administrator, encryption policy or credential storage"

I need to change/cancel the annoying pin lock screen, without needing to clear all credentials in order to keep using the university WiFi.

what can I do about this?

The certificate is stored in Credential Storage, which requires a pin/password to be set for use in encrypting/decrypting the certificate. The nature of the problem is documented here on code.google.com and you can star the issue, so hopefully Google will address it in future.

Those policies are imposed when you give an app permission to be a "device administrator". In order to remove the policies, go to Settings → Security → Device administrators, look for an item in the list associated with the app that imposed the policies, and uncheck it. Be aware that doing so may disable the application, or some of its functionality, and may delete associated data.


MMS messages go into a group conversation with sender and my own number instead of the regular SMS conversation Let's say I have a conversation with Alice. If Alice sends me an MMS, it appears outside of that conversation, as a group conversation with Alice and my own phone number as participants. Could this be caused by having Unknown for My phone number in SIM status?

The solution is to set Your phone number to the actual phone number within advanced settings in Messaging.


Free movies on Youtube on Android When I use Youtube on my computer, they have a stack of older movies available for free, in the Movie section.  (Ghostbusters for example!  Who ya gonna call?)

To be clear, they still had the rentals, but they had a way to filter or search for free ones as well.

When using the Youtube app on my Android 3.2.1 ASUS Eee Transformer tablet, I cannot find this manner of filtering Youtube in the Youtube app.

Is this a limitation?

I do see what you are talking about. In my YouTube app (ICS version) I can see several categories under "Browse", where it seems movies would fit in, but this category is non-existent. I do know that there are many videos on YouTube that are "Not available for viewing on mobile devices", and I think this is what's happening in this case.

For example, "Talladega Nights" is currently available under the YouTube movie section, but cannot be found in doing a search on the mobile app.

It looks like this is a desktop only feature for now :/

The Youtube app does not provide these free movies.  I believe the only movies Google provides is in their Play Store; obvious not free options.


"Lucky try" & "Recommended" shortcuts always appear on homescreen, how to remove it? I am getting shortcuts in my home screen. I try to delete it, but it is appearing once again. Shortcuts names: Lucky try, Recommended.

Looks like a spammy app. Check the ones you've installed last before this trouble started:

From your home screen, go to the Android Settings › Apps
scroll the list to find above mentioned apps. For each app:

open its entry
scroll down to the end of the page opening, where you should find the permissions listed (which the app has requested)
check if the app has the permission to create shortcuts

Alternatively, use a Permission Checker – aSpotCat is a good candidate for this, CRAM App Analyser seems to be capable of the same: showing you all existing permissions, and on selecting one of them, all the apps requesting it.

aSpotCat and CRAM App Analyser (source: the resp. Playstore page; click images for larger variants)

The related permission goes by the name INSTALL_SHORTCUT, and most likely will be titled "Install Shortcuts" or something similar.

Once you found the possible culprit, get rid of it: uninstall the app (if multiple, only one a time) and see whether the issue goes away. If the whole racket ended, you've got the troublemaker eliminated – and in case you've uninstalled other apps before on this road, it should be safe to re-install those as they were most likely not causing the issue.

Look for "ExpandPointWall" and a fake "Settings" app and uninstall them.


Android Studio says: "No device connected" yet I already tried many possible solutions Running Windows 7, and I have just downloaded the latest Android Studio version, and started a project. Now I'd like to test the application on my device but Android Studio says on the bottom left "No devices connected". I've tried a couple of things such as:

Updating my Samsung S6 edge drivers through device manager, which were updated now.
Have debugging mode turned on and USB debugging mode on.
Ran adb devices command to list devices but none show up.
Downloaded new universal ADB drivers.
Toggled between MTP and PTP modes.
Restarted computer/phone/Android Studio/ADB tens of times.
Deleted phones drivers from device manager and installed again.
Re-installed Android Studio.

I'm at a loss as of now. How do I fix this issue?

Windows 7 doesn't always detect the android device connected as an interface for adb. If your Samsung drivers is not detecting the phone you have a few choices:

Try reinstalling the Samsung android drivers. Might be a good idea to
remove the universal android drivers but I don't have that problem
with my Windows 7 machine.
You can mod the inf of the universal driver with your device's VID and PID by adding it if it's missing (which it possibly is missing
since it's not a nexus/google device). Then use Device Manager and
point your device to that driver to use and install.
Remove the Samsung android driver and the universal driver. Then install Samsung's Smart Switch app, which will install the latest
Samsung android driver.

If you are committed to using the universal android driver, then you need to make sure you have the latest updates with the Android SDK Manager. If your tools are out of date or not the latest your tools may be out of sync with the platform it's trying to connect to.

On my Nexus, the USB mode has to be in Camera in order for ADB to work.  I am not sure why.  In that mode, I cannot copy files, but the ADB connection works just fine.


What to do after replacing the phone's battery? I have a Nexus 5 (1.5yo; I know, it's old but still worthy!) and the boy was heavily suffering from short battery discharges. I'm a phone heavy user so I figured out I had depleted the battery's life, and decided to buy a new one.

I used that great iFixIt guide to replace the battery and everything is fine, except that my phone keeps lasting 2 hours and something after a full charge, just like it did with the old battery.

Are there any special procedures I can take to ensure I can have a lasting battery life, or could this be related to the power port or other internals? I feel the back of the phone overheated just like it happened with the old battery as well.

UPDATE: it seems that battery I bought was faulty. After some weeks the phone dropped on the floor and the battery stopped working completely. The new one I got from the warranty gave the phone new life, as expected :)

You shouldn't need to do anything, the time remaining displayed in the phone may be incorrect for a short time (a few days at most), but it should correct itself with a few charge cycles. Wiping batterystats.bin has no effect on the actual life of the battery, but it can have an effect on the display of the remaining life of the battery. Source: XDA/Google

If your phone is getting hot, it is an indication something is not right... and since you replaced the battery that probably is not, and likely was not, the real issue. Either you have a hardware problem, or a software problem, the heating is likely due to the an application not sleeping properly and keeping the device awake, which will also reduce you battery life. I would install GSAM or BetterBatteryStats (paid), and possibly WakeLock Detector (root needed), and try to figure out exactly what is using your battery up. Although more rare, this could be caused by defective hardware as well.

You need to recalibrate the battery. An app to do this (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nema.batterycalibration&hl=en)


Erronous Low Data Space Error on Droid Incredible I've see this question asked a lot, but I haven't seen any real answers.

I'm getting the low application data space error, but I have 440MB/750MB free on my internal storage.

With more than 50% free how can I be low on space?
Is there any solution to this other than deleting things?  It seems that the error goes away at around 460MB free, but it's ridiculous that I would have to maintain that much free space to now be "low".

Any thoughts on what I can do about this?

This error is not just for the total storage, it is also for specific "mount points" like /data/data, for example, where the applications on the device store their data. If this mount point becomes low on space, because it is not given access to "all the storage", then you will receive that low space message. You can uninstall apps that you no longer need/use or go in to the Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications and clear the data for apps that are using a lot, or you don't use often.

Occurred only after Android 2.3.4 update for me. I Tried clearing cache for Facebook, Gmail, Internet - worked, but only temporarily.

The only thing that worked was factory reset. I didn't want to do it, but now phone is running well, even with increased battery life.

All paid apps will be saved. Use Verizon backup to back up your contacts before you reset.


When changing SIM card what needs to be copied or transferred from the old SIM card? I'm changing to a new SIM card with my phone. I know Contacts are able to be stored on the SIM card, so I've copied them across (I used an import as described here).

Other than Contacts, is there any other data stored on the SIM that might be important to export or copy, and how would I do it?

A SIM card typically has 8k to 256k of memory which stores MNC, ICCID,
  IMSI, Authentication Key (Ki), Local Area Identity (LAI), and
  Operator-Specific Emergency Number. The SIM also stores other
  carrier-specific data such as the SMSC (Short Message Service Center)
  number, Service Provider Name (SPN), Service Dialing Numbers (SDN),
  Advice-Of-Charge parameters and Value Added Service (VAS)
  applications.

  Most SIM cards will orthogonally store a number of SMS messages and
  phone book contacts. The contacts are stored in simple "name and
  number" pairs: entries containing multiple phone numbers and
  additional phone numbers will usually not be stored on the SIM card.
  When a user tries to copy such entries to a SIM the handset's software
  will break them up into multiple entries, discarding any information
  that is not a phone number. The number of contacts and messages stored
  depends on the SIM; early models would store as few as five messages
  and 20 contacts while modern SIM cards can usually store over 250
  contacts.

Source

  The SIM card has a special file where the SMS are stored, the file has
  several "slots" in it, each slot holds a message. The number of slots
  is finite, i.e. a SIM card can store 20 or 25 SMS (depending on the
  capacity, newer cards have more slots). When all the slots are filled,
  you have to delete an old SMS before you can save a new one.

[Paraphrased] Modern phones do not use this storage normally, but all SIM cards have this capability since it is part of the GSM standard.

Source

SMS and Contact management are handled by applications on your device, in an Android this is typically your Dialer or Contacts application, and for your SMS messages this is handled by your Messaging application. This seems to be a thing of the past now though, as many apps do not include support for storing or retrieving user's SMS or contact information from the SIM card. SIM Manager is an example of one application that can help you manage the information on your SIM card.

Also note, your carrier may insert information such as a welcome message as an SMS message, or contacts such as their customer service, billing, or repair service numbers.

So the answer to your question is that both SMS and Contacts can be stored to the SIM card, but it's limitations likely mean the use of it for backup and transferring to another device in modern smartphones is extremely limited.

You should copy all your contacts to phone or you can use cloud google storage which supports all the major platforms of devices.


lsusb lists Galaxy Samsung Tab s2 & adb devices lists nothing really, I do all my efforts  to run an android project through eclipse on a tablet "Samsung galaxy Tab s2/ GT-P3100" under linux (Ubuntu 12.04).

i add the vendor id of samsung  in  ~/.android/adb_usb.ini

   0x04e8

i add rules in /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules as following :

SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="04e8", ATTRS{idProduct}=="6860", MODE="0666"
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", ENV{ID_USB_INTERFACES}=="*:ff420?:*", MODE="0666"

then , i restart udev  & i run the following command

sudo udevadm control --reload-rules

i updates  /etc/udev/rules.d/99-android.rules

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="04e8", SYMLINK+="android_adb", MODE="0666"

the thing that perplexed me is the listing of the tab when running the following cmd :

abdennour@estifeda1:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 125f:a11a A-DATA Technology Co., Ltd.
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 413c:2107 Dell Computer Corp.
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 046d:c077 Logitech, Inc.
Bus 001 Device 009: ID 04e8:6860 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd GT-I9100 Phone [Galaxy S II]

And the device also is well mounted:

I finally recourse a very long solution but, as usual, in vain :

i found the solution , it is a device matter and not Host matter: Hence, i am right when i wrote this question in https://android.stackexchange.com/ and not in askubuntu exchange.

Go to Settings > Developer options> Developer options .

Then, check : USB Debugging