[HTC Desire C] aashay960:
Miscellaneous Questions​

> What is GAPPS?

Gapps is short for Google Apps. These are apps made by google like Google Maps, Playstore, Gmail, Google search etc. They are available to download in the Play Store and can also be flashed as a zip in recovery mode. For a complete list of apps click HERE. Not all Gapps are available in all countries.

> How to increase battery life? OR How to save battery?

Read THIS (Not only read it but apply it too! ) . If nothing else works, buy a better battery.

> Task Managers - Good or Bad?

Long story short - If you don't know what you are doing, Stay away from task killers. If you think that constantly killing apps will free more RAM and therefore speed up your device, you are mistaken. The app that you kill will restart itself and this will cause you more of your phone's resources than you think you saved. In fact, task managers do more harm than good. A lot of Developers agree with this. Android itself does a very fine job of managing tasks so that you don't have to mess with it.

Read this in-depth article on task managers HERE

> What is Clean Flash? What is Dirty Flash?

Clean Flash is wiping cache, dalvik cache and data before flashing a zip or installing a ROM through recovery.

Dirty Flash is wiping cache and dalvik cache only

Clean flash is much recommended and causes less problems down the road. If the instructions specifically ask to to clean flash, you must do so. You will lose all your data when you will clean flash. But dont worry, clean flash will not affect your internal or external memory card. You will lose your apps and settings and game data. Your phone will act like it is just out of the box.

You can Dirty flash when flashing small modification zip files. Or perhaps a minor update to the rom (unless the instructions ask you to clean flash). You will not lose any data while Dirty flash. But sometimes, you are more likely to face problems like apps closing which could have been prevented by Clean flashing.

Personally, i always clean flash when installing a new Rom. It is a good habit to follow in the long run.

> What is ADB?

ADB stands for Android Debug Bridge. It is a very useful tool. Using ADB, we can control our android phone using our PC. We can copy or delete files, install or uninstall apps, take a logcat, reboot our phone and a lot of other functions. Here is a really cool guide to ADB.

Here is the list of the common adb commands :

adb devices – lists which devices are currently attached to your computer

adb install – lets you install an Android application on your phone

adb remount – Remounts your system in write mode – this lets you alter system files on your phone using ADB

adb push – lets you upload files to your phones filesystem

adb pull – lets you download files off your phones filesystem

adb logcat – starts dumping debugging info from your handset to the console – useful for debugging apps

adb shell – drops you into a basic linux command shell on your phone with no parameters, or lets you run commands directly
​

> How to get a logcat?

There are basically 3 ways to get a Logcat:

Using an app (Catlog ; aLogcat ; Logcat Extreme)

Using terminal emulator

Using ADB

I personally use ADB whenever I have to take a logcat. Also, it is the only method where it is possible to take logcat when the phone boots (bootanimation).

For Method 3, connect your phone to the PC, open command window, navigate to C:\Program Files\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools

Then type

adb logcat > (any name).txt

Wait for some time as the logcat builds. Then press Ctrl+C to stop taking logcat. You fill find a .txt file in the platform-tools folder. That is your logcat! Now upload it to a site like Dropbox and post a link when required.

Make sure you have USB Debugging enabled when doing this.

> How does the thanks meter fill up?

> User Titles on XDA