applications - Clear popup/push notification of an app without getting it removed from Notification drawer

I'm currently using an LG G3 with Lollipop 5.0.1.

The problem I'm having is that when I'm using an app (or just doing something general on my phone) and I receive a text or similar notification a pop-up shows up on my screen explaining what the notification is. For example, the first sentence of a text, or a snippet of a Facebook post. I know this is normal but the issue is that if I'm currently doing something important and I want to clear the pop-up, if I swipe right (or press the "X") to dismiss the notification it clears it entirely i.e. from the Notification drawer too.

See the example of a situation where this happens, in order to clear up any confusion with my issue:

I'm sending an important email to a coworker when my friend texts me. I don't want to read my friend's text right now but the pop-up still blocks a portion of the screen. In such a situation my options are:

1. Wait about 5 seconds for the pop-up to disappear.


2. Clear the pop-up so I can resume emailing my coworker (preferred because it allows me to resume typing the email immediately).

The problem with option 2 is that if I clear the pop-up notification all other indications that I received a text are also cleared (meaning the top bar notification & the little red "1" on the messaging app). So if I happened to send a really long email to my coworker, there's a chance I'll completely forget to respond to my friend once I'm done.

So, is there a way to clear a pop-up notification without clearing all other signs of the notification?

Answer

Unfortunately, in Android 5.0.1 any action done to the notification that isn't opening it will dismiss it. If you can, upgrade to 5.1. In this version, swiping up on the notification will hide it but keep it in the notification panel.

hardware - How to tell if your phone is refurbished

Is there a way to tell if an Android phone is an original or a refurbished product?

Answer

On some devices, yes, there is a way. I am not certain which specific devices this works on, but there are two methods you can try. The most platform agnostic way to do it is generally the following:

1. Install a launcher that allows you to create shortcuts to Activities. ADW Launcher and Launcher Pro are both free and allow this.


2. Long press on an empty space on your home screen and select Shortcut->Activity.


3. 
   

   Look for one of the following in the list of Activities. Either:

   
   
   

   A. A package named com.android.hiddenmenu which you can expand to reveal the RTN activity OR B. An activity simply named com.android.RTN (this is what I have on my Galaxy Nexus, CM9).

   
   


4. 
   

   Create a shortcut to the RTN activity. If given a choice between multiple ones, select the "View" activity.

   
   


5. Launch RTN from the shortcut and look for the "Reconditioned Status" entry in the list. If it says "Yes" then it's a refurb. If it says "No" then it isn't (or it has not been properly noted as one for some reason).

---

The less portable (manufacturer dependent) way of doing this is to open your dial pad and enter the dialer code ##786#, which will also take you to RTN if the dialer code is supported. On some devices it may also work with *#*#786#*#*. All of the above directions were summarized from this blog post.

Is there a way to bookmark all tabs in Chrome?

Is there a way to bookmark all tabs in Chrome for Android? (i.e. right click and Ctrl functions are not available)

If it helps, I'm using Android tablet.

motorola droid - What causes battery to drain faster than it can charge?

I have a Moto DROID (v1). On a trip from Tyler, TX to DFW airport I had my phone in the car dock and charging. I was using Navigation for directions to the airport and also had Listen running to play a podcast over the device speaker. As I neared the airport, the phone rebooted a few times and then remained off. I took the phone out of the dock and noticed it was very hot to the touch. At the airport, the phone had cooled and I plugged it into a wall charger. The battery was completely drained!

My brother had the same experience with his Moto DROID (v2). He was on a 4 hour road trip and was using the navigation app and participating in a conference call (hands-free). The phone was connected to the car dock and charging the entire time, but after a couple of hours the phone rebooted and then shut-off with a dead battery. We left the phone off and plugged into the charger for a while and it was able to boot again, and like with mine showed a dead battery!

Is the phone really able to drain the battery faster than it can be charged via the car dock? If so, are there known combinations of apps or uses that will cause this behavior?

Answer

I think you answered your own question ;)

Navigation uses a lot of power: it needs constant use of GPS along with reading the map and processing text to speech. Throw in another power-intensive activity like bluetooth or the phone's speaker (or calling, or data, etc), and it's very conceivable that it would drain power faster than it can pull it from a charger, especially a car charger, though the exact specifics would vary from phone to phone.

Here is a great list of the things that use the most power on a phone.

4.1 jelly bean - What's the best way to restart Android via command line (remotely)?

I'm looking for the best / friendliest way to reboot my rooted android 4.1.1 device. I found these solutions so far:

• su -c "reboot" - Causes problems with wifi after restart on my device... I read that this can cause a currupt file system in some cases... Doesn't work via ssh for me.



• toolbox reboot - Same concerns here, but works via ssh.


• reboot -d 8 -f - causes problems after restart e.g. some apps wont start


• busybox killall system_server - "Hot Reboot" (not really a system restart)


• start|stop - Starts/stops Android Runtime (not really a system restart)

What is the device doing exactly when I'm pushing the (hardware) power button? I guess that's the most friendly way.

wi fi - How to set WIFI proxy via adb shell?

Genymotion 2.2 & Android 4.0

I want to set a global HTTP proxy in Android, and all Apps will go through this proxy.

Now I can only do this in GUI as following way: Wi-Fi -> WiredSSID -> Modify Network -> show advanced options

Is there any way to set the WIFI proxy via adb shell?

I've Googled and tried several ways such as:

 1. export http_proxy xxx
 2. setprop net.gprs.http-proxy xxx
 3. sqlite3 /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db; INSERT INTO system VALUES(99,'http_proxy','xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:xxxx')

and nothing worked.

cyanogenmod - What is covered by "Encrypt phone"?

On Ice Cream Sandwich (CyanogenMod 9), Under Settings > Security there is an option to "Encrypt phone". I understand that this will require me to provide a PIN whenever I start up my phone. But what wasn't explained was if it covers the micro SD data as well?

I want to make it so that in case my phone gets stolen, the thief won't be able to simply get my micro SD card and pop it in to a card reader and view its contents, some of which may be sensitive.

Answer

Encrypt phone only encrypts the /data partition.

Encrypting the SD card is a separate function and isn't implemented in stock android. Some manufacturers (I know Motorola and Samsung do) extend the encryption (optionally. Where you find "encrypt phone", you'll also find an "encrypt SD card" option) to the SD card. I can't determine whether cyanogenmod implements such a function or if it may be device-specific.

wi fi - Can I automatically log in to open WiFi that requires web login/password?

There are lots of wifi hotspots that are open, but require a web-based login to use. Hotels, coffeeshops, workplaces. For password-protected wifi, it's easy to set up Android phones to remember the login and password. But I'd like to be able to use my workplace's open wifi with web-based password on a regular basis, without having to manually type stuff in. It should just automatically connect to the Wifi router, go to http://1.1.1.1 or whatever, type in my password, and then everything else should just work. Is this possible?

(HTC Evo running Android 2.2, fwiw...)

bootloader - What is S-OFF? Why would I want to do it?

I always root my android devices, but there's something called obtaining S-OFF for certain devices, and I have no idea what that means. What exactly does the term S-OFF relate to? Why would I want to obtain S-OFF for my device?

Answer

If you have a locked bootloader, it's S-ON. If you fully unlock the bootloader it's S-OFF. As eldarerathis notes below there's an intermediate state, where it's unlocked but still S-ON, where you can flash recoveries and ROMs but not radio firmware and so on.

If you don't unlock the bootloader, you can't flash unsigned firmware and most often can't alter your ROM (i.e., no permanent rooting). The locked bootloader generally restores a known good system image on boot if it sees that changes have been made.

For some devices there's no known method of unlocking the bootloader; most of the time you need something official like HTC's unlocker tool.

applications - Service for sharing list of installed apps

I'm thinking of web app for sharing lists of installed / recommended apps with people. Optional comment for each app on how/when/why it's useful. Something a bit similar to usesthis.com, but for sharing Android apps and open to everyone. Is there such a service?

Answer

AppBrain.

Generically, a user's app list will be at http://www.appbrain.com/user/{username}/apps-on-the-phone.

You can also create other lists to share with the world.

battery life - IM-A870L Radio Interface Layer broke down

I am having this weird problem with my Vega Iron since a couple of days. Past 2 days the battery was down and phone shut off. I put it to charging and when I came back after couple of hours, the led indicated green and I pulled it out of charging and powered on. Since then, the phone is not working normal.

• It does not show/connect to cell network, thus cannot call or sms


• If I try to go to mobile network settings option, the phone hangs (white blank page then black blank page) and I can only manage to get away by using task manager (after pressing back and home keys few times, it shows me the recent tasks where I can close the settings page)


• The phone hangs every now and then. For e.g. if I hit power once to close the display, then hit again to open, it takes couple of minutes before it can come back to life


• I tried the phone secret info menu *#*#4636#*#* then "Phone information", but the same happens and it hangs.


• I tried the secret UMTS menu (##7593#), and it opens with a message "ril socket is not available", if I click the network option (that sets automatic/wcdma/gsm/etc) then same message that ril socket is not available

I tried all this:

• Phone restart



• Batter removed and then put in again


• Sim card and SD card removed


• Airplane mode turned on (even on airplane mode, the phone hangs)


• Factory reset

The phone battery drains very quick and gets hot as well. I guess phone trying to access RILD again and again.

Is there some way this can be fixed, or at least the RIL call events be shut down? Could the phone be set to work without radio?

Answer

Finally I found the answer to my problem!

I took my phone to another expert and he told me that the Baseband IC is gone and it is a hardware problem. He could fix it if I can get him the IC as it is not available in our markets because of being a rarely used korean phone.

This thing is confirmed by another forum post here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=26827676&postcount=4512%22

where they say:

type *#06# , and IF you get message "imei null" or imei starts by 0049XXXX or 00000 it should be resolved by software . but IF nothing is shown when you type *#06#, that is a hardware problem or look at attached picture below. .

When I dial this code on my phone, nothing happens, so it confirms that it is a hardware problem.

I will try to get the hardware component somehow and see if it works.

My actual problem is not solved but I got answers and atleast I am comfortable that I given it a try!

4.0 ice cream sandwich - How to edit the "ME" contact?

On my Galaxy Nexus running (stock, non-rooted) ICS, there is a contact entry for "ME".

This is different from the contact entry farther down the list with my actual name on it. And the contact for "ME" actually contains some incorrect information. Some non-existent email addresses, etc. I don't even know where these came from, as they aren't anywhere in my contacts lists nor in my G+ profile.

When I try to edit "ME", it does not give me the option to modify the email addresses. And it also doesn't let me Join this contact with the other instance of myself.

How can I edit this "ME" contact to show correct information? Or can I somehow delete it and choose a different contact to represent ME?

Answer

I also had the same problem and it took me 2 days to fix this

Try going to contacts.google.com.

Find your profile (should have your gmail on email address)

Re-add the faulty data (it was an old phone number in my case), save, and force your nexus to sync contacts

Now delete the faulty data, sava, and force sync again.

If that didnt work, do the same but with your google+ profile: re-add faulty data, save, and force sync, then delete it.

I did both of the above, so I'm not exactly sure which method worked

Edit: just remembered there was one other thing i did after all of the above:

Go to google plus app on your nexus

Click "settings" and uncheck the contacts syncing.

The old phone number was removed at this point. And turning sync back on did not make it reappear

Hope that helped!

4.4 kitkat - Change DNS but stay on DHCP

I have a "Minix Neo X8-H Plus" Android TV box, running Android 4.4 (KitKat).

I want to change the DNS servers on the WiFi connection, but to do that, I only get that choice if I change to a static IP address. Now, on Windows or on iOS you can keep using DHCP, while setting different DNS servers to what the DHCP service provides.

Is this at all possible on Android? Does it mean I will have to root the device?

Answer

At the moment (Marshmallow) it's not possible. I usually get it using apps which require root permissions.

Another way could be to use an iptables trick, but it requires root, too.

google play store - See all Reviews/AppRatings on PlayStore in a better Way?

Is there a better way to see all Reviews / Ratings with Comments on an Android App in the Play Store?

Right now i on a Android Device, i can scroll to infinity and in the Browser i only get some random 40 reviews. Sometimes (on the Android Play Store) it also resets my settings for the filter.

---

Update

For better understanding, i want to read all comments programmatic and store them in a database for further analytics.

So the best thing would be something like a WebAPI or a Website which provide an tabular overview of all comments/reviews.

Answer

Play Store reviews , IMO , are not a good indicator of an app for reasons mentioned Why You Shouldn't Trust App Store Reviews (and What to Trust Instead).

• Appbrain a front end for Google Play , gives a better filtering capability as mentioned here. In addition, you do get a better insight of app in terms of rating over time, updating details, change in price, versions etc

• Aptoide , at least an alternative of numerically showing the number of reviewers per rating , along with overall rating and use that in addition to alternate ways suggested . Screen shot below

---

Post your update in the question, Sensor Tower could be an option. It is a paid service but offers a flavour of services by free login for Facebook for example

Amongst the host of features it offers, Review History is one of them as shown below

Export Reviews (Enterprise-only)- Export of reviews in .csv format will not be displayed unless you are logged in with an Enterprise-level account.

unbricking - Nexus 7 stucks at Google logo

I had Nexus 7 2013 Mobile with Android 4.4.2 running. I tried to update it to recent release 5.0.2 from factory image. When I run command "flash-all.sh", it did not continue at "rebooting to bootloader...". I had to manually stop the process and it still can boot into 4.4.2. After that I tried flashing it manually by running fastboot commands. It then stucked at 'sending system'. I again had to manually stop it. That erase the OS and can boot only into bootloader. I once again tried the luck and run the "flash-all.sh" and it stucked again at the same "rebooting to bootloader..." stage and after manually stopped it, it will not let me boot into anything except Google logo. I can't switch off it, it auto reboot and stop at Google logo. ADB can't detect the device.

asus eee pad transformer - Using Amazon Instant Video from Amazon Prime on Non-Kindle device

I have an Asus EEE Transformer, and am contemplating an Amazon Prime membership. One of the nice features is streaming video. You can play it on computer, TV/DVD/BluRay that support it, or Kindle.

Is there anyway to play on plain Android, like my Transformer?

Answer

Yes, you can play Amazon Prime videos using flash in the browser. See this thread.

Per the thread, you may have to remove the stock Flash and install Adobe's official version from the market, as well as the Dolphin HD browser.

You can rent movies from Amazon, which presumably use the same framework as Prime videos. It would probably be advisable to rent a movie to verify it works before investing in a Prime membership.

samsung - I want to transfer my android internet app info (saved passwords/log on info on browser)

I have a note 3 and will be transferring to my note 5 soon. I want to find out if there is anyway i can just transfer the app with the existing internet browsing info with the login info i already have in the cache. The cache has not been cleared so I want to directly transfer this to my new phone so i don't have to re-log into and re-enter all my passwords for the sites.

Is there a way to do this?

Just to be clear: I want to open up my internet app on note 5 as it is on my note 3....so that the login info and stuff is already there so i don't have to find all my logon info again for the sites i visit.

Many thanks!

samsung galaxy s 4 - Is there a way to keep youtube videos etc playing even while closing the lid?

This worked before I reinstalled android with some app that I don't remember which. A common situation is that I start a youtube video, start listening and then put the phone in my pocket. And then the sound stops after closing the phone. I'd like youtube and other selected programs to keep playing. Is there a way to achieve it? I believe there was a program that could do it where a whitelisted youtube etc to keep playing in the background or similar.

Answer

For YouTube you would need to subscribe to YouTube Music Key. This allows you to

play music on mobile the way you want to – with or without video, while using other apps or with your screen off.

It also removes adverts from music videos and allows you to download & play videos offline.

I'm not aware of how to achieve this with other apps (which don't support playing in the background).

4.1 jelly bean - Samsung Galaxy S3 not connecting via USB

Since about a week, my S3 doesn't connect anymore via usb to any computer. I don't think it's driver related as it was working before and I didn't change anything on the computers. It now runs Jelly Bean but it didn't happen right after the update (only after a week or so it stopped working).

The S3 doesn't even show the notification with the usb icon nor the possibility to switch between PTP & MTP...

• I tested with 3 different usb cables, on vista, win 7 and mac os x.


• Tried to activate / deactivate usb debugging, restart the phone and event done a hard reset, it's still not working.


• Phone is not rooted

Maybe it's hardware, but the phone didn't fell or anything like that...

Do you have an idea ?

cyanogenmod - How to restore my IMEI on Galaxy S if I don't have a backup of /efs?

I installed CyanogenMod 10 Nightlies on my Galaxy S1, coming from CyanogenMod 9.

On every reboot I get the message:

Warning! A problem was detected with your device. Your device IMEI number is invalid. And invalid IMEI number could cause network issues including the inability to call emergency numbers.

Sometimes I have network issues and my handy just won't connect to the Internet(even though it shows E/H Connection)

I once made a backup of my /efs/ partition, I already restored it but the message still appears.

Answer

The CyanogenMod 10 is the first update with the code to detect an invalid IMEI.

You could already have an invalid IMEI and don't know about it.

The issue with an invalid IMEI is that you may have emergency calling problems (inability to do emergency calls).

Does the IMEI reported match the number under your battery?

Dial *#06# and the IMEI will be presented on your screen.

From this code.google.com thread, the user at comment 5 managed to solve the issue:

Steps I took to solve the problem:

1. Flash my phone by Odin to version 2.2.1


2. Update to CM9 using Recovery with stabile version od CM9 http://download.cyanogenmod.com/get/jenkins/5805/cm-9.0.0-galaxysmtd.zip


3. Update to CM10 using last version of kernel.
   I used cm-10-20120822-NIGHTLY-galaxysmtd.

Between steps I did wipe data/factory reset and wipe cache partition. Now my IMEI is correct.

After cleaning the phone and updates do CM10 I recommend installing gapps-jb-20120726-signed, because your phone will be clean as a baby after birth.

6.0 marshmallow - Two clocks, different times

The clock in the lockscreen shows the right time, but the one on the right corner of the status bar gets stuck. It shows the right time when I turn the mobile on, but then at some point it stops and stays at whatever time it was showing at that moment.

What could be happening? Is there a way to fix it?

samsung galaxy s 2 - Do a total wipe of my device

I have flashed my ROM several times with different ROMS, and sometimes back to stock. I flashed roms, modems, kernels etc.

But the flashing never seems to totally format the device, because the folders of old software keep showing up on the phones hard drive.

Is there a way to completely format my device, and install a new rom afterwards.

I have a Samsung Galaxy 2s running gingerbread 2.3

If this question is already ask this can be closed and redirected. I could not find a similair question.

Answer

To completely format your device, you need to use Odin and an Odin-able ROM (preferably stock). Note that the device can't be blank. You should always have firmware on it.

1. 
   

   Download Odin 1.85 from here and extract it.

   
   


2. 
   

   Download stock firmware (listed here), you probably want JPKF3.

   
   


3. 
   
   

   Put your phone into Download mode (you may have to attempt this a couple times):

   
   
   
   
   1. Power off the phone
   
   
   2. Hold VolDown+OK:
      
      
      1. Click the Power button
      
      
      2. Let go of VolDown+OK when the Android icon with "Downloading..." underneath appears
      
      
      
      
   
   
   
   



4. 
   

   Start Odin

   
   


5. 
   

   Connect your phone to USB and ensures it shows up in Odin (a yellow box with a COM port will be shown). If it doesn't, disconnect and reconnect. If it still doesn't, reboot your phone and start over from (3).

   
   


6. 
   

   Click the PDA button in Odin and choose the firmware file you downloaded.

   
   


7. 
   
   

   Click Start and wait till "PASS" appears in the Message area. If it fails, start over from (3).

   
   

Normally, to completely wipe the device, you would select "Re-partition" in Odin. However, this apparently can brick the Galaxy S II! So don't do it. I guess it only works consistently with the original Galaxy S.

sms - How can I send a text message to a group that has more than 10 contacts in it?

I made a group that has around 18 contacts. I wanted to send a text message to everyone. When I was prompted to select contacts from the group, it would not let me select more than 10. Anyone know how I can get around that limitation? I have a Samsung Infuse.

Changing/reverting Samsung's "Recent tabs" color theme to Nougat (based on app's theme) on Oreo device

On Samsung devices running on Android 7.0 Nougat, the recent tabs have different colors based on the apps' theme. On Android 8.0 Oreo, they are all the same color.

I want to find a way to revert to the Nougat version. I plan to install Magisk, but rootless solutions are preferred.

file system - How to access /storage/emulated/0/ from PC?

I want to export the settings of the K9 mail app. This app exports a settings file to /storage/emulated/0/com.fsck.k9/settings-4.k9s. But if I connect my Nexus 4 to my PC I cannot see such a file or the directories.

security - Android Spy Apps

Is it possible for someone to install a spy app on an Android phone JB os? Do these spy apps really work? Can anyone install this spy app to your mobile phone without your knowledge? If you suspect that it's been installed to your mobile phone, how do you find it and uninstall it? Would it show as an installed app in your internal files accessible by apps like All-in-One Toolbox?

Use fixed keyboard for a given app

I would like to tell my Android that when I'm in a given app it should switch to a given keyboard. My use case is that I want to use Hacker keyboard with Connectbot.

linux - Packet forwarding between USB Tethering and Wifi on Android

I have Toshiba notebook with embedded wifi adapter 2.4Ghz, desktop without embedded wifi adapter and Samsung Galaxy smartphone with Mobile HotSpot feature also on 2.4Ghz. Smartphone is connected to Internet through mobile operator. I need provide internet access for notebook and desktop through smartphone and combine them in network, so I will be able to ping notebook from desktop and vice versa.

I have bought TP-Link Archer T1U usb wifi adapter for my desktop and found that it supports only 5Ghz bandwidth. Yeah.. shit happens. But also I have old rooted Samsung Galaxy SM-T211 tablet with USB Tethering feature. So I switch on Mobile HotSpot on smartphone and connect notebook to smartphone through wifi. Then I connect tablet to smartphone also through wifi. Finally I switch on USB Tethering feature on tablet and connect desktop to it through usb cable. Network schema is shown below. All devices have internet access. Seems good, except I can't ping desktop(192.168.42.56) from notebook(192.168.43.24).

Forgot to mention, I use ArchLinux on both desktop and notebook.

Use existing contact for "Me" in Ice Cream Sandwich

My Nexus S has just been updated to Ice Cream Sandwich, and I notice that in contacts there is a new space for "me". Is there a way to assign the existing ordinary contact for me (a contact with my name and details that I sometimes use for sharing with people, and sync with Picasa Photos etc.) to this slot?

It seems related to this question, but that is about the similar HTC specific feature found on some phones.

wi fi - Can we use an Android phone as a Wi-Fi repeater?

Can we use an Android phone as a Wi-Fi repeater?

Imagine situation when you can access a weak Wi-Fi signal from a free hotspot (coffee shop) signal near window, but want to work in the middle of the room. Then we can put the phone on the window sill to spread the signal over the entire home.

Is it feasible?

Answer

The answer is yes, there is an open-source project available that does exactly that.

To quote:

It is a software designed to help you by-pass Great Firewall of China (GFW). Different from similar softwares, it is designed to run as router instead of running as a client installed on some device. Being router means, you can have one thing (Android mobile phone, for example) running fqrotuer, then other devices can just connect the wireless network created by fqrouter.

Blog: fqrouter Source: fqrouter

Why does the youtube offline videos get expired

Weird behavior of offline videos. I had downloaded a lot videos from office for offline viewing at home. But when i went home they were showing expired and when i clicked on them it showed connect to internet to update. So i went online but even then it was showing connect to update, but after long hours of searching over the internet i couldn't find any solutions. So i first removed them from offline and re-downloaded them.

That was okay, but the same thing happened today hence i am frustrated. My questions are like this: 1)Why are they getting expired 2)Solution for the above question.

Screenshot:

_{Screenshot - (click to enlarge)}

should you be on a tablet when its charging?

This question already has answers here:

Closed 5 years ago.

is it OK for the battery if you keep using the tablet while it's charging? And should you stop charging when it's fully charged.

How can I get Kies to detect my Galaxy S GT-i9000 on Windows 7?

When I connect my phone to my Windows 7 PC the Kies application opens and displays "Connecting", but it does not connect. Why? How can I fix it?

boot - what is the download mode

could anybody explain what is this download mode?

As described in here How to root Innos A35 as I hold vol up +vol down 5 seconds and at the same time connecting the USB cable to my computer it shows up a removable disk and unknown drivers in windows 7.

My phone is also Innos A35 device locally sold as i35 from dialog telecom.

What are those? And what is this download mode?

But unlike the recovery mode, I didn't get a screen up. Is these two modes all coming from ROM. what kind of code is there on ROM. [Well in x86 computer I could review a opensource bios implementation, any idea on Android ARM ?].Where that consoles come from?

Where is uboot located? Is this download mode is a mode that programmed into a ROM, where I could not change it?

I have read the boot procedure of a typical android phone. But can't organize the info with this.

Answer

Download mode is for flashing radio firmware/ROM upgrade through official means.

Some devices uses U-Boot over the generic boot, it is a boot-loader code found in read-only ROM chip on the board, which uses a certain memory address offset, in which the kernel from the /boot partition gets loaded into that specific certain memory address offset and jumps into that address and the kernel starts running.

For details of the generic LK boot which is employed by most, if not all, Qualcomm based devices, see this

As for Download mode, for example ODIN is commonly used on Samsung devices to flash ROMs, those devices needs to be in download mode prior to flashing. However, ODIN is not the official way to do it, rather Kies, is the official route in upgrading the firmware, this is for Samsung devices for example.

4.4 kitkat - What are all the functions of fastboot on android 4.4.4?

I have recently been able to access fastboot but I have almost no knowledge about the different options inside it. Could someone please explain in details all the functions of fastboot?

---

Extra info

• I am on a moto g 2013 with android 4.4.4


• I am not rooted and do not have anything such as Clockwork mod installed

Answer

Fastboot allows you to send commands to your phone while in the bootloader. The bootloader is the one place that ADB is not running.

Disclaimer, not all of these may work with your device.

fastboot oem unlock

• Unlock your bootloader. If your device supports this, you can unlock your bootloader here. Most phones require an exploit in order to gain root access, phones like Nexus devices allow you to unlock the bootloader and then it is very easy to root, or install custom ROMs. note: this will wipe all data off the phone.


• Non-Nexus devices may require a code to go along with this command. so it would be called like fastboot oem unlock [the_code]. See fastboot oem get_unlock_data for how to get the code that goes with this command.

fastboot oem get_unlock_data

• Motorola guide to unlock your device


• I think this is a Motorola command, which will allow you to perform before the oem unlock.


• This command will give you a code and you go to the Motorola website and enter the data. They will then give you a 20 character code that you use with oem unlock

fastboot devices

• gets the list of devices that are connected to the computer. This is like the ADB devices command, but works on devices that are at the bootloader.



• It is good to use this to ensure you can properly connect to the device.

fastboot flash

• Flashes a custom image to specific partitions on the device.
  
  
  
  • fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
  
  
  • fastboot flash boot boot.img
  
  
  • fastboot flash cache cache.img
  
  
  • fastboot flash userdata userdata.img
  
  
  
  • fastboot flash system system.img
  
  
  
  

fastboot erase

• Erase partitions on the device [source]
  
  
  
  • fastboot erase system
  
  
  • fastboot erase data
  
  
  
  • fastboot erase cache
  
  
  
  

fastboot reboot

• Yep, it reboots the device.

Normal Powerup

• Just reboots the phone normal

Recovery

• Reboots the phone to the recovery

Factory

• Seems to just boot the device normally. Maybe 'Safe Mode'? [Source]

Switch console

Barcodes

• Brings up device serial number, ID numbers, SIM numbers, etc. as barcodes.

BP Tools

• Baseband Processing Tools? Used for troubleshooting baseband [Source]

usb - Problem connecting Nexus 7 as mass storage device on Windows 7

I have an Asus Nexus 7 tablet, and was trying to connecting it in MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) mode to my Samsung Series 5 laptop running Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium Edition. I have a bunch of Android development tools installed also, and typically have my devices connected using the ADB (Android Debug Bridge) driver.

When I first attempted to connect my Nexus 7 to my laptop to use in MTP mode, it simply refused to show up in Windows Explorer. Finally, I figured out that I had to uninstall the ADB device ("Android Phone") from Device Manager and then it would work correctly in MTP mode.

Any ideas why this is? Is MTP mode trumped by the ADB USB Driver?

Note: I always had USB Debugging disabled on the Nexus 7, so it wasn't that.

Forgot security lock pattern on Jelly Bean device with Wifi and 3G data turned off

I forgot my security lock pattern and my Wifi and 3G connections are switched off. I can hard reset the phone (Galaxy Nexus) from recovery mode, but that would wipe all my data. ADB is also turned off so I cannot recover my data unless there is a way to turn on ADB while the phone is locked. I understand that ClockWorkMod recovery turns ADB on automatically when it is installed.

• Do I need to root the phone to install ClockWorkMod?


• If yes, can I root the phone while it is locked?


• Is there any other way to recover the data from the phone before I reset it?

Answer

Since the FBI cannot bypass the screen lock, I guess you will not. Check out http://wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/fbi-android-phone-lock

5.1 lollipop - How do I get rid of "System Data" that takes up half my hard drive?

So since I updated my phone, there seems to be a mysterious 3-4GB of "System Data" on my phone's hard drive that I can't get rid of. Here are some screenshots of this:

I have an LG Leon running Android version 5.1.1

Is this a known issue with updating Android or is this a new thing?

4.0 ice cream sandwich - Chinese tablet does not boot

I have a Chinese Tablet that was working till last night. I did a factory reset and now it is stuck in small Android logo. I have tried all key combinations to enter into recovery with no success. Please help. Do let me know what information can I provide about the tablet.

System (Android 4.0.4)
Model- L26
Manufacturer - unknown

Device - crane-a088
Product - crane_a088
Brand softwinners
Android Version - 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
API Level - 15
Build ID - IMM76D
Fingerprint - softwinners/crane_a088/crane-a088:4.0.4/IMM76D/20120924:eng/test-keys
Display (800x432)

Processor (ARMv7)

Processor - ARMv7 Processor rev 2 (v7l)
Cores - 1
Max Frequency - 1200 Mhz
Instruction Sets - armeabi v7a, armeabi
SIMD Instructions - NEON

Memory (306 MB)
System RAM - 306 MB
JVM Max Memory - 48 MB


Internal Storage - 639 MB
External Storage - 935 MB

Back Camera - (1.9 megapixel)
Front Camera - (0.3 megapixel)

Sensors (2)
MMA 3-axis Accelerometer
Vendor - Freescale Semiconductor Inc.
Broncho 2-axis Orientation

Vendor - Topwise 3G Inc.

OpenGL 1.X (Mali-400 MP)
General
Renderer - Mali-400 MP
Version - OpenGL ES-CM 1.1
Vendor - ARM

OpenGL 2.0 (Mali-400 MP)
General

Renderer - Mali-400 MP
Version OpenGL ES 2.0
Vendor - ARM
GLSL Version - OpenGL ES GLSL ES 1.00

Features (20)
Graphics
OpenGL 2.0
Android Hardware
android.hardware.bluetooth

android.hardware.camera
android.hardware.camera.autofocus
android.hardware.faketouch
android.hardware.location
android.hardware.location.gps
android.hardware.location.network
android.hardware.microphone
android.hardware.nfc
android.hardware.screen.landscape
android.hardware.screen.portrait

android.hardware.sensor.accelerometer
android.hardware.touchscreen
android.hardware.touchscreen.multitouch
android.hardware.touchscreen.multitouch.distinct
android.hardware.usb.accessory
android.hardware.wifi

Android Software
android.software.live_wallpaper


Model number
L26
Android version
4.0.4
Baseband version
M1190_V1.0.3
Kernel version
3.0.8
lihongling@lihongling-desktop #30
Mon Sep 24 19.53.13 CST 2012

Build number
Ubuntu-L26-B-20121016

Answer

If it is stuck in bootloop, I suspect corruption in /system. You should either reinstall the stock ROM or install a custom one. The first thing you will need is a custom recovery. According to this post by flowish at XDA-Developers, you can do this by follwing these steps:

• Download the recovery (recommended latest build)


• extract and put to your /sdcard


• 
  

  open terminal applications (like better terminal emulator) ,or you can use from adb shell and type :

  
  
  

  $ su
  # cd /mnt/sdcard
  # sh install-recovery.sh
  # sh reboot-recovery.sh
  

Here is the button configuration of the recovery:

Power button : Select

Volume (+) : Up

Volume (-) : Down

After doing that, install a new ROM from the recovery. Here is a custom ROM (from a post by nizar07 at androidtablets.net) that you can install from recovery.

samsung galaxy nexus - Why is my phone slow?

My phone has lately been really slow. When I turn on the screen, particularly if it has been off for a while, the phone is really sluggish. For example, it might take 30 seconds to respond to my input. Or if someone calls, it might not respond to my answer gesture until after the caller has already given up and hung up.

If I leave the screen on for several minutes (up to five), the phone will eventually start to respond more normally.

The CPU information in the developer options shows that the processor is pegged during all this slowness, and the process system_server is consuming almost all of that CPU capacity with other processes fighting for a little CPU time.

Also, this CPU activity is killing my battery. I'm only getting half the battery life I should be getting.

I recently lost root in an OTA upgrade; in re-rooting I had to do a wipe of the phone. Once I restored everything, the problem came back.

My phone is a Galaxy Nexus running Jelly Bean (4.1.2). I also experienced a similar issue with my previous phone, a Nexus One running MIUI and "ICS". I attributed that phone's slowness to its age, but now I think there must be something else going on.

What could be wrong, or how could I go about tracking down the problem?

• My current phone is running 4.1.2. The problem became much worse after the update. My previous phone was the one I said was running "ICS". I put that in quotes because it was a custom ROM that claimed to be 4.0 but which I suspect was actually Gingerbread+.


• My RAM typically runs at about 85%. But, I doubt this is too useful since Android automatically kills apps when it needs more RAM and the Linux kernel is designed to keep RAM mostly full so as not to waste it.


• Currently, Google Maps is using the most battery, followed by Tasker. I'm quite sure that this isn't typical, however. I can't imagine why Google Maps would be so high, as I don't use it often. Anyway, I turned off the location permissions, so hopefully that'll cure Google Maps. And Tasker doesn't usually consume so much, but when the CPU is pegged it seems to have a harder time operating than most apps. (By the way, I have no location-based profiles in Tasker.)



• Upon rebooting my phone, it's OK until the screen goes off for a period of time. Then, the problems resume. They're so severe that it's often faster to reboot than to try to use the phone without rebooting.


• Auto-rotate seems to have no effect. I regularly toggle it in the normal course of using my phone, and haven't noticed any difference either way.


• Apps would appear to be the culprit since I've experienced the same issue on two different phones and since doing a factory reset. However:
  
  
  
  • The process that's consuming the CPU isn't an app but system_server, which is a core part of Android.
  
  
  • I have a lot of apps, so disabling them one by one would be a time-consuming process.
  
  
  
  


• I tried re-nicing system_server, but I didn't se any effect.

Answer

This looks like it could be an issue with certain background services malfunctioning. Try observing the background services and disable some of them to see if you might hit the culprit. To do it in a way that is less hit and miss, there are several battery app in the market or you can use ICS native battery monitor to see if there are anything that are consuming more battery than it really should.

notifications - Phone won't shut up even in Vibrate/Silent mode

If I set my phone to Vibrate or Silent modes, it's still making audible notifications for GMail, Hangouts, Waze, and maybe other things.

It has worked as expected for years, and then started doing this in the last few weeks. I don't see any other setting anywhere that adjusts this.

All 3 of the main volume controls are at zero. Is there somewhere else I should look?

The loudness of the notifications matches the loudness of the notification slider when it's not muted. Like if I set it to high level and then go to silent mode, the notifications are still high level. If I set it to the lowest level and then go to silent mode, the notifications are at the lowest level.

CM11, Android 4.4.4, Samsung Galaxy S Relay

screen - Is there an easy way to invert colors?

iOS has a nice option in the accessibility menu that allows you to invert the screen colors. Does Android have anything like this?

Answer

Since Android 5.0 Lollipop, the feature is built-in as one of accessibility options.

1. Open Settings



2. Select Accessibility


3. Below Display section, toggle Color inversion.

After toggling it for the first time, the "Invert colors" toggle will be added to the quick settings menu.

ad hoc networks - How can I establish an AD-HOC Wi-Fi connection on my tablet?

I'm not an expert in this kind of subject. I'm reading that I need to root my tablet.

What does root mean? All the instructions are really difficult.

How can I make this AD-HOC Wi-Fi connection in my Sony S tablet?

^{I'm running Android 4.0}

nexus one - How to use an Android device as bluetooth USB dongle?

Is there a way to use my android device as a bluetooth USB dongle without rooting it?

Answer

If I understand your question correctly, you are curious if you can plug your phone into the USB port on your laptop and use the bluetooth connection of your phone as if you had bluetooth service on your laptop.

No, that is not possible. The USB drivers for your phone do not permit that type of functionality.

applications - Why are disabled apps still running?

I've noticed that apps (such as Google Contacts Sync) that have been disabled using the stock Android (KitKat) app manager still show up as running when using process observer tools. This is true even after the device has been rebooted.

Why are disabled apps still running? Is there an effective (and safe) way to actually disable them?

Solutions requiring root privileges are acceptable.

(Note that for the specific example above, you can tell Android not to sync your contacts, but it still runs the Google Contacts Sync process. But let's not dwell on that example... it's just an example.)

auto start - How can I prevent applications from running on startup?

This question already has an answer here:

Closed 7 years ago.

Possible Duplicate:
How can I stop applications and services from running?

I've installed some applications that I mostly like, except for the fact that they all decided they were too important not to auto-start. None of them give me any option within the application to disable the auto-start "feature."

Can I stop these applications from auto-starting? And if so, how?

Note: My phone is not rooted, so I'm especially interested in solutions that do not require a rooted device, but all answers are welcome, even if they require rooting the device, since I may do this eventually.

Also note: I'd prefer not to fiddle around with clumsy auto-kill features in task-killer programs, as I've found them to be incredibly unreliable on my phone (Motorola Milestone/Droid).

Fooling a tablet into thinking it's a phone so that Amazon Prime streaming will work

This relates to question:

Using Amazon Instant Video from Amazon Prime on Non-Kindle device

However things have moved on since then. Amazon have now released a version of their Amazon app for use on non-Fire Android phones, and indeed streaming of Amazon Prime is now possible. However the Tablet Amazon app does not have this functionality, even though it is running the same Android OS version (as the scores of negative reviews on the app will testify!) There doesn't seem to be a way to install the Mobile Android app onto a Tablet. It appears that they only allow Amazon Prime to be used from their own Kindle Fire Tablet.

Is there any way I can fool my tablet (Nexus 7) into thinking it is a phone so that I can install the Phone version of the Amazon app and therefore enable Amazon prime streaming?

Answer

You can install the .apk http://www.apkmirror.com/wp-content/themes/APKMirror/download.php?id=2395 Note: Make sure you enable installing from Unknown Sources from Settings>Security.

If you cannot install the apk, you will have to root your tablet. You can probably find a guide at forum.xda-developers.com

1. After rooting your device, install Xposed installer http://dl-xda.xposed.info/modules/de.robv.android.xposed.installer_v33_36570c.apk Note: Make sure you enable installing from Unknown Sources from Settings>Security.


2. Install Play Store Fixes from Xposed Installer, from the Download screen (There should be a drop-down selection menu in the action bar).


3. Go into the Modules screen (using the same drop-down menu in the action bar) and enable Play Store Fixes via the checkbox.


4. After enabling, open the Play Store Fixes app by selecting it from the Modules screen in Xposed Installer (or from your app drawer).



5. After you open Play Store Fixes, set the DPI (density) to 320 (phone dpi).


6. Go back into Xposed Installer, either by pressing the Back button or opening from your app drawer.


7. Go into the Framework screen. Install the Xposed framework.


8. After the installation has installed successfully, Soft Reboot your tablet.


9. Open Play Store and search for Amazon.


10. You should now have the option to install Amazon. Note: If not, try setting the density to 240.

Hope this helps!

5.0 lollipop - Can I safely do a factory reset without losing root?

Sadly my quesiton isn't that simple. To make sure everyone unerstands I will explain as short but specific as possible:

_{Initial: stock state, not rooted, nothing special}

1. I updated my HTC One M8 to Android 5.0 (Lollipop) and noticed, that it drains my battery waaay faster than before and also lags pretty bad (almost every press of a button).


2. I searched for fixes online but couldn't find anything that may work except for a factory reset. Since it's almost impossible to backup all apps including data without root (e.g. titanium backup) I thought I may as well root my device, so I'm prepared for future restores (as I found out it's particularly easy to root an htc device, I was relieved _{I'm a noob when it comes to rooting}).
   
   
   
   • I then did a factory reset and rooted my HTC One M8, installed SuperSU and all that stuff, you know.
   
   
   • It actually ran faster than before the Android 5.0 Update and the battery drain also seemed to be OK.
   
   
   
   
   


3. 
   

   This Monday I woke up to a completely depleted mobile data usage (had about 450MB left - all gone over night). I forgot to turn on WiFi as I went to sleep. Below is the data usage of that night. I set everything I can (Play Store Updates and HTC Backups, as far as I know) to WiFi only, because 1GB of monthly mobile data seldom is enough for me.

   
   
   
   
   • 
     

     

     
     
   
   
   • 
     

     I contacted HTC Support Chat and that lady told me to go to Settings -> Apps -> Reset App settings and restart my phone by pushing VolumeDown + VolumeUp + Power Button. I did that and it seemed like my phone is as slow as before I did the factory reset.

     
     
   
   
   
   • I still don't know why the heck my phone used so much mobile data that night. I just hope this won't happen again. If you know why or how to prevent this, feel free to tell me!
   
   
   
   

Now I'm here with a rooted HTC One M8 with Android 5.0.1 and the same problems as in the beginning of this nerve-racking process. I searched a lot for solutions of the battery drain after the Lollipop update, but couldn't find anything helpful.

So my question is Can I perform a factory reset without losing root? because that's what helped me in the beginning. But of course I would be very happy about solutions addressing the extreme battery drain and lags I'm experiencing.

In Settings -> Power consumption there (almost) always is Google Play Services at the top. I found some solutions on how to keep this from draining my battery all the time, but they include messing with more root apps and I'm not sure if my device will also run faster after doing that.

Answer

Recoveries like TWRP and Philz Touch checks for root verification and in the scenario of you losing root after factory reset, boot into your custom recovery, attempt for a normal reboot and the recovery will offer to root the device. Take the offer. Come back to Android and install SuperSU from Play Store as usual. This worked well with my Android 4.2.1, 4.4.2, COS12 and stock Android 5.1 ROMs.

Note: do not use the said approach on a ROM running Android Marshmallow. It may cause boot issues which you might not be able to solve unless you do a clean and full flash of a device specific ROM or manually reverse the steps TWRP used to root the device.

As of now, to root a ROM prefer the flashable zip for SuperSU stable and flash it through your custom recovery. In case of installation issues, refer to this XDA thread.

Related: I've installed a custom recovery image, but not yet rooted my phone. How can I install SuperSU and subscribe to automatic updates?

---

SuperSU app offers to move itself into system partition which would make it a system app and invulnerable to any factory reset. The option is available under its settings as Install SuperSU into /system.

(As of now however, for ROMs rooted with system-less root mode SuperSU doesn't provide the said option.)

---

About battery drain, per my experience with it in Android 4.2.1, 4.4.2 and 5.0.1 I can recommend Greenify app in Boost mode. Boost mode requires Xposed Framework¹ installed.

---

¹ _{Xposed Framework: Android 4.x, Android 5.x and 6.x}

bootloader - What is the difference between aboot and boot?

I'm looking through my device and I noticed within /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name that there is boot and aboot partitions. What is the difference between them? Mainly what is aboot?

Answer

The Application Bootloader ABOOT boots the Android kernel/Recovery kernel.

It is the mechanism to download images onto the device from a host machine (like Windows/Linux PC).

On Samsung devices it runs the ODIN protocol on the device.

The Primary Bootloader boot part is a computer program that loads the main operating system or runtime environment for the computer after completion of the self-tests.

The PBL acts as a communication engine to download the Secondary Boot Loader (SBL) into the internal RAM and then activates it.

The SBL adds functions for erase and programming of flash memory and EEPROM; it also handles the actual download of new or updated software. This allows a minimum ROM utilization by the PBL

7.0 nougat - Set a custom alarm / browser entire storage on Motorola Moto G5 / Android 7.0

I've been using Moto E3 and G4 before and had absolutely no problems in using custom / own alarm tones on these devices / Android versions (on both Android 6, 7.0 and 7.1 in case of G4).

Now, I have purchased Moto G5 and whenever I go to Clock > Alarm > [alarm] > Ringtone > Your sounds > Add new some kind of weird file browsers opens that allows me to pick alarm ringtones from only: "Audio" and "Downloads" folders giving me "Recent" and "OneDrive" options in addition.

How can I select alarm ringtone from (system default?) "Alarms" folder? Or how can I force Clock app to use different file browser (i.e. system "Files Manager" or custom "Solid File Explorer"), which allows me to select a file from any folder?

Am I limited only to above mentioned folders and must copy my alarm ringtone to i.e. "Download" folder in order to use a custom alarm ringtone on Moto G5?

Answer

In the "weird" file manager, click on the ellipses in the top right and choose Show internal storage.

Now you should have "Internal Storage" available in the hamburger menu (three horizontal bars) in the left.

You can now browse your internal storage and choose the custom alarm tone which you want to make your alarm tone and it should be applied.

rooting - How to root a samsung galaxy S3 lite(Samsung S6790)

How do I root a Samsung Galaxy S3 Lite(Samsung S6790).

I have tried using towelroot v3 which returns

This phone is currently unsupported

and framaroot which also returns

Your device seems not vulnerable to exploit included in Framaroot

This led me to try using KingoRoot which ran for like 15mins and restarted my device. After I reconnected my device, on the menu it still had the option root which confirmed that the phone had not been rooted

How to fix in-app (google) maps after Google Play services update broke map functionality?

I am running AOS 6.0.1 (API-23) on a non-rooted phone. It's been working perfectly for months, but one day after updating some apps like Uber, Viber or Windy, I was told that Google Play services need to be updated as well and would not work properly, until then.

I then updated Google Play, Google Play services and Android System WebView, but then none of their maps was working, meaning that maps based on Google maps are just showing an empty blank map canvas without any features except the pins. I.e. showing the cars in Uber but no background map.

Somehow, after having installed all and everything Google related for my device, the in-app-maps was working again. Unfortunately, I have no recollection or idea what I did at the time that made it work.

Unfortunately now, 6 months later, I have the same problem again after some updates but this time I can't get my maps back. Although Googles own Google Maps, always seem to work... Nowadays I always use apkmirror to download, since they show the relevant app variations and are simply better that Google Play Store, which I no longer use. Here for example, is what's shown for Google Play services:

---

---

My device is a "440", at least according to the original firmware versions.

1. What Google related apps are responsible for showing the in-app-maps correctly?


2. On what do they depend? (I.e. How are they related?)

---

Answer

Most surprisingly, after reverting and/or updating some of the relevant Google apps, some settings got restored to some previous values. Those may also include permission settings and in my case, the Data Usage settings.

I solved this by first ensuring that the following 2 system apps were up-to-date:

1. Google Services Framework * (com.google.android.gsf)


2. Google Play services (com.google.android.gms)

Note that GSF is normally never updated and remains fixed for your AOS API version.

Next, I went to check the permissions of those apps. That's when I found that Mobile data had been mysteriously disabled under data usage. Check by navigating to:

Settings > Apps > Google Services Framework > Data usage > Mobile data: "allowed"

Check both Mobile data and Wi-Fi tabs, and for both apps above. That fixed it!

For completeness, also check: Settings > Data traffic management > Networked apps and check that data is available on both the tabs Installed apps and System apps.

---

But since you're on it, you might as well also update:

1. Android System WebView (com.google.android.webview)


2. Google Play Store (com.android.vending)

If you still have map problems after this, then (a) make sure you're using compatible binaries (APK) for your specific device (API, DPI, arm version etc) and (b) that the permissions for all of these apps are as allowing as possible. Also, the device clock need to be correct...

No keyboard after factory reset. Can't install keyboard on phone with bluetooth, google play, sd card, etc

I have a Coolpad Quattro with Gingerbread 2.3. I didn't like the keyboards that came with the phone so I deleted them and got another one from the app store. Because my phone was running slowly, I did a factory reset. This is the second time I did it. Only this time, it didn't restore my keyboards. Now I have no keyboard to use, and I cannot sign into the play store on my phone, so I can't install a keyboard from Google Play. I have tried to send a file via bluetooth, but that doesn't seem to work either. I really need to use my keyboard, and I have reset the phone three times now. What can I do?

ram - What is the largest HTC Desire card size?

Anyone know what the largest size of card the HTC Desire will take? I saw this question, Maximum (micro) SD card speed class for HTC EVO? Which says a class4, so that's okay as the 32gb card is class 2.

Curious to know how well this will work, as my iPod recently died and I'd like to use my phone as a part time replacement. Anyone experimented with larger cards? I have a 4gb in my phone at the moment and it's okay, I have an 8gb card I'll test when I get home, but would be keen to know results with 16gb and 32gb

Answer

The desire supports sdhc which is upto 32gb so it should work fine. I have a 16gb in my droid and there's no difference noticable from a smaller card (other than it having more capacity).

If you were to find a bigger card (I'm not sure they have any in micro) you'd need a phone that supports SDXC.

motorola droid 2 - How do I stop apps from getting killed while sleeping?

I have a Droid 2. I have a long, resource-intensive game (spectral souls) that I would like to leave running while I'm not using my phone. If I hit the Android "Home" button to get back to the home screen and then immediately re-launch the game, it will be right where I left off. Same if I hit the power button to sleep, and then immediately turn on the phone, unlock, and re-launch the game.

If I leave it for some amount of time (a few hours), then when I come back and launch the game, it starts fresh as if it were never running. The phone hasn't been used for anything in the meantime, although syncing is on.

My question is twofold: how can I get more information about what apps are killed when & why, and how can I set it up to allow this app to continue running? I don't need it to DO anything in the background, I just want it to still be there when I come back.

I'm familiar with the concept of Android clearing memory as it's needed and not needing a task killer, but I want it to not kill THIS task unless I really exit it.

Answer

I am pretty sure that isnt an option in the default design of android. I have never personally seen an app for such things because most people desire the programs to shut down to keep the speed of the phone up. It is the android system that is shutting unused programs down. The creator of the app would have to design a service to keep it running in the background or possible like an always on calculation or audio so the system would think the program was doing something. That would eat up your battery.

How to disable redirects from Google Search results to Android apps?

I had the Wikipedia app installed a few weeks ago. It lacked the ability to switch between different languages (link to read the same article in a different language), and it still does. This bothered me a lot since I know more than one language and some articles are much better written in other languages. So I like the ability to easily switch language. This is something that works very good on the mobile versions of Wikipedia (e.g. m.en.wikipedia.org).

Here's a screenshot showing an example.

Click on the image for a larger view.

So I uninstalled the Wikipedia app in order to go back to browsing Wikipedia content normally via the Chrome or Firefox Web browser. But now when I do a search with Google, and I see a Wikipedia link in the result, it says "Wikipedia app" underneath it. If I tap on it, it tries to open it in Wikipedia app, and since it is uninstalled now, it brings me to the app page in Play Store.

Is there a way I can disable or disallow this behaviour? I certainly don't approve of it, but I was never asked about it either. I'm not interested in using the Wikipedia app any more. I just want normal Web browsing to be back. Is that too much to ask? I tried re-installing and uninstalling the Wikipedia app two times, it didn't help.

---

You may have noticed that there is an "Open on wikipedia.org" link further down the page. This will certainly open the article in the browser, instead of insisting on opening in the Wikipedia app. But the problem with this is that it's much harder to pin-point the link, because it has smaller font size.

As for "Default applications" menu option, I don't have any option to disable Wikipedia or wiki links. I only have "Home", and "Message" options.

---

The problem is with Chrome

This problem is clearly related to Chrome browser only. Here are two screenshots of Chrome and Firefox respectively, showing the same Google search results.

Firefox on the left, Chrome on the right.

Firefox (version 32.0.3) clearly doesn't even have the ability to link to the Wikipedia app. Instead, it would show the article as a normal web page. Regardless of whether or not the Wikipedia app is installed or not.

There are no default options

As can be seen from the screenshot above, in first update, the "Default applications" option has no options to set or reset defaults for wiki links (or other types of app links in Chrome). Additionally, there are no default settings that can be reset under Application manager. Not for Chrome, nor for Wikipedia app. It just says "no defaults set".

Chrome on the left, Wikipedia on the right.

Latest Chrome update solves the problem

Chrome version 33.0.1750.517 came with the latest Android 4.4.2 (or a few versions below that, for this phone model anyway). In this version, tapping on a link for a Wikipedia article redirects to the Wikipedia app automatically. If the Wikipedia app is not present, it brings up the app page in Play Store. This behavior can't be change through setting in the Chrome browser or some default settings in the phone menu. However, updating Chrome to the latest version, which at the moment is 37.0.2062.117 does away with this problem. The first noticeable difference is that it presents the "Complete action using" dialog, which was not present with version 33.x.

Chrome 33 on the left, Chrome 37 in the middle, Wikipedia 2.0-r-2014-08-13 on the right.

The second difference is what's really good! When you uninstall Wikipedia, it no longer shows the "Complete action" dialog. Neither does it bring up the app page in Play Store. Instead, it opens the Wikipedia article like a normal web page. The normal behavior one would expect. Yes, it still says "Wikipedia app" underneath the link, but it opens like a normal web page. The same behavior as seen in Firefox.

Answer

This is in part because the Wikipedia app is set as the default app for Wikipedia links, and in part because Chrome is not up to date.

1. Go to Settings menu.


2. Tap "More".


3. Tap "Application manager".


4. If the Wikipedia app is installed, go to step 4. Else, go to step 7.


5. Locate "Wikipedia" and tap on it.



6. Under "Launch by default", tap the "Clear defaults" button.


7. Go back to Application manager.


8. Locate "Chrome" and tap on it.


9. If Chrome version number is equal or greater than 37.0.2062.117, press the home button to go back to the home screen. Else, go to Play Store, locate "Chrome" and make sure to get the latest update.


10. Open Chrome. The following steps are optional.


11. Press the Menu button on the phone.


12. Tap on "Settings".


13. Tap on "Content settings".


14. Tap on "Website settings".


15. Locate "en.m.wikipedia.org" and tap on it.



16. Tap "Clear stored data".


17. Press the home button to go back to the home screen.

These steps apply to Android 4.4.2.

rooting - Need Root For Asus Zenfone 5(T00J) 8 GB(Kitkat ROM)

I Need to root my Zenfone 5 (Asus T00J) - 8 GB Kitkat ROM, But I can't find any solution over Internet. Please help me to get the root for Asus Zenfone 5. Also need The CWM.

Thank you....

touchscreen - How to ensure that the digitizer is faulty?

My HTC Evo 3D sometimes doesn't react when i press certain areas of the screen. I noticed it happens mostly on the part where the letter 'e' is, when i'm holding the phone in landscape mode.

So, i did a factory reset, wiped out SD card as well during the factory reset, and the problem still persists.

It sometimes happens for a certain period of time, and it starts to work after a while.

I did a line drawing test, and on some places it doesn't draw the line correctly (it is continuos but it's drawn with sharp angles, i don't know how to explain it better).

I read somewhere it is most probably a hardware problem, with a digitizer. Is there any way to be sure, or is it best to take it to a repair shop?

Answer

Open your settings menu and go all the way to the bottom, open Developer Options.

In the Input section, find the options called Pointer Location, and check it.

This is a feature for developers that shows the raw data from the digitizer.

Move your fingers around on the screen, and watch what you see, if your finger seems to disappear from the screen, Android is not seeing any data about it, it is a problem with your digitizer.

rooting - Galaxy S4 Mini not recognized by Linux in Download Mode

I'm currently trying to root my Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, so to install CWM, I boot the device into download mode using my Linux Mint 17.2 laptop:

$ adb reboot bootloader

Now, as intended, my phone boots into download mode, yet fastboot doesn't recognize the device:

$ sudo fastboot devices
$ sudo fastboot continue
< waiting for device >

However, in lsusb, the phone clearly shows up:

Bus 001 Device 005: ID 04e8:685d Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd GT-I9100 Phone [Galaxy S II] (Download mode)

As you can see above, I run fastboot as root, so it certainly isn't a permission problem.

I can't find a solution anywhere on the internet, so any help is appreciated. If you need any further information, let me know.

---

Let me throw some additional stuff on you, in case it helps:

My PC:

$ dpkg -s android-tools-fastboot
Package: android-tools-fastboot
Status: install ok installed
Priority: extra
Section: devel

Installed-Size: 154
Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers 
Architecture: amd64
Source: android-tools
Version: 4.2.2+git20130218-3ubuntu23
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.14), libselinux1 (>= 2.0.65), zlib1g (>= 1:1.2.3.4)
Conffiles:
 /etc/bash_completion.d/fastboot df71a6a847b1d7c6499ad718502b651f
Description: Android Fastboot protocol CLI tool
 Fastboot is a diagnostic protocol primarily used to update the flash

 filesystem of Android devices over USB.
 .
 This package provides the fastboot command-line tool.
Homepage: http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/adb.html
Original-Maintainer: Laszlo Boszormenyi (GCS) 

$ uname -a
Linux dracarys 3.16.0-38-generic #52~14.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Fri May 8 09:43:57 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

My phone:

Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini GT-I9195
Android 4.4.2
Linux version: 3.4.0-3173303

Answer

Samsung devices do not support fastboot. To flash a custom recovery, you can either use the dd command from within your ROM (assuming you're rooted), or use Heimdall. Instructions on using Heimdall can be found in the Heimdall Linux README.

printing - Is there any way to print directly from the phone?

I'm pretty sure the answer is "no" since printer manufacturers haven't yet started making drivers for Android (or iPhone).

I guess I'm just curious if anyone has heard anything about this and if/when it will become a reality. (or perhaps if it already is, and I'm just oblivious to it?)

Answer

That is a great question. I went looking for that functionality back in the spring but only found apps that would let you print to wifi enabled printers.

I just looked again and came across PrinterShare, which looks pretty cool. Apparently you can print to a wifi printer, or with software installed on a local pc you can print over the internet to the attached printer. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet and it looks a little pricey but seems promising.

task management - How do I identify apps or settings that cause performance problems?

If I am having performance problems, what tools can I use to identify where my performance lags are coming from? I have used a System Panel Task Manager, Android System Info, System Manager Free and some others but none of them have really identified the problem children. System Panel Task Manager came the closest with it's historical look at CPU and memory usage but it didn't let me look at which apps were using how much resources over time.

Answer

Watchdog will monitor your phone's performance and alert you of issues. Here's a quote from the Lifehacker article on Watchdog.

Watchdog runs in the background, watching for apps to start using more than a certain percentage of CPU power that you specify (with a default of 80 percent). When it notices an app going out of bounds, it notifies you and offers options to kill the app, ignore it, or add it to your "Whitelist" of pay-no-mind programs. By default, Watchdog doesn't use much power itself, only checking in every two minutes or so, but you can make it run more real-time if you'd like to really pin down a problem you know is happening.

backup - Best practice for backing up /data/media?

Currently, TWRP backups don't include /data/media, and this doesn't appear to be on the developers' radar at all (the issue for it over at GitHub is just a bunch of +1s with no official response). Now that we have SELinux to contend with, simply copying the files back and forth is apparently no longer an option, and there are a number of different ways to access /data/media throughout the filesystem, each with different effective owners and permissions.

In excruciating detail, how should I approach backing up and restoring /data/media so everything is restored exactly as it was and my apps don't have trouble with the resulting permissions?

Answer

I recommend directly copying files from/to /sdcard.
The sdcard service will handle all the permissions and SELinux contexts for you.
The /storage/emulated/0, /mnt/shell/emulated/0 and /storage/emulated/legacy are all shadow reflexes of /data/media (typically /data/media/0). In the /init.rc file you can find out that the /system/bin/sdcard is a service that controls all of them, so you can just copy the files in /storage/emulated/0 with ease. All other directories like /sdcard and /storage/sdcard0 are symbolic links. They don't matter at all.

sync - Google Drive directory synchronisation

Is there any software available to select one (or maybe more) directory on your Android device, and automatically sync it to a directory (collection) on Google Drive?

This seems that this could serve as a decent automatic backup utility or as a way to synchronise files on your device with minimal hassles.

Answer

Use FolderSync. I was using it to sync folders with Google Docs. After upgrading to Google Drive, sync still works. I have just tested by adding new Google Drive account. Google Drive is fully supported. Just, choose Google Docs when adding account in the app.
In case, you don't want to pay, its free lite version is also in Play Store, but with some limitations.

It supports two-way sync as well as one-way sync (up or down). You can use its up sync for backup purpose. It also supports filters based on size, extension etc. So, if you want to backup all photos from your SD card, the app is good to go. It features Delete after Upload, too.

You can schedule sync jobs, too. So, it can do backups automatically without any hassle. The best: It features Instant Sync. If you turn it on, files will be synced as long as they will be modified or added in folder.

samsung galaxy s - Enable screen auto-rotate for specific applications but not globally?

This question already has answers here:

Closed 4 years ago.

So I'd like to enable screen auto-rotation for YouTube and Chrome, but not for other anything else. How do I do this?

I use a Galaxy S5.