text:
Please explain the android partition structure to me?
I've tried finding the answer myself, but everything that I am able to see seems to miss out the really basic first steps.
Here's my logic:
FIRST
Look at the phone's specification. Lets say Samsung galaxy S series.
There are three elements: Memory (e.g. 1Gb); Storage (e.g. 16Gb); and removable storage which may or may not be present (e.g. upto 32Gb - I have 8Gb.)
SECOND
Now the systems settings of Android 4+, there is an "Apps" item which shows at the bottom of the screen a label "Internal Storage". In my case it will say 1.4Gb used and 627Mb free. That's 2Gb.
If I swipe right, will will say "SD Card storage" 4.6Gb Used and 6.9Gb free. That's 13Gb or so.
THIRD
If I use an app like "Hardware info" it says:
System RAM 790Mb
Internal Storage 2Gb
External Storage: 11.7Gb
So, my question is how do I correlate these?
1. On which physical storage does "Memory" sit.
2. On which physical storage does "Internal storage" sit
3. External storage is easy - that's the removable card.

See also: our partition tag-wiki and file-system tag-wiki, plus Android Folder Hierarchy.

Related: How disk space is used on Android device?

1) On which physical storage does "Memory" sit

When the specs say "Memory", it's referring to the RAM that the device has. This is not persistent storage, it is "volatile" storage, which loses its information when unpowered (after a brief discharge time). RAM is memory the system and apps use to function, for things like storing the state of an application (variables, functions, etc), graphics buffers, and the like. Most mobile systems on a chip will have the RAM attached directly to the CPU die to make it as fast as possible.
As per the specs: the device has 1 GB of RAM available to the system and running apps. It reports less than this because the system reserves some for things like the cellular radio and the graphics chip, which it will not give to user processes. The hardware info app is reporting the amount of RAM available to user processes.

2) On which physical storage does "Internal storage" sit

In this case, "internal storage" and "SD storage" refer to the same physical storage area. This is persistent storage, generally flash or eMMC based, that is soldered onto the motherboard. The storage chip is partitioned into two pieces, which you can visualize roughly like so:
                         Total Storage
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Internal Storage |                 SD Storage                   |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+

Internal storage is where apps and their private data are stored; e.g. it is the /data partition. SD storage is accessible via USB when attached to a computer, and is where media (music, photos, videos, etc), downloads, and any non-private app data will be stored. Again, looking at your specs, you can see that:

The device has 16 GB of storage. That is, it has a 16 GB storage chip embedded in it.
Of that, 2 GB is partitioned as "internal memory" for apps
The remaining is partitioned for "SD storage" (13 GB, in your case, probably due to filesystem overhead and such; this is very common).

This partitioning scheme as become somewhat less common since Android migrated to Media Transfer Protocol for providing access to the storage from a PC. The reason the separate partitions were originally necessary is because Android used UMS in the earlier versions (anything <3.0), which requires block-level access to the storage space, meaning Android had to unmount the storage space that it provided to the PC. A consequence of this was that the entire partition could not be given to the PC because Android would basically cease to function until you unplugged your phone if it did.
The storage space and the RAM are unrelated to one another, and are not on the same physical chip. They serve entirely different purposes.


text:
How to block apps on tablet from accessing the Internet while on tethering
I use my WiFi-only tablet for turn-by-turn navigation.  I either use wifi hotspot tethering or bluetooth tethering through my phone's data plan.  (Or USB tethering once I get a Y charging cable.)
My problem is that my tablet apps run their background updates and syncs while I am tethered, consuming my limited data plan.  The worst culprit is Google account autosync.
While most apps nowadays are wifi/3G-friendly, that is, they have a setting to do heavy downloads only on WiFi, they do not differentiate broadband wifi or my phone's wifi hotspot.  The Play Store app on my tablet would particularly update large apps in the background while I am driving!

If you're using at least Android 4.0, please see my answer here on how to limit background data transfer.

Izzy, wifi-only devices lost the "Restrict background data" option in Android 4.3.  In other words, only those 4.3 or later devices with mobile data can limit background data transfer (either globally or per app).  Thanks.

Thanks for those details, William! Didn't know that (and neither that your device is affected). You might wish to [edit] your question to include those facts.

Izzy, I found this guy in the same situation. A firewall on the tablet would do the trick, he thinks, which is to be enabled/disabled as needed. A firewall requires root, though.

That's what you say (or what he said). Thanks to the pointer, see my answer below :) Enjoy – I hope that does the trick!

In Android 4.2 and later, you can tell Android which Wi-Fi networks are mobile hotspots. In the device Settings, go to the Data usage page, then open the overflow menu (the three dots in the top-right) and click Mobile hotspots. It shows a list of Wi-Fi networks known to the device: tick any that are mobile hotspots.
Then, when you're on a network that's ticked on that list, Android will tell apps that the device is on 3G. Any "Wi-Fi only" update settings in apps or in the OS will act accordingly.
In addition, if the mobile hotspot is an Android phone running 4.3 or later, the hotspot will communicate this to the tablet, so it will automatically treat that Wi-Fi network as a mobile hotspot, without any user intervention.
For earlier Android versions, certain apps (such as my app Showr) have similar settings to the Android 4.2 mobile hotspots page, allowing you to treat a Wi-Fi network as 3G within that app. This is less useful than the Android-wide setting, because not every app supports it, and you need to set it for each app individually, but it works just as well if you can't update to 4.2.

My Android 4.3.1 (Cyanogenmod 10.2) phone/hotspot together with my Android 4.3 Wifi tablet (Samsung stock) did this automatically as well. So it's probably a 4.3 feature, not 4.4. The mobile hotspot setting is very well hidden though, it should really be in the Wifi settings and not in the data usage part!

@jmiserez Thanks for that info! I've updated my answer.

My Android 5.1.1 wifi-only tablet: Settings > Data usage > "..." > Network Restrictions > to select individual "Metered WiFi networks", which are (as per description at bottom) "treated like cellular when background data is restricted; apps may warn before using these networks for large downloads". (There is no (longer) mention of "Mobile hotspots", but I assume the effect is the same.)

For completeness the answer will also include everything some of which you already know.
I understand in your situation that the phone is not distinguishing from your hotspot style of Wi-Fi (using expensive data from a cell tower) to any other Wi-Fi connection that the data would be cheaper to use.
Manual and automatic methods
There are methods to both easily manually disable Auto-Sync, and methods to automate the disabling of it:
Automatic

If connected to "Home WiFi", then Turn on Auto-Sync (less account data).
If connected to "TeatherName WiFi", then Turn off Auto-Sync

Simple "scripters" like "MacroDroid", plus other simple "rules creators" can pull this off.
Example:

I mention these 2 because I could not program my way out of a paper bag, but I can make a few scripts, or rules, or constraints, using those methods.  Probably tasker and automate-it could also perform these functions. Auto-Sync off is a "easy one".
In my short time with that Macrodroid app, I was also able to have it reliably recognise that specific Bluetooth devices are connected (keyboard), so that could also be applied to make a auto-sync change.
It can also use a "hotspot" trigger and actions , which won't do any good in your situation, because the hotspot isn't the device you need to control. That method would have to be applied to the hotspot machine, and some creative firewalling, that does not sound so easy.
Stopping Google Store auto updates Manually
To access the setting when your in the Google Play store application hit your menu button, and select settings.

Go to the Auto-Update section of the settings. Setting your apps to never auto update does mean that you have to manually update them, but that gives you the option to choose when the updates occur, giving you control,

The google play store settings for update applications can be set to update as follows:
A) Do not auto-update apps
B) Auto Update at any time
C) Auto update apps over Wi-Fi only

Manual updates at the google store are made easy
When you select the play store icon, and go to My Apps section.

The google store sorts apps that have updates available to the top of the "My Apps" listing

By carefully adding updates to your device manually you can know if a specific update is causing problems.
Widget Auto-Sync switch
There are many "widget" programs that will add an icon on your home screen to disable Auto Sync easily.

Widget Manual Sync Starting
There are also Widget apps that have "Sync Now" button, with SyncNow syncing will be updated manually at the press of a button. On my machine this activity ends, after any needed sync is done.
Background Data from Apps
Manual settings

In the network settings you click on the mobile data

Clicking on the menu button to get to the settings.
We can see the Restrict background setting, and the auto-sync data setting.
Automatic ,  Identifying a mobile hotspot for no background app data
In the above settings Mobile data / menu button / Mobile Hotspots

In the Mobile hotspot settings , you can select exisiting mobile hotspots , to restrict background app data.

It did , i do not understand how you got to the store section of the previous mess , without reading how to do the automation of auto-sync.  It also states that the answer is not yet completed.  I Am trying to get this compiled for a non-tech person, with a tiny data package and high overage fees.

It's a lot better now, thanks for the update. I'm afraid I can only rate an answer based on the content that's actually there, not the content you're thinking of writing in the future.

I found four partial solutions to this, with varying thoroughness:
1. Configure Tasker or Llama to turn off auto-sync.
See the question Auto sync only when connected to a specific wifi network.  Instructions are similar for Bluetooth or USB tethering.  This eliminates the background sync of Google apps such as Calendar, Contacts, Gmail, Maps, etc.  All other apps, such as weather apps, could and would still update.
2. Set the Tethering AP as a "Mobile Hotspot"
This is a duplicate of "Treat certain WiFi networks as mobile/cellular".  You would check your phone's hotspot AP name as a mobile hotspot.  Reading off the screen,

Select the Wi-Fi networks which are mobile hotspots. Apps can be restricted from using these networks when in the background. Apps may also warn before using these networks for large downloads.

See Dan Hulme's answer for further information.
However for wifi-only devices the Google Play Store doesn't have a "Auto-update apps over only WiFi only" option.  I don't know yet if the Play Store updates apps while on a mobile hotspot.  Maybe. So I guess the solution is to keep app auto-updates off.
3. Use Bluetooth or USB Tethering
Bluetooth and USB Tethering are not Wi-Fi, so therefore apps that set to update only on Wi-Fi will not update while the tablet under Bluetooth or USB Tethering.
Turn off autosync, as per #1, and this appears as comprehensive as one can get....
However for wifi-only devices the Google Play Store doesn't have a "Auto-update apps over only WiFi only" option.  I don't know yet if the Play Store updates apps while on bluetooth or USB tethering, so again I guess the solution is to keep app auto-updates off.
4. Enable/Disable a Firewall
The most thorough solution?  If your tablet is rooted, then you can install a Firewall to block all internet access except the turn-by-turn navigation app.  Then all you got to do is enable or disable this firewall.
See also Izzy's answer which mentions a VPN-based firewall.

As you indicated a firewall might do the trick, but you've got no root: You might wish to take a look at NoRoot Firewall and Mobiwol: NoRoot Firewall, which both claim to require no root (as their names indicate).
NoRoot Firewall works based on defined IP rules:

NoRoot Firewall requires NO ROOT. It protects your personal information from being sent to the Internet. NoRoot firewall notifies you when an app is trying to access the Internet. All you need to do is just press Allow or Deny button.
NoRoot Firewall allows you to create filter rules based on IP address, host name or domain name. You can allow or deny only specific connections of an app.

So this will probably not do, as it would apply to "everything". However, Mobiwol should fill the gap: it registers as a VPN, and explicitly claims: Disable background activity for selected apps

MobiWol: App-specific rules, settings, logs (source: Google Play; click images for larger variants)
As a side-effect, you can see in the logs which apps connected where to, and might catch some performing suspicious activities ;)

Those two apps you linked are likely to be pulled from Google Play. Apps on there are forbidden to interfere with other apps' normal operations. (AdBlock Plus was removed for the same reason.)

Whilest that might be (which you cannot tell for sure), it does solve the issue for the OP currently (which I'm pretty sure about, as the second app is still on Play). So someone give me a pointer in case it's pulled (and where it moved to), so I will update my answer accordingly :)

It doesn't look like either of them have direct downloads on their site for now; I just wanted to warn you ahead of time that you might have to change the links.

Thanks for that, @DanHulme! As both of them are in my "watchlists", which I usually update ~quarterly, I should note that. Using our search, I'm confident to find and update the answer then :)

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


text:
How to set a better encryption password
How would I go about setting a stronger password for disk encryption on my android device?
I had set a PIN already before enabling full disk encryption, and it proceeded to use that PIN as the decryption string when the device boots.
I understand that switching my PIN / Password will update the decryption string as well, but entering a password every time I unlock the phone is a serious inconvenience. Similarly using a short integer to encrypt the disk leaves it much easier to decrypt.
How do I go about setting a better decryption password, while keeping my PIN? I have no interest in solutions that require rooting the device.

I have no interest in solutions that require rooting the device. -> Pretty sure that you're stuck, then. You can follow this issue on the Android bug tracker if you want, but there's no native way to do what you're looking for without root, as far as I know.

Probably relevant: Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) - Encryption, select different PIN than Screen Lock

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


text:
.thumbdata files maxing out internal SD memory
I have an 8GB Nextbook7 running Android 4.0.4. Recently, I discovered that I have 2 files named .thumbdata3... eating up all my internal space of 5+GB. These files are found in the .thumbnail folder under the DCIM folder. I have read on the internet that these files are produced by Android Gallery, but there is a bug in the OS that causes these files to grow so large and max out all the available internal storage space.
I have tried deleting the files, but they come back. I have tried writing small text files and saving them with the name .thumbdata3... as in the problem files, but that does not work either. I have downloaded an app called Thumbnail file deleter, which deletes the problem files, but the files will rebuild themselves again until the space is maxed out.
Does anyone have a permanent cure to this .thumdata3... problem? Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks.

A shot into the blue: Delete that file, then make a directory called .thumbdata3 (i.e. with the same name), and make it read-only. Gallery should be unable to replace that then. Drawback might be the gallery acts a bit slower when browsing your media – but that would also be the case would you just permanently auto.delete that file. Let me know if that did the trick, so I make it an answer then.

Try using a replacement gallery such as QuickPic instead. It is 100% free and it works much better than the standard Android Gallery. If the .thumbdata3 files keep coming back, you can disable the default gallery.

If your SD card is using ext4 filesystem
There is no need to do anything here, since these files, despite reporting massive sizes, actually use very little space, as they are so called "Sparse Files". I left more details on the android ticket about this issue:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=39546#c79
If your SD card is using FAT/exFAT
Then the problem is real, since FAT has no support for sparse files and their apparent and real sizes would always match. In that case you should resort to trickery described in the other reply - create the folder with the same name as an offending file after removing the file.
This Cyanogen fix sheds some light onto the problem:
http://review.cyanogenmod.org/#/c/36850
It looks like .thumbdata3 consists of sequence of records indexed by integer ID associated with a picture (not sure which app is in charge of assigning them). If file is deleted and is being recreated, and the minimum ID is, say, 10000 then 10000 empty records would be skipped over in .thumbdata3 on the assumption that sparse file handling would do its job and these 10000 records would consume no actual space. Except that on FAT there are no sparse file support and you end up with 10000 records worth of zeroes in you file which suddenly becomes couple of Gb big.

Delete the .thumbnail folder (this has all the camera caches, and is useless for us), then create a new file called .thumbnail.


text:
Why does my Samsung Galaxy S3 with 4.3 run so slow?
I live in South Africa and we recently received the 4.3 update for the Galaxy S3. When I  perform general functions on the phone (open apps, browse web, run multiple apps), everything goes very slow. As an example, if I push the home button, the apps on my home screen are gone and then return again after a while.
Why would this update do this to my phone? How can I increase the performance of my device which now runs on 4.3?

This is because of the update not being done on a clean install. Also Samsung phones have TouchWiz overlay on android which is a bit heavy.
To make your phone fast do a full factory reset after taking a full data backup so that you can restore everything! Doing this would clean up any mess left behind by the update process.
Always try and do a clean install for a major update.

If I do a backup does it keep all apps along with their data and will I have to download 4.3 again for can I just do a reset on the current version?

for the apps get Titanium Backup.

Can confirm. Just did a factory reset on my S3 that was running slow and manually reinstalled everything. Device is still 4.3.
Wow. Much speed. Such faster.

it will just get really slow again after you install some stuff, I'm starting to think it was just a bad architecture of Android, any phone when you install some background running apps gets really slow.

I will agree, the reason this happens is because all the big players dont add an overlay on the android code rather they modify the core android framework code itself to help with the company apps! This in turn affects every app

I have tried many things but I have found a cause of the problem.
The RAM on the phone was full. My carrier is T-Mobile, There is a free app, T-Mobile My Account, which has a tab Device Health. Click it, you will find Device Performance --> Show all tests -->RAM Usage --> Memory Boost (tab to clear all RAM usage).
Give it a try! My two-year-old phone is back to life again.

Every time another app start running, more of the phone's RAM is used, if too many apps are t=running, the phone will slow down... Get a RAM optimizer like Memory Booster.    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=imoblife.memorybooster.lite&hl=en   Works for me, I have it on all of my Androids...


text:
How do I root Xperia ZQ_6025?
How do I root this phone and any risk of losing Ltd for my region?

@RossC The question you linked is an index of questions about rooting, so this question should be added to the index, not duplicated.

@DanHulme sorry totally mixed that up. My apologies. Removed comment, and well ignore the flag.

Ok. This was my first question. I'll try again.

@user54320 that was MY mistake, not yours! My apologies to you. The question is fine! Since I'm writing this I wanted to add just be careful and patient. Get a stock ROM downloaded first, in case you want to restore it. Get all the root tools. Make some folders for ROMs / Recovery / Backups and so on. Do it slowly and methodically and keep reading information. It is possible to brick the device and the more you know, and the more prepared you are the better! Good luck!

Check on xda-developers for your device. Search for root in Xperia zL/zQ forum. (Isn't Xperia zQ also known as xperia ZL in other parts?)
Rooting will void your warranty and in very rare cases can also brick your phone. Follow all instruction given very carefully.
Rooting probably will not affect Lte for your region.


text:
Storage on HTC desire X
The internal storage on my phone is almost full. The storage screen tells me

2.77GB / 2.91 GB taken
Apps 0.89GB
Other 1.89 GB
Available 138MB

What is this "other" and how can I clean it up? I already followed the steps of "make more space", it barely makes a difference.
Phone Storage then tells me 43.00MB / 1.09GB is taken.
And on the SD card I have 1.86GB / 14.72GB taken.
I have plenty of storage in various places yet when I try to install apps I'm unable to do so cause of "insufficient storage". How can I fix this?

On the HTC Desire X the memory (you would think you get 4Gb, but you don't) the partitions are as follows:

System is 940 MB,
Data is 1 GB,   (This is what you get for your apps really)
'Phone' storage is 1 Gb
1 GB towards "internal SD".

Basically you only get 1Gb on the device for your apps.
You could use a micro SD card to expand your storage and move your pictures/music/media to it, and some apps still support App2SD functionality.
Keep in mind Chrome can run up to 300 Mb no problem, so a cache cleaner may well help you with storage.  Lifehacker article on what to do if you run out of space.
You can't really mess with the other partitions without rooting and then partitioning your SD card with an EXT3/EXT4 partition and a ROM that supports Link2SD to 'trick' your phone into believing there is more internal memory. These partitions contain Android, HTC stuff, system apps, data partition etc. So you get 1GB in all (you have 138Mb left). Otherabove is the OS, HTC apps and other Android related things, that you have no access to (without a rooted device).


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Quiet sound after 4.3 update - Samsung Galaxy SIII
Since my Samsung Galaxy SIII was updated to 4.3, I have had problems when listening to music.
The sound is very low when my equalizer turns on. I've already tried to configure the equalizer accordingly, but that doesn't seem to help. I uninstalled the equalizer but the sound is still low.
What can I do?
Thank you in advance.

What have you done? From what you write, the first thing coming to my mind is "configure that equalizer accordingly". Have you tried that already?

Yes of course, I've also tried to uninstall it but the sound doesn't change.

What have you tried to uninstall: the equalizer? What outcome (have you been able to uninstall it)? // BTW: You can [edit] your questions to include additional details. The more background you give, the better we can help.

So, after a long year trying to figure out what was going on, I have just reset my phone to factory settings and it works perfectly, but I am still not able to determine the cause of that problem.

Do you use AllShare Dongle app? Its last update muted my headphones. I uninstalled the update and my headphones worked again.

There is nothing like 'deinstalled'. It's either 'uninstalled' or 'reinstalled'. Edit the answer if it's the latter one since I picked the former.


text:
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 - Eye detection on non-native apps?
Although I feel that the eye detection still requires a lot of tweaks and performance improvements by Samsung, I would be more tempted to use it and test it if it worked with non-native apps.
For example, although Google Chrome comes pre-installed on the device, the eye detection will not work with it.
It would also be nice if the feature worked with messaging apps such as HandCent SMS.
To put it simply - Is there a way for this feature to work with apps you install on the device?

It works with actually 'native' apps: Samsung Intenet, Samsung SMS, Samsung Gallery etc. It is built into the Samsung Touchwiz itself so cannot be used 3rd party apps at present. Air gestures can, see Flipboard. This is for the smart scroll etc, the 'keep screen on' works over apps, so the screen shoulnd't lock while gaming etc. I havn't found any Xposed or other modules to override this. Just to clarify I mean native to Samsung Touchwiz, not native to Android itself. There's a subtle but very important distinction there.

That clears things up a lot as I assumed it was apps that was native to android or Samsung, not Touchwiz. I guess that answers my question.

yeah it's annoying. The way I look at it is: There's Android, then there's Samsung's version, HTCs version etc, and they are all different versions of the OS, but in a way are almost their own little OS. It drives me mad!

@RossC looks like you should sum that up to an answer, as Petay already wrote: I guess that answers my question. Give him a chance to upvote/accept :)

@Izzy done, and I added a bit more detail.

There's an important distinction to be made: Android in its stock form, and Samsung's version of Android, with the Touchwiz framework.
The Touchwiz functionality for the eyeball recognition works with only with apps 'native' to Samsungs Touchwiz version of Android. Apps like Samsung SMS, Samsung Internet, Samsung Gallery etc.
Air Gestures can be ported to 3rd party apps, Flipboard is an example of this.
Fore the eye recognitions stuff, like  smart scroll etc. the app needs to be embedded in Touchwiz. However, the 'keep screen on' functionality works over apps, so the screen shouldn't lock while gaming etc.
After looking into this myself, I havn't found any Xposed or other modules to override this for root users. Also, on the S4 Google Edition (running almost1 stock Android) there is no eyeball recognition whatsoever, and cannot be implemented.
Also, from a developer's point of view it, even if it was possible to access this functionality, would it be worth implementing it for only one device, and not being accessible on any other phone? It's a good idea in a way, but I don't see it expanding for a while, until other OEMs decide on similar tech perhaps.

1 Techincally the Touchwiz framework is there to enable the S-View cover. On the HTC One Google Edition HTC Sense is there to allow Beats Audio to be built in.


text:
Is it possible to disable logcat logging for an application?
Is it possible to disable logging to the logcat for an application (APK) in  Android entirely.
Since i make heavy use of my logcat output, I'd like to see only bits that are relevant to me but there are a lot of apps that write to the logcat, it is quite cluttered.
I would simply filter the output but it seems that the logcat entries only have the PID for deciding what the application is and the PID is something that changes everytime a process is restarted.

You can use filtering to include only the selected app's messages by the tag(s) used. Use the syntax adb logcat YourTag:I *:S to show logcat output only from YourTag and hide all others. You can have multiple tags also, just separate them with space and have the *:S entry as last.
If you need to get all messages from multiple tags in the same app, you have to fish out the PID. If you use Linux/OSX, you can use the command:
adb logcat | grep `adb shell ps | grep com.android.example | cut -c10-15`

or you can check out proclogcat and use:
adb logcat | proclogcat

This only works if you log you log all your log messages with com.android.example. If I write my logs like Log.i("MyActivity', "Something log message);, it wouldn't allow me to filter them by my package name.

@MridangAgarwalla Onik is right. You can filter with the package name separately from the log tag. If you're not comfortable setting up the filter on the command-line, use the filter GUI built into Eclipse or IntelliJ IDEA.

Sorry about that, see fixed post

Grepping the logcat by the PID would only work if the PID of the application was always the same. If the PID changes e.g. the phone was rebooted, this won't work for entries prior to the reboot. Viewing the logcat live in Eclipse is easy but none of these methods work for historical logcat entries.

The command doesn't grep by PID, but by package name. It then cuts the PID and pipes it to logcat.

Unfortunately if an application is thrashing the system, not all log entries will make it into the log. For time like this, filtering doesn't really help. Surely there must be a way to stop third-party applications or services from being able to log?


text:
Endless “Obtaining IP Address” loop
Possible duplicates:

https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/60139/ice-cream-sandwich-cant-obtain-ip-address-what-do-i-need-to-delete-to-reset-wi
Device stuck on "obtaining IP address", then sets network to "disabled"

I have a Sony Ericcson Mini Pro (Codename “Mango” at CyanogenMod) with CyanogenMod 9.1.0-mango. This is Android 4.0.4.
The problem
When trying to connect to a wireless network, it will be stuck in an “Optaining IP Address” loop for a while, until it shows “Bad Connection”. This is what it looks like in the wireless network system settings:

My tablet with CyanogenMod 10.2, Android 4.3, can connect to that wireless network without any problems, so can my Kubuntu 13.10 laptop with an Intel wireless card.
Tried so far
While looking for the cause and a fix for the problem, I found numerous posts that suggest to use a static IP address. This is a legitamate workaround, and I might resort to that, but I would like to fix this in general.

The first thing I tried was to change permissions of /system/etc/dhcpcd/dhcpcd-run-hooks to 555. This did not have any effect, though.

Then I downloaded the WiFix app and ran it in automatic mode. Did not do anything either.

Last thing I tried was deleting /data/misc/dhcp/*. No effect at all.

Update 2014-02-21: As you can see in the screenshot, the signal strength is really weak, although the phone is one meter apart from the router with a desk in between. Now it connected while being on the table. The signal strength is full now. I read in a different question that the issue might be caused by a weak signal. Could that the be underlying issue?
My router does not have an external antenna, therefore, it might be a little unpredictable where the signal is strongest. I set the phone onto the router, and it still had the problem. So signal strength should not be the issue.

Update 2014-03-04: I installed the latest nightly build of Cyanogen Mod on the device using their instructions. This installed Android 4.1.3, which had a severe problem with the wireless. It was turned off when I started the device, and it got stuck at activating wifi. So I reverted to the latest stable version which still has this endless loop.

Update 2014-03-04: For my home network, I set up a static IP address, although I really do not like it. However, the internet connection works now.

Update 2014-03-06: Checked for /system/bin/sh -> mksh, and it is present. This does not seem to cause the issue.

How could I fix this apparent DHCP issue?

I remember having a similar problem a while ago (exactly the same thing), but I cannot remember anymore how I solved it. Hints which didn't work for me included e.g. switching to airplane mode, wait a few secs, switching back. Didn't help. In most cases it solved itself "within an hour". // Another ROM might solve it, if a newer radio-image is available, that might help as well. No guarantees, however.

Newer ROM (nightly Cyanogen Mod) did not help, it only made things worse. I updated the question accordingly.

I had the same symptoms while cooking a ROM when the symlink of /system/bin/sh to mksh was missing.

I checked, both /system/bin/mksh and /system/bin/sh are present, the latter being a symlink to the former. So this does not seem to be the issue.

As you described that on static IP, the connection works, this leads to the problem with the setting to your router of yours.
For that, you need to login to 192.168.1.1 as admin when you are connected to the router. (Please use a laptop to get all functions of the router since many routers have desktop UI settings only.)
Go to settings and search for advance setting which has DHCP setting. Now, check for the range of DHCP WiFi IP addresses. You may need to increase the range.

This also does not work on networks I do not administrate. I would suppose that the admins at my university have enough IP addresses for everybody.

Every router has its own capacity to provide number of connection. If you are in range of a router, of which capacity to provide connection is already full. Then, how can it provide IP to you. For more research on no of connection you can use some network tools. Eg.. FING is good to find every connection on that router with every device name.

On the router, set static IP addresses. If that doesn't fix it, go to Setting > Wifi > Select your network and go to Advanced settings. There, select (input) an IP address that is not taken, such as 10.0.0.24. That should fix the problem.

That does not work on networks like Eduroam where I must use DHCP.

This exact symptom can be fixed by changing permissions on
system/etc/dhcpcd/dhcpcd-run-hooks
to execute on all accounts: user group and others
As mentioned here
You need rooted device and root browser.
Hope this helps

Try changing the WiFi channel in your router settings. This fixed the issue for me.

I do not see how this should help for other wireless networks.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Choose Which Albums Show in Play Music?
Not sure if this is a common or simple solution, but I can't find a way to fix this.
I've got a couple albums I've purchased through the Google Music store - namely the Lés Mis soundtrack, is it's a great musical and all that.
However, it's showing up on my phone, and I don't particularly want it on my phone.
If I shuffle my music, it keeps turning up.
If I make an instant playlist, it likes to show up. (Because apparently Lés Mis is very similar to Rust in Peace...)
I could set it to only steam via Wi-Fi, but then I need to keep the rest of my music on the device. And besides, as soon as I get on the Wi-Fi, it'll start streaming again..
How do I stop this album from showing up? I'd rather not delete it from Google Music Manager as that'll delete it from my account (I think). I just don't want it to ever show up on my phone.


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How to share contact via sms on Android 4.4.2?
I'm using Moto G with stock android running 4.4.2. I would like to share contact detail via SMS. I don't want to use 3rd party app for this basic functionality. Was this functionality available with previous versions?

Kitkat has only 3 defaults for this:

Bluetooth
Email
Gmail

Other options can be added with 3rd Party software, e.g. ES File Exploere adds "Share over LAN".
As per  the Google products page this is a know issue.

I too am annoyed that this issue is happening with the Nexus 5.I can only hope that they will have an update that will resolve this issue.I work in the transportation industry in which I often have to send forward a contact phone number to another driver and at this point is very cumbersome not to be able to quickly Share a recent calls number with another driver.I've been checking the Play Store to see if there is an App dialer that will resolve this issue for me.

From  this Android Central thread  it confirms that this feature is missing and the solution is to copy and paste, or install 3rd party app.
Without installing a 3rd party application, there is nothing you can do for now.

Thanks for the response. So Is there anyway we can report missing feature in 4.4.2?

Try Google Code pages here: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/list

Go to the contact details
Touch the vertical dotted lines for drop-down menu
Select share
Select messaging from the pull down menu
now the contact details will be in messaging application and ready to send as mms
remove the mms by clicking remove button and send

Using Hangouts I can send contact cards but I have to change MMS delivery using drop down menu on left.(Change from highlighted Blue to Grey MMS delivery. Basically changing from Google Voice to Carrier*)
*On Sprint so my Google Voice number and my Carrier number are the same. Doesn't make sense that I have to change delivery method.
Trying to suggest they smooth out this delivery process, as it should be more fluid to perform a simple task.

Try Contacts via Sms. It is a simple option to solve this problem in version 4.4.2

The OP specifically mentioned "I don't want to use 3rd party app for this basic functionality".

Hi go to the contact you wish to share and there you can see the option share aand click it and select via message .

From the Log of the calls..select Name -> and select Send number


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Galaxy Note 3 - Is there a way to add more apps to use when drawing a 'Pen Window'?
Is there a way to add more applications in the list that appears when you press the button on the S-Pen and select "Pen Window" to draw a floating application?
It would be really nice if you could open a floating twitter or Facebook application.

Without root it is up to the developer of the particular application, and chances are there aren't enough Note 3s out there to justify it.
There is an S-Pen SDK from Samsung
There are lists (but these will often be out of date in no time)  like this best S-Pen apps out there.

With root access  there is a way to open any app in Pen Window Mode

First, make sure you are rooted with busybox installed.
Second, make a backup.
Third, just download PenWindowManager_v1.apk  and install as normal.
Finally, just tick the apps you want and don't forget to press the save button. A soft reboot maybe required for the changes to take effect.


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How to add a symbolic link to bypass unavailable busybox applet
I have BusyBox version v1.15.3 installed that came with the ROM gingerdx 31b. This busybox version cannot be updated/changed, because if it's being updated, the phone goes into a bootloop on the next reboot, it is said not to update the busybox in the ROM thread too.
The problem is, this busybox version doesn't include the applet pgrep. Whenever pgrep is typed in the shell & executed it gives out a pgrep: not found error. "pgrep" is needed by the "super charger" script to do some tasks.
So, I tried creating a symbolic link to a working pgrep from another busybox version. I stored the busybox file in the /data/ folder, made it chmod 777, then cd to that directory. Then execute the command;

ln -sf "busybox pgrep" "./busybox pgrep"

but even when I execute pgrep, it still gives the same error. How do I make the pgrep command point to a working pgrep, via another busybox or a pgrep file?
Also, how do I make this link permanent, so that it stays that way after a reboot? Should I add this to the .bashrc or do this using a init.d script? Both my knowledge on android & linux commands are limited as well. Any help is much appreciated.
Thank you.

Thinking error. You've created a link named busybox pgrep, linking to a (not existing) other file of the same name. What you probably wanted to achieve is:
ln -sf </path/to/alternative/>busybox </path/to/linkdir/>pgrep

Replace </path/to/alternative/> with the path to the busybox binary featuring pgrep functionality, and </path/to/linkdir/> with the path to a directory contained in your $PATH (best the one where the other symlinks reside).
Busyboxes usually decide their "wanted functionality" by checking where they're called from. So the symlink is simply named pgrep, grep, or whatever, and pointing to the busybox binary.


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Stop auto correction of dont to Dont
I've got almost the same question as the one here however the accepted solution is not working for me.
Whenever I type the word dont the google keyboard automatically corrects it to Dont (capitalizes the D).
In the word suggestions it shows the correct auto correct don't to the right of the three suggestions above the keyboard. Additionally if i write dont at the start of a sentence the auto correct comes out as Don't which is correct. And finally lets say I type sont accidentally, the word does get auto corrected to don't, again correctly. So why the word dont auto corrects incorrectly I don't know.
As per the example question the accepted answer was to clear the data for the keyboard, which I have done, but it doesn't change this behaviour...This surely can't be default behaviour of the keyboard can it?
p.s. If it matters this is with the UK english keyboard on 4.4.2

Can you long press the 'Dont' in the suggestion box (above the top row of keys) and remove it manually? I Dont (ha ha) have Google Keyboard installed (I don't like it) and this works on SwiftKey and others, worth a shot! Weirdly all of them do suggest 'Dont' as a word though!

No unfortunately long pressing the word only brings up a popup area of a load of other suggested words. I'd try another keyboard, but I've always liked the stock one, and now that it has it's own version of swype I don't have any gripes with it, apart from the aforementioned.
p.s. like the pun ;)

It's a know issue: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/mobile/WPC-UjKkeQA the suggestions there probably won't help but I'll keep digging! The generic advice is: Head over to the Google Keyboard settings, and and tap the Personal dictionary option. Add a new word to the dictionary by using the + symbol. You will now get a pop-up window where you can enter your phrase, and a shortcut to expand that phrase.
Now, whenever you type that shortcut in any text-input field, it will be automatically expanded to the phrase you wanted.

If you go to Settings > Language & input > Settings Icon beside Google Keyboard > Personal Dictionary can you remove Dont from there?

I've only got one word in the personal dictionary, and Dont is not it, and I just tried adding dont to the dictionary which doesn't auto correct to don't however it does stop it correcting to Dont which is a start I gues...

Ok last thing I can think of "Instead of going into personal dictionary, try all languages, which on my phone is right above the personal dictionaries option. That's where my list of words was." From http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/40197/delete-certain-mis-spelled-words-from-android-dictionary-these-words-were-not-l?rq=1 If this doesn't work someone else needs to step in! This shouldn't be so difficult!!

Hmm, that menu item doesn't exist on my system. At least not anywhere I can see. Above personal dictionary I've got spell checker [checkbox] and then the item to switch language. Doesn't appear below either.

Check your contacts. Keyboard will search and suggest contact names.

Ha, unbelievable. That was actually it. I had a contact saved as Dont Answer from a long time ago, so I removed it and cleared the keyboard data and hey presto it now auto corrects correctly! Shame I use swiftkey now anyway.


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Replacing the flash chip on a Galaxy Nexus
A little background

I have two Galaxy Nexus phones: one reported lost(was lost) 32GB and a current 16GB version.
Current Issue

I'm trying to put the 32GB flash chip into the current phone. Which means moving the SIM tray/flash card from the old phone to the new one. Shouldn't be too hard, just replace the circuit board and use the correct SIM card.
When I turn the phone on however, it says there is 0-1 bars of unusable signal(no data). I use the old tray and it works perfectly. Is there some chip in this board I don't know about?

I'm not sure I understand how this relates to the internal storage of the device. It sounds like you're just trying to swap the SIM. Moving the storage from one phone to the other would require opening them both up, desoldering the storage chips, and then resoldering one into the other (which it doesn't sound like you're doing). Also, if it works with the old tray, why not use that? Why do you need to swap the SIM trays and the SIM cards?

The SIM tray and internal flash chip are both on a removable circuit board. So to swap them I simply take it out of one and put it in the other(no soldering), keeping the working SIM card.

I'm still not clear on what parts you're referring to here. Maybe pictures would help or something. Are you trying to move the entire motherboard from one to the other? I'm not sure I even see the point in that, but then, I'm also not sure if that's what you're actually attempting to do.

I am with eldareathis. The flash memory is soldered to the main board. Short of desoldering/soldering there wouldn't be a way to simply swap something from one device to the other. And if you swap the whole board, the bad IMEI that was reported lost comes with it. Just use the 16gb one as a phone and the 32gb as a media player or something.

The memory is soldered to the main board of a non-Verizon phone. On Verizon phones, the memory is soldered to an add-on board that isn't even held in by screws...


text:
Is it possible to unlock the bootloader without root access?
Is it possible to unlock the bootloader without root access?  If so, is there another way to unlock the bootloader without using the command...
fastboot oem unlock

Now, for the background stuff that might be helpful to understand my question.  My particular device does not seem to support fastboot so I am wondering if there is a way to do it using
adb shell

This is the behavior when I try to use fastboot.
build@build-VirtualBox:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 009: ID 2207:0010
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 80ee:0021 VirtualBox USB Tablet
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

build@build-VirtualBox:~$ adb devices
List of devices attached
OUGRYBWWCM  device

build@build-VirtualBox:~$ adb reboot bootloader   #<--- Tablet enters      bootloader mode

build@build-VirtualBox:~$ fastboot devices        #<--- Empty results, no fastboot commands will work

build@build-VirtualBox:~$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 80ee:0021 VirtualBox USB Tablet
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

# Bus 001 Device 009: ID 2207:0010 --> missing from lsusb command

The device is based on Rockchip's RK3066 processor.

Could it be a Virtualbox problem? Perhaps you need to change the VM settings to make the fastboot device visible to the VM. Note that the fastboot device usually has a different vendor/product ID from the device you get when it's booted normally.

@DanHulme I thought it might be related to virtualbox as well so I installed the guest additions to configured USB Filtering to be sure.  I also verified the same behavior in linux mint and ubuntu outside of virtualbox so it definitly seems device related.

Short answer is yes you can. Long answer is below but basically it depends on your device, your bootloader and if someone has figured out an exploid to unlock the bootloader yet.
More information:
From this link you can see the difference:

What is bootloader and why unlock it?
In literal terms, bootloader is code that is executed before any Operating System starts to run. Bootloaders basically package the instructions to boot operating system kernel and most of them also have their own debugging or modification environment. As the bootloader kicks off before any piece of software on your device, it makes it extremely processor specific and every motherboard has it’s own bootloader. Every Android phone has a bootloader that instructs the operating system kernel to boot normally.
Why is it locked?
A bootloader is usually locked on an Android device because although it’s an open source OS, still the manufacturers want you to stick to their Android OS version specifically designed for the device. In order to apply this concept, manufacturers lock the bootloader. With a locked bootloader on Android devices, it is virtually impossible to flash a Custom ROM and forced attempts void warranty as well as usually end up in bricks.
Why should I unlock?
The explanation to this question is really simple. If you want root, you’d be wanting to flash Custom ROM post-root, and if you want to install a Custom ROM, you’d need to have your stock bootloader unlocked. In simple terms Unlocking the bootloader allows you to install custom Firmware on your Android phone
Warning: Unlocking your phone’s bootloader voids its warranty. It also completely wipes (formats) your Android phone’s internal memory including applications, contacts, SMS and MMS messages etc.

Just a quick note…. Root can be achieved without unlocking the bootloader but that requires an exploit that is discovered by a developer.
This quick note is the important part really. It has to be discovered by a developer, so it depends on the device and if someone has figured out the exploit and released tools for you to do it. HTC let you unlock your bootloader through HTC Dev Site but others will not give you an inch on this.

Apparently the rkflashtool windows variant provides me with the ability to flash my rk3066 device with a custom kernel image (and I'm also assuming OS image as well if I need it).  Interestingly enough, the linux variant of rkflashtool does not work.  So I guess that means I have to build my custom ROM and then transfer the image to the windows machine in order to flash it :(


text:
sound alarm from terminal emulator
For my purposes, I want to create a simple bash script, that will notify me when appropriate conditions will meet. Is there a way to make a sound alert from Android Terminal Emulator? I'm running Cyanogenmod 10.1.

beep and echo -e "\007" don't work on the S4 anyway. Can you use aplay "something.wav" or similar. There seems to be no default beeper (though I would need someone to verify that).

@RossC  And how to play a .wav file from Android Terminal Emulator?

Ross didn't write "play a something.wav", but aplay something.wav – so I assume aplay is the command used for that? aplay could stand for "audio player", at least (yuck, but might rather be "alsa player").

It should work but I can't seem to get it running. aplay should lead audio player. There's a lot of Linux commands not in android sadly.

see this: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/205576/how-to-play-sound-from-termux-when-using-linux


text:
How do I know I'm entering my password in the real decryption prompt?
I have a Nexus 4 phone with full-device encryption. As I took it out of my pocket, it was displaying the "Type password to decrypt storage" screen. Presumably it had crashed in some way and rebooted, but how would I know this is the real decryption prompt and not some login spoofing malware app?
I powered off the phone and restarted, and curiously, it prompted me for my SIM card PIN first, only then for the decryption password. In any case, the power-off sequence clearly involves software (a long press of the power button invokes a touchscreen menu with only the power off option available).
This is Android 4.4.2, unrooted (as far as I know).

As far as I know, applications (especially non-root ones) can't modify the power menu. If you long-press the power menu, there should only be the "power off" item as you mentioned. If you see the other items on the menu, you're not in the real decryption screen.
Or alternatively you could input a false password and see if it's accepted without verification, which would imply phishing.


text:
Where is the Home folder?
On my linux system I have a directory in /home where all my personal files and local program configurations are stored. Where does Android store that type of file?

There's no direct equivalent in Android. Each app has its own directory in /data/data (for a multi-user system, it's /data/users/n). Apps are encouraged to show a metadata-based view of user data, instead of requiring the user to worry about individual files. Each app stores the files and databases that hold its documents, and its configuration files, in its directory.
For data that already live in files, the SD card contains appropriately-named directories such as /sdcard/Music, /sdcard/Movies, which are shared between all apps (with the appropriate permission).

If you're trying to access the files you see in your device when you're plugging it in a computer, then it's there :

/storage/emulated/0/
/sdcard/

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Stereo to Mono Sound
Is there a way to digitally convert stereo sound tracks to mono ones, while playing?
I need this feature because sometime I split my headset with other people, and hearing only one channel is quite awful.
I do not want to change my music player, which is n7player (paid).
My phone is Galaxy S4 with Cyanogenmod 11 (Kitkat 4.4.2).
The only answers I was able to find were to use PowerAmp player, but again, I don't want to switch to it.

If you don't want to switch your music player, that probably only leaves mixers/equalizers. The Android system IMHO doesn't come equipped with such a feature.

That is exactly what I thought, but I was not able to find such app (paid or not)

Neither was I, sorry, or I had mentioned it. Checked for about half an hour, but no luck.

On Android 4.4:

From your homescreen, hit the Menu key and open System Settings
Go to Accessibility, tap cancel on "need a screen reader" to bypass / scroll down to "Mono Audio"
Uncheck box

Done!

In S4, go to Settings > My device > Accessibility > Hearing. You will find the Mono audio option there.
EDIT: You can download Boeffla Sound Control from play store. This app is able to convert Stereo sound to Mono. For this you must first install Busybox which is also available on play store. Your devices needs to be rooted. Hope this solves your issue.

This option is available only in the stock ROM, and I'm using Cyanogenmod.

This feature seems to be not available on CM. You can post your request here

As of 2018, this answer (first part) is correct (even if maybe at the time it was posted, it was not) for latest CM/LOS.


text:
Android Custom ROM Missing “Add Google Account” Option
In the customized Android system, all pre-installed google apps are missing and it's not allowed to add google account. I downloaded the Gapps from http://goo.im/gapps, but I cannot install the apps due to signature issue
Is there other possible way to retrieve the "add google account" option back?
Thanks
Update:
I wasn't aware that I need to push the Gapps into /system/app to avoid signature problem. When I did, it works!

That's pretty normal for (almost) all Custom ROMs: They are not permitted to include Google Apps. GApps are proprietary, and to ship them bundled with anything requires an explicit license from Google.
However, Custom ROMs come rooted usually. and also usually, you (at least in most cases) have a custom recovery when installing them. So if you feel you need a way, you've got two choices primarily:

pick the GApps package corresponding to your Android version from Goo.im, and flash them via your custom recovery, or
head over to XDA and check for the NOGAPPS packages if you prefer an open-source replacement

Google Apps (Gapps) is the only way to sync with Google. Whatcustom ROM have you downloaded, and which device do you own? Try to find Gapps installation somewhere else.

I built my own ROM from the source code. And I am using Nexus 4. I wonder if I need to add something into the source code before re-compile

If this question is about programming, try to ask at StackOverflow (I know that SO don't specialize in Android Dev, but they have the "android" tag.)
Alternatively, you can try to ask in XDA-Developers, great forum.


text:
How does update.zip work?
update.zips are packages containing replacements for parts of an Android system. The packages contain all the files the update is intended to replace and a script that will do the replacement when it's run.
update.zips can come from OTA updates, but in some cases, it is necessary to manually download and put an update.zip in some special folder. However, the update.zip is still detected and applied in the same manner.
What part of Android detects and handles update.zips?

Congratulations: someone made http://update.zip redirect here.

update.zip are never touched by Android.
Inside that archive is a script that is parsed and interpreted by the Recovery runtime.
The Recovery, at execution, opens the archive by unzipping into a temporary directory, reads the script, aptly named update-script, analyzes it, and based on the syntax, executes a function known to Recovery, that function may do the following, to name but a few:

mount /system and other filesystems, and perform read/write file operations  including, copying the kernel, or, an apk or even formatting a partition etc
check the build.prop for certain properties, such as device, manufacturer, etc
print display to the screen, progress information etc

It is pretty much a de-facto standard incorporated into Android Open Source Project (AOSP)
ClockworkMod, TWRP are derivatives of the barebones version that resides in AOSP with additional enhancements, such as touchscreen input.

+1 very interesting. So the recovery isn't part of android itself? What does it fall under? Part of Linux, a separate entity?

@RossC The proper Recovery environment, resides on a separate /recovery partition (some manufacturers do not do this for some unknown reason, pseudo recovery) barebones limited Android, depending if stock recovery,  limited shell vs CWM/TWRP which packs more, besides, root privileges. A real modder's delight is a device that has the separate partition for recovery.

/recovery doesn't look like a partition. In Linux that's just a directory. It could be a mounted partition - but it's still just a directory. I say this because it's a common misconception I've noticed in Android users.

@yannbane - try this,cat /proc/mtd or look at /proc/partitions, its how the bootloader works, if vol dwn is pressed, bootloader reads kernel from /recovery and chain loads it bringing up either stock or custom recovery.  It is not linux....


text:
Galaxy SIII has a weak data connection
I've noticed that my Galaxy SIII has a very weak data connection at times. This occurs even when people around me with the same phone and carrier (T-Mobile) have perfectly adequate connections.
Are there settings somewhere I'm missing? I've looked at the app mentioned in this post, but would prefer not to install another app if this can be fixed with configuration changes.

Two things I can think of as possibly useful from a troubleshooting perspective: 1) Do you (you and the other people) have the same type of plan? Specifically, are you on a prepaid plan or anything, and are they on postpaid? That could potentially affect your service if the tower is congested. 2) Have you tried swapping SIMs with someone nearby? That could help narrow down if it's some kind of account/SIM issue or a phone issue.

I'm on a regular plan (not prepaid) with unlimited data. Have not tried swapping SIMs. Will see if I can find anyone willing to try it.

Look for the signal indicator in between  clock and battery bar. If the signal indicator is full, then voila! You should be able to get the fast data connection.

Presumably the OP already realizes this, based on the question being how to fix it, not how to check it.

As @eldarerathis clarified, I'm trying to find a way to boost the signal, not determine what the signal strength is.


text:
Force install of custom rom on unsupported device (MT6575)
A friend of mine bought a fake iphone coming from Thailand. It have a fake iOs rom on it which is translated in English but a lot of part aren't... Is there a way to install a CyanogenMod even if the device is not supported ?
Info :
BB Chip             : MT6575
MS Board            : mobitek75_ics2
UBoot Ver.          : 2010.06
Kernel Ver          : 3.0.13 (root@zonglibo-desktop) (gcc version 4.4.3 (GCC)
Android Ver.        : 4.2.0
SW Ver.             : ALPS.ICS2.MP.V1.20
Custom Build Verno. : 1371628671

Thanks !

@DanHulme In fact, I know where to find it, the main issue is that none that I found supported my device and I'd like to force the install... That's my question :)

That won't work and will very likely brick your phone. You need to find a ROM that was built for your exact model of phone.

I highly doubt if you could flash a custom rom onto this, especially coming from Asia, where those devices are unheard of and more than likely, if not, often, unsupported! You may have to dig up chinese forums to find one, not on european/USA sites will have that info...


text:
How to prevent widget resize on unlock swipe?
After upgrading to 4.3, there is only a small portion of the lower screen that can be used to unlock the phone.  The upper part of the screen engages what looks like some sort of draw or resize box with a pencil in the lower right corner.  I think it is trying to resize the clock widget for some reason.
This is very annoying since I never want to resize the widgets after they are set, but obviously, I swipe the phone a lot.  Is there a way to disable this box and return the swipe area to the visible window?


text:
Can't enable NFC on HTC One X
On clicking the NFC checkbox in settings, it turns off by itself after about 2 seconds.
It's a used phone which I bought from a friend more than a year ago and it's always been like this since it had ICS and it currently has Jellybean MR1.

A very vague idea: I don't remember which device it was, but at least in one case NFC seemed somehow "bundled" with Bluetooth. If BT was disabled, NFC would turn off, too. Might be pure co-incidence, but worth a try.

Nope. Turns off even with Bluetooth enabled.

OK, was worth a try. I'm out then (except for "contact the service", if any).


text:
How can I track my location and phone logs?
As an experiment, I would like to track the following things:

Location
Phone logs
Text messages

I have a Nexus 4 running KitKat (CyanogenMod, rooted), and I would prefer to export to CSV or something.
Thoughts?

Yeah. Some NSA app, uh, sorry, child-protecting monitoring supervisor app like Parental Control Board might do that. But probably not export to CSV...

@Izzy hey, that might work.

What's your actual question?

If it works for you, let me know, so I make it a "full-fledged answer"! I've never tested that app myself, though (but I have a bunch of others in my can, too ;)

@DanHulme "How can I export my call log, SMS log and location history to $format-i-can-use".

@Izzy we shall see, but I just installed it and I'm pretty impressed with the amount of data it's giving me. Location, SMS, calls and app installs/uninstalls. Fits the bill!

As you say it "fits the bill", I've made it an answer – so you can decide if it "fully fits" (and "accept" the answer), at least proves very helpful in your context (and upvote it), or both :)

Android itself has no such features built-in (at least none I know that are accessible to the customer). But there are monitoring apps available targeted at "child protection", which can do most of the things you asked for. One example would be Parental Control Board:

Parental Control: Position tracking (source: Google Play; click images for larger variants)
From the app's description:

Parents can track all movements of their children in real time from web or from their own devices. At any point of time it is possible to get precise kid’s location.
Parents can controls all calls made and received by their children, as well as all SMS messages, and set up Black Lists or White Lists of phone numbers for incoming and outgoing calls and messages.

Additional to your requested items, the app can also be used to lock apps not-to-be-used, and more. Not having used it, I cannot tell whether data can be exported to CSV, though.


text:
How can I remap the menu key to Switch App view?
I tried ButtonRemapper but it only offers short press functions and not the App Switch menu (on cm10.3 long press of home button activates the App Switch menu)

authors: Алексей Валерьевич


text:
Possible to do Nandroid Backup BEFORE unlocking bootloader?
I have a stock Atrix 4G with Froyo (2.2.2) (Version.4.1.83.MB860.ATT.en.US). It's past warranty, so I'm not worried about voiding the warranty.
As one would expect, the stock recovery doesn't offer me the option of doing a Nandroid backup.
I'd like to flash a custom recovery like ClockworkMod so as to give myself the option of doing a Nandroid backup before trying out a custom ROM like epinter's CM10.1 (Jelly Bean, Android 4.2).
But I get the distinct impression that I will first need to unlock the bootloader before I'll be allowed to flash a custom recovery.
But as Motorola makes so vividly clear, it seems like unlocking my bootloader will delete all the things from the phone that I want to backup (e.g. the stock ROM in case I want to go back to it) before trying out a custom ROM.
So it seems like I'm in a Catch 22 here:

Need to unlock bootloader before flashing custom recovery.
Need to flash custom recovery before I am able to do a Nandroid.
Would like to do a Nandroid backup of stock ROM before unlocking bootloader.

Is there any way to get out of this Catch 22? Any way to backup my existing stock ROM before unlocking the bootloader?
Or must I just forget about backing up the stock ROM before unlocking the bootloader? I know I can do all sorts of other backups of installed data and apps and so forth, but I'd like to backup the stock ROM itself if possible.
I noticed this question/answer, but this too seems to require CWM to be installed (I am skeptical of being able to get a faithful Nandroid backup of mounted partitions as would necessarily be the case if the phone was powered on as mentioned in the associated xda thread).

Just a note: the Motorola documentation that you link to doesn't mention that you'd actually lose the ROM on the phone. Usually, the phone will be factory reset but still have the original Android install as when you first turned it on. You should back up any personal data that isn't synced with Google or another cloud/backup service. Once the bootloader is unlocked, you can then make a full backup of the stock ROM; Alternatively, you can probably find a stock ROM for your device online elsewhere.

Full Backup of non-rooted devices has a pretty comprehensive list of your options.

Unlocking the bootloader performs a factory-reset on the phone, deleting all the user data. It doesn't wipe the ROM. If you're just trying to back up the stock ROM before flashing (a sensible precaution), then you can safely do that after unlocking the bootloader.
If you want to back up your user data (i.e. installed apps and their data, contacts, etc.), then you do have to do that before unlocking the bootloader, and the answers to this question explain how.


text:
SD Card not working on LG Optimus L7II
I Brought a 16GB Lexar micro sd card for my LG Optimus L7II and installed the micro sd card and I've have tried downloading apps but it keeps coming up insufficient storage space available! How do I get the SD cards to work?

Applications never get installed to SDcard. It is by-design. If you can access other files (music/video/...) then it is working perfectly. Applications are only installed to the internal storage.

What version of Android do you have? Depending on the version (2.3+ I think) you can move apps to the external SD card via App2SD (or check the Settings/Applications for the option). You will have to install on internal first and then move to external, so to free memory you will have to move some other apps which are already installed.
But some later versions of android no longer support this.
If you root your phone, then try Link2SD.


text:
Lock icons on Nexus 5
App icons are deleted or getting moved to other screens by mistake. Is there any app to lock the icons? I don't want to install a launcher if I can get an app to lock the icons.

In short, apps can't control other apps. This means you have to use a different launcher that has the feature... But... If you have root, there is Xposed Framework. It allows you to install modules that modify the application code as it is run allowing all sorts of customization. There is a module called Xposed Gel Settings that provides customization options to the stock Google Now launcher. It doesn't let you lock icons now, but maybe you could request the feature. That is as close as you will come without a different launcher.

Thank you for the response..i will have to think of a launcher than rooting it now.

I agree it would be nice if Android were to lock down its app icons because they're too easy to accidentally move/remove! Ugh, so annoying! While Apple iOS also doesn't lock down their app icons, it's actually harder to accidentally move/remove app icons than on Android.
Sorry this doesn't exactly answer your question because it doesn't involve an add-on app to preexisting launcher but, there's a very thoughtfully designed, lightweight launcher called Smart Launcher that has an important feature called "Prevent Modifications," which solves the problem of accidental moving/deletion of app icons you and most people are having.
Other unique benefits/features:

Conserves screen real estate by allowing two actions per icon/app--secondary action done by double-pressing an icon/app; allowed actions include app, folder, widget, shortcut, etc.
Arranges home screen apps into a circular (other choices as well) pattern, making it easy for user to remember where things are, so access is faster.
Instead of showing apps collection page by page, it groups apps by their categories, modifiable by user. It's like the Linux Mint Operating System's start or app menu.
Rarely used apps can be hidden by user.
Since it's among the most lightweight of all launchers, it conserves battery and valuable resources which could be used for something else, which is crucial for slower, older phones.
Advertised to work with "OK Google" voice command, though I've never tried it because I don't need it. Uses a Contacts-searchable bar on the homescreen.
Doesn't require rooting.
I've been happily using the Free version which meets my needs, but if you find you like the additional features then they're in the Pro version.

Link for the app?


text:
How to install apps by connecting to the desktop
I was just wondering is that possible to install apps on my tablet by connecting it to my dekstop from google play.
Thanks for any help

Actually, it shouldn't be necessary to connect the tablet to your desktop. All you need to do is to log into Google Play on your desktop with the same account that's registered on the tablet. Then navigate to an app and press the Install button (or Installed if it's already installed on one of your other devices):

Once you click Install, a dialog will appear which allows you to select the device to install to:

After clicking Install, click OK on the next dialog that pops up. Then connect your tablet via WiFi, wait a bit, and the app will be installed!


text:
How can I share my Google Play wish list with other people?
I've got a birthday coming up, and people ask me what I'd like to get. Among other things, I have a few items in my Google Play wish list, and I know that I can see it at https://play.google.com/wishlist (thank you Martyn). But that's a plain URL without user information. I can't share that to others.
I am looking for an URL or feature that lets my friends see what I've put my wish list.

You can use Changelog Droid app which featured one touch functionality to import your complete wish list into so called observed apps category and then you can export your observed apps to SD card (Preferences, Export/Import, Export/Import observed apps) and sent this file (/sdcard/cd_observed.json) to your friends which can import your observed list into their Changelog Droid. Yes they should install this app too, but this app is so good that they will be glad to use it anyway :)
For a few items in a wish list it is an overkill, but I have over one hundred apps in my wish list so in such a situation Changelog Droid is the acceptable way to realize sharing my complete wish list.

This requires others to have an Android device, and that they are able and willing to get that app and import file. It also only provides a snapshot, not a live view of my wish list.

I know all these shortcomings, but I shared it, because it can be useful for someone :)
You can just mail the /sdcard/cd_observed.json file, it is the text file. But if you have only a few items on your wish list you can mail to your friends all app links anyway :)


text:
OsmAnd: How to hide information?
OsmAnd has so much information that it obscures the map. How can I decide what information (layers) that OsmAnd should show?
I had hoped Define View > POI would make it possible to hide the information, but it can only emphasize the information with an orange circle.

I use OsmAnd+ 2.3.5 and that was the first thought I had - too much of everything. It is all configurable, though.
tap the menu button -> Configure Map -> swipe up to reveal more options

See pictures below, I highlighted the options of your interest. You can disable the POIs (the orange circles you mentioned) and you can further hide things such as buildings and lots of other miscellaneous details.

By disabling what I mentioned above here is what you can achieve (you can go even further and hide polygons too (grass, water, etc.)).


text:
Osmand: Map font size
I am visually impaired and have a hard time reading small fonts. In Osmand I can read the fonts when I zoom and the screen still has to be re-drawn. How can I change the default font size for street names to, say, 150%?

In OsmAnd+ 2.3.5:
tap the menu button -> Configure Map -> swipe up to reveal more options

and set the text size from there:

Long-Press the ZoomIn button and choose a map zoom level.

Long-press zoomin button does nothing in version 1.5-arm.

It seems this "map magnifier" feature was added in v1.6, which was released quite a while ago. http://osmand.net/en/blog/90-osmand-16-release.html


text:
widgets with cutomized service?
I am new to android, just bought a nexus 5.
I am now trying to customize my desktop (I am using nova launcher + Zooper free widget maker ).
Now, the problem is, can I customize the service of a widget? Say, I liked a weather widget in zooper, I want to use it. But the weather service of my choice is accuweather(no business, just an example).
How can I have these two together?

I don't know what options Zooper has, but if it doesn't offer the feature you want, you'll have to use a different widget.

Try Dashclock which has alternatives weather widgets and more...

The general answer I'm afraid is "you usually can't". In principle there's nothing to stop a developer from writing a widget that supports multiple information sources, and allowing you to choose between them. In practice, though, that's often just more trouble than it's worth, as those different sources may deliver their data in quite different formats that the code would have to handle.


text:
Will I still receive OTA updates after rooting my Nexus 5?
I just wanna ask that after rooting Nexus 5 will I be receiving OTA updates by Google ? Or I'll have to install a custom ROM ?

Yes, you should still be prompted for OTAs. However, they could remove root.
Source: My N5 prompted me

Yes, OTA updates will still be suggested to your device when you're rooted.  Under most circumstances, they will also be applied.  However, be advised that if you performed any root-required tasks that altered system files, such as editing build.prop, freezing apps, removing apps, etc, then the OTA may fail.
When the OTA does come, if you apply it OTA rather than flashing a pre-rooted image, you will most likely lose root, and Towelroot will no longer root the device.


text:
Android Google Play Hangs
When ever i download an app from google play my entire UI is stuck until i press back
button. Is it a device problem ?

I don't see this in some other devices but seen in some also.
Persistent issue is in Micromax A68 and Nexus 4. Since its an inbuilt application how can i fix this issue.


text:
How can I store my Google maps (and maybe directions) offline when previewing directions?
I want to ask directions when I have a Wifi connections, then preview the route and store the maps offline for the entire route - so that when I'm underway I can just let GPS pick up my location and show me a map (and preferably the directions).
I can store single maps if I'm not in directions preview, but can I do it while I'm previewing directions?
I found these posts with many alternatives but first I'm looking for a solution in the Google Maps app itself.

What did you end up using?

@Baruch I did not find a solution using Google Maps and have switched to Osmand Maps, a completely off-line solution. The free version limits the number of map updates you can do, I have not gotten around yet to paying for the full version (but intend to). It's worth it, although the interface is a bit complex and the precision not as good as Google - well, actual door-to-door precision is not necessary for the casual user.

I updated to the paid version (several years ago), and the interface has improved significantly in the meantime.


text:
Google maps offline
Cannot find menu: how to make google map available offline. I googled and found but dont have menu make available offline in settings.

What version of Google apps?

Type 'ok map' in search box and press enter.

They really need to put the interface for offline maps back in. This way is easy enough once you know how but impossible for a new user to figure out without reading the "Tips & Tricks" section in the menu.

Thanks for the hint! Would you mind to [edit] your answer and add a few more details what to expect? AFAIK the offline capabilities have been restricted a lot with recent versions (I do not use GMaps, so I cannot tell from my own experience).

The interface IS available, as I describe in my answer.  They've just made a mess of the documentation.

Starting on November 10, 2015, Google Maps will roll out a new offline mode for Android allowing for driving directions and search. It's designed to fit seamlessly alongside the online version of Google Maps, allowing data connection to drop in and out without interrupting the app itself.
From the Official Google Blog: Navigate and search the real world … online or off:

You can download an area by searching for a city, county or country, for instance, and tapping Download on the resulting place sheet, or by going to Offline Areas in the Google Maps menu and tapping on the +</> button. Once downloaded, Google Maps will move into offline mode automatically when it recognizes you're in a location with spotty service or no connectivity at all. When a connection is found, it will switch back online so you can easily access the full version of Maps, including live traffic conditions for your current route. By default, Google Maps will only download areas to your device when you are on a Wi-Fi connection to prevent large data fees.

       (Click image to see animation)

That help doesn't work for me, but it's not for the same version I'm using, which is v7.6.1.  The help for this version doesn't work either, though (typical for Google, really), but this does:
Press on the Search bar, next to the magnifying glass.
Scroll to the bottom of the page.
Click on "Make this map area available offline".

As of Google Maps v9, Google has changed the method to save offline map:

Make sure you're connected to the Internet, then open the Google Maps app .
Search for a place, like "San Francisco."
Pull up the place info sheet at the bottom of the screen, and touch the menu  in the top right corner.
Select Save offline map to save the selected area of the map. (Sign into your Google Account, if you haven't already.)
Only what's on the screen will be saved. Adjust the map by moving it and zooming in or out, as needed, then touch Save.
Name the map, and then touch Save.
After a few moments, you'll see a message confirming that the map area has been saved.

Note that typing "OK Map" in Search Bar method is still working, and might be preferable since you don't have to do searching for a particular place first.


text:
When will the reader option appear in Samsung's Internet-browser?
Samsung's browser called "Internet" offers for some sites a separate reader. But not for all sites. What is the criterion to offer the little green box? It looks quite random to me.

It is based on content of site, if any site comes under categories: Article, documentation,  blog,  news or same kind comes under browser reader feature,  hope you got you answer.

Who does categorize the site?


text:
Sync saved wifi passwords from defected mobile
I had an accident few days ago and broke the screen of my Samsung Galaxy Note 2, everything in it is working fine, even the touching system is working fine as well, but I want to retrive the saved wifi passwords, I looked over the internet, though if I could sync the screen of the mobile with my PC, though about the synced passwords on google, non of them could help.
I have purchased samsung galaxy tab 3, logged in using same account and tried to retrive the saved passwords from google account, but it seams that there is nothing saved there.
can you please advice how can I solve this issue?

There are multiple possible approaches:

If you have Google Cloud Backup activated on the "old" device, your WiFi passwords have been stored along (plain text, by the way). So starting with a new (or factory-reset) device, you should be asked on account creation whether to enable it here as well. Answering with "yes" will restore several things even from your old device, including WiFi passwords (for details, please see Google Backup: Multiple devices using the same account - what happens on Restore?)
If both devices have root access, you can use either a dedicated tool like WiFi Pass Recovery & Backup, or straight go for a full-fledged solution like Titanium Backup
If at least the "old" device has root access, you can obtain your passwords from their configuration file directly. They are usually stored in /data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf using plain-text.

THanks for the great summary,I tried to sync from Google Cloud Backup but it synced 1 old wifi password which means that the sync to the cloud was turned off (I guess), but in the end I don't have it saved on the cloud.
And for the root, non of them is rooted and for the "old" one I cannot root it with a broken screen.

but I have been wondering if I can sync the screen to PC or maybe turn it on, using google play on the computer try to install an application that works as Spy allows me to access to it using another device "using new device", same idea of teamviewer but buthg without IDs, just standing in installing the app, do you think something like that is available?

See e.g. Broken Screen + Using adb shell to run vnc server / Control Android with broken screen from PC / What can I do with an Nexus One with a broken LCD? / Broken screen while debug mode was disabled. How can I re-enable adb?


text:
Weird internet connection problem
My friend just had an internet connection problem. Her handphone (Acer Liquid C1, Android OS maybe 4.0) have a problem in the connection. It could connect to Line application and chat normally, then it could read and reply some mail in Gmail. Also she can refresh feed on Instagram.
But, it's BBM (blackberry messenger) couldn't chat normally (in this case, my BBM message just sent to her's [appeared as a tick], but not delivered [not appeared in D] to her BBM).
The other problem in this case is:

when the handphone connect to a mobile hotspot from apple / blackberry device and wireless router from apple, sometimes the device (my friend's handphone) is disconnect from the wifi after exit the setting menu. But when she open the wifi setting menu, the handphone is connected.
But, when her handphone connect to a mobile hotspot from android device (in this case, the mobile hotspot is asus tab and samsung smartphone), the device is always connected.

Another clue in this case is, when her android access play store and trying to download an app like Twitter with mobile data or hotspot from apple device, it always give an error code like 4xx or 9xx (I forgot this, but the first number is correct). But when it connect to wifi (from android mobile hotspot), it can download the application.
If someone can solve this, my friend will be glad :D
Sorry for my bad English :(


text:
How to Install apks from computer?
Was just wondering is it possible to Install apks directly from pc. I am not talking it through Google play . I have a rooted device.

Please see: How can I install an app given only its APK file? / How do I properly install a system app given its .apk? / How to push and install APK files from a PC over Internet? and several more.

There are a few ways.
ADB is the first one. By connecting your phone to your PC with USB Debugging enabled and ADB installed, you can simply run the following command (where 'android' is the location of your ADB or platform-tools installation and 'appname' is the name of the apk to install):
C:\android> adb.exe install c:\somefolder\appname.apk

This assumes Windows. For other operating systems the process is basically the same just executing adb install in the terminal in the folder where adb is installed using the appropriate path name to the app in the format of your OS (forward vs back slashes).
The next way is with an app. Apps like AirDroid will let you install apps and much more over wifi (for free, or you can pay a fee and use mobile network). AirDroid is simple. Install the app on your phone and open it and then go to http://web.airdroid.com/ from the same wifi network and follow the instructions to connect. If you sign up, you don't have to use the Pin or qr code each time, just log in. Then you can install apps and more from the desktop like interface.
If you haven't checked it out, AirDroid is very useful.

any simpler app that is specialized for installing apks usingdata cable?

I don't know of one, and a quick Google search didn't turn any up, but that doesn't mean one doesn't exist. The adb method is built into Android. The other option is to just copy the app to your phone's storage when it is connected to the PC and then just use a file manager to browse your internal storage and launch the app. It will then install like normal.

Yes, you can just copy that apk file to your SD card and just tap, its start installing.


text:
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 - 2014 Edition (Chinese version)
I live in China. Just purchased a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 - 2014 Edition (SM-P600) tablet. Since I have other devices that came with Google Play Store, I had no idea that Samsung's wouldn't.
I was wondering, is there a way to get Google Play installed and working on this device? Is it possible to purchase the Samsung/Google version and replace the Samsung/Baidu one that it came with? Or, is there some other workaround for this specific issue? I live in China, and so I don't have many options to buy products designed for Westerners.  Hope someone can offer some assistance. Thanks! ~Anthony

Not Samsungs fault (their devices usually have it), but AFAIK in China it's a bit tricky to use Google Play (correct me if I'm wrong – you're the one living there). For possible solutions, you might wish to see How can I install the Google Apps Package (Play Store, …) on my Android device?

Thanks, I'll check it out.  Okay, I will correct you. I have multiple devices (smartphones and other tablets) that came with Google Play.  All work fine without any issues.  It's just that some apps, like Facebook are blocked and won't work unless you're using a VPN.  And like most Westerns living here, I have multiple VPN accounts. So, it wouldn't be an issue anyway.  Oh btw, using my VPN, I successfully installed Amazon apps.  Using it, I was able to get most of the things that I needed.  Not the best solution, but it does work.  Thanks again!


text:
System so slow; permanent WiFi activity
I guess my Android device is permanent communicating over the Internet, without any doing of my side. This slows down the system.
Is there any way to see the actual WiFi activity? I mean I like to know which app / service is actually downloading or sending out information. I tested several task-managers with WiFi Monitoring but all do summarize. I like to know which app at this moment downloads or sends data without my doing.
Best would be a widget that shows which app uses WiFi at most.

OS Monitor might prove helpful here. Amongst others, it shows you all current connections including their stati, always along with the target IP (which you can even get WhoIs details on, see screenshots) and the app holding it. This might at least help you to narrow down possible candidates.

OS Monitor: Open connection, connection target details (source: Google Play; click images for larger variants)
Hint: To transfer data, the connection status must be ESTABLISHED.


text:
How can I do adb backup without a visible screen?
I need to repair my Android phone (it is Jiayu G4 with Android 4.0.2) since its display is not working. Yet, touches are being handled. Could anyone with Android dev tools installed at their PC instruct me which gestures should I do after
adb backup -apk -shared -all

command?
It expects me to unlock the device and allow backup, but I cannot see which button to press.
Good answer is:

Press button at 3/4 of height and 2/3 of  width of the screen;
Swipe selector located at 1/10 of height in the left...
...or something.

Please help.

When you invoke the adb backup command, this is the screen popping up on your device:

The button you would need to hit is "Back up my data". So after invoking the command, wait for 3..5 seconds to be sure the screen is "loaded", then hit the area on the lower-right where the button should be. The backup process then should start immediately. Even if you see nothing happen, give it another 30s or so, then check (from a different terminal/command shell); you should see your backup file growing then.

Thanks a lot! My data are being saving right now. I forgot that one picture is better than a hundred words. One more little question: is it safe to restore these data to later version of the system? 4.2 or 4.4. Looks like i need to flash my device with later firmware in order to get my new replacement screen working. The screen is of a new revision of device.

Depends. If you included system apps, I'd be careful (adb restore allows no selection, all-or-nothing only). Otherwise: Save I'd say. After all, that's what Helium Backup does to sync apps/data between devices.

(For later Android versions)
You may want to try ways to mirror the screen. (Method 2 involves mirroring over WiFi)
Or narrate the screen.
With a totally blank screen, you can:
# enable USB debugging (not shown here, but the prompt is in the upper 40% of the screen. Yes is on the right)
# verify the phone is recognized and has authorized your PC
adb devices
# unlock the screen on the phone (power button, swipe, enter password, etc.)
# send the backup command (adjust as needed and try quotes or escape characters)
adb backup -apk -shared -all file.ab
# Respond to the prompt on the phone

The prompt is full screen and the confirm button is in the bottom right, above the launcher tray (back, home, recent apps).

Once confirmed, there is nothing on the destination PC that shows it's working.
On the source phone, it will display each package as it copies them (seems that way).
The destination file will show as 0 KB (empty) until the process completes.
Use a reliable cable and leave the phone somewhere it can safely rest without moving or even touching it. It took around 30 minutes to backup a Pixel 2 (16 GB backup, about 64 GB of data on the device). Not everything is part of ADB backup.
If you ctrl-C the process on the dest PC, the dest file will fill over the next few seconds with the incomplete backup. The phone will also show more packages that it was iterating through to copy. You could maybe use this to verify the backup was working.
It's not clear what the collision policy is on sending a backup with the same name as an existing file.


text:
Newbie needs help: Not sure how to get Google Play apps on CyanogenMod
I finally decided to install CyanogenMod on my Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Verizon). The installation process went pretty smoothly (I only had to pull the battery twice ;)), but I am having no joy reinstalling all of my Google Play apps. I'm beginning to think I've made terrible a mistake. Does CyanogenMod not integrate with Google the same way that stock Android does? Can I not just enter my Google username and password and redownload all of my apps and settings?
I mean, I knew that the Play Store isn't bundled with CyanogenMod due to licensing issues. But I thought that installing the Play Store was as simple as downloading the APK. So far I've downloaded two versions of the the APK and both crash on launch. I've tried all of the usual things like clearing the app cache and rebooting the phone. I also downloaded a 150 MB "Gapps" package from cyanogenmod.org that I have no idea what to do with. The download page has absolutely no instructions, nor does the package contain a readme. I've read that I need to "flash the apps through recovery", which I can sort of parse, but all of the documentation and explanations I've found this afternoon assume the reader knows more than I do.
Any guidance would be very much appreciated. By all accounts, CyanogenMod is awesome.
Technical details:

Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Verizon)
CyanogenMod 11.0-InstallerXNPQ02R (Android 4.4.2)

The Google Play app needs to be a system app in order to work; so no, you cannot simply "install an apk". Please see: How can I install the Google Apps Package (Play Store, …) on my Android device?

Sorry, I didn't see that question suggested in the sidebar when I was working on mine. I'll check it out.

Don't worry. I found it because I knew it's there. One of our "frequent questions". Even I sometimes miss things on search :)

You simply download the relevant Gapps package (it's a zip file, not an apk) for your version of Cyanogenmod, copy to your SD card like you did with cyanogenmod, and then go into recovery and install (flash) it, again just like you did with Cyanogenmod.

I'll try and follow your instructions, but I never copied CyanogenMod to an SD card. The Galaxy Nexus doesn't even have an SD card. I used the CM installer app in conjunction with the Windows installer.


text:
Why can't my Galaxy S4 load my email inbox after I changed the password?
I changed the password for my Gmail account a couple of days ago.  Since changing it, my Galaxy S4 cannot load the webpage.  Whenever I try to load Gmail in the web browser, it gets stuck loading and reloading the webpage, though no content ever resolves.
I've been trying to load the page daily for about a week now with no success.  I thought it may have the old password saved on my phone, but I enter the new password on the step before loading the page.
Tips?

This may be slightly different on a GS4 but give this a try and let me know if you run into any issues:

Go to Setting -> Apps -> Web Browser (Chrome, Firefox whatever browser you are using)
Clear Cache
Clear Data

And if that doesn't work: Uninstall and reinstall.

Go to Settings -> Accounts and sign out and sign in with the new password.


text:
Generate different thumbnails for videos in Gallery
Device:  Nexus 7
Android: 4.4.2
Gallery app: 1.1.40304
I have a series of videos with a similar first 30 seconds. The thumbnails for all of them look identical. Is there any way of making the Gallery app calculate a different thumbnail for these videos?
Alternatively, is there any way to display the filename along with the thumbnail? I have to go through to the details menu for each to see the filename.

Not a nice solution, but if you have to access those videos regularly for a long time, you could find the thumbnail files and edit them so you could tell the videos apart.
Also you could find another application which displays the title as well, or an animated preview. VLC player and Mobo player function well for me.


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How do I go about reinstalling Touch Wiz on a Sprint Galaxy S4
A recent up date for Cyanogenmod has left my phone stuck on the Samsung splash screen. So I need to get Touch Wiz back on it so I can use it. I don't care about losing any thing. How would I do this? All my contacts are online. And all my pictures are backed up. I really need this ASAP! please help me.

Sammoblile have the stock roms you can flash with odin and xda had tons of touchwiz based roms. Alternatively you could restore a nandroid backup image if you made one!  http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2265477