text:
How to unpack and edit boot.img for ROM porting?
I recently downloaded this ROM for my Allview P5 (Allview P5 is the equivalent of Gionee GN700W/FLY IQ441/QMobile Noir A8). It`s called Primonex ROM and is made for the Gionee version of the phone.

Firstly, I tried to install it as it is but it got stuck at the boot screen.
After some research I found out that it could be a problem with the boot.img file and I don't know how to extract or edit it...

Can someone tell me how to do it?

If you're on a Linux kernel, you could use abootimg

See also: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/64628/how-to-extract-boot-img

Tools selection
The method I present here relies on CyanogenMod's Android source code.
While Google's AOSP only provides the tool to build the boot.img file, CyanogenMod also adds the unpackbootimg tool allowing you to unpack it. This tool does not seem specifically designed for CyanogenMod in any way, so most chances are that it will work for other ROMs as well.
There are, however, a relatively large number of alternatives to unpack the boot.img file which all work more-or-less the same.
Basically, such unpack tool will extract the content of the boot.img file and display a set of parameters you will have to pass to Google's mkbootimg tool to build a file whose configuration (mainly kernel parameters and memory addresses) will match the original one.
Here are a few examples, I did not test them personally so cannot recommend any and I present them only for reference purposes:

A few are open source or script based:

The Android Kitchen was apparently meant to be some kind of Swiss army knife for Android developers. The original author officially stopped maintaining the project, a few other users forked it like javilonas or cmotc.
szym targets easiness by adding shell script wrappers to its toolset to make the complete unpacking and repacking process more straightforward.
osm0sis proposes a fork of CyanogenMod's tools "forked and updated" according to the project's own description. This project seems indeed still maintained which is not very common in this area, however the actual advantage over CyanogenMod's original tools remains unclear to me.

Some are free closed source proprietary binaries:

Kuisma's unmkbootimg appears pretty often in help forums and seems to do a good job in helping to handle odd cases, outputting "human readable" English recommendation when some modification are required in mkbootimg source code and displaying the exact command-line to use to rebuild the image.
Xiaolu's mkbootimg_tools seems also mentioned quite often and allows to unpack and repack boot.img and the device tree file dt.img. Don't be fooled by the fact it is hosted on GitHub: it is a closed source proprietary binary and only compiled binaries are available on their repository (actually I'm even wondering about the exact interest of using a source-code repository to store binary blobs, but different people, different minds...).
CNexus on the XDA forum provides an archive with a selection of tools.
This answer in Unix.SE recommends some tools from the now seemingly defunct Android Serial Port project. The file names, however, lead me to think these should be old prebuilt versions of CyanogenMod's tools (the project being closed, there is neither documentation nor support).

All these tools (and others you may find with any search engine) should work the same way, but some may work better than others in handling some particular edge-case you may face with your own device. Most of them however, at least in the open source arena, do not seem regularly maintained, so the best bet in my opinion to have working, maintained and documented tools is to go with CyanogenMod's ones.
Some manufacturers produce ROMs which are more or less far from AOSP standard (unusual addresses, headers, file format, etc.). If the standard procedure below does not work, maybe one of these alternative software may do the trick. Otherwise, you will have to check for issues specific to your device: some seem to need a specific procedure or even specific tools (confer this question related to MediaTek devices, for instance).
Tools installation
Compiling CyanogenMod toolset for boot.img packing and unpacking is quite straightforward.

If you already have installed the complete Android source code tree (you can check my other answer to get more information about this), go in system/core/mkbootimg/ directory (as a reminder, Google's AOSP source code only provide the tool to build the boot.img file, they do not provide any unpacking tool),

If you haven't and don't need this for any other purpose, an easier and quicker solution is to only clone CyanogenMod's android_system_core repository:
  git clone https://github.com/CyanogenMod/android_system_core.git
  cd android_system_core/mkbootimg/

Once in the right directory, compile and install:
gcc -o ./mkbootimg -I ../include ../libmincrypt/*.c ./mkbootimg.c
gcc -o ./unpackbootimg -I ../include ../libmincrypt/*.c ./unpackbootimg.c
sudo cp ./mkbootimg ./unpackbootimg /usr/bin/

Note that Google is replacing the C mkbootimg with a Python version, so in future versions no compilation may be needed anymore for this command.
You will also need to install Android tools on your computer to let it communicate with your phone. You will need adb (Android Debug Bridge, a shell utility allowing to communicate with Android's debug subsystem), adbd (the related daemon) and fastboot (a shell utility allowing to communicate with your phone's bootloader system).
Your favorite Linux distribution may provide them in a single or separate packages, but usually they are always called "android-tools":

Debian / Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install android-tools-{adb,adbd,fastboot}
Fedora / CentOS: sudo yum install android-tools
openSUSE: sudo zypper install android-tools

Fetch the boot.img file
Extract the boot.img either from ROM .zip file or directly from the device:

From the stock ROM .zip file: some applications like SuperSU may modify the boot.img directly on the device, replacing it with the stock one would break such applications.
Directly from the device: some people report read issue leading to corrupted boot.img. IMO, these issues are most likely linked to the use of poor USB cables or USB hub and can be simply avoided by using good quality cables connecting directly the phone to the computer. You also need the ability to run ADB in root mode (depending on the ROM used, this may be trivial or not).

The first method is very obvious: extract the .zip file with any ZIP software, the boot.img file should be right there at the root of the archive.
For the second method, you will first have to determine the (sadly device-specific) path to the storage device where boot.img's content can be retrieved. I know two methods for this:

ls /dev/block/platform/*/by-name/ (where * covers yet another device-specific folder name, chances are it is the only directory below platform/), the exact name to search is also platform dependent but makes usual sense (some examples: boot, LNX (acronym for "Linux")). The files in this directory are actually symbolic links and some people bother to manually go to the target, but I recommend sticking with the higher level name based path which, while longer, remains less error prone. So you will end-up with a path like /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/LNX.
On some (older?) devices, the right device could be found by investigating the output of cat /proc/mtd. If you see the device mtd2 associated to the "boot" label, then you will use the path /dev/mtd2.

Now:

From the phone's developer menu:

Enable debugging on your phone,
Allow root access to ADB (this step applies to phones running CynogenMod, other devices may require some potentially more complex procedure),

Connect it to your computer (and from there to the VM guest if you are running Android tools from within a virtual machine).

If this is not already done, I recommend to manually start the ADB server on the computer's side, this will allow you to directly validate the RSA key on device's side without affecting the behavior of the following ADB commands:
adb start-server

Then switch ADB in root mode:
adb root

Finally, you should be able to directly extract the boot.img file from the device using such command (the source and destination path and names are given as examples, adapt them to your needs and preferences):
adb pull /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/LNX ./boot.img

The command will copy the whole partition, both used and free space, so don't be surprised that the resulting boot.img file will be larger than the original boot.img file coming with the stock ROM .zip file, the content itself remains similar.
Once the transfer is finished, disconnect the phone and don't forget to disable both debugging and root access from the developer menu.
Unpack the original boot.img file
Unpack the boot.img file itself using the command compiled previously:
unpackbootimg -i ./boot.img

This will output several information essential to let you rebuild a new boot.img with the correct structure with respect to the stock boot.img. However, don't rush on your notepad since CyanogenMod's upackbootimg also saves the very same information in several files we will use later on.
This command generates several files with particular suffixes added to the input file's name:

*-second: This is the second-stage bootloader, optional and rarely used on end-user phones. If this file is empty (the most common case), then the phone's bootloader will directly call the Linux kernel.
*-zImage: This is the Linux kernel.
*-ramdisk.gz or *-ramdisk.lz4: the RAM disk used to populate the device's root directory. The extension differs depending on the compression algorithm used.
*-dt: The device tree, populating /dev.
The rest are small files each storing one of the values displayed in unpackbootimg output. These values define the command-line parameter to pass to the Linux kernel and the addresses where the bootloader will have to load each object at boot time.

Most often, one unpacks the boot.img to be able to edit the content of the phone's root directory. As seen above, this content is stored in the *-ramdisk.gz or *-ramdisk.lz4 file and it can be extracted using the commands below:
mkdir ./ramdisk
cd ./ramdisk/
gzip -dc ../boot.img-ramdisk.gz | cpio -imd

For an LZ4 compressed RAM disk, replace the last step with lz4 -d ../boot.img-ramdisk.lz4 | cpio -imd.
You are now free to do the modification you want before proceeding. However, it could be worth to follow the full unpack - repack - boot procedure once without changing anything to ensure that your tools are working as expected. Otherwise, in case of an issue, you will not be certain if the cause is your modification or some incompatibility (see my remarks at the beginning about some manufacturers requiring non-standard procedures or tools).
Rebuild to get the new new-boot.img file
CyanogenMod ROM building process relies on an internal tool, mkbootfs, to produce the boot.img file (this happens in build/tools/releasetools/common.py). However, the steps to build this tool seems uselessly complex to me, whereas using the system-provided cpio seems to work just as fine. The main difference between the two, as per my understanding after a (very) quick check in mkbootfs souce code, seems to be that the latter applies some sanity measures by not including dotted files and the /root directory in the resulting archive while the cpio-based procedure below will just blindly put the whole selected directory tree in the archive.
Conclusion: unnecessarily complex to compile with very few advantages, so let's stick on system provided tools!
Begin by creating the new RAM disk, from the ramdisk directory created above, type:
find . ! -name . | LC_ALL=C sort | cpio -o -H newc -R root:root | gzip > ../new-boot.img-ramdisk.gz

Or, if you need to generate an LZ4 archive:
find . ! -name . | LC_ALL=C sort | cpio -o -H newc -R root:root | lz4 > ../new-boot.img-ramdisk.lz4

The goal here is to create a new RAM disk file with properties as close as possible to the original one (for instance, setting the owner seems often missing in the procedures shared in forums and blogs, however this was required on my device).
Go now in the parent directory to generate the new-boot.img file itself.
cd ..

As seen above, CyanogenMod's unpackbootimg command generates a file matching each parameter expected by mkbootimg. Therefore, all you have to do is issue a mkbootimg -h to get a listing of all parameters, then set each one of them to the appropriate value using the matching file. Note that some parameters expect a file path while others expect to receive the content of the file as value. See an example of resulting command below:
mkbootimg                                           \
--kernel ./boot.img-zImage                          \
--ramdisk ./new-boot.img-ramdisk.gz                 \
--second ./boot.img-second                          \
--cmdline "$(cat ./boot.img-cmdline)"               \
--base "$(cat ./boot.img-base)"                     \
--pagesize "$(cat ./boot.img-pagesize)"             \
--dt ./boot.img-dt                                  \
--ramdisk_offset "$(cat ./boot.img-ramdisk_offset)" \
--second_offset "$(cat ./boot.img-second_offset)"   \
--tags_offset "$(cat ./boot.img-tags_offset)"       \
--output ./new-boot.img

Only two parameters are not set here:

--board: As per my understanding, this is just an informative field allowing to insert a model name in the resulting image.
--id: This one does not expect any value, it just prints out a unique identifier after the image has been built (combining a timestamp and a checksum).

Flash the new-boot.img file onto the device

Start the device in fastboot mode (aka bootloader mode, usually by holding power and volume up buttons).

Connect the USB cable.

Check that the device is correctly detected:
  sudo fastboot devices

Try to boot using the new ROM (without flashing it yet, so in case of issue you just have to restart the phone to get it back on trails, replace the ./new-boot.img file name with your own):
  sudo fastboot boot ./new-boot.img

If the phone works successfully with the new boot image, then go back in fastboot mode and flash it permanently:
  sudo fastboot flash boot ./new-boot.img
  sudo fastboot reboot

Conclusion
This procedure may seem daunting at first, but once you get it, you will see it is actually not.
The "daunting" aspect comes from the fact that there is not a single "Android system": a lot of manufacturers and ROM providers make changes which can range from a subtle path difference to a completely non-standard environment.
What you have to do is determine your particular device's posture, and then what are the few commands which are appropriate in your case. Once you get them, you can stick to them and even easily script them if you need them often.
I voluntarily went into relatively low-level details sometimes because it will make you troubleshooting your issues more easily. Would you use some "easier" opaque utility to build and flash your new boot.img file and see that your device cannot start with it, it would be harder for you to determine which step went wrong. Here, at each step, you will be able to compare the data you are manipulating with the data coming from the original boot.img file or the data as seen on the phone, or try for instance to rebuild the boot.img file with either the original or the newly generated RAM disk file to check if that makes any difference (this allows you to pinpoint if the issue comes from the boot.img or the RAM disk file generation procedure).

Use the Android Kitchen. There is an option to unpack/repack boot.img there, under Advanced options.

Sadly the original author has officially stopped to maintain the Android Kitchen: "This project is retired as of 2013, as I have become overwhelmed with the number of devices to support, the demand, bad health, and the constant requests for help". A few forks have been made though (I give some links in my answer), but I do not know how much they are supported (I did not find any obvious public way to raise issues or request an evolution for instance).

Trying to edit boot.img on some no-name mediatek phone only Android boot image editor worked perfectly. It's simple and easy to use. Other tools are either not maintained anymore, or produced invalid boot image.


text:
What is the effect of "power saving mode"?
Android OS from ICS and above has a "power saver mode" by default (I own a samsung)
What does this mode actually do?
If it reduces clock speed of cpu, then by how much?
How does it attain this power saving? By limiting cpu? Gpu?

It limits your CPU, but how much varies on each device. For example, my device maxes out at 1.2GHz; power saving throttles it down to 810MHz. It also lowers brightness when using the Samsung browser and disables haptic feedback.

I think this is a manufacturer specific feature, not an Android feature.
My Nexus 4 running 4.4 has no power saver mode.
My HTC One running 4.4 does have a power saver mode and although I can choose what aspects of the phone I want to limit to conserve power, I am not told how / what they do to save the power. I guess this will be chosen and set per manufacturer but for example, on my HTC device in power saver mode the options are;
CPU Power
Conserve CPU usage
Display
Reduce screen brightness
Vibration
Turn off vibration feedback
Data connection
Put to sleep when screen is off
Have you had a look in your settings menu? It may well tell you in there what is being limited.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Homescreen icon disappears on application update
I'm facing an unusual scenario with a few of my installed applications.
Whenever there is an update to the application, when I allow Google Play to perform the update, the shortcut that I had on my homescreen gets removed.
What is going on here? Is there something that the app developer has (or hasn't) done that could cause this to happen? This doesn't happen for any of the other shortcuts I have on my homescreen.
It's generally only an annoyance, since I can just grab the app icon from the app drawer and drop it on the homescreen again, but I have to do so after ever update. And I need to notice that it's gone.
Is there anything I can do to keep it from happening?
Further notes:

Android 4.4 (Moto X), unrooted
Apps only ever installed from the Google Play Store, with a single Google Account
The two apps I'm thinking of where this happens are paid apps, but it's not happening with all of the apps I've paid for

I won't submit as an answer because I can't give you a detailed response but I think its to do with the package and/or name. Android is looking for a specific app/package name for the shortcut.
Think of it as a shortcut within Windows to an app called myappV1.exe but then changing the app name to myappV2.exe without updating the shortcut. Difference is Android removes shortcuts that point to nowhere, Windows does not.

But the package name is the same for all versions of an app. That's what makes them the same app.

Is the issue still relevant, and can you share the name of those two apps?

I've seen this same behavior on many, but not all, apps, and it doesn't seem to be specific to any one version of Android, nor particular hardware. I did notice, today, on my tablet running Lollipop and using the Google Now launcher, that my Facebook app had a slight variation on this - the icon was not removed from my home screen, but the color was partially desaturated; it's missing from my app drawer, tapping the home screen icon produces the toast "App not found", but I can launch it via Recent Apps, or from its "Launch by main activity" button in System Settings > Apps > Facebook.

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


text:
ssh: No controlling tty: open /dev/tty: No such device or address
When connecting from PC/Cygwin via SSH (over WiFi) to phone, I am always greeted with the following macabre message:
$ ssh -T root@192.168.1.100 -p 50000
Authenticated with partial success.
root@192.168.1.100's password:
/system/bin/sh: No controlling tty: open /dev/tty: No such device or address
/system/bin/sh: can't find tty fd
/system/bin/sh: warning: won't have full job control
root@android:/ $

I know the device is there, and I have also tried various chmod permissions.
The problem is that I cannot use stty (or anything related to ttys) to set my terminal environment variables, and therefore I cannot use command line TAB completion or arrow-up, to fetch last command, or using CTRL-C/D/Z etc. I've also tried to play with various set -o options, to no avail.
Now the strange thing is that this problem is not at all present when using a local shell through the Android terminal Emulator app, which seem to correctly assign a pseudo terminal with full job control.
I've been searching high and low for how to resolve this, but gotten nowhere. My Samsung phone is using an SELinux (AOS 4.2.2) enabled version and I'm rooted with CF-Auto-Root (v1.94), and using the latest ADB. The stock mksh is @(#)MIRBSD KSH R40 2011/10/07 and thus perhaps not fully compatible with SEL AOS's, but I cannot find a newer (~R49) MKSH ARM binary, to try with.

EDIT-1: I am using SSH server.
EDIT-2: I just tried SSHelper which seem very nice (although 6 x larger). But it is unstable and show similar issues in the web log: PTY allocation request failed on channel 0
EDIT-3: After login (with new sshd server) with: ssh -T dummy@192.168.1.10 -p 2222, I loose prompt, but shell access is still ok. then running su -c /system/bin/sh -i give me back the correct su prompt # and checking set -o gives:
u0_a202@MSM8960:home # set -o
Current option settings
allexport      off  login          off  nounset        off  verbose        off
bgnice         off  markdirs       off  physical       off  vi             off
braceexpand    on   monitor        on   posix          off  vi-esccomplete off
emacs          on   noclobber      off  privileged     off  vi-tabcomplete on
errexit        off  noexec         off  restricted     off  viraw          off
gmacs          off  noglob         off  sh             off  xtrace         off
ignoreeof      off  nohup          on   stdin          on
interactive    on   nolog          off  trackall       off
keyword        off  notify         off  utf8-mode      off

But TAB is still directly interpreted as a TAB character and not command-line completion.
EDIT-4: This must be a SELinux / SEAndroid related issue, as when I disable SELinux Enforcing by setting it to Permissive, I loose the ability to SU, but all normal shell terminal controls are working. The way to do this is by issuing: su 0 setenforce 0 in whatever shell you can get, and then logout and login again. This will last until you reboot phone.
EDIT-5: From what I understand, using the ssh -t option, is used to force allocation of a pseudy-terminal, and terminates the connection if that fails. Thus it fails when pty is blocked in "Enforcing" mode, while using ssh -2 is accepted with minimal difference in error when using -vvv to debug.
$ ssh -t dummy@192.168.1.10 -p 2222 -vvv
...
dummy@192.168.1.10's password:
debug3: packet_send2: adding 64 (len 51 padlen 13 extra_pad 64)
debug2: we sent a password packet, wait for reply
debug1: Authentication succeeded (password).
Authenticated to 192.168.1.10 ([192.168.1.10]:2222).
debug1: channel 0: new [client-session]
debug3: ssh_session2_open: channel_new: 0
debug2: channel 0: send open
debug1: Requesting no-more-sessions@openssh.com
debug1: Entering interactive session.
debug2: callback start
debug2: fd 3 setting TCP_NODELAY
debug3: packet_set_tos: set IP_TOS 0x10
debug2: client_session2_setup: id 0
debug2: channel 0: request pty-req confirm 1
debug2: channel 0: request shell confirm 1
debug2: callback done
debug2: channel 0: open confirm rwindow 0 rmax 32768
debug2: channel_input_status_confirm: type 100 id 0
PTY allocation request failed on channel 0

Not accepted, but this next one give me a shell without any prompt.
$ ssh -2 dummy@192.168.1.10 -p 2222 -vvv
...
PTY allocation request failed on channel 0
debug2: channel 0: rcvd adjust 2097152
debug2: channel_input_status_confirm: type 99 id 0
debug2: shell request accepted on channel 0
Linux 3.4.0-2340422 armv7l

This behavior is convincing me to think it is directly related to the SELinux blocking pty access. But I have no idea how and where this is done.
EDIT-6: Yep, there it is. I just found the SELinux policy denial in the audit.log file in: /data/misc/audit/audit.log
audit(1401291488.480:203): avc:  denied  { setattr } for  pid=11441 comm="sshelper_sshd" name="0" dev="devpts" ino=3 scontext=u:r:untrusted_app:s0 tcontext=u:object_r:untrusted_app_devpts:s0 tclass=chr_file VE=SEPF_GT-I9195_4.2.2_0022_M
audit(1401291488.480:203): arch=40000028 syscall=15 per=840000 success=no exit=-13 a0=beffd438 a1=190 a2=27da a3=c0000000 items=1 ppid=8499 pid=11441 auid=4294967295 uid=10202 gid=10202 euid=10202 suid=10202 fsuid=10202 egid=10202 sgid=10202 fsgid=10202 tty=(none) ses=4294967295 comm="sshelper_sshd" exe="/data/data/com.arachnoid.sshelper/bin/sshelper_sshd" subj=u:r:untrusted_app:s0 key=(null)
audit(1401291488.480:203):  cwd="/"
audit(1401291488.480:203): item=0 name="/dev/pts/0" inode=3 dev=00:09 mode=020600 ouid=10202 ogid=10202 rdev=88:00 obj=u:object_r:untrusted_app_devpts:s0

So how to fix this?

Might be some trouble caused by the sshd on the device, which cannot deal with that properly? You've missed to include information on which one that is. Maybe try a different one?

@Izzy: Added link and will try another one.

There seem to be something changed in recent Androids that prevents ssh from getting a (pts) pseudo tty.

I wouldn't wonder. Every new Android version comes with some, umm, "surprises" included … But if that's the cause, others would be affected too (confirmations, please?). 4.2.2 is not "that new" anymore.

Hm. Only thing I can find about SELinux for Android. It does have some information on changing the SELinux policy though this appears to involve rebuilding some part of it… maybe contact its developers and ask for help? Also, did you ask the SSH developer? (Of course, switching to permissive would fix this.)

Yes, I have asked developer, but he's away until August. If I would know how to rebuild the SELinux policy, I probably would. There should be some policy injection tools, but I can't find any binaries yet.

You are using ssh -T which prevents tty(4) allocation. Without a controlling tty, many things do not work – without any tty at all, a lot more things do not work.
Do note that your original problem is not due to the lack of a controlling tty, but due to the lack of a pty/tty pair allocation.
What you are having here is basically input line “editing” – in your case, not-editing – on the SSH client side, which is then transferred over ssh to the Android device.
Try with ssh -t (lower-case t, note the difference). I can locally reproduce your problem by running ssh -T localhost mksh -i, which also leads to a shell without any input line editing, so pty/tty allocation is the way to solve, here.
I assume, from the edits on the question, that /dev/ptmx exists and /dev/pts is mounted already, and that this is an SELinux problem.
Setting $TERM will solve nothing here: it is merely there to tell programs that use termcap or curses (mksh uses neither) which physical terminal (or emulation thereof) is connected to the tty device. mksh uses a tty for command line editing if it's there, and disables command line editing if it's not there.
You need to edit your SELinux policies to allow the SSH server to allocate a pty/tty pair (or even several ones) per connection.
(This answer has been edited to fold in the comments from this and the original question, and to reflect some edits to the question.)

Yes, that was one the first things I did, but then I decided to use -T to avoid the pty problem, by passing a TERM variable manually. Perhaps wrong? Anytime I give the -t switch, ssh accepts password and then fails, because of permission to open pty, with PTY allocation request failed on channel 0. However, using -2 (ssh2) lets me through.

Thanks for clarifying. Cygwin is not the problem, I've used it for years and it always works as expected. I'm now sure it's an SELinux policy problem, since the author of SSHelper was using CyanogenMod for development and is thus not used to SELinux policies either and probably have not implemented it correctly. (None of the free SSHd Android apps has.) Any idea where to find the policy files and how to edit them?


text:
stuck installing cyanogenmod on htc one X+
After using the standard android on my one X+ for a long time, I decided to get started with cyanogenmod today.
I started by using this manual: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_endeavoru
I already rooted it a long time ago, so I skipped everything up onto installing recovery.
First I tried installing the enrc2b, but this gave me the error that my phone was a endeavoru (A bit strange, because everywhere they say that's a HTC one X, while mine is definitely a HTC one X+).
After that, I continued with the version for the endeavoru and successfully installed cm-10.2.1-endeavoru.zip on it.
After rebooting it, I got stuck on a endless boot screen of cyanogenmod. I noticed this line in the description:

his device, if unlocked with HTCDev Unlock, must have its kernel
  flashed via fastboot. Extract boot.img from the CyanogenMod .zip
  package and flash it from the bootloader with: fastboot flash boot
  boot.img

I have no idea if I rooted it with HTCDev Unlock, I did it a long time ago, but I thought I would give it a try. After executing fastboot flash boot boot.img I rebooted, and now I am stuck at a endless HTC splash screen.
I can still get to the fastboot and recovery menu, but have no clue where I wned wrong and how to continue. I already tried a factory reset, but to no avail. I also tried getting the backup that I made back from recovery, but it says it can't find any backups.
any ideas how to continue...?

I got a little fit further. When I look at the boot screen, it should clearly be a enrc2b

I downloaded cm-10.2.1-enrc2b.zip , extracted boot.img and flashed that onto it. This at least brought me back to getting stuck at the cyanogenmod screen instead of the HTC screen.
After that I tried to install cm-10.2.1-enrc2b.zip onto it, but that's giving me this error:

Your device is S-ON. You should have put it to S-OFF before flashing

There's no mention of that anywhere here: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_enrc2b Also on other pages they mention you don't need s-off as long as you got the custom recovery working.

Hmm okay, well have you tried removing the whole assert() line from the CM updater-script?

I thought that would be a long shot, but that actually worked! I now got a booting phone again with cyanogenmod, thanks! I will later add a description how I got it working.

Okay, I'll put it as an answer.

In the CyanogenMod zip's updater script, remove the entire assert() line. That will remove the device identity verification and will let the recovery commence flashing immediately.

reflash the rom, dont reboot into system, reboot to fastboot or bootloader (if so go to fastboot) then do fastboot flash boot boot.img) (you need to extract this from the rom zip you installed)


text:
How can i hide an application?
I want to hide some applications from other people who have access to my phone but be able to get to the application whenever I want. I don't want locking. I need it to be not seen on applications list.

Have you tried a custom launcher? This allows you to hide apps from the app drawer but it might not be exactly what you're looking for...

Newer versions of Sense also support this on HTC devices. What other info can you give us; device, Android version, rooted status etc?

You could easily hide by using custom launchers like Apex or Nova.
But if this is not an option, you could try apps available on Google Play like [ CCSWE App Manager (ROOT) ] or [ Hide App-Hide Application Icon ] which needs root access. *I want you to read the user feedbacks on Google Play before consider using the app because some said the icon gone forever after it was unhide.
You can also try to Disable the app from Setting -> Apps. This will hide app icon from app drawer. You can enable it again when you need it.

Lucky Patcher does that, but you will have to unhide it to use it yourself.
Home site: www.luckypatchers.com
Be careful when downloading LP :^)
PS: can be used without being root nor the machine rooted (as I do).

LP disables apps, doesn't hide. All user apps and some system apps can be disabled without root and without any third party apps.

But disabled apps are hidden to other users... unless they have the skills to use LP.

How does freezing an app work technically?

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


text:
Samsung Galaxy i8262 stuck on boot screen after flashing
I flashed my Samsung Galaxy i8262 ROM with odin and accidentally I selected a ROM file from phone not from PDA, so when it finished and I restarted my phone and it stays on Samsung Logo

Can one help me please :'(

try to flash it with PDA .Nothing will happen.put your phone in download mode and connect it with USB after you select the file using PDA.

yes, i do it but nothing happend, it stay also on samsung logo!

wait for some time like 10 mins if nothing will happen
then check your firmware version of your country or in which country you purchased the phone and flash that firmware you can download the official firmwares at www.sammobile.com and register for free and download

Bro. Remove ur battery wait for few minutes then switch on ur phone. Automatically boot ur phone factory settings.


text:
ADB connection problems on LG Optimus Zone 2 running KitKat
I have purchased an LG Optimus Zone 2 to develop on and I have removed all of the drivers for the phone on my Windows 7 machine. I downloaded the OEM driver from LG and disconnected my network. After installing the OEM driver, I connected my device to my computer (and I have already enabled developer mode on my device and selected USB debugging), but when I run adb devices, it says that no devices are connected.
Clearly it is installed on my machine because in compmgmt.msc it says that it found the LG Android MTP, and on the device itself it asks me for internet connection/MTP/camera or just charging mode (I always select the MTP mode).
I for the life of me can't figure out why it won't connect (I'm trying to test an app locally on the machine). Could anyone help me with this issue?

Rebooting the phone and setting it to connect via USB as Internet Connection -> Ethernet worked for me.
LG also has drivers on their site (http://www.lg.com/us/support-mobile/lg-VS415PP) but I'm not sure they're necessary for this to work, and even with them installed ADB only works when in Ethernet mode.
You're not wrong to be frustrated, though - I've been developing for Android since 2009 and have used dozens of devices, and I've never once had one that required a setting like that for ADB to work (at least not any Google-certified official devices). Weird.
EDIT (Aug 25 2014) - Looks like after the phone is rebooted or unplugged, sometimes it "forgets" its connection mode, or tries to connect as an installer even though it's still set to do an Ethernet internet connection. Re-selecting the statusbar notification and setting it back to internet+ethernet again works, but it's kind of annoying to do regularly. Then again, for the $25 I spent on this phone, I suppose I can't expect too much...


text:
Why can't I press the Install button when installing applications from unknown sources?
I'm trying to sideload an application, as seen in the picture below.

I have allowed the installation of applications from unknown applied actions in settings, but I can't seem to press the install button. The cancel button works correctly and installing applications via adb install works correctly. What's the problem?
EDIT: For those who have this problem, using ChainFire's C.F. Lumen will correct it because the app uses hardware compositing, and Android doesn't notice a "layer" on top of the current screen.

Related: Determine which app is drawing on top of other apps?

Looking at your screenshot, I think you are using screen filtering apps like Twilight, f.lux, CF.lumen or bluelight filter. Try to force stop/uninstall or disable the screen filtering apps and it will work again.
If you are not using any filtering app, try looking for your installed apps that have overlay capability, apps that can show their contents over another apps, apps with overlay permission (like- Messenger, Musixmatch, Touch Assistant apps that can float on your screen).
If you are not sure, try disable them one by one in your Settings ⇒ Apps and find which one is causing the problem. You can also look for "Draw over other apps" menu in your android setting where all the apps with this permission will be listed. If you couldn't locate the menu, search for overlay permission + {android version} + {device manufacturer}.

It worked. But why is this a problem?

I believe Android disabled it for the security reasons. The malicious apps might trick the user to install unwanted apps by showing something over "Install" label?

Can you tell why screen filtering app causes this issue ? Because Cancel button is working and install button alone not working ..

@logan Allowing the user to press cancel button won't hurt anyone right? Just my opnion :)

Also my copy bubble app was causing this, and it's just a tiny floating view in corner.  I had to exit this app for install button to enable.

I don't get it. I spent around 30-60min tweaking with my running apps until I was able to install my apk. Why Android doesn't show a pop up like "Are you sure you want to install example.apk to you device?", instead of disabling a button and making the user feel even irritated with something that simply doesn't work?

@TeoInke Then that battery saver+fast charging enabler+antivirus+ram cleaner+all the bloatware available in universe app will show something like 'oh your phone seems pretty slow. why not press ok button below' over your message :P

I don't understand how this is a security feature. If a malicious app can display something over install button and intercept the touch event, what would stop it from displaying something over the cancel button?

If you want to fix this without killing any apps, you can do it by going to "Settings -> Apps -> Click Settings Wheel -> Draw Over Other Apps" and disable the permission for all apps. After that you can install your 3rd party app and then restore the permission to draw over apps for any apps you like.

@user3829751 The security issue is the malicious app tricking you in to pressing install. E.g., draw something over top of the permissions display, making you think the app its installing is safe, when its not. Or draw over more of the dialog making you not realize you're installing an app at all. So when an overlay is active, the install button isn't clickable at all. OTOH, tricking you into pressing cancel is harmless. (It's a UI failure, though, that the phone doesn't explain why you can't install the app.)

@user3829751 no, pressing the cancel button does not install the app. That's the while point of the button! That's a system (privileged) dialog box, asking the user for permission to install an app. Only the user pressing install allows the app install. (Some system apps like the Play Store can install an app without the dialog, but normal apps can't)

@derobert How is tricking you into pressing cancel harmless when you could fire the same exact logic, as you would if drawing over the install button? They would both start an install process, correct?

@user3829751 no, they wouldn't. That logic is provided by the Android system, not your app. You can't change it.

@derobert So you can alter the behavior when drawing a view over the install button, but not the cancel button? That just doesn't make sense.

@user3829751 no, you can't alter the behavior of either button. The install button would always install the app, the cancel button not install it. What an app can do is confuse the user (e.g., but drawing new labels on top, or a fake permission notice, fake app name, etc.)

@derobert I see, sort of like a phishing attack. Thank you for enlightening me!

FYI If you happen to be using something like 'scrcpy' you can just  over to the install button with your keyboard and hit enter.

The following is a community-curated list of some well-known/popular apps that have "Draw over other apps" permission and may cause this issue:

Twilight
Pixel Filter
Facebook Messenger
Battery Mix
Samsung S Finder
DU Recorder
Lux Lite


text:
Migrate WhatsApp from phone (old expired number) to another one?
I have a phone that has had WhatsApp installed on for over 2 years now, and the phone number registered for the account is now history (it's been long gone and there is no chance I will get that SIM back because it is from another country).
I got a new phone today with a new SIM, when I start WhatsApp, I put in my old number but it needs to send a message to the number and that is not possible.
Is there any workaround for this, I don't want to lose all my WhatsApp contact.

There is a chance if you have friend or family who could reach to your old phone. Migrating whole app could be hard as it needs root on both phone and you would need TitaniumBackup to backup and restore. That would be more easy to backup contacts only and restore it on your new phone. There is app(s) on Google Play which can backup your whatsapp contacts like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sacconsultancy.waex

I don't care much about the contacts really as much as i care not to change my number, i have the sim card but it's not working because it's been over a year and i haven't used it or charged it at all and even when i tried it, it seems that it have been cancelled completely and since it's from another country now, it useless. No solution other than rooting.

If you are concerned about the contacts and not the chat history, then back up the contacts in your old phone and import them into your new phone. Sign in to WhatsApp with your new number and it will read all the contacts in your new phone and your contact will be updated.
The only downside is you need to send a WhatsApp message to all the contacts saying that you changed your number.

Exactly that is the problem that i want to avoid, so is there no solution to this problem at all ?

Anyway you need to tell the people that you changed your number rite??. I dont understand.

There is a provision in Whatsapp to change numbers. In the app goto Settings > Account > Change number and enter both the numbers (old and new). It should be able to migrate the numbers. Disclaimer: I have not tried it, only from one of my friend's experience. This method might require you to be register the first number so you might be out of luck.

@k1chy even that step need the user to tell his contact that he changed his number

The point is to not change the number. You can keep using an old number for as long as you like, even after you no longer have the SIM, as long as you don't switch phones. But the moment you load the app on a new phone, you have to verify again, which seems to be impossible if you don't have current access to the SIM or service. For instance, I just bought a new phone in a different country than the one where I normally use cell service, and I can't add my account to this new phone until I get back to where I can receive calls and texts on my number. Seems like an oversight to me.

There is a provision in WhatsApp to change numbers. In the old phone (assuming you still have it with functional WhatsApp) in the Whatsapp app, go to Settings > Account > Change number and enter both the numbers (old and new) and confirm.
It should be able to migrate the numbers. Then you can register WhatsApp with the new number on the new device.
Disclaimer: I have not tried it, I am providing a solution only from one of my friend's experience.

I think this only works if you former phone number is still active

Try this:

Backup your WhatsApp from old phone using Helium Backup. Follow the instructions for backing up WhatsApp (or any other application for that matter).
Once the backup is complete, you'll find a folder named "Carbon" on your phone storage.
Install Helium on the new phone and get this backed up folder on your new phone and place on the same location on the storage.
Start Helium and backup WhatsApp using the "Restore and Sync" tab available in the app.

Note that, unless rooted, you need to connect your phone to PC using USB cable to start the backup. Follow the instructions given on Play Store page.

Helium (the latest version of Nov 8, 2018) said that for WhatsApp, "Backup Disallowed" so this method does not seem to work.

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


text:
Tasker profile that enables/disables wi-fi
How can make it so wi-fi gets disabled automatically when screen gets locked, if possible after 1 minute or so? Then enabled automatically when screen gets unlocked.
My screen is set to lock after 30 seconds or so
also, is it possible to turn off wifi when there's no network in range? I think it takes a lot of battery searching for networks. Or maybe increase the search interval somehow

I'm sure your aware anyway but regarding your second request, if you turn off WiFi when no networks are in range it will not turn on again automatically (unless you have another profile to do that)

So I combined what you asked for into a single task. You'll first create a profile which triggers when a state changes. You'll select Display State and chose off. Tasker can't actually able to tell if your screen is locked, only on or off but we can get around that as long as we know the time it take for the screen to lock.The task is as follows:

Wait Until
    Seconds: 60
    Until: %SCREEN Matches ON
IF
    %SCREEN Matches ON
Wifi
    Set: ON
STOP
END IF
IF
    %SCREEN Matches OFF
Wifi
    Set: OFF
GOTO
    TYPE: ACTION NUMBER
    NUMBER: 1
END IF

Explanation of Task:
1. This causes the task to wait before continuing unless the condition is met. The total wait time should be the screen time until lock plus the time you want to wait until the wifi turns off
2. If the screen Turns on goto 3
3. Turn on wifi
4. Stops task
5. Ends if Statement
6. If the screen is off on goto 7
7. Turn off wifi
8. Cause a loop to keep checking the screen status.

Note 1: This task assumes that wifi is already on to start with.
Note 2: As the task stands now it will check every minute. If after the first min you want to change the time it waits to reduce battery usage you'll add this take to beginning.
1.SET VARIABLE
    NAME:%DUR
    VALUE: 60
2.WAIT UNTIL
    SECONDS: %DUR
    Until: %SCREEN Matches ON

And add in between 7 & 8:
SET VARIABLE
    NAME:%DUR
    VALUE: WHATEVER TIME

LAST NOTE: If you don't want to wait seconds every time you can use a variable for mins or hours like with seconds. You'll set the variables for min or hour as zero  at the beginning and then change them before you start the loop. To use variables instead of static numbers you touch the symbol of 2 arrows crossing opposite of Min/Hr/Sec.
If you have any question please feel free to ask. Also since I'm new please don't forget to mark mine as the answer if it solves your problem and to upvote the answer


text:
ERROR : Unknown error when installing the application "-24"
Every time I try to download an app called icoron on my Galaxy note 3 an error message appears,
Unknown error when installing the application "-24
Can anyone please help me?

Go to /data/data/
search for your app com.cfinc.iconkisekae
(If you wish to keep the information that it contains for the app, Recommend making a copy of it first.)
Delete it
Install the application again.

DONE!!!!
source

how do i go to /data/data/ ? in the browser?

Use File manager.


text:
Unable to select "wipe data/factory reset" in recovery mode
A coworker asked me if I could fix her Samsung Galaxy Note Tab 3, due to her daughter locking the device and not being able to unlock it. I'm an iOS guy but since I'm in the IT department I decided to give it a try, and I looked up how to reset this device to factory settings.
I am able to enter in recovery mode, and I have several options. The one I want, "wipe data/factory reset", is not able to be selected, since the highlighted option in the menu jumps from the  item before it to the item after it. In fact, if for example the option is the number 3, I press the volume down key oen time and the highlighted option changes from the 1st item to the 2nd, but if I press again it does nothing. If I press again, it jumps to the 4th item, not giving me the option.
I don't know if this is because of the device, because of Android, or it's just me being ignorant. If any of you could help me out it'll be wonderful.
Thanks a lot.

So it cycles like 1 - 2 - x - 4? Maybe it's still working. Try going to x and press Home

You say to "select" the 3rd option, even if it's not highlighted? (like, pressing the vol. down 3 times and just press the home button).

I know it's a long shot, but sometimes solutions masquerade themselves as silly things. Try it and if it doesn"t work, I'll delete my comments

I don't know why, but I've started it in recovery mode and at first it didn't show the menu, so I pressed several buttons and suddenly I could select the wipe data option. Then I got another menu that warned me against doing it, with like 9 options to go back (a plain "no") and one "yes" that I couldn't select. I followed your advice and IT RESTORED!!! The owner is pretty happy it's a win! Thanks a lot!

Good to know. Putting it as an answer now

I know this answer may be of low quality, having no concrete explanation and all; but sometimes recoveries behave pretty weirdly. Once with my old device, I tried to make a Nandroid backup, and it completed within a few seconds. Seeing that the backup was basically empty, I ran it again, and this time I can't select the nandroid option.
You can try what I did - just select the option with your volume keys as though it's there. Just guide yourself with the highlight.

Heh, same here. Any custom ROM installation for me takes 5 seconds. If you want a precise number, its 6.769 seconds (I timed it)

Aureljared is absolutely right.  When you press the down volume and it doesn't go to the factory reset option, press power anyway to select it.  Screen will go dark, then pressing a volume key will take you to a weird screen with about 10 no responses and only one yes.  Select the yes and you're good to go.

I had the same problem with my Tab 3 too for couple of days I couldn't highlight the data/factory reset option but after persistenting on it , I used the volume key to do the following;
It should be on the rebot option,
PLEASE NOTE; This option will wipe out any data on your Tab 3 completely.

Press the volume key Once,
then press ONCE again, stop then press the power button to select, ignor the highlight signal.

Now you are the second option;
1. Select rebot and there you go.
You have successfully recover your Tab back to factory settings.
Please give me a feed back.
Thanks
Yemi Baba


text:
How to disable the camera sound on a Huawei G525?
I have a Huawei G525 (Android 4.2 jelly bean). The Camera makes a sound when taking photos even when it's in silent mode. How do I disable the shutter sound altogether?

I'm not English, so feel free to correct me

Search the settings inside the camera app there should be one to change/disable camera sounds. If there's no such option, I'm afraid the only alternative you have is to try alternative 3rd part camera apps.


text:
Xperia S Backup & Restore: Could not back up media files and downloaded apps with data
When I tried backing up my Xperia S, the default Backup & Restore would backup only system apps.
It says "Could not back up" for "Media files" and for "Downloaded apps with data".
Screenshot:

You do not need to back up media files or app data. They are in device's internal storage. If  you are performing a factory reset these datas wont be erased unless you select Erase Internal Storage when performing a factory reset.
If you still need to backup the media files or app data, connect your Xperia S to a PC and backup the files in the PC.


text:
LG G2 getting sluggier by the day
I'm not sure if this is specific to this model or not, but I am having troubles understanding how four cores of over 2GHz can perform so miserably slow.
During the last few days, it's gotten to the point where if I am typing, I have to pause between words, or the new word will replace the old one in the text.
I am running CPU-Z right now, and doing nothing else. It shows my CPU load to oscillate wildly between 17% and 62%, fwiw.
Where do I begin to look for bottlenecks?
List of installed apps (a hefty lot):
#sworcery
    com.capybaragames.sworcery.humble
AirStream
    com.nityaalabs.airstream
AirVid
    com.sb.airvid
Aktivitetsh.
    com.lge.lmk
Anodyne
    air.Anodyne.humble
Another World
    com.dotemu.anotherworld.humble
Aquaria
    com.bit_blot.aquaria_humble
Arla Kökets kokbok
    arla.activities
ATG WebApp
    se.sapio.webAppBrowser.prod
Audio Book Player (Ad)
    com.frma.audioBookPlayer2
BaconReader
    com.onelouder.baconreader
BankID
    com.bankid.bus
Barcode Scanner
    com.google.zxing.client.android
Bard's Tale
    com.inxile.BardTale
Beat Hazard
    com.coldbeamgames.beathazardultrahumblefull
Betapet FREE
    com.betapet.mobile.se.free
BIT.TRIP BEAT
    com.gaijingames.bittripbeat.humble
Bladeslinger
    com.kerosenegames.bsep1hib
Blockdroid
    org.blockdroid
Bloons TD 5
    com.ninjakiwi.bloonstd5.humble
Bredbandskollen
    se.iis.bbk
Broken Sword
    uk.co.revolution.bs1dc.humblebundle
Canabalt HD
    fishnoodle.canabalt_humble
Canon EPP
    jp.co.canon.bsd.android.aepp.activity
Carmageddon
    com.stainlessgames.carmageddonhumble
Catan
    com.exozet.android.catan
ChatON
    com.sec.chaton
Chromecast
    com.google.android.apps.chromecast.app
Cogs
    com.lazy8studios.cogs.humble
Contre Jour
    com.chillingo.contrejour.android.humblebundle
CPU Spy Plus - Free
    com.bvalosek.cpuspy.realgpp
CPU-Z
    com.cpuid.cpu_z
Crayon Physics DLX
    com.kloonigames.crayon.humble
CupOnline
    se.cuponline.mobile
Den Lilla Prinsen
    com.lge.livewallpaper.prince
Desert Bus
    com.amateurpixels.DesertBus.humble
DioDict3 ENG-ESP
    com.diotek.diodict3.lgedict.adddict.engesp
Dungeon Defenders: Second Wave
    com.trendy.ddapp
Dynamite Jack
    com.galcon.dynamitejack.humble
EDGE
    net.mobigame.edge.humble
EDGE EX
    net.mobigame.edge.extended.humble
Elemental Kingdoms
    air.com.perfectworld.ek
Eniro
    com.eniro
EPOCH
    com.uppercut_games.epochhumble
Facebook
    com.facebook.katana
Family Protection
    com.mcafee.android.familyprotection
Fieldrunners
    com.subatomicstudios.humble
Find More Like This
    com.bjbinc.searchbyimage
Fjäder
    com.lge.livewallpaper.feather
Flappy Bird
    com.dotgears.flappybird
Fractal
    com.cipherprime.fractal.humble
GetAway
    com.MiLuGames.GetAway
GladaLunchen
    com.LunchApp.Menu
God of Blades
    com.whitewhalegames.godofblades.humble
Greed Corp
    com.invictus.greedcorp.humble
HBO Nordic
    com.hbo.android.app
Hemköp
    se.axfood.hemkop
Hitta.se
    se.hitta.android.app
Home Theme - MarshMallow
    com.lge.launcher2.theme.marshmallow
Humble Bundle (beta)
    com.humblebundle.library
Hundreds
    com.semisecretsoftware.Hundreds.humble
IAAF.org
    org.iaaf.applications.IAAF
Incredipede
    air.com.northwaygames.Incredipede.humble
Isbjörn
    com.lge.livewallpaper.polarbear
Jelly
    com.jellyhq.starfish
Kalender
    com.google.android.calendar
Karateka
    com.freetoolsassociation.karateka.humble
Last.fm
    fm.last.android
Learn
    com.blackboard.android
LinkedIn
    com.linkedin.android
List My Apps
    de.onyxbits.listmyapps
McPixel
    air.gd.sos.mcpixel.humble
Mecenat
    se.mecenat.app
MEGA
    com.flyingottersoftware.mega
Messenger
    com.facebook.orca
Metal Slug 3
    com.dotemu.neogeo.mslug3.humble
Mickey? Free
    com.disney.wheresmymickeyfree_goo
Microsoft Remote Desktop
    com.microsoft.rdc.android
Mina Sidor
    se.forsakringskassan.android
MobiTime
    se.infospread.android.mobitime
My Panda Minion
    com.earlymorning.mypandaminion
Netflix
    com.netflix.mediaclient
NightSky HD
    com.nicalis.nightsky.humble
OnlinePizza
    se.onlinepizza
Organ Trail
    com.hatsproductions.OrganTrail.humble
Osmos HD
    com.hemispheregames.osmos.humble
Plants Vs Zombies
    com.popcap.pvz_humblebundle
Platsbanken
    com.arbetsformedlingen.activity
Plume
    com.levelup.touiteur
Pluralsight
    com.pluralsight
Podkicker
    ait.podka
POLARIS Office Viewer 5
    com.infraware.polarisviewer
Prisjakt
    se.prisjakt.pricespy
Prisjakt
    se.petersson.prisjakt
Punch Quest
    com.noodlecake.punchquest.humble
QuizCross
    se.maginteractive.quizcross
Quizkampen
    se.feomedia.quizkampen
Quizkampen PREMIUM
    se.feomedia.quizkampen.premium
QWOP
    com.noodlecake.QWOP.humble
Raiden Legacy
    com.dotemu.raidenlegacy.humble
Ravensword2
    com.crescentmoongames.ravensword2.humble
reseplanerare
    de.hafas.android.samtrafiken
Ridiculous Fishing
    com.vlambeer.RidiculousFishing.humble
RTLMobile
    se.realtimelight
RunKeeper
    com.fitnesskeeper.runkeeper.pro
Ruzzle
    se.maginteractive.rumble.free
rymdkapsel
    com.grapefrukt.games.rymdkapsel1.humble
S&S
    com.twotribes.sns.humble
Safety Care
    com.lge.safetycare
Samsung Galaxy Team
    se.samsung.challenge
SB Deluxe
    com.curvestudios.SBDeluxeHumble
SF Bio
    se.sfbio.mobile.android
Shazam
    com.shazam.android
SHL
    se.hockeyligan.elitserien1112
SJ Min resa
    se.sj.android
Skatteverket
    se.rsv.ef.mobil.android
Skype
    com.skype.raider
Smart Voice Recorder
    com.andrwq.recorder
SmartWorld
    com.lge.lgworld
SMHI Väder
    se.smhi.mobile.android
Smuggle Truck
    com.OwlchemyLabs.SmuggleTruck
Smugglers
    com.elevenbitstudios.HumbleBundle.FunkySmugglers
Snuggle Truck
    com.OwlchemyLabs.SnuggleTruck
Solar 2
    com.murudai.Solar2.humble
Songkick
    com.songkick
spelltower
    net.stfj.spelltower
Spirits
    com.spacesofplay.spirits.humble
Splice
    com.cipherprime.splice.humble
Sporcle
    com.sporcle
Spoticast
    com.nop.spoticast
Spotify
    com.spotify.mobile.android.ui
Stack Exchange
    com.stackexchange.marvin
Star Command
    com.starcommand.scgame.humble
Steam
    com.valvesoftware.android.steam.community
STHLM Traveling
    com.markupartist.sthlmtraveling
Strava
    com.strava.run
Super Hexagon
    com.distractionware.superhexagon.humble
Sveriges Radio Play
    se.sr.android
SVT Nyheter
    se.svt.svti.android.nyhetsapp
SVT Play
    air.se.svt.svti.android.svtplayer
Swedbank
    se.swedbank.mobil
Swish
    se.bankgirot.swish
Swordigo
    com.touchfoo.swordigo.humble
TED
    com.ted.android
TextTv
    se.texttv.app
The Last Panda
    se.re.lastpanda
The Room
    com.FireproofStudios.TheRoomHumble
Threes
    vo.threes.exclaim
Ticket to Ride
    com.daysofwonder.tt.android
Time Surfer
    com.kumobius.android.carpet.humble
tv.nu
    com.tvnu.app
TV4 Play
    se.tv4.tv4playtab
Tweedle
    com.handlerexploit.tweedle
Twitter
    com.twitter.android
Untappd
    com.untappdllc.app
Viaplay
    com.viaplay.android
Viasatsport
    se.viasat.video
Väder tema
    com.lge.sizechangable.weather.theme.optimus
Världstid widget
    com.lge.sizechangable.worldclock
Waking Mars
    com.tigerstylegames.wakingmars.humble
Wikipedia
    org.wikipedia
Wordfeud FREE
    com.hbwares.wordfeud.free
WordPress
    org.wordpress.android
World of Goo
    com.twodboy.worldofgoofull
Worms 2: Armageddon
    com.worms2armageddon.app.humble
Xbox 360 SmartGlass
    com.microsoft.smartglass
Zedge
    net.zedge.android
Zen Bound 2
    com.secretexit.zb2.humble
Översätt
    com.google.android.apps.translate

Can you post a list of the apps you've installed?

@KaranRajBaruah is there a simple way of exporting such a list?

Check this: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/9824/how-can-i-export-a-list-of-currently-installed-applications-to-a-file
But I feel if you have way too many apps running in the background, they're the reason of your phone slowing down.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.onyxbits.listmyapps
Provides a list of your apps.

Okay, so I have like 170 installed apps. But only three of them run at this time (Stackexchange, Calls, Facebook)

My SO had this and the only thing that worked was a factory reset and gradually adding in the apps that she actually used.


text:
TI SensorTag firmware Update through OAD(over-the air ) in android
Help me to upload firmware through android app in nexus 7 ,as I have build my sensor tag project through IAR embedded workbench,but I didnt find any app for OAD firmware update in android, when I am trying to update firmware through TI ble device manager android app, its telling "OAD service is not available" while it has OAD service uuid0xFFC0.

Could you try to write this question in sentences? At the moment it's really hard to understand what you're trying to do.

I have TI sensor tag device with some different-2 sensors.Ijust wanted to update the firmware of that device using android app named "Bluetooth device manager" but I am unable to update because I am getting One issue ""OAD service is not available". @DanHulme

Since that's a pretty niche desire, you're most likely to get an answer by asking the developers of that app.

It's not available because you have an old version of the TI firmware in your SensorTag. Some months ago they added the "Connection control service" to the SensorTag firmware to enable OAD with Android. If your firmware is not recent, it has the OAD Service but not the Connection Control Service, so you'll have to use iOS to to OAD.


text:
Camera App keeps on updating
Google made their camera app update available on the play store. This update does replace the system app.
BUT I do not want that update, since I use the countdown-timer, wich is not available after the update.
So I went into app-mgmt, deinstalled the update, unchecked notify-updates.
But - it still keeps updating that app from time to time.
I even disabled the general option in play to notify me when updates are available. That disabled updates for ALL apps.
After manually updating all other apps - guess what was updated again automatically?
Yes - camera.
So how can I permanently disable that specific update?

I knew this would happen yesterday when I wrote this answer too. As of today Google is rolling out an update for the new camera that puts the timer back. So you should see this update in the next few days, so the answer won't be needed.

@abqnm A solution might apply to other apps as well. And I need a 1s timer, which is still not possible.

The notify when updates are available option has no effect on auto updating apps. You need to disable "Auto Update Apps" right below that option. Also, in the Play Store, go to the camera app listing and tap the menu button (either physical menu key if equipped or the 3-dot menu in the top right) and make sure "Auto Update" is not checked for the camera app. This should prevent it from updating. Keep in mind this update will still appear in your list of app updates in the Play Store, so you will be unable to use the "Update All" function since this will include the camera app in the apps to be updated.

There is no such option below the notify on updates. But I did disable auto-updates on the play-store for that app. I'll see...

@Nils that is the primary one that matters so it shouldn't update on its own. Just make sure never to hit the update all button, as that will update it.

Worked. I got a notification, but only all other apps got auto-updated.


text:
Phone takes up to 20 secs between click on phone number and actual call, receive multiple times the same sms
My phone is behaving oddly and I don't understand what is going on.
It started a few days ago. When I click on a phone number or a contact (that link to his phone number to call directly), the list of last called number is correctly updated, the click is effective, but the actual call begins about 20 seconds later ! If I click multiple time on the phone number, it will call this number multiple times, but after the laps of 20 seconds.
Moreover, I found another bug that started the same day. When someone sends me an sms, I receive it multiple times, like 10/15 times, throughout the day (not at once). It's like I receive a new sms every hours, but it's still the same.
I didn't installed any new app or didn't make any update of the OS just before.
I tried to reboot the phone but the problem is still here.
I'm wondering if it's a hardware issue that makes android buggy, or an update of an existing app that makes it behaving that way.
Here the list of installed apps :

9Gag
Barcode Scanner
GMail
Google+
Prey Anti Theft
Andmade share
Dropbox
Endomondo (pro)
Facebook
Google Authenticator
Google Drive
Google Play Kiosque
Google Play Musique
Hangouts
Headspace
Jewels Star
Maps
Google Chrome
Profile Flow
Google Search
Vocal search
Skype
Street view
Super Sudoku
Twitter
Youtube

It's an HTC One, and I didn't rooted it or installed a specific ROM, it's the OS from the purchase.
Thank you for your help !!

I know this is probably the last thing you want to do but a factory reset is probably the best thing to try.

I'm starting to think about it yeah :/


text:
Always get android updates instantly
A Nexus 5, for example, receives the latest android updates instantly.
Is it possible to get this pure version of android on any custom android phone (like Galaxy S3)?
Do note I DO NOT mean:

Something like Cyanogenmod. While it does eventually give latest android update it is not instant like on Nexus devices. Default google apps are also not installed out of the box or updated automatically.
A solution that keeps requiring manual install (like a custom mod maybe) everytime a new official version of android is out. I am looking for a solution where after manual intervention once, stock android will be installed and I will receive android updates instantly.
A specific solution to Galaxy S3. I'm just looking for the term used to have instant automatic updates on your device, I'm very new to Android sorry.

No. When new Android versions are developed by Google, they use the Nexus devices to test and develop them. They co-operate with the vendors of the different hardware and software components inside the device so that all the necessary driver changes will be ready for the new version, and they only announce it when the updates are already available for Nexus devices.
Google works together with the leading handset manufacturers to give them early access to the new Android version and to help them make the necessary changes to support it, but even so, there's always going to be a delay between when the new version is announced and when manufacturer updates are ready.
Third-party ROMs like Cyanogenmod are another option, but as they're made by volunteers without early access to Google's code, they usually become stable much later than official ROMs are released.
So if you're not happy with the timeliness of updates for Samsung devices (or any other manufacturer), your only option is to not buy devices from that manufacturer.

There is no official stock version of android for many devices.
Updates for for Example an S3 aren't brought by google. They are released by the manufacteur, in this case Samsung.
Android (Stock with gapps and everything) is for Nexus Devices at first. For any other branch you need other kernels, other drivers and whatever.
So if you'd take the master-branch and even compile the source (which is always up-to-date) at your own, it won't work.
So no, unfortunately there is no possibility to recieve the same update as a nexus device at the same time.


text:
What Custom Rom Alternatives Are Available To Users Of The Oppo Find 7a?
For those who wish to try something other than the default ColorOS ?

@Izzy Although my question is very specific in nature.

As were all the others we've pointed to that specific (canonical) question. This site is about solving issues users have with Android – not about finding software or recommending specific ROMs. Furthermore, answers would be 1) very opinion-based, and 2) end up in lists. Both are closure reasons on almost every SE site, sorry. If you want to discuss opinions, you're better off on a forum than on a Q&A site; so one more pointer would be Where can I ask questions that aren't Android Enthusiast questions?

@Izzy Is it suitable for http://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/

I'm afraid not, it's much too broad. SR doesn't cover questions of the type "please compare X,Y, and Z". So unless you can name specific requirements (for details, see here), it would be closed there as well.

@Izzy Alright :)


text:
Delete member from a Viber group
I have created a group for chat on Viber and one person joined the group.
How can I remove that person?

Viber doesn't provide facility to delete or remove member from group even if your are group admin.
Only option is you leave and delete group and recreate the group without that member.
Sorry

Damn viber for that.

just tap and hold the name which u want to delete, a recycle icon will appear , then recycle it that it


text:
Sony Z1 Compact: will encrypting my phone disable the camera button?
I just bought a Sony Z1 Compact with Android 4.4. It has a special camera button on the side. When the phone is off, you can press this button for a longer time, and the camera apps opens directly, even when you have a PIN lock. The lock is not disabled, only for this app. So after making a picture, when you try to open the image, you first have to enter the PIN.
I would like to encrypt the phone, but I'm afraid that this will disable this function. Does anybody knows how this works?

Update: I encrypted the phone plus external SD card, and the camera button still works.

I am pretty sure that you wont lose the functionality of lock screen camera. But check once before encrypting because you need to hard reset/repair to decrypt xperia phones.

What about, if you transfer your data to a computer, then you try to encrypt your phone and if it works, you can transfer data from computer to phone. If it doesn't works, you can still hard reset it.


text:
Is there any device for convenient control of device while walking?
I want to use some my Android device while walking. It is too dangerous to walk while looking at the screen, so I have modified the software I use so that it speaks and beeps so I know what is happening without looking at the screen.
It is still troublesome and dangerous to hold the device and use the touchscreen while walking. I'd rather place the phone in my backpack and hold some very simple controller in my hand.

Wires or wireless are both okay.
I don't need many buttons. Just 2-4 buttons is enough.

Is there any controller device which can plug into an Android device so that I can hold just the small controller while walking?

It sounds like what you want is a presentation clicker. This is a small device used by speakers to control slides during their talk. Usually it uses Bluetooth HID profile, and is visible to the host device as a keyboard or mouse. Alternatively, you might already have a Bluetooth game controller (such as a Playstation controller). Android has support for these built-in.
There are also wired USB presentation clickers, and USB game controllers. If your device supports USB-on-the-go, you can use one of these.

Another option not involving too many buttons would be "voice control". For this, I can recommend you a combination of tasker and the AutoVoice addon on the software side, and a common Bluetooth headset on the hardware side.
Using the Bluetooth headsets button, you can activate AutoVoice, then speak your command, and Tasker would execute it. Due to the versatility of Tasker, this gives you almost unlimited possibilities to control your device (and everything connected to it) – if you miss one specific feature, chances are very high there's another Tasker addon adding exactly that.
I'm a long-time Tasker user, and cannot imagine doing without it anymore. I also tried AutoVoice, and must say it works great. You can even use "casual phrasing" and have it "matching for wildcards" – so it e.g. wouldn't matter whether you say "TV on", or "turn the TV on", or even "turn the TV screen on"; setup correctly, AutoVoice would check for "TV..on", and act accordingly. (Sorry for the strange example, but that's about what I did, integrating it with my home equipment ;)
One possible "handicap" here: As AutoVoice relies on Google Voice, it would need a network connection to work. But the big plus: nothing to carry in your hands :)


text:
Use VLC (desktop) to play music while phone is plugged in
Can I use VLC (desktop) to play music while phone is plugged in to my PC via USB?
I have tried to open folder, but when I do, my phone isn't in MyCompter as a compatible device. Is there a plug in or something that will make this work?
Alternatively, is there any media player available that will play the music on my phone through my computer when it is plugged in VIA usb?
Thanks

You might wish to check our questions tagged dlna for that purpose. DLNA servers act as media servers on one device (in your case, the Android device), so DLNA clients can access those media. This way you can use the client on your PC to play music from your Android device. Would that be convenient?

Are you trying to play music that is stored on your phone, but using VLC which is installed on your PC?
What is the phone in question?

Yes jonny. That is exactly right. My phone is a nexus 5.

@Izzy does DLNA work over USB? I thought it had to be WIFI.

Uh... got me, overlooked that part. No, it doesn't have to be WiFi (an ethernet connection does as well). Not sure if it does via USB, though. What OS you're running on your computer? You could definitely share your storage to it (at least via MTP; on Linux even via ADB), so you could access it with any player on your computer.

When you say "my phone isn't in MyCompter as a compatible device", do you mean it does show up in My Computer but is not compatible, or it does not show up in my computer at all?

@izzy im running a mac as well as windows 7. Doesnt work on either. If like it to work on w7 more

@john yes its listed as a device and i can browse it, but VLC doesnt see it when i go to 'add a folder' to my library or playlist

What doesn't work: to share the Android devices content (SD card, internal or external)? What Android version? Where's your music stored? You're not using Google Play Music, are you (because then your almost lost this way)?

I am using google play music but ive added my music manually to the virtual sd, its a nexus 5.

@Frantumn did u try windows media player? Windows media player will list the connected mtp device and you can browse the songs

On your Windows 7 machine, have you installed USB drivers for your Nexus 5?

Right, I have done some playing around and I think I know the answer problem.
On older Android devices (I'm sure my old Desire HD worked like this), when you connected your device to the PC it showed up as a removable disk and was assigned a drive letter by Windows. The newer devices, including my Nexus 4 and HTC One, show up as a "Portable media device" and are not assigned a drive letter. When you try to add the file to VLC it is looking for a path to this file, however no path actually exists. If you opened the "Music" folder which is located on your device, from within Windows, and double clicked on one of the files, you may notice (I did 'cause my PC is pretty slow these days) Windows actually copies the file onto the PC; I guess to a temp folder somewhere (found the folder: C:\Users\Jonny Wright\AppData\Local\Temp\WPDNSE\{00000001-0001-0001-0000-000000000000}), and then plays the file from there.
In short, I don't think its a problem with VLC, or even Windows to be fair. Its the way device makers are allowing you to browse your device from within Windows, and I bet other OSes aswell.
Sorry, I don't think its possible unless you can get your PC to see your device as a "Removable storage" medium and assign it a drive letter.


text:
I just got a (used) Nexus 7 (2013).... And it goes to standby too quickly too often
Is there are a way to configure it, with an app or guide, to be able to READ "something really interesting" in this tablet without the screen constantly randomly going off too soon?
I would understand that the tablet had something that told the system to keep being awake while I'm using "apps" that are obviously for "reading"?

The screen doesn't randomly turn off: it turns off after a fixed time. You can change how long before the screen turns off in the main device settings: Display → Sleep. This applies regardless of what app is in the foreground.
If you like, you can use a third-party automation tool such as Tasker or Llama to change the screen timeout according to what app you're using. This question explains how.
Samsung phones also have a feature called "Smart stay". This activates the front-facing camera just before it turns the screen off, to check whether you're looking at the screen: if so, it leaves the screen on for a while longer. This isn't a standard Android feature: it was developed by Samsung and only available on their phones.

Do you know any alternative to Samsung's?

No. As I said, the feature is only available on their phones.

Hey Dan, I haven't test it yet though: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.beansoft.eyespy.free


text:
Samsung Galaxy S4: what application is responsible for "Time to home" notices?
On my Samsung Galaxy S4, I constantly get notifications "Time to home XXX minutes". They are not only useless for me, but also apparently some app is accessing my location, internet, and is draining my battery.
I couldn't find out what is responsible for that. What app is showing that messages, and how to turn it off?

as they already answered it is google now, regarding your battery drain I think it is unlikely this is the one causing the problem, UNLESS you have your gps set to HIGH accuracy.

Google Now, you can disable in the settings of the "Search" app.


text:
Nexus 5 with an English interface and a Hebrew keyboard
I can't figure out how to set a Hebrew keyboard while using an English interface in my Nexus 5. The only way I have found to switch to a Hebrew keyboard was changing the language of the interface to Hebrew.
Is it possible to have them both without a third party app?

Is there a reason you don't want to use a 3rd-party keyboard app?

@Chahk it isn't necessary to use a 3rd party keyboard for this. Multiple language support is already built into the stock Google Keyboard.

@abqnm You are absolutely correct.  Somehow I missed Hebrew when scrolling through the Input languages list :)

Yes you can do this. For this, I am assuming you are using the stock Google keyboard.
Open Settings and tap on Language & Input. Tap on the settings icon next to Google Keyboard. Tap Input Languages at the top. Deselect "Use System Language" and then select any keyboard languages you wish to use.
Now in the keyboard, the space bar will display the current selected language. To change to one of the other active languages, press and hold the space bar and select the language you wish to use.


text:
ERRORLEVELs in adb push and pull
I need to execute adb commands from DOS batch files, but I need to know if the push and pull commands were successful.  Do these commands return an ERRORLEVEL, or some other environment variable to determine of the push or pull was successful?

According to the source code for ADB push and pull commands, they return 0 for success and 1 for failure.  I have not tried this in batch files, so cannot comment on accuracy.

Thanks, that is useful.  When you say they return these values, do you mean as error levels, or to standard output?  Can I use this:  adb -s mydevice pull file1 file1 > reseult.txt ?


text:
Flashing Samsung Galaxy Note 3 with Android on Linux
Is there a way to flash my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 with stock rom(Android KitKat 4.4.2) in Linux(any distribution)?
EDIT: I can't figure out how to flash this firmware with Heimdall. All I can find is different files and different devices.
EDIT:Here are the instructions building a Heimdall firmware package.
EDIT: I found a post on XDA saying that Heimdall doens't support KitKat 4.4.2, I got the same error as that guy:ERROR: Failed to send request to end PIT file transfer!
ERROR: Failed to download PIT file! When trying to download the PIT file for my device.

For flashing Samsung devices on operating systems other than Windows, you might wish to take a look at our heimdall tag-wiki:

Heimdall is a cross-platform open-source tool suite used to flash firmware (aka ROMs) onto Samsung mobile devices

Thought your device doesn't seem to be explicitly mentioned as being "officially tested" on the projects homepage, the page writes:

Users have reported success with a wide variety of Samsung's mobile phones and tablets from all around the world.

Heimdall (Source: WebUpd8.Org; click image for larger variant)

Update: If Heimdall somehow doesn't fit your needs, according to our odin tag-wiki there's also JOdin3 which works browser based. Haven't tried that (no Sammy here), but might be worth a look.


text:
Why does my data plan need to be on to send pictures with text?
I don't understand why data is needed to send a picture with a text or to send a text to multiple recipients. These things did not need data on a dumb phone. They just used texting.

Dumb-phones also use mobile data to send multimedia messages. It is just that with most dumb phones, the carrier includes this data access as part of the messaging package you are subscribed to. Most carriers require a data plan on a smart device because it has the potential to use significantly more data.

Assuming you're speaking about the Short Message Service: For sending pictures without text, that's done via a special "signal channel", where exactly 160 bytes fit into a single package (hence the limit of 160 chars). But when you want to include more (more text, multi-media elements like pictures or video, or some other attachments), those "additional data" don't fit into this "package" – so your message is switched to MMS.
Other than SMS, MMS are sent and received via mobile data (often via a special Access Point configured in your device). So this is the reason why it requires your data plan to send "pictures with text": you basically switch to a different service. Details can be found behind the links, if needed.


text:
Save a draft message using 'hello sms' app
I have started using hello sms as my everyday SMS app and it is great. One problem though is I cannot work out how to save a draft message.

If you want to save new message as draft, it works the following way:

Open Hello SMS and click on '+' button.
Type in your contacts & your message in their respective fields.
You can exit app by pressing either 'back' button or 'home' button. Both way it handles the draft.
Now when you again open app, just click on '+' button and you will have your previously entered contacts and your message body in their respective fields.

UPDATE:
If you want to save multiple drafts, it works the following way:

Open thread of the recipient to whom you wanna send text and type in your message.
You can exit app and when you return again, just open respective recipient's thread and you will find your draft message.

You can have multiple drafts for multiple contacts in their respective message threads.

Ah right thanks. So theres no way to save multiple draft messages? When using the default Android messaging app I used tobuse drafts to save notes, lists etc.

Yes, you can save multiple drafts. Please view the updated answer.


text:
How do I prevent my phone from syncing contacts with Google with xPrivacy?
I have installed xPrivacy on my phone. Which rights for which app do I have to set?

Why that complicated? There's no Xprivacy or other tool required to prevent your device from syncing contacts with Google. It's rather a question of your settings:

If on account creation you decided to "Backup your data with Google", you might want to re-consider this, as this might include more personal data than just your contacts
in Settings→Accounts & Sync you can define what should be synced with your online accounts (not restricted to Google). Switch off what you don't want to be synchronized.
in your contacts app, you can chose the "default storage". Using something other than "Google" here would also keep new entries from being sync'ed with Google. Note, however, that you cannot move existing entries between the several possible storages directly; you might need to export them, remove them, and (after switching your default storage) re-import them.

Btw: Same applies to your calendar. Except there I don't know of any export/import feature in the calendar app, so for this part you probably need a 3rd party app.

The first two points were exactly what I was doing, but still it "somehow" happened that all my contacts were synced into my Gmail Contacts nevertheless! So next time I want to be really sure that cannot happen again with the correct xPrivacy setting.

+1 still for option 3.. I should do this before doing anything on my new phone


text:
Dialer is very slow between dialing the number and getting into the call: spinning wheel for 5-10 seconds
I have a Nexus 4 with CM (latest version). For the last few months whenever I dial a number it takes anywhere from 5-10 seconds for the actual call to start.
I checked Android SE and didn't find anything except for this: Dialer app becoming too slow and less responsive.
However, my case I believe is different. The question above asks about the actual dialer start-up time.
In my case, the dialer is very response: whenever I tap on the Phone icon in the tray, it shows up immediately (the stock Android dialer that comes with CM): I can switch between favourite contacts, recent contacts, search contacts and the dialer with no issues.
However, once I find the contact I need or dial the number and then tap to call, the screen goes black with a spinning wheel in the middle:
.
Spinning Wheel After Dialing a Number/Contact (click image for larger variant)
This takes about 5-10 seconds like I mentioned.
Once that time passes, it goes to the actual call where I can see the phone number, the contact picture (if available), the drop-call red button, etc.:

The Actual Call Screen after the Spinning Wheel (click image for larger variant)
What I've tried:

Tried using a different dialer thinking maybe it's the issue with the stock dialer: no difference. Tried exDialer and some other, results are same: the dialer itself is snappy, but after tapping the call it goes to the spinning wheel on the black background.
I don't think it's a memory issue as I have 2Gb I think. In any case, with all the text messages I have (I don't delete any), all the contacts I have (including hundreds of Google+ random dudes I follow), the Phone app itself is snappy: everything works very quick.

Any suggestions are welcome as it's getting very frustrating! Thanks

Could it be an issue with your provider? I'm not sure what's causing the delay here, and how exactly the dialer apps deal with it; but it might be the "spinning wheel" is shown while waiting for some response from the network. Could you try your SIM with a different device, to at least make sure whether the issue is bound to the device or not?

Are you using LTE? If so, the delay might be caused by Circuit-Switched Fallback (CSFB), which has to drop the network to 3G before making the call.

@Izzy, I'll try a different phone, thanks for the suggestion. I hope it's not network related though!

@onik, I'm not on LTE. My network is actually WIND Mobile in Canada if that helps as additional info.

I had the same issue.
So, after a lot of work and tests, I've discovered that what was causing the issue was the Prey app. Do you have the Pray app (or similar) installed on your device, perhaps?
After I've removed it, the dialer came back to work normally.
Hope it helps.

I didn't have Pray, but I had a couple of other apps for tracking calls: Call Log Monitor and Call Control. When I uninstalled them, the issue went away. When I re-installed the apps, they didn't cause the issue anymore. Thanks for the help.

Do you know how you spend hours trying to find a fix and you end up reading the most ridiculous suggestions and you think what an idiot, that can't possibly work...
Well here's one that worked for me: Settings → Backup & reset → Network settings reset
Fixed it! Dials within 2 secs now!

I Uninstalled linkedin and problem went away.

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts. Please note that this is a Q&A site and is recommended to give an answer with technical reasoning and link to sources to back your claim.Personal experience might help but a reasoning behind the answer would be appreciated.See How to answer

Tell us how LinkedIn is related to the issue in question and how did you realize that it was the issue, in technical and not opinionated terms?

Especially: What makes you think that app is causing the issue for the OP, who didn't even mention using it? If it's not installed, it cannot be uninstalled.


text:
Replacing the system partition without touching the kernel?
So I have an android phone that I'd like to put a clean rom onto, but it looks like there aren't any good kernels ported to it yet. I've done some reading into the android architecture, and come to the conclusion that it could be possible to simply leave the kernel as-is, and flash a new (standard) system on the device.
Is this idea at all viable, or am I missing something? And if it is viable, does anyone have any tips to how I might go about it?

What device do you have?

I've got an inexpensive chinese model this one. Has one of them MTK chips, but the customized android they have on it is really rubbish however.

It is viable, as there are custom ROMs I've seen that contains the original kernel but different system files.
There is a catch though: If for example your device ships with CyanogenMod and you want to put PA on it, you'll have to get your hands dirty with the ramdisk as each ROM needs slightly different init* files to boot.
As for installing the ROM, you'll need to put it in a ZIP file and include a META-INF folder which will contain the files responsible for the correct ROM flash, e.g. updater-script.
The full procedure is too long to mention here, so I'd say you should head over to XDA to get the info you need.

I'd definitely have up-voted this if the XDA link pointed to a specific page rather than just the site.

@mc0e Oh, sorry. I couldn't find a thread that's perfectly suited for this (or I wasn't looking hard enough). Either way, I'll just make my own thread in a few days and update this answer with the link. :D

No need to apologise.  Was just saying...


text:
turn off mobile after some time when done factory reset
I lost my data from android device manager app from web. I have mistakenly click erase button in web.
I have wipe data factory reset in samsung s2 i9100 using ClockworkMod Recovery (Process).
Done, succesfully  and open my mobile .but after some time (1 min to 3 min) it switch off my mobile.
First i have done using root kernel: Siyah-s2-v6.0b4.tar first then recovery(Process).
Any problem of my devices. or Any idea how to get my data working condition. or Any other method in ClockworkMod Recovery to get recovery data. please waiting your response.
Now: *

My Mobile charging successfully, but when press power on button, i
  have saw only samsung splash screen. notheing further my mobile go or
  doesn't open my mobile.

*

As you're mentioning CWM: Have you made a Nandroid backup before that accident happened? If so, and the backup being at least half-way up-to-date, you could restore that – which should bring the device into exactly the state it was when you've created the backup (as Nandroid "images" all partitions).

No , i have not no any backups? Ok if i don't get data recovery. So can i simple start fresh new mobile os. it means, sacrifice all data . I just want to simply run my mobile. would you suggest any idea?

No backup = no restore, sorry (should always be the first thing to do after installing CWM: Make a Nandroid backup!). And all that could be done, has been done by hitting that button. But try again: Enter CWM, do a factory-reset, wipe cache, wipe data (thought the latter two are just repeating the former, it cannot hurt). Flash another ROM, try without tampering with the "special kernel" (which also could be the cause). Switch on USB debug, and immediately start adb debug from your PC to hopefully catch the event issuing the shutdown.


text:
Is it possible to unload built-in kernel module?
I have a kernel with built-in module that I want to replace. I have built a .ko and tried to insmod it, but it failed since the kernel was already built with it.
Is it possible to do this?

I'm not entirely sure so I'm not giving this as an answer - but can't you do it with rmmod <module name>?

This works with .ko only modules, and not builtin modules. builtin modules don't show up in lsmod.

AFAIK what's built-in cannot be "rmod'ed". But that's not an Android specific question (rather a Linux/Unix generic one), so you might wish to check with those "stacks" (they might even have that question already answered).

No. Built-in drivers aren't modules, they are built-in (hence the name). If it's not showing in lsmod, you can't get rid of it short of building a new kernel.


text:
Second spellchecker doesn't work
I have a Nexus 4, and I'm using Google keyboard on Android 4.3.1. When I switch the keyboard language from French (the system language) to Polish, spellchecking stops. I have the polish spell-checking dictionary installed.
Suggestion works in both languages. Spell-checking works only in french.
What should I do?
I'd rather fix this problem than use another keyboard.

Looks to me you are mixing up 2 different things in your question: Auto-correction and Spell-check. Are you looking for Auto-correction (where the misspelled word is replaced) or for spell check (where the misspelled word is underlined)?

I realize my question could have been better worded. I'm looking for spell check. Suggestion works in both languages. Spell-checking only works in french, but the polish spell-checking dictionary is installed.

This may depend on the keyboard used (Android vs Google). I have fixed this by selecting Gboard and adding there the languages I need.


text:
HTC One SV: Preditive dictionary turns "I was" into "I WAS" every time. How can I turn this off?
Whenever I type "I was", the preditive dictionary chooses "WAS" as the first choice, rather than "was". However, it does not do this if I type "was" on its own, only if it follows "I." Obviously this is very annoying when typing out quick replies on my phone. I have next word prediction turned off, "WAS" does not appear in my dictionary so cannot be deleted. Why is it doing this only with this phrase, and how can I turn it off?

In your keyboard settings there should be a "My dictionary" or "My words" or something similar, in there should be all of the words you have added to AutoCorrect, if "WAS" is there, delete it, if not add "was".

I entered was into the dictionary, deleted it and now it seems to have fixed itself. Thanks!

No bother, glad it worked. Remember to select this as the answer.


text:
Does Nexus 7 has Bluetooth Smart technology?
I've read here http://www.bluetooth.com/Pages/Bluetooth-Smart-Devices-List.aspx among other pages that it has this technology, but i'm trying to connect to a beacon with it and the app says that "Device does not have Bluetooth Low Energy".
Are there maybe any Nexus 7 devices without this kind of bluetooth or what is the problem?
The device is updated and the beacons are working because i can find them with other devices.

I assume you're referring to the 2012 version of the Nexus 7? Although the hardware is capable of supporting Bluetooth LE (as suggested by the link in your question), Google never certified it as such and so the stock ROM does not support it.
There is an answer to a similar question on stackoverflow which appears to suggest that CyanogenMod (and maybe other custom ROMs) has added support for Bluetooth LE on the 2012 Nexus 7.


text:
How to connect to adhoc wifi on Nokia XL
Is there a way I can connect Nokia XL phone to adhoc wifi created using my laptop.
I've had Nokia 900 which connected & Nokia N8 connects to the same wifi hotspot while none of Samsung (Android) devices do.
How about Android powered Nokia XL? Please share your experience if you have a workaround.
Thanks

I would wonder if the Nokia XL makes an exception here – but as you can find out by other questions tagged ad-hoc and our ad-hoc tag-wiki, Android itself doesn't support this type of networks by default. Usually, solutions involving this require root access on the device (which again does not ship by default) – and rooting in most areas voids your device's warranty.