text:
How to install Samsung (or other manufacturers) apps on Vanilla ROMs on Galaxy S3
I've tried installing CyanogenMod on my Samsung Galaxy S3 device.
I was amazed by its smoothness and speed, but I've missed some of the apps of the official Samsung ROM, such as the camera, the keyboard, and the contacts list.
I've tried installing them using the recovery mod (like installing a zipped ROM), but it didn't work.
Is it possible to install Samsung apps on vanilla roms (like CyanogenMod) on my device? If so, how?
I also wonder if a similar thing can be done on other devices (like installing HTC apps on and HTC device which has a vanilla ROM installed in it).

Theoretically, one should be able to side-load them. But as those manufacturers often use their own frameworks, those apps might fail without the frameworks being installed as well. And with those frameworks installed, you might again lose at least some of the smoothness...

so, in the unknown future, i'm bound to choose between new empty-from features vanilla version of android and an old samsung version ? this is quite annoying. i thought that i can have both. no wonder some people prefer nexus, at least the get the same features no matter what they do.

I didn't say you cannot have both. I never tried, it could be possible as I wrote. Moreover, there might be custom ROMs available which have that combination already -- see Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device? for where they might be found.

do you know of such a thing?

Not for Samsung (I never owned a Samsung phone), but I remember from the HTC Wildfire that there were such Custom-ROM compilations in all directions -- from minimalistic (AOSP and no bloatware, e.g. CyanogenMod or OpenFire) to absolutely "sense-ified" (e.g. WildPuzzle). So I'm pretty sure the same is valid for other major manufacturers' devices.

AFAIK, this is not possible. For example, HTC App depends on HTC framework and Sense Versions. I guess, this holds for samsung devices as well. Samsung Uses TouchWiz UI and the Apps depends on Touchwiz framework to run. But, On otherhand nothing is impossible, if these frameworks in vanilla are moded to use these Apps, you can.

my guess is that it's illegal then? because if they made it possible, it would work on any device , no? this is quite disappointing, as i've thought that i don't care about new versions from the manufacturers , and could simply use the vanilla roms like CM and add whatever apps i wish from the official samsung rom. i wonder though if third party apps could harness the API (if it even exists) of the manufacturers . i know that samsung has one for the s-pen for example, but not sure about others and what other features are available in the APIs.

Copyrights are a separate thing. I never heard any of those manufacturers offer their app for free download -- so that means they had to be extracted from existing devices. Just because they come pre-installed with your device does not make them "freeware". As long as you extract them from your device, and re-install them on the same device (after flashing a custom ROM), that should be fine or at maximum "gray zone". But as soon as you upload/share them, you should have explicit permission from the manufacturer to do so.

Unfortunately, it's not possible. Those apps rely on parts of the TouchWiz framework to operate. No TouchWiz, no apps. The only way would be to install a custom TouchWiz based rom. It would give you some of the performance improvements of CyanogenMod but with access to the Samsung apps.

is it possible then to install the touchwiz framework on CyanogenMod?

Nope, unfortunately not.

this is quite disappointing . i really liked some of samsung's apps, yet i don't like the rest and i really like the smoothness of CM and the low space it uses. there isn't even one app of samsung's rom that can be installed on vanilla roms?


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How can I fix my corrupted /data partition?
The following happened. I have a Galaxy Mini Plus (S5570I) running Android 2.3.6 which I've been using without problems so far. Recently, I've installed an APK (Opera Beta), which somehow caused the device to freeze, so I had to pull the battery out and restart it manually. Upon switching it back, the device stays at the pre-boot screen, and constantly displays the "Samsung Galaxy Mini" logo, the one that's supposed to show up for seconds before the boot animation. No amount of waiting or restarting helps, it's completely bricked for some reason.
However, if I try to restore a backup via Clockworkmod, or try to erase the information, I immediately receive an error saying Error mounting /data! or Can't mount /data!. Every single other partition loads and is mountable, except for /data. Which renders backup, restore, or delete impossible.
Is there a way I could manually rewrite the partition table (i.e. recreate the partitions) or somehow get the device to boot, preferably without sending it in for repair? Clockworkmod doesn't work, stock service mode doesn't work, Odin doesn't work, I can't even get adb connected.

Looks like your /data partition got corrupted. Are there any more detailed error messages? Do you get into CWM at all? Any chance to get to a shell prompt? If "No-to-all", you might be left with a fresh install (e.g. via fastboot). Which brings me to an idea: AFAIK one can use fastboot to let the device load/boot an image from the computer, which might give you a chance to access the shell and repair the broken partition. Havin no experience with that part, I can only leave the idea in the hope someone else picks it up...

Fastboot doesn't work with Samsung devices. To try and restore a stock image, you would want to use odin and find a factory image for your device. I'm not too familiar with Samsung devices, so I'll leave it up to someone a bit more knowledgeable to give you the proper steps.

Yep, I can access CWM (only from a zip file though, since my device doesn't support embedding it), but I haven't been able to get any more detailed messages or logs out of it. If I try to invoke any function that would write/read from the /data partition, I simply get a one line error saying that it can't be mounted. Same if I try to view the log from within Clockworkmod. However, I got the "report error" function to output a log to my sdcard (Full log here https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/26401476/recovery.log), which still doesn't tell me much about WHY the partition isn't being mounted.

As for the Odin stock restore, I've seen it recommended on a couple forums so far, although I haven't really been successful in finding either a working copy of the software, or a suitable image for my device (5570I). Damn, there has to be some way to fix the partitions using a script or something. I don't even know how shit like this could happen. The data is still there, Android just refuses to access it.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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How to change default username in Google Play?
I'm stuck to this problem. I used to have a google account which is now deleted and not existent anymore. I have a new Google account. The problem is that in my Android device when I have to go to Google Play, the default username is the old one. How can I change it?

I don't quite understand what you mean, but are you sure you are not using the old account for Google Play? Open Google Play then press Menu -> Accounts

You can try adding another gmail account through the "accounts & sync" (or whatever your manufacturer calls it) section of the Settings.  You may be able to choose that other account when you visit the Play store, depending on your specific device.  In many cases, however, the gmail account you used when you activated the device for the first time can only be changed by performing a factory reset of the device.

If you go to Settings->Accounts->Google, do you see your old account there? if so, delete it.
Also try and go to play store settings and make your current email address the default address that you use

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


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How do I transfer music files to Nexus 4
I plugged in Nexus 4 to my windows machine(XP Service Pack 2) and it didnt recognise or install any software automatically. I downloaded Google USB Driver from SDK Kit and installed it and now it shows up as recognised device in the Device Manager, but how do I copy files to Phones Storage ? There s no send to option as its not connected as a USB mass storage(which is not there in this device as well)

AFAIK the Nexus 4 does not use UMS but MTP instead. On Windows, it should show up directly in the Explorer. Having neither a Nexus 4 nor Windows, I can only refer to hear-say -- and refer you to How To - Connect Nexus 4 to XP like MTP device - xda-developers

The XDA article How To - Connect Nexus 4 to XP like MTP device describes the steps needed for Windows XP as follows:

Connect your Nexus to PC.
Go to My Computer>Properties>Device Manager and double click on MTP device
Go to Details and copy (Ctr+C) info like (USB\VID_18D1&PID_4EE2&MI_00) (you can copy it from here too, if it is identically)
Unplug Nexus from PC.
Go to C:\Windows\inf folder (it's hidden)
Find a file "wpdmtp.inf" and open it with any text editor (Notepad)
Modify or Paste (Ctrl+P) what did you copy at step "3" as bottom I showed.

; Installation inf for devices supporting Media Transfer Protocol (MTP)
;
; Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.
;

[Version]
Signature="$WINDOWS NT$"
Class=WPD
ClassGUID={EEC5AD98-8080-425f-922A-DABF3DE3F69A}
Provider=%Msft%
LayoutFile=layout.inf
DriverVer=02/22/2006,5.2.5326.4762

[DestinationDirs]
MTP.Files.Kernel = 12
MTP.Files.XPRT_USB = 11
MTP.Files.Core = 11
MTP.Files.UMDFDDriver = 12,UMDF ; copy to system32\drivers\umdf
[Manufacturer]
%MfgName%=Generic,NTx86,NTamd64
;
;Device is identified by Microsoft OS descriptor
;If your device does not support it, use specific VID & PID for identification
;
[Generic.NTx86]
%GenericMTP.DeviceDesc%=MTP, USB\MS_COMP_MTP
%GenericMTP.DeviceDesc%=MTP, USB\VID_18D1&PID_4EE2&MI_00
;
[Generic.NTamd64]
%GenericMTP.DeviceDesc%=MTP, USB\MS_COMP_MTP
%GenericMTP.DeviceDesc%=MTP, USB\VID_18D1&PID_4EE2&MI_00

Save and close the file.
Connect your Nexus to PC
Go to Device Manager and update MTP driver.
Tick chekbox "Install the software automatically (Recomenden)" on driver installation dialog and install driver.
  Wait for a moment and you can see Nexus 4 like an MTP device.

Now you should see the MTP device, and be able to transfer files to it.
Hope this solves your issue :)

Yes this helped, but I got 2 problems, 1> File was nt there - So downloaded WIn Player 11 and it was solved. 2> I had installed ADB driver before, so when I uninstalled that and tried to install driver it always instalelled ADB driver instead of MTP. So instead I chose Manual Location and it gave 2 options install as ADB or MTP and I chose as MTP and all is good now :) Thanks for that link ! Didnt come across that link while I was googling,

Glad it helped -- and thanks for the updated details!


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Android keyboard and play store not working
Android Keyboard and Google Play Store app are not working on my Jelly Bean device. There is a message popping up repeatedly telling me that android keyboard has stopped.
What can I do to get out of that loop, and have a usable device again?

What you are describing is a classical force-close-loop. I've added the corresponding tag to your question; please check with the force-close tag-wiki for first aid and report back if you were able to solve your issue with those. The most frequented questions with this tag might prove helpful as well.

You can fix Android Force Close Error by going through the solutions given in the presentation tutorial. Find it here http://www.slideshare.net/StenaGlass/android-force-close-error-fix
I am hopeful that you will resolve your problem as I have already fixed it!
Wish you best of luck.

Thanks for taking time to provide an answer. Your effort will go waste if the link you provide becomes unreachable. Hence, it would be better if you can provide a reasonable (with the reason in mind) gist. :)


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Does Cyanogenmod reduce battery life?
My galaxy mini was running GB 2.3.6. I recently rooted my phone and installed CM 7.2. Now it looks like my battery is getting drained a little quicker than before. From what I have heard CM increases performance while giving a better battery life. So is my case an exception? Can somebody suggest methods to increase battery life after installing Cyanogenmod?

possible duplicate of What can I do to increase battery life on my Android device?

It definitely does on some devices.

I can think of two reasons why a CM ROM might reduce battery life:

CPU governor:
The cpu governor controls the frequency of the CPU depending on the requirement. Your ROM might be using a governor that favours performance over battery life. Selecting a governor that achieves a good balance between performance & battery life might help you. You can learn more about cpu governors here
Battery calibration:
The battery status is stored in a file called batterystats.bin. Its possible that your phone is using the same batterystats.bin that came with the rom. You can use an application like Battery Calibration to regenerate this file with new/accurate stats.(a myth according to this)

It Depends. yes, depends on your settings (Auto Brightness, Wifi Scan interval, GPS, Auto Sync Enabled) type of applications installed (Widgets and its high auto refresh rate) and many more (kernel wakelock) etc.
Just try to check what consumes your battery using better battery stats. From that you can identify, what causing battery drain.

To answer your question, if you have cyanogen mod installed, no new aps just the rom and you use the phone exactly as you would youse it with your stock rom, yes cyanogen mod will take more battery but at the same time it is more light weight and faster.
So yes cyanogen mod does take up a bit more battery then a stock rom, at least from my experinece with cm.

Can you give any source for this? On all my phones, my experience always was the other way around: with CM, they were/are smoother running and the battery did last longer (20% increased battery-life was no exception). You cannot generalize it as such: with what do you compare? What you are implying is "any other ROM saves more than CM -- CM is the worst battery eater amongst all the ROMs available". Sounds unbelievable to me :)

I was comparing it to STOCK rom only. And as Cyborgs mentioned it depends on how you use your phone, but if you compare EXACTLY the same Stock rom with CM, same useage and all you will get a better battery life on stock then cm. and why do you even mention smooth running if you are comparing battery life. i mention to that if you refer just to battery on cm is not that good but you get a lot of other good stuff. I love CM, and it is the only rom I use and recommand but let's face it it will never have same battery as the stock rom does.

First: I mention smooth running as the OP asked for it ("increases performance"). And second: as I wrote, on all my devices I used CM on, it performed better and battery life was better as well. But I forgot this was not a generic question, but relates to a specific device I never owned -- so your "stock ROM" was a specific one (the stock ROM of this device) as well -- and it was rather me who generalized; my apologies for that! Still, it might be a good idea to either give a source -- or at least restrict it "to your experience" ;)

Ok I will tell you the phones I tested CM on. HTC wildfire,desire hd, Huawei Pulse, xperia s and xperia z the galaxy series except the tabled ones and galaxy note 2. Yes you are right i have generalieze a bit, but i tought since i used it on many models it would be the same for all the others. I am sorry that i have generalized for all devices.

Strange: the Wildfire was in my repertoire as well. And it got much smoother and much more battery-saving with CM7. -- but let's stop this here: we are not a discussion forum. I'd still suggest to include a "to my experience" with your answer :)

"I'd still suggest to include a "to my experience" with your answer" - exactly, because we still don't actually have an answer to the question - just some supposition.

Just for my experience with the Xperia Mini Pro (3 years of use and the new Note 3:
The stock was more efficient in using the battery even it was filled with bloatware.
Same reason why i am looking this up - to go with some stock modified rom or CM which i like more, but battery is a must...

Most of the custom ROMs usually eats little more battery than the pre-installed OS. Cyanogen is optimized ROM, if you have downloaded it from the their official site. Because there are many other developers customizing Cyanogen OS with little more perks and ultimately messing up the performance.
As you have already mentioned, you might have downloaded unofficial CM. Just check the source from where you downloaded.


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Create bookmarks in Chrome mobile browser. (Galaxy s4)
All over the internet it says there is a five pointed star to the right of the URL in omni bar. This is not the case with the version of Chrome packaged with the Samsung Galaxy S4. How can I create a bookmark?

There's only one button. The tab button.

Hit the menu button (bottom left of the phone) and then click on the star (which will be at the top right of the dialog which appears).
The star is only to the right of the URL on the omni bar on the desktop version of Chrome.

Ahh yes. Used to an iphone see, where everything is on the screen. Thanks

I appreciate the answers, but my new Samsung core will not bookmark as per the recommendation as it deletes the url I want when I hit the menu button as suggested. Anyone have another answer ? thanks

@NeilD Never heard of the "Samsung Core" but if you're using the latest Chrome on your Android phone, drag the page down a little, revealing the URL, then click the 3 dots (top right of the screen on my phone), then click on the star icon to bookmark.

Go to the page that you want to bookmark. Next, click on the left option button on your phone itself. On the very top of the menu that pops up, you will see a star.  Click on it and follow the prompts.

Use the bookmark button that is marked in this picture:

That's not Chrome!


text:
Two Asus Transformer TF300s, same JB version, different skin
A friend has two Transformer TF300 tablets, both upgraded OTA to the (apparent) same JB 4.2.1 version, but one has tablet-style notifications (lower right corner) with the Home, Back, and Recent apps buttons left justified on the bottom, and the other has notifications on the top (like a phone), with the back, home, and recent buttons centered at the bottom.
Is there a setting that controls the notification style, or is there some non-obvious difference in the software versions?

Asus provides two launchers in their 4.2.1 rom - they differ as you descibed in your question. The one with the notifications in the lower right is the same one as used in their 4.1 rom and the one with the notifications at the top is the vanilla Android 4.2 launcher.
You can switch between them at will by opening settings and then navigating to Device -> Launcher (it requires a reboot to switch).


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How to unlock the bootloader on Verizon Galaxy S3 without phone service
How can I unlock the bootloader without any phone service? Do I have to take out the Verizon SIM to do this? The phone is already rooted and has the super user app. A website said it's possible to use [any] SIM card after unlocking. Is this true?

What's the ultimate goal you're trying to accomplish? You've made it sound like you want to use the phone on a different carrier, which brings up two important points: 1. Unlocking the bootloader is not related to the network (SIM) lock on a phone 2. Verizon phones only use SIM cards for 4G LTE data; you cannot use them on a different carrier, and you definitely can't use them on one that would require a SIM for voice coverage.

Is it not possible to take a Verizon phone to Sprint if it's network unlocked, @eldarerathis? I really don't know, I only know they both use CDMA for voice calls.

@TreborRude: Generally, no. From a technical standpoint they overlap in one voice frequency (1900 MHz), but both networks essentially keep a database of approved device ESNs. If your device isn't on the list (meaning, if it's not a device the carrier sells branded for their network) you typically won't be able to get it activated without "knowing a guy" or doing something of questionable legality. Even then it's usually unlikely; they want to keep you locked to their network. So from a practical standpoint, it's just not feasible.

Good to know, @eldarerathis. Is it the same with GSM carriers in the States? Most of my mobile phone experience is from England, where the state of mobile affairs seems to much simpler than it is here.

@TreborRude: GSM is pretty similar in the US, but most people simply don't buy unlocked devices like they do in other places (my understanding is that in Europe this is more the norm?). As long as the device supports the right bands and is unlocked, you can pop in a SIM and use it. The only real issue with unlocked GSM devices in the US is that the two biggest GSM carriers don't use the same 3G frequencies, although T-Mobile is gradually re-farming theirs to match AT&T's. You need a device that supports both 3G frequencies if you're not in a re-farmed area or you only get 2G/voice.

@eldarerathis as to the "norm" part: Yes, at least here in Germany non-simlocked phones seem to be the majority. I don't remember ever having had a locked one. But during the last years, I never bought a device from my carrier; only my first two devices came from them (which was more than 10 years ago). I also don't know a single person having a sim-locked device. So this seems very much a "localized issue" (oops -- OK, larger locality :)

I was given the phone because my friend went to another carrier. I under stand that carrier to carrier can;t be done

I understand carrier to carrier can't be done. it's after many hours reading on forums I would like to know if I wanted to use it, other than verizon exactly what are my options? any? The site I first went to [You tube] The author is phone rebel. said root and unlock verizon and Wah Lah! get the sims of your choice. From what you guys are saying this is BS!


text:
What does power saving do exactly?
What changes happen in functioning of the phone after you turn it on?
My device: Samsung S3 Mini

I have a Samsung Note and the power saving will lock the max cpu to 1ghz
 (the cpu is meant to run a 1.6) in your phone would be somenthing similar


text:
nexus S partition scheme, can it be changed?
planning on moving from the Nexus One to the S.
the only thing I don't like about the S is the 512ram and the 1GB for apps.
I tried to search forums, but found nothing relevant about this quesiton:
Is it possible to partition it something like
/system 6Gb
/SD 9Gb
/swap 1Gb

?
i'm comfortable flashing custom roms, but i never dealt with partitions.

I know it's been over a year, but if you still have the Nexus S, I have found a solution. Combined emulated SDcard storage like the Nexus 4. Check the guide here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-s/general/howto-combined-emulated-storage-nexus-s-t2848752

in case the above link disappears, the meat of the answer is to use android LVM2 (ligical volume manager). though i'm almost sure you can do it simpler by just changing regular partitions and boot scripts.
https://github.com/steven676/android-lvm-mod
the original link just outline all the overly complicated steps required to push a new kernel and a few system images and change partition on android. (which will never be a perfect solution because the android vendors never open source all the pieces to compile a perfect kernel for every device...)

thanks! i never got the nexus S because there was no good solution to this dumb design decision :) but thanks a ton for the link! i will try to revive my nexus one with that and put my newer phone for sale! that is the only thing preventing me from still using the perfectly good nexus one

I don't know enough about the first nexus to decide if it is going to work, but I hope you succeed!

While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. Please see Your answer is in another castle: when is an answer not an answer? for more information regarding this policy.

@eldarerathis tried to summarize the most important piece on the answers. thanks for the reminder.

@eldarerathis You are right, it is my first time answering a question.:)

Not sure this helps you 100% as I've never done this on the Nexus S but I did it on the HTC Desire, which the manufacturer gave a laughably small area for user installed apps.  I follows this tutorial:
http://alpharev.nl/
Basically you're using fastboot to put a new hboot down. I suggest googling for more info about these; whether there's an existing one close enough to your requirements, or if it's easy to create them yourself.

Thanks for trying answering, but: HTC and Samsung (Nexus S) are from different manufacturers. The HTC's solution doesn't apply to the Nexus S at all...

The solution does apply - he needs to find a hboot for his device. Obviously he can't use a HTC one, because he doesn't have a HTC device.  That's what the last paragraph is all about.

the answer was correct. moved the accepted answer for posterity just because the new one has a link to the proper model tutorial. thanks it did help at the time.


text:
An existing package by the same name with a conflicting signature is already installed
I'm trying to update (Documents to go Main app) in my device.
When I'm trying to install it an error comes out says an existing package by the same name with a conflicting signature is already installed.
I have root access on my device. Is there anything I can do?

Could it be you originally side-loaded that app from some dubious source, or your update comes from such? One of the two obviously is not from the original developer, hence the signatur mismatch.

I've Documents to go as main app in my tablet and the Play store is restricted in my country so i'm downloading it from one mobile market and after downloading it gave me that , any ways for solve the problem or deleting the app completely ?

First, if there's a signature mismatch and I'm sure the original app comes from a trusted source, I'd doubt the source the "update" comes from: the .apk very likely is manipulated, and might include malware -- so be warned! I do not know the "one mobile market" you've downloaded it from, so I cannot tell for sure.
If you still want to install the new .apk: Yes, removing (uninstalling) the previously installed app and the installing the downloaded version should work. If the first one was installed as a system app, you will need the appropriate system tools to uninstall it (e.g. Titanium Backup  -- which you then could also use to create a backup before removing the app, just in case). Alternatively, if you know the right command line tools, you can do it also via adb shell.
As the app in question does not require to be made a system app, installation can be done normally without any root stuff: just tap the .apk in your file explorer, and let the normal installer do its job.
After that, watch out for any strange behavior -- just in case the .apk introduced malware.

here's my problem i can't remove the system app it just gives me (Disable App) and when i disable it and trying to install the updated one it says (Enable the package) and when i enable it i turn back to my problem

Quoting your question: I have root access on my device. Pointing to the corresponding part in my answer: you will need the appropriate system tools to uninstall it (e.g. Titanium Backup I use TB regularly, so I can vouch for it. Did you try to remove the app with this tool, or with any other such like NoBloat? Sure, Android's own Settings->Apps doesn't let you uninstall system apps :)

This error usually occur when you use a different key while Generate Signed APK, Note: In order to Update your App you need to use the same Key password and key alias of your previous version then Generate the Updated Signed APK.

This site is for end-users of Android not developers. The question is about updating an app that they have downloaded not one they are developing themselves.


text:
Images and videos not readable from SD
first time here and I'm in sort of despair!
I recently purchased a 32GB (class 10) memory card for my Samsung Galaxy S2. All went fine, the card was recognized, I could write and read from it, both, on the computer and the phone so I set it as the default storage for my camera.
The problems start here.
Last week, after shooting some videos, I wanted to check them at home but realized that the videos and some of the photos are not shown, the videos cannot be played by the phone or dropbox player or VLC on computer, jpg's are corrupted too.
I tried formatting the card, but the problem still persists. I'm pretty stumped right now and don't have any ideas on how to fix this.
Any help appreciated, thanks!

This might be some compatibility issue -- despite the fact that it seemed to work fine initially.
It's not the first time I read such in connection with a class-10 card. I'd recommend to get yourself a class-6 (good enough and fast enough -- only in rare cases you would really note any difference), maybe preferably from a different brand than the current class-10, and give that a try.
Chances are very good your trouble will disappear this way.

Great shame to hear this. Are there any chances I could fix my video files and images. I haven't tried any restoring yet, but I guess, if it's a compatibility issue that would mess up the whole file, not just it's headers?

IMHO, most likely the entire file(s) will be corrupted, yes. But you can try using recovery tools. Though I don't know any tools to repair broken images/videos, that does not mean they do not exist. First step of course is to make a 1:1 backup ASAP ("image copy" your card; that's also what forensics specialists do first, to preserve as much of the current state as possible), and then work with the copy while "preserving" the original. This way you can always do a fresh restart without having anything destroyed.


text:
android "market place" hangs on start up
I have Samsung Galaxy s2. After setting up a Google account on my phone and using android market for first time, it shows a notification about removing "market place" application and replace it with "play store". (I live in Iran and Google does not allow me to use play store features). So, I bought a vpn account from Germany, connect to it and download and update to play store. Everything is okay.
After 3 months of using my phone, everything was fine. Last week I restored my phone and all data has been removed. And after setting up a Google account I tried to update market place to play store. But problem is, when I try to start market place, it hangs on start screen, and just show white screen with loader in center of display, after 20 seconds it closed and returned to home screen.
I tried to connect with vpn connection (I thought it's because of country restriction again, but recently my country changed the laws and closed any connections like pptp, l2tp, https, ipsec. Now I just connect with my real ip)
Any help, any comment, any way to update and connect to play store?


text:
Best way for a COMPLETE backup? [Rooted Nexus 4 with stock ROM]
I did a huge amount of googling but the information out there is overwhelming and I either have to get a 1:1 reply on this or try and test different options - which would suck if I fail.
Basically I got a Nexus 4 a few days ago, and I rooted it, staying with the same ROM. Right now there are lots of apps, customisations, user settings, custom desktops and saved passwords/account information. How can I make a 100% backup of all the information so that it's 1:1 with what my phone is right now when I do a restore?
I have made an 'adb backup -apk -shared -all -f' and a clockworkmod recovery backup, I also have the Titanium Backup app, but all of these seem to cover different parts of data to be backed up. Is there a one-stop solution?
Thank you!

I'm afraid there isn't really a "one-stop solution". As you already noticed, all the different backup types have different goals, all of them have their pros and cons (see also our backup tag-wiki for an overview):

while a Nandroid backup covers the entire system at partition-level, it's not the easiest when you want to only restore parts. On its own, it's an all-or-nothing. Luckily, there are other tools which can deal with those backup files: you can restore single apps with Titanium Backup, and even read single files from them (see: How do I view/mount nandroid file on device?).
Titanium Backup covers almost everything on an app-and-settings level, and can read from Nandroid backup files -- but it cannot create a full Nandroid backup. Also, restore between different ROMs can be a little tricky (but that applies to all solutions), at least when it comes to system files. Still, it does a good job even then when using its "migration mode"
ADB backup is a good thing, but only available with Android 4.0 upwards and also restricted to "apps and settings". Additionally, it requires a computer to attach the device to for backup/restore. The latter can be avoided using apps like Helium - App Sync and Backup, which run directly on the device and use ADB as backend.

I found the best solution on rooted devices is a combination of Nandroid (offered e.g. by ClockworkMod Recovery) and Titanium. For non-rooted devices, choices are rare: neither of the two are available there, which leaves the user with ADB backup as the only half-way complete solution.


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Download and Install (aka sideload) Facebook Home APK
I'd like to try out Facebook Home however I don't have an approved device to install it from the Google play store.
I've tried googling this to not avail...where can I download the latest version of the APK released on May 10, 2013 and how can I install it.

There's actually no need to "black hat" or sideload the app. If you can't find it in your Google Play search, or if clicking on "Download" from the http://facebook.com/home page lands you in the Google Play install page but it says your device isn't compatible, then don't worry, there's another way.
I have a Sony Ericsson Xperia P and I googled hard for a solution; then I read that Facebook pushed an update recently which (in addition to adding support for 2 more phones) let's you "Use Home anyways". So how to install Home in the first place, you say? Head on over to 1 Mobile Market (http://www.1mobile.com) and download their app. Once installed (make sure you enable "Allow unknown sources" in your phone's Security settings), look for Facebook Home in the 1 Mobile marketplace and install (again, make sure you can install from unknown sources). It should run automatically once installed and you should see the "Use Home anyways" option.
Facebook Home the legal and official way. Worked great for me! Enjoy!

Using a different marketplace is, essentially, the same as sideloading.


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Disable splashscreen - BOOTLOGO disabled
First off all I must start by saying that I am not an Android Expert.
I Have some android TV box ( not a phone ) which is of some unknown third party chinese vendor . it is already rooted .
I need to personalize it as much as I can, and I have already made the wallpapers, launcher, and bootanimation
The only thing I have left (and the most annoying one ) is the splash screen.
Now, I have read a lot of posts / articles about it , and I even made a rgb656 .img file, but the whole process is very complicated ( and potentially dangerous ).
So now all i want is to totally disable it .
I opened init.ec and there I saw :
...

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH /vendor/lib:system/lib
export ANDROID_BOOTLOGO 1
export ANDROID_ROOT /system

....

So I wonder , does changing the ANDROID_BOOTLOGO 1 to ANDROID_BOOTLOGO 0 will disable the splashscreen ?
Is there any other easy way of doing it ?
Any advice ?
(If you can avoid answers like "try and see" - I am afraid to brick it ..

I don't know if boot_logo = splash_screen in Chinese ;) But I'd say give it a try. I cannot see any reason that it should "brick" anything (while changing one of the other two settings certainly have the potential, this one is not very likely to do so).
As a reference, see this XDA Developers thread which is dealing with that issue:

From what I understand, you need to change the init.rc file in \
setprop ro.kernel.android.bootanim 0
setprop debug.sf.nobootanimation 1
or simply change export ANDROID_BOOTLOGO 1 to export ANDROID_BOOTLOGO 0 also in init.rc
However, all changes to init.rc are gone after restarting the phone....

Which brings up another information: It's very likely that your init.rc resides on a RAM disk, so those changes will have no effect at all. In that case, you would have to modify the boot image (boot.img). I never did that, but this carries potential to entirely brick it (as it happened to the guy in the linked XDA thread, by the way).

Thanks for the info. I have already tried it before your answer, and you are correct. the changes disappear after boot. I am almost sure there is some default location where one could put an image with a default name ( like boot.img, or splash.img or whatever ) but it seems that those locaation change with kernels , And I really do not know where mine is (or whatthe name would be )

Yes, that's also correct -- and there're even apps on the playstore for this (just searching for "splash boot" will turn up some, amongst some unrelated stuff). Maybe they work on your device?

Thanks , But those are usually very device specific . I already actually made an image , and I was planning of just put it inside any folder until I will find the right one , but there is one problem and it is that I do not know the boot resolution . And if I will make the wrong size , it can actually brick the device ( or not brick, but prevent boot completion )

Yepp: better safe than sorry. As I'm not experienced with that, I have to leave it to someone else.


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Sunspider : performance of 3rd party apps relative to stock browser
Hi my aim is to get an idea of the slowdown 3rd party apps face on android, relative to the stock browser, on the SunSpider JavaScript benchmarks. In this post I would like to focus on Twitter since it is available on both iPhone and android.
As everyone is aware there are restrictions on iOS which means that 3rd party apps perform significantly slower on JavaScript functionality relative to Safari (the stock browser on iPhone).
I have an iPhone 4S with iOS 6.1.3. When I run the benchmark SunSpider 1.0 JavaScript Benchmark (see lower down for how I run SunSpider inside Twitter) then I get the following :

Safari : 1833ms +/- 1.3%
  Twitter  : 6900.1ms +/- 0.3% (Chrome browser etc also perform around this time).

Therefore I see a slowdown of 6900.1/1833 = 3.7 times.
What sort of slowdown do people get on Android (when comparing Twitter to the stock android browser)?
Note I run sunspider inside twitter by doing a search for "sunspider
h". Then the 5th result from the top is :

"The H - News
  JavaScript benchmark Sunspider reaches version 1.0..."

I click the hyperlink and then in the resulting webpage scroll down to
the hyperlink in the line : "The new version of Sunspider is available
to use...". In this way I run sunspider from within Twitter.

On Android depending on the version the 'stock browser' could be a generic Browser or on newer versions it's Chrome. I think (not totally sure) that if you're comparing the generic Browser to in app speed you'll find they're the same since they both use WebViews. EDIT: Check out http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7373585/android-webview-vs-phone-browser apparently the Browser is different for each manufacturer as they change the code.

Wow, nice to know that there is potentially no slowdown on Android. Thanks

I've just tried opening a web link in Twitter and it opened in Chrome so not sure Twitter has in-app browsing. Just tried it in the Reddit Is Fun app (since I knew it had in-app browsing) and got a score of 1720ms and on Chrome I get 1747ms... Which seems odd. I'd have thought Chrome would be faster. I can post up the screen shots of the results if this does as an answer for you.

@Peanut
Hi thanks for your benchmark results. Strange that Twitter on iphone has in-app browser but doesnt on android. I am quite impressed with your results. Which phone do you use? No need for the screenshots. Thank you.

Which seems odd. I'd have thought Chrome would be faster Why? This is wrong assumption, Chrome is usually slower.

As I mentioned in the comments the Twitter app doesn't seen to have an in-app browser so I'm using the Reddit Is Fun app instead since I know it does. I think that all in-app browsing uses a WebView so it should be the same across all apps. The WebView and Chrome both use the WebKit engine but Chrome seems to use a more up-to-date one. I tried out SunSpider on a few different devices and on the S2 with the Browser.
Nexus 7
Running Android 4.2.2, Chrome 26.0.1410.58
Chrome: 1747ms (WebKit 537.31)
In-app: 1720ms (WebKit 534.30)

Nexus S
Running Android 4.1.2, Chrome 18.0.1025.166,
Chrome: 3443.7ms (WebKit 535.19)
In-app: 4307.1ms (WebKit 534.30)

Samgsung Galaxy S2
Running Android 4.1.1 Resurrection Remix v3.8 ROM.
Browser: 1488.8ms (WebKit 534.30)
In-app: 1614.2ms (WebKit 534.30)

I ran the tests twice as I was suprised at the speed of the Galaxy S2 compared to the Nexus 7 but got roughly the same figures.


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Control Android device from PC
I have built an Android app which is locked in landscape orientation. I want to have a live view of my mobile on my PC to make a demonstration of my app. The problem is that the screen doesn't show properly.
I have tested some apps like Droid VNC Server and Airdroid but the problem is that my app's screen is rotated 90 degrees and it seems that these apps were showing my landscape app in portrait mode.
Is there any solution?

Try using TeamViewer for Remote Control. It offers Screen cast functionality.

Provide technical remote support to your android devices using the TeamViewer QuickSupport app and the TeamViewer Host app for Android.

Examples of what the app enables you to do include pushing Wi-Fi settings to the device, transferring files to the device, or controlling the device remotely. Remote control (in the classical sense of a TeamViewer remote control session) is currently available for devices from the following manufacturers:

Samsung
Sony
Acer
Asus (for business customers)
Lenovo
LG
HTC
ZTE

My experiences were the best with scrcpy.
It works over an adb connection, but this adb connection can happen both on an USB connection, and also over wifi (for really hardcore guys, even over VPN).

You might want to take a look at the droidVNC-NG project. The Android VNC server app droidVNC-NG reached version 1.0.0 in early 2021 and we are now looking for contributors to further improve the code and add features.

There are many apps for remote controlling Android mobile. You can also try screencasting. Windows 10 has pre-installed software for Android screen mirroring.

On Windows 10, click on Start / Connect. You can check here about your device's remote connect support.

Turn on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on a Windows computer and mobile.
Go to Settings (Win + I) / Devices. Add Bluetooth devices.

Select Wireless Display.

Press Win + P to project the Windows' screen.

Select duplicate. Your computer screen appears on mobile.

On Google Chrome, you can get add-on tools for connecting mobile and computer. Chrome Remote Desktop and TeamViewer are the apps you can use.

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


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Using busybox telnet, teminal emulator and ubuntu
I want to conrol android command line (Jackpal's Terminal) using busybox telnet. With Spartacus Rex' Terminal ide telnet works but cant get out of 'application's context.' So I want to use Jackpal's since I have superuser privileges(i think i do :) ) But whenever I try to connect with telnet (tried on both) I get connection refused error. Any thoughts?


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Nexus one gapps not working ( Evervolv 4.2 JellyBean)
So I have phone (Google nexus one) with installed Evervolv 4.2 (Jelly bean), and I want google apps to be installed. But when I try to install them, either error pops up "Setup wizard has stopped" or nothing happens ( no apps installed ). What do I need to do? Where can I get good gapps to install?
Thanks!

Are you sure your GApps archive matches your Android version? As you did not point out what GApps package you installed, that's just a guess.


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How can I find obb folder in a rooted device to copy a game's sd data files and play game?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S2. Before I rooted my phone and I played games like Modern Combat 4, Virtue Tennis, Need for Speed Most Wanted and The Dark Knight Rises. These are games' sd data, I copied in obb folder.
Now I've rooted my phone and I want to install those games but I cant find obb folder in my device. Where do I copy the game's sd data? Can I play these kind of games in a rooted device?

Here is a backup tool by Koushik Dutta (aka Koush) : Helium Backup
Using this you can backup complete app including data and restore it back. Just backup on your device, copy the files to your other device and restore it back.
I've tested it personally and it works flawlessly on non rooted devices.
Try this and let me know if you face any issues.

Even if you didn't find it, that shouldn't be a problem. Just create a new folder. Name it OBB, and copy your game content in there.

Create that obb folder in Android folder.


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Is there anyway to increase the bass in Jelly Bean?
I know the iphone had a similar feature built in. I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S4 with Android version 4.2.2

Have you tried to use one of the many equalizer apps at Google Play?

@Izzy Ah, perfect!

You can access the built-in graphic equalizer by going to Settings, then Sound, then Audio effects.


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How do i fix low storage space so i don't have to reset my phone?
I have an android Samsung Intercept SPH-M910 and I have read all the directions for resetting and clearing apps and cache. However I still have to reset my phone every three days because the low storage error comes back because what I have cleared out doesn't seem to really clear.
I have gone to settings and then applications, but there is no storage space after that... it is however after settings but does not let me change anything it just shows how much is available. How can I get my internal storage back to normal?

Which steps exactly have you performed? If just clearing cache, that won't be enough for long (as it re-fills). Your device only ships with 512 MB storage altogether, part of that certainly being reserved for the OS; so I'm afraid you'll have to sort out some apps to avoid the "low storage" problem.

move the big application installed in the internal memory to sd card and clear cache .. with some appz like ccleaner for android..

CCleaner for Android hasn't been released, to my knowledge. If it has, then a link to the app would be helpful.


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Should I Skip Recovery Installation Step From CyanogenMod ROM
I have a rooted Galaxy S2 (i9100) . I've root it with CF-ROOT . Now superSU and CWM installed and there is a yellow exclamation on boot screen. When i boot my phone with VOLUME UP + HOME + POWER button, there is a screen which has title : CWM-based Recovery v5.5.0.4 .
Other details about my phone :

Model : GT-i9100
Android : 4.0.4
Baseband Version : I9100XXLQ6
Kernel Version : 3.0.15-I9100XWLPU-CL975203 dpi@DELL167 #3 SMP PREEMT Mon Jul 30 18:18:51 KST 2012 (This is weird because i'm from Turkey and I9100XWLPU firmware not Turkey's firmware. This firmware installed to my phone at Samsung's local technical service. Here a list of Turkey's firmwares.)
Build : IMM76D.XWLPU

Now here my questions :

Should i skip Installing a custom recovery on Galaxy S II section on here : http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_i9100 ? (Because i have CWM recovery mode)
I'm worried about warning on this screen : http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/I9100_Info . Warning starting with Some second-generation Samsung Exynos devices are potentially susceptible to a "superbrick" ...  It is highly recommended you do not perform this operation while using a stock kernel . I know meaning of bricking but not sure about superbrick . Also i couldn't understand what they mean with stock kernel. Is this really dangerous ? Can't we (or Samsung's technical service) fix superbricked phone?

You can check whether you're susceptible by installing this app - Exynos Mem Bug Checker.
Next - installing a custom kernel isn't all that difficult and neither is it too risky if you know what you're doing.
For the S2 - Siyah kernel and Dorimanx kernel are the two most popular ones. However, the latest kernels are meant for Android 4.2.x and higher. So, use the correct version for your OS. Should you decide to install a custom ROM like CyanogenMod or Paranoid Android etc., it will install a kernel with a recovery too (as an example - Siyah and Dorimanx - which is based on Siyah - have a touch based recovery, so you can scroll through the options by touch instead of repeatedly clicking the volume buttons to scroll as in CyanogenMod or others).
The CF-Root kernel that you installed to root the S2 is a modified stock kernel, IIRC. Therefore, it might be susceptible to the Superbrick / eMMC bug.

,i just install mem bug checker app and result  : device IS affected . Is it mean i can't / shouldn't install Cyanogenmod ?

Also as a second question, you said cfroot kernel bad for Cyanogenmod. So should i install siyah or dorimanx before try cyanogenmod.

No...my device is also affected by the brick bug. It's rare and it only affects devices that are running the stock Samsung kernel. If you do flash another kernel / ROM, your device will no longer be susceptible to this bug. And to clarify - I have NEVER said that cfroot is bad for CM. Once you install CM, it'll install CM kernel.

i should install another ROM and then install CM over this. Did  i understand it well? Sorry for English

No...you can choose to continue with the original, stock Samsung ROM and merely install a compatible kernel. If you do choose to install CyanogenMod, it will install the CM kernel as well.

But you said, it's a little risky using stock kernel (also there is a warning on page about this). Sorry maybe i misunderstood because of my English.

You are susceptible to the superbrick bug due to the stock Samsung kernel. There's always a miniscule risk that something might go wrong. In 99.99% of cases, things are never so bad that the device can't be brought back to life. There are thousands of users who have successfully rooted their devices/ installed kernels / ROMs etc. Everyone starts somewhere, @Eray . HOWEVER, if you're at all uncomfortable, don't proceed.

let us continue this discussion in chat


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How can I control media volume from a 3-button in-line remote?
I have the standard HTC RC-E160 headset with 3 buttons and a mic. I can use the button in the middle to pause and play music tracks, and I can use the buttons on each side to jump to next or previous track. Is there a way I can use these buttons to increase or decrease the volume? I am thinking maybe something like quickly pressing one of the buttons two times to increase the volume by one increment? Is something like this possible?
Maybe I need a Bluetooth headset? Or a wired headset with a 5 button remote control?
I am using MortPlayer Music as my primary music player and it has some options to set the button action for the headset but I see no options for volume control.

You can use a headset controller app from the playstore (e.g. Jays or Philips Headset or HeadsetButton Controller) to use the "middle button" for that. Might take a few tries to find the correct app (if one doesn't work fine, try another -- I did the same and finally found one working perfectly, see my answer here). I'm not sure if they affect the other two buttons at all, or if you even could configure them -- but they allow me (having a headset with a single button) to perfom all the most necessary functions like play/pause, skip, vol+ and vol- with a single button.

My HTC headset control buttons have stopped working. I thought it was because of my recent installation of SuperNova ROM on the phone, and maybe some headphone background service or process not working properly, but it turned out that the cable was chewed up (from inside) at the point it enters the jack. I originally used my Sony headphones with this phone, but the left one got broken. Now I have used my original HTC headset that came with the phone and it only lasted about 5 months or so.

Well, this solution should work with your replacement headset (which you certainly have to buy now) as well :)

Thanks for the answer. I looked into the a-Jays One+ and the companion app. I don't think it's for me. I don't like flat cables and also it's not very good for sports. The Philips ActionFit series with 3 buttons seems like a better option, and also the companion app seems to be very good.

I tried the Headset Button Controller app. It has a lot of options and I like that. But it interferes with my music app. I used MortPlayer Music during the test. This app has some headset control options already built in to it. Is there no dedicated option in Android that controls which apps get priority?... I couldn't find such option. If you have more than one music app they will interrupt each other. I also experienced some delay, like 2 to 3 seconds, after pressing a button to go to next track and then hearing the track.

I'm not sure if it's possible to disable headset control in MortPlayer Music. But any such app should have this option, in my opinion, otherwise they will conflict with other such apps.

How do you get around this? You just install the music app you plan on using and no other apps? I will wait for the Sony SBH50, and then maybe get some extra pair of sports headphones to use with it. My research shows that a Bluetooth enabled controller is the only way you can take full control of music playback on Android (track control, volume, play, pause, stop). It needs to be a five button controller.

I don't know about mort player (never used it). But with some of those controler apps, you can configure which music app they shall use. I don't remember any conflict when having multiple music players installed; it always controled the one already running.

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, some of the apps are like that. As long as you stay within the app (having the app in the foreground) it's all cool. But some of the apps (or I should say all of them) allow you to have it running in the background and still play music, and some of them will automatically play a song when you plug in a headset or pause it when you unplug the headset. This can be cool sometimes. But for some reason I end up in the wrong music app when doing this. Or when I press the button the wrong player starts to play.

Is there nothing like "set default X app" where X stands for things like Music, Web, Video, etc. in Android? Like you have "standard programs" in Windows and "open with" et. al.? No such thing in Android? A central control panel where you can decide who does what? What button triggers what app, what action etc.?

I think this is all cumbersome, with these 3 button controllers. I liked the old 90's era Sony MD/CD Walkman idea much better, where dedicated, flashy controllers allowed you to do just about anything. Not only did they have Next/Previous/Volume/Play/Pause they also had dedicated Stop, Hold, Menu, backlit LCD, instant action, no delays and no gimmicks. They costed a bunch but they were much easier and effective than these iPhone/Android weird half-baked solutions where not even a 3-ring TRS jack is not the same across all brands.

Hell! You could even control people with those things! :) That's control, right there!


text:
How is an Android application installed?
What program installs other applications? Is it the package installer or some other internal system application? I stopped the package installer manually, but when I access Google Play from my browser and install an app from there, it automatically installs regardless.
What application or process is responsible for installing applications from the Google Play Store?

What are you actually trying to achieve?

I'm fairly certain it's PackageInstaller.apk that handles the installation of apps. It's in /system/apps. This is the interface that gives you the option of cancel/install and reads you the permissions.
However, installing directly from the Google Play store you bypass those screens and it's a direct download. It's seemingly downloads and installs the apk directly to your device's data without the Package Installer.
Hope that helps. If you provide more info on what you'd like to accomplish, then we can assist you further.


text:
Reset application specific or phone-wide default image folder
I was browsing with the official Facebook app and when sending a picture to a friend I used SkyDrive as the folder where to choose my files from. Then I accidentally made it the default folder. So now, whenever I want to send an image, the app always directs me to SkyDrive instead of getting it from the phone's gallery.
I already tried resetting to defaults and deleting the data of the app, but that didn't work. That's why I think it might be a phone-wide setting. I just can't seem to figure it out.
Phone is a Desire X, running Android 4.1.1.

Did you reset the defaults for SkyDrive?

A possible solution is to reset all the defaults:
Settings > Apps > Menu > Restore App preferences (or something, I have a Dutch version installed)


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How can I stop Google Play Music from automatically downloading my library?
I listened to some of my music library on Google Play for the first time, and unbeknownst to me, it started to download the whole library (12,00 plus tracks) to my phone, completely using up my storage. I can't find ANYTHING that allows me to stop it or limit it's downloading. Has anyone else had similar problems?

If you are using the Google Play Music app Touch Menu on your device and see if Keep on device is checked. If yes uncheck it. You can also touch the blue pin to stop making it available offline. For more information on this go to https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/1250232?hl=en

I found this article below that was helpful for cleaning up what I didn't want and keeping the free music that I did want. Instructions:

Select "Free and Purchased" in the left side menu (or where ever the menu is, google may change this tomorrow :P )
You can then use shift-click to select multiple items.
(Shift-click: Hold shift down and then click the top song to delete, scroll to the bottom and hold shift again and click the last song you want to delete.)

https://productforums.google.com/d/msg/apps/E3mRmjLwMjk/SfYzCXb33WwJ


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Sprint Galaxy S4. Javascript required random popup
I get a random popup on my S4.  "Javascript required" and then it gives me instructions to enable Java on various browsers. This error has nothing to do with me actively using a browser on the phone.
How do I cure this?  Thank you.

Any app you've recently installed, which could be connected to that? Could be some misconfigured ad-module or, might be, even some malicious code introduced with that.


text:
How could I view that Android Screen on a computer or larger screen
How can I display my Android ICS Samsung Galxy S3 Screen on a Laptop or Monitor Screen? Are there any fast quick programs which do this?

Related questions: Solutions for connecting phone/tablet to a bigger monitor?, How do I project the screen of my android phone for a presentation?, How can I view my phone's screen on a computer in real time?

Welcome to the Android Enthusiasts, Anton! Have you tried clicking on the tags you've just assigned to your question? the external-display seems like a good candidate -- and true, in its most frequented questions it turns up e.g. Can I connect an Android phone to an external monitor, keyboard and mouse? -- which sounds quite promising :)

There are lot of apps to do that. One is droid@screen; you need to have access to Android development toolkit for that though.
Extremely sorry for not providing the links, here are the links
droid@screen http://droid-at-screen.ribomation.com/ please install the USB drivers of you phone, instructions about how to use it is given there on the site.
If it asks for ADB you need to download Android SDK from here http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html (Got to other platforms, download SDK. ) ADB will be present in platforms tools inside the SDK

Parry, a beginner might look helpless at your "one-liner". Mind to explain it with some more words? (and no, the downvote is not mine ;)

If possible, please also provide a link to the app.

@all added the links to original reply

I vouch for droid at screen, you can even show 2 connected phones at the same time!

Well, recently Teamviewer came out with something called Teamviewer QuickSupport...
For your android device, go to
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teamviewer.quicksupport.market.samsung&hl=en
then download it onto your android. then go to www.teamviewer.com, download teamviewer, install it for free use, and then create an account. then, on your android, click on the quicksupport app. it will open and give you a number. open teamviewer and type in that number. it will connect. voila!

I use cable from galaxy's audio jack to projectors video input...

From the audio jack to the projector's video input? How does that work?

How do you do that?! Please explain

Some older phones support connecting a 3.5mm video out plug to the headphone jack, which gives an RCA connection. See this article for an example using Galaxy S. But as far as I know, newer phones like the S3 don't support this anymore, only digital AV out over MHL.

I use Screen Stream. It sends my screen to VLC.
I am happy with it.

I Use A/V cable connected from android jack out and tv in

With a Galaxy S3? Most of the newer phones only support digital video out via MHL, not analog video out like the older models.


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Can I install Ruby and Ruby on Rails on an Android?
Aware that this is a bit mental, but can I install Ruby on a Galaxy S4 running Jelly Bean 4.2? A console where I can install gems, rake routes and run the Rails server, and browse to my application by putting 0.0.0.0.3000 into Chrome?
Would be excellent for testing little ideas and concepts I have while on the go!
Aware that Android isn't UNIX, but good God if they can install it on Windows, they can install it anywhere!

You have some good answers below, any reason why you have not upvoted them ?

The Android Scripting Environment said to plan on Ruby. Might be worth a check how far they got; at least they're tagged "JRuby" at Google Code. According to their project page:

Scripts can be run interactively in a terminal, in the background, or via Locale. Python, Perl, JRuby, Lua, BeanShell, JavaScript, Tcl, and shell are currently supported, and we're planning to add more.

But be also aware of:

SL4A is designed for developers and is alpha quality software.

An interesting article on this topic which you might want to read is Hacking Android during the holidays. It describes an (successful) attempt to setup and use SL4A to be used with a.o. Ruby.

this can be done

Compile Ruby and Nodejs for android
Install on device and configure with c/c++ ide (You can use C4droid,CCTools,Terminal IDE.... for installing the expansion modules on с/с++)
Install rails ($gem install rails)

example:

(Click image to enlarge)

As for ruby, you may try Termux.
With batteries included. Can you imagine a more powerful yet elegant pocket calculator than a readline-powered python console? Up-to-date versions of perl, python, ruby and node.js are all available.

In theory, yes you could do this, but there would be some significant limitations. You'll almost certainly need a rooted Android device.
For instance, you wouldn't be able to just gem install anything and have it work. The problem is, the phone is too resource-limited to run a compiler, so you can't compile either Ruby, or any gem that needs native libraries.
So the first way I'd go about this would be to cross-compile ruby and RubyGems with the Android NDK and then side-load them onto the device. At this point you've got ruby and gem and can start experimenting.

Actually, I modified CyanogenMod to create empty "/bin, /lib, /usr, /var, /svr, /home, /media, etc, etc" and then modified "${source_root}/system/core/include/private/android_filesystem_config.h" to include rules for the directories and then modified my external sdcard so it wouldn't mount as fuse or with the sticky bit set (it would set root:sdcard_rw ownership to all file inside) and after start up I ran a script that mounted the Linux arm root directories on the external sdcard to the empty versions in Android's root. The embedded version of glibc was used with a Kali Linux armhf chroot image I created, but it didn't have ruby or metasploit. So I followed some directions about compiling ruby 1.9.3 with svn or something and then used that to install metasploit, the only thing was that postgresql didn't work because socket and file creation are very permission sensitive and sockets may have been involved, so no postgres database, have yet to try to connect to a db on another host though. Apache2 worked, I did the whole /etc/init.d/apache2 start and viola, "It Works!" you know that if you've seen it.
So in short, yes, you can compile ruby and many more programs on Android, glibc just has to be available, ie /lib directory and contents on Linux.
And as a side note, I used a Galaxy S III Sprint with 2GB of RAM. Python works great, I just started experimenting with Unix sockets with python, they connected in /sdcard but I need to learn more about Android's security policies on sockets and database creation before I move any further with getting metasploit and working with a database working on Android + glibc.

authors: Петър Георгиев С.


text:
Can I flash my carrier-locked phone to a firmware for a different region and/or carrier?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 (I9050) which is locked to the EE network in the United Kingdom.
Its firmware PDA ends with "MDD" and the carrier code is "EVR".
There is a newer firmware available for region: Germany at this page whose PDA is I9505XXUAMDM.
Can I flash my device with this firmware and use it in the UK? Do I need to be rooted and/or unlocked to do this?

Possibly relevant: Can I use my device on a different carrier?


text:
How can I install Jelly Bean on a Micromax Funbook P275?
I have a Micromax Funbook P275 tablet with Android 4.0.4 ICS installed, and I want to install 4.2 Jelly Bean on it, using this guide.
Since the P275 doesn't have hardware buttons for volume up/down, how can I scroll up/down in the recovery mode without the hardware buttons? The only ones on my device are the Home and the Power button.

The keys that has been mentioned are used by ClockworkMod Recovery console to change selection. There are other version of ClockworkMod that are touch based, which does not need these volume buttons. Alternatively TWRP can also be used instead of ClockworkMod which is fully touch based. As far as I searched, I could not find TWRP exclusively for P275. BTW, what happens if you go into recovery mode now with stock ROM (powering up while holding home and power keys)? Do you get an option to install ROM/Zip?

Your question should have been "How do I scroll up/down on Micromax Funbook P275?"; because that's your concern, not installing Jelly Bean.

Flashing CWM recovery directly from your Micromax Funbook.
This method is for those who do not want to use a computer to flash cwm recovery or do not have access to a computer to do the same.
Give me credits only for the method. Not for the app and the recovery image.
Things Required:-

Data Connection on your Tablet. (via WIFI)
An file manager that supports archives. Eg ES File Explorer.
A Usable and working mind.

Steps:-

Download the necessary files from here.
Extract the file to the root of your "internal sd card" and you will get 2 file First "Novotools_v1.0" and the Second "recovery.img".
Install the app Novotools_v1.0.
Run Novotools and you will see and option Flash Recovery
Click it and the recovey will be flashed onto your phone.
Reboot in recovery with the help of the application or the old method by Holding the Home/Options and the Power button.
Now you have fully functional CWM recovery.

Using this custom CWM, you can scroll in the funbook recovery mode using the menu button alone.


text:
View Google Books in Android mobiles?
Is it possible to see Sample Preview or Full Google Books, in Android devices?
Do we have an app for that?
I have Android 4.2 in my Micromax Ninja A89.
Small parts of all books are viewable in Google Books, they call it "(Sample) Preview", I want to be able to see this preview in Android, even if I am not able to download, I want to view it with an active internet connection in my mobile.

There is a Google-made app with almost exactly that name, that does let you read Google Books on your Android device, Google Play Books. I'm pretty sure that should do what you want.

Google play books is to read the full books that you have purchased on Google Play and free samples of the books available in Google Play. It does not supports Google Books.

@user221287 ahh so you're specifically after the ones in Google Books that specify "No eBook available", and don't have a PDF download option available for them? I'm pretty sure that if they don't show up in when you use the advanced search tips here http://support.google.com/books/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=44664 then you can't download them to read on your device. Downloadable books will be in PDF format, and can be read by using one of the PDF reader apps available.

Small parts of all books are view-able in Google Books, they call it "(Sample) Preview", I want to be able to see this preview in android, even if I am not able to download, I want to view it with an active internet connection in my mobile.


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Android Music Player is not detecting Music files
I copied music files from my computer to my Galaxy Nexus phone, using the command adb push Music /sdcard/Music/, and the stock Android music player is not detecting these files (while others do). I'm able to view these files in my Android file manager application, but when I mount my phone as an MTP device, the music folder is empty.
Is it related to partitioning? I see two partitions with the same content, /storage/emulated/0/ and /storage/emulated/legacy/.

The "two partitions" are one and the same: as your device runs Android 4.2 and thus is multi-user capable, the /storage/emulated/legacy/ simply points to the storage of the currently logged-in user, which is /storage/emulated/0/. For the rest, see GAThrawn's answer below: until the Media Scanner indexed the new files, the Music Player is unable to see them.

I'm pretty sure that while adb push works to get the files there, it's not the supported way to get media files onto your Android device. This means that it doesn't set the flag that tells the Media Scanner that new media which needs it's meta-data indexed and added to the media library has arrived on your device.
One way to force the media scanner to rescan your storage is to just run an app like Rescan SD after you've copied the files over.


text:
Wow, my Android OS used 1.75GB in 5 days
I just purchased a samsung galaxy s2 from Virgin Mobile on the 7th of May 2013. Have it activated on the 8th of May 2013. Can anyone tell me why my Android OS would have used up 1.75 GB of data in that amount of time. Not to mention the slow data speeds I am  receiving I could barely download anything unless I waited a very long time and had very poor internet connections. was constantly getting webpage not available every time I used the Google search. Have had many conversations with virgin mobile to no avail. Can anyone help or at least explain to me what is happening here?

If you're speaking of 1,75GB data being transfered (and not of 1,75GB of storage used up), and at the same time speaking of "slow data speed", that's almost a contradiction: at an average 2G speed of 100kBit, that would mean a ~40.8h transfer. Maybe it felt slow to you (as background transfers used most of your bandwidth, see GAThrawn's answer)? You also didn't specify what kind of connection (2g/3g/4g) you have, what speed limit your provider has set, and what volume your data plan includes before getting throttled.

Phones always use more data than normal in the first day or so, particularly if you didn't connect it to wifi while it was being set up.
Things that happen in the first day will be checking for (and downloading and installing) OS updates (which can be large), downloading and installing new apps (some of which could be large), syncing data down from the cloud to apps for the first time, syncing data and apps down from backed up Android data to your device.
You might also want to see these previous questions for more info:

How to monitor the amount of data traffic?
Minimizing data usage for users with data caps

Well, I'm guessing you went to the "Data Usage" option in the Settings Menu in order to find out how much data has been transferred.
If so, this screen will also list each of the applications that participated in that transfer and how much each one has transferred. Look for the one(s) that did most of this huge transfer.
If they're non-standard apps (like Chrome, Maps, etc), disable them: Settings->Apps->All, click on app, click "Disable" and "Force Stop". Or better yet just uninstall them.
If they are standard apps, but you thing they're doing a lot more transfer than they should (i.e. Chrome transferring 1 gb in one day) you may have some virus or exploit or something like that. In that case you could try one ofthe AV programs:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Android+Antivirus&hl=en
though I've never tried any of those myself so I can't tell you how good they are. One other way to go in this situation is to wipe out everything (do a factory reset).

I finally found the solution, the problem is from apps running in the background. I'.m using the S4 on Android 4.2.2
This fixed the problem for me Got to SETTINGS\CONNECTIONS\DATA USAGE scroll and you will see all App's running and their offending data usage on the right of the screen. In my case vMYeyePro was using large amounts of background data 1.2gb in  a week. Tap on the App scroll to the bottom and you will see RESTRICT BACKGROUND DATA put a tick in this box and Voilà
Jobe done


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LG P710 Optimus L7 II keep turning off the WiFi
I just bought my first Android phone, a LG P710 Optimus L7 II. I love it.
Just one problem. For some reason, when i haven't used the phone for a little while, the WiFi disconnects. In Settings> WiFi> Advanced the 'Keep WiFi on during sleep' is set to 'Always'. So i don't understand why it turns itself off.
Any help would be fantastic
Thanks


text:
Reset Chrome website permissions
How can I reset website permissions on Chrome for Android?
I have face detection software hosted on my home server (192.168.1.7:8020), and if I go to 192.168.1.7:8020/face-detection.html I used to get a notification about my tablet camera usage. Every time I clicked "allow" it would work.
But I missed "allow" button today and clicked "reject". Now I can't find where or how to reset media permissions for this particular page/site.
I'm on Nexus 10 with Android 4.2.2 (3.4.5-gaf9c307) using Chrome 26.0.1410.58 with WebRTC flag on.

I'd imagine clearing the cache/data would work but you'd also lose everything else, I'd hope there's a better way.

@Peanut Thought about this too while was posting but let's wait maybe there's another way

Try this:
Menu - Settings - Content settings - Website settings
From there you can clear data for individual sites.
If that doesn't work, maybe look into Remote USB Debugging: https://developers.google.com/chrome-developer-tools/docs/remote-debugging

Thanks, I tried "Website Settings" already but I think (probably I'm wrong) Chrome doesn't track sites that don't have fqdn, so my 192.168.1.X aren't on the list. Will look into Remote Debug.

You can't clear website settings. This is a major oversight in my opinion.


text:
Remove internet access for pre-installed apps that you can't disable
I don't like any of the bloat-ware that comes pre-installed with my phone. I don't understand why carriers think they're helping me by putting it on there and not letting me take it off. When they let you disable it, it is at least a step in the right direction. But certain apps can't be disabled. The worst part is that they use up data without being able to turn it off.
I want to disable internet access for pre-installed apps, is this possible?

It sounds like one of these previous questions is related to what you're after: Preventing mobile data use for select apps on non-rooted phone?, or Allow only specific apps to use cell data, only when on 3G, or Block apps from accessing the Internet on Android device

With Android 4.x you can Disable carrier installed applications by going to the Settings -> Applications and select the app. You should then see "Disable" for the application.
Now, Samsung has found a way to prevent some applications to not be disabled, like their Launcher, Email client, stock browser.
You can also go to Settings -> Data usage and select the application and choose "Restrict background data". This will prevent the application from using the mobile network, but if you are on wifi, it will allow it network access.

The problem is that the ones using all the data is not disable as I disabled as much crapware as possible. I'm over wifi a lot but it's limited as well.


text:
How do I get my HTC Desire out of the boot loop?
I just screwed up my HTC Desire. I had some low memory issues so I decided to power it off. I then went into 'recovery', and then 'mounts and storage', and then 'mount /sd-ext'. At this point it went all black, I guess in order to mount it, and showed me the menu again. I remember that an 'unmount' option appeared. I think I did 'mount /sdcard' then. I then chose reboot system now.
Since I did this, there is the HTC Quietly Brilliant white splash screen appearing and the phone is booting, I hear the HTC signature boot up melody, and then it starts to loop at this point. It doesn't stop until I pull out the battery.
The phone is rooted, s-offed, has stock ROM with Sense, and AlphaRev Recovery.
What should I do to make it boot again? I don't want to do any formatting or data wipes. I have unsaved personal data. I don't have a fresh backup.
Update:
I have managed to boot it now. I used both options in CWM recovery to wipe both regular "cache" and Dalvik cache. And then I chose to rebooted. It took very long time to boot.
I am presented with following problems now.

There is this message saying

Not enough storage space for SMS/MMS
Your phone's storage is almost full. You...

Crash

The application Google Services Framework has stopped working
  (process com.google.process.gapps) has stopped unexpectedly. Please
  try again.

Crash

The application Facebook (process com.facebook.katana) has stopped
  unexpectedly. Please try again.

Low on space

Phone storage space is getting low.

Missing apps! Google apps are apparently not available. I think this has to do with that Services Framework thing crashing. There were some other apps crashing as well, I think they were just some minor apps, I didn't catch on to note them down, apps were crashing like on a production line.

The reason why so many apps are missing I think is because I used an app called Link2SD which makes symbolic links for Dalvik cache, libraries and for the APK of apps. It moves these to the SD card, and tricks the system into thinking that they are present on the internal memory. I don't see the Link2SD app icon any more. Can I recover these somehow?...
Where do I go from here? Do I rescue what I can, or do I try to fix the problem? Essentially, do I save myself or do I extinguish the fire?
Update:
I had to manually install Play Store using ADB from the computer. I used it to download and install the missing apps I needed to backup the most important data. I then flashed a new custom ROM on the phone.

I've just added the boot-loop tag to your question (as you describe that as being your problem). You might want to check the boot-loop tag-wiki for some first-aid information, and also take a look at its most frequented questions.

I will do that, thanks. Is there a non-destructive way to recover from a boot loop? Most of the methods I have reviewed online involve either flashing or performing a factory restore, and clearing/wiping cache and user data.

Also, I'm not sure if this is a boot loop problem at all. Like I said, it started as a memory issue. Most HTC devices I have seen on YouTube that are stuck in boot loop start to loop as soon as the HTC logo appears. On my device I can see the "Quietly Brilliant" animation and hear the start up melody. So I'm thinking it maybe fails to mount /system or /data. Is there a way I can clear this out a little bit, manually, so it's not low on memory?

What is a "force-close-loop" as mentioned in the linked page?

non-destructive: wiping cache, wiping dalvik-cache. Dalvik-Cache will be rebuilt at the next startup (it's just optimized code of the apps installed), and cache either holds temporary files only. Boot-Loop: If it loops instead of simply getting stuck, i.e. the boot-process repeats. Force-Close-Loop: an app starts, crashes with a "unfortunately..has stopped", gets force-closed, and all that starts over in a loop.

How do I know when the phone is in safe mode? I assume this is not the same thing as the HBOOT menu? On HTC website they say that for my specific phone I should power it off, then "briefly press the Power button to turn on the phone" and "while the phone powers on, press and hold the Volume down button until the phone loads the OS". What happens is the white HTC screen stays for a little longer without starting to loop, then goes a little darker (reads my brightness settings), but then starts looping again.

I have the "Why so serious" with Joker logo when I enter recovery. It's custom recovery by AlphaRev, version 2.5.1.8 based on CWM (clockwork mod). Can I use this to make a backup of my contacts, messages, calendar, app data, etc? Maybe a full blown image backup?

There is an option called 'wipe cache partition' and also under 'advanced' there is 'wipe dalvik cache' option. Can I use either one to wipe cache data?

Sammy, a few things: this is not a discussion forum here, so we handle things a little different. For one: only one question per post. Number two: Answers are answers. So may I ask you to move your solution for the boot loop to an answer (which you then should "accept" after the 2-day forced delay), and open new questions for the other problems? Thank you! -- For safe-mode, see the safe-mode tag-wiki please. And the cache options are for app-cache resp. Dalvik-cache, both are safe to use without data loss.


text:
Network problems with Samsung Galaxy Young (S6312)
I'm having a network problem with my Samsung Galaxy Young (S6312) device. Sometimes while trying to make a call, even though the signal indicator shows 2 or 3 bars, the device displays a message like "Not registered on network" and the call doesn't get through.
Also, sometimes while my mobile data is turned on it doesn't connect to the internet. I have set the mobile network to the GSM/WCDMA(AUTO) mode.
Is there any solution for this?

I have had a similar problem to this. In my case, it was caused by the SIM card coming loose. Try the following steps:-

Turn the phone off completely
Remove the SIM card
Reinsert the SIM card
Turn the phone on again

and then see if you can make a call and use mobile Internet. If it happens repeatedly, you might need to wedge a small piece of paper in with your SIM card to keep it in place.

Is it an unlocked phone, my Samsung galaxy 2 can do the same thing. I have a Vodafone sim in it, but live in an area that SD does not get a Vodafone signal, only Optus (have Optus Nokia phone also) and the Samsung shows me a full 4 bars, and if I try to make a call it will show network not registered. When I get to an area that I know I will get a Vodafone signal I some times have to go into settings a tell it to use the Vodafone network. A bug as I see it as it knows what sim you have so it should ignore other networks.
Brian


text:
How to use Sony Xperia Z's burst mode programatically?
I'm trying to trigger the Xperia Z camera in burst mode based on an event and I'm not sure what the best approach is.
So far I've tried this:

Installed Tasker and setup a Take Photo Action but there isn't an option for the Burst Camera Mode and haven't found a way to toggle that on
Tried setting up the Xperia Z AOSP project but ran into issues
Setup an Android test using the default Camera class but even though I was able to take basic snapshots, the class does not expose a Burst Mode.

Any clues on how I can automate triggering the Xperia Z camera in burst mode ?

download Timeshift burst
Sony Mobile Communications

Can this application be controlled programatically ?


text:
Every time I reboot the system, it will return the default display sleep time to 15 seconds, how to fix this?
I'm on Android 4.1.2, in a Motorola Razr D3, and every time the mobile power off, or I reboot it, the default display sleep time will get back to 15 seconds, and I have to set it to 1 minute again, as I want it.
Other configurations like "Language" or "Auto-rotate screen" are not resetting.
In opposite to this question, I did not installed any battery saver software. Although the SmartActions app comes with the phone, and I enabled the "Low Battery Saver" option which would reduce the bright of the screen when the battery is low, I don't think it should affect the sleep time, even more with full battery. I disabled it to test, and there was no change.
Any idea why it's resetting this configuration?

The LockerPro app was reseting my screen lock time to 15 seconds.
(the Android system should offer a way to check who is changing the system settings)


text:
adb backup disabled on phone
I am attempting to run an adb backup to my computer from my Samsung Galaxy Nexus, version maguro, v4.2.2 (I guess it's worth mentioning I'm running Windows 7 on my computer). I have tried this with two methods, using the WugFresh Nexus Toolkit, and directly from the command line using the adb executable I got from the android sdk. Each time I attempt it, the adb backup page comes up fine on my phone, but the button to accept the backup is not clickable. I can deny the backup fine, but not accept it. Does anyone have any idea why this is happening?
The drivers are the most likely problem, but I am running the signed Samsung drivers that I successfully installed from the Nexus Toolkit. Could anyone additionally corroborate if they are/have been a problem? I would consider uninstalling them in favor of another possibility, but don't know which alternative is best, or how to remove the damned signed drivers from my computer so they stop auto-installing.
Thanks in advance for any help.

It might very well be that ADB Backup in your device is borked: I have two devices here were exactly that is the case (though with other symptoms: I can hit the button, but get zero bytes). To verify, you might want to try with Helium - App Sync and Backup -- which utilizes adb backup for backup/restore (you could call it a "graphical frontend to adb backup/restore"). If that fails as well, it's rather not your driver (which I doubt anyway).

try a usb2 (instead of usb3) port: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2077799#6
do you have a sony? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1696320
check your command: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1851811#5


text:
What causes NFC on Nexus 4 to stop working?
Sorry for the vague question title, I am open to suggestions, but I am not sure how else to phrase this.
I recently got a new phone; the Nexus 4. When I got it, NFC tags were working fine. They would scan successfully about 90% of the time (as good as it gets with NFC it seems).
Now, all of a sudden, it is down to 0% success. About once every couple minutes it will make the faint low-pitched jingle it makes when it detects NFC but does not read successfully (successful read results in higher pitched jingle).
What happened?! I can't get it to read anything no matter what I do.
Tested with 2 tags here at work. I will try a couple more when I get home too.
I was trying to install a custom NFC apk today to allow NFC while the screen is locked, but even when I revert back to stock apk I get the same behavior. I didn't test NFC today before attempting to install the custom apk, so I don't know (or think) that is what has caused this.
Anyone have any ideas? Seems so bizarre that it would just suddenly stop successfully scanning NFC.
I flat out REFUSE to send it back to LG. They already had it once and I didn't get it back for 2 and a half weeks.
EDIT: I have also tried removing some of the apps I have installed in the last couple days (avast and tasker specifically). Could rooting the phone have something to do with it? Really stuck here.
EDIT #2: So I have restored from some old (nandroid) backups I had. Still no dice. Probably going to attempt a factory reset when I get home at this point (my original settings and apps are so far gone now anyway). But honestly, it looks like it is hardware at this point, which has me extremely irritated. This would be the second time sending my phone in, and the last time I sent it in, I had to fork out for a manufacturer defect. This time, I'll probably crack it open and attempt the repair myself.
Pro Tip: NEVER BUY FROM LG.

"I tested it on both Nexus 4 and Nexus 7, on same tags. The Tag I used was MIFARE Classic 1k. Nexus 4 (I tested two - one mine and one my friend) no effect for both writing and reading Tags.
With Nexus 7 full success in terms of reading and writing.
Would like to know the results of someone with the Samsung devices." From users/4441/patrick

Looks like this might be hardware, but not broken hardware.
EDIT: See comments below, but I suspect this is actually the tag hardware I was using and not the phone hardware causing the problem.
This appears to be a design flaw with the nexus 4 and I would absolutely love to hear from any other nexus 4 owners who use NFC tags.
I managed to get it to work consistently with some tags at home (i.e. not broken hardware). The only tags I can get to work though are "sticker" tags. The other tags I have are wrapped in some kind of hard plastic enamel to protect them from damage and allow you to carry them on a keychain etc... (also some which are specially designed to work near metal and other sources of interference, they did not work, I assume because they are also thicker than paper).
Any NFC tag that was made of the thicker plastic (i.e. not a pure sticker) would not scan, I am thinking this has to do with range. I could get them to scan somewhat inconsistently so I know the tags were ok (also tested on other phone). They also scanned better when I removed the back cover, but this cover is literally 1mm thick. Maybe 1.5mm. It's a Ringke Slim. So I have to conclude there is something internal to the Nexus 4 that is ruining the range. Seems like a massive oversight, but what other conclusion can you draw from the results I have so far?
Will update if I learn more.
Does anyone have a nexus 4 and use a thicker NFC tag (basically anything that is not paper thin)? If so, let me know, otherwise I'll accept this answer in a few days.

FWIW, I have scanned by company ID badge by mistake on several occasions, so my Nexus 4 worked fine with credit-card thickness at least.

Thanks. It's been a while since I looked at this, and I have a nexus 5 now, but I think (having done some research on the nexus 5) this might have been a type incompatibility. This was happening right around the time they were changing the types of tags android supported (type 2 vs mifare or whatever else). And i am pretty sure I had mixed tag types I was testing with. The old ones are in the trash and newer tags ordered seem to work just fine. Thanks for the feedback, seems to make sense.


text:
Mobile data is disabled, but some data is still transmitted
First of all, I've read several similar questions here, but they are either not related, or require root access (Droidwall and stuff).
I received my Google Nexus 4 a week ago, and enjoying it so far. One thing is bothering me though.
I have access to Wi-Fi pretty much whenever I need it, so I'd like to disable any mobile data usage, at least until I figure out a nice data plan.
So the first thing that I did was unchecking Mobile Networks > Data Enabled and Data Usage > Mobile Data (I believe, these are the same thing). Now, the usage graph is empty. However, my carrier's report shows several records (6 in 2 days) of low mobile internet usage rounded to 100kb each. Cost-wise, it is equal to about 1 minute of talking.
I could probably live with that, but I have a trip to another city in a few days. If it happens while I'm in roaming (although Data Roaming is also unchecked), it will become much more expensive.
And so, the question is: how do I block mobile data for sure and let all the apps only use the Wi-Fi connection?
Non-rooted Google Nexus 4 running Android 4.2.2
Possibly relevant options:

Data enabled - off
Data roaming - off
Restrict background data - off - I use skype and imo.im, so it's nice to have them update in background
Auto-sync data - on
Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep - always

"Restrict background data" is only for mobile data AFAIK. For the rest I'm as confused as you are: with "mobile data = off" there should not be a single byte transferred. So the "restrict background data" should not even matter.


text:
copying music, pictures and movies from a galaxy s 4g to the pc
My daughter would like to copy (not transfer) her songs, pictures and a movie she has on her Galaxy S 4 G cell phone over to our PC.  How can she do this?

It would be really helpful if you mention which operating system your PC is running.
On Windows 7 and above, you simply need to connect the phone to your PC using a USB-MiniUSB cable. You should then be able to access the files on the phone via Windows Explorer. You can then use Windows Explorer to copy files to and from your PC.
On Windows XP and below, you will need to either:
a) download and install Samsung KIES
b) download and install the Samsung Mobile Device USB Drivers
Once the drivers/software are installed, follow the same steps as for a Windows 7+ PC.

Regardless of the operating system, your daughter could simply use a remote management app like AirDroid. The advantage is: This app is installed on the device, and on the "remote" (here: PC) no special software is required but a web browser. Connection is either done via a shared WiFi network (both devices on the same network), or via the Aridroid server (if there is no shared network, and you have no problems routing your data via alien servers).
Airdroid uses a nice interface, which gives you desktop feeling inside of your browser:

Airdroid (source: Google Play; click image for larger variant)
Not only can you simply drag-and-drop files to transfer, but you can also manage other aspects of your device: accessing its contacts, writing SMS, viewing pictures, and a lot of other things.
And when your daughter is visiting her girlfriend, and wants to share some files with her: No hazzle with drivers or thinking about what OS might be in use. Simply fire up Airdroid, enter the displayed URL in her girlfriend's browser, put the password in the browser, and there she goes.
"Unwanted access"? Sure, if she let's her device lying around unlocked, so someone could fire up Airdroid and make the connection. But honestly, without Airdroid in the same situation the same person simply needed a cable to connect, and could do the same. And as not letting the device lying around unlocked should be a common-sense pre-caution, all stays as safe as before :)