text:
Modifying stock firmware
I would like to modify the stock firmware to remove certain apps which i do not want to have available on my phone.
The source code for my phone is available on the Samsung website but there is no information on how one goes about in actually customizing building and installing it.
For an open source project its kind of weird that the information is not readily available on a quick google.
Any pointers to howtos or articles would be highly appreciated.

What phone is it?

Isn't this rather a XY problem? Do you want to build your "custom ROM" -- or do you simply want to get rid of the "bloatware"?

I would like to do both, in the short time remove some samsung and google applications from the build. The recent google search app wants access to my camera etc etc. I don't want that i would rather use the web search than give a remote application those kinds of permissions

The phone is a samsung galaxy note 2

Apart from the AOSP code that Google provides, Android devices also require lots of device specific code, especially kernel, GPU drivers, radios etc. These are released by the manufacturer some time after the official update is out. 4.2 source is out only for some of Nexus devices yet (and not all of them).
Nexus devices are the easiest to build custom ROMs on, for obvious reasons. If your device source is released, you can find specific guides for devices - like Nexus 7 Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S(which I use), Kindle HD etc. Google "compile jellybean from source" and you will get guides for your device (4.1 for now).

I will check these out and see if i can adapt them for my galaxy note 2

You should have mentioned that you have a Galaxy Note 2, it's source for 4.1.2 is out already. No official 4.2, so you can't compile any ROMs yet.


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Show Fullscreen Portrait Layout with Miracast
I'm trying to display my phone's screen on a monitor. Landscape works correctly but when I flip to portrait the screen fills a small portion in the middle of the screen instead of changing orientation. I plan to turn the monitor sideways to display the device screen and lock it in portrait. Has anyone come up with a way to change the orientation? I'm using the netgear ptv3000. I'm considering purchasing the allsharecast hub, but I'm not certain that will work either. Thanks!!

I believe that this is the way graphics are outputted and cannot be changed (it is the same with iPad's and their output connector)

I am sorry to have to tell you this, but this is not possible.
The OS outputs the data to the screen, and the screen follows this. When the device is in portrait mode, that is what the device outputs - as the screen has wide space, it fills it with black bars.
This is the same for the iPad's (I know, I hate them as well) with their screen connectors - if the iPad is in portrait mode, then the screen sits in the middle of the screen.

If it is on the OS side, then it is something that can fixed with software, possibly requiring a custom firmware which does make it possible.

@plackemacher True, but I dont really think the OP wants to build thenselves a custom ROM ;)

I am the OP's friend. We may be considering such a thing as we want to demonstrate an app at a trade show and our only other option at the moment is to buy a 60"+ TV which we cannot afford.

I don't believe there is an easy solution out there, but there has to be some possible way to do this

Think about it, if you were to stretch that screen on the handset when and only if, plugged into the TV set, it would look hacky and awful at worst!
Reasons include:

Would chew up a lot of memory to allow translation on the fly to accomodate the width of Android's graphics frame-buffer device - which is a limited size based on the resolution of the handset and only one framebuffer is available!
An extra layer of complexity to tell Android "Right, we're plugged into TV, now stretch"
As RAM is chewed up to "accomodate" a bigger buffer to hold the graphics in a stretched state for desktop screen/TV, that could result in Android slowing down to a crawl as the apps would not have enough RAM available to run in.

All in all, it may be do-able, but having to reserve memory for the "stretched" resolution, say, for example, 800x480 resolution, Portrait mode on WVGA, 480x800, Landscape mode, 800x480, using that one singular frame-buffer device.
Have a mosey around in the kernel configuration as there may be something in there for Media/TV capture...? as for the actual app within Android itself, have not seen it. Worthy a investigation into the kernel though :)
But then again, if there's a chip that supports HDMI, maybe its a different story, but interesting question OP! +1 from me!

One alternate would be to use a third party launcher that has Landscape home screen mode enabled, like GO or Nova. See if this solves your problem.

Could you link the apps here?

I have acomplished this by using a cheap laptop connected to the tv, with ms display set to portrit. I use Soti Pocket controller, an app to send the phone screen to the laptop. Takes a little tweaking, but you can get full screen of phone on the TV, edge to edge. That's the only way I know to do this.

Hello I beg to differ:  If you connect to the Miracast while already in landscape mode, you get a landscape mode display on the TV.  At least, with 2 differnet phones (Android v4 and V7) and 2 differnet miracast (Microsoft's and chinese compatible) I get landscape mode.
Marc

source: Stack Exchange

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

authors: Любашка Крисанова

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text:
Limited internal storage, how to shift stuff to sd card
Total Available Internal storage on my Sony Ericsson is ~412MB. This is really low but many apps apparently need to be installed there and others still need a footprint even after being shifted to SD card.
What's the best way around this if I want to install more apps?
It's a shocking bit of design to be honest, unless I'm derping and completely missing out on something easy.

This is by far my biggest complaint of owning an android phone. Now that I'm aware of it, my next phone will have much larger internal storage.

There are many "*2SD" methods, and they generally involve root access.
My personal favorite is Link2SD. It uses symlinks, which take up (practically) no space. The actual program, data, libraries, etc are stored on a second partition on your SD card. This comes with the downside of actually having to create two partitions on your SD card (meaning it will have to be formatted).
If you have root, you likely have a custom recovery installed that can automatically partition your SD card.
The upside of multiple partitions is that you can mount your sd card when plugged into a computer without causing the apps to disappear from your device. This is because only one partition is actually unmounted from android and mounted on the computer, and the other partition holding your apps is never unmounted.

What does this answer do that mine doesn't?

@dymutaos -As another way: Is it not possible to use an SD Card Reader connected via an OTG USB cable, so that once apps are on an SD Card they can be stored externally, and then used via the reader and OTG USB Cable as and when required ?

@Liam W - I think it says pretty much what your answer does, but it was probably accepted because I was 3 minutes earlier in answering.

@Simon - I've not tried an SD card reader or Flash drive via OTG, so I can't say. But since OTG is so rarely used, I imagine that most *2SD apps aren't designed to take advantage of something plugged in via OTG.

@Simon - Or are you asking how can the computer read the second partition? In that case, yes, you would plug the SD card into a reader. But you would also need extra software if you run Windows, as Windows will only ever read the first partition on a removable device (Linux/Mac have no problem).

@dymutaos - sounds a bit complicated, but the concept of OTG USB and using SD Card readers is interesting.

The easiest way to get around this is to root your device and use an app that forces apps to the SD Card (e.g. DroidSail Super App2SD).
Limitations of This

Apps installed on the SD Card wont have widgets - they will be broken.
Apps will not be loaded until the SD Card is mounted.

Some Alternatives

Use the Link2SD app to move apps to the second partition of your SD Card

Pros

Can move libs, and dalvik-cache which take up loads of memory
Widgets still work
Apps mounted during boot

Cons

Also needs root
Needs a second partition on your SD Card.

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


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Music volume turning off when headphones moved around
I have an LG Lucid with Android 2.3.6 and I have a big issue with my music. I'm not sure if this is an Android setting or a LG one, but I'm hoping to find a way for this to stop happening.
I use my phone a lot to listen to music, and one of my biggest issues is if the headphone jack gets moved even the slightest, the music automatically pauses and reduces volume. I usually have my phone in my pocket and listening to music while working out, jogging or doing housework. This feature has basically made the music playback feature of my phone useless, as I can not do any of these things without the music constantly pausing and lowering in volume.
This happens in my car as well, with my wireless FM transmitter: even the slightest bump or movement of my phone on the car seat and music stops.
Please, tell me there is a way to fix this: it would be greatly appreciated. Also, like I said before, I'm not sure if this is an LG or Android thing, so if anyone can verify that I would also appreciate it.

Yes its an android feature check out the settings of your default music app and their should be an option about "Start/pause the music when headphones connect". It may be differ on your LG as its on my Sony phone. Just unmarked it and here you go on.

Very strange I had that option in GB but not in ICS as I figured it out just now after suggesting you. :P

Give a try to Headset Blocker.

Do your headphones have a start/stop button? Could be related to this issue: https://apple.stackexchange.com/q/54985/283707

Had an issue similar, but only at full volume. Try turning it down a bit and see if it still pauses out

Sounds more like a bad connector problem.
Try cleaning the headphone plug using a rough-ish cloth to clean up the (probably unseen) oxidation layer.
Spray the plug using a contact cleaner, then while it's not yet dried, plug it into the jack and do some left-and-right rotation. Unplug, and let the plug dry. Then replug, and do the rotations again.
If the above does not fix your problem, there's possibility that the solder contact between the jack and the phone's mainboard has cracked; you need to bring your phone to the service center (or someone skillful enough to perform cellphone repairs).

That's kind of depressing haha, was hoping there would be a quick and cheap fix. I'll def try that though, thanks for the tips!

I have found the best solution that is if you don't want to factory reset your phone. I tried putting a layer of tape over the earphone hijack and voila the issue was gone. Needless to say that it is definitely not an app or software issue but with the hijack itself.

I know this sounds rough but try romving bits of the Cotten off a q-tip and squeeze some of it in there the reason mine was malfunctioning was because there was dust in there so all you had to do was clean it up. And no using this method won't jack up your sound because I've been doing this for a while now and my sound works perfectly. (Try this at your own risk, NOT SAYING IT WON'T WORK!! But...)


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Get internet access via bluetooth

Possible Duplicate:
Is Internet  tethering possible on Android phone via bluetooth or WiFi?
Tethering Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 (GT-P3110) via Nokia E71

In the era of PDA's most of them could connect to internet by pairing them with internet enabled dumbphones.
I would like to do the same with an android device however I can't seem to find ANY app that would allow me to do that. There's a few that allow you to share the android devices internet access via bluetooth but not the other way around.
Is there an app out there that would allow me to access internet via bluetooth? Is it available natively in some android version? (Device that I have is 2.3.5 and I don't have access to newer versions)
(Maybe someone would like to write one?)

It doesn't seem to be a duplicate. The linked question does ask (offhandedly) about bluetooth, but no one mentions it in any answers. The question here specifically wants to know about bluetooth, so the linked question won't help at all.

See Mirko's tether apps. And also http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/23571/tethering-galaxy-tab-2-7-0-gt-p3110-via-nokia-e71

What you are looking for is called reverse-tether (or "reverse tethering"), the word "reverse" explaining what your question mentions as the other way around. Reverse Tether is available via WiFi, Bluetooth, and USB -- but in most cases requires your device to be rooted.
You might want to search the playstore for "reverse tether", results are limited (currently 9 apps show up). Also follow the tag-link in the previous paragraph to find other questions. One that certainly matches your request is Is Internet tethering possible on Android phone via bluetooth or WiFi?. Also take a look at the questions mentioned in the "Related" section of this page (on the right-hand, if you're using a desktop browser).

I have already looked over all the questions with that tag and searched long and wide at google play. Like I said, I found nothing. The only answer that had something was a rooted device command which doesn't do what the author expects.

As I said: AFAIK reverse tether always requires root. The playstore link in my answer points to the few apps making it possible. There might be other solutions possible (e.g. via command line in a terminal app or via ADB) -- but I know of no solution not involving root. I'll happily learn I'm wrong if somebody presents a solution not requiring root :)


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How can I redirect a call, incall
I want to get a call from somebody and after talking with him redirect that person to another number, on my charge, like call-centers do. Is that possible and if that's so, there is any application that can do that?
Thanks

I have never heard of this, the only simple solution is to forward the number and get that person to dial the number. Unfortunately AFAIK Android does not do this!

I guess you could do this using the "Conference Call" trick on android (natively!).
The screenshots below are for vanilla Froyo (Android 2.2) and may vary with your version/dialer app.
During your call (Don't hang up the call), after talking to that person, press the "Menu" button on your android. Press "Add Call" from the menu.

Dial and call the number you wish to "redirect" for him. (on your charge! (which is what you asked for right?) Means you will lose money for this call as if you are calling it)
Now press menu button again when call connects. Press on "merge call".

Finally, Press the menu button again and click on "mute" to make them think you have terminated your call. (you mute yourself but you can hear the conversation between him and the "redirected" call)

Remember, while doing these, you will be charged for 2 calls simultaneously!

Just remember that not many networks/carriers support conference calls.

The feature you're looking for is known as call transfer. It's pretty common on office PBX and VoIP systems, but is virtually never seen with mobile phones. The existence of such a feature would require some intelligence in both the device and cooperation from the carrier's equipment, both of which are generally absent. As far as I know, there is nothing in the Android source code to support this feature.
In short, no, it's not really possible.

While it may not be exactly what you're looking forward to, Google Voice has something like this.
If a caller calls your google voice number, all the phone you have registered ring at once. So you pick up the call on your home phone, then decide you want to go out. Google Voice lets you press 4, and it starts ringing the other phones again (without the other caller hearing anything). All you do is pick up the cell phone, and your call is transferred seamlessly.
I only post this in case someone is looking for this specific solution. Otherwise, you'll have to host your own PBX (like Asterisk) and set it up yourself. Android (well, specifically the cell carrier) doesn't have this option.


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Can you reprogram the motorola-droid-razr-m screen buttons? Does it require Rooting?
I'm not a big fan of the Droid-Razr-M's screen buttons (missing the menu and search buttons, but includes a Programs button (which is a waste b/c you can long hold the Home button for that).
Since those buttons are actually on the screen, can you reprogram them?
Would it require rooting the phone?

Looking at this motorola's site for specific model, in short - it does not require reprogramming, or rooting, it requires a custom rom, looking at CyanogenMod it is not listed, best bet would be to try XDA. :)

I'm not sure this would be helpful, but I love this app called Button Savior, which provides on-screen access to many of the functions you would find only via hard buttons.  You can activate it by a simple swipe, or by pressing a very translucent button that's always on the screen.  Some of the functions do require that you have rooted your phone, but not all.

Button Saviour comes in two flavours. Button saviour (non root) as the name says does not require a root access. Button saviour (root) requires root access to perform more tasks that its non root version cannot do.


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How do you delete thousands of text messages at once?
I have a HTC Vivid and need to delete about 30,000 texts. Every time I try to do it, it freezes my phone. The same thing happens when I try to create a backup.

Factory reset? Much quicker, as for 30K texts, I find that hard to believe. No wonder Android freezes as their data store holding the texts is struggling to perform the operation in deletion!

its true is there a way to only delete a certain amount of texts at one time that you know of?

did you try deleting batches of conversations? (i.e. try to delete 5 or 10 conversations at a time)

Could possibly help if you tried 3rd party apps to manage the SMS.

There is a way to delete all SMS and MMS (and call logs) all at once.
In Android, SMS are normally received and stored by the package com.android.providers.telephony. That package’s common name is “Phone/Messaging Storage” in Android 4.2.2 and “Dialer Storage” in Android 2.3.7.
If you clear all data of that app, all it’s databases are cleared and SMS/MMS are gone. You can “force stop” and then “clear data” with the app manager, which you find under

Settings→Apps
Settings→Application settings→Manage applications

If you have an alternative SMS app, note that most of them side access the “standard” database anyway. – This is technically not clean, but has the huge advantage that you can swap SMS apps at will, because the SMS storage stays the same.

I tried this, but after Force Stopping the Phone/Messaging Storage, the Clear Data button was grayed out, even though it says I have 7MB of data.

@JasonGross On my Android 5.0.2 it is the same: even stopped, the data can not be cleared in the app manager. There might be a command line way...

Here are the steps (requires root):

Back up all SMS using the SMS Backup & Restore app to your external card
Open Root Explorer, go to /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databeses/mmssms.db
If you want, you can copy the current mmssms.db to external card for backup too
Delete the current mmssms.db file
Restart phone
Now all your SMS will disappear.

If you want to restore just some of the SMS threads, you can restore them using the "SMS Backup & Restore" app from the backup SMS data that has already been made.
Hope this help

Note that SMS Backup & Restore has an option to delete all the messages.

The "SMS Backup & Restore" app. has such an option indeed. It's under "Tools" as "Delete messages or call logs". You could delete nearly all of them in one go. It left the last 15 messages in the list.

In Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, open the standard messaging app, go to Settings or press the bottom-left touch key to show options/settings within the app, select/press Delete > Select All > Delete.

Here is a non-root way to delete all text messages:
adb shell content delete --uri content://sms/inbox

Tested and works on Google Pixel 3/Android 10.
You can also delete some text messages using a Where clause:
adb shell content delete --uri content://sms/inbox --where "read='1'"

Some (but not all) columns are:  address, person, date, date_sent, read, status, type, subject, body, locked, error_code, seen

You might also try using a phone manager via your PC that works over Wifi, such as AirDroid.  You should be able to delete from there, but not all of them at once I don't think, but in batches at least...

Hi, this app can not delete sms in Android 4.4 and higher.
Do you have an alternative ?

AirDroid allows deleting messages one by one, but has no mass delete option

If a factory reset isn't acceptable, you might try an app such as Handcent, which allows you to set a limit on how many messages are kept for each sender.   Set the limit to 29000 and see if it trims them down in a reasonable time.   If that works, try dropping the limit 2000 at a time until you get to the number you want.   This won't work if your messages are from many different senders.

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


text:
Will flashing ROMs multiple times degrade the performance of phone?
Will flashing ROMs multiple times degrade the performance of phone?  If yes, is it possible to retain the performance? If no, then is there any procedure or sequence to flash a ROM on a Samsung Galaxy S?

If you always wipe the device between ROMs (clear system, boot, cache, etc [not data]), then there should never be any degradation of performance. While flash memory does have a theoretical write limit, you won't make any sort of noticeable dent in the life of the device by constantly switching ROMs to try out new ones.
However, if you don't do a full wipe, you could see performance issues creep up. More likely, you'll run into bugs and random crashes as files left over from a previous ROM conflict with the new ROM. This is why you should always do a full wipe if you are installing a brand new ROM.
As for how to flash a ROM for your particular device, xda-developer forums for the Galaxy S are a good place to look. They list instructions on how to root the phone, install ROMs, and other helpful guides.


text:
Flashed my phone without rooting and now it doesn't work
I have an international Samsung Galaxy SIII i.e. GT-I9300.
Few days after the official upgrade to v4.1, it started freezing.
So I removed the battery and inserted again and it did not boot and was stuck at the boot logo.
It doesn't start with the recovery mode either but it does start in download mode.
So I flashed it with odin to leaked Galaxy SIII v4.1.2 build.
Now it shows 'custom binary count to one'. But when I boot it, it still doesn't start. (same issue; it gets stuck in the boot logo).
I'd also like to mention that the phone was not rooted prior to flashing.
I don't care about data now, I just need my phone back.

Have you tried wiping your data via Odin?

how to do that?

Sorry, looks like you cannot. You should be able to wipe via recovery however (flash a CF-Root kernel via Odin to get recovery)

I don't understand what this trend is of flashing something found on XDA and then coming here for help. I strongly suggest you ask in that XDA thread. As a member of XDA myself, I can assure you that you'll receive a lot more help from people who may have been in the same situation as you already.

Try to flash another firmware. Find it here , it has flashing guides too. Follow the instructions strictly
Tell us about your success or your failure :)


text:
Can Android 4.03 send file/image batches?
I'm looking around on the play store for an app that would allow me to select a set of images to send via smail.  Because there's a 3 mb limit per e-mail (probably imposed by my provider), I was hoping a developer was intelligent enough to create something that perhaps used multiple smails (or somehow otherwise hacked things).  Batch upload/download so I can send a bunch of pictures to my friends without hassle, basically, without logging into things.  If there's an easy way to do this, please let me know?

smail? And if you want to send files without very limited limits, you could try free cloud based sharing such as DropBox.

Try zipping the files, here's a list of some apps that do it: http://www.androidauthority.com/best-android-apps-zip-rar-filex-101621/    Blackmoon File Browser is recommended on the link for zipping and sending images: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.blackmoonit.android.FileBrowser

Zip is nice, I suppose, because it cuts out the middleman (like cloud).  Doesn't require the other user to connect to a site.  I'm not sure that cloud has bulk downloading, either.  Combined with .zip/.rar, it could represent a solution, though.  For straight SMS, creating an archive only slightly reduces the size of the files and creates an extra step along the way towards uploading.  It probably takes roughly the same amount of time to select 5-10 files for upload from the mail view as it takes to select 7-12 for zip and click archive....  I'll have to fiddle around with archives to be sure.

ZIP won't do much help if the limit is size instead of count: JPeg (which is used for photos) already uses compression, so .jpg images won't get much smaller with a .zip. Could you please make clear what you mean by smail? From the context I take it you want to send the files by e-mail -- is that correct?


text:
Is there a facebook app that does not read your location?
I've looked at a number of facebook apps, and it seems that they require permission to read my precise location. This includes Stream, Fast, Friendcaster, and the official facebook app. Can anyone recommend a Facebook app that does not require permission to read my location data?

http://m.facebook.com (of course they could only get your vague location if ever they do)

Disable the location service prior to launching the app?

These apps read your location for post location tagging, and there no apps that I no of that do not have the location permissions. There are some workarounds however:
Mobile Site
You could use http://m.facebook.com, which would only be able to gather IP based location, unless you allow it to access your location via the browser (this is easily denied, and an option will be displayed when it first attempts to access location - you can just select deny. This is in the Android browser).
Disable Location Services
Another alternative, is to just disable all location services in your settings menu prior to launching the app - the app can still get your location, but it would be very course (to about town level).
Deny Location Permissions to App(s)
If you're rooted, you can use an app such as permissions denied (paid app) to deny the apps the permission to access your location - be aware that the app may force close if it tries to do something it doesn't have permission to do.

There is an xda developer who created just such an application after becoming frustrated by facebook's blatant disregard for users privacy.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2049360


text:
Can't take screenshots on a rooted device
I can't take screenshots on my rooted Android 4.0.3 tablet. It's a Genesis GT-1230 running some modified ROM, and apparently the power + volume down combination is disabled.
The screen is 10.1", 1024 x 600 pixels.

I have GoLauncher installed on it, and its screenshot feature produces a result like this:

(resolution 600 x 988, not resized or edited in any way)

However, if I deny root permissions for GoLauncher, the screenshot result goes like this:

(resolution 249 x 410, not resized or edited in any way)

I installed this screenshot app, it requires root, I give root permission, and it displays an error message, something along the lines of "error on fb0".

I was able to take screenshots after rebooting the device and running the same screenshot app with root permissions.
The GoLauncher screenshot feature gives the same results, corrupt image when ran as root and very small image when ran as non-root.

Why are you doing it that way? Not surprised that the app that was downloaded failed to work!
Android 4.0.4 has native screenshot facility in place - hold down Power button and press the volume down key simultaneously.
A screenshot will be captured and stored on /sdcard/Screenshots

Sorry, it's an Android 4.0.3 tablet, fixed that. Tried the power + up combination, didn't work.

@ruda.almeida see my edit - its power button + vol down key!

doesn't work for me...

@ruda.almeida obviously the ICS ROM was modified to remove the "standard" shortcut in screen capture.... :(  (It became standard since ICS came out) What is the name of the device as matter of interest?

It's a Genesis GT-1230.

I suggest you re-edit your question to include that information to make it easier. Should have stated that from the start!


text:
Other apps to manage permissions?
I used to use -  and loved - LBE Privacy Guard which allowed you to revoke specific permissions from specific apps.
Ever since AT&T finally pushed out Jelly Bean for the S3 though, it no longer works, and puts my phone into a endless reboot loop.
Searching in the market, I couldn't find any other app that does this (though the are plenty that just let you SEE the permissions of all your apps).
Anyone know of another app that does the same thing as LBE?

Do you still have root? I would imagine that if your phone accepted an OTA update from AT&T, you no longer have root. In which case, you'll need to re-root your phone.

Yes.  You're correct, I did wind up losing root, but I have rerooted. Superuser, ROM Manager, ROM Toolbox,  SQLLite Editor all work fine.

LBE works on JellyBean -- just not the version you install from the Playstore. The boot-loop problem is a known issue (so nobody can understand why the developer did not even place a note on the app's playstore page).
On XDA you can find multiple threads discussing this issue, and at least one of them also holds modified versions of LBE to download. Take e.g. a look at:

[APP] LBE Security Manager v4.3.2738 (this is a new version only released in Chinese -- but some XDA members provide a translated version here)
[APP][ROOT] LBE Privacy Guard - Most Powerful privacy protection app for Android
[APP] LBE Privacy Guard v2 is now available

Alternatives to LBE would include:

PDroid Privacy Protection
PDroid Manager (Open-Source alternative to it)

A few apps for you to try out:-

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stericson.permissions.donate


text:
How to Use Camera in ICS to store images on internal memory?
The SD card slot on my HTC Dezire Z is broken and a replacement is not available. How can I use my camera without an SD Card? I am using ICS.

You need a device with both internal and external memory. If your device have two different mounting points, then you have internal memory. One is for your (now damaged) SD slot, and the other is for the internal memory. Folder names shoul be /mnt/sdcard and /mnt/extsd (actual names may vary depending on the device).
You have two options:

Change the default storage for your pics. On Android 4.0, open your camera app, click on the "options" icon, there are 3 options, exposure / balance / settings, the first setting is "local storage", turn it on
Use a new camera app with options on where to save the photos you take. I love camera360 because of its amazing filters, and you can shoose where to save the photos

Thanks for the reply but my phone doesnt have these two.. it only has /mnt/sdcard.
I downloaded Camera 360 but it also cant help. The default location for my fone is /mnt/sdcard/DCIM/Camera. Can i change this?
When I try to edit the path it only goes to /sdcard folder and not outside. :(

@dmk Even if you have no SD card connected, can you access your /mnt/sdcard folder and there are any files there? If so, then you are already viewing your intenal memory.

Is your device rooted? If so, you could simply create the /mnt/sdcard/DCIM/Camera folder. As ruda correctly states, this would then be in internal memory. Though without a sd card inserted, the /mnt/sdcard folder might not even exist (the system might create it "on-demand"), so you've had to create it yourself and set the appropriate permissions for your apps to access it.

Another potential solution is to go external... There was recently a successful social funding campaign for MicroSD card readers that connect to the microUSB port of Android phones. http://www.meenova.com/


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How to confirm if motherboard is broken
This is in reference to my other question.
My phone was not working so I showed it to service center guy and he said the motherboard is broken and needs to be replaced.
I can flash custom ROMs to the phone but they are not also booting up.
So I just want to confirm does that really mean my motherboard is broken and needs to be replaced?

If it starts to boot (goes to the boot logo/animation) or Recovery/Download mode at least tries to load, then the motherboard is NOT damaged.
Your device is soft-bricked, and just needs to have a compatible ROM flashed, and your userdata erased for your device to be fully functional again.
The person is the service centre doesn't know what hey is talking about (I wouldn't trust those people - they just want your money).

To the downvoter: Comment please?


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2 android tablets have the same MAC address
I have bought 2 DGM android tablets (OS - Google Android 4.0) and whilst setting them both up (at the same time) the wifi connection kept dropping.
I checked the MAC address so I could assign them a static IP address from the router, but noticed that they were both the same on the tablets.
I'm no whizz when it comes to IT (I know the basics), but I've searched the web for what can be done, and I don't understand any of it - BusyBox, rooted tablet, MAC Address spoofing.
Can someone please help me out - or point me to some (easy to understand and follow) tutorials?
Thanks a lot!

There's this: How to change (permanent) MAC ADDRESS on my android phone?

You didn't name your device -- but most likely got some China import. There were some readings a little time ago about this issue. Normally, a MAC address should be unique to the device -- the producer probably wanted to save some license costs...
Nevertheless, that background isn't going to help you much. There are some apps available on the Playstore which allow you to change the MAC address (search the playstore for "mac-address" to find them all), like e.g. Wireless Mac Changer or Set MAC address. Note, however, that all of them require root access on your device.
The only alternative known to me would be to return the device(s), explaining your reason (see above), and ask for an appropriate replacement.

This will depend but almost guarantee requiring the devices to be rooted in order to manipulate the hardware.
The only caveat emptor is, this needs root and busybox installed, and that the wifi is active:

Plug the usb cable to the device, and invoke this, adb shell.
Switch to superuser, i.e. su
Invoke this - busybox ifconfig wlan0 down to bring down the wifi device.
Invoke this - busybox ifconfig wlan0 | grep HWaddr, see below for Fig. 2a
The double X as shown in the captured output below in Fig. 2a, is the actual MAC address, I have this deliberately hidden as not to show it especially on the internet.
Invoke this - busybox ifconfig wlan0 hw ether 00:11:22:33:44:55, that should change the MAC address of that wifi device. (This part can be extremely hardware dependant in the aspect of, if the wifi device can allow this - Also if the kernel has the support for that wifi chipset, if that fails - a very cryptic message will appear - ip: SIOCSIFHWADDR: Operation not supported on transport endpoint meaning that the address for MAC spoofing is dis-allowed!)
If step 6 works, then to bring up the Wifi device again, invoke this busybox ifconfig wlan0 up, profit!

2a:
sh-4.1# busybox ifconfig wlan0 | grep HWaddr
wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

Hey I tried step 6 but it gives error "operation not supported" . Does it mean that the target device's MAC address is not supported or does it mean that the device that i'm typing the command does not support these kind of commands ?


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Push notifications to my Droid on local network
I am looking for either an app or a way to allow my 3 Ubuntu server's running in my house on my local network to send a notification to my Android phone when a task is done.
Every hour or so one of the 3 servers finishes what they are doing, I need for them to be able to send short text notifications to my Droid phone when it's locally on the network. Of course it's IP on my local network never changes, so that will always be the same.
Is there anything for this? And how do I get it up and running?

There are several ways to accomplish things like this:
Using Atomics to kill the chicken
You could e.g. setup one of your Ubuntu machines as a Nagios server (or any similar service). There are several clients available for Android, like e.g. aNag and uNagi Nagios client on android (the latter even has plugins for Locale/Tasker for more flexibility: Locale uNagi Notifier Plug-in and Locale uNagi Settings Plug-in, so you even can setup automatic actions on your device based on the notifications).
Plenty more of similar solutions available, e.g. with Cacti...
The simplicistic approach
At the end of your scripts, you could place a line to have them send you a mail to e.g. your GMail address. This can e.g. be done using the mailx command:
mailx -s "[WooFoo] script finished" johndoe@example.com

(of course, replace johndoe@example.com with your real address). As soon as that mail arrives, GMail (or any other mail client you use on your Android device) would trigger a notification.
Enhancing the simple approach
Tasker can react on incoming mail for the GMail app or K-9 Mail. That's why I put the [WooFoo] in front of the subject: replace that by any specific keyword which should trigger your Tasker action. Tasker then can "eat" the mail (so it doesn't stick in your account for manual clean-up) and perform a desired action: play a specific tune, vibrate your phone using a specific pattern, generate a pop-up message, even execute specific JavaScript code (see the Actions section of the Tasker UserGuide for additional ideas).

That's kind of cool but I wasn't looking for server monitoring, I was looking for simple notifications. I don't need to monitor Server load and RAM and processes running and such. I just need that when a script is done running for it to send a notification to my Droid. This is a cool system but from what I read from the wiki it is a server/network monitoring software, not what I need.

You don't need to setup everything. AFAIK you can define yourself what Nagios is monitoring. But admitted, it might be a bit overload. If it's just about a short notification: why not using the command-line mail client (sendmail, mailx) on Ubuntu to send a message to your gmail address? Again, Tasker then could be used to trigger almost any action when such a mail arrives on your Android device. If that's an option you like better, I'll update my answer accordingly if you wish :)

Well, didn't want to wait -- hope this update better fits your requirements :)

Thanks for the write up, but this requires tasker, which costs $6. If I'm going to pay $6 I would use www.notifymyandroid.com since it's only $4 and does exactly what I need. I just don't like using someone else's service, I would love to find a notifier that uses push and lets me install my own push service on my own server :(

The push by mail doesn't require anybody else's service -- so the Tasker part was just an additional idea. There might even be other automation (or notification) apps which can do this for cheaper or even for free. If a plain "text notification" is good for you, the mailx part would do that already.

Why re-invent the wheel? Could you not just re-use an existing service for your notifications, the simplest would just be to use email or Twitter. There are many, many existing ways to hook servers up to send email or Twitter messages, and many clients on Android that will notify you when these arrive, and can prioritise and do different notifications depending on the message.
My server at home has its own Gmail account, it mails me about anything I need to know, and I have rules and prioritisations in my Gmail to sort the messages on their importance, and star them when necessary, and the Android client notifies me.
Big bonus to doing it this way is that you're not tied to checking these notifications on your phone, but have many ways to view and check them on many different platforms.


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Galaxy Note 2 shows no sim card after radio flash
I have the SGH-T889 (T-Mobile USA version of the Note 2). When I got my Galaxy Note 2, I loved the device, but disliked the software. So, I decided to flash CyanogenMod 10 build from the N7100 forums. Although many things worked, the radio did not work. So, I decided (in my infinite wisdom), to dd the radio from the Stock SGH-T889 T-Mobile rom to the /dev/block/mmcblk0p10 partition (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2039081).
This did not work, so I installed the stock SGH-T889 rom just to get it back to working order. However, my sim card was no longer being detected. I have tried flashing other roms to try and get the radio back, but alas all say that there is no sim card.
I realize I have probably permanently messed up my phone. Does anyone have any ideas or things to try to get it back to working order? I am out of things to try.
UPDATE: I have tried everything you guys have posted, and ended up sending it back to Samsung and get them to fix it under the warranty. I believe they replaced the whole motherboard, so I will never know exactly what the problem was. If you decide to send yours back, make sure to reset the binary counter that you see in download mode. There are guides around the Internet for this. Thanks for all of the help.

How did you flash it back?  Have you tried Odin with repartitioning?

You could search the net for an original radio image for your device, and flash that the normal way. With some luck the Samsung service might provide you with that (in case you don't find it on the net).

Thanks for the ideas. I am pretty sure that I have flashed with Odin with the Re-Partition option checked, but I will try again tonight to make sure. I have found and flashed this modem zip with no luck: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1957380 (do 'modem' and 'radio' refer to the same thing in Android?)

Get the ODIN package from here. Then use ODIN to restore to "True" Factory Stock. This will put you back to stock (but will not reset your flash counter). Then from there you can start and use ODIN to root the device again, flash CWM and flash custom ROMs. The modem/radio you linked to should be the radio that you will want to flash if you flash an N7100 ROM. But, as you can see, I would stay away from ROMs that are not for the specific model. the T889 has a couple ROMs based on the stock N7105, but there have been changes (things like the radio) replaced with versions that are for the T889.
I eagerly wait for an AOSP build (specifically CM) for the T889, until then, I am running one based off the N7105 with the Bullet Kernel by cmenard. This kernel has the modules for CIFS support, which I use constantly.

I had the same problem. So I just read through threads and was able to fix the problem. I simply looked up my model number for the Galaxy Note 2 T-Mobibe version, and I discovered by flashing the stock modem kernel fixed my problem of no SIM card error.
Download the modem stock recovery here.

Simply look for your model number. I have tried 10 different stock kernels before one of them worked. When you get the right stock kernel for your model, it will work.
Flash the kernel with Clockwork Recovery. If you don't have Clockwork Recovery, you can download it from Google Play, but your phone must be rooted.


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Control phone on MacBook Pro via bluetooth?
I'd like to control my Galaxy Nexus via my Macbook Pro via VPN (Virtual Private Network).
Since connecting the Galaxy Nexus to an Adhoc, WiFi created by the MacBook Pro doesn't work. That's why I'd like to do it via bluetooth.
Is that possible and if yes, how?

What type of control are you trying to achieve? Make phone calls? Access Internet? Access phone data like pictures?

A similar question was posted entitled "Software to control mobile phone via bluetooth" over at Superuser.com on 11th December 2012 to which I responded:
https://superuser.com/questions/517884/software-to-control-mobile-phone-via-bluetooth/517888#517888
My response was this:
A program called Remote Professional from mobileways.de claims to be able to make calls from your PC-mobile. There is a brief article about it entitled Remotely Control Your Phone from Computer from Technize.com
A youtube video and link to download the program is also included: http://www.technize.com/remotely-control-your-phone-from-computer/
However this method used a PC rather than an Apple Mac. It may well be possible that mobileways.de offer a similar program for Macs.
So in theory what you have asked is perfectly plausible, if they haven't developed a program for apple macs, they may do in the near future.

i have been able to do it partially
"1keyboard" it lets you use your macbook to type in your android phone. which is great since one of my androids has a twitchy screen. o i use it to type, i also saw one for a mouse, but i lost the link.

Exposing how you are able to do it even partially with steps and linking the source would help OP. Please edit your answer to include this


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Google Voice "Call With..."
I love the Call With... feature in the Google Voice webapp and use it often. It allows you to initiate a call from your Google Voice number by first dialing one of your linked phones then patching you through to the number you want to dial:

This would be perfect for my Nexus 7 - I'm often at home on my couch next to my land line phone wanting to make a call. I don't want a VOIP solution for the tablet, I'd rather tell GV to call my land line and patch me through to the number I want to dial (the call quality is much better on the land line). I can't find this feature in the Google Voice Android app. I've used the webapp, via Chrome, on the N7 but that's kind of clunky. Does anyone know of more finger-friendly way to initiate a GV call like this from an Android device?

Having GV on your landline's speed dial seems like it would be easiest ... though I can see that making use of your device's contacts could simplify things too.  Seems like you need a smartphone landline :P

You're using a tablet. Why not just use the regular web interface?

There's an app I used to use specifically for this. It's called Voice+. You dial a number, it asks you which of your google voice connected numbers to call.
However, this app catches the intent from when you dial a phone number. The Nexus 7 doesn't have the Phone app installed. You could try installing another dialer app like Go Contacts Ex and see if dialing a number from their interface brings up Voice+.

I thought the regular web interface was too heavy, so I created GoogleVoiceCallingPageLite (GVCPL):
"A Lightweight HTML page for making and receiving Google Voice calls" . You can find it at https://sourceforge.net/projects/googlevoicecallingpagelite/.  I created it to use on my computer, not a phone/tablet, but if you want you can use it on your phone/tablet too, just by going to http://www.elvey.com/GVCPL.html.  It's the exact same code as on sourceforge, where you can see a screenshot too.
As noted there: To use: Log in, then open this page. It only works if you're already logged in, otherwise, it doesn't work - and doesn't (yet) give a useful error message.


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Changing menu button positions
After my Samsung Tab 2 7.0 got upgraded to 4.1.1 the main buttons changed place. Back used to be to the far left, now it's the second to the right, for example. This is amazingly annoying.
When it was new I did find some way to change these things, so I could get rid of the annoying Screenshot button that was installed by default. But after the upgrade, the possibility to configure this seems to have disappeared.
Any ideas?

That is part of the ROM, the only thing that can be done is to download a custom ROM such as CyanogenMod..

@t0mm13b Weird, since all screenshots of JellyBean I find has the back button to the left.

Might be Samsung-specific "refinement" then?

Could very well be. Annoying that they apparently removed their own software to modify this in the update.

With the stock ROM, you won't be able to do anything.
Consider switching to a custom ROM like cyanogenmod.
OR, if you like the stock samsung experience, you can find several stock based ROMs on XDA which gives you this feature


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How to flash stock ROM .DZ file on a semi-bricked LG Android phone?
Is it possible to flash a .DZ stock ROM on a LG Android phone (Doubleplay / C729 / Flip II) that doesn't fully load (T-Mobile logo repeats itself)? If yes, how exactly?
Details:

Recovery mode has no options, it only displays an unpacking icon for a few seconds.
USB debugging is not enabled.
USB connection with PC is stable and working.
A .DLL file is included with the .DZ file.

Thank you!

There is currently no way to do this.
Where did you get the .dz file from?
You would have to ask the prividor to provide a .kdz file as well as the .dz file so you can flash with the KDZ Updater program.

The .DZ ROM is the only ROM for LG C729 (Doubleplay) that I was able to find, so there's no provider.

Have you tried using this update tool? It should do the work if it can connect.

Yes, I've tried it, but it accepts only .KDZ files, not .DZ


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Reinstall default apps on Galaxy S3 before updating to Jelly Bean
I want to update my Galaxy S3 to Jelly Bean but after downloading the firmware using Kies, it starts updating, but then it stops with a "dead" Android with a red triangle icon.
I think it's because I have removed some default apps like ChatOn and Yahoo widgets.
Is there any way to get them back or to install the official Jelly Bean update without a factory reset? I don't want to reinstall my apps again and lose my settings each time I need to update the OS (I also don't want bloatware apps that are pre-installed).
EDIT:
I have ClockWorkMod recovery installed. I think that might be the problem. Is there any way I can flash the stock recovery only?.
My operator is vodafone from Portugal.
Any ideas?

I'm afraid with most major upgrades (i.e. if the Android version "changed its name", and not just the 3rd digit gets bumped like e.g. 2.3.3 to 2.3.4) a factory reset will go along.

Building on @Izzy 's statement, that isn't frequent enough to be a deal-breaker as far as I am concerned (although inconvenient).  It is slightly inconvenient, but it does allow for everything to be clean for the new release since JB focused on being smooth.  Another option would be to root and use Titanium Backup to backup apps+data.

As the OP remarked the updated might have failed due to "removed some default apps", I guess the device in question is already rooted. The current problem most likely is the device no longer booting up ("red triangle"), so a TB backup cannot be performed (@Bruno-P: Maybe you could clearify this).

Is the device is already rooted. I can boot it. i just cant install the update.

Depending on what network you are on the official OTA update may be your easiest answer. When I updated my razr m  from ICS to JB 4.1 on verizon with the offical JB OTA update, none of my data was lost, didn't have to reload any apps, or reset options.
Also when you clear your user data your phone may automatically re-download apps that you previously had. In my case when I cleared my user data to root my phone, it re-downloaded all the apps I had before the clear but unfortunately the options for the apps were reset.
You may want to try clearing only your cache first (that will not erase any contacts or apps) and try reinstall again.

If you do not disable but uninstall system ROM apps, resetting won't make any difference. You need to download a stock rom (try sammobile for instance) and flash it via odin.
This is the best method I recommend. Get the DBT (germany) rom as it has no bloatware. Also, avoid using KIES to update. Really untrustworthy.


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What would cause the existence of a /sdcard/logfile.log?
Since quite some time I've been getting a file /sdcard/logfile.log which gets really big quickly, last time I checked it was about 2MB. That file seems a general system log since I remember seeing references to several applications. How can I find out what is causing this?

Have you tried opening up the log file to see what is in it? Log files usually contain tasks performed by an app, with that you can pinpoint the app. Why don't you paste the log file here?

I'd recommend against pasting the whole log here, rather use a pasting service like pastebin.com or paste only relevant parts of the log.

It seems that On{X} was causing this. No logfile is created anymore in SD card since the application has been uninstalled.


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Network Error when invoking Google Now
When I try to invoke Google Now by swiping up from the Home button, I get the message "Network error.  Check your network connections and try again".  I have a solid WiFi signal, and searches from the search bar work fine.
I get the same message when I go into settings after launching Google Search and try to enable Google Now.
ASUS Transformer Prime,  Android 4.1.1

I received the 4.1.1 update back in September, but hadn't tried Google Now until recently - thus it's never worked for me.

Tried clearing app data for Google Search?

@SurajBajaj - great idea, but it didn't help.

I am getting this same issue on my brand new Galaxy Nexus.

Decided to take another crack at this and uninstalled updates to Google Search, cleared cache and data, and reapplied updates, but still no go.

I know you're saying you "received" the update, but just to clarify, are you on the official update channel, or are you using a custom rooted ROM?

Have you tried using another language for Google Now? There's a separate setting for the language in the Google Now menu.

@harsha - completely stock, not rooted

@bob - tried switching from English (us) to English (uk) and back, still the same message.  Also tried switching to another Google account.

From Googling around this seems to be a problem others have experienced, a commonly suggested solution seems to be reinstalling/overwriting the Google Now .apk

What country are you in?

@ZnewmaN - I'm in the US

@Peanut - without rooting, I think I'm limited to what I've already done -- uninstall updates back to the "factory" version and then reinstall them.

Finally found the answer.   I had four Google accounts - one of them could not sync because it required domain policy to be enforced, and I hadn't allowed that.   I connected the tablet to my laptop and used adb logcat to see what was being logged when the error was displayed:
I/GLSUser (28125): GLS error: DeviceManagementRequiredOrSyncDisabled <<account name redacted>> oauth2:https://www.googleapis.com/auth/personal_derived_data https://www.googleapis.com/auth/paths.notifications
V/GoogleLoginService(28125): Returning error intent with: ComponentInfo{com.google.android.gsf.login/com.google.android.gsf.login.LoginActivity}
E/Velvet.VelvetNetworkClient( 4564): Failed to get auth token

(these messages were repeated several times).
I guessed that the errant account may have been involved (even though it was not the account I was trying to active Now with), removed the account from the device and all is well.

Google Now is not available in countries and languages as yet, so you may be in a country were it is not supported. You can still search on Google's homepage, or I suppose you could try a proxy or flashing your phone in such a way to make it believe it is somewhere else in the world were Google Now works

Unfortunately, I'm in the US, and English (US) is my default language.


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How to access a webservice running on a Win7 PC from an unrooted Android device via USB?
I have a use case where my app running on an Android device need to communicate with a web service running on a Windows 7 PC. This was achieved using wifi successfully. But now I need to achieve this using USB connection as we may not have wifi working at the customer's location.
The Android device is unrooted. I can not use a reverse tethering app as it needs the device to be rooted.
The following link has the same question but doesn't have an answer - Accessing localhost of PC from USB connected Android mobile device
Does anybody have an answer for this?

Accessing localhost of PC from USB connected Android mobile device

I normally do this by using the WiFi tethering option built into Android - and it works perfectly.
As of this moment, the only way you may be able to do it via USB is using ADB, but I have tried using multiple apps and have never got it to work.

To access localhost of PC through USB tethering on android, Do the following:-

Assign a static IP to the PC or find the internal IP of the PC.
Make sure USB tethering is active.
Using stock browser, disable proxies and type in the static IP (internal IP) of the PC.


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How to know if a custom ROM uses existing swap partition
Recently I switched my custom ROM installed on my HTC Desire to a 4.1.2 based ROM (PARANOIDANDROID based).
The ROM works fine but sometimes the device has serious lag of several seconds. I assume that this may be caused by a SWAP partition I created once on my SD-card but that was never used by my previous ROMs.
How can I find out if the SWAP partition is used or not?

I'd open a terminal app and execute the mount command. In order to be used, a partition needs to be mounted. If this is true for the swap partition, the output should include a line with "swap" (as partition type) AFAIK.

@Izzy: The mount list does not show a swap partition but free show swap used. Therefore the mount command is not a working solution.

Yeah, I saw this when I checked it at another device. When I wrote my comment, I only had my phone with me (no swap there), so I couldn't tell. After verification, I wrote below answer -- which fits :)

Simply get yourself a terminal app (a good choice would be Android Terminal Emulator), start it, and enter the command free. The output then should look like this:
             total       used       free     shared    buffers
Mem:        487344     474312      13032          0      42224
-/+ buffers:           432088      55256
Swap:             0          0         0

This example is from my Motorola Milestone 2, and you can see: it does not use any swap: "total" available swap space is "0". If your device would use swap, at least the numbers for "totals" and one of "used" or "free" should be > 0.

Thanks I can see that I was right - swap total/used 31740.

Which means: full O.o You could try playing with the "swappiness" to improve that -- but that's a different question (but a valid one, so you could ask it :)


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Syncing playlists between Ubuntu and Android smartphone
I'm looking for a simple and reliable way of syncing music playlists between Ubuntu and an Android smartphone. Some time ago I was using Banshee, but then it suddenly stopped working. My understanding is that Banshee still puts *.m3u files to Music/Playlists folder but the smartphone does not see them. I tried to use Rhythmbox instead but it also does not seem to work.

Spotify allows you to sync your local files to a mobile device (no subscription required). Of course this requires the desktop client installed on a computer and the app installed on a mobile device. Once your local files are downloaded to the device, you can listen to them whenever and wherever you want. It also does not require a data connection (after downloading).
*Note: the later versions of Android client have had issues with this. Give it a shot anyway! The only workarounds are to install an older version of the Spotify app and then download your playlist.

Please add a link to the app. :)

Links added (though googling it should be enough for most people).

Did you take a look at Google Play Music?
It can sync your local music and you will have access on your android phone.
https://play.google.com/store/music
There is a python library that is meant to sync your playlist to play music.
Take a look here:
https://github.com/Tyris/m3uGoogleMusicSync
Update
You will need basic python/programming skills and it probably will not keep them synchronized.
But if you dont refuse using google play it is a very uncomplicated way of keeping your music organized and synchronized between several devices.
Heres an example of how the library should work:
from musicsync import MusicSync
ms = MusicSync()
# Will prompt for Email and Password - if 2-factor auth is on you'll need to generate a one-time password
# The first time you use this (or another script that uses gmusicapi) you will be prompted to authenticate via an OAuth browser window - you will need to copy paste the URL (be careful - under Windows sometimes spaces are inserted into the copy/paste at new lines)

# To sync a playlist
ms.sync_playlist("c:/path/to/playlist.m3u")

# To sync a playlist including removing files that are no longer listed locally
ms.sync_playlist("/path/to/playlist.m3u", remove_missing=True)

# To delete a song from the cloud (provided only as convenience - must know the song ID)
ms.delete_song("song_id")

The code is not complicated and should be editable for beginners too.
Good luck, and i would be happy to here if and how you managed to make it work!

And that does work with Ubuntu? How? Any desktop-couterpart needed – and if so, where to get it? Apart from that: OP didn't ask for syncing music, but just the Playlists (*.m3u – i.e. not the music files themselves).

you're right, sorry about that. i found a python lib you could use: https://github.com/Tyris/m3uGoogleMusicSync but it seems like its only usefull if you want to sync it once from ubuntu to google play. and it will require basic python/progrmming skills.

Though that would require all your music files being uploaded to Play Music (which I personally would rather avoid), that sounds more like it – good find, Chris! Would you mind to [edit] your question, and include that (with a few more details on what it is)?

I have a friend who used Ubuntu at work & he used to swear by Amarok. It is a powerful music player for Linux and Unix, MacOS X and Windows with an intuitive interface. It may well help assist you.
Alternatively for full collaboration between Ubuntu & Android devices, checkout Ubuntu For Android.

Thank you, @Simon! But is it able to sync playlists? The following article says that it can only copy the audio files: http://designbygravity.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/the-epic-fail-of-music-syncing-under-linux/

Sasha I have never used it myself, I just remembered that a friend used to go on about it, as he was an avid ubuntu user, so I thought I would suggest it...hopefully someone else will be able to help :)

You can use Android app called Dropsync to automatically sync your playlist folder to your phone. Then use PowerAMP to read those playlists. Then you are good to go. You could also sync your music, but that's not what you asked for.


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support of Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean CM10 ROM on Samsung Galaxy Ace s5830
Is possible to update with this jelly bean version? I have updated my phone with this jelly bean version and when i am rebooting it then it is showing only samsung start screen. I don't get further screen to show my phone start desktop! Please help me. Any suggestions are welcomed!

Have you checked on CM's website to see if that is supported? How did you flash it?

I have flashed only cache and user data with recovery mode! This is giving me only two options.and update and reboot are there (by pressing home and power button).I have installed jelly bean successfully but i don't get any screen!

on which site i need to check for CM?

According to the CyanogenMod Devices Overview page the Samsung Galaxy Ace is not supported by CM9 and CM10. The download page for the Galaxy Ace only has CM7 ROMs and the links for CM9 and 10 lead to their Google Plus post about not supporting first generation Snapdragon devices past the CM7 branch. That post can be seen here.
It looks like someone may have compiled a CM10 "Lite" ROM from the CM source that can be found here and someone at XDA compiled a full ROM here. If you installed either of those I would suggest rebooting into recovery and clearing data, cache, etc. and then try re-flashing the ROM. There's also a list of ROMs in XDA's development forum here.

It seems that you have a boot loop or some other booting problem. You can try clearing Dalvik cache and rebooting.
To clear Dalvik Cache, press and hold home button when phone is booting. This takes you to CWM. Go to Advanced > Wipe Dalvik cache.
If that doesn't fix, data wipe->flash ROM->wipe dalvik cache and reboot.
If it still doesn't boot, I suggest reverting to CM7 otherwise.
CM support for Ace is patchy beyond CM7 (I learnt this the hard way after flashing my aunt's phone with an experimental CM9 build).

When i press home+volume up+power button, it s showing me "ram dump" so please any one help me what is a solution for it? I have also tried to download a previous android version 2.2.1, but it is not allowing to install and installation is aborted.please give me a link for downloading update.zip of android 2.2.1!thanks for any help.


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What is the typical range when using ANT+ on Android?
My question is how long is the range from the phone to the ANT+ device. What is the suitable range between ANT+ device? I have seen this demo and I am curious if it is worth my money.

Hard to say the exact range. There is plenty for your standard usage scenarios with standard ANT+ sensors.  e.g. phone mounted on bike or in jersey pocket picks up bike sensors while riding no trouble.
Testing my app IpBike with USB ANT stick emulating the sensors and the app running on an Xperia Active I can wander around the same room with no loss of reception.  To test loss of reception cases down the garden 10m through the window is not enough to totally lose reception but it is getting patchy. I have to go around to the front of the house and get a good number of walls between the phone and the ANT stick for a total loss of reception.


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Can I permanently disable the cell/radio of my phone?
My wife got a new phone with a new service, so I get to have her old phone to play around with.
Since the old phone no longer has cell phone service, I want to completely disable the cell phone or radio portion of the phone so that it doesn't eat up battery. This is a CDMA phone, so there's no SIM card I can just take out.
Enabling Airplane mode works just fine, except that also turns of WIFI, which I have to manually turn on. And if I reboot, the phone stays in Airplane mode, but it turns WIFI back off.
Is there a way to modify the phone to turn off the cell portion completely and permanently, at least to be able to withstand a reboot (not necessarily a factory reset)?

If it matters, the phone is rooted and has a custom Gingerbread ROM installed.

You could use some automation app to do this, having two steps in its task: Switch to airplane mode, and then enable WiFi. Tasker is one app that can handle this, but I'm pretty sure some of the free profile-switchers are also capable of this. With Tasker you could place this with a profile executing as soon as Tasker is started -- other apps might provide "default/base profiles" for this (like Locale does), or you might have to add it to each profile you create to make sure it always works.
Depending on your device, you could also use Dazzle Configurable Switcher (which comes free). As the name suggests, it offers a bar with "toggle switches" which you can configure freely. One of the toggles is for the (cell) Radio. But not all devices support this: it worked fine on my HTC Wildfire, but my Motorola Milestone 2 won't let me switch that separately. Here the state should be remembered even after reboot -- but again that might depend on the device.

I found another solution and posted it, but I'm marking yours as accepted because I ended up following your suggestion (using Llama instead of Tasker, though). Just a simple event that runs on boot to activate Airplane mode, then enable Wifi.

Llama is a fine solution as well. Not that powerful as Tasker, but maybe easier to handle for non-techies. Most important: problem solved :)

Also, it's free. Since it does all I need, I've not seen the need to upgrade to the paid app Tasker. Maybe in the future; I do love to tinker. :-)

Looks like someone already figured this out and made a script using Script Manager that runs the script on boot. It turns the radio (cell) off, just the same as activating airplane mode, except that it leaves all other wireless settings alone (that is, bluetooth, wifi, etc).
Or you can install a flashable zip described in this forum that you load in recovery mode.

Removes unnecessary apps (Messaging.apk, Phone.apk, TelephonyProvider.apk, Mms.apk, TelocationProvider.apk)
Completely turns off cell radio on bootup
Installs the radiooptions binary in case your ROM does not include it
Prevents emergency calls and 911 calls (good for giving your kids your old phone to play with)

Searching 'the Google', I found this simple and free app called Cell Radio ShutOff. Seems to work fine.
Here is what the dev wrote in Google Play (as of 2013-10-07):

Description
  There are 4 radios in a typical device: cell, bluetooth, wifi, nfc.
  This app allows you to just shut off the cell radio while leaving everything else on.
  Airplane mode shuts off all radios and there is no built in method to disable just the cell radio.
  Why to disable it?
  1. When your cell radio can't access a tower it will drain your battery
  2. Your location is tracked by carriers using your cell radio (This is necessary so people can call you.. it's not that they are evil)
  This app has been tested and works on the HTC Dream. Send an email if it doesn't work on your phone.
  This does not work on the nexus 4 or the galaxy nexus. I will fix it in the future.

Does this app maintain your desired settings when you reboot the phone? Being able to turn off just the cell is nice, but what I really need is for that setting to persist between reboots, while also persisting the other radio states.

I installed Cell Radio ShutOff for the convenience. My cell allows me to shut off cell tower radios via settings/SIM Management. This app allows me to 'Toggle' On/Off... which is faster than going through settings and changing the setting from On/Off.


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How Can I Root my Sony Ericsson Xperia Tipo Dual?
How can I root my Sony Ericsson Xperia Tipo Dual?

From where did u get the file? Your question is very unclear..

I think you're referring to DoomLord's Exploit? Did you unpack all the files, adb installed etc? Did you even consider checking if that works specifically for Sony Xperia Tipo which is only a fairly recent handset?

Newer devices (with newer build numbers) cannot be rooted using the exploit provided by DoomLord, or any other rootkit exploit, without unlocking the bootloader first.
To unlock the bootloader, follow these steps: (This method can also be used to unlock the bootloader for most Sony Ericsson xPeria devices)
Check if Your Device's Bootloader can be Unlocked
Some devices that are branded to a network cannot have their bootloader unlocked. To check if your bootloader can be unlocked, follow these steps:

Open your dialer app and dial this number: *#*#7378423#*#* - It will open a hidden service menu.
In the new window that opens, go to Service info->Configuration->Rooting Status and look at the bottom of the screen. If Bootloader unlock allowed says No then you cannot unlock the bootloader, and should stop reading now, if it says Yes then your bootloader can be unlocked, and you should read on.

Install the fastboot drivers
We now need to install the fastboot drivers so your computer can talk to your device in fastboot mode. You need to do the following:

Download the Android SDK and install it.
Open the SDK Manager, you need to select platform tools and the Google USB Driver Package for download.
Once they have downloaded and installed, download this zip file and extract it somewhere you can find it.
Open the file by double clicking it. Find the part that starts ; SonyEricsson and copy that and the text below it (stop when you get to the text that next starts with a semi colon).
Paste it somewhere below the line that reads [Google.NTamd64] (directly below would be best).
Save the file, and copy it to the C:\where\you\installed\sdk\extras\google\usb_driver directory. Select to overwrite the existing file.

Get the bootloader unlock code

Go to this site and enter your IMEI number (You can only enter 14 digits in that box, so you will have to remove the last digit of your IMEI).
You should get your unlock code via email - keep it handy.

Now to unlock the bootloader (stage 1)

Turn off your device. Hold the volume up button, while connecting the USB cable with it plugged into the computer. The LED should turn blue (if there is an LED present).
Windows should automatically install the Fastboot driver, if it does not you will have to do it manually via the device manager.
Go to the C:\where\you\installed\sdk\extras\google\, click the the usb_drivers folder, press Ctrl and Shift at the same time as right clicking, and select the Open command window here option. A command prompt will open up.

Now to unlock the bootloader (stage 2)

In the open command prompt window, type fastboot.exe -i 0x0fce oem unlock 0xKEY where KEY is the key you got in the email.
Your bootloader is now unlocked, and you can proceed to root using a method such as SuperOneClick or another rooting method.

WARNINGS

Unlocking the bootloader will almost certainly void you warranty. Sony may charge a fee if they need to replace your device due to new software.
Unlocking the bootloader will wipe the device - ALL your userdata will be erased. This includes all your downloaded apps, and app data, as well as your contacts. If you synced your contacts with Google they will be restored when you log back in. Your device will be as it was when you first turned it on!

Could you qualify "newer devices"? What about a 2012 Sony Xperia tipo ST21i?


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Changing the Google Now voice back to male?
Not sure why, but today the voice on Google Now has changed from a male to a female. I'm in the UK and before I had a male with a British accent but now that's changed to an American female.
I can live it, although I would prefer to have the male one back. It sounded more human IMO. Anyone know how I can get it back?
I've tried changing the language setting but it didn't make any difference.

EDIT:
A while ago Google changed the voice to a female with a British accent and AFAIK there's no way to get the male British voice back. Not really a problem for me anymore as the new voice seems to have improved a lot.

Am sorry but I find this funny, are you running JB by any chance XDA, Look at the second posting referring to a zip file called transgendered which needs to be applied. :)

Not sure if this question can be answered any more, because I have had the English UK male voice back for a while now. Turns out it was Google changing things - not me. Just one day it reverted back to the male voice. Thanks to the guys who answered though! :)

I have Jelly Bean 4.1.1, and I was able to change the Text-to-speech output setting to English (United Kingdom), which is a male voice. The setting is at Settings | Language & input | Text-to-speech output | Preferred Engine | (settings icon) | Language.
However, Google Now is still giving me output in the English (United States) (female) voice.
Changing the Voice | Language setting in Google Now to any flavor of English also had no effect.
I'm afraid that for the moment Google Now is only giving one option for English text-to-speech. (I'm in the U.S., so I can't fully test it, but what I've seen jives with what you posted.)

Is there a checkbox to say Always Use My Settings for the voice engine? The older Android OS had that, and if ICS/Jellybean has it, you can check it to force other apps to use your default.

@dymutaos: Nope. No such checkbox.

Aw, mine is already on "English (United Kingdom)". I can even play an example of it and it's a male voice although I'm not sure if it's the same. I think it sounds slightly different (more robotic than the Google Now male voice). It's weird that it suddenly changed on Google Now but hopefully it's only temporary.

I've had the same issue and posted a question about it: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/27670/changing-the-voice-used-on-nexus-7-for-google-now-search However mine seemed to sort itself out after a while without me being entirely sure what caused it.

Guess I'll just have to wait then and see if it/he comes back. :) So yours has a male voice right now? My friend (also in the UK) is also having this problem so I assumed it was something Google did.

Okay, this is weird. Earlier (around 1-2pm ish) I got the male voice back but now it's gone again. Back to the woman. Suppose this proves it's Google's doing, right?

Settings -> Language and Input -> Text-to-speech output -> settings Gear for Google TTS -> Install Voice Data. Then, click on US or UK for English voices, and download the Male voice!

If you go to settings in Google Now and select voice> English UK, you get the male voice.

The default Pico TTS engine on Android is only a female voice. Your phone probably came with a second voice engine that has a male voice, and it sounds like the voice engine somehow got switched from that to Pico.
To change it back (on 2.3 aka Gingerbread), open Settings -> Voice input & output -> Text-to-speech settings, and click on Default Engine. Change the default engine back to the other option. You can then Listen to an example to make sure it is set correctly.
ICS and Jellybean should have similar options to change the voice engine.

Google Now is not available on Gingerbread.


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Can I clear out broken/uninstalled apps that still show up in the app list?
I had some apps stored on my SD card that I have since wiped. The apps still show up in my app list in Settings->Manage applications. How do I refresh this list?
Rebooting the phone doesn't help, and clicking on one of the entries causes the Settings app to crash. I even tried wiping the Dalvik Cache, but the missing apps are still listed.
One special thing to note is that I had used Link2SD to link the apps onto a second partition on the SD card. This is different from the built-in Android method of moving to the sd card. Link2SD creates symlinks so that any app can be moved, and the SD card can be mounted on a computer without temporarily disabling the app (because they are on a second, unmounted partition). I don't know if using Link2SD changes my situation.
Note that these uninstalled apps do not show up in another application's app list, such as Titanium Backup.

I also had this issue.
I found that if I use link2sd to uninstall the app, it should remove the entry from the app manager.

Not having used Link2SD I cannot tell for sure -- but being familiar with the principle, there's one thing that should work with a rooted device:

make sure you had removed the files on the Link2SD partition
using a (root) file explorer, navigate to /data/data and check for symlinks showing the same package names listed in your screenshot. Delete them.

This might still leave "traces" in some system configuration files (for sure this is valid for the packages.xml which stores the apps' permissions). SD Maid - System cleaning tool should be able to clean up most of the remains.
Still, this manual approach is not 100% "clean". Another option might involve re-installing Link2SD and see whether you can cleanly remove the apps with it (or even re-installing the apps, moving them again with Link2SD in case this didn't happen automatically due to the symlinks, and then removing them again).
If all else fails, one ugly but very clean solution remains: a factory reset. Don't forget to backup everything before this -- you've got Titanium Backup to take care for this step, as your question states.

Titanium backup will also backup the symlinks :(

@LiamW You got something wrong: Those apps the OP wanted to get rid of either. I was talking about backing up remaining apps and their data, not the symlinked ones which are either NIL'd.

Titanium will backup thy symlinks, which are causing the erroneous app entries in settings. Those erroneous entries are because the app data still exists in /data/data

Again, @LiamW: It won't backup those unless you select them. So thanks for the hint (surely something the OP should keep in mind and take care for exclusion).


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Meaning of notification LED colour for Samsung Galaxy S III?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S III running Android 4.0.1 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Is there any meaning to the colour of the LED indicator?
It sometimes lights as red, green or blue. What do each of these colours indicate?

Have you checked around - is it in the manual for that handset - I would imagine, red is battery, green is notification of SMS/emails, blue - wifi?

Red when plugged in - Charging
Green when plugged in - Charging complete.
Red when not plugged in - Low battery warning
Blue - Audio is recording or you have a notification waiting.

Here is what I have observed on my Samsung Galaxy SIII running Android Jelly Bean 4.3:

Solid Red LED Light - The device is powered off or screen has gone blank and device is charging.
Solid Green LED Light - The device is powered off or screen has gone blank and device charging is complete.
Solid Blue LED Light - The device has been powered on, has displayed the model name (on my phone "GT-i9300") as part of the first phase of the bootup process, and is now in the second phase of the bootup process which begins with the screen displaying the "Samsung" animated logo and finishes with the Lock screen showing up (or the Home screen if the Lock screen has been disabled). The blue LED light also shows up when the device is powering down.
Blinking Red LED Light - This can happen when the device is off or turned on but the screen has gone blank, and the battery was very low (this displays regardless of whether the phone is being charged or not). (NOTE: I have recently seen the LED blink with a red light when the battery became overheated and the phone had to be powered off because of this).
Blinking Blue LED Light - The device is on, the screen has gone blank, and you have received one or more notifications.
Blinking Green LED Light - This is possible in theory, but I've never seen it. Applications could cause this behavior to happen. Probably requires the phone to be rooted though, I'm not really sure.

As I was able to verify when entering the search term LED in the Google Play Store, some devices with more capable LEDs are also able to display wider ranges of LED colors.

EDIT:
Here is a screenshot of the  Settings -> My device -> LED indicator screen, which displays most of this information while also allowing the user to customize it:

Regards.


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Unable to connect Galaxy S3 to PC via USB
I've had my Galaxy S3 for a few months now, and have always been able to connect to my PC via USB. A few days ago, it suddenly stopped working. I've found many other Android.SE threads, but none have been able to answer my question.
Symptoms: when I plug the phone in via USB, the phone beeps, I get a lightning bolt on my battery, but that's it. There are no USB options in the pull-down status bar, and the PC does not recognize that a device has been plugged in. Click screenshot for full size.

PC System: Windows 7 x64 with the latest drivers and Kies software from Samsung.
Phone info:

Samsung SGH-i747
Android version 4.0.4
Baseband version I747UCLG1
Kernel Version 3.0.8-704434-user
Build number IMM76D.I747UCALG1

What I've tried:

My wife has an identical Galaxy S3--I plugged her S3 into the same cable, and it was recognized immediately. So I know the PC and cable are both working correctly.
Uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers several times anyway -- alone AND with the Kies software.
Every USB port on the box
Factory data reset--both from the setup menu, and the diagnostic bootup menu
USB debugging mode, both on and off.
Changing the UART and USB settings in the *#7284# PhoneUtil. After my last factory reset, it's set to PDA/MTP+ADB.

Anything else I should try? Is there a way to determine if the USB plug on the phone is bad?
Edit: screenshot from my wife's phone, using the same computer, same cable:

I have exactly the same problem including connecting my wife's S3. I suspect it is the USB socket in the phone and I am taking back to my provider under warranty for repair. Hope this helps.

This answer from a very similar (duplicate?) question solved it for me. Power off, remove the battery, wait, then replace. http://android.stackexchange.com/a/39790/90110

Update: Try cleanup and reinstall of drivers as mentioned here. Seems to have worked for others.
This seems to be a known issue, and many have had success by using a different cable, connecting to a USB 3 port etc, but clearly, those won't work in your case.
Not sure what your usual usage is, but for file transfers, you can use Airdroid, which connects through wifi.

Thanks for the suggestion, but no love from the Galaxy.

Turns out there was one thing I hadn't tried: pull the SIM card out and do a factory reset with format using the 27673855# code. I didn't even realize there was a different type of format until just a few minutes ago--somehow I missed it at your link. Since your link is what eventually fixed the problem, I'm accepting your answer.

Thanks. And I'd discovered the factory reset with code recently too - it's called a "hard reset". Had to do it on a friend's Galaxy Ace because her phone had too many messages and no mass-deleting tool would run.

I had same problem and endlessly researched and did everything except hard reset.  Then, when testing the usb cable on another phone, I realized that I wasn't using the usb cable that came with my Galaxy S3 i9300.  Once I plugged in the "stock" usb cable, my phone was instantly recognized.  Why this is I don't know as the cable I had been using works on all other devices I tested.  It even charged my Galaxy S3 i9300.  Perhaps, you could be using your wife's usb cable on your phone.
To avoid frustration and countless hours of testing, resetting and reinstalling I would recommend to everyone to first make sure you are using the usb cable that came with your phone instead of a generic one or one from a different model Galaxy S3.
Hope it works for you!  Good luck.

Wow, the easiest solution worked! Just use the correct USB cable! Thanks.

Also experienced the same problem. In my case, discovered that the cause was from doing a backup in QPST and forgetting to revert the USB settings.
i.e. *#7284# to access PhoneUtil > "Qualcomm USB Settings" > set it to "MTP + ADB"

Download MPT (Media Transfer Protocol) Porting Kit and then install it to your computer. You can download the MPT Porting Kit installation file through the Microsoft’s official website directly.
Reboot your computer.
Reconnect your mobile phone to your computer by using the USB cable.

just faced exactly the same problem with my motorola defy mini.....so was researching what to do....luckily found a solution....when nothing comes in the notification bar and pc doesn't recognize then>>

go to device manager >> my comp>properties>>device manager(left bar)
look for your device (it should be under portable devices and should be marked with yellow exclamatory sign)
uninstall all of them (you may more item there other than your phone)
after that go to usb tether mode from your mobile from settings and turn it on.
then the "turn on usb storage" with a android bot standing screen will appear.
tap to turn on. you have to do it twice. first time turn it on it will automatically turn off. then again tap the button and this should solve the problem. (that moment you will see another notification about tethering in the bar, don't do anything with that).

I'll be happy if the problem is solved..... :)

I had the same problem as everyone else and tried EVERYTHING listed as a resolution.
I then did the following and it worked:

Type in code *#7284# which will bring you to the phoneutil screen with PDA, Modem, and QualComm USB Setting options.
Click the Qualcomm USB Driver option and select the MTP + ADB option a little message will appear @ the button of the screen saying saved, now just press the back button all the out to the normal screen.
I then powered off my phone, took out the battery, sim card (tmobile) and micro sd card, put them back in, powered the phone back on and then plugged it in using the usb cable (not original that came with phone) and it started installing the usb drive and then worked.  This had been bugging me for 3 months and I finally got it to work.  Hope this works for everyone else as this issue was frustrating.

Addon Note (from a user with a VZW Galaxy S3):
This worked for me but I had to activate the hidden menu by dialing *#22745927 and changing the hidden menu option to "enable" and then entering the above code. Dial this in the keypad without calling it. It should bring up the menu after entering the last number.


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How to have adb recognizing my Nikon s800c on windows 7?
Has anyone got ADB to work correctly for the Nikon S800C?
I've followed the instructions mentioned here, but to no avail.
I am using Windows 7, and can see a yellow alert mark in the device manager.

What steps have you tried specifically? Can you link? Have you installed the ADB drivers?

@LiamW I've followed the previous question at stackoverflow, that had the mentioned link. (edited to add it).

Try installing PDA.net, it has a lot of Android device drivers bundled together. You can uninstall the software afterwards. http://junefabrics.com/android/


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Rarely get 4G service on my HTC Rezound
I rarely get 4G service on my HTC Rezound. I live in a city with plenty of access (Washington, DC) and visit cities which should also have access (Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York) and yet no matter where I am, the 4G is rarely active.
I have taken in my phone several times to Verizon, and all they do is replace the sim card.
What else can it be???
Thanks!

Have you updated to Android 4.0 (ICS) yet? I know that resolved most issues with my wife's.

@ZnewmaN thanks, but it's already on ICS


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Will an Asus Transformer Pad Infinity work in the UK if I ship it over from USA
I want to ship my Asus Transformer Pad Infinity from the USA to the UK as it's cheaper. Will I run into any compatibility issues? (It does not have 3G.)

possible duplicate of Will android tablets from US work in the UK?

See also Will an Asus Transformer Prime bought in the U.S. work in Portugal?

The Transformer Pad Infinity itself would function fine in the UK. You would probably have an issue with the US charger and would need to get an adapter or charge via USB. As far as I can tell GPS and WiFi should work the same no matter where in the world you are.

I have the original Transformer Eee Pad (great device highly recommend any version of Transformer tablets). I actually took it to Europe this summer (I live in the US) and it worked fine EXCEPT for a couple of things:
-As ZnewmaN said, you will have to get a converter for the charger (if you plan to plug it into any sort of outlet).
-I believe the Google Play store MAY be slightly different. I know in France it was (content such as music and books were unavailable when I tried to access Google Play from my tablet in France (I didn't try it in the UK). It is very possible that this is not the case in the UK but you should be aware of it.
Yes, GPS and WiFi work just as well. I tried both in England with out a hitch. Hope this helps clear things up.


text:
croatian symbols
I wonder how I include croatian symbols into my Android device. I searched in the internet, but I can't find any useful information about this topic. Is it even possible to install "language packages" on a Android device, meaning that not the system language gets changed, but the range of possible symbols gets extended? (I'm running Android version 4.0.3 on a Samsung Galaxy SII)

In my Settings | Language & input | Language I see "Hrvatski" listed. Is it not available on your phone?

Yes of course, but this changes all to hrvatski. I only want to be able to input croatian symbols let's say in a SMS.

Ah. You may need to get an alternative keyboard, then.

I found a nice solution with

Hacker's Keyboard

It's free available in the Google Store and you can choose between many keyboard languages. The nicest thing for me is that, even if I choose the croatian language, I can still easily write german umlauts, which I need as I live in Switzerland.


text:
Communicating with micro USB to Ethernet
I am trying to communicate with an ethernet enabled devices from my Android phone. My phone has Android 2.3.6 and the device I am trying to communicate with has a mini web server running on it. The device has a single RJ45 port for communication with the outside word. Is it possible for me to connect my Android phone using a  micro usb to Ethernet adapter and talk to the mini web server? If so, could you kindly show me how to go about this.
I have connected my Nexus One  and tried to enable USB tethering but it doesn't work. I was reading an article on ADB but it doesn't show how to establish connection and assign address to an adapter.

Does your Nexus One recognize the ethernet adapter? Do you have a wired router? Could you plug the mini web server and phone into a router? (This would allow DHCP to assign IPs and then you would have a way to communicate.)

The Nexus One does not seem to be recognizing the ethernet adapter. Is there any other Andriod Phone that allows this? For my class design project, we need to only communicate via wire directly with the phone. One of the constrains is that, no wifi or cellular connection can be used. So, in short, we can only use the micro usb to ethernet adapter and connect directly to the device. If there is any other android base device that I can use, please let me know. For now, I already had a Nexus One so we decided to use it

Is your device rooted? With a terminal emulator you could set a static ip for the ethernet adapter that is in the same subnet as the server.

Yes the phone is rooted. I tried ifconfig usb0 192.168.x.x  but it didn't work. I was able to log into the shell using adb when I connected the micro usb to USB cable directly to my laptop. Is there another way you recommend?

It's more likely to be eth0 instead of usb0. Give that a try.

From the terminal using netcfg, eth0 doesn't show up. however, i did try and nothing seem to happen as eth0 wasn't present. Meanwhile, I just tried rebooting the phone and it is no longer powering on. I have tried fastboot but it states that the device is offline

You might be able to connect a router with USB port to the rj45 on the web server then connect the phone to the USB port on the router.

See also: How to use an USB-attached wired Ethernet adapter through USB-OtG on an Android smartphone?

How to make Ethernet work on Android over OTG?


text:
Is there a way to tell if a boot loader can be unlocked before purchase?
For example are boot loaders unlockable only if the phone is branded and comes with a contract? If I bought a phone of Amazon.com would I likely be able to unlock the boot loader or is it really just luck of the draw?

It depends entirely on what device it is.

Most probably if its a branded phone and it has been launched from a while then you can search it on Google to check out if the Bootloader is unlock-able or not?


text:
How do you force Google Search App to keep Safe Search Filtering on
My son just got a Nexus 4. I installed K9 Web Protection which does things like blocking other browsers, forces Safe Search to be on, but it also blocks Google Now by default. He really wants Google Now, but I do not want to allow Safe Search to be turned off.
At the moment, I see no way to keep Safe Search enabled on Google Now. Does anybody know how I can do this? Thanks.
Oh, this is on Nexus 4, Android 4.2.

After quite a bit of searching and testing I don't think it's possible to do. Even locking SafeSearch on your Google account on the PC doesn't change it for the phone.
Regardless of this I would imagine that if your son can turn SafeSearch off even if you did lock it he would probably try getting around K9. This isn't too hard, there's even a suggested method in the product reviews, it apparently doesn't stop you from browsing within another app.

I didn't see anywhere in the reviews for a workaround. K9 actually redirects all other browsers to itself. Even Google Now actually opens it's links in the browser, however it is Google Images that I don't like.

@AceLegend 3rd review page in "Protection itself unmatched. Major gaps: app opens 15-25s after startup, enough to open a page in Chrome. My Avast antivirus can open right after start up. I open a video in MX Player, then later use "back", and protection is disabled. In-app browsers are not protected, eg Pocket. You can go to Wikipedia/Alexa, then anywhere."

I see. I know about In-App browsing, but I am not really worried about that. It is really just Google Images. And on the Nexus 4 performance is fine, although K9 search takes a while. Anyway, you don't happen to know of a third-party tool that can do something like blocking all pages even without the browser. I don't believe this is possible, as I doubt Google would allow it, but even one from the web would be okay. If not, I guess he's just out of luck.