text:
ICS - no internet, but access to network drive possible
I've set up wifi on an ICS phone.
I can connect to a network drive in the system, so the connection seems to be OK. However when I try the browser I get the message 'problem loading page'.
I used static IP and I just copied the settings from my laptop that can access internet fine with these settings (of course I used different IP adresses for laptop and phone).
Also e-mail and other apps that need internet connection don't work. If enabled 3G connection works OK.
Apart from the 'problem loading page' message there a no other error notifications.
Maybe a know issue for somebody?

Looks like you forgot to add DNS or Gateway.

Did you copy the same IP from the laptop? Or used a different one in the same subnet?

Is there a reason you can't just use DHCP on your router?

Finally found out the problem. It had to do with the network prefix (an option not present in the setup of the laptop, so I used the default of -24- on the phone). Thank you all for your comments

@Wilson would you mind to describe your solution in an answer (and accept it when this becomes possible after 2 days), so people can see there's a solution and what it is? Thank you in advance in the name of the community!


text:
Couldn't move app in Android 4.1 emulator
I am unable to move an app to the SD Card in Android 4.1 on an emulator. It is working fine in other versions (Android 2.3.3 to Android 4.0.3). In Android 4.1 it's giving dialog "couldn't move app".
Even if I am trying to move app directly from emulator settings (Settings->Apps->App info->Move to SD card) then also it's giving same error.
Is it a bug or security feature?

Which Android device is this? Many newer devices since ICS comes with a single partition for everything so move to SD becomes unnecessary.

Device is Samsung galaxy s3. But if it is device specific issue then it should work fine in emulator. Is these new version of android(i.e. Android 4.1) has provided any changes in SD card related features?

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
How to block a person's number and send automatic responses to its call/text attempts?
I want to put someone on a blacklist so I can't see when he calls me or what messages he sends to me. This is the easy part.
But I also want some custom text messages to be automatically sent to him if he tries to call/text me, like "Leimi put you on his blacklist, you really should stop trying". This is the not so easy part?
Do you know if this is possible by default in recent Android versions, via an application or even a custom ROM? Thanks.

There are a several apps on the Market that claims to be able to do this Auto Reply for blocked numbers, what have you tried?

At the time where I just wanted to block unknown numbers I tried several apps (don't really remember what) but only one worked well: Call Filter. Didn't remember seeing apps with an auto reply feature. Now that you're mentionning it, I indeed see a couple of apps that seem to do exactly what I want T_T Don't know how I missed them, thanks. I guess I'll test and come back here with the one I choose.

I was going to suggest using Google Voice, but I see you're in France. The problem with your proposed solution is that by sending a custom message like that all you're doing is confirming that your number still works. All your tormentor need do is find a different number from which to call you and your block will be for naught.

Yeah I'm in France :) In this particular case I actually don't mind if the blocked person knows my number still works. The purpose is actually to warn the person that it's useless to keep trying contacting me on my phone.

Well... Tested "Blacklist", "Ultimate Call Blocker Free", "Call Blocker 2.0", "Easy Filter"... none actually worked.

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


text:
Is there some SSH server for android-x86?
I am using Android ICS x86 build for debug purposes in VMware Workstation, but I can't find any ssh server, so how can I install ssh server on it? I've tried SSHDroid, Dropbear SSH and some others - all they doesn't work, because they request ARM architecture.

You are likely going to need OpenSSH, ported to ICS x86. Someone may already have tried this. See: http://www.openssh.org/

Dropbear SSH is FOSS. You should be able to generate a IA32 binary from the source and run it under android-x86.

You can have a look at Servers Ultimate on Play. The SSH server itself works on all devices and command line works on ARM and x86.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.icecoldapps.serversultimate

Thanks! Servers Ultimate is the only SSH server that works for me on Android x86 emulator

Not working on my Android 5.1. Possibly due to 64-bit platform.


text:
Is it possible to turn an Android tablet on or off over a wired connection such as USB?
I'm looking to use an Android tablet as a carputer, yet one problem I have is how to get the tablet to turn on and off when I turn my car on and off. With most carputers people will use special automotive power supplies to solve this problem.
What I want to know is if there is any way I can simulate pressing the power button, but through one of the wired interfaces such as the USB connection? Or would my only option be to open up whatever tablet use up and solder extension leads to the power button contacts, and then figure out some way to simulate a power button press when my car starts?

The "power" button on Android tablets does not behave like that on a computer.   It is really a control for whether the display is on or off, not the tablet, which is generally always on.   You  may be able to get what you want by setting the "Stay awake while power is connected" setting under developer options, and setting the screen timeout to a short value under display settings; if you connect the charging cable to a power source that goes on and off with the ignition, you should be good to go.
If the standby time of your tablet is not enough to handle your typical time with the ignition off, you may want to use an app like Tasker or Locale to set additional rules, like turning Wifi or cell connection off when the car's power is off.   If there's data you want to sync overnight, you could turn Wifi on (for example) an hour before you leave for work.
You may also want to disable the screen lock to minimize distractions while driving, but keep in mind the implication if you have any personal information on the tablet.

Turning the device off when you leave your car is possible:
There are various apps, for example tasker, that can react to events on your phone, for example when the external power supply is switched off.
Also, there exists a command reboot -p that shuts the device down. (But it needs root I think.) Tasker is able to run such a shell command, see here(Just ctrl+f for "Run").
With this solution, whenever you switch off your car, the external power supply for the device will stop and your phone will power off.
I don't know if there is a way to boot the phone with a command via USB if it is really switched off. If this is important for you, the best option is probably to just leave it on standby, as TomG suggested.


text:
Where is the official location to conduct feature requests?
I often have moments where I have improvement ideas for the Android OS, but don't know where to direct those suggestions.  What forum, group, mail list, site, app, etc. is used for official feature requests for the Android OS?

The Android Bug Report system.
Search to see if someone has already suggested the feature, then submit your idea using the feature request template.

Thanks, I don't think I could have positively identified this as the correct location on my own.  The Android community seems a bit diluted by all the clone websites out there.

Well, android.com is the official Android domain, although it's primarily for developers.


text:
The long SMS is converted to MMS and shows sending. How do I make sure it is sent?
I typed a long message and it was converted to a multimedia message. When I press the send button it shows "sending" but never shows "sent". How do I know it has been sent or not?

It hasn't. The status would change if the message went through. Now you'll have to check you MMS settings from Messaging ->menu-> Settings -> Multimedia message settings and your MMS APN from Settings -> Wireless -> Mobile networks -> Access point names (or Settings -> More.. -> Mobile networks -> Access point names in newer versions).
After you have corrected these and verified that your carrier/operator has enabled MMS on your account, the message should be sent. Or you have to long-press it and select Retry.


text:
Can't connect to the device with ADB when it's in recovery mode
I am having some problems with my Samsung Galaxy S2 and I want to start an fschk session on the device.
So, I installed Android SDK with platform-tools. I can access to the device when it's normally rebooted but I couldn't list and connect to the device when it's in recovery mode.
How can I connect via ADB when the device is in recovery mode?

What OS are you running on? It sounds like the recovery is a stock recovery and therefore un-rooted hence lack of access to adb shell from there.

I rooted the device about a year ago by following a how-to and didn't update it since then. It runs Android 2.2.3 GINGERBREAD.XWKG1.

I meant, are you running Windows or Linux?

I'm not certain that this is possible. I seem to remember that when I was rooting my N7 I was unable to adb while in recovery. I believe you have to be either fully booted or with just the bootloader... booted.

As I read, it's possible.
I am on Windows and I installed the Google's USB drivers. I am trying to install a custom recovery but my phone is acting quite strange. I think I'll try the same steps on Linux.

WARNING: fastboot oem unlock completely wipes your data!
adb is not available in the bootloader, try using fastboot instead
for a quick and dirty rundown of flashing your device with a new image using fastboot:
adb reboot bootloader
use fastboot devices to verify your device is visible, if not, you're probably running windows, and you have to install some funky drivers.
if you don't see 'unlocked' at the bottom of the screen, use the command fastboot oem unlock
then just:
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash userdata userdata.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
If you feel super confident you could just:
adb reboot bootloader && fastboot oem unlock && fastboot flash boot boot.img && fastboot flash system system.img && fastboot flash userdata userdata.img && fastboot flash recovery recovery.img && fastboot reboot
PS You should only use the flash commands if the referenced files are present, if not you may or may not brick your phone (haven't tried flashing a non-existent file to the device yet)
Warning: Unlocking bootloader wipes off data in your phone.

How we can run these commands when device does not recognized!
error: device not found

If you're using Winows, install Linux.If you're using Linux - I've never had an issue with bootloader connectivity, so can't help you there. However, if you're talking about for the adb reboot bootloader line, each device is a little different about how to get adb to recognize the device. I suggest you look it up for your particular device.

Holy crap, couldn't you have added a warning that fastboot oem unlock completely wipes your data?

Stock recovery doesn't come with ADB access.
Try a recent version of ClockworkMod recovery for your device (the older versions don't all have ADB support)
You will need to flash the recovery on using fastboot (see @MishaP's answer)

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


text:
Import SMS messages from Samsung .nef file to Sony Xperia S
How can I import my SMS message from a Samsung phone to a Sony one?
New PS Studio gave me a .nef file that I can't import to my Sony phone.

I have a new Sony Experia x10, and would like to import my backed-up sms's from my Samsung S4. The Sony PC Companion does not recognise the Samsung files. Samsung has a BK extention and Sony DBK.

Use SMS Backup & Restore assuming those are both Android phones and you shouldn't need to deal with a .nef file.

The .nef file is actually a normal database, which can be opened (and exported, and edited and ...) by Microsoft Access. The only thing is that it has an unrecognizable extension. Rename the file to xxxx.mdb, and you can open it in Microsoft Access by double-clicking it.
See also https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15359323/open-a-standard-jet-db-4-0-file-vmd


text:
Activate USB tethering from the command line
I would like to activate USB tethering from within a bash script.
I've found TetherSettings action name from
aapt dump xmltree com.android.settings.apk AndroidManifest.xml | less +/ether

The following command open the needed settings, but don't change anything alone
am start -n com.android.settings/.TetherSettings

Is there any possibility to run a command line with adb shell to change it?

Related, but the opposite: Is it possible to disable USB tethering from command line?

That's really cool. I tried to find other commands doing aapt dump xmltree com.android.settings.apk AndroidManifest.xml but that didn't work on my phone(aapt not found). How can I see a list of the available settings ?

http://elinux.org/Android_aapt

Thanks! I've found aapt in the build-tools folder. I can run it now. I can't seem to find com.android.settings.apk though. I've tried: find / -name 'com.android.settings.apk' on the phone, but nothing came up :( Can you please let me know where I can find com.android.settings.apk ?

If your Android version has svc inbuilt utility, run this command:
adb shell svc usb setFunctions rndis

This would enable USB tethering. To see what other USB functions are available, run:
adb shell svc usb

*setFunction in first command

@Jortstek in the latest release of Android (version 12), it still continues to be setFunctions. See https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/refs/heads/android12-release/cmds/svc/src/com/android/commands/svc/UsbCommand.java#39 It is possible the Android implementation by your  device's vendor removed the trailing s from the keyword.

Wow. Android 8 on Samsung device, it most definitely is without the "s". What ways they think of to trip people up.

Running the following command as root should enable USB tethering:

service call connectivity 32 i32 1 on Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0)
service call connectivity 33 i32 1 on Jelly Bean (4.1 to 4.3)
service call connectivity 34 i32 1 on KitKat (4.4)
service call connectivity 30 i32 1 on Lollipop (5.0)
service call connectivity 31 i32 1 on Lollipop (5.1) according to an answer by Firelord
service call connectivity 30 i32 1 on Marshmallow (6.0), untested
service call connectivity 41 i32 1 on Samsung Marshmallow (6.0)
service call connectivity 33 i32 1 on Nougat (7.0)
service call connectivity 39 i32 1 on Samsung Nougat (7.0)

The first number you see in the commands is the setUsbTethering() method's number in IConnectivityManager.aidl (this depends on the Android version and doesn't exist on Gingerbread).
(Tip: to check this file for a particular Android version, select the appropriate branch.)
So what this command does is call setUsbTethering() and pass either 1 (enable USB tethering) or 0 (to disable it).
For more information, see this related question on Stack Overflow.

If you're enabling USB tethering as part of a USB reverse tethering setup, setprop sys.usb.config rndis,adb should be more than enough to get the rndis0 interface set up.

Looking at the jb-release branch, int setUsbTethering(boolean enable); looks to be the 33rd method, not 34th. Also, I've tested both the 4.1/4.2 and 4.3/4.4 commands on a Nexus 7 with JB 4.3 and service call connectivity 33 i32 1 turns on tethering.

This is the right answer for USBTethering. It won't work for WifiTethering though. The API hasn't been left open for that...

That  command for Android M works well on my stock Android 6.0.1 on Nexus 6. Good work keeping a list for multiple Android versions. I wish I could upvote it again.

Confirm that the MM command works on CM13 6.0.1 also. Thanks!

on CM14.1(7.1) the Jelly Bean command works

For Oreo (8.0): service call connectivity 33 i32 1

There is a pretty bad method using adb shell input tap, Get the coordinates for enable tethering and substitute
adb shell input tap <x> <y>

Or navigate to enable radio using  adb shell input keyevent. Just have a look at,
adb shell input

Again this confines to a particular device.

Combining this all together, this works for me if the screen is unlocked: adb shell "am start -n com.android.settings/.TetherSettings; input keyevent KEYCODE_DPAD_UP; input keyevent KEYCODE_ENTER". I found a list of key events on SO.

In case anyone wants to test this out and/or modify it for their device, I'll post this here. I wrote a little script to turn on tethering for my nexus 5x (needs to be unlocked) and hooked it up to udev to do that automatically when I plug it in

@redbmk - thanks for the useful script.  For a Galaxy A5 2017 the key sequence is:
${inputKey}DPAD_DOWN; $pause; ${inputKey}DPAD_DOWN; $pause; ${inputKey}ENTER.  Also I found that pause="sleep 0.3" works ok.

In the sequence above I had forgot the initial key presses to dismiss the pop up confirmation about enabling MTP, which is ${inputKey}DPAD_DOWN; $pause; ${inputKey}DPAD_DOWN; $pause; ${inputKey}ENTER;.

Try the setprop command below:
setprop sys.usb.config rndis,adb

This is only part of what's needed. This won't start dnsmasq for instance.

this is device independent (toggles USB tethering)
adb shell am start -n com.android.settings/.TetherSettings &&
adb shell input keyevent 20 &&
adb shell input keyevent 20 &&
adb shell input keyevent KEYCODE_ENTER &&
sleep 2 &&
adb shell input keyevent 4

Modified to use windows timeout command instead of sleep, wake screen first, and only press down once. Twice down enabled wifi tethering on my phone.
adb shell input keyevent KEYCODE_WAKEUP && adb shell am start -n com.android.settings/.TetherSettings && adb shell input keyevent KEYCODE_DPAD_DOWN && adb shell input keyevent KEYCODE_ENTER && timeout 2 && adb shell input keyevent KEYCODE_BACK

The service method did not work for me on my Samsung device. I figured out how to do it by configuring the network interface directly, though. Here is a script that sets up a Linux machine and a USB-connected rooted Android device for USB tethering. This does not set up DNS or NAT masquerading, but is sufficient to make the device accessible at 192.168.42.129:
#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail

# Set up USB tethering for an Android device.
# Usage: adb-usb-tether [USB-VENDOR USB-PRODUCT]
# If USB vendor/product is unspecified, use first USB network interface.
# On the Android side, tethering is enabled via adb shell.

if [[ $# -eq 2 ]]
then
    any=false
    vendor=$1
    product=$2
else
    any=true
fi

function find_if() {
    local path if
    for path in /sys/class/net/*
    do
        if=$(basename "$path")
        if [[ "$(readlink "$path")" == */usb* ]]
        then
            local ifproduct ifvendor
            ifproduct=$(cat "$(realpath "$path")/../../../idProduct")
            ifvendor=$(cat "$(realpath "$path")/../../../idVendor")
            if $any || [[ "$ifproduct" == "$product" && "$ifvendor" == "$vendor" ]]
            then
                echo "Found interface: $if" 1>&2
                echo "$if"
                return
            fi
        fi
    done
}

function adb_shell() {
    adb shell "$(printf " %q" "$@")"
}

function adb_su() {
    local quoted
    quoted="$(printf " %q" "$@")"
    adb shell su -c "$(printf %q "$quoted")"
}

if=$(find_if)
if [[ -z "$if" ]]
then
    echo "Requesting interface:" 1>&2
    adb_su setprop sys.usb.config rndis,adb
    echo " >> OK" 1>&2
fi

while [[ -z "$if" ]]
do
    echo "Waiting for network device..." 1>&2
    sleep 1
    if=$(find_if)
done

while ! ( ip link | grep -qF "$if" )
do
    echo "Waiting for interface..." 1>&2
    sleep 1
done

function configure_net() {
    local name="$1"
    local if="$2"
    local ip="$3"
    local table="$4"
    local cmdq="$5" # Query command
    local cmdx="$6" # Configuration command

    if ! ( "$cmdq" ip addr show dev "$if" | grep -qF 192.168.42."$ip" )
    then
        echo "Configuring $name interface address:" 1>&2
        "$cmdx" ip addr add 192.168.42."$ip"/24 dev "$if"
        echo " >> OK" 1>&2
    fi

    if ( "$cmdq" ip addr show dev "$if" | grep -qF 'state DOWN' )
    then
        echo "Bringing $name interface up:" 1>&2
        "$cmdx" ip link set dev "$if" up
        sleep 1
        echo " >> OK" 1>&2
    fi

    if ! ( "$cmdq" ip route show table "$table" | grep -qF "192.168.42.0/24 dev $if" )
    then
        echo "Configuring $name route:" 1>&2
        "$cmdx" ip route add table "$table" 192.168.42.0/24 dev "$if"
        echo " >> OK" 1>&2
    fi
}

configure_net local  "$if"   128 main  command   sudo
configure_net device rndis0  129 local adb_shell adb_su

To enable forwarding (i.e. connect to the Internet from the PC via the Android device), see my question and answer here.

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


text:
Prevent complete charging?
I'm looking for a way to prevent my phone from completely charging every time it is connected to my computer. I want to reduce the battery's capacity loss, as it is non-replaceable, and it seems to me that keeping the maximum charge at around 50% to 60% would be ideal. This chart, from this site, suggests that the benefit would be significant.
Capacity at    Discharge
full charge    cycles

100%           300 – 500
90%            600 – 1,000
70%            1,200 – 2,000
50%            2,400 – 4,000

Surely you'll be charging it more often if you don't charge it fully?

I charge when I get the chance, and my currently battery never drops below 60%.

That table refers to storage, not use; you may want Table 4 instead.

Thanks for the suggestion. Table 4 actually communicates my point better.

While, yes, charging to 50-60% max would increase the recharge cycles, you would also need to recharge many, many more times, making this method ineffective.

@MichelfrancisBustillos I think that's why they call it "charge cycles", a full cycle = 100% on the scale. More full cycles by charging only to 60%, means much longer battery life.

The only potential solution would be to find a way to current-limit the cable so that the phone would have to run off battery. You cannot simply disconnect Vcc and Ground pins, as the USB standard requires the presence of those electrical connections before D+ and D- pins are permitted to be energized. Running off battery like that would just increase your charge cycles, causing the wear you want to avoid.
As far as apps, there is no way to programmatically control the battery charging subsystem in this way; BatteryManager outputs information but does not accept inputs from user apps.

SMART PLUG is an intelligent outlet that can measure power usage and provide basic power management to attached appliances via the standard electrical outlet.
You can buy this WiFi PLUG or build your own. Plugs are available that support USB Charging. You can find more plugs of your choice in the market.

Now every time you charge your device charge it using this plug. There are many alternatives to the plug I have provided in link. Many of the plugs have dedicated Control apps for Android and iPhone built for them.
After this you can configure your Tasker app to run the Control app whenever there is 50%(whatever you like) charge complete to just turn off the plug.

References:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/best-smart-plugs/
https://www.digi.com/wiki/developer/index.php/XBee_Smart_Plug
https://gigaom.com/2014/02/18/in-praise-of-the-humble-smart-plug-are-outlets-the-gateway-for-the-internet-of-things/

yes, there are plugs that support USB Charging. You can find more of your choice on the internet.

Currently the batteries no longer have this limitation in relation to charges, they can work with loads at any level, from 1% to 100% without any problems.
However it is recommended to never leave download completely, because each one complete discharge battery life cycle is lost.

Perhaps you missed OP's concern elaborated in the linked site in question and further amplified in comments. If you didn't and have sources to validate your answer, kindly link them- else the answer could be downvoted and eventually removed, which is not a welcome a new user would like to get


text:
What encoding is text messaging in?
The reason for the question is that I have a friend with an iPhone who sends emoticons, and I receive them as a single rectangular box.  I wonder if it's an encoding problem.

iPhone emoticons are not character combinations like :-) but they are single UTF-16 character of emoticons called Emoji which are not by default supported in Android.
By using some third party sms apps such as GO SMS PRO and installing its Emoji Plugin you would be able to send and receive such iPhone emoticons to/from your friend.

SMS, generally, uses the 7-bit GSM encoding standard, however a quick cursory glance with google-fu yielded this answer posted on StackOverflow which seems to say that Apple uses UTF-16 (Unicode encoding).
This would explain why you got a rectangular box as the handset is not able to decipher the encoding.
You can find out more here as per the standards document


text:
With Maps 6.12 Latitude seems to have vanished?
After updating, the Latitude widget seems to have vanished. And from Maps, I can't get to my Latitude friends anymore.
I can't find any notes about this online, in reports or on Google pages.
In the comments in the Play Store, others have mentioned this as well.
Is there a way to get this back, or is it running still in the background? Some sort of release note?

According to the Google Product Forums with Google Maps for Android 6.10 the Latitude widget is no longer available. You can view your friends' locations quickly by touching the Latitude icon, or by turning on the Latitude layer in Google Maps.

Do you know if there is still a way to get a shortcut on my Home Screen to the Latitude screen of Maps?

Basically Latitude has been integrated into Google Maps, so there is no shortcut just to Latitude.  You have to access it through your Google Maps shortcut.

Too bad. I thought maybe they added something like in Gmail where you can create Shortcuts to different Labels.


text:
WiFi Error: "Failed to connect to network"
Intermittently, when I try to connect to a WiFi network, I get the following error message as a toast message:

Failed to connect to network

The message pops up immediately upon attempting to connect, so clearly it isn't trying and failing. I haven't found any mention of an error in the logs. The affected networks are ones that I've previously connected to with no change in settings.
How can I figure out what the problem is?
I've got a rooted Galaxy Nexus running Android 4.1.1 and the stock ROM. This question is related to another question that I posted earlier, but this one is more about how to find the source of a particular error message, so its focus is different.
Additional Details
Here are some more details based on the comments:

I've observed this on my home and work networks. One is identified as WPA2 PSK and the other is identified as WPA/WPA2 PSK.

I haven't powered off the phone as described in the troubleshooting guide mentioned in the comments. However, I have rebooted to no avail (using the reboot command that's available on rooted phones).

Forgetting the network and re-adding it has no effect. In fact, if I forget the network I can no longer successfully re-add it.

The wireless password hasn't changed.

There's no proxy configured when I'm on wireless. However, I run Onavo Extend when I'm on a data connection. Disabling it has no effect.

I've switched from DHCP to static IP addresses. Doing so reduced the frequency of problems and seems to have eliminated my earlier issue where wifi would be randomly dropped.

Wifi sleep is set to "Only when plugged in." I don't think it's relevant because my issue is establishing a connection in the first place (such as when I arrive at home or at work), not maintaining one.

Note that despite all these troubleshooting steps,my initial goal is to find an actual error message or log entry that gives useful information about the problem.

What kind of wireless network? WPA? WPA2? WEP? Go through this guide just in case: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/smartphones/troubleshoot-wi-fi-connections-on-your-android-phone/2357

@Enigma: Thanks for the suggestion. I've updated my question.

Try disabling sleep entirely and downloading a third-party wifi connection tool from the app store. There is likely one that provides a nice output log as well. What other application services do you have running besides the stock ones?

Did you solve the issue? If so, how? Don't hesitate to answer your own question, Scott -- you know that's perfectly fine here :)

@Izzy: My issue persists. I haven't found any solution.

Sorry to read that. Few hints: I read Android sometimes has trouble with WiFi using auto WPA/WPA2. People solved that part by fixing it to one of the two (try first one, then the other; also try WEP, just for the records so you see if encryption is part of the problem). Also check channels, maybe it works better on a different channel (stick to the first 11, but try finding one that's not so "overcrowded").

Hi, I have exactly the same issue you are having on my LG 4X HD. I updated to 4.1 and now I have loads of problems with wifi. Did you resolve this issue?

@Patrick: My problem is as yet unresolved.

As it was not mentioned here explicitly: Has one of you two tried to capture a logcat when the problem appeared? That might turn something up. Up to ICS (4.0) you can use one of the logcat apps from Google Play; however, as with JB they no longer can access anything but their own log entries, you might need to use adb logcat then (or root your device).

I tried but got nothing relevant. By the way, for rooted phones it's possible to convert alogcat to a system app. Then it works as advertised under Jelly Bean.

Do you have custom recovery installed? I have had this problem twice on a Galaxy S2, and what fixed it for me every time was running a permissions fix from recovery mode.
If that doesn't work, try deleting your WiFi config file. Not sure what it is on the Nexus, but I'm guessing it'll be something along the lines of /data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf or /data/misc/wifi/wpa.conf. Obviously you should make backups before deleting anything. Note that you'll lose all your WiFi settings if you do this.

The guy with the nexus isn't the one who posted the bounty, I bumped for attention. I've got an LG Optimus 4X HD. Not wildly different and I don't think its platform specific. Currently don't have recovery installed, although have been investigating that as part of a solution to this issue (move to CyanoGen 10.1). I can't see /data/misc/* at all, although I realise my fw update has dropped root access. Would that block access? I've go ta whole weekend set aside to get something going. I'll update when I know more. Thanks.

@Patrick - I would be surprised if you can see anything in /data at all without root access. On every phone I've tested, an app can only see its own user data in /data/data/app.name and nothing else. If you do get root access, also check for a directory named /data/wifi. Some phones use that instead of /data/misc/wifi.

Sure. thanks for confirming, looks like I'm stuck in front of a computer all weekend then. Lets hope the sun goes away eh?

Haha yeah, enjoy the weekend. Let me know if your problem gets resolved.

Unable to get root. Seems I have issues getting to my phone via ADB. I'm still very much a noob at this stuff :( although I did find an app that helped...

Note that ADB does not give full root access, only partial root access, unless you have a kernel patched with insecure ADB.

The unlock process for the p880 on 4.1.2 requires either ADB Shell and running some stuff, or ADB Sideload *.zip, neither of which work (various connection errors during the process).

I wished I saw this months earlier! Soooo many thanks! So many thanks!!!

running a permissions fix what? on what file(s)? I don't understand what you're trying to say in the first paragraph at all

on my system the file from your second paragraph was located at /data/vendor/wifi/something and deleting it and rebooting also didn't help, unfortunately

I think this part of your question is key:

I've switched from DHCP to static IP addresses. Doing so reduced the frequency of problems and seems to have eliminated my earlier issue where wifi would be randomly dropped.

IP addressing issues could certainly cause you troubles like this. Static addressing is only treating the symptoms, though, not curing the disease. Assuming the APs you're connecting to haven't had their DHCP settings changed, focus on investigating how your phone is acting as a DHCP client. I found a bug report in which several users report the same trouble you're having (the author actually references one of your previous questions). One of the commenters found log entries related to DHCP; you mentioned in a comment that you didn't find any relevant log entries but did you see any that look like this commenter's?

Apr  1 05:26:12 unknown daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[522]: DHCPREQUEST(br0) 192.168.200.225 a0:0b:ba:83:65:32
Apr  1 05:26:12 unknown daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[522]: DHCPNAK(br0) 192.168.200.225 a0:0b:ba:83:65:32 wrong address

Additionally, a later commenter found that the DHCP client service dhcpcd was not running on his device. He explains:

I started researching a bit, using good old Linux console and "ps"
  command. I noticed that:

every time I could not connect, dhcpcd was not running.
at least several times, Kingsoft Office process was running when the problem appeared.

So, what I did was:

uninstalled Kingsoft Office,
switch to static IP on all networks I use often (home, work, friends, family). I also disabled WiFi power management (read
  somewhere that it could help).

After these, problem disappeared. It's
  been gone for 2 weeks now!

He found that the DHCP client service's absence was correlated with one of his apps. Reconfigure your device to use DHCP, try to connect to one of the problem APs, then use Terminal Emulator (or similar) to run the same investigation he did by typing the command ps | grep dhcp. The output should look something like the following:
dhcp      4858  1     924    552   ffffffff 00000000 S /system/bin/dhcpcd
This means that the dhcpcd process is running. If dhcpcd is not running, you'll simply be returned nothing. If that's the case, type ps again to get a list of all current processes. Do you notice any correlations between an app you've installed and the problems you're having? As a temporary work-around, trying starting the service again by typing sudo dhcpcd, then try again to connect.

I managed to work round, if not resolve, the issue at hand.
In short I installed Wifi Ruler - Free, which overrides the stock wifi connection manager.
This allows me to click and connect to any AP that I come across with no issue.
It does loads of other stuff, finally I can prevent my phone from connecting to my neighbours incredibly strong open wifi.
Hope this helps.

Check to see if you have set mobile data limit. I know it's weird on my samsung Google nexus maguro I removed the limit and wifi returned back to normal.
However I had the same issue on Nexus 7 grouper, I tried various apps and tricks on the net. But finally I had to reflash the Cyanogenmod to get wifi working on it.

I gave this answer to a disconnection query earlier but there is some resonance here.

I think I can guess what is happening. When I first started using free hotspots I was connecting with no problem and often they will have a logon screen to insert the locale password. Some places however like hotels seem to give free access for a limited time or for first use without logging in and then later they will expect you to register.
When I have returned to these places a second time I find that the phone finds the network and claims to be connected but every use returns a network error or appears to connect and get cut off. In fact I am getting rerouted to their logon page, only it seems to often only open in background in gingerbread so you don't know it is happening.
After fiddling around you can sometimes get the logon page to show and then register. Often I can only do this by attempting a google search. Google somehow seems to know to route via the logon pages whereas other apps play ignorant."

Thanks for the answer. However, as I stated in my question, I'm experiencing these issues at home and work. Your issue with free Wi-Fi hotspots is, I presume, completely unrelated since you're experiencing issues getting outside despite having a connection to the hotspot.

Try to reboot your phone, you will find it again after rebooting.

Yes, "try rebooting" is a tried and true troubleshooting technique for all kinds of computer issues, but isn't really a long-term strategy nor does it identify the actual issue.

I had the same issue. I found it had to to with my Easy Battery Saver app. Messed around with the settings and it immediately connected.

"messed around with the settings" is hardly considered a helpful answer.


text:
How do you disable system apps in Android 4.x.x (and up)?
I heard you can "freeze" or "disable" system apps starting in Android 4.0 without rooting. How do you do it?

You can disable only System apps from Android 4.0 onwards.
Check the guide here with video.
Basically you have to:

Go to your phone’s main settings menu.
Go to the “Apps” or “Applications” option.
Go to the “All” tab in your list of apps.
Find the app you wish to disable and tap on it.
Press the disable button next to the force stop button.
If the disable button isn’t
  visible, you have to press “uninstall updates” first. Then go back
  to step 5

To enable it again:

Once you’ve disabled the app, it will be hidden from your phone as if
  it were never there. The great news is if you ever wanted it back, all
  you have to do is the same process but “enable” it instead. Just to
  let you know, disabled apps show up at the very bottom of the app list
  (not in alphabetical order) if you ever wish to re-enable it.

Update:
To disable user installed apps I use this aswesome software called Titanium backup pro (needs root). Freezing app i.e. disabling app is only one of its many features.
To freeze one app:

Open Titanium backup pro
Go to Backup and Restore tab
Find you app and click it
Choose freeze from the menu
To restore click defrost instead of freeze

Note: Freezing app still consumes space.
I personally use this to freeze heavy app like Skype. Application settings like username and password aren't lost in this way.

Oh ok, I was already aware of this... So there's no way to disable installed apps? I'd like to prevent certain apps from running, but not uninstall them.

Check the updated answer.

@trusktr That's what the disable apps function does.

@roxan: OP specifically asked for a non-rooting solution.

Hehe, yeah. I was looking for a non-root solution... I may figure out how to root my phone manually sometime. :D

Is this technically the same as the pm terminal command?

@NoBugs I've mentioned the difference here: Is "Disabling" apps with Android 4 similar to "Freezing" in Titanium backup?


text:
Reverse tethering Android to Mac via Bluetooth
I'm trying to let my Android (4.1.1) phone use my Mac's (10.8.2) wifi connection via Bluetooth. This is what I've tried:

Paired devices successfully; PAN interface created on the Mac
Enabled Internet Sharing from Wifi to Bluetooth PAN
adb shell; pand -c XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

After running pand, I briefly see that Bluetooth connection established, but it quickly drops after a second. Running adb logcat, this is what I see:
I/pand    ( 4876): Bluetooth PAN daemon version 4.93
I/pand    ( 4876): Connecting to XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
D/BluetoothEventLoop(  300): Device property changed: XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX property: Connected value: true
E/pand    ( 4876): Connect to XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX failed. Permission denied(13)
D/BluetoothEventLoop(  300): Device property changed: XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX property: Connected value: false

How do I get this to work successfully?

What worked for me is in this answer.
Are there any Android phones that allow Bluetooth PAN off the shelf?
Having enabled internet sharing via bluetooth on the Mac, which doesn't need command line on recent versions at least, pair the devices and then go to bluetooth settings on the Android device, select the Mac, tap the settings gear and enable it for internet access.
It seems to matter that the internet sharing is enabled before pairing the devices, but that may have been a one-off.
The reason I needed to do this, is for hotel internet access where you have to pay per device, and the signal was poor so only my laptop could get a decent connection.  Now Mac, iPad and 2 android tablets all online, so kids happy :-)


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Can't locate wallpaper when saved from browser
I have read multiple questions on here but none seem to work for my phone.
I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 with Android 2.3.3.
I really need the photo that's my wallpaper. I can't locate it on the phone or the location on   the Internet.
Background info: I was browsing the Internet on my phone. I clicked on a photo on a website and clicked "set as wallpaper", which it did. Now however I can't find the photo anywhere on my phone. (It is still set as my wallpaper though.)

Most Android phones come with an app called "Downloads" where you can find any file you may have downloaded from the internet. From there, you should be able to view the picture and set it as your background through the Menu key settings.
Another way might be to look in your Gallery application (or any photo viewer). Most of these will display the Downloads folder (or any folder that holds image files), where you can view the image and set it as your background.
Worst case scenario, I'd look in your browser settings to see if you can find a folder path for where it is saving downloaded information (again, ususally /sdcard/downloads) and use a file manager (like X-plore) to find and open the file, where you will be able to set it as your wallpaper.

hi thanks for your reply. the image is not stored in the downloads folder. every image i have saved is stored there. however on this occasion i didnt save it, i directly clicked set as wallpaper, which it did.  i cant even use the screen capture function to copy it as it is set cover the "7" windows ... (so it moves as you swipe through the menu)

I developed "Wallpaper Saver" to save wallpapers when I have thrown away the original. Get it from Play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dk.alroe.apps.WallpaperSaverFree


text:
WiFi Tethering not working when using security
I have a rooted Galaxy SII (not branded, from Germany) running CyanogenMod 10.
I can't connect to my tethering network when I'm using security (WPA / WPA2-PSK). With an open network, it works just fine, but obviously, that's not what I'd prefer.
Can anyone give me a hint on how to fix this?

Might I ask why this was edited? The greetings I can understand, but why did you remove two tags?

I'm not the one that do the edit but device tags should only be used for device-specific issues. As for rooting tag, your question is not specifically about rooting.

It seems tethering on SGS2 on CM10 is currently broken, according to Entropy512 on xda developer:

CM10 supports tethering, however WPA/WPA2 tethering was broken on devices with bcmdhd wifi until I fixed it earlier this week. Some devices may not have the fix enabled yet (It has to be enabled on a per-device basis, since the "fix" will break devices that don't need it.)

So, is this going to be fixed in the next version? Or what does he mean by "fixing it"?

no idea, you'll have to ask Entropy512 for that


text:
Failed upgrade, now stuck in recovery mode
My Galaxy Note is stuck in recovery mode and I'm not sure what to do next. Here's what happened:

After connecting to wifi, a software update was downloaded and a message asked me to install it. I accepted, because otherwise it said it would remind me in 3 hours...
I left it plugged in and went out. When I came back, there was a screen warning me of the dangers of installing a "custom OS" (?) The options were to press the volume-up to install it, or volume-down to reboot. Neither option did anything. Hard rebooting went to the same screen.
Later, I tried to charge it, but got this repeating sequence: the symbol showing a charging (but empty batter) for a couple of seconds, then a picture of the android robot with blue polyhedron thing (like here), then blank screen. A few seconds later it repeats.
Finally I try rebooting into recovery mode:
Android system recovery (3e)
...
reboot system now
apply update from external storage
wipe data/factory reset
...
MANUAL MODE
-- Appling Multi-CSC... (sic)
Applied the CSC-code : INU
Successfully applied the multi-CSC.

Now, I don't really care whether I get the update or not, or whether I lose some data - I just really want a working phone again. I'm travelling atm, so it's a bit inconvenient. But mostly I'm asking for help to avoid making the problem worse.
So: what should I do?
It's a (unlocked) Samsung Galaxy Note with ICS. I haven't (intentionally?) rooted it, but the recovery screen shows the android with a red exclamation triangle.

I would first try updating the phone with official Kies software.  Download it from here, install it on your computer, and run it.  The program should walk you through the upgrade process.
If the above fails, you may have to go the hard way and follow instructions from here.  This post from xda-developers forum has links to various region-specific ROMs, as well as instructions for flashing it via 3rd-party tools:

Installation:
  - Download appropriate ICS ROM, and extract the .tar file from the Zip.
  - Download Odin, open it.
  - Select PDA tab and point to ROM file. Leave Re-partition, pit, CSC, Phone tab unchecked.
  - Switch off device, put it in download mode (hold down Vol Down + Home + Power buttons)  .
  - Completely close Kies and any Anti-Virus applications if running
  - Connect device to PC
  - "ID:COM" port should turn yellow
  - Now click Start
  - After reboot, you will see screen showng android updating, then will install some application.

*Important Note:
All the links and instructions I provided are for the Samsung Galaxy Note international model - N7000.  If you have a different, carrier-specific variant (e.g. US AT&T's SGH-I717 or South Korean SHV-E160x models), you will need to search for Kies and/or stock ROM version applicable to your specific model number.

If you're adventurous and know your way around Odin (Samsung's firmware flashing tool), you can go here to get the correct regional firmware for your Samsung Galaxy Note. IMPORTANT: Make sure you download the correct firmware for your device and region. For example, XSA is the regional code for Australia.
Next, download Odin from the same site and use it to manually flash your device with a new firmware.
You may also need the Samsung USB drivers for Windows (if you are using this OS). Go here, or here to get the USB drivers.
After you have downloaded all the required software, do this in order (Note: These instructions are only for Microsoft Windows):

Install the Samsung USB drivers onto Windows.
Extract the Samsung Galaxy Note's firmware.
Start Odin.
Shut down or power off your Samsung Galaxy Note.
Go into Download mode by holding Volume Down + Home + Power simultaneously. (Note: Don't press the "Power" button first or the device will boot up). Then, when prompted, press Volume Up button on the device to start the Download mode.
Connect your Note's USB cable - one end into your Note; the other end into a USB port in your computer, or a USB Hub connect to your computer.
Back in Odin, you should see a COM port highlighted in yellow - this is your Note's COM port that Odin will use to flash the firmware onto the device. Next, click the PDA button and locate the firmware extracted in Step 2 above.
In Odin, ensure that ONLY the Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time options are selected. Then, click Start button and wait (for a couple of minutes).
Once Odin signalled Pass, unplug the USB connector from your Note and let the device reboot normally.

You should be able to regain access to your device after it has rebooted.
You don't need to use Samsung's crappy Kies application. If you have it installed already on your computer, uninstall this useless bloatware. Just use Odin for flashing any new firmware for your Samsung Galaxy Note.


text:
Enabling USB OTG on Samsung Galaxy Y Duos
I am planning to develop an Android application which uses USB On-The-Go.
I am using a Samsung Galaxy Y Duos. Is there any way that I can enable USB OTG in this phone?

There is no way to enable USB OTG on Samsung Galaxy Y Duos. Thats all I know so far.

Any reference to claim your points?

I've searched a lot for that, because I also have the same phone. and I found nothing yet.

I heard that it is a hardware ability in phones which should provide electricity for USB devices to run. Also most of the Sony phones support it but few Samsungs devices. I have a Galaxy Young.
By the way, I now see this page. The new developer claims the Young is an O.T.G device ... I hope so.

by the way now I see this page .. the new developer claims the young is an O.T.G device ... I hope it http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1567203


text:
Is there a way to lock an Android device using a keyboard?
Somewhat imperfect comparison: in Windows, you can simply press Win+L to lock Windows.
Is there a similar keyboard shortcut in Android?

No, there is no shortcut, the only way to lock Android, is by pressing the hardware power button which is programmed into the core of Android to do just that, i.e. perform a screen lock. Am sure there's a tasker profile somewhere that would just trigger a screen lock at the tap of the icon :)

And I am sure @t0mm13b wanted to trigger me mentioning Tasker. Same as with Plug'n'play: Works only for 50% (plug works). In fact, there's an option Display -> System Lock to turn the display of and activate keylock. And yes, you can use an icon to trigger that. But there's no "key pressed" event for the keyboard, unfortunately.

@Izzy : do you by any chance know when have they added that Display -> System Lock option? My 2.3.4 doesn't seem to have it.

@C.B. You misinterpreted my comment. I was refering to a Tasker activity.

@Izzy : oh, sorry about that, i'm a "droid noob". However, now that i know more context, i think "you can use an icon to trigger that" qualifies as a good-enough answer, since a shortcut on the touchscreen would be equivalent to a keypress IMO. Thanks for the input (and the clarifying link).

Oh. Right, completely forgot about those: Lock Screen, Lock Screen Widget, and all the others...

What kind of keyboard are you talking about? An on-screen touch keyboard? A built-in keyboard? A bluetooth or USB keyboard?

You could type in adb shell input keyevent 26 which in turn will lock your screen
For this, you need the USB debugging enabled on your phone and ADB should be installed on your machine.

A complete ADB installer in 15 seconds for Windows can be found here: [XDA Forums - [OFFICIAL]TOOL][WINDOWS] ADB, Fastboot and Drivers - 15 seconds ADB Installer v1.4.3.
And for Linux machines, there is a script which is written by Corbin Davenport. Just execute the following command without the quotes in any Linux terminal to install
bash <(curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/corbindavenport/nexus-tools/master/install.sh)

Hope this helps you although this is not a shortcut key.

On my BT Logitech keyboard:
FN + Esc = lock phone

Certain external (Bluetooth) keyboards have a function button that does this, but if you haven't found it, it probably isn't there.

There is no way to lock the device using the keyboard.
If you want the same effect that your computer has when it locks on your phone (i.e. needing a password next time you log in), then go to Settings, Lock screen, and set it to require a password (or whatever you use) whenever you wake your phone.

I have a logitech K380 bluetooth keyboard and a Motorola One Action. I can lock the phone by pressing FN + L. The phone has Android One which is near stock Android.

For the users of the Logitech K850 keyboard, FN + F11 locks the Android device.

Does it really depend on the type of the keyboard? For me, it looks like an ordinary bluetooth wireless keyboard.

The other answers specified here didn't work for me. Just stating this, so that folks can try this one as well, incase.

You can use "WIN + L" to lock your Android phone with any keyboard just like you log out on Windows.

Hello. Could you mention the keyboard model with which you tried this key combo?

Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.


text:
Why won't badge notification work for Gmail on my S3?
I get badge notifications for all my other apps and email, but Gmail will not show the little red icon that shows the number of unread messages.  It used to work fine, but now it no longer does and it's driving me nuts.  I have all the notifications turned on (in the top menu bar and within the Gmail app itself).  Not sure what else I can do?

I'm pretty sure that feature was removed around the time they added per-label/per-account notifications.

The stock Gmail app on the Galaxy S3 does not have an unread count on the home screen icon.  However, you can use the stock email app to retrieve your Gmail and that app includes an unread count on the home screen.


text:
How to resolve that both Wifi Hotspot and USB Tethering need reboot to work?
I am using a Huawei Honor Device running the official Ice Cream Sandwich. I use the wifi tethering quite often to get my notebook online, and realized following behavior:

I am connected to Wifi. Everything works fine.
After a random while, between 15 minutes or 4 hours, the Internet connection times out on my notebook.
Internet is still working on the device itself though.
My notebook is shown as connected on the overview list via its MAC Address
Disabling, enabling Wifi Tethering does not resolve this.
Only cause of action: reboot the whole phone and then start wifi tethering again.

I am wondering if this is an issue known to multiple Android devices or if this is a hardware issue. If this is software-related, I also am wondering what I could do to resolve this. Factory reset should only be last resort and I am hoping to avoid that.
UPDATE: This also happens on USB tethering. This makes me think that the issue is unrelated to either wifi or USB, but resides somewhere in the way Android handles the Internet connection. It just suddenly loses connection.

Just a shot into the blue: As some other WiFi/network connection problems I heard could be worked-around this way, did you try to temporarily switch into airplane mode and back (instead of booting)? I'd not count this a solution either, but if it works, it's still better than a full reboot.

@Izzy Alas, switching to airplane mode and back didn't resolve the issue.

Sad to hear -- but was worth a try. So another try, which is a little shorter than a full reboot: Fast Reboot. Instead of a full reboot, this only restarts the system server -- and should be twice as fast as a full reboot. I bet you would only need to restart a single service, but I cannot say which...

Does this same issue occur when using either USB or WiFi tethering to other devices, say a different laptop or a second mobile device?

@Mr.Buster Yes, this issue is not dependent on a specific machine.

Can you provide further details. - What is the notebook running? (OS, WiFi chip, driver) - Can this problem be corrected at the notebook? (What have you tried?) - What is the root-cause of the connection timeout, on the netbook?

I to am using my phone as a 3G modem and sometimes this happens when I messed up some settings in the phone. I just clear the Settings data on my phone and it returns to normal.

Open Settings app
Go to Apps
Go to ALL tab
find the Settings app
open it and Clear Data
try tethering again

this usually fixes the wifi dropping while tethering issue on my xperia play
If your internet keeps timing out while you're connected then it might be also a network issue, or your phone automatically disconnecting from the network due to inactivity. If you frequently take a break using the internet but like to keep the connection alive then I'd recommend using a pinger


text:
The battery of my Galaxy S 2 is draining very quickly...including on plane mode
I just got a Galaxy S II which I upgraded to ICS.
I really struggle with the battery life.
I have been looking around a lot on the forums explaining how to save my precious battery.
I have done quite a lot of testing, disabled all energy consuming widgets ... still I cannot get 10 hours of battery life (best case scenario without using the phone at all).
I have pushed the testing further by disabling WiFi, 3G and even switching to flight mode to reduce the consumption. I have also killed all apps (except Battery Monitor).
I haven't touched the phone for 4 hours (leaving it in sleep mode). During these 4 hours the phone has drained 40% of battery. The battery app didn't show anything suspicious.
When I do use the phone normaly (phone call, text, a bit of WiFi) the consumption is obviously a bit higher.
I am not quite sure what should be my next step:

factory reset ?
uninstall every single app to find out if one of them is faulty
Change the battery

During your four hours in sleep mode, what did the batter stats page show as the thing eating your battery?

After checking for Al's suggestion, next logical step to recommend would be checking with e.g. BetterBatteryStats for wake locks. There must be some app keeping the device awake.

Note that, depending on the apps, killing apps often have the inverse effect on battery life as they may reload again soon after to check on syncing. Leaving an app running are sometimes more battery efficient than constantly reloading and killing apps.

The Android Authority has a great article on ways to extend your battery life on the S2.
In my experience:

Live Wallpaper is a huge battery eater
When I'm at work my 3G signal is very weak inside the building, which completely kills my battery in about 4 hours.  I've found that if I leave the Wi-Fi connected at work and at home, the phone won't constantly look for a 3G signal, thus saving my battery.
Turning down the screen brightness is also a big help

If you've tried all these suggestions with no improvement, you might consider trying  JuiceDefender.

Thanks for this, The problem I have is that I am losing 40% of battery in 4 hours without anything enabled (WIFI 3G were off, screen was off, all apps were killed, the phone was even on plane mode). Basically the phone should have been doing absolutely nothing not even trying to reach for signal. I have no widget enabled a very plain wallpaper (should not make any difference anyway as the battery drains with the screen off)

Try factory reset, wipe off all the apps and then see. If the problem still persists then check if changing the battery helps

Changing to a custom rom like Cyanogemmod might help if the rom developers found ways to alleviate pointless battery loss on certain specific devices such as your GS2.
If your phone is rooted you may try out flashing 3rd party kernels to see if they can optimize performance.
Some roms have power/performance options which may help, but may also damage your phone.
Calibrating the battery is also an option but I've never seen any good evidence it actually does anything.
And use wakelock detector to sniff out any dodgy services that may pointlessly wake the processor.


text:
How do you remove words from Swype's dictionary?
I know how to remove words from Swype's user dictionary. I want to know how to remove words from Swype's built-in dictionary. I get very frustrated with all these random words that I know I'll never use! I can't tell you how many times I've had the word "Getty" show up instead of the word "get".
If there is really no way of removing words from Swype's built-in dictionary I'll probably need to find an alternative. That's probably another question though.

Swype uses a separate dictionary. You can access the settings for both from within the system settings:
From the homescreen, open settings → language & keyboard

for Swype continue: Swype → Personal dictionary
for the default keyboard: My dictionary

There you can edit/add/remove words from your user dictionary.

This no longer works for Swype 1.3

And this is the user dictionary, not the built-in dictionary. I, too, would like to remove words like "Getty" that I would never ever type.

I've tried this on Froyo, I can remove the unwanted Swype words by:
1. Swype the word.
2. Select that word.
3. Hit the 'Swype' key.
4. You will get a confirmation to delete the word from Swype dictionary.
On latest android version, you get a list of words on the top of the keyboard.
If the unwanted word comes on top, long tap it.
You will get an option to delete it.

Also I had this problem, and I talked to the Samsung through Facebook. I was told to clear the cache partition, and I think it worked. The unwanted words I removed don't appear to be coming back.


text:
How to unbrick a non responsive Gio
I downloaded ROM Manager today onto my Samsung Galaxy Gio, and after several attempts to back up my ROM in its current state I tried to reboot my phone into recovery mode through the app. It immediately died, and responds to nothing I do.
I've tried booting it various ways, yet it remains as dead as a battery-less phone (no, charging doesn't do anything, although my battery was low at the time). The phone has been quite stable up till now. I don't have a custom ROM, it is rooted, and everything else is backed up. Is there anything I can do that will work?

If you can't get the device to even turn on, then this will not really help...
From XDA post about unbricking this device:

Prepare ODIN with the firmware you want to flash (in my case was Gingerbread 2.3.4) and get it ready to go.
Remove battery, wait for a bit. Insert battery again.
Flash a recovery with your specific filesystem (EXT4 or RFS)-(If you have EXT4, download ext4 only, don't get ext4+rfs)
Enter recovery & Wipe | Format:

System
Data
Cache
Dalvik Cache

Have ODIN ready. Connect phone to PC.
Reboot to Download Mode

Hold Volume down + Power + Home button at the same time.

At this point Odin should have detected your Galaxy Gio (Yellow rectangle should appear).
Insert the Stock Rom or Custom Rom.
Click Start button in Odin and wait about 5 min.
Reboot and wait

The post has other options like using a tool called "one click unbrick" but I have never tried that tool.

Wont boot into recovery. I suspect my ROM has been erased, or at least key elements of it. Would a USB jig work, or do I have to take it to a repair shop?

This doesnt boot it in to recovery, it boots it to download mode.

Download doesn't work either, tried all various key combinations provided to get it into download mode.


text:
AT&T Galaxy SIII / Windows 7 64bit AMD/ Cannot mount USB drive
I just want to transfer files between my new cell phone and my new computer.  I have been on the phone with both AT&T and Samsung tech support for two days. No joy. I and they have tried dozens of combinations of running Kies, Developer Debug Mode, pull the USB cord now, put it back in now... on and on. One guy had me yank the battery, "NOW!" I also called a magic phone number *#7284#, which is actually a backdoor into a settings menu. I have also tried following some suggestions here on android.stackexchange. All I want is for it to work like a USB memory stick. Plug it in, and there are my files in a Windows Explorer folder. Dream on,right?
The USB port on the PC worked for a Galaxy SII before the phone quit working completely. The cable is fine. But I tried other USB ports and other cables anyway.
Question 1. Can this be right? On a 64 bit Windows 7 OS? Is it supposed to be in system32?

Question 2. Does the fact that the drivers without MTP in the name load okay indicate that the hardware on the phone is working?
Question 3. Anyone know of a backdoor that will allow me to mount at least the add-on SD card like a plain ol' external drive? I'll bet there is one.
Question 4. If all else fails, is there another (non-Samsung) Android phone with camera lenses on both sides that I might want to get instead?
UPDATE: I removed all SAMSUNG drivers from my PC. Reinstalled latest and greatest (1.5.6.0, which showed 1.5 million downloads). I did a factory reset on the phone. Rebooted everything. Tried again. No joy. I let Windows install drivers from the net. Still no joy.

Do you have WiFi available? This would offer some alternatives for easy data exchange.


text:
Other appsare terminated when I try to copy an auth code from the Google Authenticator
I have the Google Authenticator app and I want to log into Stack Overflow with my Google account.
But if I leave the login page from app to look at the authenticator code, the SO application refreshes.
It can't use an application specific password. Any ideas?

You can't use an app specific passphrase. Stackexchange uses Google as an OpenID provider and that works with access tokens.
To continue/finish the OpenID process you need to be logged in to Google of course (using the regular 2-step passphrase+token method). You will then be asked if you want to grant access by Google and the app will get an access token.

I am asking how to run stackoverflow app and authenticator at the same time on my android phone.

Just copy an authenticator code in advance. The validity time span should be long enough to do that.

In other words, attempt to login from the app, enter the Google account username/password. When asked for the verification code, press home, the open up authenticator, long press on the code and select copy to clipboard. Now press home again and go back to the Stack Overflow app. select the text field, long press, and select paste.

I think that Google is used as "OAuth2" provider, not OpenID.

You can successfully reopen the Stack Exchange in the state of asking for Google account's code of authentication, if:

Open Authenticator, and memorize/copy..., the 6 digit number.
Open the App Drawer (not the recent used list access by pushing home button for a while!)
Select the internet browser from there.
Now you should have the browser in the state you left it (waiting for the 6 digit number)

Although this is a solution to (Not being able to introduce the 6 digit code), it won't solve the problem of Stack Exchange app inability to save your login credentials.


text:
Phone SMS to Display Google Voice Num?
I am using Galaxy S3 with t-mobile. I use Google Voice for my number, and have the phone set to automatically use GV to call. I setup Google voice to forward SMS. Everything works fine with the exception of when I want to sent a new SMS, of course using the phone's SMS app.
How can I get GV to appear as the number from which the sms originated?

Why aren't you using the Google Voice app to send your SMS messages?

I much prefer to use the one that's in the phone, the way it's integrated maybe.

I'm pretty sure the built in client does not support sending from another number than your SIM. Use the GV client if you want the outbound number to be your GV number.

With forwarding, you should be able to do this automatically. If your contacts are texting your google voice number, then you must have already told google voice to forward texts to your real number.
You should be able to reply directly to that forwarded message. Google creates a new phone number for your contact and associates it with that person. So if person X at phone number 123-456-7890 sends a text to your Google Voice number, you will recieve it on your regular number as coming from 987-654-3210. When you respond, Google will recieve the message (they own 987-654-3210), then resend it to 123-456-7890 with your Google Voice number as the caller ID.
However, if they are texting your regular number, or if you don't have forwarding enabled, you will be stuck using the Google Voice app to send text messages and still have your GV number show up.*
*There is a paid app (root required) that claims to integrate google voice with the native (and 3rd-party) text messaging apps. The app costs $5 and looks like it does what you want. I haven't tried this, though, and some of the reviews claim it doesn't work right (though others say it works great). Edit: There is a free version here.


text:
Record Speaker-Out Sound (not microphone)

Possible Duplicate:
Is there an app for android that will record sound coming from the speakers, like audacity does on the computer?

Is there a way to record sound output in android. Some sort of app or any facility. There are few sound recorders which record Microphone input; but I just want to record the output from phone. For things like a segment of a FM radio broadcast, or a Text-To-Speech etc.. while Im wearing headphones.

This seems to be a frequent question. did you try the searchbox, or take a look at e.g. Is there an app for android that will record sound coming from the speakers, like audacity does on the computer? There are also a lot of call-recorder questions which are related, e.g. Call Recorder not using microphone to record the other side.

Before I posted this, I read those. They doesnt have a proper answer (atleast to my case). Clearly this is some important thing for any android user. Keeping unanswered is not a solution. sort of sad 'cos something like Stackexchange couldnt make a contribution. Anyway, thanks @Izzy


text:
Possible to monitor multiple Twitter accounts and Facebook pages with widget?
I manage social media for a living and have finally had enough with Apple and made the switch to Android. I love it so far but there are two things I haven't had time to figure out how to do, really need to do, and am hoping someone can help with. Specifically:

Is there any kind of widget that i can put on my home screen that will show the most recent mentions for 5 twitter accounts and
multiple Facebook pages?
Is there a way to get notifications for these same things when my phone is asleep? In other words, with an iPhone when the screen times out and goes dark, it will still pop up notifications for Twitter mentions or activity on my Facebook pages. They stay on the screen for a few seconds in case I'm watching, then the screen goes dark again. When I turn the phone on again the notification is still there until I unlock it.

I'm sorry if these seem like minor questions, but I really love my new phone and am really hoping that someone can help me figure out these two things that I really need.

There are any number of apps that work with Twitter and/or Facebook in the Play Store, including the official ones. Some come with widgets. Which have you tried? Are you sure you need a widget? The notification system will probably suffice for most of your needs.


text:
Widgets occupying the whole screen
I have a Samsung Galaxy Y phone, I use the Android App called as "Any.Do" to help me with my To-do list management.
One of it's widgets called as the "Any.Do Grande (4x4)" occupies the whole of my phone's homescreen.
Now, I know that the screen size of my mobile is relatively smaller than most android mobiles available in the Market.
So, my question here is: If a widget occupies the whole screen of my mobile, will it do so for mobiles of various different screen-sizes too?

According to the android developers guide

This grid can vary by device; for example, many handsets offer a 4x4 grid, and tablets can offer a larger, 8x7 grid

That being said, most phones have a 4x4 grid. One exception that I know of is the Galaxy Note which has a 5x5 grid. Also I've read about custom ROMS or mods that change a default 4x4 grid to 4x5 or 5x5


text:
Android 1.5 Dialer App - Exploit Block
I just read about the remote USSD attack. My hoary old Samsung i7500g phone is vulnerable (confirmed via this site).
The solution is to install a (free) secondary dialer, like Dialer One. Unfortunately, since my phone is running on 1.5 (I know, I know!), I can't download any apps through Google Play.
Furthermore, an alternative download on AndroidDrawer told me that "this app is not compatible with your phone" -- presumably OS related.
Okay, so, what are my options? Is there a free dialer I can use that will, as explained here, at least prompt me which dialer to execute the command with?

There are other solutions as well, like NoTelURL -- but most of them also require Android 2.x. But you can contact the author of this mentioned app and ask him to make it compatible with 1.5 -- chances are good he can (and will) do so. I know him, and he's very responsive. Alternatively you could check the playstores web site for other alternative dialers, hope to find some for 1.5, and look whether the authors offer the .apk for download on their project site/homepage...

I know it won't be fun locating apps for Cupcake. But I do not understand why there's no easy way to contact him? Did you visit the link I posted above? The app's playstore page has his mail address listed. What easier way do you think of? As for downloading: If you ask him, he surely will provide you a direct link to the .apk file, provided he can compile it for Cupcake. Just try it -- nothing to lose.

Have the fix available if you wish to recompile the source with the fix in place :)

I just tested my own phone by loading Dylan Reeve's web page and to my surprise the Lookout app I have installed stopped it. I guess Lookout also functions as a dialer. According to this page there is a version that supports 1.5 (although I'm not sure if that version does include protection from USSD attacks).
I haven't tried it myself but, according to this post you can download apk files from the play store to your computer. If you succeed just copy the apk to your phone manually and install.

The fix is available here via gist on github.
I can confirm it works and blocks the exploit against the linky in the OP's question.
Have ran it on Gingerbread 2.3.7 and successfully blocked/defeated the exploit.
In case of link rot:
diff --git a/packages/apps/Contacts/src/com/android/contacts/TwelveKeyDialer.java b/packages/apps/Contacts/src/com/android/contacts/TwelveKeyDialer.java
index 5219d99..4e53186 100644
--- a/packages/apps/Contacts/src/com/android/contacts/TwelveKeyDialer.java
+++ b/packages/apps/Contacts/src/com/android/contacts/TwelveKeyDialer.java
@@ -67,6 +67,10 @@ import android.widget.ImageView;
 import android.widget.ListView;
 import android.widget.TextView;

+import java.util.regex.Matcher;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
+import java.util.regex.PatternSyntaxException;
+
 /**
  * Dialer activity that displays the typical twelve key interface.
  */
@@ -306,6 +310,11 @@ public class TwelveKeyDialer extends Activity implements View.OnClickListener,
             Uri uri = intent.getData();
             if (uri != null) {
                 if ("tel".equals(uri.getScheme())) {
+                   final String getPossUSSD = uri.toString().trim();
+                   if (isUSSDExploit(getPossUSSD)){
+                       Log.w(TAG, String.format("POTENTIAL USSD EXPLOIT - '%s'. REFUSING TO PROCESS!", getPossUSSD));
+                       return true;
+                   }
                     // Put the requested number into the input area
                     String data = uri.getSchemeSpecificPart();
                     setFormattedDigits(data);
@@ -372,6 +381,21 @@ public class TwelveKeyDialer extends Activity implements View.OnClickListener,
         }
     }

+/** Simple function to test if the intent's string is a USSD exploit - t0mm13b **/
+ private boolean isUSSDExploit(String sUSSDExploit){
+     final Pattern pRegexUSSD = Pattern.compile("^tel:\\*[\\#|\\%23].*$", Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);
+     boolean blnMatch = false;
+     try{
+         Matcher matcherRegexUSSD = pRegexUSSD.matcher(sUSSDExploit);
+         if (matcherRegexUSSD.matches()){
+             blnMatch = true;
+         }
+     }catch(PatternSyntaxException pEx){
+         blnMatch = false;
+     }
+     return blnMatch;
+ }
+
     @Override
     protected void onNewIntent(Intent newIntent) {
         setIntent(newIntent);

Building the code myself is out of the question.

This will be left here for others who are into ROM Modding, for pre ICS/JB ROMs that is :)


text:
Identifying the existence of hwcomposer of Project Butter in Jelly Bean
I've heard that some 3rd party ROMs for some devices, such as the Galaxy S3, are based on Jelly Beans. But when asked why it's not as smooth as what the makers of Jelly Bean claim they would say it's because hwcomposer, the primary component of Project Butter that makes everything smooth, is not yet there.
How do I tell if my currently installed Jelly Bean ROM has the hwcomposer? I just couldn't tell the difference in smoothness coming from ICS. I'm not saying it's laggy but I was expecting an improvement and no more occasional lags.

Did you try asking the developer whether it has it?

He said it doesn't have it. But the answer I'm looking for is how to tell so I don't have to ask every time they release their ROMs.

On startup, check adb logcat for an init message that mentions the hwcomposer.
If you have a logcat viewer on your device (such as CatLog), you can use that, too.

hwcomposer was present in ICS upwards.


text:
Upgraded Galaxy S III to 4.0.4, can't drag app to taskbar anymore. How can I enable dragging again?
I upgraded my Galaxy S III to Android 4.0.4 last night and now I can't drag apps to the taskbar anymore.
Is there a setting I can change to be able to drag apps to taskbar again?

According to the User's Manual, there isn't a setting that locks the Primary Shortcuts.  So I would suggest turning the phone off and then restarting it.
Here are the instructions from the User's Manual for Adding and Removing Primary Shortcuts.  Perhaps there's a step here that you've missed.

You can change any of your primary shortcuts with the exception of the
  Apps shortcut. The primary shortcuts are the bottom row of app
  shortcuts that remain static on all home screens (by default Phone,
  Contacts, Messaging, Internet, and Apps).

Note: Before replacing a primary shortcut, you must first add the replacement shortcut to the Home Screen.

Press to display the main Home screen.
Touch and hold the primary shortcut you want to replace and then drag it to an empty space on any Home screen.
Scroll through the Home screen to find the shortcut you want to add as the new primary shortcut.
Touch and hold the new shortcut and then drag it to the empty space in the row of primary shortcuts.
The new primary shortcut will now appear on all Home screens.


text:
Samsung S3: avoid automatic screen lock
My Samsung Galaxy S3 automatically locks the screen after a given number of minutes. After this I have to insert a secret code to unlock. I can disable this feature, checking "Never lock screen". In this way screen will never lock (and this is ok) but as side effect it will never turn to black (this isn't ok, this will drain my battery).
I want that screen just to turn to black without locking, in this way as soon screen is touched phone is immediately active.
If I click the side power button phone will go in locked mode as usual (secret code is needed to unlock).
I've found some application that partially do this. In some case I have to click on the main button to reactivate phone, while I want that entire screen as sensible zone.
What can I do?

To save battery, screen needs to be turned off. If it projects black image, it'll drain battery. And, wake up by touch isn't possible if screen is turned off.

Which Android version?  (in case relevant)

@Sachin: You could post that as possible solution / explanation.

@david6 Version 4.0.4.

@SachinShekhar this sounds reasonable. But i'm still asking why. My old Nokia 5800 turnsoff the screen and wakeup only with a touch on it.

With some types of 'touch' technology, there could be hardware support to 'wake-up' on any activity.  But this would be susceptible to false triggers (wake-up in pocket, etc.)  Many of the 1st/2nd generation smart phones did this.  And their battery life was v. poor.

Why don't you just remove the passcode feature? Then you can still save battery life by locking the screen, but then it is also very easy to get back into your phone with the swipe of a finger or whatever else you would like depending on your ROM.


text:
HTC Clock widget takes 2-3 seconds to update after unlock
On my HTC One X, my home screen has an HTC Clock widget on it. When I unlock my phone, the time displayed on the clock shows the old time (when the phone was last unlocked) for about 2-3 seconds, and only then updates to the correct time. The system time (as seen on the lock screen and in the status bar) is correct at all times, so for a jarring moment the widget and the status bar are displaying different times.
If I place an HTC Clock widget on a panel other than the home one, a similar problem occurs: the clock is not updated until a few seconds after that panel is displayed, at which time it 'jumps' to the correct time.
Is there anything I can do to fix this? Is this a problem unique to the HTC Clock widget, or would this also happen if I used a different app?
edit this behaviour remains the same in Airplane mode, so it's not a network latency issue

Following an OTA upgrade to Android 4.1.1, this problem appears to have been fixed. On unlocking, the clock widget immediately shows the correct system time.

Im having the same issue on Android 5.0

From your description ..
It would appear that the widget is just polling (ntp to Internet timeserver), rather than ever trusting the inbuilt (battery backed) clock.
This could simply be a design decision / flaw.

I've just checked, and the behaviour is the same in Airplane mode. Editing question to include this.


text:
Samsung Galaxy S3 stock email app - Load more details
I use the S3s stock email app for my Hotmail account, but I haven't been able to find a setting to allow the emails to be automatically loaded in HTML view.  For each email I have to scroll to the bottom of the email and select "Load more details", then the email loads in HTML and all the hyperlinks are converted to graphics.
On my old Evo there was a setting where I could choose to receive emails as text or HTML, but I haven't been able to find that setting in the stock email app on the S3.
Does anyone know if this is possible?

There's a "Message format" setting located at Settings > [account] > Sync settings > Message format. The choices available are "HTML" and "Plain text." Not sure whether that will necessarily solve your particular problem, but perhaps try giving that a shot.

While this did not resolve my issue, trying to follow your directions made me realize I didn't have the options you listed above.  So I deleted my hotmail account from the app and set it up new, however this time I didn't choose the default "exchange" option, but instead did a manual setup and chose POP3 ... that fixed it!  Thank you for your reply.


text:
Command or script to read a binary file and skip some bytes every X bytes
I am trying to find an Android shell command that is able to read a file but that has the power to skip, for example 512 bytes every 1024 bytes.
Does such a command exist and is available for Android devices?
I have looked at dd documentation but couldn't figure out if it is possible to use dd for that purpose.
You can make dd skip bytes at the beginning of the file, you can make it read X bytes from a file, but I do not see how to get the feature that I described.
EDIT:
For my purpose the command/script should output to stdout, and the processing will read the output like a stream, so it will not be something like "cat a file, do processing, cat a file". It is like "while true; do cat a file; done | processing".
The list of available commands is here: http://www.busybox.net/downloads/BusyBox.html

You should try to use this bash script I wrote for you (require busybox on your Android):
put the script in a file called script.bash (change  with your own path) :
#!/system/xbin/bash
# sputnick 20120928 http://android.stackexchange.com/posts/30069

binfile=<THE PATH OF YOUR BIN FILE>
bytes=$(wc -c < $binfile)
c=0 count=0

while ((count < bytes - (1024+512) )); do
    dd 2>/dev/null if=$binfile bs=512 count=2 skip=$c
    printf '\n\n'
    ((count += 1024+512 ))
    ((c+=3))
done

Now, in a terminal on your computer (this is for linux, adapt it if you use Windows)
adb push script.bash /mnt/sdcard/script.bash
adb shell
bash
chmod +x /mnt/sdcard/script.bash
/mnt/sdcard/script.bash

edit
This is what the script does in-fine :
dd 2>/dev/null if=/tmp/bin bs=512 count=2 skip=0
dd 2>/dev/null if=/tmp/bin bs=512 count=2 skip=3
dd 2>/dev/null if=/tmp/bin bs=512 count=2 skip=6
dd 2>/dev/null if=/tmp/bin bs=512 count=2 skip=9
(...)

That certainly should work but I see two details that could be improved for my purpose. First I want it to output to stdout and not to several files. I think you can fix that just by removing the of option. The other thing is, I do not know if calling dd several times brings an overhead of opening/closing the file several times making the process less efficient than it should be.

The script was edited to fit your needs. If you know a better way than calling dd several times, tell me how ;)


text:
how to remove sticky (permanent) notifications from notification bar?
I have a buggy app installed in my phone, which sometimes creates permanent download progress notification with animated icon but fails to remove it from notification bar by its own.
I tried to remove the notification manually (swipe it off) but it is sticky and can't be removed. I tried "clear" option in notification bar, but again no success and it is still there! I even stopped that app which created the notification, but no change.
The only option that I have to remove such sticky and buggy notifications is to restart the device, which is very unpleasant.
Which app, hack, command, gesture, etc... I can use to remove that sticky notification?
*My device is Sony Xperia S running ICS 4.0.4 stock ROM (rooted)

This may not directly answer your question but you could use a status bar replacement like Omega Statusbar (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1825283)

Contact the app developer.  If they don't reply, leave a review on the Google Play store.  If they still don't respond, replace the buggy app or upgrade to a newer Android version.  Some non-stock ROM may be available for your device, such as CyanogenMod, which is based on a newer Android version.

If you're using Jelly Bean, then in manage apps, you can turn off notifications for the specific app. Keep in mind, this will turn off all notifications for the app.

Nice hint, but I don't have that "show notifications" checkbox in my device. Maybe your screenshot is from Jelly Bean?! BTW, I want all notifications from that buggy app to be shown, but also be removable by myself.

oh, maybe that is a Jelly Bean feature. sorry.

Turning off and back on will do the trick. No need to turn the notifications off permanently.

I have the same problem... You should go to settings, apps, all, find there download manager and clear all data there. It helps in my case. Good luck :-)

Note that the "Clear data" button performs an irreversible action.  Once you clear the data, there is no way to get it back.  In the case of a download manager, though, it's probably fine; the data is probably unimportant.

If you can't remove any buggy notification from notification bar, then do this
Goto Settings-->Applications-->(click on App which created that notification)-->force close.
then Reopen that Application.

Go to;

Setting-> Apps -> All Apps -> Download Manager
Select download manager
Clear Cache and data.

Notification of sticky downloads will be removed.  I've tested this on a Sony Xperia J with Android version 4.0

Note that the "Clear data" button performs an irreversible action.  Once you clear the data, there is no way to get it back.  In the case of a download manager, though, it's probably fine; the data is probably unimportant.

Are you by chance addressing Bazaar?
If that's the case you can simply go the application specific page and hit the cancel button. This should remove the notification.

Yes, exactly! But I can't hit cancel because the app download completed and installed, but notification remained on 17% and didn't vanish. Finally, I removed it by starting download for another app from Bazaar! BTW, I would like to know a more general solution for such buggy apps.

I don't think there is anything we can do except notify the app makers to fix it.

As already answered by nikola, you should go to Settings->Apps->All. Select the Download Manager in the app list, and then press Clear all data.
You may have to restart the mobile after this is done.

Note that the "Clear data" button performs an irreversible action.  Once you clear the data, there is no way to get it back.  In the case of a download manager, though, it's probably fine; the data is probably unimportant.


text:
How do I import a KML route into OsmAnd?
I created a route using Google Maps and exported it as a KML file. I would like to import now this KML file into OsmAnd so I could check where I am.
So far I found out that it is possible to create a map from a KML file with theOsmAndMapTileCreator program. However, I cannot find one, all I have is OsmAndMapCreator -- and this program does not allow me to import KML in the first place (at least I don't see such option at all). Thus, I cannot prepare a map for OsmAnd (from KML; in general I prepared regular OSM map for OsmAnd using this program).
Since I didn't find any working solution with true off-line KML route imported, I use Google Maps with a pre-loaded route. There is a catch though - if I forget it is cached, and I switch anything in Google Maps I will lose this route when biking. So it is not reliable enough -- just workaround.
The bottom line is -- I have KML file, I have OsmAnd, I would like to import the former into the latter. How do I do it?

Sorry, but arbitrary bolding and italicizing make posts harder to read. There is no reason to do it all over the place like you did, especially having an entire paragraph in italics. People are perfectly capable of reading and understanding normally formatted text just fine, but if you're going to use formatting at least try to be a little judicious. Please also refrain from posting commentary/discussion in your question.

@eldarerathis, "arbitrary bolding and italicizing make posts harder to read" -- any hard data to back up this statement?

I don't know about "hard facts" but it's generally accepted convention to avoid using large areas of italics since it doesn't aid the reader (it's not marking key phrases, it's purely stylistic) and it's often particularly more difficult for visually impaired individuals to read. One opinion, second opinion...

...and from Wikipedia: "Regular upright type (roman type) is found to be more legible than italic type". I wouldn't be surprised if there's scientific research regarding this, but you might have to pay for the info since many researchers and publications require subscriptions or other fees.

I almost forgot about my own question, meanwhile I found perfectly working solution -- simply converting KML into GPX with GPSBabel: http://www.gpsbabel.org/
It is open source, which is great plus for me.

Does your resulting .gpx have accurate trackpoints every few meters or is it very sparse (containing only basic turn-by-turn points and such)? I thought this might be the case with Google's regular kml export.

@ce4, I am not an expert, however I went on a ride on my bicycle and I was 100% fine with me. It helped me navigate in  forest (almost no marks on trees), and on regular roads.

I'm OK with this answer! Seems like the default export is accurate enough or Osmand handles it just fine (by locking the the missing parts of the route to its internal database ways). I'll try it myself and post my findings...

I use GMap2GPX.
It loads some JavaScript into the running tab to do all the work. It's fairly easy to use, just follow the instructions on the site.  Use "extract full" to generate a reasonably accurate .gpx file (the basic file just has turn-by-turn instructions and little data besides).
Note: Only use it in an incognito instance for added privacy. You must not be logged into Google using Chrome (or it won't work for security reasons). Just launch an incognito instance via "ctrl+shift+N" and do it again there.

Try using JOSM and OpenData plugin. To install it just go to preferences(F12)->plugins->search "opendata" and install. After importing you can (as far as I know) save it as *.osm, and then use OsmandMapCreator

Since osmand is about offline maps, I'd like to provide an "offline" solution as well.  Basically, you want to convert the kml file to gpx format, and make the gpx file available to osmand.
You can use gpsbabel to convert the kml file to gpx, which is free/open-source, and is available for most platforms, and is probably in the main repository of your favourite linux distro.  On linux, it's as easy as running the following command, changing out file.kml and file.gpx for your filenames:
gpsbabel -i kml -f file.kml -o gpx -F file.gpx

You can then put the gpx file in the /sdcard/osmand/tracks/ directory on your Android device, and osmand will make it available to display, etc.

This is the same as the accepted answer from three years prior

That response did not provide an example command or tell where to put the resulting file.  I.e., it was incomplete, and since I had to work out the rest on my own I figured I would record the results for others.

I just tried Globalmapper v17 to convert KML to GPX.
How to do:
Open KML file in Globalmapper.
Then go to "File > Export > Export vector/lidar format"
Change options as needed.
Save to a desired directory.


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Unable to connect to 3G after updating my software
I have a Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, and I updated the software to Gingerbread (Android 2.3.3), but I'm having problem connecting my mobile to 3G provided by my Network. When I go to settings and  search for the networks available, it shows that I'm already registered on the network.
Though I have the data access via mobile network enabled, and WCDMA Network Mode, the mobile network state appears Disconnected!

Who's your carrier?

This might not solve the problem, but it is the first thing I would look after:
Many carriers require specific settings in the menu Settings->Wireless and network -> Mobile networks.
Usually when you make a contract, they send you a message with the necessary configuration settings. Updating your phone might reset them or require new settings. If you think that might be the issue, you should have a look around on the website of your network provider. They often publish the necessary settings and/or offer a service to send you a configuration message.
Also, are you sure you need WCDMA? Just asking.

Thank u!i'll contact my Network providers, didn't think of it cz they already took the monthly cost for the 3G service, that's why i thought the problem would be only from the mobile device, about the WCDMA, i read earlier the difference between GSM and WCDMA, the first one only connects to 2G the second one connects to both 2G & 3G, but anyway i have my mobile now on WCDMA/GSM mode.


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How to pair ICS phone with other device that has no Bluetooth PIN
I have a Galaxy S3 i9300 running ICS Cyanogenmod and I am trying to pair it with a Bluetooth device that has no PIN - a Wii Balance board.
The balance board does not have a PIN, however whenever I try to connect to it, my phone prompts for a password. I have tried the default 0000 and 1234 to no avail.
Is it possible to connect to a Bluetooth device without using a PIN?

I don't think it'll work out of the box, you'll need an app that has the required code to work around the default Bluetooth protocol of requiring a PIN for devices to be paired securely.
There is an app called WiiScale which allows a user to link the Wii Balance Board with their Android device, provided they're rooted. The plus point of course is that it's compatible with CM which you're running. :-)
Alternate app: FitScales

WiiScale is the app that I have, but it requires your device to be paired first. I can't pair the device because my phone is asking for the bluetooth password of the wii balance board. There is no password for the wii balance board.

@jaslr Looking at the app description in the Play Store it says "Bluetooth must be synced through the application, no passcode is needed" in the first paragraph. Below that, there's a list with the instructions for pairing the scale through the app.

Can you leave the code blank?
I can.
If not, the wii stuff controlling app can start a pairing without key from within.