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"Brendon's url" and Chinese apps on home screen. Is it a virus? How do I fix it?
My tab was charging when I noticed there were notifications in Chinese and unknown home screen shortcuts created. Some were named "Brendon's URL" and the others were in Chinese. The notifications were also in Chinese. Is there anything wrong? Is it a virus? How do I fix it?

Image taken from an XDA forum thread, click to view the larger version.

If you long press the notification and press "App Info" what does it bring up?

Related: XDA forum, Blogspot

This is downloaded by "Software Update" App Version 09.05.
Force stop it and disable for time being.

Thanks.how can i re-enable "Software Update" app?

setting-> Device-> Apps -> disabled -> software update -> enable.
But i will recommend to keep it disable until Antivirus come up with its solution.

There's no option for disable..only option is force stop. So if i force it to stop, then how can i regain it back? My software update version is 08.07

After Force stop it will show launch option, You can launch it any time afterwords. Even after force stop when you will restart your phone it will restart again.

No launch button showing but problem solved. Thank you very much bro. Hope so it again come to play on reboot.

Nitin, What do u think is it a virus or an error in the software because i hadn't updated it. I don't know from where it came from?

try this: cut off any connection by activating Airplane mode. if you have wechat installed on your android then uninstall it first. after that remove all the brandon's url u have. restart your phone and wait...see it if IT appear again. IF not appear then restore your connection/OFF your airplane mode.

i did as richard said . airplane mode on delete shortcuts. reboot handset. switch off airplane mode. now everything is a ok.

Try to freeze the ota updater apps using TB or any third party app that can freeze apps. This works on my co-group member in our facebook group.


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zip file signature verification?
In the custom recovery TWRP, what does the option "zip file signature verification" do? How do I know if it should be checked when installing something?

Note, that you can disable it in the TWRP settings.

@toogley how can one disable the "zip file signature verification" in the TWRP settings?

@NilsB You should be able to tick it off at the top in the settings. Maybe you are using an old version of TWRP?

Basically the Zip File Signature Verification flag will enable flashing only if the zip file is signed properly by the developer. This is (almost) the same method used signing Jar files in Java.
From here

Basically, before executing any third-party program you want to make sure that it hasn't been tampered with (integrity) and that it was actually created by the entity that it claims to come from (authenticity). Those features are usually implemented by some digital signature scheme, which guarantees that only the entity owning the signing key can produce a valid code signature. The signature verification process verifies both that the code has not been tampered with and that the signature was produced with the expected key.

Note from the above, that this (obviously) cannot detect if the code itself is malware etc, just that it is as it was when it was signed by the developer. You have to trust the developer of any software you flash.
An example of this is that you cannot flash a custom ROM through a Stock Recovery as the stock recovery will look for a signature from the manufacturer.
It can also detect if a zip is corrupt but is not a definitive check, you would be better verifying the MD5 sum of the file and comparing to the one provided by the ROM developer.
"How do I know if it should be checked?" This is probably going to vary depending on what you are doing, I generally have it left at the default value of the particular recovery I'm using, and I've never actually had to check or uncheck it for any Zip files. Keep in mind some perfectly functional packages might be signed incorrectly and may install perfectly if you disable the verification, but conversely it could be a corrupt file and bootloop the device.
I leave it checked, and if someone on a thread / the developer says it's ok to install then I will make a nandroid backup and try flashing it with the signature verification turned off. (ALWAYS make a backup!)
Here is an example of trying to install a custom ROM on a stock S4 Recovery:

Finding update package...
  Opening update package...
  Verifying update package...
  E:No signature (188 files)
  E:Verification failed
  Installation aborted.

Here's a link to the more technical information on GitHub which is a bit out of scope to go into on here.

As I understand it, verifying the authenticity of a signature (as opposed to just its integrity) requires having a set of root certificates, one of which should have signed the certificate that signed the file itself - self-signed code only guarantees integrity, unless the user manually compares the certificate fingerprint against a trusted source. Does TWRP have a list of root certificates built-in?

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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4K Video Recording with the Camera2 API
In the Android Lollipop, Google released the Camera2 API.
Does this mean in Lollipop, any phone with a 5MP camera would be able to shoot 2K video and any 13MP camera would be able to shoot 4K video, and is there any reason why Google may not choose to include this in the Google Camera for Lollipop later this year - ie would shooting in a higher resolution be a compromise in any way?

Yes. Actually, the Nexus 5, with an 8MP sensor, can shoot video which is almost 4K with this app. However, 3 months on, Google has still not updated their Camera app to the Camera2 API, so the Nexus 5 cannot record in 4K using Google Camera.

No, the camera sensor resolution isn't the only factor that determines whether a phone can shoot high-res video, regardless of the APIs offered by the OS. Phones have special video encode hardware to make a video file from the raw camera data, and the hardware can only encode so many pixels per second. To record 2k or 4k video, the video encode hardware has to be fast enough, and other parts of the system need enough bandwidth/throughput to handle the data rate.
As for Google Camera, there's no point speculating about its future releases. They might choose to focus on a new feature instead, or may wait until more phone hardware supports 4k video. They might even include it in the next Nexus phone but wait another six months or so before releasing the feature more widely.

authors: العمدة العمدة

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


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Can I send a link from my phone to my desktop?
I have "Chrome To Phone" that lets me click a button on my desktop browser to open the page on my mobile.  I'd like to be able to do the reverse -- sometimes, you take one look at a page and decide that it just isn't suitable for reading on a phone.
I know that I can look at the "tabs on other devices" in Chrome (from the desktop) and see the open page on my phone, but I don't always remember to do so.  I'd like a "push", rather than a "pull".

Try Push Bullet.
It let's you push images, links and other things to desktop, tablet, another mobile device etc.

The features suggest it will solve my problem perfectly.  I'll try it for a while, and (hopefully) report back to let others know my experience.

If you already have WhatsApp or similar an app with group chat feature, you can do the following hack

Make a group, call it "test". Add any one contact to this group.
Once the group is created, remove this contact from group.
Now only you remain in this group. Rename the group as "self notes" and drop yourself any thing you want, text link, images etc.

So you can share any chrome page using WhatsApp to your own group and open your web.whatsapp.com on desktop and access those contents.

Now that push bullet it's not free anymore it's prefect hack!

There are several services which could be used for that. I'm using Pocket on my mobiles to mark such articles to "read them later" on my PC – which can be done easily with their browser addon (for me, on Firefox – but they have something for Chrome and Safari as well).
A different approach would be using a shared clipboard: there are several apps available on Android to enable a Multi-device Clipboard.

If you don't want to download any app or software, you can use QiikChat. You will need just to go to the homepage and paste your link. You can see the link again by visiting QiikChat with your other device or mobile.

Scaanin is the easiest solution, just open the website http://www.scaan.in and read how to use. It's the simplest and fastest way to share links from mobile to PC.
You can install the app from Google Play Store. Once you install the app, to share links/text, just scan the QR code.
Note: I am the developer of this app. It is new to Play Store, but you can trust that this app is a final product, that has undergone thorough testing.

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


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Cyanogenmod without google apps
I flashed my Android with Cyanogenmod 11 without google apps, the sole intention being to avoid Google whatsoever. I am using Runtastic to log my runs, but it doesn't display the map. Understandbly, because Google maps app is not installed. My question is if I can install some other maps like bing maps etc. and use it with Runtastic.
PS: I have no intention to install Google maps or any other google product on my phone.

Just out of curiosity why? I understand not wanting to give Google all your date (that's fair enough) but you are still giving all that data to Runtastic and any other location based app (giving it to Microsoft via Bing) you may use... Are they any more trust worthy really?

I'm sure Google is more evil than the rest :) Otherwise why would they retain Google location history and why does they need my wifi details and passwords.

Yeah I get you! I do actually use location history for Google Now to see if there's any traffic alerts or issues, and I backup my passwords and contacts to Google. That said, I do understand why you might not want to, I just wouldn't be too confident in Microsoft or random 3rd party app developers at all either.

You might wish to take a look at the NOGAPPS project, which is what I am using. Without having to install the GApps, it e.g. provides a MapsAPI in a way that other apps think it's GMaps. There's also a NetworkLocation provider able to use a locally stored CellID database – found my location on the spot. Third part is the BlankStore, allowing access to the PlayStore including License-verification for paid apps (you cannot buy apps with this, but you can use apps you've already bought). Perfect trio.
You might also wish to see my article on this topic: Android without Google 6: Self-Experiment (need to update it with my progress on another device, where all 3 components work fine).

Waiting for your update on that article. Like to see what findings you ended up with.

@HasH_BrowN that will take a little, as I'm just leaving for vacation. Basically, on my Motorola Milestone the entire NOGAPPS package seems to work fine: BlankStore, NetworkLocation, Maps. My paid apps work, I even could install them via BlankStore.

glad to hear it's going good, smoothly i should say. Enjoy your vacation, be safe.

@Izzy, Can you help me troubleshoot NOGAPPS. I followed the instructions and flashed the NoGapps, but still "Runtastic" app fails to display map. It says Google Play Services required. Can you help?

Afraid not. Maps display fine with the apps I use, but if some other parts of the Play Services are required by an app, that might be different. NOGAPPS AFAIK only support v1 of the Maps-API currently, it might be that Runtastic explicitly requires v2.

@HasH_BrowN Stop waiting, go reading. Then maybe wait again for the next update ;) In short: Not much missing, basically only Google Cloud Messaging for notifications in the SE app ;)

@HasH_BrowN article finished last week :)

@Izzy going to read that this afternoon, thanks for the heads up.

OsmAnd uses the collaboratively-edited OpenStreetMaps database, and doesn't need to send your information anywhere since you can choose to download the maps locally to your phone.
They don't make it clear on their website, but there is a free software build, “OsmAnd~”, available from F-Droid.
More generally, using CyanogenMod free from Google is discussed in some detail in the 2014-06-18 LWN article “Android without the mother ship”.


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Setting up an HTTPS proxy
I use proxifier to connect to an HTTPS proxy on the PC, what should I do in order to connect similarly on my Android smartphone?
My Android version is 4.3, Jelly Bean.

Use Drony. You change type in settings from default http to https. Be careful about HTTPS proxy certificate. If it's self signed there is option to trust all certs in settings. But then you can have mitm so it's not very secure.
There is nice blog about setting up whole configuration.
http://blog.habets.pp.se/2014/09/Secure-browser-to-proxy-communication---again
by Drony support

If you are connecting over Wi-Fi, and are concerned only about connections from Chrome and not from other applications, then you don't need any third-party software to redirect HTTP and HTTPS connections to a proxy.  Just go into the Wi-Fi settings, find your network, long-press on it, choose Modify Network, show advanced options, and set the proxy there.
Whether this gets used by non-Chrome applications depends on the application.  You could try it and see if your applications honour it.


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How to make symlinks work inside /storage/emulated in 4.4.4
I created a symlink from /storage/sdcard1/somefolder to /data/media/0/somefolder, but apps treat the symlink as a file and not a folder (and crash because they are hardcoded to look for files inside a folder at this path).
Root apps that access the symlink from /data/media/0/somefolder works and treat it as a folder, non root apps use fused mount point at /storage/emulated/0/somefolder instead because they don't have the permission to look inside /data/media.
It is not possible to symlink to the fused point directly (cross device link error). Symlink's point permission on fused point are 770 for a app_ID:1028 instead of 777 for root:root like it is from /data/media, it's not possible to change permissions using root on the fused point. /storage/sdcard1/somefolder is 777.
debuggerd exploit is to be avoided as long as possible and mount points won't be visible system wide.
What need to be changed to make the symlink working from the fused point? How will it affect the rest of the system?

Android guards mount points since Android 4.2 came out. You already mentioned the debuggerd hack, so I assume you know about this restiction.
This might seem obvious, but you should first check if the file system that is used on the emulated external storage and on the real external storage both support symlinks. If your SD-card is formatted as FAT32, which doesn't support symlinks, nothing will happen and you'll need to format the external storage to something like ext2/3/4 or yaffs.
The 'cross device link' error might be fixed by using ln -s /data/media/0/somefolder /storage/sdcard1/somefolder instead of ln /data/media/0/somefolder /storage/sdcard1/somefolder. This will create a symbolic link instead of a hard link, so it can span across file systems and storage devices. You need to do this as root or else it won't work.
If permissions are a problem you might need to fix the 'external sdcard problem'. This problem causes the real external SD-card to be read-only on versions of Kitkat. The details are on this page. It comes down to editing /system/etc/permissions/platform.xml so that apps with the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission can also write to the 'real' external storage. This can be done by installing this app or by doing the following:

Launch your favorite file manager with enabled root access rights.
  You can use any app you prefer which can run elevated on your device.
  For example, the 'Root Explorer' app or 'Total Commander' or 'File Manager' from CyanogenMod will do.
Navigate to the following file:

/system/etc/permissions/platform.xml

Find android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE and android.permission.WRITE_MEDIA_STORAGE lines. These are XML sections. You need to make them look exactly like the strings below:

<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
<group gid="sdcard_r" />
<group gid="sdcard_rw" />
<group gid="media_rw" />
</permission>
<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_MEDIA_STORAGE" >
<group gid="sdcard_rw" />
<group gid="media_rw" />
</permission>

Save the platform.xml file. It’s necessary to set the file permissions to  644 (rw-/r–/r–) before mobile restarting. Now reboot your Android device.

Credits go to poolmaker@XDA

Sorry but I didn't get you well but if you mean that you want to free up more space on internal memory by creating symlinks Why don't you try Link2SD now it can to link even the private data of any app to external SD card without causing any problem in addition to but DON'T LINK ANY SYSTEM APPS TO external SD card as it will cause bad effects to your phone. It's so recommendable to have an SD card with high speed writing and reading

Link2SD cheat on debuggerd and doesn't allow arbitrary linking, from the last tests i did with it, could you show me an exemple on how to arbitrarly move /sdcard/arbitrary_folder to /storage/sdcard1/arbitrary_folder with Link2SD with files on this folder remaining available on both location for apps hardcoded to read on this unconventional path? How will link2sd allow me to make symlinks work on the fused mount point?

authors: เสริมศักดิ์ หวังทรัพย์


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Rooting and uprading Galaxy SL GT-I9003 to ICS or Jelly Bean
There are lots of howtos online but most of them are old with rotten links (to the downloads). In addition to how to root and upgrade and where to download the files, I'd like to know the following:

Is the (ICS or Jelly Bean) kernel I need to download trustworthy (i.e. open source)?
Are there any bugs associated with the kernel?

My phone is not rooted and is running firmware version 2.2.1 and kernel version 2.6.32.9.

Reza, not sure you've picked the right identification: Are you sure it's an "S2" and "GT-I1003*? The 1003 looks a bit weird here. We've got 2 links in our rooting index for the S2: Galaxy S2 GT-I9100P / GT-I9100G, and one for the Galaxy S2 plus. Does any of those match?

Ah – OK, but isn't that the "Galaxy SL" then? S2 is 9100. Check: Yepp, here you go: Galaxy SL GT i9003


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How do I zoom web pages?
I'm using Android 4.2.2 on my Q.mobile. I am trying to zoom a (or any)  web page on Chrome by double tapping or by swiping two fingers but nothing happened. I also tried the same thing using the built-in browser but also in vain. How do I zoom web pages?

This is a sample site that prevent zoom-in on mobile: http://davidwalsh.name/demo/mobile-viewport.php (disclaimer: not affiliated with the blog and its creator, just want to give a sample site for easy test)

Yes, some web pages do not let you zoom in. However, this can be overridden in Chrome.

Go to Settings -> Accessibility and tick mark Force enable zoom.
This overrides a web page's request to prevent zooming in. So then you can zoom into pages without trouble.
Hope this helps.

Take your index finger and thumb, spread them apart to zoom in. Conversely take your index finger and thumb, pinch them together to zoom out.
Make sure you have selected desktop view, mobile view won't zoom by default.
Edit:
Double tapping does work in many browsers as well.

Or double tap will work in many browsers!

Thanks, I tried but nothing happened. Any other suggestions??

It depends on the website (or its mode) if zoom is supported.
Usually, you can't zoom if the site is on mobile mode. For Facebook, the URL would be https://m.facebook.com. However, some browsers like Dolphin or Boat have a setting to configure the default zoom, but sometimes they don't work. (e.g. Dolphin's setting doesn't work if Dolphin Jetpack is also installed)
On desktop mode, a site can be zoomable. For Facebook, the URL would be https://facebook.com.

You may try by swipping two fingers or by double tapping on your display. Sometimes,some webpages don't support zooming, make sure that you have enabled desktop view because mobile view won't support zooming by default.


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Why can't I get Dolby Digital sound from Android TV box linked to Sony AVR?
I have just bought my 1st Android TV box (it's a Chinese CS918 rk3188 model) and since it has SPDIF/optical out I hooked that to my Sony AVR's optical input and set the device manager in the Android TV box to enable "passthrough". I played a video which has 5.1 Dolby Digital sound using MX Player, but alas, even though all of the notification Dolby Digital display lit up on my Sony AVR no sound came out of the speakers!
I got sound straight away when I switched to PCM sound but I am very disappointed as I prefer Dolby Digital. What can I do to get DD sound or does my specific model of Android TV box not support DD sound
Here is a screen shot of my sound devices manager settings:


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Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 not rooted, issue with SuperSU when updating su binary
After I root my Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 (GT-i9205), I downloaded SuperSU from XDA Forums. After I open SuperSU, it asks me to update my su binary.

The SU binary needs to be updated. Continue?

But after a long time, it got stuck on

Installing, please wait. If you see this message for more than five minutes please restart and try again.

Then I tried to check whether my phone is rooted or not by using a root checker. At last, the answer is does not have proper root.
Please help!

I faced the same problem when I tried rooting a Chinese phone having Samsung Galaxy S2 stock ROM. I searched and here is what I found.
Firstly, try installing binary through BusyBox Installer on Play Store. Internet is required to download and then try every version.
If it didn't work out for you, then download Kingoapp. It's a one-click rooting method. Kingoapp has successfully. In some cases, it will ask you to install custom recovery in order to root your device if it failed to root your device in an ordinary way, so if you don't want to lose your stock recovery, just cancel the rooting procedure.

I have already tried it but it wont work for me..is there another way?

What method did you use to root your phone before installing SuperSU? Finding SuperSU on the launcher drawer without manually installing it is a sign that your phone has been rooted. I forgot to mention that after I root my phone through Kingoapp, I got the same error, so I tapped on updating the binary and it works after reboot. Yes, there's using Odin. Check out this tutorial on Android Central. But please, before you start, do your searches on Google and YouTube for "How to root Galaxy Mega 6.3 i9205".

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


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samsung galaxy s duos about system data card problem

The phone memory (system data card data like images, videos, contacts) is stored on server or not?
After hard reset data is gone so that is stored someone else or in databases?

No, it is not stored anywhere.
You should create your own backup manually.
After hard reset, even the game data would be deleted.
The only data you can have left with you is the data you have already synchronized with google.

No, the phone memory isn't stored on a server, but there are some easy-to-use (and built-in) ways of backing up different kinds of data.
If you save contacts to "Google contacts" instead of "Phone contacts" when you create them, they're synced with your Google account, so they'll automatically be synced to your new phone, or after a factory reset, when you sign into the same Google account. The same applies to calendar events, if you add them to a Google calendar.
Android phones have a built-in backup system, which backs up apps' data to Google's servers. All you need to do is turn it on in the phone settings, and make sure the "Restore my data" checkbox is checked when you sign into the same Google account on the new phone, or after a factory reset. This only backs up data from apps that support it. Check with the developer of each app! It doesn't back up photos, music, &c. from the SD card.
To back up photos, use an app with a "photo upload" feature, such as Google+ or Dropbox. Once you've turned the feature on, it'll automatically upload each photo or video as soon as you take it.
If you don't do any of these things, then when you factory-reset your phone, everything on it is gone.

authors: Альонка Кишинська Викторивна


text:
What really happens during a factory reset? Does it securely erase all data?
When you "factory reset" an android phone, are you formatting the phone storage by securely erasing all data and writing over them with zeroes, or are you simply deleting the files by hiding them from the file system? If it's the latter, the data can still be recovered, correct?
If I'm trying to sell my phone, will a factory reset securely erase all my data, or will the next user still be able to recover it with some technical wizardry?

How to make a complete factory reset, without anyone being able to retrieve my data?

A factory reset reformats the phone's user-data partition, but it's not a "secure" wipe; it doesn't overwrite everything with zeroes.  If you want to be sure everything is erased, you can encrypt the phone first (which overwrites all the data with encrypted versions of itself), then do a factory reset (which sets up a new unencrypted filesystem).
(Update:  Most newer devices — those that shipped with Android 5 or later — are encrypted by default, so there's no need for a manual encryption step before wiping.  I expect that a factory reset should erase the master encryption key, rendering all the old data unreadable — though Google's documentation doesn't explicitly say so.)
Note that a factory reset leaves the phone's system partition (the "ROM") untouched.  If you've made any changes to the system partition (such as rooting), those will remain.

This article confirms your answer: http://www.greenbot.com/article/2451612/how-to-properly-and-securely-erase-your-android-device.html


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Nexus 5 freezing often
I have a new Nexus 5. Ever since I got it, it tends to freeze. Once or twice a day, I would pick it up, try to press something and see that the screen is completely nonresponsive. The only thing I can do is press the power button for 8 seconds until it resets.
Why is this? What can I do about it?

Why is this?

It's faulty.

What can I do about it?

Return it to the vendor for repair or replacement. Nobody should expect this kind of problem with a new phone. It's not on you to fix it.

I've rooted my phone... Doesn't that void the warranty?

I don't know what kind of consumer protection laws you have in Israel, but in the UK, as it's a new phone and the problem was present when you bought it, that makes it the retailer's responsibility. The warranty is irrelevant in that case.


text:
Can't mount /system as read/write, even though I'm rooted
My phone is rooted, and I tried to remount the system partition in a terminal emulator like so:
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
mount -o rw,remount /system

Both commands gave the output:
mount : read-only file system

Because of that I can't install Busybox, Xposed, etc. I'm using Android 4.4.2.

Apparently under the new AOS, in non-root you may have certain things mounted in one way, but when doing su you get it mounted (or not at all) in a diffrent way. This is proably due to the new SELinux protection schemes. For example, to resolve unmonted SDCards you have to do su -mm, when using SuperSU. In addition the toolbox supported mount command is a bit crappy at times, so you're better using busybox. Make sure you use the latest SuperSU as it is the only reliable way to get proper root credential under the new SELinux systems. Then try each of the following:
su -cn u:object_r:kernel:s0 -c "busybox mount -o rw,remount /system"
su -cn u:object_r:init_shell:s0 -c "busybox mount -o rw,remount /system"
su 0 -c "busybox mount -o rw,remount /system"

Thanks for the explanation. Gah, those commands all ran with no errors but I still can't write to /system/etc. Oddly I can create empty (0 byte) files and delete files but I cannot add a non-zero byte file. Something to do with inodes v.s.  perhaps.


text:
Where to get help for unrooted phone that won't boot after switching from original carrier?
Recently my LG-P659 phone, originally from T-mobile, has had a lot of apps crashing or exiting for no reason, and today it can no longer get past the splash screen on boot-up (if it gets even that far).  When it gets to the T-mobile splash screen it ends up in an infinite loop at said splash, and sometimes it just ends up in a black screen.
This phone was originally purchased in the USA by a family member, through T-mobile, but I am currently living in France for a few months and am using a sim card for a local carrier here called Free, using a month-to-month plan.  The phone was unlocked from the T-mobile network through a code provided to me by T-mobile.  It is unrooted.  The phone is no longer on an account with T-mobile, though the account it was originally associated to is still active (but I am not the owner of this account).
I attempted a hard factory reset, but all this results in is the error message "Secure Booting Error! Cause: boot certification verify".  I managed to get it to boot up once after that, when trying to get it to start in Safe Mode.  Everything was reset, but I made the (apparent) mistake of restarting the phone after getting some things updated and reconfigured, and now it's back to being stuck in the boot loop. Repeating the previous things has not been able to get me past the splash loop again.
So the question is: who am I supposed to call about this?  T-mobile, Free, the phone manufacturer, or someone else?  And do I have to call a French line or an American or what?  Making the call itself will be hard, seeing as my phone is dead, but I think I can manage to solve that issue.  And is there anything else I can reasonably try on my own, or should I just leave it as a brick for now?

Free has nothing to do with it. It's always the place where you've bought it (T-Mobile) or the manufacturer whom you should contact for service.

The "Secure Booting Error!" is most likely from someone performing a rooting method, (since bootloader is locked and returns that error).

@HasH_BrowN No attempt to root the phone has ever been made, unless there's a virus that can do that which my anti-virus never detected.

@zibadawatimmy no virus can do that, and viruses dont attaclk android that would be malware, but that would be off topic for this question. Get in touch with T-Mobile, something on their end of unlocking went wrong with the bootloader. Unless you have a ROM for unlocked Lg-p659

T-mobile (toll free): 1-877-746-0909.
T-mobile (direct): 1-505-998-3793.
I called T-mobile, and they said I had to contact the manufacturer.
LG (toll free, US): 1-800-793-8896
They also have a french version of the website, which you will go to by default when accessing lg.com if you are on a French ip.  You can otherwise access it by going to lg.com/fr . Conversely, you can go to the US version of the site via lg.com/us .  Either version supports a live chat function and has other relevant contact information.
That answers my question of who to contact for support, but I feel it is worthwhile to now note what options I appear to have.
After talking to the US support and French support, I don't really have any options for a quick repair.
I could send it in to LG in the US, which will take them 5-7 days after they receive it, but then they will only return the phone to an address within the US.  Taking into account the mailing times, the cost to get the phone there, and the cost for someone to send it back to me, then this gets a bit costly and slow.
They won't repair American phones outside of the US.  And to make things worse, my particular model isn't even available in France.
So the only reasonably quick solution to needing a phone is to buy a phone here in France.  What to do with my existing phone is a problem that's outside the scope of the question I initially asked, so I leave it at that.


text:
Why wifi file transfer does not work in my S5?
I got my S5 yesterday. I have tried to use Wifi transfer pro and dooblou wifi file explorer to transfer file to my S5 external SD card, but they don't work. What I see is that my external SD does not show on the  Wifi transfer pro and dooblou wifi file explorer pages. Normally, I will see my SD card available space in their pages.
Please help

Yes, I believe these kind of apps don't show for some reason your external SD card.
What I can suggest to you is:

Try another app like Airdroid. Maybe there it will work.
Somewhat of a workaround - transfer the file to the internal SD card and then use a file explorer (on your phone) to transfer it to the external SD card.


text:
Grant access to the phone to additional users
I have a rooted Nexus 5 with multi users enabled (with gravity kk).
This is great except when I receive calls or SMS... only the account marked as "owner" receives it.
The most frustrating is that when I'm logged in with an additional user, I do receive the call (it rings) but I cannot catch it...
And SMS are just only received on the "owner" account.
I didn't find any way to change that behaviour.
Basically, I want that any user can receive the calls and receives the SMS.
How can I change that?

I believe this may be one of the reasons why multi-user is not supported on phones. I believe that Android L will bring this support 'out of the box'.

But it's so close to being already usable... it looks like it's just a matter of turning a flag on to allow any user to catch the call (as it already rings).
I'm surprised no one already found out such hack...

Solved in Android 5.0 (built-in feature).


text:
i want my phone to use the sd card i put instead of the phone memory
Im using a Samsung galaxy s3 mini and my problem is that my phone uses the memory when I have got a sd card which still has got space

There are plenty of questions and answers on this site already about internal vs external storage and how to utilize an SD card for apps and other data. This answer shows some things you can do.

To fully locate  Apps such as Live wallpaper, etc in SD resulting in more free space on your Internal Memory.

Root your phone.
Get Link2SD from Play Store (it would be better if you get Link2SD Plus) because Ordinary Link2SD lacks "link Private Data" which  it links Data files of app and gives you more space on your internal memory.
Create a 2nd partition in your high class SD Card set it as (Primary EXT-3 or EXT4; EXT4 is the fastest one ) 2nd can be 1G.B or even 2G.B (The smaller the size the faster apps will be opened) using Minitool Partition 8 or 7 (watch a TUT. For that)

4.Insert your SD card to your phone > open Link2SD > a box will pop up asking you about the format of your 2nd partition EXT3 Or 4 and other formats) > Reboot Your phone after choosing format if the same box pops up again after rebooting that means Your 2nd is not recognized yet or it's not identified by the system Try to change its format between EXT2 or EXT3 or EXT4 to check tap on "storage info" and see.
5. Tap on the app you want to link to SD Card > tap on "create Link" button Check the available options in there "Link apk /app if the app was installed to internal memory, Link Davlik Cache, Link Libraries, Link private data (available only on Link2SD plus).

Link or remove bloatware (they're the apps pre-installed on your phone since you bought it). BE CAREFUL DON'T LINK SYSTEM APPS!!
From settings check "Auto Clear cache" to free up more space you can exclude some apps if you want too.
For apps that they store their files in Internal memory as (Google Translate Offline packages) I found interesting forum on XDA-Developers explaining how to move these files to SD.


text:
Video and game lags after rooting S3
I recently rooted my phone, and am now using Paranoid and I love it. However, whenever I play videos and games it lags really noticeably. This never happened before I rooted my phone. I'm using Samsung Galaxy S3 and have tried using Seeder with no luck. Can I fix this poor performance?

Goto the forum site for your ROM. See if they have a fix or a workaround. It might be a performance settings problem (ie. wrong processor/governor setting or other). But you'll have read to see what other Paranoid users say.

This is probably a bug in the custom ROM you've installed. You should report it to the developer of the ROM, and either wait for it to be fixed in an update, or use a different ROM.


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need to reinstall widget category on nexus 7
I have tried to find answers to this problems at several different forums.  I went to the all apps screen where the widgets category tab should be and it was gone.  I even tried to down load a widgets launcher from play store and it didn't work.

Are you on a custom ROM? If it is check the forum site for your ROM to see if it has widget support. I have 2 ROMs for my Nexus 7 that don't.

Many APPs have widgets that you can install on a panel of your home screen.  Long click on a panel of your home screen that still has sufficient empty space left for your widget(s) and then click on Widget then on the widget's app you want.   If there was no space left on the home screen panel you were on, you would not be able to see widget choices to be able to install a widget.
You wouldn't find Widgets on the App Screen unless it is an individual widget App.  There is a resemblance between apps screen and home screen, and that is what you probably remember.
You could have possibly answered your own question here, by clicking on the "Widgets" tab on your question, or better by clicking on tag at the top of the page and they typing "widget" into the tag search box,  or using the search box at the top of the page.

authors: الفتاة الخطيرة


text:
Samsung S duos - showing charging symbol but percentage not increasing
I have samsung s duos. Suddently one day, when i was charging .. though the indicator shows charging, the battery level keep going down.
I restarted mobile... still same issue.
Then i tried with another charger, and there it was ok.
Note: The first charger is a smiley data charging cable connected to Laptop.
This charger i was using never, had this problem earlier. Is this OK ?

The charger will show as connected because the cable is making contact with the charging port, regardless of actually charging.
Yes chargers do go bad, usually at inopportune moments and there is a long list of reasons why. Sometimes from being plugged into long, getting dropped, getting too hot, used with wrong devices, being improperly pulled out from the wall, the charge connector getting bent in the charging port, etc.
When acquiring another charger, check a few things.

Is the charger OEM (recommended, although aftermarket's will work)
Does the charger have proper charging connector (miniUSB, microUSB, male plug, female plug, etc.)
Will the power output match the requirement of your device (voltage & amperage must be correct)
Is the charging cable long enough (for convenience).

It sounds like your laptop can't supply enough current to charge the phone. Most USB devices only want a fraction of an amp of current (e.g. a mouse might draw 0.1 A), so the USB ports on laptops can only supply a little current. Generally a phone or tablet wants 1 A or more to charge efficiently, which most USB ports can't supply.
The cable isn't really the issue. As HasH_BrowN states, cables can be damaged, so it's good to check with another, but in this case the problem is what the cable is plugged into. Ideally, you should use the wall charger that came with the phone.
When you do have to plug it into a lower-current supply like a PC, you can get best results by turning the phone off to charge, so that the phone's not using more power than it's getting from the charger.
For more explanation of why chargers don't always charge, you might like to look at the related questions such as What causes battery to drain faster than it can charge?

I know how frustrating this can be.
Mine did the same thing. At first any micro-usd could charge my phone, then some would not work, then all of a sudden, none of them worked. Everyone told me it is the charger, the outlet, the cable, etc.
Luckily, I was in the Philippines and I took it to the repair shop.
It was a defective port. They replaced it and it works fine now. It took about 45 minutes and cost 300 pesos = $7 USD.
I hope that helps.


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How to Create Additional Google Play Account Under 1 Google Account?
I have just set up new Google Account on my tablet that uses new Google Play account. I want to add another Google Account that I use as main that already has history of apps I bought in the past and payment method associated with it.
So instead of using new Google Play account with no track record and bought apps, I want to remove it from existing Google Account and link to it established Google Play account.
How to do that without adding another Google Account to device only to have everything synced and mixed up? After all this is short term purpose because after adding apps I already bought, will mean removing that Google Account and switching back to previous. What if I want to download paid application again? Here we go again..

possible duplicate of How to change the account for Android Market?

Question there deals with 2 Google Accounts and my question is about 1 Google Account.

So you want to move your Google Play purchases/history from one account to another?

I don't know if you literally refer to this as you described, but my point is to replace Google Play account on Google Account with different established Google Play account that I has many apps I bought in past so I can use those on this tablet with new Google Account.

You have a very strange use case, and Dan Hulme's duplicate suggestion is actually correct.
If you want to use the apps from an OLD account, you need to add the OLD account, switch to the OLD account, and install the apps through the OLD account. Then, you switch back to the NEW account, and remove the OLD account. If you want to install a new app from the OLD account, you need to repeat the same procedure.
As I said, you have a very strange use case, and this is the only workaround. If what you wanted were possible, it would be open to abuse. You could share the account to several people, and let them install apps using that account.
EDIT #1: As per Izzy, removing the OLD account can break the installed apps, as the license checks will fail. So, best to keep both OLD and NEW accounts, but disable the sync on the OLD account (as you suggested).

You have to add that, as soon the "old account" is removed, paid apps associated with it might stop working – as the license check fails.

Good point @Izzy

GeffChang The only solution is to have 2 Google Accounts but disable every sync on old account so no data will be downloaded to table I want to share with mom. This allows me to choose old account in Google Play and use it while all else is synced to table from new Google Account.

@Izzy Thanks for pointing that out. I wondered too. Added your comment into the answer.

@geffchang note my conjunctive ("might"). Not all actually do. Check whether they request the vending.CHECK_LICENSE (Google Play license check) permission. If they do, they are likely to fail with the associated account being unavailable (maybe not instantly, but whenever they check next). If they don't, chances are good they keep running (but won't receive updates). I'm even using some of the latter category on my "without Google" devices (so no Google account available at all) for quite a while. Conclusion remains the same in most cases ;)


text:
Huawei Ascend G510 do I need to unlock bootloader and root to flash a custom ROM with CWM
My sister wants me to fix her phone, an Huawei Ascend G510-0100, which is having lots of issues in the stock ROM (she's not able to call, for instance). we tried an hard reset but in a few days the phone started bothering us again (this problem presented the first time a few weeks after purchase, but she did not say that cause she thought she introduced malware...).
We can't use our warranty since she lost the receipt and the service is 500 km from home.
So I deceded to try flashing  Android 4.4 . I flashed my own phone 3 times but I never unlocked the bootloader (Samsung Next Turbo) and root was not needed (in two of them).
Do I need to unlock bootloader and root to flash a custom ROM in this device? I wanted to use the ClockWorkMod to flash, but I can't find an updated version for G510, can anybody link me one?
If yes, where is the dload folder in internal storage?

Root wasn't needed,but I first tried to uninstall system apps to make the system faster, but there wasn't a really huge difference.
I had to unlock the bootloader to flash recovery (TWRP), and now I have a custom ROM on (AOSPA 4.6).


text:
xolo q1011 can't root
I have a xolo q1011. I tried to root but none of the methods vroot,towelroot,pieroot,sideload,cwm worked.  Is there any other way to root my phone so that I can install cm ROMs. Its in version 4.4.2 it have the Google sync problem as well

Finally I found it. The 1.7.8 version of Vroot can root my phone

Kingoroot.
http://www.kingoapp.com
I hope it will work for you

tried Kingoroot,SmartRoot, and few other similiar softwares no hope. Is there anyway I can manually do it?


text:
Find application size on Google Play Store
Google Play site on PC doesn't show application size. Additionally, after last update, Play Store application doesn't show application size either.
Is there a way to find application size without downloading/installing it?

In the app and in the website, you can only get the size of the APK.

But for additional downloads (extensions), it's usually not documented, but they can go to as much as 4GB. See this SO question: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/21330911/max-size-of-an-android-application
In some cases, it just says "Varies with device".

If that doesn't work, or if they remove it, you can alway tap on install. When you see the size, cancel it. :D

google playstore not giving me size info* when i tap install


text:
Insufficient memory
I have a 4.2.1 android version phone. In internal storage there is 114 MB free space but I cannot download or update any app because I get an error saying "insufficient memory in internal storage". I tried all the first aid listed in this site but no gain :( .

Try cleaning cache/junk and unused apps first https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cleanmaster.mguard


text:
alarm clock app with notification on lock screen
In the past active alarms from the default app showed up on the lock screen (time and date). This feature seems to be gone in 4.1.2. Does it work in later versions of Android? Can it be done somehow with an external app?

Which handset are you using?

There are tons of lock screen widgets you could try, but I find Dash Clock to be the best. It can display (amongst other things the upcoming alarm(s))

Yes, I found Dash Clock myself, but it's for Android 4.2+.


text:
Setting Skype as The Default Dialer on Nexus 5
These two posts, Setting Default Dialer and Setting Nexus Custom Dialer, make it seem straight forward, but it is not.
I am not prompted to choose which dialer to use, it only uses Google Dialer
Neither the Phone nor the Google Dialer apps have defaults set, thus the clear defaults button is not enabled.
I consider myself tech savvy and have already spent half an hour trying to figure this out. Unacceptable for something that should be easy.

When is it that you expect to be prompted for setting the default and it's not happening? After clearing the defaults you could also try restarting the phone and then starting one of them.

When I touch a phone number in the stock KitKat Contacts app.

The answer, after spending considerable time in Nexus and Skype chat support is that Skype does not provide dialer support for Nexus 5 KitKat. Unsure if other manufacturers using  KitKat have the same issue or have delivered a solution.
I was told by Nexus support I could contact LG for a possible solution, but that the change could void my warranty.
The worst part is that this is not obvious from a Google search. Nothing at all on either sites. Support acts like they don't know. Nexus support would not answer the simple straight forward question, can Skype be a dialer.
I find it hard to believe that both companies are not fully aware that this is the situation. The customer suffers. What exactly does poor android support gain Skype? They just had to refund my prepaid year and lost an opportunity for a lifetime revenue stream....

If you want to make Skype calls from your phones built in dialer, give this app a try Skype Default Dialer.
How about using a custom dialer jut for making phone calls with Skype? Try out the Sky Dialer for Skype Android application. It will let you easily call your android contact's phone numbers using Skype.
Full Disclosure: I am the developer of this app. If you have any suggestions for making the app better, please let me know.

Disable phone defaults. Go to "manage app" in settings, select phone and clear defaults.
Go to the menu,remove the phone icon and replace with the Skype dialer

"Neither of the Phone or Google Dialer apps have defaults set, thus clear defaults button is not enabled." Straight from the OP. What menu allows you to remove phone icon and replace with skype dialer. What does that even mean?


text:
Is Galaxy Apps a legimate App? (kitkat, samsung galaxy app 3)
So on my samsung galaxy tab 3 running android kitkat, I noticed something in the notification bar. An app named samsung apps was downloading new apps, as if it was like the normal app store. One was Samsung billing.
After each download I was prompted, "Google may regularly check installed apps for potentially harmfull behaviour. Learn more in Google Settings > Verify apps."
It was followed by an accept and decline. I just pressed the back button and it went away. Then I noticee samsung apps was renamed Galaxy Apps.
Is this a legitimate new update? Did anyone else get this? (If you use a samsung device).

Galaxy Apps is the new name of Samsung Apps.
Samsung Billing is also legit, as per Informer answer:

The application is used to purchase apps through Samsung Store
  application that is delivered with Samsung phones. Samsung Billing
  acts as bridge between Samsung Store and payment servers. Without it,
  you will not be able to purchase anything. It's safe to be removed
  because it can be installed at a later date in case you actually need
  it.

Is it a new update? My device has been connected to wifi for a while, so it only appearing now must mean its new?

@Keyes Updated sometime in July 2014. Maybe your Samsung store only checked /synced recently.

It also downloaded a "samsung IAP" if I remember correctly.  What is this?

@Keyes It's also legit. It's for In-App Purchases. See: http://developer.samsung.com/in-app-purchase


text:
Why does the in-call volume change on its own on my Samsung Galaxy S3?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 (SCH-I535) running Android 4.4.2 and I'm having an extremely annoying issue: Whenever I make or receive a call, if I adjust the in-call volume to the desired level (usually somewhere between 80% - 100% if I am in a noisy place) then during the call, the call volume will suddenly drop to roughly 25% - 35%
This happens repeatedly during a call. I am not using a headset of any kind: I am simply holding the phone up to my ear. I am positive that I am not pressing any buttons on the side of the phone, and I press the lock button to turn the screen off before holding the phone up to my face, so I'm sure I'm not triggering any on-screen functions with my cheek/ear.
This makes it doubly annoying because the volume buttons don't appear to work reliably when the phone is in this state. So after a few minutes at the desired volume, suddenly I can't hear he other party and I need to ask them to please wait, bring the phone away from my face, unlock the screen, adjust the volume back to maximum using the volume buttons (ever time I see the volume slider has dropped from where I last had it set) lock the screen again and then resume my call.
This will happen repeatedly, every few minutes while on a call.
I have the stock Verizon/Samsumg OS, phone is not rooted, and I can't find any setting which might be causing this. I don't have any custom volume adjustment apps installed. Looking for any assistance! Why does the in-call volume drop on it's own on my Samsung Galaxy S3?

The problem was caused by an app that I installed for allowing the company I work for to page me. This proprietary app had a bug that caused it to drop the in-call volume during a call; Updating the app fixed the problem.


text:
How to update cyanogenmod custom rom
If i install a  cyanogenmod custom rom with all the risky complicated procedure on bootloader and next upadte of cyanogenmod comes out with android l so should i have to again go though bootloader and install it or can i install it simply on going to setting upadte update and android update without going to bootloader.

The unlocking the bootloader and installing a custom recovery is a one time procedure, for future updates you just need to flash the zip file and you are good to go. Having said that, since you feel it is a risky complicated procedure, in case you have a phone that is mentioned on this Page then the whole process becomes a lot more simpler and opaque to you! At the end you will have a phone with the last stable release of CM for your phone, what this also does is take care of the messy steps, so if you are unable to root your phone just using CM Installer will unlock a whole new world.

Nope unlock bootloader and installing CWM is one time (unless you want to update the Recovery) Update or install Zip file it via Custom Recovery

So it will be simple and easy like on not rooted phone..


text:
Unable to install apps on new Android one device due to google play 489 download error
I bought a new Android One device from Amazon.in but I'm unable to install or update any applications from Google Play Store on it when I'm connected to wifi. The error message is a 489 download error.
I found the problem documented at a few other places on the internet like this but there doesn't seem to be a know solution for this.
I have tried to delete my account and add it again, do a factory reset and try again none of these has helped. If however I switch to 3g I am able to update the apps, but my 3G plan is limited and I like to use it when I'm on the go. I have a pretty decent wifi at home which I want to use for updates and app installs.
Living on just 3g is not even an option.
Does anyone know of a fix for this? Since I got the phone from Amazon, they are pretty customer friendly and I should be able to return the phone easily should I do this?
I was able to install Amazon App store and have been successful in installing apps using it over wifi but this isn't a scalable approach for me either as I won't get the android updates and things like Whatsapp seem to be missing from the Amazon App Store.
My hunch is that there is some software issue with Google Play but I don't know if that is the case or if it will be fixed. What is the best thing for me to do in this case?

Well, Micromax is having this issue and many users are facing this issue.
You can read all the reviews regarding this here.

I did check out the review before buying, but these seem to be much lower down the thread. Anyways I have my money back, will gift my parents something else later.

Happened to me as well when I first got my Nexus 4, but it was somehow sorted out. It is possible that I "forgot" the WIFI network and then connected to it again but I'm not sure.
Try to see if you can download apps through the web version of the play store: (from your computer, I mean)
https://play.google.com/store
This isn't an issue that should get you to return the phone to Amazon, I'm pretty sure it is a software problem.
Solutions that I came across
Solution 1

logging in Google App store using your gmail id in your pc.
Select the App that you want to install.
Click on install .
Make sure at the same time you mobile is connected to wifi. Then App will automatically get downloaded and installed in you mobile.

Solution 2
I not only tried all the above steps I also got my mobile formatted but it didn’t work. More so, I got it replaced. Still not sure what’s the problem – maybe it’s the mobile maybe it’s the google app store. whatever it is, I found a way to use wifi to download from play store.
It’s quite simple actually, start downloading using your normal data connection and quickly switch wifi. It will automatically start using wifi to download stuff.
Use Go widget for switching if you want to.
I don't know if they will work but it's worth a shot...

I'm not the only one who has this error apparently - http://www.amazon.in/product-reviews/B00NEFFWF6/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt_sr_2?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addTwoStar&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending
The reason that I'm worrying is that there is not a known solution, even you say that it worked somehow...

I may have found solutions for you. I have edited my answer.

Thanks Eran, but the first solution didn't work and the second one is so severe a hit on the usability that I can't continue with it. I contacted Amazon, they'll issue me a refund. It's frustrating but I got this phone for my parents and don't want to leave them with something which is sub standard, they aren't the most technical people.

No problem, it's just too bad it didn't work for you. If you need recommendations for another phone that is suitable for your parents yet not some high-end phone they don't need, try the Moto G or Moto E.


text:
Can you execute sqlite3 outside xbin directory?
When sqlite3 is installed you can execute the binary e.g. via a terminal emulator.
If sqlite3 is not installed per default and you do not want to root the phone to install it, is there any possibility to use the binary outside the xbin directory?

If you've got the binary available, you could upload it to your device and use it from there. Note, however, that this won't work from SDCards – but the following approach should do without rooting:
adb push sqlite /data/local/sqlite
adb shell "chmod 0755 /data/local/sqlite"

Then you can always invoke it using the full path, e.g. /data/local/sqlite somedatabase.db, from within a terminal app or adb shell session.


text:
How can I do a "next track" command in Apollo music player using speech recognition such as utter!?
I know that the Apollo music player can perform the "next track" command when requested by external programs, e.g. when connected to bluetooth devices, or when I use the "Media Button Overlay"-app. But now I would like to use utter! to do this, but I haven't found a way to configure utter!. I can configure utter! to run any command, but I do not know a command to send the "next track" command. I'd like to be able to say "next track", or "computer: next track", while driving. Any suggestions ?


text:
How to backup Android system and Apps with their configurations?
I ve been trying to find way to do a image backup then restore it back to a re-set device.
I dont think adb backup / adb restore can do this.

I installed all Apps and configured all settings for system and apps.
I did a [adb backup -all -f c:\xxx.ab] also tried other parameters. basically i backed up everything.
I reset my andriod back to factory state.
I did a [adb restore]
I dont see any app show up on my android and no system settings has been configured.

How can I do a whole system image backup with all apps installed? The whole point is i need to used this back to restore into other same devices, so i dont have to go through the whole app install process again and again.

Some more info, The reason that I am trying to do this is that we have 60+ android devices (MK902 Android box)need to be pushed out in our building, on each device, I have to root it, install all Apps, configure system and apps. it is painful to go through this process on all devices. So I am thinking if there is any way to make a whole system image just like what we do on windows, then I can put that image into rest of devices, and change the device name later.
I used RK batch Tool to load a rooted img file into device for rooting. this img file contains boot.img, kernal.img and so on. I was trying to install all Apps and configure everything then make a img pack. but looks like it is too hard for me....i dont find any easy way or software to make this .img file.....

Did you try adb backup -all -apk -system -f c:\xxx.ab ???

Yes, I did and adb restore wont bring anything back...even the process was success

Make a batch .zip package with all the apps, instead of .img. Install (flash) ROM first on devices, then install batch zip. That way adb restore wont be involved.......Another way would be to customize your ROM by removing all unnecessary apps, insert all all apps needed for company deployment,ZIP and sign package, then incorporate an OTA update with all app data.

This is what i do now, load rooted rom and install all apps from adb by batch. but i still have to configure each app and system...that is what i m trying to avoid...

Set the apps you want in the device as system apps, then locate the settings and preferences files for the system and user end apps (you only have to do it once), place them in the customized ROM you make. You'll be running in a networked environment I'm presuming, so you can send updates. Set up a server, then config device for automated updates.

@hash_brown this sounds like a better way,  i will try that. thanks.

So from what I understand, you managed to back up and restore the ROM itself (system partition) but not the apps. Basically I'd recommend:

Backing up the ROM with the backup option on recovery. I don't remember if it means your apps will be backed up as well but I think it does.
You can use Titanium backup or Hellium to back up your apps. The backups will be saved on your phone so after your backup, transfer the backup files from your phone to your computer and once you're done restoring, transfer those same files from your computer to your phone and use one of these apps (whichever you chose) to restore your apps.
Notice that you can backup system apps as well but it is not recommended as it might give you FC's (force close).

@Izzy, since I can't reply on your answer (not enough reputation), I will reply here. Please note that he can use Helium, which is just like Titanium backup but does not require root access so that can work for him.

It is still not what i m after. I need a solution that I can have everything (sysetm, apps and configurtions) in one .img file, so i can use it for other same devices. I dont see any app or software can do this on the market. so sad....how come no one even think about doing this

A whole system image backup is not possible without root access. If you have root access, this can be achieved via nandroid. However, if you create a full image, reset the device, and restore the image – you've just spent a lot of time for nothing, as Nandroid makes full file system images. So this makes more sense when creating a backup while the device is in "perfect order", and do the reset/restore to return to that state.
If you're after apps and their settings alone, adb backup should be the right approach (root or not). As you've tried that and failed: This might be a bug in your ROM. I have some devices acting the same: while I can make an adb backup, an adb restore always fails. On all other devices, however, it works fine.
Third option was already pointed out by Eran: Use Titanium Backup. This is a powerful tool not only for backups (actually one of the first paid apps I obtained, and use until today) – but again, it requires root access.
For additional hints, you might wish to visit our backup tag-wiki. There you should find a lot of relevant information, and links to other posts here on this site dealing with this and similar issues.

Thanks for reply. I tried nandroid by using cwm, backup was success, but the backup can't be restored showing errors saying Operation failed. the backup contains several .img files, how can i combine them as one .img file? By using adb way, i guess i need to have setup desktop password configured under developer option , the  bad thing is i dont have this option on my system. (Android 4.4.2). It must be blocked by ppl who made this rooted img. TITANIUM Backup, I thought about this, but i have to install it on all devices, it is pointless....

maybe my question was not right, i should ask how to make customized img file for mass deployment with all apps installed and configured.......

As long as you're talking about identical devices, in most cases Nandroid should work. There might be some exceptions, though: I'm e.g. not sure about Samsung devices (which have their IMEI stored in some EFS partition as I've read – and all devices with the same IMEI wouldn't do). Still: Talking about user-space apps, it might even do to just restore the "data" partition (where they and their data are installed/stored). You should be able to sideload the partition image e.g. via fastboot – but I've no experience with that, so I cannot say for sure.


text:
How to set default browser used by NFC?
I have a Samsung S4 mini, stock Jellybean ROM. I have several browsers installed, one of which is Firefox configured for browsing through a proxy. When I tap on an NFC tag, Android opens up Firefox - I want it to open up a different browser. How?

try clear Settings of Firefox so next time when you press the Tag it will ask you for the browser

Adjusting Itzik a little: Settings → Apps, scroll to Firefox, open its entry. Watch out for a box labeled "Reset defaults". Hit it. No other settings should be affected this way. Greetz – another Itzik :)

Normally, only apps that specifically support NFC will work, not just any browser. If you've tried resetting Firefox as a default app, as Izzy suggests, and you still don't get a choice of browser, it may be because your other browsers don't support NFC.
In this case, you can use my app bURLy to choose any browser. It's a free download from Google Play, and it supports NFC and lets you choose any app that understands the URL in the tag: whether it's a browser, the YouTube app, the Facebook app, or any other site's app, regardless of whether the app supports NFC.
You can choose the app each time if you like, you can set a single default app, or if you like, you can add rules for particular URLs, sites, or other conditions. For example, you might want one site to open in Firefox, another site in Chrome.


text:
How to fix a ZTE Score after multiple adjustments
I have recently downloaded Link2SD and made another partition to get more app space and it worked. Even recently, I made a 2nd partition to see if I could create more space, but then when I rebooted, all my apps were gone (Including the Google Play Store, that's on my SD Card). So I booted back into recovery mode and then I performed a backup and restore then tried to reboot. When I tried to reboot, it stayed on the ZTE logo. Then I booted back into recovery mode once more the wipe data, cache, and Dalvik. After I deleted them, It still stayed on the ZTE logo. How do I fix my phone?

Looks like you screwed up your SDCard's partition table. If it's a removable SDCard: Have you tried bootin without it being inserted?

That didn't work, it's still doing the same thing.

Could it be you accidentally created that new partition somewhere else than on the external card, and might have screwed some internal storage? Apart from that, I'm out of ideas.


text:
No operating system/no anything!
I have a Samsung Galaxy s3  SGH-I747, I had rooted the phone and had success and tried different ROM's before deciding one I wanted to go back with and stick with.  I had booted my phone into recovery however and left it laying out (ADHD sidetracked me) returned and discovered a friend had accidentally wiped everything- INCLUDING MY BACKUP-he thought I said the backup was on the external sd card, which he noticed wasn't in.  So I have no back-up, no operating system and no firmware because of something with Kies? (it says this on the phone screen???)  which has me completely baffled, because I rooted with Odin.  So, no os, no rom, nothing.........what do I do?

First, what exactly is the message you get on the phone screen?

can you enter into recovery mode?

Copy a ROM from your PC to your phone. Flash the ROM in recovery. You may have to reinstall the Samsung drivers on your PC.
Don't worry about this. You still have recovery intact. Keep yourself a SD card with a ROM and GApps on it.
*Always Do a Backup*


text:
Micromax Unite 2 A106, app installation error
When I'm installing an app it show internal storage insufficient space. But the internal SD memory has lots of space, approx 5gb free.
Please give me a solution.

try moving some apps(Games or system) into the external SD card.

In micromax Unite 2 out of 8 GB internal memory only 1 GB is allotted for installing Applications. With default applications and their updates it takes around 700 MB so you must have already exhausted the allotted 1 GB for applications.
Try uninstalling some unnecessary updates or try rooting.

How will rooting the fone help in rectifying installatn error?

In case of error caused by not having sufficient space, you can free up space by uninstalling lot of preloaded apps like Mad, micro max live etc. Which are really useless. This can be uninstalled only if you have root access. Further you can reparation your phone such a way that space allotted for apps can be increased by eg 1 GB which will in turn reduce general storage by 1 GB.


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Add manually installed android apps to Google Play account
I regularly install a number of frequently used applications on new android devices.
Since I do this often, I download and the latest versions of these apps and sideload the APKs onto the devices in order to save internet bandwith among other reasons.
The problem I encounter with this is that new applications I install via sideloading do not appear in the user's application list in Google Play even though the apps are free.
How can I get these new apps added to the user's application list?

Sideloaded apps are not linked to Google Play. You will have to update them manually (i.e. sideloading)
What you could do is install Titanium Backup (needs root), and use its Attach to Market feature.

Another solution would be to use AppBrain instead of Google Play, because AppBrain scans the apps in your phone, and informs you of any updates.


text:
sd card installation in s7582
I am having a problem with my sd card installation. After inserting sd card in my phone, still its showing "insert sd card". Can anyone help me out with this problem?

does this happens for all memory cards or for a particular one?

If you have another memory card try it out and see if it works.  If it does then your first memory card may be corrupt or damaged.  If the second memory card doesn't work either then it's possible there is a problem with your SD card slot on the phone.  If the problem is the SD card slot then you may need to look into a warranty replacement for the phone, if that option is available.


text:
What is the use of Google Settings app?
I'm using low config Android mobile, Google Settings app occupy my phone memory so I wonder to know what are the uses of behind this app and once I delete how come get back this app.

This app is actually part of the Google Play services app. Google automatically updates Google Play services on all supported devices via Google Play Store to ensure API consistency across devices and versions, and to deliver fixes and new features in a timely fashion.
It is installed on any Android device running Android 2.2 or higher and is updated every 6 weeks and the updates are pushed silently to all supported devices meaning if you uninstall it then it will be re-installed automatically.
It also allows Google to patch some vulnerabilities in Android without requiring a full O/S update or involving manufacturers/carriers.

This will contain all settings related to your Google Account like search settings, Ads settings, location and others. And more importantly, you will not be able to uninstall this app.

You could, in theory, uninstall it on a rooted device, but much in the same way you could throw the phone down a flight of concrete stairs! Best to stay well away from it!


text:
How to disable "security policy restricts use of html email"
I use AirWatch Agent and created an ActiveSync account to connect to my company's exchange server. Now, when I read emails they show up as plain text with the message "security policy restricts use of html email". I've tried going over settings to find something related and found none.

I'm willing to bet that you can't change it. It's probably being enforced by AirWatch as part of your company's security policies. They have disabled HTML email; so that means HTML email will be converted to plain text.

They say they reviewed their policies and no such restriction is enforced on their end.

I came across this issue during the deployment of AirWatch.
We had to reinstall the profile on the secure email gateway server. Once that was done the policy to allow or deny HTML email appeared on the profile.


text:
Will I keep the credits that I redeemed from a Google Play voucher if I get a new phone?
I bought a new phone, and I have redeemed a £25 Google Play voucher on my Play Store account.
I need to take back my phone. If I get a new phone, will I still have the £25 on my Google Play account?

Probably, but I'm sure this depends on the contract with whomever sold you the phone, and their return policy.

Yes, the credits / load is tied to your account. So, it will still be there, as long as you use the same Google account.


text:
Stop WhatsApp from being used on lost phone
I lost my Android phone, but my WhatsApp is still on. How I can stop someone who is using it?
I don't have the SIM with me. The people who found it is using my WhatsApp account. When they went online, I tried to talk but they did no reply.

Tried to lock your SIM by your provider already?

Get your provider to lock the device. Contact Whatsapp and explain the situation to them.

From Whatsapp:

What do I do if my phone is lost or stolen?
In the unfortunate case that your phone gets lost or stolen, we can
  help make sure that no one can use your WhatsApp account.
As soon as possible you should call your mobile provider to lock your
  SIM card. Then, it will not be possible to verify the account on that
  phone again as you need to be able to receive SMS or phone calls to
  verify an account.
After you have locked the SIM in your stolen phone, you can use a new
  SIM with the same number to activate WhatsApp on your new phone. This
  is the fastest way to deactivate your account on the stolen phone.
  WhatsApp can only be activated with one phone number on one device at
  a time.
If you are not ready to activate WhatsApp on a new phone with the same
  number we can deactivate your account. Email us with your phone number
  in the full international format as described here. Please note that
  we are not able to help you locate your phone. Remote WhatsApp
  deactivation from another device is not possible.
Important: Even with the SIM card locked and phone service disabled,
  WhatsApp can be used on Wi-Fi if you do not contact us with an account
  deactivation request.
More important details about deactivated accounts

When your account is deactivated, it is not completely deleted.
While your account is deactivated:

Your name is still on your contacts' Favorites / Select Contact lists.
Your contacts can send you messages, which will remain in a pending state for up to 30 days.

If you reactivate your account before it is deleted, you will receive any pending messages on your new phone and you will still be
  in all of your group chats.
If a deactivated account is not re-activated within 30 days, it will be completely deleted.

Note: Since your chat history is stored on your device, we cannot retrieve your previous messages.


text:
how to really permanently delete everything on samsung s4 active?
I will give my phone to technical service due to a problem on battery. I am a little paranoid about technical service employee and don't trust them in terms of personal privacy.
I read that factory reset does not permanently remove everything on phone:
http://blog.avast.com/2014/07/09/android-foreniscs-pt-2-how-we-recovered-erased-data/.
I would like to delete everything on phone in a way that in which even high level forensic recovery softwares can't recover anything.
By the way, i am not an expert user on android so please describe the solution in detailed form.

Here are the steps -
1) Power off your device completely.
2) Press and hold Volume Up, Home and Power buttons simultaneously.
3) Select wipe data/factory reset and Wipe cache
Here's a Video for further help - www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNfRb13i7vI


text:
Where can I find SIM settings in Huawei Ideos X5?
I want to unlock my SIM card password. I was looking around Android settings, but I couldn't find SIM settings to unlock password.

What phone do you have? Manufacturers customize the settings, so the answer is different for different phones.

I'm having Huawei Ideos X5

I have an Samsung Galaxy S4 using a custom ROM. Maybe something like Settings > Security > Set up SIM/RUIM card lock, but it's different for every phone.
For your Huawei Ideos X5, Settings > Location & security > Set up SIM card lock.

Yes I'm using Huawei Ideos as you said it was there in Security settings. Thank you for your instant answer

@AristoMichael Can you provide the correct path to the settings? I will update my answer, and maybe you can accept it.

Settings > Location & security > Set up SIM card lock

@AristoMichael Thanks! Have updated the answer. :)


text:
Formating os samsung galaxy tab 3 SM -T111 without any backup
While running recovery in TWRP mode, i had formate all my data including my android operating system 4.2 jellybean without any backup. How can i recover my phone OS back?

You can't recover it. You need to find a copy of the stock ROM (probably from sammobile.com, which is a good source for Samsung ROMs), and flash that to the phone.

authors: Ïtz Mhíz Ãñä


text:
android S3 wifi problems due to update
After the update, my phone tries to connect to wifi networks (which my tablet connects to just fine) and then says "internet not available". How do i solve this?

There is no passphrase; it is an open network. In fact, all of them have been

What update is this?

Goto settings>WiFi> select SSID, you'll have options for forget and connect. Select forget. Then select SSID. Enter passphrase. Then select connect


text:
TWRP Stuck on Boot Screen Nexus 7
I have installed TWRP onto my Nexus 7 (2012) and have gone into Recovery Mode. This has led me to be stuck on the Google Boot Screen. What do I do to fix this? I have been using this guide: http://itsfoss.com/root-nexus-7-2013-ubuntu-linux/

You need to follow a guide for the 2012 Nexus 7 instead, which the model is called Nakasi (Grouper/WiFi, Tilapia/3G-WiFi). You're using the wrong image, 2013 Nexus 7, which the model is called Razor (Flo/WiFi, Debian/3G-WiFi), for your device. That's why its not wanting to get past the boot screen. Download from the link below or go to XDA Forum.
Here is the link to the factory images for Nexus devices
Scroll down to the Nexus 7 2012 and select which model you have.
Here is a link for Universal Nexus Linux Toolkit
You can get the image from inside the program. This will run on Linux and Mac OSX. This will take care of all the commands.

Edit
I did see at the bottom of the guide you used that it states for the 2012 model to use a earlier (older) version of TWRP, but it doesn't show anywhere a link to any 2012 images - just to the 2013 image.


text:
"Ending Session" toast message appears when turning off WiFi
Recently, a message has been popping up when I turn off my WiFi, in and oval box saying "ending session", which never used to happen.

I would just ignore this if it wasn't for my phone seeming to slow down on downloads or using my browser and web pages take ages to load.
Is there a link here or is the message's appearance part of an update or something, or both?

Could you post a screenshot of this message? It isn't normal. Also, please let us know what phone you have. Have you installed any new apps around the time the message started appearing?

Are you logged into any online apps like Skype or such that could bring up the message? Is there any notification in the notification area? Have you installed anything lately?

It's Netflix, I had the same problem and installed an app that identifies which apps make toasts. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mars3142.android.toaster


text:
I cannot take pictures because my phone says "your internal storage is running out of space"
I have over 7GB of internal space left on my phone yet it keeps telling me to delete files and pictures. I deleted all of my pictures and some big apps but it continues to tell me the same thing when I try to take pictures. I have a droid RAZR mini. It has no space to put a SD card in. Unless I can somehow take off the back. Someone help please.

I managed to fix the issue where I was getting an "Insufficient storage" for my camera app.  This was after I 'changed' a MicroSD card in my Moto X Pure.  It was driving me a bit batty.  But it's fixed.
I downloaded a file explorer (in my case it was ASUS File Manager).  I saw that I had a DCIM folder.  (Under Internal Storage and navigate to DCIM).  I found that I was unable to move any files to this folder or even SEE the folder on my laptop (as you can connect to your phone using the ASUS File Manager via a wireless mirroring connection).  So I tried to create a DCIM folder via my laptop.  But got a permission denied.  So I went back to the phone's file manager and renamed the DCIM folder to DCIMold.  I then created another DCIM folder.  Yay!  That seemed to work.  And more excitingly so did my camera app.
So it was the dreaded lack of a DCIM folder.  In my case it wasn't because it was missing but rather that it was somehow corrupted and had the wrong permissions.  If it was even really there.
If anyone needs a better explanation let me know.  I just jotted this down for my reference as I was so excited to get over the latest hurdle on the phone!

There a couple of places that are known to use space up, once you have eliminated all other space hogs.

/.thumbnails safely delete them and then you can add an empty file and name it .nomedia and it won't store thumbnails anymore
/data/log  safely delete log files that accumulate after time
/data/tombstones safely delete debugging logs that accumulate after time.

Always perform a backup when deleting or changing anything

None of the solutions here (or elsewhere) worked until I did a very simple thing:
I downloaded another camera app from the Play Store. All of them are taking pics normally.
This solved my problem when the camera app started showing error "memory unavailable" after programming the SD card to work as internal memory so I could actually have some space in my phone.

The same thing happened to me. If you had an sd card in your phone, but ejected it, then go to settings, go to storage, then there should be the sd card that you ejected. Press forget on the ejected sd card, and the camera should work.

It would be good to check your internal partitioning.
First of all I would recommend you to install a terminal emulator like: click if you are not used to the Android Debug Bridge(ADB).For detailed information about ADB see: click
Write into this terminal: df and update your question with the output of this comment. Also the output of mount would be great to know.
Hash_BrowN already suggested you to check some places which can use much space. There is an app which you can use for a more intuitive way of checking and clearin these places: SD Maid

I didn't recommend that app because of the permissions required. There are other ones that come to mind, but I would find an open sourced one instead.

It is an app developed by a recognized developer from xda-developers forums. Some pages for privacy: http://sdmaid.thedarken.eu/privacy/ and http://sdmaid.thedarken.eu/privacy/sdmaid_mytransmission.html. If you agree with this anonymous transmission you can use this app and delete it right after cleaning -> Problem solved. :P

Here is how I easily tackled this problem.

Go to File manager
Change the Name of DCIM folder to anything (eg: DCIM01 or any random name you like)
Make Another Folder and Name it DCIM.
Restart your phone
Have patience, the camera will show you the same problem.
Just wait for a while
Again open your camera app

BOOM your phone camera will no longer show the storage problem.
I solved this problem on my Lenovo K9.

I just came across the same problem on my Moto G 2nd gen and it was caused by swapping SD cards.  I had to do a factory reset to get the camera working again - backing up contacts and apps first of course.  All good now.

DCIM should be 0755 but I guess remaining it did whatever. More than likely just made a useless folder. Sounds like you have some wacko partition. Maybe open the back with a dime or something and put a cheap SD card in it.


text:
Will a Factory Reset lock my phone (Samsung Galaxy S2) if it is unlocked, but factory locked?
I know that formatting the SD card will not lock my phone again.
But if I Factory Reset my phone, will it re-lock the phone or not?

What do you mean by "format my phone"? Do you mean "Factory Reset"?

yes factory Reset

A factory reset will not change the status of the phone with regards to "device lock" (Can I connect to other networks?) or to "bootloader lock" (Can I use custom ROMs?).

It is still kind of unclear what you exactly mean.
In general: a factory resets formats the whole userdata(data) partition. The data partitions contains your installed apps, databases where your customized settings for the android system are stored(for example if you changed your homescreen; added some shortcuts/widgets etc.). Also the cache of the virtual machine resides on this partition....as the name already says it's mainly used for userdata.
If you are talking about a rooted phone(windows term: administrator): a factory reset usually does never remove your root access. Normally rooting procedures install a "su" binary in /system/xbin/su or /system/bin/su, this is obviously stored on the system partition which is never touched by a factory reset.
As already mentioned the bootloader is shipped unlocked and won't be locked again.

Samsung Galaxy S2 is shipped with an unlocked bootloader, so it won't be locked when you Factory Reset it. If it's rooted, it will not be unrooted, but SuperSU or Superuser app itself may be removed (If it's not installed in system partition), so you'll just have to reinstall it. And if it's a factory unlocked carrier specific version of the phone like i777 (AT&T), then it may get carrier/network locked again (Booting up the first time after a factory reset it may ask you to enter the Network Unlock Code if you use a non-AT&T SIM), although in most cases this won't happen.


text:
How to force built-in apps to update on a brand new android device?
I've just unpacked a new phone Moto G 2nd Gen and noticed that the Google Play My Apps is completely empty (it's for my wife, she didn't use android before).
So I updated several essential apps (chrome, gmail, maps) manually by searching them in play store manually and clicking "Update". Now they appeared in the list of apps.
But how can I ensure that all built in apps eventually update automatically as soon as they are not in the list?
It's painful to do that manually - some apps are not even in App Drawer (like Google Keyboard).
UPDATE:
Just to let you know: all the built in apps updated automatically and appeared in the list of "my apps"
PS: to be precise only some of them updated, others just appeared there waiting for granting more permissions

Open up the PlayStore, open menu and select settings.
Select second option from the top auto-update apps. Then chose if you want to update from just WiFi or incur data charges.
Sooner or later apps that have updates will want to update.
You can also go into the apps and select auto update if available.

The issue is that the list of "my applications" is empty since I haven't installed anything manually. Are you sure the built-in apps will eventually update even if they are not in the list?

If they have any updates they will show up, sometimes it takes awhile. But yes they will.

This should work, it has for me in the past. You could try clearing all the data from the Play Store and loading it again and see if that helps (it may make it worse). Settings > Applications > Google Play Store > Clear Data. They really should be there in the first place, but I have seen this on a few devices myself. I tended to go an add everything manually as it was a one off thing, but auto update did work for me. Each individual app has it's own 'auto update' option also... May make life a little easier.

This does work eventually, but I think the point of the question is how to make this happen "sooner" (ie, now) rather than "later".


text:
Improve scrolling lag in Android
I am not referring to the App opening/closing animations (that can be modified in the launcher or the Developer Options changing the animation scale) but the actual scrolling of websites, webviews, and within applications.
I am noticing this on a few flagship devices, but it occurs far less on Nexus devices. I'm assuming the OEM skins or the 1080p screens on these devices (or both) are contributory factors.
I've tried changing goveneors and I/O schedulers to no avail. This is persistent lag across a range of browsers (Chrome, Samsung, HTC, Dolphin, Boat, Firefox) and across other apps such as Google Plus, the Play Store and Facebook.
Is there any way to improve this scroll lag, it is severely degrading the performance on several devices including S5, M8, Note 3 and others.
Edit: Devices are rooted so all suggestions welcome.

First I would jump into the developer options and play around with rendering settings in there. This is going to pertain to the GPU probably a lot more than the CPU.
You can also enable some helpful rendering overlays to get visual feedback regarding touch areas, rendered areas, and gpu utilization.
Unfortunately I can't say that one particular item or another will fix it so you will have to play around with them until you see some improvement. Things to try:

High performance mode
Force GPU rendering

The next step would be to try to overclock the GPU's which is going to vary by device.
I would suspect that a mobile friendly site would have much less of an issue rendering all the scrolling than a full desktop site. Another option would be to zoom in more and see if that alleviates some of the lag.
Yet another option would be to try out some custom roms on each of the devices that boast smoother performance. The trade off you're looking for is more performance which is usually at the cost of more battery drain. Efficiency is a great thing but I would always prefer stable smooth performance first and then efficiency.
Do you see any difference if you start scrolling from a still screen vs continuous up and down scrolling? (ie not letting the gpu stop rendering) If so, bumping up the minimum clock at least temporarily may improve this area. The performance governor is your best bet for now.
For the M8, I would recommend ViperOne. I run it on my M7 and its very smooth. You can overclock the GPU with built in software. The only thing I see some lag on is when there are a ton of complex button/slider items that need to be loaded which happens to only be on a few pages within the ViperTweaks sub-app.

Hi @Enigma, thanks for the answer, I'm going to try some of this out later and I'll get back to you. It's consistent across websites and this is on new Flagship devices. It's the one thing Android seems to keep messing up. I can't flash on the M8 at present but am trying ROMs on other devices as I type this! :) I'll have a lash. I'm going to have to install a new kernel on the Samsung devices to get tweaking the gov etc. I should add this happens in Facebook, Google+ and other apps. Force GPU rendering is degrading the performance sadly.

Sounds good. Do try the developer options in the mean time as that does provide a small window into some kernel functionality. If you find a good Samsung rom already paired with a good kernel you may have better overall smoothness (worth keeping in mind anyways).

The issue is persistent for ALL scrolling. The GPU doesn't seem to be involved, and the 2.5Ghz QUAD core should be more than enough to render websites!! This is the very reason I am tempted to get a few more Apple devices as this is endemic on my devices. I'm paying 600 euro PER PHONE and all i get is stutters and lags sadly.

That is unfortunate. You may also want to take a peak at ram usage. The more that is readily available, the more efficient/quickly new content will be loaded. Greenify would be a good testing tool to keep unused apps out of memory. I have high hopes that a good kernel and some tweaking can get the performance where you want it.

Greenify installed, RAM the usual usage for the respective device. I think the best bet is for me to give a few things a try and I'll reply once I do it (busy evening ahead of me so will be tomorrow probably), and I'll be back to you. :) Thanks!

Hi, I've accepted and added the bounty, I'm away at the moment but I've been tweaking and testing on the phone and improved things a bit and found what is app specific lag. What I was thinking (if you are agreeable) is on Friday when I'm back editing in a few findings of mine into your answer, and then you can edit out anything you don't want in there? Or I can add a few comments here for you to add and then we can delete this big train of comments to tidy this answer up? Thanks, Ross

Sure just propose an edit. I don't think the comments are doing any harm though.


text:
Can I receive WhatsApp messages on multiple phones?
I have two phones with the same number, one for home and one for work.
Can I get my WhatsApp messages to come to both phones at the same time, or will they only deliver to one of the two?

No, you can only use Whatsapp with one number on one device.
Quote from the FAQ page:

Can I verify one WhatsApp account to multiple phones, or with multiple
  phone numbers?
Your WhatsApp account can only be verified with one number, on one
  device. If you have a dual SIM phone, please note that you still must
  choose one number to verify with WhatsApp. There is no option to have
  a WhatsApp account with two phone numbers.
If you attempt to frequently switch your WhatsApp account between
  different devices, at a certain point, you may be blocked from
  re-verifying your account. So please do not repeatedly switch between
  different devices.

No, you can't use WhatsApp with the same number only on mobiles. But that does not mean you can't.
WhatsApp is providing such facilities called WhatsApp Web. Simply, you have to open your browser like Google Chrome, then open https://web.whatsapp.com. There you will get the QR code. Open your WhatsApp application for once, and click on an option where you get WhatApp Web. On clicking that, it shows the QR code scanner. You only have to scan the QR code that is already opened in your browser. After scanning, it will display all the conversations, and here you can use WhatsApp from another device.
But there is a little limitation for using WhatsApp Web, that mobile having a SIM card should be connected to the internet.

It is kind of possible to open WhatsApp Web on mobile browsers by enabling Desktop mode, but your mileage may vary.