text:
Turning off cell broadcast messages in HTC One X Plus
I have been receiving about 50 flash sms a day, with my service provider name TIM RS 51, from the number 50. As I read here, it might be a issue with activating and deactivating cell broadcast on the phone. However, I could not find the path suggested for the deactivation (Setting/Call/Other Call Settings). The option does not exist on this path. Any help?

Eliana, could you please add the information what Android version your device is running (the name of the device might be useful as well)? Those settings appear on different places, depending on Android version and sometimes even on device. You will find this information in Settings->About phone usually.

Depending on your Android version, either a duplicate or at least related: Turning off cell broadcast messages in Ice Cream Sandwich

Some more digging: My LG Optimus 4X has it nowhere in its options, but it has an additional app pre-installed ("Cell Info"). Also, some other places to check include this XDA thread, an issue at google code (about not being able to turn it off), and a video at Youtube.

I show the setting under
Settings | Wireless & networks | More... | Cell broadcasts

with three options to choose from:

Show extreme threats
Show severe threats
Show AMBER alerts

(Android 4.1.1 / Galaxy Nexus)

I cannot find that on my Optimus 4x (Android 4.0.3). Could you please add which Android version you refer to, Al? I mean, I wouldn't wonder if that again is a special "LG cleanup" (the Optimus also misses the detailed battery usage stats with the bars for network, wifi, screen on, awake)...

It's Settings->Call-> *uncheck* Cell broadcast -> *click* OK to the confirmation question.

Unfortunately, there is no checkbox or option about cell broadcast under settings/call. I cant find this option anywhere on the phone, specially not under Settings/Call/Cell broadcast. Thanks anyway, do you have anyother idea?...Android version is 4.1.1 and phone model is htc one x plus.

That does not resemble the option under Android 4.1.1 - that looks more like Gingerbread or earlier....


text:
Can not receive some mails sent by SMS Backup+ Android app when using Gmail mail delegate feature
I currently backup my Android phone data using SMS Backup+. Data entries are written to Gmail: e.g. each phone call is logged as one message labeled with the call log tag and automatically archived.
I want to share those entries with another Gmail account so that I use the mail delegate (e.g. "Grant access to your account") Gmail feature, but I cannot see the SMS Backup+ mails in this delegated account.
I can see other auto-archived mails normally, such as Facebook notification messages.
My question is: How can I view the SMS Backup+ log messages in my delegated Gmail account?

I'm afraid the question is a bit unclear (to me at least). Once you grant access to your account, that other account will be able to access ALL your email, but they won't show up in the other account's inbox, instead you will have to "switch" accounts in gmail. Something like this: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/88791830/Selection_001.png.

We read the delegate mail directly in our own inbox after granting access Hamzeh

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Cannot open message application on Samsung Galaxy S2 and Deleted all of my Contacts
I was originally getting an error message about the logserver not working, which I fixed through managing the application and forcing it to close, but now I get another error when I try to access text messages:

The application messaging has stopped unexpectedly.
[Force Close]

Then it doesn't let me access messages. When I cleared the data from my contacts like someone advised, I deleted all of my contacts, and messaging still doesn't work! There was not an option to clear the cache data, and when I try to sync my contacts to my phone from Facebook and my Google account, NOTHING happens.
I need to get my contacts back somehow and figure out how to get the messaging app working. I have tried to look up solutions but I don't understand what most people are saying and I am so frustrated. I do not understand what it means to be "rooted", although I did install the app ES File Explorer which seems to have done nothing.
Can someone please help me?

ES File Explorer is a very good file manager, but does nothing on its own. "root" is the Administrator account, which by default is not available on Android devices; if you root your device, you get full access to the system (but might void your warranty). As to your force-close problem, you might want to take a look at My device is getting slow, apps start misbehaving/crashing. What can I do?. Concerning your contacts: Can you still see them in GMail via its website?

The only way that I have tried is to download GO SMS Pro and delete the longest message.

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


text:
How to unlock and root a Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray ST18i with 4.1.B.1.13
I searched it a while and found some articles regarding rooting the Xperia Ray but I couldn't understand them easily. So I want help from you geeks who can give me the lighted way with simple steps to root my phone.
I found this article from xda-developers.com but it sais there, that I have to have an "unlocked bootloader" which I probably don't have if I haven't done anything with my phone yet, have I?
And it tells me to "wipe the dalvik-cache" which I don't see anywhere (probably after unlocking the bootloader?). I also heard something of "fastboot", but I didn't get what it is :-?
I already gct the IMEI by entering *#06# into my phone and got the developer unlock code from unlockbootloader.sonyericsson.com.
I have running the actual Ice-Cream 4.0.4 Build-Number 4.1.B.1.13, Kernel 2.6.32.9-perf

EDIT:
right now I am following the instructions from Sony's Instructions on how to unlock bootloader. Entering the code *#*#7378423#*#* shows, that the unlock is allowed. I am downloading the huge Android SDK right now ...

I followed these instructions for a "one-click ROOT"
I downloaded
Eroot 1.3.4: Link
stopped all applications and started the eroot program
clicked on "-Root"
waited the 4 steps and there it was.
(don't press again the "Root" button, that will remove root again)
you can check with the Root Checker App if you have root access, click on "Verify Root Access"
If you have root access you can install a CyanogenMod release shown in the following steps (source: mainly the CyanogenMod Wiki Howto starting from step "Obtaining the Bootloader Unlock Code"):
.
1. Download CyanogenMod

Download the desired CyanogenMod and place it on your SDcard as ZIP file (currently the latest for ST18i is 10.0 which is named just cm-10-2013-NIGHTLY-urushi.zip )
I chose cm-10-20131007-NIGHTLY-urushi.zip
This takes some minutes...
Download *Google Apps** for the CyanogenMod you selected (You have to install a 3rd-party app to get the Google apps, like Gmail, Play Store, and Youtube.)
I chose gapps-jb-20121011-signed.zip
.

2. enable fastboot:
Download Files for Fastboot  (the same as the Xperia arc)

Extract the file to a new folder naming say Unlock. (Do it neatly as you won't get confused while entering into CMD).
Go to unlockbootloader.sonyericsson.com (We will do the unlocking in the official way).
Read the instructions carefully and click Continue/Proceed whatever they ask, note down your IMEI (The place where the website asks to paste it, enter in the exactly first 14 digits, not 15 digits) and after submitting your name, IMEI and email click Submit and note down the code they produce (copy that into a notepad).
Enter in fastboot mode (Don't turn on the device, just press Volume up and connect USB cable simultaneously to your PC. A blue light should come up, otherwise something has gone wrong).
Install the drivers for your device on your computer (from the unzipped drivers folder you downloaded)
Go to the fastboot directory and Ctrl+Shift+Right Click (or on Windows 7 open a CMD shell end go into the fastboot directory)
Type in
fastboot.exe -i 0x0fce getvar version
and hit enter
Type in
fastboot.exe -i 0x0fce oem unlock 0x<your_code>
(use  directly by your code that you have already copied in notepad)

You are done. When you start your phone you will have fresh factory reset but rooted Android.
.
3. install ClockworkMod:

Install x-Parts from Google Play.
After installation, open the app and select the Installs tab.
Select Install CWM and follow on-screen instructions.
You can Reboot into the recovery mode from there (press the button in the Tools Tab)

.
4. install boot.img:
Now you need to install the boot.img from the CyanogenMod Zip you downloaded:

Connect your device into fastboot again with Vol-Up While plugging in the USB-Cable
fastboot devices
(Seeing your serial number means we know all is good.)
Now type these commands:
fastboot erase system -w
fastboot erase boot
then copy the boot.img in the same folder as fastboot.exe and type
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot reboot
Now press the Vol-Down Button to enter the Recovery Mode again and install your image

.
5. Install CyanogenMod in Recovery Mode:

Once the device boots into the ClockworkMod Recovery, use the physical volume buttons to move up and down. On most devices, the power button is used to confirm your selection, although for some devices the power button is used as a "back" button to go up one level, in which case the home button is used to confirm the selection.
Optional/Recommended: Select backup and restore to create a backup of the current installation on the Xperia Ray.
Select the options to "wipe data/factory reset" and "wipe cache"
Select "Install zip from sdcard"
Select Choose the CyanogenMod zip from sdcard.
Select the CyanogenMod file you placed on the sdcard. You will then need to then confirm that you do wish to flash this file.
Install the Google Apps package as well
Optional: Install any additional packages you wish using the same method.

Once the installation has finished, return back to the main menu, and select the reboot system now option. The Xperia Ray should now boot into CyanogenMod.
Whenever you want to re-enter the recovery-mode from now on (after installing ClockworkMod) you can always:

press the volume down key a few times when your phone boots up. The sony logo brightens at one point, press during that time

At first, I was stuck with an error at the end:  I Cannot install any Custom ROMs on Xperia Ray ST18i: assert failed: getprop Status 7
but that is covered here now

Unlock bootloader
With a locked bootloader, one cannot install custom roms.To gain power over bootloader one should unlock it.
Now this is the most simple and easy way to get ye bootloader by following small simple steps.
Download Files for Fastboot

Extract the file to a new folder naming say Unlock.(Do it neatly as you wont get confused while entering into CMD).

Go to unlockbootloader.sonyericsson.com (We will do the unlocking in the official way).

Read the instructions carefully and click Continue/Proceed whatever they ask,note down ye IMEI (The place where the website ask to paste it,enter in exactly first 14 digits,not 15digits) and after submitting ye Name, IMEI and mail click Submit and note down the code they produce(Copy that in a notepad).

Enter in fastboot mode(Press Volume up and connect USB cable simultaneously and blue light should come up,otherwise something has gone wrong).

Install the drivers for your device from the drivers folder

Go to fastboot directory and Ctrl+Shift+Right Click (or on Windows 7 open a CMD shell end go into the fastboot directory)

Type in
fastboot.exe -i 0x0fce getvar version  and hit enter

Type in
fastboot.exe -i 0x0fce oem unlock 0x<your_code>
(use  directly by your code that you have already copied in notepad) and hit Enter

You are done. When you start your Phone you will have fresh factory reset Android.
Note: Official method says about installing latest Android SDK package which is of  more than 60MB and this method will do everything within 20MB via downloading the file which I mentioned at the beginning
Rooting
In order to root do the following.
Prerequisites:
1.Flashtool
2.Kernel
3.Rooting Toolkit
4.Go to settings > Security > Mark ”Unknown sources”
5.Settings > Developer options > Mark USB debugging
6.Kernal
A. Trying to flash the Kernel(4.1.A.0.562) with the help of Flashtool, download and install the software. Copy the FTF file and go to the Flashtool folder you extracted. Paste it inside the ‘firmware’ folder.
B. Launch the software and click the ‘Flash’ button (the button with the lightning icon.). Select the ‘Flashmode’ option and click OK.

1.Once you are done with installing new kernel, restart your device. Rooting toolkit will let you root your device (make sure you are done with prerequisites 4 and 5).
2.Rooting your mobile via Rooting toolkit is very simple. Click on the .bat file and follow the on-screen instructions. Your mobile may restart more than twice, never mind it. Once you see “You are done” in the command mode, disconnect your device and make sure you see Superuser icon in menu.
3.Step 6 in prerequisites is purely optional and if you want to update your kernel after rooting you can repeat step 1 with 4.1.B.0.587 Kernel.
Summary
As there is no direct way to root your ICS built Smartphone (xperia ray) ,this is a different approach in which flashing a kernel which enables us to root mobile in a single shot. That is we flash 4.1.A.0.562 kernel, do necessary steps in rooting and then revert it to latest kernel by flashing 4.1.B.0.587.At the end of the day we will have an ICS built Ray with latest kernel inside with SU permission.
Unroot
If you want to unroot your mobile, then after flashing kernel with 4.1.A.0.562 download this and run the .bat file after extracting it to some location. This script will remove the SU files and make it unrooted so that you could bring back the guarantee thing.
Source:
1,2
NOTE: I'm not responsible for any of your act. Do this at your own RISK


text:
How do I pause a song thats playing while my phone is locked (Samsung ace 2)
I am looking for a way to pause a song without unlocking it. Take the iPhone for example; just by pressing the home button twice, it pauses the song. It's annoying having to unlock my phone every time that I need to pause a song.

Here are some apps to suite your needs:
Tactile Player – Control Android Music Player Using Hard Buttons
"Tactile Player is my favorite tool which gets the job done and I must say, this one is a must for any music addict who wants to change songs using Android’s hard buttons or play/pause the current playing song. When you are listening to music and don’t want to unlock Android’s lock screen, simply enter the following commands
Press the volume up button two times to play the next track.
Press the volume down button two times to play the previous track.
Press the power button three times to pause or play the currently playing soundtrack.
It works and the best part is that there are no settings and absolutely no configuration required on your music player app. The only catch is that the Tactile player app must run in the background or else the default music player app won’t be able to receive your commands via the volume and power buttons."
Simply Lock Screen – Replace Android’s Default Lock Screen And Add Multimedia controls
"Simply Lock Screen is a wonderful lock screen replacement app for Android which comes packed with basic multimedia features. You can show clock, date, time and media buttons on the lock screen itself, thereby allowing you to control the order of songs that is being played by Android’s default media player app.
Simply Lock Screen adds three buttons on it’s lock screen, so you can play a previous or next track or pause the current one by tapping the respective buttons on the lock screen itself. This one is a good choice if you are looking for a better lock screen replacement with added features."

If you use a headset when listening to your music, and that headset has a button (usually for accepting incoming calls), you might want to take a look at the many headset controller apps at Google Play. They allow you to play/pause with a short single press, skip forward/backward with double/triple click, adjust volume with holding the button, and much more.
As not every app/headset/device combination works 100% satisfying, don't give up on the first try if it doesn't work out "ideally" -- but try the next one. Took me 3 tries to find the perfect match for my device/headset :)


text:
How to fix Facebook (Build 14...), download manager process on Samsung Galaxy S2
I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 Model Number (SGH-I727R), running Android 4.1.2.
The problem that I am encountering is that there is this Facebook (Build 14....) thing that is running in my drop down menu. Unfortunately, that is all I can read on it because the rest of the brackets are cut off. It looks like it is trying to download something. When I hold my finger over it to get info, it says Download Manager version 4.1.2, followed by a long model number.
I am not sure how to end this process or get it to finish whatever it is trying to do. I've tried restarting my phone, uninstalling Facebook and then re-installing it. The problem still persists.  Please help me. It's just really annoying to constantly see that downloading icon running all of the time, and nothing is happening.

Go to downloads, click on it and send it to trash. Worked for me.

I hope this is your problem,rt?
just go in downloads,select other downloads and it will appear facebook build 141046 and then select that and click cancel.
OR
settings-->apps-->all-->download manager-->force stop,
disable and clear cache then enable again
Help/More


text:
Hindi font not display in htc_salsa_C510e_android2.0.3?
In My app display Hindi font.
so i use the DroidHindi.ttf font to display  the font.
and i run this app output in SonyXperia_MT27i like this!
[Sony_Xperia_MT27i_android_4.0.4 Image screen]
and same app run in htc_salsa_C510e_android2.0.3
Display this type output
Please any help me.
what is the problem i don't know.

If this is about how to code or configure your source to display characters, then the better place for these questions are at {SO}. Else, if you are asking this from an end user's perspective, then the ROM of HTC does not have font AND ability to render complex glyphs.

@Narayanan may be this is not answer.if display in other device and never in htc?it's the problem of htc?

Yes. Take a look at my related question. In 2.x.x, without manufacturer or ROM developer's intervention it is not possible render complex scripts like Indian languages.

@Narayanan yes are u right sir.but problem is where?my pm want result of problem.he see me the both device and ask for result.

Let us continue this in a chat

That is related to libskia which is responsible for font-rendering, unfortunately in your case, it requires 1) rooted handset, 2) custom ROM that can support this kind of font (CM has additional support for this kind of thing in respect to right-to-left fonts).  It is not as simple as taking libskia from another ROM and drop it into your ROM as it needs to be rebuilt from scratch.

See my answer and my comment about replacing a font file Droidsansfallback.ttf. I am sure you can search and find many file sharing sites sharing this file. You can also extract the font file from any of the Android device that you may have.
After replacing the font file and restarting the phone, chances are pretty high that you might not be able to see the word हिन्दी as you see here, rather you might see it split as ह ि न्द ी without spaces. Nothing much you can do if it shows up like this as I my question is all about that :(

i will try.then reply you dear


text:
Update Xperia Mini Pro (SK17i) to Jelly Bean
How can I update my Xperia Mini Pro (SK17i) to Jelly Bean (Android 4.2)? Please provide me the best step by step guide.

Would this be of any help?

Does Xperia Mini pro (SK17i) has an official update beyond 4.0?

@t0mm13b: Is this unrootable?

@Narayanan: My device is showing Android version 4.0.4. Probably this is the latest released by Sony for my mobile.

I had understood your question as "How do I root my Xperia Mini Pro (SK17i) running Jellybean?" and hence was surprised to know that JB update was not available officially by Sony. If so, then you should be on custom ROM which means you would be rooted - most likely. With your info that yours is running 4.0.4, I presume you are asking "How to update my Xperia Mini Pro (SK17i) to Jellybean?". Pl. confirm.

@Narayanan: Android 4.0.4 is not Jelly Bean. Its ICS. And I have never installed any custor ROM in my device. This update is provided to me by Sony.

Looking at the comments, I very much assume that what the OP wants to really do is upgrade his device to the latest version of Android (then 4.2).


text:
Compile JellyBean's Keyboard for ICS Rom
I tried creating an Image with a JellyBean's LatinIME.apk, replacing ICS's LatinIME.apk, in system apps folder of ICS ROM, but it crashed. But when I put it in preInstalledApk folder, it got compiled and ran successfully.
But it needs to be selected from "Language and Input" in Settings and also both the keyboards have same name.
What I want is to install JellyBean's LatinIME.apk during compile time of Image and also be the default input method. I don't mind if its not a system app. And I will change the ICS's LatinIME.apk-Keyboard name from the code, so that user can selected any of them without scratching their heads.

I literally had to scavenge the code up and down to get to the solution. A xml called defaults.xml contains the default input method node. That needed to be changed to the package name of the JellyBean's LatinIME. This is yet to be tested; will let you all know if it runs okay.

Edit:
This worked. Please go ahead and get cracking.

What was the outcome? Can you update this answer?

Yes, this worked.

please update the answer, then. It will be better for future users looking into the questions.


text:
How do I reduce Haptic feedback intensity in CM9?
I use a CM9 rom in my Samsung Galaxy i9001. The intensity of haptic feedback is annoying, especially while unlocking the phone. I can't find an option in the settings.
Is there any related setting in Developer options / by using Terminal emulator for CyanogenMod9?

In CM10.1, Settings > Advanced > Haptic.

OK, but any idea about CM9?
The CM 10 rom is not out of the alpha stage yet for my phone.

@jadelord Have you checked if it's there? It might be the same path.

It's not. The Advanced menu opens up as Galaxy S Plus settings. The only thing that's available are Backlight settings and Horizontal calibration.

@jadelord Have you tried updating to the latest CM9 nightly? It might be there, according to this XDA post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1579919

in that case I'll just wait for the next update. I use a custom ROM - arco68's Cm9. I was looking for a hack as a solution. Thx @geffchang


text:
Auto rotation, proximity sensor issues in Xperia Arc S after updating to ICS
My auto-rotation and sensors was working fine in my Xperia Arc S with Gingerbread, but when I updated it to Ice Cream Sandwich via Sony PC Companion, now the auto-rotation and some sensors are not working. I have also checked it by reflashing the other custom ROM, but same problem exists there. I guess its a Sony's built-in bugs, because I have also checked other Xperia Arc S with ICS, same issues exists there. Any help in this regards will be highly appreciated! Please help me how to fix it, or any other alternate to auto-rotation and how to turn off proximity sensor manually.

What "other" custom ROM did you use? Is the device rooted? You say "other sensors" but really only talk about the proximity sensor; what else is affected?

Al Everett Thanks for your reply, Other custom ROM that I used:ultimate HD (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1920207), other sensors means: compass sensor, light sensor, proximity sensor. Can you help me ? I shall be very thanksfull to you :)

Yes my device is rooted, but problem was there before rooted. Can you help me that which files to change to fixed this problem as I am also an android application developer but dont know much about this problem.

I'm afraid I'm going to be of little help. I'm not into flashing custom ROMs. However, there are other people here who are, and they may be able to help you. One other thing: comments are, by their nature, impermanent. It would be a good idea to edit your question to include the important information you clarified in your latest comments.

yes, thanks for your advice, actually i am new here. if I go back to the official ICS (unrooted), then can you help me on stock ROM?


text:
Should I reboot my phone regularly?
After noticing that my Galaxy S3 sometimes grew slow after a week or so of not rebooting, I set up a Llama task which reboots my phone automatically every night (under certain conditions).
My question is simply are there any downsides to rebooting a phone daily?

Why does it slow down? That's the question that should be asked, there's a few of those questions posted here about 1, 2, 3 to mention but a few.... use the search bar with keywords 'slow down' or 'performance issue'

I expect any OS to slow down over time to some extent. Certainly I have to reboot my Windows machine every week or so as well. If rebooting is not a problem, then I don't have a problem.

Android != Windows, thusly should not have to be rebooting Android constantly, this is a clear sign there's a problematic app that is causing the handset to run like treacle - I suspect there's a few wakelocks being acquired and not released which has a performance impact. FYI - as an example, as because Android uses Linux kernel, the uptime on my handset is around the 424 hours mark since last reboot and no slow downs. Should diagnose as per the linkys I have mentioned in previous comment.... :)

To answer your question, there is no downside if you reboot your phone on a regular basis.
off topic: Android OS should not require a reboot, or it should not slow down your phone that much that you feel to reboot it. There may be a problem with an app or something, but that is for another topic.

Check Task Manager to see if any unnecessary resource hungry application is running in the background. I use Clean Master to keep the machine out of junk. These make my device somewhat faster.


text:
Help On Changing Settings
I updated my voicemail and with out thinking I allowed  apps that are not from google play to access my phones features causing some things to disappear, on my phone How do i change my settings back to where only things from the play store and so on can be installed?

Hard to answer without details. No offense meant, but that's like asking "I broke something, how can I fix this?" We cannot tell which settings you changed, what disappeared, what apps you are referring to and what they might have done. From what you wrote, the only advice would be: factory-reset your device (which will also delete all your data and the apps you've installed), and do not install those apps again.

The primary technique to reject applications other than from Play Store to install is in the Settings for Security. Make sure the setting "Unknown Sources" is unchecked. This setting normally allows 3rd party installation to occur.

Thank you this is exactly what i was looking for. I appreciate it.

This may vary by OS version or modifications your manufacturer may have made, but the setting you're looking for is:
Settings | Security | Unknown sources

You'll want that to be unchecked to prevent apps from being installed from unofficial sources (read: the Google Play Store).
(If that's not what you're looking for, please edit your question to make it more clear what you're asking.)

Ha! Beat me in here by seconds!


text:
I lost my phone and changed my Google password. Is there any way to wipe the data on my phone now?
I lost my LG P500 a few hours ago and the first thing that came to my mind was to change my Google account password. Now I cannot install AndroidLost or another such application remotely and I really need to wipe the phone clear because there is sensitive data on it. I know I should have thought about this before changing my password. Since Google doesn't allow you to keep an old password again, I am in a huge fix. Does anyone have a solution for this?

One option is to contact your carrier. AT&T has claimed to be able to remotely wipe a lost/stolen device. It doesn't hurt to ask.

I'm from India. We don't have service provider locked phones here plus the phone has switched off by whoever has it. But I'll get in touch with my provider to see if they can do anything. Thanks

Sorry, I wish I could be of more help.


text:
Which version of Heimdall to use with S2 or S3?
I think this is a pretty straight forward question.
I have a Galaxy S2 (i727) and a Galaxy S3 (i747) and I'd like to use Heimdall with both of them, but can't seem to find which version of Heimdall supports them.
Working with the 1.3.1, for example, when I boot my S2 into download mode, zadig.exe does not list the Samsung driver everyone mentions.  Heimdall Frontend says it detects a device when I click Utilties->Detect, but I can't seem to interact with anything on the Flash tab.
I'm trying to flash recoveries.

I never did find out which version of Heimdall to use with either device, but settled on using ODIN3 v1.85 with my S2 (didn't work with an S3, after all).
If you have the AT&T Skyrocket version of the S2, a great place to start looking is: [HOWTO] THE ULTIMATE NEWB GUIDE > | INSTALL CWM/TWRP | ROOT | UNROOT |the SKYROCKET


text:
Generate a browser bookmark from file manager
We are developing a web site that will all be local to an android tablet. The idea is we create the web app, copy the web app to MicroSD cards and distribute the SD cards.
Right now, when you open the file manager and browse to the location and open index.html , the file manager does a terrible job and displaying any of the HTML.
In order to view the page in a browser, you have to type: file:///Removable/MicroSD/MyApp/index.html
That isn't very intuitive. Is it possible to create a file that gets executed from the file manager that will create a bookmark and place it on the home screen that points to the location I stated above? Thanks.

Why not a shortcut from the launcher on Android itself? That seems easier...

How do I do that?

Long press on the home screen, a dialog will appear Add to home screen, there should be one called Shortcuts, then Select Shortcut, then its Bookmark...(this will be dependent on the ROM, Launcher and Android version)

Hmm, doesn't seem to be working. All I get is a wallpaper chooser

As suggested by t0mm13b in his comment on your question, a shortcut on the desktop is the easiest way. This requires you to first open the page with your browser, and create a bookmark for it (you will see later why this step is required).
As you stated not to be able to add the shortcut in the usual way, here comes an alternative approach:
Some tablets come with a launcher that only offers wallpaper settings on long press (I have some of those as well). In this case, oben the app drawer (where you can find all your apps), and switch to the "widgets" tab (usually by swiping the page from right to left). You will see the word "Widgets" highlighted on top. Now look out for the "bookmarks" widget. You may be offered multiple of them, from "1x1" to "4x4" (the numbers here specify the size the widget will consume on your screen). You can play with them to find the one suiting you best. Long-PRess it, and the drawer behind it will "fade out" -- instead your homescreen(s) will display. Drop the widget where you want to have it.
Now it will ask you for which bookmark you want to use for the widget. Chose the bookmark you created in your browser at the beginning. Now the widget should be created on your homescreen.

Ok, I followed these steps and I can see the bookmark on my home screen with the correct title. When I tap it, it says App isn't installed in a Toast message (I think toast is what brings up those tiny messages)

Can you try the very same with another "normal" bookmark (i.e. one with a "normal" Internet address, like e.g. http://www.google.com/) -- does this pop-up the same error? Also, what browser you are using -- and would an alternative browser be an option? One last alternative (without too much mess) would be to simply create the bookmark (as you already did), and open it from within the browser itself. You could also try to send the URL in a mail message and see if this opens the browser then.

Another browser I don't think would be an option. I was able to create a "normal" bookmark. When I tap it, it says complete action using Browser or chrome.

OK, this means you already have two browsers installed. Strange that they are not offered on the other bookmark. Could you please verify the URL for "your" bookmark, if it really is file:///Removable/MicroSD/MyApp/index.html (including the opening file:///), and the path is correct? Can you open that bookmark from within the browser without any problems?

That is definitely the correct URL, even with the 3 slashes http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/4775/how-can-i-open-an-html-file-i-have-copied-from-pc-to-sd-card-of-phone and yes I can click the bookmark from within the browser

I assume if you had multiple bookmark widgets available, you've tried them all (I rarely use bookmarks on my mobile devices, so I don't know what other differences those widgets have) -- in this case, I'm out of ideas...

I have whatever bookmark widgets the device came with. I wanted to test it as bare bones as possible since the devices being used are government devices and are locked down pretty tight. I appreciate your help anyway, I'll see what other options I have

Why are you choosing to distribute via an SD Card? You can use something akin to PhoneGap, and pack it into an APK. It's still static files locally, and still being run by the local WebRenderer.
This is a bit of an alternative solution + comment -.-

You could do it that way or copy the webapp into assets folder of the source and build...

We are doing this because the contract we have is a government contract. Lot's of restrictions.

If you can install an app from the play store without infringing on your contract, then get Task Bomb.

Launch the app and tap Tasks
Tap the white plus in the top-right corner
Select VIEW for Action type
Tap Data, then tap your file manager in the popup
Browse to the root of your site and tap the index page
For Activity, select whichever app you want to use to open it

Now that you've created the task, you have to add a homescreen shortcut

Go to your homescreen and drop the Quick Launch shortcut to your homescreen
Select your task from the list, name it anything, and you're good to go!

Install open in browser - then you can browse to the file in a manager, select the file and it will open in the web browser.  You can then also bookmark in your web browser and even put that bookmark on a widget on the desktop.
And the above app is open source


text:
How to set active APN on ICS
Android 4: Under Mobile Network Settings I have Access Point Names menu, which lists 4 APNs, first one's got a radio button selected next to it.
I'm trying to select one of the other APNs - which takes me to edit mode for that APN, however there doesn't seem to be a way to select an active one (as in - put a radio button selected next to it).
Long tap and menu options don't provide that ability either.

Your provider might offer different APNs for different things -- but you can only select between those for "internet access". As you ddidn't give closer information, I cannot tell about yours -- but I have e.g. an APN for MMS which has no radio-button next to it (as it's only for the messaging service). So I assume there might be other "specific ones" as well.

exactly, there are several APNs - one for pay monthly customers, one for Pay As You Go (I'm on O2 UK) and some MMS ones, the one I need is PAYG APN, which happens to be second in the list - but my question is how to get it selected? the UI behaviour is counter intuitive.

You could check with your provider which APNs are obsolete for you, and simply remove those. Maybe one could tell more if you could include a screenshot with your question.


text:
How can I see the RRC state and signal level of an HTC Explorer?
Is there any alternative to the Android secret code *#*#197328640#*#* for the HTC Explorer? I am trying to get the same Service Mode on my HTC Explorer to show the RRC State and signal level of the device.

You seem to be assuming that we all know what that code does. Can you provide some details as to what it is you're trying to accomplish?

I am trying to get RRC State, Signal level of the device. There is another code *#0011#. This code is providing the above mentioned details on Samsung S2 but no results are shown on HTC EXPLORER.

Those are details you should add to the question. Comments, by their very nature, are impermanent.

You could try *#*#7378423#*#* (aka *#*#SERVICE#*#*).

@Izzy Like the codes that I have mentioned earlier this code is also not showing any result.

Is there any other way to determine RRC State of the device?

What is RRC? Is the settings > About Phone > Signal Strength not enough? on Gingerbread/ICS it reports -83 dBm 15asu... Why the specifically RRC? Maybe its not visible...

BTW - just read this wikipedia entry There may be no known way of accessing that information as that is at the baseband/firmware level, mind me asking - where did you see that originally from?

On most Android phones, the code *#*#4636#*#* provides network information such as signal level and preferred networks. However I am unsure of what you mean by displaying that information within the HTC Explorer.

I have tried this option on HTC Explorer and it's working fine but it's not giving RRC State of the device.


text:
How to prevent characters from repeating when entering text with a Bluetooth keyboard?
I have an Android phone running 4.0.4 (ICS) and a Microsoft Wedge Mobile Keyboard. I have paired the keyboard with my phone and it works all right most of the time.
However, every so often I will experience the following:

after pushing some keys, nothing happens
after a few seconds, the characters I have entered show up
one of the characters is repeated many times

For example, pushing:
t e s t
Will result in the following being displayed on screen:

teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeest

This only happens occasionally, but often enough to be a nuisance. I realize that there will always be unpredictable latency inherent with wireless communications (Bluetooth in this case) but I see no reason why characters are being repeated as if I held down the key (which I didn't).
Note that this is not a question about changing the repeat rate for keys being held down.

Edit: my device is a Samsung Galaxy Discover.

This same thing happens to a computer at school using a standard keyboard, how very strange.

Based on what I've read so far, this may be a bluetooth issue.
Some people have fixed the issue by:

using only 1 BT device. If you have connected both a BT keyboard and BT mouse, disable one of them.
disabling Wi-Fi. Having both Wi-Fi and BT seems to trigger a repeating key issue.
using External Keyboard Helper Pro. It has a do not repeat option. Link to app.

At the end of the thread, it mentions that BT was re-engineered in Android 4.2. So if you upgrade to 4.2, that should fix the issues you are having.

I am only using a single Bluetooth device (the keyboard). I could disable WiFi except that it would prevent me from doing anything online (like text entry in Google Docs). Neither my carrier nor Samsung appear to be offering an update to Android 4.2, so that's not really an option. I'll look into the External Keyboard Helper app you mentioned.

@NathanOsman Is External Keyboard Helper working for you so far?

I'm going to give their demo a try and see if it works.

@NathanOsman Is it OK now?

Finally had the chance to try the demo... and it worked! Thanks!

I am using a Samsung Galaxy Tab A and a Fintie Bluetooth keyboard.  It worked beautifully for more than a year but recently started repeating letters as described above.  After reading all the info I was able to find on the web, I was on the verge of just taking it apart to see if I could remedy the problem.  I had already checked my settings under tools but noticed after checking just one more time, there was a discrepancy under the Language section.  The Fintie was listed as English UK and, of course, when I set the keyboard up, I selected English US.  It had both listed with the UK option first and the US list second in grey.  I changed my selection to English UK and my repeating letters stopped. Must be that my Fintie is British!
I went to TOOLS, GENERAL MANAGEMENT, LANGUAGE & INPUT, PHYSICAL KEYBOARD.  That is where you can select your language.

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


text:
My OS and phone freeze and lag every time the blue "Show CPU Usage" bar appears. What is it?
Lately, I've been experiencing the very unpleasant phenomenon of my almost new S3 completely locking up and stopping responding to input. It's like a very serious lag that has to either be waited out, or the phone needs to be rebooted by force. Whenever this happens, my underlying apps still work, albeit laggily because CPU spikes through the roof but I cannot interact with my phone - it doesn't react to my touches. If I try forcing it, it only wastes more CPU power on, well, nothing. I am 100% certain that my touch screen is ok - it works as intended in all other cases. When it locks up (and it does so for 10 minutes at a time if not more - I hadn't had the patience to wait longer) I can pull out the battery and reboot that way. The curious thing is, however, that once put back in, the battery will have around 10% less charge in it, every time, unless I pull it out in the first 30 seconds of the lag. It's like its CPU spikes so high through the roof it uses up 10% of my battery in next to no time on operations I cannot identify.
I have activated Show CPU Usage as I suspected the CPU might be overtaxed, and have come to the definitive conclusion that every time these lockups happen, a huge blue bar appears in the Show CPU Usage graph. As soon as it goes away, everything is peachy again.
I have looked it up, but could find no answer more detailed than this: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10829546/how-to-read-the-stock-cpu-usage-data
My question is - what is the blue bar precisely, and how can I find out what's causing it. Mind you, whenever this happens and my CPU is past 100%, none of the apps listed under the bar actually have a usage higher than 2%. This is not app based, this is something in the OS or the underlying hardware that's malfunctioning - my initial guess was that the internal memory got corrupt somehow and is taking too long to read/write, but I'm just speculating.

Have you tried looking at the phone's logs while such a freeze-up is happening?  You will need to enable USB debugging in Menu --> Settings --> Developer options --> Android debugging, then download Android SDK, and USB drivers for your phone. Then you connect the phone to your computer via USB cable, open Command Prompt and issue adb logcat command. Looking at the logs may shed some light into what's causing the lag.

Another chance is to install SystemPanel App / Task Manager (yes, the paid version), which monitors in the background and logs everything. So even following a reboot, you can check what was going on.


text:
Deleting albums from Gallery
I have an album called "23 Jan 2012", seems like it was empty when google picasa moved their data to google plus photos, and the thing is - there is no "delete" in the menu if I select it on the phone.
And there is no such an album in the google+ photos.
Any ideas?

There might be a directory by that name, e.g. in the DCIM folder of your SDCard (or one of the other default picture locations). You can check that with a file explorer.

@Izzy: I did, there is no such :-( All answers I've found refer to deleting it right in Picasa Web, but it's not available anymore

As the media scanner should re-fill it on its next run: Maybe you simply delete all data from the corresponding apps (via Settings->Apps->Manage Apps)? That should kick it. com.android.providers.media is the one holding the data, which might turn app in apps as "MediaStorage" or similar.

@Izzy: it kicks it but returns on next sync. I've found an app that solved my issue - see the answer and thanks

Ah! I see: so it was not the local gallery, but Picasa. I couldn't see that as I don't use "the cloud" for all my personal stuff :) Glad the issue solved, and thanks for the answer!

I just solved this issue after a lot of searching.
The normal Picasa page takes you to Google+, and it does not show the empty folders etc.
You have to use Picasa mobile:
https://picasaweb.google.com/m
Log in, and you can delete whatever you want.

Note that after deleting these from picasaweb you still need to use the Refresh option from the menu to re-sync.

There is a tool in the play store that can manage Picasa contents: Perfect Tool for Picasa.
And I could delete the extra directories using it.


text:
Wi-fi disabled during lock still partly active? Or do I mis-interpret the battery graph?
On my Google Nexus 7 I noticed that it would consume around 1% of battery each hour that it was just being idle. I suspected that battery-usage during idle time could be improved. So the next night (7 hours) I put my Nexus into airplane mode, and the next morning the battery had only used 1% for those 7 hours, which proved that there was room for improvement.
Next I disabled bluetooth and set wi-fi, to be disabled when the screen is locked (changed "Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep" from "Always" to "Only when plugged in"). After a fews tests of 7 hours idle the battery was down 2 ~ 3% each time. But then I noticed in the battery graph, that the wi-fi still showed quite a lot of activity. This probably explains the difference in battery consumption with airplane-mode.
I had expected the wi-fi to be completely disabled with this setting, and the wi-fi bar in the battery graph to be almost completely black. To see the difference I manually disabled the wi-fi and then the bar is indeed completely black (the right block in the image):

I would expect the wi-fi to be completely off when the screen is locked, but looking at this question: Turning on Wi-Fi on demand that is apparently not how Android works. So now I'm wondering what the wi-fi is doing in this setting? Why does Android keep the wi-fi 'partly' enabled? If Android would still let apps do their syncing etc on a regular basis I would understand this, but this is not the case (Notifications don't come in & it even seems to cut off streaming etc), so it seems to only waste battery?
I first suspected a misbehaving app, but I checked with Wake lock detector and Network log but don't see any suspicious apps.
I guess I could use JuiceDefender or a similar app to completely disable the wi-fi when the screen is locked (and still let it sync from time to time), but that's not really the point of this question.


text:
Transfer / Export or a specific notification ringtone
My friend has a notification ringtone that I want on my phone but I can't find it on hers so I can send it to myself.  The ringtone came on her phone and is not on her SD card. Does anyone know how I can do this?  We both have the same LG android phone.  Or at least know where I can download it off the Internet.  It's simply called "POP" and goes something like "Ch'pow"   LOL.  Thanks

Those files are stored below /system/media/audio. Not sure if you can access this folder directly on a not-rooted phone. But maybe some media picker allows you to "share" the file via e.g. bluetooth?

Did that work out for you? If so, it might be useful if I convert my comment to a more detailed answer, so future "searchers" can easily see this issue has a solution.

@Izzy, it helped me. Add your comment as an answer and I'll upvote it. Please notify here in the comments or I'll forget!

@TylerCollier Done, including additional pointers :)

Pre-installed ringtones can be found below /system/media/audio (see also my answer here for additional details). If you want to know where to place your custom ringtones on your device, take a look at my other answer here.
Enjoy!


text:
GMail attachment download does not complete
I am using Jelly Bean on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0. I have been trying to download an attachment from the GMail app. All I see is a progress bar which shows 0% progress and an icon added in the notification area. The download does not proceed beyond 0%. I restarted the tablet and the icon is back! But the download stays at 0% and does not progress.
Has anyone else faced this problem? How do I remove the icon from the notification area?

See: Download stuck in Gmail. Not quite the identical problem, but the same solution might apply.

Glad to read! As suggested, I described the required steps with an answer below.

Though not the identical issue, the solution provided with the question Download stuck in Gmail solves it as well:
Clear the cache of the Download manager. To do so, go to Settings→Apps→Manage Apps, switch to the "All" Tab, scroll to the "Download Manager". Tap that entry, and hit the button labeled "Clear Cache". Optionally, also tap "Clear Data", if cache-cleaning alone does not solve the issue.

"Clear Data" is what did it.

Not a double meaning, so no pun intended: Thanks for clearification :)

I had the same problem with 5.1 Lollipop. What fixed it: Clear Cache + Clear Data on both Download Manager & Downloads apps, then reboot phone. I also had strange problems with installing / updating apps (particularly: Dropbox) via Google Play shortly before GMail started to show symptoms. Cleaning up as stated above fixed those, too.


text:
Samsung Galaxy S3 black screen and automatic reboots
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3, purchased on July 2012.
Sometimes, when I press the power button, the screen keeps black. The button LEDs turn on, but nothing else happens, and I have to remove the battery, or hold the power button for 20 seconds to force a reboot. It has happened to me 4 times; the first 2 were quite distant in time, but the last 2 were both this week.
Also this week, the phone has started to reboot itself. That has happened three times, two of them while I was using it, and the last one tonight, with the phone being idle (no wifi, no data connections, nothing). It just reboots automatically and then everything works fine.
I've never flashed the device, it's not even rooted. It's running Android 4.1.2, as I've installed all the official updates via OTA (base I9300XXELLA, kernel 3.0.31-836582, compilation number JZO54K.I9300XXEMA2). And no, I did not install recently any app which may be causing my problems.
So far, I've retired the microSD card (32GB card, manufactured by Samsung), because I've read that this may be the cause of the reboots. I'll try keeping it without the card for a few days. Although I've been using the same card for 5 months, and the reboots didn't start until this week. Edit: OK, we can rule out the SD card as the source of the problems - the phone also reboots itself without the microSD.
There are a lot of posts from people with similar problems, and most of the answers say they should try a factory reset. However, in most of the cases that doesn't seem to solve the problem. So, I didn't try it...  yet. Maybe I should, but I'm afraid that the problem will be still present, and it's a lot of trouble for nothing.
I've already contacted with Samsung customer service, but in the meantime, is there anything else I can do?
Can I at least diagnose somehow what's happening? I've read here about something called logcat, however they say the log is only kept on memory, it's not stored, so it would be of no help to determine what happened after a reboot or a black screen problem...
Any ideas?

Edit: the phone rebooted itself again, and this time the microSD card was not inserted. That means one suspect ruled out, but I still have to find the culprit.
Edit: it seems that the problems were solved after doing a factory reset. At least, the phone hasn't rebooted itself for the last 5 days...

If you feel it's worth the money, get yourself SystemPanel App / Task Manager (yes, there's also a free version -- but for this, you need the full one). The full version monitors your system in background and stores all collected information, so you can even watch it after a reboot. Try the free one first with "live monitoring" to see what information is available and if it suits your needs.

Thanks for the help, Izzy. But that app seems to collect only data related to CPU and memory usage, network activity, battery consumption... Could be useful if my phone had a bad performance, or the battery life was abnormal, but that's not the case, the phone works great (until it stops working and/or reboots itself). What I need is something like a system log where I can read what exception caused the reboot/crash.
Or, even better, somebody who had this same issue and managed to solve it... :)

Yeah, that's of course correct. My idea was it can at least show you which app(s) where "quite active" when it happened, so after a couple of times a pattern might become clear. So another idea would be to permanently capture logcat to your SDCard (say in files using a timestamp, each day a new one, so you can cleanup easier and also pick the interesting ones). Logcat Extreme would be a candidate for that, recording the logcat in background.

Just found: SaveLogCat even uses timestamped file names.

The problem with Logcat Extreme (and I guess SaveLogCat too?) is that they require to root the phone. Normally that wouldn't be a big deal, but I may end up sending the phone to be repaired, so maybe rooting it is not a great idea right now? I'm in the EU (Spain), I believe that it wouldn't void my warranty, buuuut...

Oh -- that problem with only seeing its own log entries (why do I always think that started with 4.2?)... In that case, it only leaves adb logcat if you want to go that way. Permanently hanging on a USB cable might be no option, which would turn this down as well (unless wireless ADB is possible without root)...

I gave up and did a factory reset. Since then, the phone has been working for 5 days in a row... so it seems like at least the reboots are gone (I hope not to jinx it...).
I've also noticed that since the reset, the battery lasts at least twice longer than before. I've fewer installed apps, which should lead to a slight battery life improvement, but this isn't slight, it's the double. Before the reset, at night (no data connections, no WiFi), the phone consumed about 1% of its battery per hour. Now it's consuming less than 1% in the whole night. Obviously there was something wrong before the factory reset. I hope everything is fine now...

In case it's helpful for anybody else, this what the Samsung Customer Service told me to do:

Start the phone in Secure Mode for a couple of days. That means that only preinstalled apps will work. So if that solves the problems, there is an app causing them. To enable Secure Mode, you have to reboot the phone, and press the options button (the left one) when the Samsung logo appears; it should vibrate, and then you will see "Secure Mode" at the left bottom corner. To disable Secure Mode, turn off the phone and extract the battery for a few seconds.
  --- For Verizon GSIII phones: after you reboot the phone, press and hold the volume down button  when the Samsung logo appears. Directions also state that you may need to hold the button for up to 45 seconds before you will see "Safe Mode" in lower left-hand corner. http://support.verizonwireless.com/support/devices/knowledge_base.html/59242/
Perform a factory reset (if the phone still has problems running in Secure Mode). To perform it, go to Menu > Settings > Backup & reset > Factory data reset. It will revert the phone to its original factory status, therefore, you will lose all the data and applications stored in your phone's memory (it will not affect the SIM card, nor the microSD if you have one). Be sure to backup everything you don't want to lose! You can use Samsung KIES for that backup.
If the phone still has problems after the factory reset, it should be checked by Samsung Technical Service.

I found that the battery in my phone was a little smaller than the battery holder in the S3. It seemed that my phone would reboot or just turn off with just the right shake. I put a small piece of duct tape in the holder at the opposite side of the battery contacts to make the holder have more of a press fit with the battery. Problem solved for me!


text:
Is there any way to determine the UMTS RRC state my device is in
I want to determine the RRC state of my device which is HTC Explorer.
By RRC, I mean states like FACH,DCH IDLE etc..
I have already tried the following secret codes:
*#*#197328640#*#*
*#*#7378423#*#*
*#*#4636#*#*

Unfortunately, these codes are working on few Samsung devices and I am able to determine the RRC state of the respective device but, none of them is working on my Device-HTC Explorer with android version 2.3.5.

Is this the same question as posted previously How can I see the RRC state and signal level of an HTC Explorer? Link - If you're the same OP, why are you double-posting?

I am a new user.Also,I am not following the above mentioned post.

Although,I have just now read the mentioned post..Unfortunately,still no solution to my issue.Kindly provide the relevant information


text:
How to allow auto-update of apps in Play Store only when plugged in?
I would like apps to be updated automatically when my phone is plugged in (charging) and on wifi.
I can easily allow auto-update only when wifi is on with the appropriate option in the Play Store settings, but not prevent auto-updates from occuring if the phone is running on battery.
This is causing an unecessary battery drain when I am using my phone on wifi at home. Given that auto-updating apps is more a daemon job than a time critical task, I cannot believe it is not a standard power saving strategy.
Do you know any apps or system workaround (including if the device is rooted) to achieve this?

Note:
Following solution:

is tested on Android 4.2.1, COS12 (Android 5.0.2) and CM12.1 (Android 5.1.1) - all of them running Play Store v6.0.51
requires a rooted Android
here is a short demo of the solution

While browsing the manifest of Play Store, I took an educated guess that only the following service is likely the initiator of auto-update of apps over Wi-Fi.
com.google.android.finsky.autoupdate.ReschedulerUsingAlarmManager$CheckWifiAndAutoUpdate

I played with that service under few conditions on different devices and found it useful for the goal in question. It goes without saying that the  auto-update setting of apps should be set to "Auto-update apps over Wi-Fi only" in Play Store.
Here is what you can do: Install an automation app which can execute series of actions when power source and Wi-Fi are connected and later on, disconnected. I used Tasker (trial version; userguide) as the automation app.

Profile: Setup two contexts. See How to create a profile with multiple context in Tasker? for any related help

State → Power → Source: choose it
State → Net → Wifi Connected → fill details per your needs or leave all or any of them untouched

We would be needing two tasks: an entry task and an exit task. See my answer here for related help.

Enter task: (Actions):

Code → Run Shell

Command:

pm enable com.android.vending/com.google.android.finsky.autoupdate.ReschedulerUsingAlarmManager\$CheckWifiAndAutoUpdate;
am force-stop com.android.vending;
am startservice com.android.vending/com.google.android.finsky.autoupdate.ReschedulerUsingAlarmManager\$CheckWifiAndAutoUpdate

tick Use Root

You may optionally add one or more actions to notify yourself that the update procedure has begun. I used Alert → Flash to notify myself  via a toast.

Exit task: (Actions):
This task requires Busybox's applets installed. See How do I install missing command line tools onto an Android device? for related help.

Net → Test Net

Type: Mobile Data Enabled
Store Result In: %Mdata

Code → Run Shell

Command:

svc data disable;
svc wifi disable;
am force-stop com.android.vending;
am force-stop com.android.providers.downloads;
down_path=$(content query --uri content://downloads/my_downloads --projection _data --where "notificationpackage='com.android.vending'");
[[ "$down_path" != "No result found." ]] && echo $down_path | sed 's/.*=//g' | xargs rm -f || echo continue;
content delete --uri content://downloads/my_downloads --where "notificationpackage='com.android.vending'"
pm disable com.android.vending/com.google.android.finsky.autoupdate.ReschedulerUsingAlarmManager\$CheckWifiAndAutoUpdate;
svc wifi enable;
[[ "%Mdata" == "yes" ]] && svc data enable || echo doing nothing;

tick Use Root

Again, to notify yourself, use any action of your choice.

What does those tasks do?
When the conditions for both the contexts are met, the enter task is run. The commands in that task does these things in sequential order:

enable the aforesaid Play Store's service
force-stop Play Store
start the said Play Store's service

And that's all for the auto-update to begin.
After remaining activated, whenever the profile deactivates (simply because a condition for a context doesn't meet anymore) the exit task would run. That exit task executes following steps in sequential order:

store the state (enabled/disabled) of mobile data in a variable Mdata
the job of those commands is to:

disable mobile data
disable Wi-Fi
force-stop Play Store
force-stop Download Manager

I noticed that if an update (download in progress) for an app is interrupted due to unavailability of Wi-Fi, the progress bar (notification) is dismissed, the status of the progress gets stored in a row in the table downloads of database downloads.db. (That database is located under the data directory of Download Manager.) That row also contains the location of the partially downloaded file.
In order to make sure that auto-update doesn't occur on the next successful connection to Wi-Fi and making sure that it never does so when the profile is not running the enter task, following is what rest of the commands do:

extract the location of the partially downloaded file from the value in the column _data corresponding to a row identified by com.android.vending as notificationpackage. We aim to delete that file. This is a small sacrifice to make.
if there is indeed a file path under _data, then use it to delete the file pointed by it.
delete that row, otherwise, it will be read by Download Manager when network connectivity changes (reconnected to a Wi-Fi) and auto-update would begin again.
disable the aforesaid Play Store service so that auto-update never begins on it own
enable Wi-Fi
enable mobile data, if it were enabled prior to running this task.

1At the time of creating the first revision of this answer the current Play Store version is definitely not 6.0.5 but above. However, none of my devices have received any further Play Store update so far.

The script wasn't working for me so just as a small troubleshooting step, I ran the "content query" command manually and noticed it does indeed result in the "No result found" string so the next line "content delete" does nothing since the IF condition is not true.

The closest I've come is combining two settings.  I do this on two devices, one running Android 4.4.4 (KitKat) and another running Android 5.0.2 (Lollipop).

System Settings → Wi-Fi → Advanced → Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep → Only when plugged in
Play Store → Settings → Auto-update apps → Auto-update apps over Wi-Fi only

It seems to pick up updates at least a little more often when it's plugged in.  It's not perfect, but it's not a bad half-solution, and it doesn't require Tasker or rooting.

This can be achieved using Tasker (Paid App). In Tasker, the Profile can defined having the following conditions. It have little learning curve, but this App can replace almost many apps.
Below is the sample profile,
When Battery > X% And Wifi is ON and Charging is enabled
Enable Auto Sync On
This is just the sample one, you can specify the condition based on your requirement. Since this is a seperate topic, i would encourage you to google tasker in xda forums.

Wouldn't this enable/disable all auto syncing for all data? Having to manually refresh every other service just so the Play Store doesn't auto update seems less than ideal.

There is a ticket open now on Google Code, so hopefully this feature will be added in a future release.
https://code.google.com/archive/p/android-developer-preview/issues/1511

The issue appears to be closed with no solution being there or in the final product.


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How does pressing the power button on Android compares to Windows 7s Sleep and Hibernation modes?
In Windows 7 it's pretty straightforward:

Sleep: turn of everything except RAM. Data is still stored in RAM.
Hibernation: writes RAM data onto the hard disk drive. Not useful for SSD drives, the process eats much to their usable life by writing gigabytes of data to the disk. Android devices use flash drives as well.

The question is which of the two is happening when you press the power button on an Android device? Can you make the other possibility to happen?

It's none of the two. Turning of the screen of an Android device will not hibernate it (thinking of a phone: What about incoming calls if the device would be hibernated?). Android handles things a little different.
In the best case, with the screen switched off Android enters a very energy-saving mode called "deep sleep". It will cycle down the CPU to a minimum, may switch off WiFi (and other things) completely, and other things. Apps may enable those ressources when needed by aquiring corresponding "Wake-Locks" (see: wakelock), which they (hopefully!) don't do too often, and (again hopefully) release when no longer needed.
Not having "hibernated" the system completely allows the system to quickly react on events like e.g. incoming calls, alarms, or the user switching on the display again. It simply needs to speed-up the CPU, and enable those ressources it "put to sleep", if needed.
Also keep in mind that Android devices (usually) don't have mechanical components like "spinning hard-disks", so if storage is not accessed, it does not "consume power" :)


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How to speed up Android during bootup time?
I'm looking at the bootup time of Android on my embedded device and I'm trying to get a sense for where I can save some time.
1) What are some things that you've done to really help speed up the bootup time?
So far I looked at the bootup animation time. If I remove the bootup animation all together then I was saving about 6 seconds, which seemed like a lot to me. Then I replaced the bootup animation with just one picture that will be shown for the duration of the bootup animation time and that lost any previous time savings. But the actual bootup animation process was only taking ~1 second to run. (I attached a picture generated with Bootchart. for now just on an emulator)
2) Is it worth looking at the Android bootup animation time? Any clue as to why the bootup animation process affects bootup time so weirdly?
Thank you for your time.

Two steps to speed the Linux kernel boot:

Configure the Linux kernel with a minimal set of device drivers, that is, only the drivers need to boot and load the root filesystem.  Every driver, filesystem, or subsystems that can be built as a module (that you want in the kernel but not used during boot) should be configured as a module rather than statically linked in.
To see how much time is used in loading drivers during boot, you should modify the kernel command line with the option "initcall_debug".  This  will cause timing information to be printed to the console for each initcall. initcalls are used to initialize statically linked kernel drivers and subsystems, and contribute a significant amount of time to the Linux boot process.  Reconfiguring any unneeded drivers to loadable modules will subtract that initcall time from the kernel boot time.

Modify the kernel command line with the option "quiet".  This will disable most of the output of log messages to the console.  Of course this should only be done after you have a stable kernel.

More techniques are here


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Rooting the Karbonn smart tab 7
First of all, I understand that similar questions have been asked trillions of times before. But, as I've come to learn, not this specific one. So, here I go...
I recently bought a Karbonn smart tab 7 and upgraded it to android 4.0.3. I've been using it a lot, and it has'nt given me any problems so far[Except the annoying settings reset, which is a question for another day]. I want to root my device and have tried various tutorials and NOTHING worked. Whenever I try to use an application to this, it tells me that the device cannot be found. I have connected it to the computer via the USB cable and Enabled usb debugging and even tried enabling mass storage mode[Only the SD card's file structure showed up in My computer]. I read somewhere that I would need to download some drivers for this to work, but am not able to find any drivers. I have also tried talking to customer care about the drivers, and they just farted on me.
P.s. I have posted this question on a few forums before here[I did'nt know Stackexchange hav a site for Android!!!] and they eiter closed the question and voted me down or no one replied. Please help me as soon as possible.

I have succeeded in rooting the Karbonn Smart Tab 7 and am apparently the first person on the net to do so. In your face, Karbonn Technical Department. I have been using it only for a few hours now, and it is working fine (EDIT: I've been using it for 4 months now and it still works fine :) - August '13).
Here are the steps for any other wanderer in the same plight as I was:

The first step is a warning to all users. Please be aware of the consequences of rooting before doing so. It should work perfectly, but just to be on the safe side, back up all your data.
Connect the tab to the computer and enable mass storage mode. Also keep in mind that the Karbonn Smart Tab 7 has internal memory and an internal storage card. The internal one cannot be used for the purpose of rooting. You need to put in an external microSD card. When you connect the device in mass storage mode, the internal SD card's name will probably be NOVO7.
Download this file and put it in the root of the external microSD.
Put the tab in recovery mode. For those of you who don't know how to do this, switch off the device and hold the volume down and power buttons till it says "android is upgrading...", and then release the power button but keep holding the volume down button.
Click on "Apply update from SD card" and select "crystal_root.zip". It should install.
Now reboot it and it's done!!!
You can check if the rooting process has been successful by downloading the Root Checker app from the Play Store. The app is (obviously) used to check if the root is accessible. You will also find that the SuperSU app has been installed automatically.

Enjoy!!!
P.s. Please vote me up (I would love that) and also thanks to @Izzy for giving me a heads up on how this stuff works.

Glad you made it, Hele -- congrats! Though I cannot verify (as I do not have the device), +1 from me for the detailed instructions! I took the freedom to improve formatting, added a few links, and updated my answer as well to point out the different devices. I also updated the "link on top" for you, as you currently lack the rep for that :)

Edit: As it turned out, the "A7" and "Smart tab 7" are two different devices. These are the instructions for the "A7" -- for the "Smart Tab 7", please refer to Hele's answer.
Instructions for the A7 can be found e.g. at this XDA-developers post:

Download the ROM from here
Copy the downloaded update.zip file to the root of the memory card and then insert the memory card into the phone.
Power off the phone (note the battery should be kept above 50%) press and hold up the volume+ + key sources (the latter obviously refers to the Power button)
Continue holding until the recovery screen appears red, then let go
Select apply update from sdcard (in the recovery screen, use the volume up key up to move up and down, press and hold the power key to select)
Select the file update.zip
Wait until your ROM file gets installed
When the machine has completed installing ROM file, it returns to the recovery menu. Select "Reboot system now".

The XDA-Post also contains two links to other documents, in case this one fails.

I've done the jailbreaking process tens of times, but none rooting. I have already been to the site u referred me to. My device is a Karbonn smart tab 7, not a7. In case this method does'nt work, it'll harm my device right?

The link is broken. Please fix.

Hele, the link to XDA is not broken. Please check there. If the other link is broken: Sorry, I cannot do all the research for you. If you can tell me a replacement, I will fix it in. I only transferred an extract of that XDA article here for your convenience -- I don't have this device myself. // As for the previous comment: Usually it either works or not. If things get messed up, a factory-reset usually fixes this. I cannot guarantee anything, though...

I found the way, but thanks for the help @Izzy ! :)


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Why has the photo gallery sorting changed after firmware update?
Now the photo sorting in each gallery begins with the first taken one. Before the firmware update, it had begun with the last taken one, so with the latest. Even the Gallery sorting is made by earlier creation. My phone is Galaxy Mini and I upgrade from 2.3.3 to 2.3.6. I could not find any settings to change the "direction"

Humble question: what is "shorting"? Do you mean "sorting", i.e. the order in which pictures are displayed?

Ah, OK -- thanks. The answer I have to leave to somebody else, as I rarely use the gallery and thus did not notice...


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Problem with Play Store on Samsung Galaxy Note II: Play Store does not open
I was a regular Galaxy SII user, recently moved to Galaxy Note-2 - so far so good, but since today, I am finding my Play Store application, is not working on Note-2 [it was, earlier], even from the PC, when I am trying to download an app via Google Play application, it says 'Installed', but actually nothing happens.
I click Play Store, the Home-screen comes back, Play Store is not activated.
Other than that, all are fine, Facebook, LinkedIn, SMS, Phone are healthy!!!
Can someone guide me please?
BTW the firmware as per KIES is "PDA:MB3 / PHONE:LL1 / CSC:MC1 (STS) and android is 4.1.2

Can you link a screenshot of what it looks like when you try to install something from your Note 2?

I had same problem. I tried this, and it worked: Settings > Application manager > All > Options > Reset the application preferences.


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How do I connect my Galaxy Y GT-S5360 via USB to my Mac?
I cannot connect my Galaxy Y phone to my MacBook for mass storage using a USB cable. I have installed Android File Transfer software but it does not detect my phone when I connect it. I believe I have to change the USB / Mass Storage settings on my phone but cannot find them in the Settings. I have disabled USB Debugging in Settings > Applications > Development but there is no USB setting in Wireless and Networks. Where do I find the USB Mass Storage settings in my Galaxy Y phone?
Tim, London

Tim, what Android version have you running? What options does your phone give you? With Android 4.x, many devices discarded UMS, and switched to MTP. Please see the tag-wiki for UMS for some more details (btw: you can find such basic info for many tags here, just hover your mouse over the tag, and select the "info" link in the popup).

Any time if you connect your android mobile device to a laptop/desktop, you just switch over to "Notifications" and select the option which is for Connecting your mobile phone to devices. Click on the 'Connect to Storage' option.


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Applications not installed but still taking up phone memory
I have Samsung Galaxy Ace, rooted.
Today, I tried to install an application. It didn't install, but my phone memory reduced by around 10mb. Again, I tried to install another app, and the memory reduced by 12mb.
The apps are not installed. Their icons are not showing in the phone, but they are taking away space. Please help.

If an installation fails, the downloaded .apk might still be left in /data/local (where the Playstore app downloads it to). In that case, a simple boot should clear it up.
As your device is rooted, you also could use a file manager to check that location, and manually delete the corresponding file.
One more hint: To avoid the "insufficient memory" / "insufficient storage" error (see: insufficient-memory, hover you mouse over the tag and select the "info" link for more details), which also might be responsible for failed installations, you will need at least 25MB free space on "internal storage" / "phone storage" (that is, this amount should be available when the installation has finished).

Try to clear your cache using an application like History Eraser and to reboot all running applications using an application like Fast Reboot. This usually solves the problem. Hope this helps!

Remove the partially installed application by using a File Explorer software
go to  0/Android/obb/ look for the file partially installed
This was found out by self diagnosis.

OP states that "phone memory" was reduced. Your answer refers to *shared storage", i.e. sd card.


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Cannot add Google account for Playstore, SSL not working
I had Google Playstore installed on my Android 2.2 mobile. But unfortunately when I went to service centre the mobile was resetted to factory settings and all my data was lost.
Thereafter when I restarted my Internet, the default browser is unable to connect to any secured website. Even my news and weather is not getting connected. But the browser connects to other un-secured sites.
When I tried to reinstall Google play I was asked to add a Google account -- but it gave me an error that it cannot establish a secured connection.
No Google website except google.co.in is connected. However when I use the Opera mini browser I can visit any secured sites including GMail and Playstore.
But when I tried to download any apk from Google store it does not show any error in my PC but software is never downloaded. When I tried to use deviceID apk it is showing me nothing.
I think because I am unable to add any Google account the data file contains nothing.
Can anybody tell me how I can start secured connections in my default browser so that Google can connect to its secured server and I will be able to download from Play store?

To push an installation from the Googleplay website, your device must first be configured with the same account -- which explains why you never received any app this way. How did you "reinstall Google Play"? Was it no longer installed on your device?

My google account was  registered with Google and I was downloading software from play store before my mobile was taken to the service center and resetted for factory defaults. All the data was lost.  When I visit Google play storeeven now it shows me all old settings and even software I had downloaded prev. But now I can not add my account and get the rror reliable connection could not be established.

As your device has been reset either, have you tried another factory-reset? If that doesn't solve the issue, you might need to return it to the service center again (talk to them first and explain your issue).

Reset to current date, and I can definitely say a secure website will open.


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Do you need to run uninstallers/cleaners on Android to maintain performance levels like on Windows?
You'll have to forgive me as I'm not as familiar with the internal workings of Android/Linux as I am with Windows.
I'm curious about performance degrading on an Android device in the absence of, for lack of a better term, maintenance. When I try out a bunch of apps and then uninstall them, do I need to run any sort of cleanup? I know Android doesn't have a registry like Windows but does it have some part of the operating system that gets cluttered up and needs to be tended to/purged over time?

Usually not: as you already said, there's no "registry" or the like. Only when you experience problems, there might be some cleanup needed. You might want to check My device is getting slow, apps start misbehaving/crashing. What can I do? for related information.

As for uninstalling apps, I don't think so.  Standard apps (ones that don't use root access) have at most three parts:
A single executable file

A .apk archive containing the entire app -- similar to Windows apps that are entirely contained in a .exe file (like most installers: It not only carries all the code it needs but also all pictures, config files it needs, etc.)

It is stored in /data/app usually

A single folder containing all userdata

This is for things like settings storage, or caches

Although this is comparable to yoir appdata folder it doesn't get cluttered because apps are only allowed a single folder here that is managed completely by the system and is easily deleted when uninstalled

Stored in /data/data

Possibly another folder in /sdcard/Android/data

Basically the same as the /data/data folder but if the app needs a lot of space for extra files it puts them here

When an app is uninstalled, all these parts are destroyed by the system, so I can't think of anything that would get cluttered but the fragmentation of the sdcard.  DO NOT download any defrag apps (I haven't found a single one that wasn't some sort of scam).  Instead, get a card reader and defrag it on your PC if need be.
Edit: As suggested by Izzy below, SD Maid is a nice manager/cleaner

Hoho... A non-scam app would be SD Maid. But you are right: In general, things work like you described. "Left-overs" are rather exceptions. But still, they sometimes happen...

There's no point defragging an SD card - you'll just shorten its life.  Android isn't Windows - don't treat it as such.

@PoldieMar defragmentation doesn't slow anything down?

@Poldie Also, isn't defragging strictly an NTFS thing? Or does it also apply to FAT32?

@Poldie *fragmentation

Files can get fragmented on any file system which allows large files to be spread across several physical locations on the disk. The point is, this can slow down hard drives because the heads have to physically move to each location to read the data, whereas solid state storage can just access any area of memory with next to no latency.


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Are there "end of life" plans for Android?
I am wondering if there is a schedule for Android versions or devices to reach end of life some day? The term end of life refers to a state when developers decide to stop supporting a certain software version with updates. I was reading a related article on androidcentral.
So, currently Android 4.x is pretty common and rumors say 5.0 might come out in may, are there any end of life plans for any 2.x versions? I got a HTC Wildfire S with Android 2.3 and a Toshiba AC100 with Android 2.1. (Is the support bound to major version numbers or rather to devices?)

Update: I never asked at any point for speculations. I'm a software engineer and used to end-of-life or end-of-support plans. I'm am new to Android and I noticed my devices are equipped with pretty old versions, according to the link in the first comment: 3 years old, which is a pretty long term in a software life cycle (for example normal Ubuntu releases got only 18 months lifetime).
Is the support bound to major version numbers or rather to devices? Are there any end-of-life plans for Android or does that just happen if some version or devices does not get enough attention on the mobile markets? My research on this topic was not very effective. That's why I'm asking the community.
I've got no intention to seed rumors or speculations. A "no" would be a valid (but poor) answer.

Sure there will be an "end-of-life" for each version at some point. The German Wikipedia shows a list of Android versions, color-highlighting which ones are already unsupported. To my knowledge, the end-of-life date is not announced when the corresponding version is released -- and this site is not about speculations :)

Is that a "no"? I've updated my question and I know that software some day will reach end of life of course, but that was not my question. I was rather looking for resources on plans, schedules, etc.

I didn't put it as an answer as I have no definite reference. I don't know of any source pointing to facts here. The only one I've found so far is above mentioned wiki page, stating which versions are no longer supported at this moment. Btw: I didn't want to imply you were going for speculations -- I just wanted to state I don't want to speculate. Apologies if you felt offended, that was not my intention!

For android devices the answer is: 18 months is the maximum supported lifetime.
I found this in the Google Android FAQ. It is said that the 2 year old Galaxy Nexus does not recieve an Update to Android 4.4 "KitKat":

Galaxy Nexus, which first launched two years ago, falls outside of the 18-month update window when Google and others traditionally update devices.

That's qualified with "traditionally". Cyanogenmod supports devices older than 18 months, and they'd fall into the "others" category. The ZTE Blade, for example, now runs Android 4.x thanks to them.  I wouldn't bother wasting time looking for hard and fast rules, because there aren't any. It's an open platform supported by many different manufacturers and developers.

Since at least 2017 (and now in 2020), major manufacturers have published support plans.
Google supports each phone for at least 3 years (Pixel & Pixel XL were supported for 3 years exactly): https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/4457705?hl=en
Samsung seems to follow suit, at the moment supporting devices for around 3 years, and some for longer (as of now, 3 years 10 months for S7) https://security.samsungmobile.com/workScope.smsb

This is marginally unanswerable. There certainly is no specific decision available regarding devices -> Google has an internal maximum, but updates are mostly done by manufacturers, for instance Samsung or HTC. Low-end devices will receive much less (if any at all) updates from their manufacturer.
High end devices will be able to run run new versions much longer, and if you take into account that you can put custom roms on the devices it's a complete open field.
So while the linked quote by @qdoe gives some rule of thumb for Google's idea about support, I'd not look too hard at it. It's a combination of manufacturer and devices specifications and what the user does: just like other hardware.
Now for devices vs versions this is also tricky: while we have devices that might-or-might-not be end-of-life in terms of support/updates that get there automatically, there is something as major versions. At a certain point one version (say 2.x) isn't being updated to x+1, but there's no specific reason that you can't update to 4, apart from limitations on device etc. So while a major version might be 'end-of-life', this has no specific meaning.
In the end it all hangs on why you want this information. You say you are a software-engineer, so I suppose you are releasing android apps? Your best course of action then is to always develop with the latest (4.3 currently) SDK version as target, with the MINIMUM set quite a bit lower (as low as you can without losing functionality). Most of the functionality is available backward-compatible through the support-SDK's, so you could as a for instance use fragments if you want in a min. 2.x supported app. I would step away from the "this is for version x, I need to know the lifetime" frame of mind.


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Why does device memory used go up after clearing cache on an app?
I would have thought memory used should go down not up. Is there some sort of recycle bin I need to be clearing out somewhere?

Could you please add a few more details? An example (best with screenshots) would make it much easier to follow. If you cannot include the screenshots, simply mention the URLs to them, and one of us can take care for it.


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Is there a way to listen to the last call made on a Nexus?
Is there a way to listen to the last, or one of the last phone calls made on an Android Nexus without the help of an App?
Situation: My dead man made his final call to his contact who lived next door, but that guy doesn't remember much of the conversation.

Calls are not recorded on the phone, and usually also not otherwise (except if one explicitly triggered a recording device/app or the phone is "tapped").

I'm afraid there isn't as calls aren't recorded by default or even stored temporarily.
Sorry this didn't add any more information than Izzy offered in the comment just thought it should be put as the answer. If you're in a similar situation in the future or need to record a call there are plenty of apps available that will let you do that.


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Remove ATT Apps
I just got a S3 from ATT and I see there's plenty of ATT apps I don't like. My friend recommended me other apps that are better that replace the ATT apps.
How can I remove these apps?
the unsinstall button is not available OR i see unsinstall updates.
thanks

I just added the 'bloatware' tag to your question (that's the term used for those pre-installed stuff not really needed), and updated the tag-wiki for it. What you most likely want to look for is tagged freeze-app; so meanwhile you might want to check the questions tagged such, or even better start with that tag-wiki to get started.

Please add some more info to your question: What Android version is your device running? Is it rooted?

what do you mean "is it rooted"?

See our rooting tag wiki. Root is the "Superuser" aka "Administrator" account -- the one who has full control. This is disabled/not available by default on almost all devices. If you don't know, that answers this part (your device is obviously not rooted). Now you just need to tell the Android version running (go to Settings->About phone to find out).


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How to write SMS by dragging fingers
I was shown that with the messaging app (texting), I can drag my finger along the letters so it writes! How do I do that? I've been looking at my phone forever & I really wanna know.

You would need to use an app like SwiftKey Keyboard or SlideIt.
Edit #1: Take a look @Izzy's comment. It is also possible.

It could also be that the Swipe keyboard comes pre-installed, and simply needs to be enabled in Settings->Language & Input-> Keyboards & Input Methods.

There are more keyboards able to do this.
Swype comes preinstalled on Samsung smartphones, but can also be installed from Google Play.
You could also try SwiftKey Flow or Keymonk.


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Where is the predictive text dictionary gone?
Due to recent updates to 4.1.2 the personal dictionary vanished.
That is, Settings -> Language & Input -> Samsung keyboard @-> Predictive text has still the option Personalized data, but there is no way to inspect the dictionary. Instead I can now Learn from Facebook | Gmail | Twitter.
Where is the personal dictionary gone?


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Continuous input, how to undo the last movements
Samsung's continuous input method works nicely in many situations.
However, when writing rather long words as they occur in German, the input method sometimes gives up and the entire word swished so far is gone.
What is the best method to handle this situation? Is there a way to retain at least part of the word?


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Connect Galaxy S3 to Wi-Fi ad hoc network
Are there any tricks/tips to connect my Samsung Galaxy S3 to Wi-Fi ad hoc network shared by my laptop?

Enabling AdHoc Networking on ICS to Connect to AdHoc Devices, How to make an unrooted phone use or detect Ad-Hoc Wi-Fi, How can I establish an AD-HOC Wi-Fi connection on my tablet?, Enable Adhoc on Jelly Bean

Are you rooted? What version of Android are you on? Have you tried any of the solutions in the above question (or anything in the ad-hoc-networks tag)?


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could not set ad-hoc mode on wlan0. operation not supported on transport endpoint
Triing to use Barnacle Wifi Tether on Samsung Galaxy Note2 GT-N7100. And when I press start wifi tether, got error: could 'not set ad-hoc mode on wlan0. operation not supported on transport endpoint' And then: Could not connect to NAT, will retry later. Using other wifi tethers apps also got troubles. My phone is rooted and got custom firmware android 4.2.2

Barnacle Wifi Tether printscreen: could 'not set ad-hoc mode on wlan0. operation not supported on transport endpoint' (click image to enlarge)

install  this wifi tether and configure it according to video. It's working


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Upgrading a Samsung S GT-I9000 (to anything >2.1)
I'm new to Android, but my sister recently got a second-hand Galaxy S GT-I9000. It runs on 2.1, which means that it does not have Google Play. Apparently 2.2 does, and the device seems to be able to support that firmware.
When I try Google, it comes up with lots of people suggesting rooted firwmare upgrades to Jellybean rather than anything official. I'd rather not get into that just yet if there's an official route.
I've tried Samsung Kies, but it says the device is not supported for firmware upgrades. I've also tried checking Settings > About > Software update, but 'Software update' is not there.
What is the proper way to upgrade from Android 2.1 to anything higher on a Galaxy S GT-I9000? How is it supposed to work?
EDIT: I found that it should be able to officially support Gingerbread at least. Even Wikipedia mentions that as the OS.

Just a hint: If it's just about "Google Play", the corresponding app was named "Android Market" with 2.1, and still works.

I am using same set. I have upgraded to 2.3.6 using kies .. You sure that your kies are up to date? which country you are from. Some country may not have latest upgrade.

I've ended up using Odin to overwrite with 2.3.6 (and bricked my phone in the process, which I fixed later) which basically solved my problem.. I'm from the Netherlands - I didn't know that affected the update process. The device is not locked to a carrier.


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Is there any way to block permissions on apps?
I read about being able to revoke permissions on CyanogenMod, but it seems the devs took that ability out.
I found some app out on the market for 6$ or so, but it doesn't look like it would be worth its price. It is called Permissions Denied. Any other way to block some permissions for some apps?
Thanks.

possible duplicate of Revoke App Permissions Without Root?

@AlEverett Not exactly. This questions asks about blocking them, whilest the other wants to remove them. To be more precise: The other is about tampering with the .apk to manipulate the Manifest -- while this one simply wants to block the access without manipulating the .apk. So they are related, yes -- but not identical.

Another potential duplicate: Is it possible to install an app and exclude some of its requested permissions?

@Izzy: Is that a meaningful difference, though? The end-game is still the same: install an app but only give it some of the permissions it wants.

@eldarerathis Yes and no. If you modified the .apk, you won't get updates -- and also might violate the developers' rights/licenses. You might think of it as two different approaches to the same goal (I can follow that), but to me it's still two different things. Part of it would be firewalls: would you put such a request to the same process (removing the permission from the .apk being similar to using a software firewall to block internet access)? We might better discuss this at another place (Meta or chat) to not clutter things here, though :)

There are at least two different solutions available for it: LBE Privacy Guard (careful when you're already running JellyBean: do not use the Playstore version then, but rather check with XDA-Developers, as the playstore version causes boot-loops with JellyBean and the dev did not even place a note for it), and PDroid Privacy Protection / PDroid Manager. The latter is more difficult to install, but often preferred: being implemented at OS level, it offers more security.

You can try using Xposed installer and xposed App settings from XDA Xposed installer and tutorial http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1574401 , Xposed App Settings download. "http://mohammadag.xceleo.org/public/Android/Xposed/"
once enabled, the Xposed App settings let's you edit things about an app like the UI size (tablet or phone), keeping an app in memory and also editing the permissions an app is given.
and best of all its free

The permissions manager feature was removed from CyanogenMod 9.0 - and hasn't been re-added.
There used to be a free version of permissions denied, however it was removed. I tried the free version and it worked well - I am unable to comment on the paid version however.
If you are using CyanogenMod 7, then you can use the permissions manager - enabled it in CyanogenMod settings, and disable permissions by clicking them when viewing an app in the Android app manager.

There is also an app called "Android Permission Blocker" that is only 99 cents!  You need a rooted phone to use it which is standard with permission blocking apps (i.e. Permission Denied app the original question mentioned).  FOr 99 cents, you can't go wrong.  I don't have a rooted phone, but my friend uses "Android Permission Blocker" and said it works well for him for what it's worth.