text:
Are mics on Android phones with Android 4.3 always registering sounds? Religious question for Shabbat
Hi I am Jewish and on Shabbat we are forbidden from creating even the tiniest electrical spark. I recently noticed that on my laptop the mic was always listening and I could see the little green bar register sounds when I spoke, so I turned it off during Shabbat.
I use my phone as a white noise machine with an app for that, so I am wondering if I have an HTC rezound and also a Samsung Note II, will the mic on those phones have the same thing where the mic will always be listening and registering sounds, or when I am not using a call or voice recognition feature will it be truly "Off"?

I'm not sure I understand the motivation behind this question. What's special about the mic in particular? Why would that be forbidden and not the rest of the phone?

I'm more curious how a white noise machine would be exempt from the "no electricity on Shabbat" rule.

Running ANY part of the phone creates electricity, even with the screen locked the phone is doing things, wakelocking and synching and killing tasks in RAM and so on and so on. The mic is no different, so you'd have to turn off the entire device. Unless you have a Nexus 5 or a Moto X with always listening then the mic is always off. HOWEVER, the phone, as I said, is always using electrical power and your white noise will activate the speaker... so that doesn't make ANY sense whatsoever to me. Same with the laptop, it's ALL on, and the screen uses the most power in general.

Jewish laws on electrical use on the Sabbath are non-intuitive if you do not have the right background. It's not as simple as saying "omg no electricity!!1!11one". The prohibition is more along the lines of saying that a person may not purposefully take an action to close or open an electrical circuit, but is permitted to let an electronic device continue to hum along on its own if it is already on. Presumably, the OP does not want the voice recognition on his phone to do anything for him on the Sabbath.

The Sabbath is holy and set aside for G-d.  While the question is about the technology, I believe it is best to focus on our setting aside the things of this world and spend that day with Him.

It depends on the phone, the operating system, and apps installed on it.
Older Android phones do not activate the microphone unless it is required by an app (e.g. phone, voice dictation, etc.)
Newer phones such as Google's Nexus 5 or Motorola's Moto X for example, have a dedicated low-power audio processing module that can be configured to be always on, and listen for particular trigger phrases (e.g. "Ok, Google"), even when the phone's screen is off.  There are some 3rd-party apps that mimic this functionality on phones without the dedicated sound processors, but at the expense of higher battery drain.
Generally such features can be disabled within the system or app settings.
The religious implications of using a phone are up to you and your particular sect to determine.  Such discussions are out of scope of this site.

"Can I turn off the microphone?" or "My religious leader said I have to turn off the microphone, how do I do that?" are surely on-topic here. "Does this microphone setup violate my religion?" Is clearly off-topic.

I understand what you are saying, but disagree that this is off-topic.  The OP question was about the technology.

As to your question:  It depends on which apps (or malware) is running in the phone.  For instance, when I am in the Google app, it is constantly listening for me to say, "OK, Google" which then takes your utterances and sends the audio to the Google servers where it is decoded and the transcription is sent back to your phone.   Whether doing a search or telling it to  make a call, the mic is constantly listening and communicating to the mother ship.
For true Shabbat, I would recommend that you not turn on any electronic device nor do any human-centered work.  Rituals like worrying about electrons takes your mind off G-d.
You may have heard about telephones designed to be used on Shabbat use a photocel/LED beam detector so when you press the buttons you are interrupting the flow rather than creating it.  Those were the old hard-wired phones some years back.  Of course, that would trigger the phone company to run relay switches to complete the calls.
They did the same with elevator buttons.  But of course, on the elevators, in the end it would activate heavy-duty electric motors to move the car.
If you really want to celebrate Shabbat I would humbly suggest that you use that time to get into the scripture and keep your focus on G-d the entire day.  He does not want us to practice certain rituals like avoiding electricity.  Instead, He wants us to turn our minds to Him and spend time with Him.  Prayer  and study is the most pure of offerings.
If you have to ask "Is this a sin?" I suggest instead that you ask "Will this help me get to know Him better, and for Him to get to know me better?"
He wants you to know Him, and He reveals himself in the scrolls.  In Genesis, it says that Adam walked with YHWH.  I believe that is what the LORD desires from all of us.
Shalom.

Your phone's mic will be turned off all the time. It will be activated only when apps which use the mic for working. For example talking tom, voice recorder, making calls, etc.

Where is your proof?  From what I've been reading, you don't even know if it is on when your phone is turned off.  And on iPhones you can't even remove the battery.


text:
Trouble understanding this Cyanogenmod PSA
I've been using Cyanogenmod for over a year now, with my own modifications to the dalvik VM. I have teamwin recovery installed on my Samsung Galaxy S3, which I use to install new builds of cyanogenmod. One problem I've always had and have been unable to find an explanation for is that installing the new build of cyanogenmod would fail with some assert until I remove the assert lines from META-INF/com/google/android/updater-script in cyanogenmod zip file. I'm trying to figure out how to install cyanogenmod properly so I don't get the assert error (cyanogenmod already works for me (though it crashes sometimes, but I think that's normal), I just want to make sure I'm doing it right).
I'm reading this PSA on Cyanogenmod's website, which I was linked to from here, which I found by searching the word "I747MVLDLK4", which I found in my phone's "baseband version" in the settings menu (I was thinking I need a different version of cyanogenmod other than d2att - one which has "I747MVLDLK4" listed in its assert lines), and I don't understand a single thing it's saying.

As we march towards the 10.1 release of CyanogenMod, we have folks updating from older ICS stock builds.

What is ICS?

However, there is an incompatibility between the ICS bootloader firmware and Android 4.1 and above releases
[...]
Find a heimdall/odin or recovery-installable package of your device’s firmware, and install it.

What is a heimdall/odin or recovery-installable package of my device's firmware? Is that the bootloader firmware? Or, is it the entire "firmware" as in the way people call cyanogenmod a "firmware"? Or, are they telling me to install the default software that came with my phone when I bought it (where can I even get that?)?

To make sure your device is primed and ready for this state, the following lists the bootloaders compatible for each device:
d2att: I747UCDLK3 & I747MVLDLK4

Is this a different thing? Or is it the "firmware" they referred to above in my previous question?

ICS is Ice Cream Sandwich, aka CyanogenMod 10. Heimdall/Odin are flashing tools geared towards Samsung devices.

So what are they telling me to change? The bootloader? This person says "On many devices there is really no good way to even overwrite the bootloader"

An official bootloader update will not be bound by the restrictions of protected memory (e.g. whether the bootloader code is "locked" or "unlocked") because it is signed by the manufacturer. If there is an official update for your bootloader, then there should be no reason it cannot be installed in some fashion. It may not necessarily be something that the CyanogenMod install package can (or should) do, however. Most manufacturers have specific methods for performing bootloader updates instead.

Some Disambiguation:
ICS is abbreviation of "Ice Cream Sandwich," or Android 4.0.x release.
Bootloader is code that runs before the operating system even starts. See more details here:

In literal terms, bootloader is code that is executed before any
  Operating System starts to run. The concept of bootloaders is
  universal to virtually all Operating systems that inculcates operating
  systems on your PC, laptop, smartphones, and other such devices.
  Bootloaders basically package the instructions to boot operating
  system kernel and most of them also have their own debugging or
  modification environment. As the bootloader kicks off before any piece
  of software on your device, it makes it extremely processor specific
  and every motherboard has it’s own bootloader. This is one reason that
  all Android phones have different Custom ROMS developed due to high
  variance of processing hardware present on the device.   ...   Every
  Android phone has a bootloader that instructs the operating system
  kernel to boot normally. But you need to understand one thing here
  that as Android OS is an open source OS and is available on a variety
  of different hardware, every manufacturer has their own version of
  bootloader specific for the hardware present in it’s environment.

Heimdall and Odin are tools for flashing images to Samsung phones.
The Problem:
The issue is that Samsung made some modifications to the bootloader code for their release of Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) on Galaxy S3 models. This means that custom ROMs that were created on older 4.0 base will no longer be compatible with new bootloader.  The new bootloaders, however, are backwards-compatible with older pre-4.1 based ROMs, so upgrading the bootloader will not prevent you from flashing CM9, for example.
The assert errors you are seeing are from trying to flash such incompatible ROMs.  These validations were put in for your protection, and you should not remove them from the updater scripts.
The Solution:
You should upgrade your phone's bootloader to the proper version, as specified in that blog post.
The instructions for updating the bootloader are here:

Download the correct update:
I747U (AT&T)
    * I747UCALG1 - Jul 1, 2012 - boot_CWM_I747UCALG1.zip - 1.13 MB
    * I747UCDLK3 - Nov 3, 2012 - boot_CWM_I747UCDLK3.zip - 1.13 MB
    * I747UCDMG2 - Jul 2, 2013 - boot_CWM_I747UCDMG2.zip - 1.13 MB
    * I747UCUEMJB - Oct 11, 2013 - boot_CWM_I747UCUEMJB.zip - 1.14 MB WARNING: Do not attempt to downgrade from this bootloader. Doing so will brick your device. Use extra caution when flashing anything via Odin, as many Odin packages will attempt to flash the bootloader.
I747M (Canada and overseas)
  * I747MVLUEMK5 - Nov 5, 2013 - boot_CWM_I747MVLUEMK5.zip - 1.14 MB WARNING: Do not attempt to
  downgrade from this bootloader. Doing so will brick your device. Use
  extra caution when flashing anything via Odin, as many Odin packages
  will attempt to flash the bootloader.
Depending on which type of update package you downloaded, follow one
  of the following steps:

Flashing with Odin

Download Odin: link
Put your phone into download mode. Some ROMs have this option in the Power > Reboot menu,
  otherwise just hold "Volume Down" and "Home" while powering on your
  device.
Launch Odin, then connect the USB cable to your device.
Click the "PDA" button and select the package you downloaded in step
Click "Start" in Odin and wait for the process to complete. Your device should reboot automatically when the flash is complete, and you're done.

Flashing in recovery

If you've downloaded a flashable .ZIP from above, copy it to your SD card or internal storage.
Reboot your phone into recovery mode (you can do this by holding "Volume Up" and "Home"
  while powering on your device; let go of the buttons when you see
  "Recovery booting..." in blue text in the top left of the screen) and
  install the .ZIP as an update.
Reboot, and you're done.
  Note: After flashing in recovery, you need to reboot before you (and ROM
  installers) actually see the new version number.

It looks like you have the Canadian S3, so you will need to upgrade to the I747MVLUEMK5 bootloader.  After you flash it, you should be able to install newer CM versions without any errors.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
How to change analog clock widget on home screen to digital clock?
I have an analog clock widget on my home screen and I want to change it to a digital clock.
If I tap the widget it takes me inside the clock app. If I select settings and then select "Style Digital", the home screen clock is still an analog clock.
How to change the home screen analog clock to a digital clock?

You can't make the widget change from analogue to digital, but you can replace the analogue one from a digital one. Hold your finger on the clock widget and drag it to the delete icon to remove it. Then, to add a digital clock widget, go to the app drawer and click Widgets, and find Digital clock in the list. Hold your finger on the digital clock to pick it up, and drag it where you like on the home screen.

On later versions, swiping your finger vertically across the circle will cause it to flip over. On one side is analogue, the other is digital.

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

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


text:
Can I control how google accounts get synced? Mobile vs Wifi
Under Settings>Accounts>Google>(my account) there is a bunch of services you can check and uncheck.
My question specifically is I'd like everything to be synced but I want to be able to choose which services sync over wifi or mobile data.
For example, I'd like most services to sync on both wifi and data but I want music and g+ photos to sync only when on wifi. Is there a way to do this?
I also don't want to disable auto sync.

Syncing Google Play Music doesn't actually download the music: it just updates the list of what music you have. Music streams, caches, or downloads when you start to play it, and you can control that using the settings inside Google Play Music itself: Download via Wi-Fi only and Stream via Wi-Fi only.
In the same way, you can control when Google+ "Auto-Backup" backs up photos and videos, using the settings inside Google+. From the settings menu, click Auto-Backup, and click Back up photos and Back up videos to select when they're synced.

You can use Tasker automate with Synker apps on Google play store. After installed them create a new profile "State>Net>WiFi connected".
Next it request to create a new task. Go to"New task>plugin>synker auto sync". Next tap its configuration button and choose required sync options.
Next create a tasker exit task. In this task create "disable auto sync". Then, whenever your device disconnected from any WiFi it will disable auto sync. It's a battery friendly.
Save the profile.
Like wise create another profile with new task for mobile data connection.


text:
Xperia U automatically booted into safe mode?
I shut my phone off and turned my phone back on in my pocket and it automatically was in safe mode. I couldn't find apps I had installed and some of  my widgets aren't working. What happened to my phone and how could I get it to be "normal" again?

In Xperia U you will get in to safe mode when you keep taping on menu button while the phone is booting.
Safe mode prevents any third-party apps from running. So if you have installed an app that might cause some serious problems with your device, boot it in safe mode to uninstall it.
You can boot into normal mode by a simple restart.


text:
Disable opening app in app
When I am in the file browser and open a PDF, the PDF viewer will be shown as the file manager in the list of the apps. When I press back in the PDF viewer, it will go back to the file manager eventually.
Is there some way to make the app open on its own, with the given file as a starting point?

Not in stock Android: it's up to the app to say whether it is a new task or not. There might be a way to do it with a custom ROM, but there might be something different you can do instead. What are you trying to achieve?

This is the stack in android, the default is to open an activity of the PDF reader from the File Explorer. It's down to how the dev wants to handle it, but this is the usual way. You could start reading here if you're interested: http://developer.android.com/guide/components/tasks-and-back-stack.html there's a lot of information and it leads into multiple activities from multiple applications etc. As Dan said a custom ROM might do this, or scripts running over everything. This is the 'ususal' functioality but you could try ES File Manager or an alternative and see what they do!

There is an Xposed module that does this, it's called ActivityForceNewTask.
Assuming you're rooted, install the Xposed Installer, install the framework from within the app, reboot, download the module, enable it, reboot again.


text:
How to remove Google Play sample books from my library without them coming back?
I have the Google Play Books app on my Android tablet, and there are three books included with it: Alice in Wonderland, The Three Musketeers, and Treasure Island. When I go to my library and hit the three-dot icon, then Delete from library, it removes them.
However, in about 2-5 minutes, I get a notification that they were added to my library, and when I look back in, they're there once again. How do I make them go away?

Go to Google Play Books, find the book(s), click on the menu (three vertical dots), choose "Remove from my library", and agree to the confirmation that pops up.
The books should now be gone from your library and will, once your device syncs, be gone from the device as well.

Did you mean to go to the site on my PC?

I tried that and it did remove them. I don't know if it will stay gone in a few minutes.

@Pho Yes, although the browser in your phone should suffice.

It just opens the app when I click the link on my tablet, so I just did it on my PC.

They came back after opening the Google Play Books app on my tablet again.


text:
Sending intents using ADB with additional action, data, and extra
How do I convert the following Java code to an ADB command?
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
intent.setData(Uri.parse("com.glass.videoglass://"));
intent.putExtra("startFromWS", true);
startActivity(intent);

The only thing I've seen so far is
adb shell am start -n com.package.name/com.package.name.ActivityName

The Android developer documentation explains how to specify an intent in the argument to the am command.
In your case you want -a to specify the action, -d to specify the data URI, and --ez to specify a Boolean extra. You can find the action name by looking up Intent.ACTION_VIEW in the documentation. Putting all of that together, you get:-
am start -a android.intent.action.VIEW -d com.glass.videoglass:// --ez startFromWS true

authors: Римма Строева

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


text:
Anyway to get off the photos from a broken Galaxy S4?
My Galaxy S4 took a bath in the Pacific Ocean and now won't turn on. I tried to have it fixed, but it really is gone.
Is there anyway to retrieve the photos from the hard drive of the device? Assuming that it didn't get destroyed as well. If so, how???

Can you enter recovery mode by pressing vol up + home + power for a few seconds?

@PeterBartels No, the phone won't even do that.  The only thing on the phone that shows signs of life is that when I plug in the charging cable, the light at the top left lights up red.


text:
HTC one only boots into recovery
I installed kitkat 4.4.2, via clockwork mod and the install went smooth, no issues.
I rebooted, and now all I can is my bootloader and recovery, whenever I try to normal boot.  It simply takes me to recovery.
The bootloader states my phone is
*** TAMPERED ***
*** UNLOCKED ***

Which seems fine, it was the same with a previous rom I've used.
I tried a few things, clearing cache, factory resetting the phone etc, no change.
Any ideas where I'm going wrong?

When you select "Reboot Now" from recovery it reboots back into bootloader?  Have you pulled out the battery and restarted? What did you flash and where did you download it from?

Is it Jelly Bean (4.1, 4.2.2, 4.3) or KITKAT (4.4.2) as you have both in your post and it's confusing. Can you try flasing TWRP recovery instead and see? Did you check the MD5 of the ROM you are using? Have you tried a different ROM?

@RossC Hi, apologies for the typos, it's kitkat 4.4.2, I downloaded it from Android revolution. I found the site on from a youtube video of a tutorial on how to install kitkat. http://android-revolution-hd.blogspot.co.uk/p/android-revolution-hd-mirror-site-var.html, I installed the latest rom for HTC One. I would have tried to install a different rom, but now I can't file transfer because my phone doesn't recognise the device in recovery mode. Thoughts?

@Shar1z Hi, I answered the download info in my reply to RossC.  As far as I'm aware I can't take the battery out of the HTC One, it seems sealed off.  Any further thoughts?

Is there any option at all to Mount the storage of the device, so you can copy onto it. It should be in the recovery?

@RossC there is a mount option in my trwp recovery setting but it doesn't seem to mount anything on my pc.  I can use fastboot, it detects my device but adb doesn't detect my device, any thoughts?

You need to re-flash your recovery in fastboot. Make sure you use the correct recovery for your device and carrier. (I can provide links if needed.) Your rooted so I will assume you have successfully achieved S-Off which requires proper adb drivers and fastboot.

boot to fastboot (hold power + vol down) and connect USB cable
flash nameofrecovery.img (from same directory adb and fastboot are in) by typing

fastboot flash recovery nameofrecovery.img

thanks for the answer, do you know how to add this file while the phone is in the recovery menu?  As my computer doesn't recognise the device until it's booted completely, so I'm unsure how I can add the file.

Just realized your device has no way to remove sdcard. I updated my answer.

I flashed the recovery with the latest version of trwp.  It seems to work fine but I can't seem to use adb to push files on to my android so I can install a new version of kitkat.  Any ideas on where I'm going wrong?  I can fastboot, it detects my device whereas in adb, it fails to recognise my device.

Should be something like adb sideload rom.zip if you still need help when I get home I will update answer with more details

Thanks for the help, it turns out I was having a driver issue, I can now push files etc using push.  But now the issue is the files are not showing within my sdcard. I'm using abd push rom.zip /sdcard/rom.zip does that seem fine? and of course thank you for the help.

good news I got my phone up and running, I just had to reboot my phone and the install files showed up! :)

If you can stand to wait a few days you can order an OTG USB cable and push the files you need from there.


text:
Should I resend message with one mark in WhatsApp Messenger?
I tried to send a message and found that it has one mark. I can see the last seen message, which means that it was not yet seen. Should I try to send the message again?

Rephrased question so it doesn't get closed

One checkmark means that the message has been delivered to Whatsapp servers, but has not been delivered to the recipient's phone. You don't need to send it again, the message will be delivered to the recipient the next time his/her phone connects to the Whatsapp servers, assuming you're not blocked. Sending it again will not help, since it's already delivered to Whatsapp servers.


text:
How can I add extra memory in my ram android?
I want to boost the ram's memory, but as I clean my phone,it's memory was almost full.

You can create swap file on your SD card by using ROEHSOFT RAM Expander or Swapper (Free) without creating swap partition. Both app require root access. Apps need kernel swap support to work so check if your phone is compatible or not with MemoryInfo & Swapfile Check first.


text:
Can I flash system.img.ext4 without unlocking bootloader or void KNOX warranty?
I understand that:

The secure boot process checks signature of bootloaders, kernel and rootfs, but not /system partition. The Samsung KNOX e-fuse is set to 1 when any signature is bad.
Tools such as make_ext4fs can create custom system.img.ext4.
Odin and Heimdall are able to flash system.img.ext4 into the device. AFAIK, system.img.ext4 is not signed, so there is no way for the device to verify its integrity.

If all are correct, we can change any file in /system partition. Rooting then becomes very easy. This my proposed way of rooting without voiding KNOX warrenty:

Unpack the stock system.img.ext4
Find any binary which is executed by init as root. Examples are /system/bin/installd and /system/bin/vold
Patch the binary to plant a backdoor which can spawn us a root shell.
Repack the system.img.ext4. Hopefully the file size doesn't change.
Use Odin to flash the system partition only.
Boot. Secure boot shouldn't detect anything unusual, as it only checks bootloader, kernel and rootfs. ADB shell and then use our backdoor to get our root shell.

However, people are trying very hard to find a way to root Samsung Galaxy S4, Note2 or Note3 without voiding KNOX warranty. For example, the saferoot method make use of a kernel vulnerability. After Samsung patched the vulnerability, there isn't yet any way to root safely. My approach must be wrong somewhere. Appreciate if you can point it out.

P.S. dm-verity can verify the system partition, but it is not used on any devices in the market.

It is possible to root these devices without tripping the knox flag
S4: [ROOT] Saferoot: Root for VRUEMJ7, MK2, and Android 4.3
Note3:  Root de la Vega [KNOX 0x0 Root - Lots of Versions - No Exynos]
Note2:  [root]Galaxy Note 2 on Android 4.3 without tripping Knox

As I said, the saferoot rooting method makes use of a kernel vulnerability, CVE-2013-6282 to be exact, which has been fixed. All three rooting instructions you listed are based on this method. Details and source code of saferoot can be found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2565758


text:
Mount script cannot be created. mount: No such file or directory
I have micromax bolt a58, I have rooted it with farmaroot and install link2sd but it didnt work
when i formatted it with ext2 it says try with fat32, and when i do so it gives error - Mount script cannot be created.
 mount: No such file or directory
Please help me...

You need to say exactly what steps you took and what commands you ran, and the order you did them. Say at what step you got each result, and the exact text of any error messages.

I was following this post
http://www.aagneyam.com/blog/?p=80412
Everything was fine but problem is - Link2SD will ask to select the file system of your second partition i.e ext2 ,ext3 , ext4 or FAT32
this is where I am facing the problem... If I am going with ext2, ext3, ext4 Erro: your device did not support extX, try with fat32. and when i go with FAT32 Error : Mount script cannot be created. mount: No such file or directory

Wat are you using to create and format your partitions? I ran into a similar error when I used Paragon Partition Manager (https://www.paragon-software.com/) in Windows. The phone wouldn't correctly recognise the partition.
I then used (I think it's the 'official') the SD Formatter program in windows to format my partition but it only seems to make use of the entire sd card and not really give you an opportunity to have multiple partitions.
You should really try GParted. It's pretty fool proof. Just make a bootable USB, pop on GParted and create and format you partitions in that. Good guide here for a GS4 but should work for your phone too: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2285221


text:
Run on boot then quit?
I've tried searching around on various forums but can't find this answered anywhere.
Is there a mechanism to automatically run an app on boot then switch back to the 'desktop'?
Specifically I'm using the Squeezeplayer app which, when run, starts a service which listens in the background for connections from a Logitech Squeezebox server on the local LAN. But you can then leave the app and the service runs in the background. I'd be keen to start the app then jump back to the home screen on boot so that the listening service runs in the background.

There is such a mechanism, but it has to be done by the app itself: it's not a user-accessible control. You can tell apps that do this because it requires the permission "Run at startup".
An app such as Tasker can do this. It already uses the Android mechanism, and gives you a way to script actions to do on this and other conditions. Simply add a task that starts the app you're interested in and then goes to the home screen. Set that task to run on the "Device boot" event.

Ahhh, awesome. Been hearing a lot about Tasker recently since I've been investigating SMS<->email forwarding etc.


text:
Control Youtube on Android from another device
Hopefully this should be fairly easy to do but I keep drawing a blank when searching for it.
I know it is pretty easy to control YouTube on the TV or PC from your phone  using YouTube Pair
But is there a way to do it the other way round?
I have an android handset which is not being used for anything else so hoping to try to turn it into a chromecast type gadget but I only need audio out. I have the phone headphone socket linked up to the AUX input of the stereo in the kitchen. I've got Spotify installed which has built in support (Spotify Connect feature) for playing music on other devices from a desktop or another phone.
I'm hoping to be able to do the same with Youtube playlists or just individual videos, especially since YT just added the auto-playlist feature.


text:
Any way to unlock T-Mobile ZTE V768?
A friend of mine purchased a ZTE V768 Concord from ZTE. It was not under any contract, but it is still locked to use any foreign SIM-card anyways.
We are far away from the US, so is there any way to unlock it?
I know those services like this, but I don't think those could provide me an unlock code, can they?
So, any way to unlock it? Thank you!

Has the phone been purchased directly from T-Mobile while your friend was in the US, or via eBay or similar 3rd party?

It was purchased directly via T-Mobile. No eBay or similar used.

The online unlocking services should work in that case. Although it's not as secure as calling T-Mobile directly and requesting an unlock code.


text:
Route in-call audio to A2DP headset
How can I set up my Nexus 4 to receive Hangouts and phone call audio over a Bluetooth A2DP link? Even though my headphones are connected, in-call audio is routed to the earpiece or speaker and there's no option to send it over BT.
I've got Creative WP-350 headphones that support both A2DP and HSP but the headset profile audio quality is unusably low, leaving no other option but to disable it in Android BT settings.

Unfortunately A2DP supports only stereo audio, it doesn't support two-way audio, i.e. your mic woud be useless if the calls were routed over A2DP. You'll have to enable HSP for call functionality.

Yes, I'm aware that A2DP is unidirectional and I'm fine with having to hold the phone in hand like in speakerphone mode. The HSP audio quality in WP-350 is just unusable.

You might wish to take a look at SoundAbout, an app that allows you to route any sound channel the way you like:

SoundAbout Settings (source: Google Play; click images for larger variants)
As you see, you can decide for each channel specifically where it shall be routed to. So you could e.g. have the notifications go to the speaker, while music and calls are routed to your headset.
I'm not using this app myself, so I cannot tell first-hand how well it works. But it has a free version to test, so nothing to lose. If you like it, buy it, and get additional features. For more options on headset controlling apps, be welcome to browse my lists ;)
before you ask: no, I'm in no way affiliated with the app or its developers :)

The app does not seem to work in newer versions of Android. Is there any alternative?

Sorry, no idea – I'm not using anything alike as I have no need.

Alright. Thank you. :)

I think....
I have a A2DP bluetooth adapter, if you route the output sound of the call to the A2DP, you are making the adapter like a earphone without mic, when the cellphone are the MIC and the earphone are the output...


text:
Reinstall system apps after removal
I rooted my phone and, perhaps over-zealously, removed many of the system apps which I deemed junk.
But, now I'm trying to restore one of the apps I removed, but simply restoring the file to the /system/app directory and giving the right permissions (rw-r--r-- to root:root) does not allow me to use the app on my phone.
I am trying to restore the Gallery3d.apk app file (from a backup) to my LG P509 phone. I am not sure if this solution will have general application or will only apply to this particular app.
I have already tried copying the app to the user-accessible storage and trying to install it as a User app, but the install fails.
How do I restore this app (or these types of apps) so that my phone will be able to use it again?

You probably need to reboot after putting the file back in /system/app. Or otherwise force it to refresh the list of installed apps (which maybe the pm command can do, not sure)


text:
How can I make my keyboard more responsive?
I've recently switched from my iPhone 3GS to this HTC Evo Design 4G (4.0.3) because I get free service on the latter phone, and my setup is coming together nicely for the most part, but I have one huge stumbling block: the keyboard.
I've used iOS for ~6 years and I figured the new keyboard would take some getting used to, but I just can't type quickly on any Android keyboard I've tried (stock, Google Keyboard, Perfect Keyboard, etc) because it physically won't let me. It's unable to handle inputs in quick succession. To test this, I tried typing 'a' and 'h' alternating very quickly on each device. On the iPhone the result is "ahahahahahahahahahahaha", but on my Evo it's "ahhhhhhhhhahhhhhh". Elsewhere, input on the device is fairly snappy.
Any suggestions? I've tried Googling the issue with no luck. I type quite a bit and it's driving me nuts that I have to slow down for it to recognize all my inputs!

After checking this on a Samsung Galaxy S 3, a Nexus 7, and a Nexus 10, with several different keyboard apps, I couldn't see a similar issue, so I suspect this problem is specific to that model of phone. Perhaps HTC skimped on the touchscreen for this device, or did a poor job with the touchscreen integration. If that's it, there's probably nothing you can do but hope that a software update will fix the problem.
Alternatively, it could be a problem with that particular phone. Try giving the touchscreen a wipe with a damp cloth. Try to get access to another phone of the same model and check if it has the same problem: if it is only your phone, you should take it back to the shop and have them fix it.

This is the only Android device I own so thanks for testing on other devices. I downloaded a touch-test app and experienced it there as well, and I'm starting to think it may just be interpreting my quick touches as drags, similar to the issue this fellow was having. Bummer!


text:
Does 'installation unsucessful' apps occupy space in SD card
After downloading some of the apps from google store I get a notification stating phone memory low and subsequently the installation gets failed.My question does these not installed app files get stored somewhere in my SD card and occupy any space?If yes,how can I delete these files.

Have you tried deleting other files like old music or the .thumbnails folder in /sdcard/DCIM or storage/emulated/sdcard/DCIM. That takes loads of space sometimes

You can install the diskusage app toy our phone to see what is consuming the most disk usage and if you can free it up. It is a free app, and is only 155kb in size.
I would also recommend ES file manager, but it is a few mb in size. But it allows you to view all the directories on your SD card.
Finally, get dropbox or google+, they will backup your photos over wifi, so you can delete them from your phone to save space.


text:
Ever since connecting to a Chromecast, my device floods the network with SSDP packets
I used both a Galaxy Nexus and a Nexus 7, running stock Android 4.3 and 4.4, to interact with a Chromecast in the past. Ever since, both devices flood the network with SSDP packets, which seems to be a UPnP related service discovery protocol. "Flood" here means that new packets are sent every second.
A sample packet, decoded by using WireShark, is shown below:
Internet Protocol Version 4, Src: android-28f8778edbb436c2.lan (192.168.200.120), Dst: 239.255.255.250 (239.255.255.250)
    Version: 4
    [shortened output for readability]
    Source: android-28f8778edbb436c2.lan (192.168.200.120)
    Destination: 239.255.255.250 (239.255.255.250)
    User Datagram Protocol, Src Port: 50225 (50225), Dst Port: ssdp (1900) Hypertext Transfer Protocol
    M-SEARCH * HTTP/1.1\r\n
        [Expert Info (Chat/Sequence): M-SEARCH * HTTP/1.1\r\n]
        Request Method: M-SEARCH
        Request URI: *
        Request Version: HTTP/1.1
    HOST: 239.255.255.250:1900\r\n
    MAN: "ssdp:discover"\r\n
    MX: 1\r\n
    ST: urn:dial-multiscreen-org:service:dial:1\r\n
    \r\n
    [Full request URI: http://239.255.255.250:1900*]

As this creates unneccessary traffic and likely drains the battery, I would like to deactivate this discovery feature. But even uninstalling the Chromecast app, Chrome itself, the Youtube app and other likely related apps (essentially everything that interacted with the Chromecast) did not help, the device still sends those packets.
Does anyone know how to disable this device discovery feature?

I'm not sure, but playing with the controls in Settings → Display → Cast screen might give you a start.

Thanks for the suggestion, but that menu item doesn't seem to exist... or would I have to connect to a Chromecast again to get it?

This is hopefully a stupid question, but you have tried rebooting the devices (the phone and tabler), correct?

@derobert: Of course.

I doubt there is a setting on the Phone or on the Chromecast device that allows you to set the SSDP query interval. I've certainly never seen one.

Technical detail
Firstly, 1 UDP packet a second is not a flood.  Secondly, it's just the device sending out SSDP probes.  This is not a big deal.  I think once a second might be a bit much for a discovery protocol - once every 5 seconds for the application might be better, but that's just quibbling over a few seconds.  If the device was "flooding" the network with a thousand or more a second, then you'd have a problem.
WS-Discovery (which is a similar discovery protocol) uses the same multicast group (239.255.255.250) but on a different port (3702).  Make sure you aren't mixing up SSDP with WS-Discovery probes and responses.  If you have Windows boxes on your network, you'll see a lot of (WS-Discovery) messages bouncing around.
Also, in your typical network with Apple devices or AirPrint printers, you'll see a lot of Apple Bonjour (mDNS service discovery) UDP packets flying around on 224.0.0.251.  If you get less than 1 UPD message per second at this address, then you have a really quiet network (or some really old devices).
There is likely a bunch of other UDP multicast packets flying about on your network as well.
So, any modern local network with a modicum of devices will have at least 3 service discovery protocols chatting away at any given time - WS-Discovery, SSDP and mDNS.  If you have databases or other routers, then you'll have a couple more multicast service discovery protocols firing away.  The amount of traffic created by these protocols in the way they are implemented by most devices is just some minor network overhead.  Don't worry about it.

For me, it was the Plex service. I had to clear it from
   Apps -> Running

and from
   Apps -> Running -> Show Cached Processes

I used iptraf to verify (like top for network traffic) if that helps any...

Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't have Plex nor other similar services on my device.

Plex uses the same chromecast libraries as it can stream to chromecast devices. Plex was the last "service" I killed upon seeing the chatter stop. The day before I had been using youtube to send to my chromecast, so it could have been a youtube/chromecast process I killed off prior. Point is, I think it could be any app that could cause it, especially chromecast enabled ones. Try killing off all non-essential services until the chatter stops - that's what I did. Your question did point me in the right direction of stopping mine...

This may seem drastic but in the long run it may save you time: Have you tried doing a factory reset?

Sorry, but that's just a crude and trivial workaround, not an answer to my question.


text:
Securely wiping a phone with a broken screen
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 with a broken screen. The screen does not respond to any touch and does not display anything at all, it is black at all times. CyanogenMod 11 is installed on the device.
I need to securely wipe the device, but I've been having a very difficult time doing so, as CyanogenMod doesn't allow ADB to connect without user input, which in this case is impossible. I've done a factory reset on the phone, but didn't wipe the user data on the internal storage (not an external SD card, rather the "internal SD card" which is hosted on the main phone ROM).
How can I securely wipe the phone and delete all data left on the internal storage? I'd like to zero-out the filesystem, but still have a semi-working phone that will at least boot into Android for occasional tinkering over adb.

Also see: Razr Maxx HD, How to wipe data with broken screen

If you did a factory reset, you should be able to connect it to the computer and it should allow you to delete files from the internal storage. MTP is limiting though in the fact that you can't use a secure erase program (one that overwrites the file multiple times with random data). This will be quite difficult to do with a broken screen.
The other option is to use Odin to restore it to stock. Odin overwrites all the partitions including the full /data partition which will wipe the internal storage. Just follow any of the guides on how to return to stock or unbrick the device, like this one for the international S3. If you have one of the LTE or carrier versions you will need an appropriate guide for that version. You can do everything blind in Odin, just follow the directions carefully.

Simply boot your phone to Fastboot and issue "fastboot erase userdata". This will not really wipe the data, but without huge efforts (modifying the eMMC controller) you will get just zeros when you dump the partition. Be sure to erase cache as well.
If you run Cyanogenmod chances are you have a recovery installed that enables adb by default. Try booting your phone to recovery and connecting then with adb. From there you get a shell and can use i.e. dd to wipe the data.


text:
Longer disk-encryption passwords on Samsung Galaxy S5?
I'm trying to encrypt my Samsung Galaxy S5 (AT&T) and it only allows me to use a 16-character passphrase for my encryption key.
Is there a way to bypass this or change the encryption key to something longer? This is really annoying at best and is a bad security practice to limit the size of the passphrase.
(Android internally uses the Linux dm-crypt method for encrypting the disk, which doesn't mention such password-length restrictions, and I've used it in the past with very long passphrases.)

Are you aware that the encryption password is also your unlock password? Therefore you have to enter it every time your phone is locked. Bad design by Google IMHO.

Oh, so this is an Android thing and not a strange Samsung invention. This really needs to be fixed. Disk-encryption and screen unlock are two different security models and should be allowed to have different passwords.

If you have root access you can change the dm-crypt password without changing you unlock pin/password.

It is a poor password policy, however you should rest assured that a strong 16-digit password is sufficient to protect from brute force. As demonstrated by GRC, an exhaustive brute force attack would take 10 billion years using a massive cracking array: https://www.grc.com/haystack.htm


text:
How to create playlist for all files in folder?
I want to use Zombies, Run! and therefore need music that is organized in a playlist. I usually play by album or folder so I never needed to do this before.
What I want to do is copying a folder with the music to the phone (using ftp) and then create a playlist containing all of these files (without having to choose them manually). It would also be okay for me if the app on Android only converts a playlist in .m3u or .pls format (created on my computer) to a playlist in Android's playlist set.
For now I only found applications that create .m3u files (which are not useful for me) or crash upon start.

I know this is old, but it's in the top results for "Android create playlist from a folder" so I thought I'd add this:
Playlist Creator 2: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ksdeveloper.playlistcreator.v2
(From what I read, the not so good rating comes from the inhability of the developer to explain how it works, but it's really simple)

Download and open the app. (Duh)
Top right> Use file explorer.
Navigate to the desired folder and long press it.
Pick "Add whole folder as playlist".
Press the top right icon to open the playlist, name it, Create Playlist.

And voilà, you'll see the playlist in the Google music app and any common music player.

Doesn't support nested folders :(

My Music Playlist Creator is a good one. It supports nested folders as well. Create an m3u file using this app. Then the m3u file can be imported using FX File Explorer app.
Also, check out my related blog: Creating an offline music playlist on Android


text:
How do I find the kernel config for my ROM?
I'm very happy with CM11 ported to my phone(Samsung Galaxy Ace 2). One day I bought Bluetooth keyboard.
When I tried to connect it, it paired and... wat? No connection!? I thought that this ROM has some bug, so i looked at logcat. I found that there's no uhid driver and I think that developers didn't compile kernel with "CONFIG_UHID=y".
I'm gonna compile new kernel.
First I need to check it, but there's no /proc/config.gz. How can I check(and compile) that without it?
ROM homepage: http://novafusion.pl/
EDIT: Seems like that other CM/AKOP ROM's for my device don't have uhid support(or kernel source is crap?). Keyboard works fine with Stock ROM

Hello did you got UHID support or you are waiting to 3.6 kernel? I am facing the same problem :(

If the kernel wasn't compiled with /proc/config.gz support turned on, then the only sure way is to look at the source tree that was used to compile the kernel you're running. Copy the config.h file into your own source tree (or just use the original source tree) and run make menuconfig to set any new options you want.

okay, I did so, and got working kernel. But still, UHID isn't in make menuconfig or in ".config". No e-mail answer from developers too. In fact kernel version is 3.0.101. I need to use custom rom, because stock is so slow and I hate lagging phones.

Got it! CM uses uhid, but stock rom does use uinput. That's why I can't connect. uhid support starts at kernel 3.6


text:
Where the apps from google play get downloaded?
If I am installing an application in windows, I will be downloading the exe and clicking the exe will install the application. Even if I uninstall the application, I can reinstall the application from the downloaded exe.
Now, if I am downloading an app from play store, it is downloading and installing. Will the downloaded apps will be saved in some other space and then installed, if yes where will be the application while downloading? I know the installed application will be in data/app/. I am asking while downloading, and what happens once installation, will the downloaded app be deleted.

I know the installed application will be in data/app/. For Android 4.x.x. this folder has the APK (installable) while /data/data and other /data/*** has the files installed from the apk. In short, these apk's are the alternatives for the exe as you mentioned. I also found that PlayStore downloads directly into this folder. There may be other folders but I know for sure about this. And my experience is based on Google Stock Rom and Cyanogenmod.

In older Android OS versions the apk files downloaded by Google Play Store were usually stored in either /cache/download or /data/local directories.
Now the temporary location is determined by the Download Provider service, and is usually found in /data/data/com.android.providers.downloads/cache directory.  Again, this may be different for various Android OS versions.  It can also vary if manufacturers modified the OS (e.g. Samsung's TouchWiz or HTC's Sense.)

So once the installation is over this file will be deleted?

The files stick around for a bit, until the clean up process deletes them.

Can I delete the whole content of
data/data/com.android.provider.downloads/cache
?

Whocares, i did delete and since that no problems. Got 300 mb free space in my system, that is crucial on that SGS2, i have to use these days (only).

authors: ศิวกร ลือเลื่อง


text:
How can I get Android devices to see a classless static route?
This seems to be a problem that a few people are having. I have DHCP set up on a Windows 2008 server. Amongst all the options I have set, is option 121 (Classless Static Routes). I have two routes set up going over two VPNs, one to one datacentre and one to another, both going through different gateways.
We have a wifi network here with no restrictions to the network once you're connected to it.
The Android devices connecting to the wifi can connect to machines going over one of the routes, but not the other.
The Windows PC I'm currently typing this on also gets its IP address from the same DHCP pool and I have no issues with connection to machines in both datacentres.
Just in case it's useful to know, the DC that I can't seem to connect to is Amazon Web Services.
My device is a Samsung S4 with 4.4.2


text:
Mass confusion about present and future: Hangouts, SMS, MMS, and Google Voice
I've been trying to make sense of recent news and theories about the future of Hangouts, SMS/MMS integration, and merging with Google Voice.
My main concern right now is that I want to continue having free SMS messages sent through my Google Voice number. I don't have any texting plan from my phone company -- my "real" number is secret to the world.
The facts:

I have a Google Voice number that is public, for calling and free texting
I have a secret "actual" Verizon phone number, SMS or MMS costs $0.25 per message
Google Voice doesn't support MMS
I do not want to activate SMS over Hangouts because I fear it will use my Verizon number which does not have free texting

Am I correct in my concerns? Should I hold off activating SMS in Hangouts because I will end up with a lot of fees from my carrier? Should I pay for an unlimited texting plan with Verizon because doing all of these things won't be free in the future anyway?

Google Hangouts + Voice Integration
Update Sept 10, 2014:  Google has now merged Google Voice into Hangouts.

"Activating" SMS in Hangouts won't affect your ability to use the Google Voice app (at least, not currently). It's just like any other SMS app in that yes, it will use your actual phone number/plan, but it won't somehow prevent you from using the Google Voice app. They're still separate apps. If you want the free texting, just keep using Google Voice. What may happen in the future is not really something we can answer; you'd have to ask Google.

If you keep using the Google Voice app for texting, it doesn't matter if you activate SMS via Hangouts.  However, any texts you send out of Hangouts will go through your Verizon number, incurring carrier charges.
If you are running CyanogenMod 11 ROM, you may want to look into Voice+.  It's a custom app that allows you to pipe all "regular" SMS through Google Voice, from any app such as Hangouts, Messaging, HandCent, Whatsapp, etc.  It's still in beta (as is the entire CM11) but works quite well for keeping all the messaging together in a single app.
When Hangouts got ability to send/receive SMS last year, Google promised that they will eventually merge Google Voice functionality into it, thus making it a single app.  This looks to be slowly happening behind the curtains. In the latest Hangouts v2.1 update, bits and pieces pointing to Google Voice integration started showing up.  We will most likely hear more about this in the upcoming Google I/O developers conference this coming Summer.

Thanks, then my assumptions were correct (thus far). The Voice+ integration is helpful too.


text:
Why is the maximum value of the light sensor from my phone stuck at 85745.0lx?
My lightsensor of my Samsung Galaxy S3 doesn't return good values.
I tested it in different places, p.E. outside in the sun or indoor with and without light.
The value outside was a bit confusing because the result was the proper value of 85745.0lx. This value is first of all 4 times higher than in comparison with my tablet. At a second Samsung S3 (with Stock-OS) it was about 18'000 lux. Second point: it was a fix value, it didn't change between ~200lux all the time.
After the tests I tried to find out, why that happend. The function maxvalue = light.getMaxumumRange(); shows me, that the maximum value of the light sensor is 121240.0 lx.
Could it be, that this value is, because I have an custom rom on my phone (Team UB)? Or does anyone know an other reason for this difference?
Thanks for your answers.

Yes, of course it could be because you have a custom ROM on your phone. Most likely the ROM has a buggy or poorly integrated touchscreen driver. Drivers in custom ROMs often don't perform correctly, especially in unofficial or pre-release builds, and especially with non-essential functionality like light sensors.


text:
What is the purpose of an app disallowing backups (android:allowBackup="false")?
I'm asking specifically because Helium (the application formerly known as Carbon) uses root permissions to do data backups and with root I can manually (through the shell or Root Explorer) back up data for apps that disallow it.  So why would some app data not backup with Helium (which has root privileges granted)?
I read the information about the permission elsewhere on SE as well as at developer.android.com that says user couldn't copy off data to dig through on their PC, but it's actually trivial if you have root access in the first place.  If you're really into digging through data then bypassing the permission is trivial.  If the permission would stop you, you probably wouldn't be the type to be digging through app data.

You don't need root to backup data from an android device to a PC, you only need physical access and to enable debugging in the developer menu. This lets you copy data from the app's internal storage, which may contain sensitive information that you don't want to let somebody steal, like your facebook access token.
I agree that it is pretty trivial in most cases, but there are some cases which require this extra layer of protection against attacks where physical access is involved.
Note that in order to get around this you would need to root the phone, in which case the sensitive data in the internal storage would be wiped when the factory reset occurs.

What factory reset are you referring to?  Generally it is possible to root a phone without resetting it.

@NathanStretch proper rooting methods need an unlocked bootloader, and unlocking the bootloader will wipe the data. Using app-based/exploit rooting methods might not need an unlocked bootloader though.


text:
Can the Moga Power Pro be used as a USB controller?
So I just received my new Moga Power Pro controller, and I'm extremely disappointed with the latency I'm experiencing with it when playing emulators (both in emulators which can use the Moga "A" mode and ones that use the HID "B" mode) - there's a lag between d-pad presses and responses, the button don't always register presses, etc.  Maybe I'm just spoiled (having only previously used system-specific controllers), but I'm disappointed enough that I may return the controller.  Before I do that, though, I want to try and see if I can reduce the latency at all.  To that end, is it possible to use the pad as a generic USB controller (using the included USB to Micro USB) connector?  Or am I stuck using the Bluetooth connection (which I'm supposing is largely responsible for the latency?)
(I've tried the controller with both my HTC One M8 and my Nexus 10 tablet, both of which are running unrooted 4.4.2; I've tried turning off the Wifi and mobile data, without discernible improvement)

No, there isn't. The official product website doesn't offer this as a feature, and I've tested with its little brother, the Moga Pro.
Incidentally, I've never noticed any lag or unresponsiveness when using a Moga Pro with a Nexus 10 on 4.2 or 4.4.2. Perhaps your lag can be blamed on a specific app you're running?

Thanks - it's probably some combination of the emulators and devices I'm using, and perhaps unrealistic expectations.  (When I use the controller on emulators on my PC via the ZeeMouse app, I don't notice any latency at all.)


text:
Recycling old android devices for home security
Has anyone seens any efforts in recycling used devices for home security? I tried (re)searching, but most the top results are apps and or professional security devices.
I was browsing a thrift shop and noticed couple of android devices for sell. Price was around USD $30 - 40. Which got me started thinking of the possibility of using a android device for home security. I am not talking about the app, but the device itself.

These devices already have wifi connectivity
These devices are easily programmable, more functionality can be easily added.
They have cameras that are pretty good
Think that this might be good use to recycle old electronics.
Even broken devices (glass broken etc.) can be used to a larger extent. So long as device turns on, camera and wifi works, the device can be used for the security.
Many of these devices have focusable cameras. You can remotely control cameras.
Motion sensing algorithm can be developed to operate when there is motion

A custom mod like cyanogen mod with all applications except camera removed can be used in the cases like this. All device needs to do is stream pictures to some server using wifi. I am sure there is open source application that will accept stream from such devices or we can relatively easily alter one of the similar application.
Power/charging problem will have to be solved, but at these prices, you can just replace the device while other one is charging or just replace the battery. Since device is not doing anything else, we might get good mileage for battery life also. Custom mod can switch off the screen which can reduce power consumption

What is your question exactly? Is there a specific piece of this you're having trouble with? "What have you all seen people do with spare devices?" is not really a discrete, answerable question. It's basically a poll.

Main question is if this idea is feasible? Its possible that other people have tried it or thought about and decided that its not feasible. This is what I am looking for.

Providing the O/S is up to date enough to run most of the apps at the "store" then it is simply a case of downloading one of the few apps already dedicated for security captures.
There are a few apps that allow pictures to be taken and uploaded via ftp and one I seen had a motion sensor option.
Another option would be a vnc type connection so you can manually control the functions of the recycled phones.
Again if the phone is able to run these programs, these apps already exist.
If you were writing the code you would need to target early versions of android o/s to find your niche among the other cool apps that do what you are picturing.
If you are asking if anyone has had the idea to use these "recycled" phones and redistribute them in one way or another, I have never seen any that market used smartphones as a security network. There are projects that can activate old phones for the needy, some that donate to soldiers, and a few that recycle the precious metals inside but I have yet to find any that fit your question as asked.
However for the prices mentioned you can get dedicated IP cameras for close to the same cost. If your company were to take donated phones with the intent of refurbishing and redistributed to the "under privileged" or lower income families for extra security you may have a better chance of attracting supporters / backers.
Interesting concept, absolutely feasible, I hope you are successful.

authors: กมลรัตน์ สุดใจของจอม


text:
How to force the mobile data (3G/4G) connection on a single app like Google voice recognition?
When an android phone is connected by both wifi and mobile data (3G/4G), it will preferentially use wifi since this saves battery and mobile data bandwidth.  However, my  mobile connection is more reliable than my wifi, and there are some apps that use only a small amount of data but which I want to operate reliably.  Google voice recognition is the primary example.
My understanding is that each app has it's own preferred connection type (almost always set to wifi) at the level of the operating system, but that this setting is not not available to the user.  How can I change an app's preference to mobile data? If necessary, I am open to solutions that only work for Google voice recognition (e.g. a buried user option).

Your understanding is not correct. Apps don't have a preferred connection type at all: they just use the first active connection. Android disconnects from 3G when it connects to a Wi-Fi network.

There is an app on the Play Store called "NoRoot Firewall" which may be used for this purpose.
Inside the app you can select which app you want to connect to WiFi or mobile data.

Do you have root ? If yes you can download AFWall+ is an excellent open source firewall that let you control which apps can connect to wifi and 3g.
If you don't have root and don't want to do then search on google play for similar non root firewalls but i'm not sure you can do that without root.

If you long-press on the WiFi button you should be able to access Advanced WiFi options. In there, try activating the Auto Network Switch option. Now, I'm not sure if this will effectively disconnect you from WiFi if it detects there's no valid data connection, but it's worth a shot.

As far as I know, network connection type doesn't need to be forced. Application need just a "Data" . Not "Data from 3G" or "Data from Wi-Fi", etc. Also, as you said, mostly Wi-Fi is a better choice. Not using your Wi-Fi can be the answer.
PS. Google voice recognition does have a "offline speech recognition" feature. Go to settings, find it and download your language file. This could help.

Just disable WiFi on your Android device. That way you can connect to data over 3G/4G preferentially. Easy as cake.

This does not answer the question.

Um it does kinda. Its more easier to just switch off WiFi than doing anything else.


text:
Unknown icon on my notification bar
A notification has started appearing on my Huawei Ascend Y300 that I do not recognize. I searched on Google but couldn't find what it means. My device is running Android v4.1 (Jelly Bean).
Here's a few images of the icon. It's the one to the far left in the first picture.

I cannot find any official documentation on this icon, but various sources across the Internet suggest that it means you have "Power Saving" mode enabled on your device. It looks like this is specific to Huawei's devices, and can be disabled in your settings.


text:
CLI commands in android?
Since Android is linux, cant i use standard linux commands inside android? I know there are applications that allow for a "Command Line Interface" (CLI). I also imagine that adb would provide access to command input (possibly as root?).

Can i run bash scripts and use commands like mkdir, rm, and cp in android?
If not what caommands can i use? does google provide a list?
How would i input CLI commands in android? ADB?

Does adb provide root?

Note: I run an android emulator, from Eclipse, with Fedora 20 as my OS. I do not presently have an android device to work with, or i would probably just tinker until i figure it out.
Any and all information is greatly appreciated.

documentation for the android terminal emulator. includes a good tutorial on how to use the CLI in android... but not really what im looking for: https://github.com/jackpal/Android-Terminal-Emulator/wiki/Android-Shell-Command-Reference

docs for ADB... more what i am looking for, but it doesnt provide a definitive list of what commands can be pushed through adb... http://developer.android.com/tools/help/adb.html

Yes, Android has a command-line interface just like a desktop GNU/Linux system. But because it's an embedded system without storage space to throw away on features most users don't want, there aren't a lot of commands installed by default: just some specific ones used to interact with Android services (such as am and pm). Because the manufacturer can customize the system image, there's no definitive list of what commands are available: it varies from device to device.
To add more commands, you can install Busybox, which is a single package containing a set of the most-used Unix command-line utilities. There are several "Busybox installer" apps on Google Play, but as it's open-source, you can also install it from F-Droid or build it yourself from source.
As you've already seen, there's a wide variety of terminal emulator apps. These run on your Android phone and provide a window into which you can type commands and see the results. Often they come with SSH clients and the like built-in, because the most common use for a terminal emulator on an Android phone is to SSH into a bigger computer.
In addition, running adb shell from a desktop computer that's connected to the phone via ADB gives you a shell on the phone. You can instead run adb shell command to run command in a shell on the phone.
Neither of the above methods of starting a shell make you root by default, but if your phone is rooted, you can use the su command in the usual way to become root. Whichever root manager you have on your phone (Superuser, SuperSU, etc.) will probably pop up on the screen for you to confirm the root access.
Shell scripts run on Android in the usual way, but as I've already mentioned, you don't get a lot of commands to play with by default, so many scripts written for desktop simply won't work.

Termux seems to be a great emulator that includes a nice selection of Linux commands.


text:
stream screen to pc
My phone screen is broken and i can't access my data etc. on it anymore since touch and screen don't work. I'm wondering if it's possible to plug it onto an pc and stream the screen to my pc (without an app installed on the phone.) just like downloading an os from pc to android. It's a samsung galaxy s advance. any help would be greatly appreciated!

Does this answer your question? How do I project the screen of my Android phone for a presentation?

If its just data you are concerned about then you don't even need to mirror your phones screen on your computer. You can use a development tool called ADB, this will allow you to simply connect your phone through USB and access the filesystem.
There is plenty of documentation online about ADB, but if you need any specifics for what to do let me know in a comment.

I echo Colin's advice to use ADB. Additionally, a mirroring application would be useless if you can't use touch input on the phone, and to interact with it you'd need to connect additional peripheral devices (ie. Keyboard/mouse) to even interact with your phone. ADB lets you send commands to the phone from your computer. The only issue is that you'd have to learn how to use it from a command line interface, but anyone can do anything they set their mind to. Good luck!

While using adb (see its tag-wiki for details) is a good idea, you would need to have usb-debugging enabled to be capable of using it. There are ways to do that (see our broken-screen tag-wiki), though. But there are also alternatives:
For the display, you could use HDMI (or an HML to HDMI adapter) to have it "mirrored" to e.g. your TV or Laptop. For input, you could use an USB mouse/keyboard, assuming your device can operate as "OTG host" (there are some apps to check that – but checking this way would be a chicken-and-egg thingy; easier to just go ahead and try the real thing).
If all those steps work out, you should have a full display and input back, and could do with your device whatever you wish: Streaming, copying, using it as a "NAS", Webcam, whatever.

You can e.g. do so via ScreenStream if you want to access it via a network (wifi).
Access via USB/ADB
adb can thankfully forward network sockets. So:

Enable "listen on localhost" in the settings ("advanced" section) of this app. (You can even disable anything else.)
Run adb forward tcp:8080 tcp:8080 (syntax: adb forward tcp:LOCAL tcp:DEVICE) or another port you have set in the settings to forward the connection.
Now you can access this on your computer with 127.0.0.1:8080.

Run adb forward --remove-all to remove that again.

Alternatively you can e.g. use adb alone on KitKat or higher as it has a built-in screenrecord feature, but you need a player on your device then. (no simple web access possible.)


text:
Nexus 5 front camera not working
Yesterday my front camera on Nexus 5 stopped working. It doesn't show up in any app (& there's a bug in the new Google camera app - I can switch camera only if the HDR+ is on, but then it's stuck on "Can't connect to camera'). I'm out of options, I already tried: deleting cash, reinstalling camera, safe mode, factory reset... - nothing worked. Anybody got another idea how to get it working? Thanks in advance
Threads I found:
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/nexus/6RVMvPaF80s
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/nexus/MATebxlFYyA

Take a look at my answer to a similar issue here:
http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/82300/camera-doesnt-work-on-nexus-5-running-android-l/96945#96945

I found a solution:
If you don't have a RMA option like me, it's possible it can be fixed with just disconnecting and reconnecting the front facing camera.
Try deleting cash, reinstalling camera, safe mode, factory reset, etc. before doing this.
Proceed at your own risk!
As shown in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPuCmfhzgbg)

Remove the back of the phone (beginning of the video).
Unscrew the top plastic plate (7:15 - 8:10).
Disconnect and reconnect front-facing camera flex cable (13:43 - 13:57).
Put everything back together and you're done.

Viola!
I hope it helps someone.
UPDATE: It stopped working again and this didn't help anymore. I had to buy a spare part and according to the video above replace it. The repair was succesful though.


text:
Help inputting words into Swype
On my old phone (still the Samsung galaxy s 3) I was somehow able to input the "words" 'c:' ';D' and other things like that with symbols at the beginning or end into its dictionary. That old phone broke, and I wasn't able to transfer that dictionary into my new phone. Now I'm unable to enter those into the dictionary because it won't select the symbol. Is there anything I can do about this?


text:
How do I disable mobile data access for certain apps at certain intervals?
Due to increased battery drain I figured I should probably come up with a solution that will allow me to block access for certain apps during certain hours while the only data connectivity available is the mobile connection.
For example: I don't really care if someone is messaging me via LinkedIn during night time so it's probably better not to check.
Or if I'm not over obsessed with who is messaging me via OkCupid I would probably want to increase the check interval for that app to check for new data only once an hour or 3 hours.
Blocking Facebook push notifications during work hours is pretty much reasonable as another example.
I've been looking at solutions such as AWall+ and although I could figure how to block data I could find any simple method of defining time range for that operation.
I was also thinking of a possibility to block access for half an hour after a fetch, this way the interval will change to a half an hour minimum causing the battery to drain less.
Do you guys know of any existing app or Tasker script? (My phone is rooted)
Thanks in advance!

AFWall+ allows creation of multiple profiles and the profiles can be toggled using Tasker. I'm giving you a basic idea now.

Enable multi-profile support in AFWall+. It's inside the Preferences.
For nighttime, create a profile and allow or disallow the apps which you want/don't want to connect to Internet or to a particular network interface.
(Click image to enlarge)

Once done, create a task in Tasker with the action Plugin → AFWall+ → Configuration → choose your profile.

Now it is up to you how you want this task to be executed. The best option is to create a time triggered profile and assign the task to it. This technique would work for office hours as well.

I was also thinking of a possibility to block access for half an hour after a fetch...

This can be done too, now that you've got the idea about AFWall+ profiles.
Consider this example: If it is about two profiles to be switched after an interval, I would roughly use these actions in a task:

Select an AFWall+ profile of your choice under Plugins
Task → Wait and make it 30 minutes
Select another AFWall+ profile to be triggered
Add Wait of another 30 minutes
Task → Goto → and choose first action.

You just created an  endless task. Attach it to a time triggered profile or any profile of your choice.
In order to stop that infinitely looping task, create another task and use the action Task → Stop → choose the task to be stopped. You've to execute this task of course.


text:
Unable to debug in Xolo Q1000 opus?
even after enabling USB debugging,when i connect device to my pc it is showing as USB debugging connected but when i run or debug app device is not showing.please help me in resolving?

Have you installed the drivers for the device?

ya.device is showing as usb debugging connected

I am assuming that u have already installed the drivers of the phone on ur pc.
To enable the USB debugging mode in in xolo q1000 opus, follow the steps below :-

First go to the settings tab and select the "ABOUT PHONE" option in category SYSTEM.
now tap the last option "BUILD NUMBER" seven times, for the DEVELOPER OPTIONS to show
the USB debugging .
Now turn on the DEVELOPER OPTIONS and the USB debugging.
Download an application for ur pc named as MoboRobo from this link :
< http://www.moborobo.com/ >
Connect ur phone to the computer and open up MOBOROBO application on the computer.
the application will automatically detect ur phone, if the drivers are properly
installed. And until the application is running, the ADT will also show ur phone as
ONLINE DEVICE.

So u can easily test ur app on the xolo q1000 opus model.
Well, this is not the proper way to connect the phone, but it is surely an alternative.
For any help, reply below...!!
And Don't forget to vote up the answer if ur issue is resolved.


text:
Is slow charging bad for the battery?
I know that charging the battery too fast can overheat the battery and shorten battery life. But is charging it slowly, e.g. from a USB 2.0 cable plugged to a laptop, also harmful for the battery? I know there is a 'USB charging mode' designed for this, but I am not so sure if it is bad for the battery.
I have Googled, but most links are forums where people offer their opinions and personal experiences, I want to know whether someone has actually tested this out?

Slow charging is great for a lithium battery. Two things kills lithium batteries

Temperature
Charge level

Charging too fast causes excess heat, that damages lithium batteries
Keeping your battery charge too high also damages lithium batteries

Ideally you want to slowly recharge and keep it between 20% - 80%. Also, many short small charge cycles is better than a lengthy large charge cycle.
Sources: http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

Welcome to [android.se]. While you disclosed your product, I removed the product promotion since it's not asked on the question, and we try to encourage neutral answer. You can instead put some info about your product on your "About me" section on your profile.


text:
how to add hebrew to my Samsung s4?
I have bought a new samsung s4.
I try to change the OS settings to be in hebrew.
I remembered how to do it from another s4 my sister has.
Went to settings --> Languages and input ---> but there was no "hebrew" to choose.
Then I have tried "more locale 2" but it should solve some other issue, no?
anyhow either i did it wrong or it didn't help as well.


text:
How do I turn off Browser Messages in Moto G?
My phone keeps on receiving text messages with the Title as 'browser messages' every two hours. Is there any way to stop them?
Edit:
It is a proper SMS.

Are you actually receiving text messages (sms)? Or are you just getting a notification that has the title 'browser messages'?

I am actually receiving text messages.

There will be an app called BrowserMessage in your phone. To disable that go to Settings > Apps > All > Select the BrowserMessage app and Disable it.
Hope this helps you and whoever facing this irritation :)


text:
Acer Iconia B1-710 connecting to TV using HDMI
I've tried connecting my Acer Iconia B1-710 to the tv using a USB/HDMI cable but the tv will not recognise the signal!
What else do I need to do to get the image to appear on the tablet and TV simultaneously

I have the A1-810 & it has micro HDMI to connect a micro HDMI to HDMI connector. There is also a mini HDMI connector in total 3 sizes in HDMI connections Mini, Micro & regular HDMI connections!

In order to use a USB to HDMI cable the device needs to support Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL), which, unfortunately, the Iconia B1-710 does not.
Some devices have their own proprietary cables for connecting, but, according to this Acer forum thread:

We do not support connecting the B1-710 tablet to a television via USB. There are no products that I am aware of that would facilitate this connectivity.


text:
Move everything to SD card on Android Virtual Device (Emulator)
I need to do a strange task. I want to move whole android system to external SD card on Android Virtual Device. I need to do this, because android emulator, emulates SD commands, only for external card image. And I want to get SD commands trace, during Android Virtual Device usage.
To be more precise: I want to move at least /system and /data folders to external storage. In such way, that system could still work fine =)
Thank You!

To move some of system folders (/system or /data), to external emulated SD card, you need to do following:

Firstly, /data contents (for example) should be placed on sdcard. Initially they are loaded by emulator from userdata.img file.
So you need to copy userdata.img ($EMUPATH/system-images/android-19/armeabi-v7a/userdata.img) contents to sdcard.iso. $> dd if=userdata.img of=sdcard.iso
I assume, that android virtual device is created. To change boot configuration, you will need to change fstab.goldfish file on ramdisk.img. If it is Android 4.4 AVD, then ramdisk.img could also be find at $EMUPATH/system-images/android-19/armeabi-v7a/

Create a temporary folder, say ramdisk-ext $ mkdir ramdisk-ext
Change directory to ramdisk-ext $ cd ramdisk-ext
Extract the ramdisk.cpio in the ramdisk-ext folder $ gunzip -dcv ../ramdisk.img | cpio -idm
Modify fstab.goldfish $ gedit fstab.goldfish in such way:

String #6 from "/dev/block/mtdblock1    /data ..." to "/dev/block/mmcblk0    /data ..."

Create new ramdisk $ find . | cpio -H newc -o | gzip -9 >../ramdisk_new.img

Everything is done, now you need to start the emulator, with your new ramdisk and custom sdcard:$ ./emulator -avd $AVDNAME -sdcard sdcard.iso -ramdisk $EMUPATH/system-images/android-19/armeabi-v7a/ramdisk_new.img

P.S. Notice that in this example you can move only one of such folders (/system or /data). Maybe it could be changed, by creating sdcard image with several partitions.


text:
3g direct between two android devices
Is it posible to connect two or more android devices using 3g bypassing the provider infrastructure. Or in other words is it posible for a android mobile phone to recieve the sending signal directly from a other phone and take action on that. Can I add a private Sim card to realise this connection between a set of phones using a duals SIM phone.
Phone B is recieving the send signals from Phone A using a second SIM card adjusted for the good frequencies. By exchaning the role of master and slave we can transmit and recieve signals in the G3 band. To be legal we need a subscrition for A and |B
Is it posible in Android to realize this senario. Swiching between two connections in the same phone?
Phone  1
slave  SIM A_______send
master SIM B____   |
                |  |
                |  |
                |  |
Phone 2         |  |
slave SIM  A____|  |
Master SIM B_______|recieve

No, you can't do this, on Android or any other kind of mobile phone. It's just not how the 3G network works. Each operator's 3G network runs on a frequency band allocated to them by the government. The cell transmitter runs on its own hardware that your phone doesn't have, with a high-power radio transceiver that needs more power than your phone has.


text:
Voicemail app that doesn't require carrier voicemail
I'm looking for a voicemail app that will answer my phone after a configurable number of rings and route the caller to voicemail stored on the Android device.
I don't have voicemail with my carrier.
I'm not interested in features of Google Voice because it seems to piggyback on real voicemail and also I don't want to port my phone number to another service if indeed that is required.
(Note: I remember doing something similar on a PC desktop years ago when the phone line was hooked into the modem, the computer would act as voicemail.)

Google voice doesn't piggy back on real voicemail, it replaces it.

Reference material from G+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JohnKaneD/posts/1NT3gSj78QK

Try if any of these apps work for you. It would depend on your phone, as android has limited support for total offline answering machine capabilities due to technical barriers. See this thread on XDA. If your phone isn't compatible, you might have the following issues:

Not be able to record calls
Record the conversation at only one end
Very low sound quality or volume

Google voice doesn't depend on your voicemail. The calls are recorded on google voice's servers.

Youmail and PF Voicemail+ are the two apps that come close to your requirement. please try. youmail has lot of options and features. There is one more "hullomail smart voicemail".
After going through many posts, youmail has been voted highly by users. PF voicemail + offers you transcripts of those voicemail but you have to check if there are any charges.

YouMail Voicemail & Call Blocker | Apps in Google Play
HulloMail Smart Voicemail | Apps in Google Play

Please note that some of these apps will require you to do the forwarding to their servers.
It also depends on where you are located and mobile you are using. Can you mention what type of mobile you are using? It will help in knowing whether there are any limitations involved.


text:
Google+ Auto Backup: How to reject non-camera photos?
Google+ Auto Backup service backs up all photos which includes downloaded pics from Web, Facebook, 500px etc. I just want it to backup my cam pics only.
How to do this? I am unable to find any option in Settings for that. Is there a directory flag or other methods to do that?
OS: Android 4.4.2 KitKat

If you have Google's Photos installed, then the following will do the same:
Bring out menu in Photos.
Select On Device.
Uncheck the blue cloud icon for any folder you do not wish to sync with.

There is a setting "Back up local folders" within the Auto-backup settings which when checked will upload any images/videos on your device. If you uncheck this setting it should only backup the camera folder.
Screenshots from Google+ v4.3.1.63038142 running on my Nexus 5:

click image for larger version

I am unable to see this option.


text:
Restore app data from a copied 'com.company.appname' folder
Before wiping my Nexus 7 (2012), I created an app backup using the Backup function of the Nexus Root Toolkit (v1.8.2). This produced a large .ab file.
I want to restore a single app to the newly back-to-stock tablet.
I extracted the .ab file to a TAR using Droid Explorer, and from that, extracted the particular 'com.company.appname' folder. I tried simply copying that into the sdcard/Android/data/ folder, but the app doesn't see the data.
Any ideas?
P.S. I'm on Android 4.4 KitKat and trying to restore SeriesGuide (com.battlelancer.seriesguide)

Very likely, you need to adb push them to the appropriate folder in your data/ partition, which is different than your /sdcard/ partition.

Right, if the app isn't seeing the data then it's probably using the main /data partition instead of the SD card's data folder.


text:
Unreliable Wifi on Cyanogenmod
I installed Cyanogenmod 11 on an HTC One. There are a few quirks, but mostly everything works. The only real annoying thing is wireless doesn't work reliably.
I have a Netgear N900 wireless router running DD-WRT, and the phone can connect to it, but after a few minutes of inactivity on my phone, the wireless just stops and Cyanogenmod shows the connection as "Saved, secured with WPA2" but I'm unable to bring anything up over wifi. Clicking the wifi point and selecting "Connect to network" does nothing. The only workaround I found is to disable and then re-enable my wifi, and then it automatically reconnects and wifi works.
I confirmed I have "keep wifi active when idle" checked in my settings.
Is this a bug in CM, or do I have something misconfigured? How can I fix it?
Edit: As a workaround, I found the problem disappears if I configure the DD-WRT router to N-only instead of the default auto/mixed mode. I'm still unsure if there's a bug in CM that prevents it from working with the router in auto mode, of if DD-WRT has a bug in it that causes devices to disconnect.

The behaviour you describe could plausibly be caused by a bug in the Wi-Fi software on your phone, if sleeping the Wi-Fi transceiver makes it forget something necessary to make the connection work (such as the WPA keys).
This is the kind of thing you have to expect when you use a pre-release version of a ROM. Nightly builds simply aren't suitable for day-to-day use, because it's a bit of a lottery what bugs will have been added from one build to the next. Switch to a stable build instead.

I agree. Unfortunately, there is no stable CM11 build for the HTC One, and CM11 is the only build that supports it, even though its been available for over a year.

I solved it by disabling WiFi password on my router.

I was able to fix the issue at work by deleting some old wifi access points and rebooting. It may have been I had too many saved. I will try to see if it's fixed for good when I get to my home wifi

Is this a bug in CM, or do I have something misconfigured ?

Ans : This is because probably you are using Nightly build.

How can I fix it?

Ans : No you can't.
Piece of advice : 1. Wait for next build.2. Avoid nightly builds.

authors: Åbbåś Håľýåý Šømăĺî Stars


text:
contact data transfer mobile to mobile
How do I transfer my contact details from one mobile to other mobile
Samsung S3 to Sony Experia P.
I am using both mobiles and want to have contact on both mobiles.

possible duplicate of How do I transfer contacts from one phone to the other without a SIM card?

@LieRyan In my opinion the suggested duplicate deals more with transferring the contacts as a one-shot method, whereas this question is more "sync" than "transfer".

You can use the "Google Contact Sync", an built-in synchronization-mechanism and some of the basic-functionality of android.
More here: http://www.google.com/sync/index.html

Another option would be to export your contacts (tap the Menu button in the Contacts app then look for Export), transfer Contacts.vcf to the other device, then import.


text:
Unlocking Bootloader of HTC One X on Windows 8.1 / Linux Ubuntu
How to unlock the bootloader of HTC One X on Windows 8.1? Since I want to install MIUI Rom.
When I install the latest version of "HTC Sync Manager", It shows me that the Windows 8.1 is not competible with this software. Therefore, the command fastboot oem get_identifier_token does not work because of the incompatible HTC Driver.
I am wondering whether I can unlock my HTC One X on my Linux Ubuntu? If yes, how to do it? Do I need to install HTC Driver on Linux Ubuntu?
Thank you for your attention.

Linux is absolutely the best way to do this sort of things. This is a thread on xda about how to set the development environment on Linux Ubuntu in particular http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2302780
Follow these steps and you'll have fastboot command set up to do the unlocking process. Plus you won't need any driver to let the system recognize the device.

authors: Виталий Железняк


text:
How can one add attachments from Google Drive in Gmail android app?
In menu to attach file, it sometimes shows Drive as an option under recent if you have opened Drive recently. But other times it doesn't show Drive as an option to select from and then I couldn't find a way to select Google Drive. I am using Nexus 4.

You could open Drive-App, select the file you want to send, long-press on it and choose "Send".
There you can choose gmail and it automatically creates a new mail with the file attached.

Sometimes it doesn't show an option to open Drive as I have mentioned in the question details.

Yes, and as I mentioned, you dont open Gmail and press on the "Attach"-Button, but you open Drive and send it from there.

authors: Татьяна Полянская


text:
How to recover deleted photos on Nexus 4?
I accidentally deleted photos on my Nexus 4. There was no auto backup. I searched and found some software to recover photos, but none of them seem to work. Is there a way to get them back?

Please note: It is advised to follow this method only if you know what is ROOT and agree that you are doing this at your own risk. I do not hold credit for this technique as this method has been taken from here and 100% credit goes to the respective author.
Requirements:

A Rooted Android phone.
BusyBox installed on your device.
Cygwin installed to [c:\cygwin] with pv and util-linux from the repo. Make sure to open Cygwin once to make sure that the /bin folder is created. Also, I made a folder at [c:\cygwin\nexus] to put the exported .RAW file.
Netcat (download the ZIP file and extract nc.exe to [c:\cygwin\bin]).
ADB (make sure adb.exe is in your path).
Enable USB debugging in your device.
For Android 4.0 and above do it from: Settings > Developer Options > USB debugging.
For Android 2.3 and below do it from: Settings > Application > Development > USB debugging.
VHD tool Put the VhdTool.exe file in [c:\cygwin\nexus].
Piriform Recuva or your favorite data recovery tool, (it appears Recuva only finds the more common file types like images, videos, etc. Those were the file types in which I was interested. If you are after more exotic file types perhaps you might share the software you used).

The process in short:

This has been tested on Samsung Galaxy Nexus though this should work for ANY phone with Internal Memory.
We will be using a Windows 7 machine to:
back up the entire internal memory partition to your computer as a single, massive .RAW file, convert the .RAW file output to a VHD, mount the VHD as a disk in Disk Manager,
scan the attached VHD volume for files that have been deleted and recover them.

Actual Work to do:

It is recommended that you choose to recover your entire memory block instead of just the data partition. In this case that is mmcblk0. For our purpose here we are seeking to recover the userdata partition: /dev/block/mmcblk0p12
Turn on your phone.
Connect the phone in ADB mode.
Unlock the screen.
Open a Cygwin terminal and enter (This assumes your BusyBox installation is at [/system/bin/busybox]. It may be at [/system/xbin/busybox]):

adb forward tcp:5555 tcp:5555
adb shell
/system/bin/busybox nc -l -p 5555 -e /system/bin/busybox dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p12

Open another Cygwin terminal and enter:

adb forward tcp:5555 tcp:5555
cd /nexus
nc 127.0.0.1 5555 | pv -i 0.5 > mmcblk0p12.raw

For 16GB or 32GB internal memory this process is going to take 2 to 3+ hours respectively.
We need to convert the .RAW file to a virtual hard drive. VhdTool.exe basically just puts a VHD footer on the end of the .RAW file. Open a Windows command prompt, go to [c:\cygwin\nexus], and type:

VhdTool.exe /convert mmcblk0p12.raw

Now we need to mount the VHD in Windows. Select the Start button-->right-click Computer-->select Manage.
Select Storage-->Disk Management.
In the menu select Action-->Attach VHD.
For Location enter [c:\cygwin\nexus\mmcblk0p12.raw] and select the OK button.
Right-click on the name (e.g. "Disk 1") to the left of the Unallocated space and select Initialize Disk.
Select the GPT (GUID Partition Table) radio button and select the OK button.
Right-click on the Unallocated space and select New Simple Volume...
In the Wizard select Next>, leave the default for the volume size, select Next>, select a drive letter (e.g. K), select Next>, MAKE SURE to select the 'Do not format this volume' radio button, select Next>, select Finish.
A box will pop up asking you to format the drive. You DO NOT want to format the drive at this time.
Right-click on the RAW space and select Format... MAKE SURE to change the File system to FAT32. Set the Allocation unit size dropdown to 'Default.' MAKE SURE that the Perform a quick format checkbox is CHECKED. You do not want to overwrite the entire new drive with all zeroes (0's) and destroy your data. Quick Format means that it will only attempt to destroy the index for the drive by establishing a new index. Without this box checked the Windows operating system will write zeroes (0's) across the entire volume, potentially destroying your data. Select the OK button.
A box will pop up saying that Formatting this volume will erase all data on it. That would be doubly true if you actually didn't check the 'Perform a quick format' checkbox. Double check that you actually did check the box and select the OK button. (Don't worry. This essentially leaves the volume in the exact same state that your phone's internal memory is living in right now: there is data on the drive...you just can't see it. It's coming back, I promise!)
Open the Recuva application. In the wizard select the 'Next >' button. Select the 'Other' radio button and select Next >. Select the 'In a specific location' radio button and enter: k:\ (assuming K is the drive letter you chose...) Select the Next > button. Select the Enable Deep Scan checkbox. This is the magical setting that finds files that have been deleted...but not really deleted. Select the Start button.
Finally the application may take about an hour to do the 'Deep Scan.' It's time for more laps around the house! Once the application has returned its results you can choose which files to recover using the checkboxes. Select the 'Recover...' button and choose the location to which you wish to output your files.

OLD ANSWER:
It was about restoring files via Yodot Android Data Recovery software.
This DOES NOT WORK for Nexus 4 or any such devices which use MTP for managing files on PC.


text:
Samsung galaxy S3 continuously downloading on gprs
My mother in laws phone continuously downloads from GPRS, seemingly even when wifi is available.  Usually the downloads are very small and in multiples over a short period.  occasionally they are much larger, up to 50MB.
The records from the provider indicate that some of these downloads are from Facebook and youtube, however she has not used these apps or logged in.
The downloads are occurring so often that she is getting warnings that she will exceed her quota (200MB/month).
She has set apps so they don't update automatically. Also she syncs three gmail accounts to the phone.
Does anyone know what these frequent downloads may be, and also if it is possible to limit them to only when wifi is available.
Thanks

If she does not use GPRS, then best is to disable mobile data usage
But if you do not want to completely disable GPRS, then here is an article which shows how can you limit mobile data usage.
disable or limit mobile data usage
here are couple of apps to monitor and control you mobile data usage
control mobile data app

i also had similar problem, but now i will definately use this android app for mobile data monitoring and excess usage

authors: አፈ ወርቅ ዲ.ሠሎሞን