text:
Download Manager causes high CPU usage on Motorola Razr with stock Android 4.0
My Razr (Stock ROM 4.0) is very very hot. After some research I found com.android.providers.downloads is responsible, since it's using about 60% of CPU.
I have tried killing it, and it respawns, however what I found to work (for two hours) is clearing the cache and data of the process, and killing it, however something is triggering again.
P.S. I'm not downloading anything, and all my apps are updated (so Play Store is not trying to download updates).
If I freeze this process, the Gmail app crashes.

Upgrade to the latest CM.

Actually, I want to do that, however there's no stable release for the xt910, a lot of bugs have been reported :S

Maybe there is an app that monitors network traffic. You could see if some apps try to download a lot in the background and uninstall those, otherwise you could try a factory reset.

Is it possible that you have copied A LOT OF files into your sdcard? System maybe try to scan them.

Nothing worked... finally installed a custom build of CM10 into my razr, camera/flash doesn't work but the phone is stable so far (I have tested it for 2 weeks), my advise is to just format android phones with this problem or install a known ROM.


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Calendar widget showing the wrong event dates
Am I the only one experiencing this? The calendar widget is showing the correct day but the event shown next to it is in 2 days and it shows for tomorrow. Perfect example (see attached image): today is 2 November 2012 and daylight savings time in on 4 November 2012; yet it says it will occur tomorrow.
My phone specifics:

HTC Inspire 4G
Android version 2.3.5
HTC Sense 3.0

Screenshot (click image to enlarge)

Could be a bug in the app, but I rarely use the calendar widget.
It is also possible that this has been casued by the time change, or that you are in the afternoon.
However, you could try erasing all data on the app, and clearing it's cache, then trying again.

It's not because of the time change because it's been going on for a long time with many events.

I've cleared all the data for the calendar and widget, and it worked fine for about 12 hours. Now it's back to the same issue. Then I cleared it again, but this time won't even show the right time at all.

The issue is still persistent.

This is most likely a bug since it's been persistent for a very long time.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Force close messages; no access to phone
Have only had my new Samsung Galaxy Ace GT-S5830i one week and while playing "Flow Free" game downloaded from Play Store my phone suddenly switched off and from then on constant "Force Close" messages appeared. I have no access to my phone. How can I get my phone back?

Safe Mode
You could try to boot your Ace into "safe mode", as described e.g. in the article SAFE MODE On Samsung GALAXY ACE:

Switch off the phone by pressing on the Power button.
Turn the phone back on, while it is turning on press and hold the Menu button.
Continue to hold the Menu button until you see the Home screen. On the home screen you see it say Safe Mode on the left hand corner.

Now that you are in Safe Mode you can go and remove any buggy apps that you don't want to keep. To exit safe mode after your cleanup:

Turn off the phone by pressing the Power button.
Pull out the battery. Wait for 30 seconds.
Put the battery back in.
Start up the device and see if the Safe Mode on the left hand corner has disappear. If it's not there then you have successfully started your phone in the standard mode.

Factory Reset
If that does not work out, there's always the factory reset. But be aware that this removes all your data plus the apps you installed yourself!
How to perform a factory reset on the Ace is e.g. described at hard-reset.com:
Press and hold the Home plus Power buttons simultaneously, or try Volume-Up + Home + Power together.
Of course there's also a menu for this -- but as you wrote you have no longer access to your phone, above key combinations are the only things left working.

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


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Android Experiments drain battery
While I am experimenting with Android I found it annoying that the device even if is plugged in on the PC using a USB is discharging.
THe problem is that I am performing some intensive experiments and are consuming a lot of power. (processing, screen, internet)
I know that every USB port or USB HUB port offers 500mA power in each connected Device and PowerTutor shows that the device consumes near 800-900mA thus it drains the battery.
Can you please suggest me some options?
For example:
Are there any USB Hubs offering 1A as output?
Can I use a dual usb cable instead? The same usb cables used to power hard drives?

You can use Wireless ADB (note: root required) to connect over wifi and then you can plug in your device to the power socket.

That link to Wireless ADB is broken.

hm - it's working for me - it may be country specific.  Regardless, there seem to be multiple 'wireless adb' apps around https://play.google.com/store/search?q=wireless+adb&c=apps


text:
change system wide the connect timeout
Is it possible to change the android equivalent of sun.net.client.defaultconnecttimeout?
Many applications are not working correctly over an high latency edge connection, but work with H+ or WiFi. So maybe increasing the timeout globally could help. Is that possible?


text:
Android “fake having a locked phone” - Galaxy SII
I have a work-mandatory email-app on my phone that won't work unless it detects that you have a passcode locked phone.
I have a rooted Galaxy S2 Android phone (Cyanogenmod 10) and am wondering if there are any apps or ways of tricking my phone into thinking it has a 4 digit pin code when it doesn't.
Thanks!

Why are you trying to bypass your workplace policy? Wouldn't it be better to have a chat with the sysadmin and see if you both can arrive at something that both of you are happy with.

If you enter your pin code wrong too many times, it factory resets your entire phone... which happened to me 3 days ago. It was one of the Sys Admin that suggested I could do this (I know him as a friend... he would not have said it while at work).

"Don't do that" :P

CM's profiles may work for you. I use it for circumventing the mandatory lockscreen if a certificate is installed (CaCert's regular SSL root CA here).
To set it up tap disabled in:
settings->profiles->default->lockscreen
For others: This only works with the alternative CyanogenMod aftermarket firmware.

Thank  you very much! :) settings->profiles->default->lockscreen->disabled does the trick.

Thank you so much! I went with the "insecure" setting, because I like having to swipe to unlock. I just didn't want to have to enter a PIN.


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how do I know if I uninstalled something I shouldn't have
Epic sph-d700 rooted 2.3.6 kernel v 2.6.35.7 FC09
I wanted to free up RAM by removing some system apps.
after removing 7 of them my system started having unexpected errors.
Google play updates wont install.
Is this repairable with clockwork mod or Odin?

First of all, if you are not 100% sure which system apps you can uninstall, it is better to freeze them first (which is supported by e.g. Titanium Backup and other apps). So if something starts behaving weird, you can simply unfreeze those apps again.
As you probably haven't just frozen the resp. apps, let's move to the second option: You hopefully made a Nandroid Backup before starting to tamper with the system? In that case, you can restore this backup via ClockworkMod. Or if you at least backed-up those apps you uninstalled (e.g. with aforementioned Titanium Backup), you can use this to restore them again.
If this is no option neither, all what remains is to check for a fresh firmware image to flash -- either stock or custom ROM.


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Specs/Stats displaying on Homescreen on Galaxy S II 4.0.4
Having the following showing up on all home screens in the background. Any ideas why?

Check out your Live Wallpaper. Does restarting help?

To me this looks like a widget displaying system information. Tap-and-hold it, a trashcan icon should appear on your screen (most likely on the top, and most likely marked red). Drag the widget onto it, and let it go. This will remove it from the homescreen.

Looks like Factory Test Mode. You can remove it, but you need to have root access.
If you have root, do these:

Open a terminal emulator (e.g. Android Terminal Emulator)
Type su
Then enter the following after the #
echo -n ON > /efs/FactoryApp/factorymode

Yes, ON is the correct setting to turn it off. Exit the terminal, and reboot the phone.
Reference.
If that doesn't work, you may need to re-flash the ROM.


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LG Nexus 4 compatibility Airtel India

Possible Duplicate:
Can I use my device on a different carrier?

I plan to purchase the LG Nexus 4 from the US on the release date (13th November). The phone claims to be unlocked. But will it be compatible with Airtel in India for both data and call services?

Yes, it will be compatible. Google has already mentioned that it will be compatible with over 200 networks worldwide. That includes Airtel India as well.
I have bunch of friends who are using Galaxy Nexus in India. Voice calls and 3G/2G works smoothly. The same should be true about Nexus 4 as it is also an unlocked device like the Galaxy Nexus.


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Installing Android apps from Samsung store to non Samsung Android device like htc phone
I have a htc phone, I want to install few apps from Samsung market.
But users of htc can not download apps from Samsung Market, Samsung Market is only available to Samsung devices.
Does anyone know how to install applications from Samsung store to HTC mobiles.

I've successfully modified the build.prop on my Samsung Vibrant to mimic that of the i9000, allowing me to get i9000 apps from the Samsung app store.  So something similar might work for you.  See How can I modify the phone model in build.prop to get unsupported apps?

Don't understand. I paid for an app from the Samsung market but the app has no Samsung specific functionality, it's also available in the Google play store. I'm not paying again for an app I already own, short of just copying the files off my tablet (via adb, the display stopped working) what am I supposed to do? I can't even find the Samsung Market!

@Michael You should post a new question with details specific to your situation.


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Samsung Galaxy Nexus 4.1.2 Unable to connect to mobile network
I recently purchased the handset from the US and currently using it in Vodafone (India) . I upgraded the firmware to 4.1.2 it was working fine and then all of a sudden I am not able to connect to any mobile network.
My IMEI number / Baseband version all say unknown
Is there anybody facing the same problem? Any tips to troubleshoot this problem?
Thanks

Connect the thing to a pc with usb and do adb logcat (maybe you need the sdk before).

Thanks, I am not sure how but after a battery pull and a reset to factory default settings, it seems to be working again!

Something in your settings probably got messed up. BTW: You might want to add this as answer, so other "searchers" easily see there is a solution.

(Per originator in comments:)
Pulled battery and also did factory reset. All now works.


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My Google Nexus S won't connect to network
I have a problem with my Google Nexus S. Yesterday I was out in the city and my battery meanwhile died and the phone shutdown. The next day when I charged the phone, I  noticed that it is showing no signal even when there is signal. I've turned it off and on a couple of times. I also tried a different SIM from a different service and it didn't show signal either! Also I tired those SIM cards on a different phone and it works.
The big mystery for me is that until the battery died yesterday I made calls from this phone with no problems, and until now I never had problems with this phone.
When I go to Settings -> About phone -> Status, I see that Network shows unknown and Service state shows out of service. Is there anything I can try resetting?

Yes I did, but with no result

Yea.. I realized that later, as you mentioned that you tried different SIM as well. Obviously, you had to remove SIM and battery. Silly me!

Your SIM tray may have some problems. See if the connectors (not sure what it's called) are not bended. Try lifting the connectors up a bit. This solves problem in most cases. Also, blow some air to de-dust it.

I also had this problem few months ago, but it was fixed very quickly with an update from Google (I was lucky with that update from Google). From what I observe (from my experience) at Google Nexus S, this problem appears when battery die and the phone it shutdown. And I guess that this a soft problem.

Ohk.. If that is the case then a reset might help. You can also try flashing a custom ROM, if you are comfortable.

Have you been able to solve your issue? If so, how?


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Android 4.0 apps crash on keyboard show
I have Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 with Android 4.0.3. Since few hours ago, applications started to crash when they try to show keyboard... I don't know what can be the reason of these crashed, I was just typing in GTalk when it first appeared. And it doesn't matter what keyboard to use (Samsung or custom keyboard). Also I can not even send report, because report tool crashes too.
I have no idea where to write, what to google and what to do. Can you help me?

Install aLogCat from your PC (you have to login with your Google account to see your tab) and search your device 's log for pointers. You can also try to clear application data in the app settings for your keyboard, but first see what your logs say.

aLogCat says that the problem is in the clipboard... I am novice to android and still don't know what to do :)
http://imageshack.us/f/16/screenshot2012110401022.png/

Seems like this is a known issue for a proprietary Samsung TouchWiz addon (see XDA and a recent user review for this app. You might also circumvent the built-in clipboard manager by installing a 3rd party one. If that also doesn't work: Try to clear the app data for an app called 'android.sec.clipboard.ClipboardExmanager' or 'android.sec.clipboard'. BTW: Is your tab rooted (XDA has a solution then)

PS: I found this by googling for the first error output from your logs (failed to obtaining clipboardEx service) to find all those hints.


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Why do some apps get frozen every time I reboot?
After rooting my Galaxy Nexus (international GSM version), I looked around a bit with Titanium Backup and found several system apps that were frozen. Among them are: Google Earth, Google Play Books, Google Play Magazines, and Google Wallet.
I thawed them and found that Google Play Books and Magazines wouldn't work here in Korea, and Wallet seemed to assume that it was in the US. Meanwhile, Google Earth worked just fine.
When I rebooted my phone, the apps I'd unfrozen were frozen again. I thawed Google Earth again and didn't bother with the others.
More recently, Google Play Books has magically thawed itself and Google Play (both the app and the web interface) spam me with promos for books in a language I don't read (Korean), despite the fact that my phone is set to English.
Google Earth still tries to hide on every reboot.
Why are these system apps doing this? If they're part of the ROM, they should be available at all times, right? I can kind of understand hiding apps that don't work outside the US (like Google Wallet), but why hide Google Earth? It's relevant worldwide by its very nature.

Its related with your rooting method. Did you just flash exploited system partition?

My guess: system partition already has frozen apps and this partition is restored everytime you reboot.

@SachinShekhar: This is a Galaxy Nexus so there's no need for an exploit in order to root it. And Google Play Books used to be constantly re-frozen, but now it isn't. So there's something more going on.

Some Google services "freeze" if you are in an unsupported country when you first setup your phone (Books/Movies/Sound Search/Magazines/Wallet). This is done once on the first configuration. So if you setup your phone in the US then traveled, the apps would not freeze. I am unaware of any configuration file you can manually edit to remove this, if you are willing to do so, you may format your phone then connect through a US ip address on first setup. [NOTE: This may not be the best method, and it may not be approved by Google, and may lead to loss of data if you don't backup]

Actually, that's not quite accurrate. Apps can automatically unfreeze themselves. And there are many possible ways for the phone to determine its country: IP addresses are one (though I don't think I can set up a VPN at the first boot screen), GPS and WiFi data is another, and the SIM card is still another.


text:
Are there any window managers for Android?
I once saw a YouTube video where someone had hooked up a bluetooth mouse and keyboard to a Galaxy Note and was manipulating apps like on a desktop computer, where each app had window decorations and multiple apps could be visible at once.
I would like to have such a window manager (preferably not requiring any external devices) for my Galaxy Nexus. There are occasionaly situations where it'd be helpful to be able to see two apps at once.
For example, I might receive complex data in an email that I want to input into another app. However, Gmail doesn't allow you to copy text from an email (which is just rediculous). So, I have to remember a little bit, switch apps, type it in, switch apps again, etc. It would be much better to be able to put my phone in landscape mode, fire up the window decorations, and tile the two apps side by side so I can see the email address at the same time I'm entering data in the other app.
I've searched for a window manager for Android, but I can't find anything, despite the video I saw. Does anyone know of one?

To copy text from an email (or most anywhere), you can long-press on it to get the copy/paste popup.  A "window manager" in Android parlance is the "launcher".

Scott probably rather refers to "floating apps" (like AirTerm and OverSkreen). Or to the Chameleon project.

@P.T.: Actually, the standard method you refer to for copying text does not work in the Gmail app. I've tried it many times.

@Izzy: The floating apps you refer to (AirTerm and OverSkreen) have the look I'm wanting. But I'm looking for something that will work with any apps, as I think those apps wouldn't enable me to place two different apps side by side.

What version of the Gmail app? Is the text in an image? Gmail most certainly does support copy/paste functionality as long as you're copying text (not text within an image); I just did it on my Galaxy Nexus, Gmail 4.1.2. It's a system-wide function, apps don't need to do anything special. If it's not working like that then you may have an issue of some kind to take a look at.

@ScottSeverance sorry, but AFAIK this functionality currently needs to be supported by the app itself, by using the appropriate API/Framework (see developer guide, search for "floating" there).

The window manager you saw is part of Samsung Android 4.x O.S. and only works on Samsung Tablets.
There are lots and lots of differences between Samsung Android and Google Android.
I did a quick comparison for the Galaxy S3 smartphone:
here

Please don't "sign" your answers. Also, be careful about shilling your blog posts; it looks spammy.


text:
Connection Time Out error while accessing Google Play Store in Samsung I9070 Galaxy S advance
I have bought a Samsung I9070 Galaxy S advance. Whenever I enter Play Store (Google Play Store Version 3.4.7), it displays waiting sign and then Connection Time Out Error is shown. I use mobile data connection to access the network. Please help me to solve this asap
Phone Details:

Device: Samsung Galaxy S Advance
    Android Version: 2.3.6
    Baseband version: I9070DDLI1
    Kernel version: 2.6.35.7-1194396  dpi@DELL163#2  SMP PREEMPT Thu Sep 13 22:11:28 KST 2012
    Build Number: Gingerbread.DDLI1

Can you browse to websites via the browser successfully?  Can you browse secure (https) sites via the browser?  Can you use other Google account applications (like GMail)?

Yes, I have the same problem. Just bought a new Galaxy S Advance, 2.3. I'm not able to download any app. I tried to clean the cache and fix the time, doing a factory reset but nothing helped. I think the cause is that my same gmail is linked with my old Android phone as well as this new one. Now I'm going to upgrade to ICS version soon, hope that will help me. Good Luck

Same issue on a Colours ShineII.

I have the same issue. I have try everything in this post but nothing has worked so far.

I had the same problem after upgrading my Android version. I fixed it by clearing the Google Play store cache and data. Go to Menu Settings > Applications > Google Play Store and click  the Clear cache button and Clear data button.

That didn't work for me on a Colours Shine II.

Make sure date and time are correct.
That will more than likely fix your problem.

Go to settings-> mobile network -> access point name
Try the one without the proxy.
It may resolve the issue.


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What's the secret behind super durability of latest ADW Launcher EX?
Update of ADW Launcher EX is back again after a long time. It brings lot of visual tweaks as well as performance boosts. After few days of experience, I have encountered one even more interesting thing: I am unable to kill it by increasing system load (which is a very good thing).
When foreground apps are launched, Android kills background apps based on minfree values. The apps having running services and notification get higher priority than normal background apps, but get lesser priority than foreground apps.
Latest version of ADW Launcher EX has a running service (but no higher priority running notification) which is same as old versions and other launcher apps. I have used Go Launcher EX, LauncherPro, old version of ADW Launcher EX etc. All get killed when heavy foreground apps are launched, but latest version of ADW Launcher EX isn't getting killed. Instead, foreground apps are being killed when system load is high.
Previously, hot reboot was also able to kill ADW Launcher EX, but now even that one fails.
What's the magic behind all these? I am just curious...

You mean the oom_adj value? As described in Taming the OOM killer?

@Izzy No. oom_adj can't be the case because ADW Launcher EX doesn't request root privilege at all.

It would be interesting that you say what version of Android you run, because the task management policies can vary a lot on that front

@rds Same experience on GB & ICS both..

The question is no longer valid for latest version of ADW Launcher EX..

This question appears to be off-topic because it is not about a problem to be solved.

Apps can obtain higher privileges. For example 3G watchdog (a data usage monitoring app) requests users for higher privileges so that it cannot be killed. It may be the same case with ADW launcher.

Does it require root to set the thread of said app to a higher privilege?


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Link contact to Twitter handle
Is there something I can put into the Google Contacts entry for someone that will link it to their Twitter handle? I have tried putting “@JohnDoe” into an IM-type field I’ve named Twitter, but that didn’t do the trick.

To clarify, you want to be able to view a contact and click something to go to their Twitter page?  Have you tried a hyperlink?  Or syncing your Twitter contacts?

I was hoping for something that would link to the twitter app; and yes, I (think) I’m syncing my Twitter contacts.

Both Facebook and Twitter contact sync stopped doing anything useful sometime recently (ICS?). They no longer provide a meaningful between your phone contacts and the actions provided by those clients. I think this has to do with changes to the Android API that for whatever reason these companies have not adapted to.
There is a stop-gap solution for Facebook using a third party app such as Contact Sync for Facebook or Friends Sync* but I don't know any solution for Twitter other than the hack-it method of having a URL listed and using the web client.
* This publisher also has other sync apps for foursquare, flickr, and others.

Ad in Google contacts a field for a website.
If your lad has the twittername @abc, enter
http://twitter.com/abc
On my Android phone it opens with my twitterclient, on the PC it opens the browser.


text:
View Contact-Facebook connection on computer
Before I started using an Android phone, I had already connected my Google contacts with their Facebook profiles by including a URL-type field named “Facebook” with a link to their profiles.
The Android Contacts app was clever enough to link (many of) my Google contacts to their Facebook profiles, but this link seems to exist only in the phone, not in Google Contacts.
Is there a way to view & edit this aspect of my contacts database on my computer?

Isn't there anything in notes field of Google contacts on web?

Not where I can see it.


text:
How can I run WhatsApp so that I am always online?
How can I set WhatsApp to always run in the background? Like Skype, when I exit, it keeps me online to get calls or SMS or chat notifications.
While using WhatsApp, when I move away with the menu, it exits. How can I avoid this and tell Android that this application should always be running - so that even if it is closed it will restart the application automatically?
If anyone sends a text message, I don't want to go to all the icons and open the application several times.
Any help?

Whatsapp runs a service in the background and shows a notification if someone sends you a message. If you click on the notification Whatsapp will open itself. Is this not working on your phone?

@THelper: yes that answers it. But how can i place that notification icon always on top. Like Skype Does.

You mean, an notification icon that is always visible? You can't (at least not until the programmers at Whatsapp add such a feature).

You can't set an icon on the notification bar to "let you be online all the time", it's not user defining option. But the service is always running, like THelper said, you don't have to mind that, you'll receive the messages without the icon appearing all the time.

You can use a Modded Whatsapp such as GbWhatsapp,FMWhatsapp etc.
they have an option  to keep you always Online


text:
After flashing ROM in Odin, reboot with animation, message pop ups - processes stop
I flash  NEW ROM and after reboot, the samsung animation came up.
But there as it load there are messages saying the process stop, I press Ok and next message is another process stop - such as a.core.process, gmap amanger, etc.
Pls help

It may help if you post the exact (error) messages.

Try clearing the data (performing a factory reset) from your recovery.  Some custom ROMs need this, for whatever reason.


text:
How to install stock app on custom rom?
I flashed a custom rom but I didn't like it's default Contacts app (I prefer the stock app).
How can I install the stock Contacts app in a custom rom?
BTW the ROM I have is CM7-APOCALYPSE-FINAL

Simply copy the desired app from your favorite ROM (the apk is usually in /system/app) to your destination phone and then install it normally.

This will probably not work because the stock apps relie on the custom stock Android Framework also. Sometimes there are ported versions though. You should check XDA-Developers! Good Luck

@wayback Some apps might, but it's hard to say.

Yup this didn't work.


text:
Access my Fiancee android phone remotely

Possible Duplicate:
How do I access by android phone from web browser and control it?

I bought Galaxy S3 to my fiancee as a gift but she could not manage it and install APN and contacts and some apps, I am looking for free or commercial software or app, so I could help her managing her phone under her supervision.
Thank you guys I have to help her get internet on her phone, so we could use communications apps.
My phone calls bill is really expensive

Try Remote Web Desktop application for android:
Remote Web Desktop


text:
Can I set the alarm to stop after some time?
I’m Sabbath-observant, and in my tradition that includes not manipulating electronic devices.
I set the alarm clock on my new phone for a convenient wake-up time, and expected the alarm to eventually turn off on its own as other alarm clocks do. It didn’t; it was beeping—ten minutes on, ten minutes off—until nightfall when I could turn it off.
Is there a setting, or an alternate alarm clock app, that will turn the noise off after some specified time of being ignored?

The feature I was looking for is called (on the apps I’ve found that have it) “auto-dismiss”. I’m trying Alarm Clock Xtreme Free, which offers this feature; if I’m happy with it I’ll upgrade to the paid version.

There are a lot of alarm clocks around, and B"H one of them should solve your issue.
I'm using AlarmDroid, which in its "advanced settings" has an option saying "rings max 10 minutes" (set by default), and just below a checkmark for "change to snooze-mode afterwards" (also enabled by default) -- so you could disable snooze mode, which would solve your issue (as the alarm would automatically turn off after 10 minutes).
Though I'd prefer to have snooze mode, plus an option to say "stop the alarm after xx if the user did not respond" -- some other app may have that, or it could be requested of the developer. The argument of "shomer shabbat" may be convincing for him (as pointing to a group of interested customers which might chose his Pro version for this feature).
EDIT: while searching for something else, I just stumbled upon Shabbos Alarm. The name alone seems to answer your question, doesn't it? It allows you to...

[...] set multiple alarms, choose which ringtones you want to ring, and set how long the alarms will ring for.
  It works perfectly whether you call it Shabbos Alarm, Shabbat Alarm, Shabbis Alarm, or any other kind of Alarm for that matter :-)

Didn't try it out (yet), but thought you might be interested to hear about...


text:
Where does the 'set as wallpaper' feature save your picture in Gingerbread (2.3)?
I had an image from a website which I set as my background inside the browser. I am wondering now where I can find the image in the file system, because I can't find it online anymore. I already checked all the obvious folders including Downloads, but did not find it there. In fact there is an answer for a similar question on this forum, but that is for Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) and I am on Gingerbread, which is why that answer did not help me.

/data/data/com.android.settings/files/wallpaper. It's a PNG file and appears to be uncompressed due to the size.

how do you access that? Does it require root privilates?

I have just developed an app that can save your current wallpaper to SD, share it, ect. Furthermore it automatically saves a copy of each wallpaper you set, so you will get a history of all the wallpapers you have been using.
My app is called Wallpaper Saver, can be downloaded from Google Play and is Free!
When using Wallpaper Saver files are stored in /Android/data/dk.alroe.apps.WallpaperSaverFree/files/wallpapers. You can see the path inside settings as well. It can also sync your wallpapers with Dropbox

According to this post:

Location of Current wallpaper:

For Android 4.0 and below: Once in /,

go to /data/data/com.android.settings/files.

Find a file named wallpaper in that folder and copy it to any location you want. Rename the copied file to anything.jpg or anything.png to open it as a normal image file.

This requires root.

Welcome to the Android Enthusiasts! Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, it would be preferable to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference. Otherwise, your answer becomes useless in case the link dies.


text:
Android Jelly Bean help or user manual
Can I get inline help with functionality in my Android device? For example, my good old Nokia had a help feature, with which after selecting an item for a few seconds, it used to display the description and purpose of the selected item.
If this is not possible, where can I find a Jelly Bean user manual or documentation?

What's the purpose of the manual? I think most of the basic functionalities of the device are quite intuitive.

some of the features/settings are confusing to the new user.

which features exactly?

What model of phone do you have?

Well, I was expecting some kind of A to Z user manual for android so as to discover the functionalities that I am not aware of instead of particular feature for particular device (of course some features may vary across devices).

When you first activate an Android phone, there is a short tutorial that walks you through the home screen, adding icons/widgets to the home screen, navigating the home screen, etc. On stock android, there is also a helpful widget on the homescreen.
For many phones, there is a small booklet (often called the manual) in the box when you purchase the device. These booklets can also be found online, for example some popular Android 4.0 devices: Galaxy Nexus user guide, or Galaxy S3, or HTC Incredible. You can find manuals for your device by browsing the manufacturer's website or googling for "(device name) manual" or "(device name) user guide".
Manufacturer websites also typically have a Knowledge Base, Support Center, etc. For instance, HTC Support Center for Desire X or Samsung Support for Galaxy Note.
Finally, there are also Android StackExchange and other Android-related forums which contain lots of helpful people willing to answer your questions. If you're still unclear on anything specific, ask away!

Google Support offers some online guides. At present, the devices listed under Jelly Bean are:

Xoom
Galaxy Nexus
Nexus S
Nexus 4
Nexus 7
Nexus 10

Here's the Nexus 7 user guide in PDF format. Since it was the first device to launch with Jelly Bean and isn't hampered by manufacturer/carrier customizations, it's as close to a pure Jelly Bean user guide as there is.

There is always the Complete Android Guide, a PDF/wiki/book created by long-time Lifehacker editor Kevin Purdy.


text:
WhatsApp does not proceed and stuck at "initialising"
Whatsapp is/was down, see @wa_status for updates
Something has got my WhatsApp stuck at "Initializing" stage!
After some time it says "could not complete the initialization process. Check if Internet is connected!"
The phone is connected to the Internet and I also get messages from contacts who have messaged me but I cannot get past the initializing screen whatsoever.
Wrote to the WhatsApp team and their robot (I guess) replied saying try connecting to WiFi or reinstall or reboot and stuff.
I already tried everything!
Restarted,Formatted, Connected to WiFi, Edge, 3g... everything!
It actually started and I had to uninstall it because I suddenly got a message in the afternoon saying my backup file was corrupted.
And after that nothing is happening!!!!
What should I do now? The WhatsApp management is as it is lousy and useless. I had written to them earlier too once but they never reply!
What do I do?
I use a Micromax a52 Android 2.3.6 phone
EDIT
Whatsapp status has tweeted that there is some problem and the system is down and that they are working on it....
I had mailed them 4 times and also gave them some screenshots and also the link to this page and also tweeted to whatsapp about the problem...so it seems  the problem has been concidered and is being worked uppon! lets wait and see now

@Suraj Bajaj..Yes I did it! cleared the cache...formated the memory card...reinstalled...even factory reset the fone...downloaded the apk from their site instead of playstore..everything! from the 2 answers below it seems like there is some problem with the app...but the only question is,how can such an error come up without any official update? are there backdoors in wapp?

sorry its 2.3.6!


text:
Can't tell if HTC One V is GSM or CDMA
I recently won an HTC One V and I want to sell it, but I'm not sure what carriers it supports. I won it from an HTC stand I went to, and all they said was that the phone was unlocked so that it could be used with any carrier. How can I tell if it's CDMA or GSM? I can't remove the cover to see an ESN or HEX number, and I don't see any spot for a SIM slot. On the label of the phone it has an IMEI number, an S/N number and a P/N number. Any ideas?
I see listings on ebay that say GSM and other listing that say GSM/HSPA. How do I tell?

Community bump prevention: this question was closed because the question seems to have been abandoned (OP hasn't visited the network for more than 5 years, and no existing answers have score above 0). If anyone can evaluate the existing answers, feel free to vote accordingly and reopen the question (or mod-flag the question requesting for reopening). For anyone else having the same issue, please post a new question and refer to this question as additional context.

Based from an article on Wikipedia regarding to Electronic Serial Number (ESN),

ESNs are currently mainly used with CDMA phones (and were previously used by AMPS and TDMA phones), compared to International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers used by all GSM phones.

(Emphasis mine)
So, if there is IMEI, then it's GSM. Otherwise, it's CDMA.
Alternatively, theTuxRacer suggested on the comment

Remove the back cover on the chin. Under the "Made in China" sticker, there should be a small box which should mention something like HTC One V T320e... They are called as Primou U and Primou C for the GSM and CDMA version respectively!

GSM arena provides full description and features of most phones, you can search it.
OR
Just search for the device specification on google.


text:
How to enter CWM recovery on an encrypted Galaxy S3?
I'm trying to enter CWM recovery so that I can back up my ROM.
While rooting my S3 I could enter CWM using the instructions I was following at the time (which I no longer have around).
Since then I've used the built-in encryption feature to encrypt the device.
Now when I try to press simultaneously the volume-up, home, and power buttons - the device only turns off, and doesn't start booting again until I release all buttons and press the power button.
What are the exact instructions for entering CWM recovery on an S3, and do these differ for an encrypted device?

Encryption shouldn't have affected it.  That key combo is correct.  Have you tried after a battery pull, or while connected to USB?

I now tried after a batter pull and (on a separate attempt) while connected to USB - still no cigar.

You say that your phone turns off when entering that combination? Are you trying that combination when the phone is turned on? The phone needs to be turned off, then press that combination.

@Siebe initially I indeed tried while it was on but later realized it should be off and tried in that way -- Now I'm getting this: http://cl.ly/image/1w190J0J433f

@GJ. It seems that you dont have CWM (anymore) but the standard Android recovery tool. You should try to reflash CWM on your phone using Odin.

How to get into Recovery Mode
Unplug the USB cable.
Shut down the phone.
Hold down the 'HOME' + 'VOLUME UP' buttons and press the 'POWER' button for about 5 seconds to enter Recovery Mode.
How to get into Download Mode (eg: for Odin)
Unplug the USB cable.
Shut down the phone.
Hold down the 'HOME' + 'VOLUME DOWN' buttons and press the 'POWER' button for about 2 seconds until a WARNING! Screen appears. Press the 'VOLUME UP' button to enter Download Mode.
To get out of Download Mode, simply press and hold the power button until the phone restarts.


text:
Samsung galaxy s3 driver problem on win7 ult 64 bit machine
The Driver Problem.
When I install the drivers and restart my system it will not pick them up, I have tried USB debug mode and normal mode it still won’t work. Even multiple installs of Kies_2.5.0.12094_28_8 and it still well not pick it up?
It’s a gt-i9300 if that helps from UK Vodafone.
Any help would be great thanks and would be very thankful.

Have you tried installing the drivers from the Android SDK?

I have just tried that it is still not working and i also clicked the windows 7 driver opt when I installed the Android SDK. its still saying: USB Not Recongnized, Unknown Device Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43), i also tried debug usb mode and normal mode. Also the laptop i am using is a Dell M5040 machine just in case if theres anymore problems with this system in the future.

Interesting.  Have you been able to try a different PC?

I have tried it on an windows media center 2005 laptop and it also gave the same error, i have also tried it on a VM of windows server 2008, windows xp home with the same problem. I'm starting to think is it the encryption opt of the phones android system and micro sd that is making it to not connect as i have encryption turned on?

Try changing your usb cable. When i used the original cable i had no problems

This is the stock USB cable.


text:
Expand file sysem to entire sd card
I followed very simple instructions
http://liliputing.com/2012/03/how-to-dual-boot-cyanogenmod-7-nook-tablet-os-with-a-microsd-card.html1
for extracting cyanogenmod to an sd card for dual booting on nook.  Works great.  As instructions indicate, file system is only 4gb, even though I used a 16gb sd card.  I've googled all over the place to figure out how to expand the file system to use all avaliable storage.
My laptop is on windows.  the windows disk manager doesnt seem to know how to expand the partitions on the drive (or create a new one on unpartitioned space)
do i need to be running 'nix to manage the file system?
Is there an app on the marketplace that will manage the filesystem?
Apologies if this is a duplicate question, I did a pretty good search before posting.

You'll want Linux to manage EXT partitions for sure (although there ARE Windows tools, they're not native) but I don't know the process to do what you want offhand.

I've never worked on anything droid before, but why shouldn't there be an app that manages sd partitions?  Isn't there a full linux kernel behind droid?

Not really, Android is certainly related to Linux but a lot of things are different.  If you can find a native executable to partition the SD card that would be cool.


text:
HTC Desire - ran out of storage - can't interpret solutions offered - need help!

Possible Duplicate:
How can I free up more space on my Android (2.2 Froyo) phone?

I have been trying to understand how to solve my phone's problem by reading threads/questions dealing with this problem. However, I cannot interpret the techno-babble. Apparently, I need to 'root' my phone, but I also saw it wasn't for the 'faint-hearted,' of which I am one.
Could someone please direct me to a guide that can explain this process in the easiest terms? Where do I start, how do I proceed, what programs/operating systems do I need, etc. I don't even know what questions to ask at this point.
All I know is that my phone has progressively run out of space, despite my deleting everything I can. It's now running very sluggishly and reboots on its own, and I have to take the battery out often to reset it, etc.
I just don't have the know-how or time to sift through all the threads/websites discussing this. Can someone please help?
Thanks so much!

Is there a possibility of malware on your phone? See if you can run a scan with Antivirus Free.

I think the answers to the duplicate should help.  I've never liked HTC phones or the bloatware they load on them....

Welcome to Stack Exchange Tlwidmer. Generally speaking it's better to improve existing questions and answers rather than duplicate them, so if you don't understand the answers over at How can I free up more space on my Android (2.2 Froyo) phone? then please feel free ask questions about specific things you have a problem with. When you get to 50 reputation you will be able to add comments to request clarification.


text:
Send Navigation Audio to handset but music to bluetooth
I have a DROID 3 and use it both for navigation and listening to music in my car via Bluetooth (Ford with SYNC). In the BT profile for SYNC on my phone, I can turn off media output over Bluetooth and get navigation audio over the phone but still make calls via BT. However, I would also like to have music and podcasts play over BT but still have navigation over the phone. Sometimes I will listen to a CD or radio and still want navigation, but when media output over BT is turned on, I con't get any nav audio, since the car is not switched to the BT media mode.
In older versions of Android Nav, the audio was not over the media channel so this wasn't a problem. Is there a way to switch it back so that nav audio is ALWAYS over the handset speaker?

Are you using a custom ROM? This isn't an end all cure all but I have gotten what you wanted to work to work on the HTC Glacier using MIUI, so perhaps look into something along those lines if you're rooted?

Audio routing would have to be set in the application code itself.
However, direct audio routing is deprecated since API level 5 (Android 2.0).
Older versions of Android Navigation had this direct audio routing set to the ROUTE_SPEAKER in their application code. But the newer versions of Android have a system wide flag set with setSpeakerphoneOn or setBluetoothScoOn if it should use the speaker or bluetooth.
I'm afraid that you won't be able to change anything about your setup since it is all build into the system and application code. All sounds will be routed through the same audio output in the newer versions of Android and Android Navigation.


text:
How can I set my Galaxy S3 to vibrate when locking the screen?
My partner and I have identical Galaxy S3's.
However when my phone locks it briefly vibrates, when partner's locks it does not. What setting have I changed that makes this happen on mine and not on his?

Go to the main Android SETTINGS > SECURITY > SCREEN LOCK
Now see if there are any differences between the options as configured on your device and the other one.
Try ticking the option VIBRATE ON TAP to activate haptic feedback.


text:
Is there way to make the virtual keyboard appear over any app?
I've noticed that some apps need a keyboard to play and I was wondering if there was any way to make the virtual keyboard appear anywhere.

In many apps I can long-press the Menu button to bring up the keyboard.

isnt that what opens up google now?

@user1762507 I have no idea what that is, but probably it depends on your ROM.


text:
Any difference between the back ups made by Titanium and Nandroid?
I have both CWM and Titanium backup pro installed and will like to make a backup of my system (Xperia Neo V). However I'm torn between the two. I have about 3.6gb space left on my 14gb SD card and have move lots of apps to the card. Which option is best for me? Thanks in advance.

The two are actually quite different. Titanium backs up apps and settings only. Nandroid backs up everything including the OS. Titanium is useful when messing with apps and settings, since you have the option of restoring only what you want. Nandroid backups are largely for when you totally b0rk your phone and need to restore it to a more or less pristine state.
The biggest difference is that Titanium requires a working Android installation, while Nandroid only requires a working CWM or other custom recovery.
Just to clarify, Nandroid only backs up your /system, /data and a few other partitions. It does not backup your SD card. Titanium backup may back up some of the stuff on your SD card, but not necessarily all of it, only data that associated with an app will be backed up (and perhaps a few other things like photos and music).

If Nandroid backs up everything then I would need about 11gb free space as I have used that much out of my 14gb SD card or?

No, see edit...


text:
How can I regenerate .thumbnails folder in DCIM
I accidentally deleted the contents of .thumbnails folder in DCIM in sdcard. After deleting it I am unable to access MediaStore.Images.Thumbnails._ID however MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA is having all the images. How do I regenerate thumbnails in the .thumbnails folder to get the details of MediaStore.Images.Thumbnails._ID?
I initially had the idea that the gallery app in Android generates thumbnails in the .thumbnails folder so what I did was clear the cache of gallery app. Unmounted the sdcard and mounted it again in the hope that .thumbnail folder will have all the thumbnails when I relaunch the app
I am using HTC One V(Android version 4.0)

You answered yourself. The gallery automatically recreates the thumbnails..

Go to Setting-->Applications--->Gallery-->Clear Cache
After clearing the cache, open the gallery app, it will automatically regenerate thumbnails.

Looking for something else & came across this...
The pathway to an apps cache has changed slightly since original posting back in 2012.
In Marshmallow (at least):
Settings→Apps→Gallery→Storage→Clear Cache


text:
Corporate Email account on Cyanogenmod 7 - Encryption required
Has anyone got a corporate email account working with a server that requires Encryption.
I'm using a Wildfire with CM 7 and get the error
"This server requires features your Android device does not support"

I even upgraded to CM 9 but the Wildfire is extremely slow even before encryption (I guess it being a single-core processor) - and I left the phone overnight for encryption and it just does not complete. It shows the little green guy icon forever.
does anyone have any suggestions on whether
a) Encryption is possible in CM7. Seems not as far as I can see.
b) How to get Wildfire working with CM9 with encrypted email server access. Can I use any 3rd party app to encrypt the /data mount instead of in-built ICS encryption?

Yes. CM9 used to encrypt tablet (Galaxy Tab 10.1 wifi) without issue. Now encryption does nothing except appear to be encrypting. It is worthless.


text:
how to upgrade my android phone?

Possible Duplicate:
How do I update the OS on my device?

I've got Sony Ericsson X8 currently running android v1.6. Now I want to upgrade it to gingerbread.
Provide me some solutions...?
Thank You...

Duplicate of http://android.stackexchange.com/q/13510/7574?

XDA Developers forums is the go-to place for all things android.
Sony Ericsson X8 XDA Developers Thread


text:
Can prolonged use of the GPS cause adverse affects?
What happens when the GPS runs continuously (more than 5 hours) in an Android device? Can it cause the battery or GPS receiver to overheat? Will it be able to keep determining my location correctly the entire time?

Unless you have your phone hooked up to a car battery, your phone will run out of charge.

If you turn on GPS, Android will use it every once in a while to get a position. If you use an app that will request a GPS location continuously then the only thing that will probably happen is that you run out of battery soon. Heating should not be a problem.

Mainly there should not be any hardware problems if the unit was tested correctly.
For other information you can use this application that has also power monitoring for GPS.


text:
Specifying SD card mount options upon boot
I have an Archos 101IT with a 16G external SD card. The SD card contains one partition that is formatted as an ext3 file system. The Archos runs UrukDroid 1.6.4 (Froyo 2.2).
The Problem: When booted, the SD card is mounted with the following mount options:
/dev/block/vold/179:17 on /mnt/storage/sdcard type ext3
(rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,nodiratime,fmode=0666,dmode=0666,errors=continue,data=ordered)

The fmode and dmode options make it impossible to use file permissions, in particular it is not possible to make files read-only. This is needed by the Titanium Backup tool to protect backups from being overwritten.
I can change the mount options with a remount:
# mount /mnt/storage/sdcard -o remount,fmode=0,dmode=0

The Question: How can I have the SD card mounted with the right mount options upon boot?

Urukdroid has a special script, /system/bin/mount_sdcard.sh, that mounts the SD card upon boot. This script understands (V)FAT and EXT4. Anything else is left to the vold automounter. Archos modded vold so it could do a bit more than stock A 2.1 vold, e.g., mount EXT3 file systems.
I upgraded the file system on the SD card to EXT4, and now mount_sdcard.sh mounts the SD card upon boot with the correct mount options.
Thanks to $aur0n for helping me solve this.
Upgrading an EXT2 or EXT3 file system to EXT4 is easy, see https://ext4.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Ext4_Howto#Converting_an_ext3_filesystem_to_ext4 .

Glad you manged to fix it +1 :)

See if this helps: What's the Android equivalent of /etc/fstab?
From that answer:

All startup system mounting is done with the /etc/vold.fstab helper
  script.

You can go edit that script and modify the mount with the options you want, so you can have it like that on boot.
#######################
## Regular device mount
##
## Format: dev_mount <label> <mount_point> <part> <sysfs_path1...>
## label        - Label for the volume
## mount_point  - Where the volume will be mounted
## part         - Partition # (1 based), or 'auto' for first usable partition.
## <sysfs_path> - List of sysfs paths to source devices
######################

Or you can replace dev_mount with mount.

Yes, this is known information. But /etc/vold.fstab does not have a (documented?) means to specify mount options. It may very well be impossible to obtain the correct mount at boot time (i.e., via /etc/fstab.old) but in that case I hope there's a way to automatically execute the remount command. I did put the remount in /etc/rc.local but that didn't work, apparently the SDcard has not yet been mounted when /etc/rc.local is run.

you mean dev_mount ?

did you try to replace dev_mount with your mount command ?

Do you mean that the 'dev_mount' line in /etc/vold.fstab is just a shell command, and that I can replace it by an arbitrary other command?

I guess so, I don't have an android device with me but I hope I am not wrong.

Sorry, but "I guess so" is not sufficient for a change that may brick the tablet...

@Sciurius Then see if this can help: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/6558/how-can-i-run-a-script-on-boot

Thanks for your ongoing patience and suggestions. Unfortunately, all init scripts are run long before the process (vold?) that mounts the SD card.

@Sciurius I am sorry I couldn't do much to help.

I appreciate your efforts.


text:
SMS gone after "failed" boot due to low battery
My phone has very low battery. I powered it up and during the boot process it shuts off probably due to having no more battery.
Now I plugin the charger then I check my SMS, they're all gone.
I've been this before (being cut off during boot) no major problem and it's only now that my SMS messages are suddenly gone.
Any ideas how to fix this and what probably caused it?


text:
What's the purpose of Strobe frequency adjustment in Torch?
I have the Torch app by default in Cyanogenmod.
I was wondering what's the purpose of Strobe frequency adjustment?
I tried to play around with it and I couldn't tell what difference does it make.

Strobe light is a kind of light which goes on and off a given number of times. The inverse of the number of times it goes on and off in a second is called its frequency. Strobe lights are used to see rotating objects to give an illumination that the rotating object is stationary.
By adjusting the strobe frequency the speed of the rotating object is matched to get the desired illusion effect.
There are many uses of strobe light from testing and instrumentation to dancing!

Well I know what a strobe light is, thing is, I adjusted it so many times it doesn't make a difference. My LED light is just steady. Does it mean my device doesn't support it?

I am sorry, it was not apparent for me. AFAIK, camera's LED flash are super responsive as they burst flash. Probably our eyes can't distinguish the strobe unless the frequency is distinctively low. If you say that the LED is steady by looking at it, then you can test it against a rotating object or test again with very low frequency.

Ok I tried again after reboot. It works now.


text:
Wipe everything after failed decryption attempts, but make it usable?
I have CM10 running on my rooted Galaxy Nexus and I just enabled the disk encryption. However, I can't find any options what happens after a few failed attempts? I would like to reset and wipe my data and files so that it will be usable, but without any of my data. Cerberus is flashed, so I think I'll have a better chance at recovering my phone if it's usable and not completely locked.
I have set a profile with tasker + secure settings to shutdown after 3 failed PIN attempts (which is different than the encryption password), so I should be save there and a thief would be forced to guess my much safer encryption password.
I know that I can do it with cerberus, but only manually.
@Robert answered a similar question, that is possible with encryption, but doesn't get specific.
Bonus point: Is there any possibility to use a pattern instead of a PIN for the display lock? It's unavailable after encrypting..

Define 'usable'? Android will automatically wipe after 30  unsuccessful attempts, but this value is hard coded.


text:
Is there a way to make the Swype keyboard (or any other) auto-switch back to the alphabetic keyset when I enter a punctuation mark?
The question line pretty much says it all. Using the Swype keyboard (Galaxy Nexus, Jellybean, Swype 1.3.1.9410), is there some way/plugin/hack to make the keyset automatically switch back to the alphabetic/qwerty keyset when I enter a punctuation mark on one of the punctuation/non-alphabetic keyboards?


text:
How to make Android 2.3 to use voice recognition without the need of internet?
On my Samsung Galaxy Y Duos, GT-S6102B, you can press a button to talk something instead of writing it. It is a wonderful behavior, but it functions only when using a internet connection - well, I see it functioning only with Wi-Fi connection...
But I would like to use it offline... Any idea?

I use a third party app which can handle recorded voice tags.
I use Cyberon Voice Speed dial for which voice tags can be records for contacts or programs.
For bluetooth headset/car conenctivity i use Bluetooth Application Launcher.
This is set to open Voice Speed dialler when i press the blue tooth button to connect.  Holding the blue tooth button for 4 seconds disconnects and closes the app.  (i have to configure it futhter since disconnecting doesn;t yet hang up the phone though...)
Sorry - i just realized you needed to dictate to your phone.  Maybe there also a third pary app that does that.
Benzene

The app you recommended is only for dial some numbers.

I found "Cyberon Voice Commander", but is also paid and does not inform about use when offline...


text:
How can I use Flash Player now that it's no longer supported?
I know that Adobe Flash Player is discontinued for Android devices, but is there an alternative way to continue using Flash on an Android device?
I have the APK of Flash Player 10, but I would like to use the most recent version.

If the Play Store won't play ball, you can download the Flash Player APK from Adobe here.
Direct download links:

For Android 2.x and 3.x: Flash Player 11.1 for Android 2.x and 3.x (11.1.111.73)
For Android 4.0+: Flash Player 11.1 for Android 4.0 (11.1.115.81)

Warning: Those versions are pretty old (2013) and are no longer supported by Adobe. Therefore installing it may make your device vulnerable to attacks from the Internet.

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


text:
Using Swype, or a Swype-like keyboard, is there a way to type without lifting my finger up?
Swype is great, but I feel like it could be even faster/more fluid if you just dragged your finger over the space bar/performed some other gesture to insert a space between words, rather than having to pick up your finger. Is there any way to add functionality like this to Swype? Alternatively, are there any good gesture-based keyboards that support this?

It's recent, but SwiftKey Flow does exactly this. It's currently in beta, but seems stable and robust. It's also an excellent alternative tap keyboard if the Swype style isn't for you.

Your lifting the finger between words IS a gesture. And I guess that's the fastest & easiest one without confusing the keyboard.

I think there will probably no such thing.
The reason is that it would be to hard for the keyboard to know when you are swiping over the space bar and when not. I know it sounds simple for you, but a lot of users will swipe over the space bar even though they want the buttons on the lower row. So there will need to be some recognition over when it should be the spacebar and when not. Which is not that simple.
And as an extra point, the lifting of your finger means the end of your word. This is rather useful information that can be used for the algorithm to determine the length of the word, and the words that would fit best. And when you know the length, you have very useful information to determine the word you were probably swiping.
I guess it will take a rather intelligent keyboard for this to work. And by intelligent, I mean a keyboard that will have to do a lot of calculations for the prediction of the word (because swiping is actually predicting words). And if you need a lot of calculations when you are typing, you will be draining the battery of your phone rather rapidly. And I don't think you want your battery to be drained because you were typing something.

try this Jellybean new keyboard .
It is fast enough.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1966456

You still have to lift your fingers up.


text:
How to uninstall ice cream sandwich update on huawei ascend g300?
I have an ascend g300 from vodafone which I have unlocked and moved to another provider.
Yesterday I updated the os to ice cream sandwich following these instructions.
Since then the phone intermittently does not recognise the SD card when it wakes up from sleep. Sometimes it "prepares the SD card" and sometimes it says blank SD card or unrecognised format. Often if I restart the phone it starts working again.
The phone has also twice spontaneously restarted itself when it was supposed to be asleep.
I tried formatting the sd card in the phone and then reset to factory defaults. The phone was reset, but it didn't reformat the sd card, all my data was still there.
I'm now thinking I'd just like to uninstall the update, but how would I do that?

Might be worthwhile to read the thread at modaco

There is an official Vodafone Gingrbread downgrade here.
http://www.huaweidevice.com/worldwide/downloadCenter.do?method=toDownloadFile&flay=software&softid=NDY4ODE=

It would be quite difficult to do this.
Reason being:

It is very difficult to replace the new ICS bootloader
You would have to find the old original firmware
You would have to be rooted to be able to flash it

You would have to search forums such as XDA-Developers for the stock firmware. You may be able to find rooting instructions there as well.


text:
Is there a way to connect Acer Iconia A500 tablet to windows PC via USB as a drive, not a device?
It currently shows up as a "device", but I prefer to have it as a drive so that I can run tools like SyncToy and many others against it.

Possibly related: Drive letter for MTP connection under Windows

Download File Manager HD from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rhmsoft.fm.hd
Follow these instructions. Answer source: http://androidforums.com/2848952-post5.html

On the panel at the left tap Storage.
On the panel at the top right press the Up arrow until the first
  directory entry is asec. Now scroll down through the directory and you
  should see usb_storage. Tap usb_storage and you should see your data.

I want to access my tablet storage on a PC as a drive, NOT to see USB drive on the tablet (I am already able to that with similar file manager). The link and app seem to be doing the latter, no?

No.. sorry misunderstood your question. :S


text:
How can I remotely control my mobile without rooting it?
I have my mobile Android, iPad, typing on the small keyboards takes too long, so remotely using my keyboard is the best way for me when it comes to type something in mobile devices.
I have so far tried to use a VNC server, but they all require root, which I don't like to do.
Are there any free tools that will allow me to use my laptop to browse my Android device and type on my laptop keyboard and it will type on the Android mobile?

Any Android device that has Bluetooth functionality (probably all of them these days, aside from some cheap knock-offs) can be paired with a Bluetooth keyboard, which negates the need for remote access apps.

If you find a solution, please post it as an answer; it's perfectly acceptable to answer your own questions. Putting answers in your question is confusing and makes it essentially impossible to vote on the answer. (Also, arguably, if this is a dupe of anything it may most likely be Any VNC solutions for an unrooted device? since that also specifically asks for non-root solutions; the other actually didn't so I'm re-opening at least for now).

I make it a habit to reinstall Wifi Keyboard everytime I reflash my phone.
It doesn't require root as far as I know. Basically, you set it as your default keyboard if you want to use it. Then you will see a notification and clicking that should reveal an IP address + port to you. Open that address on a browser in your computer and you should see a big text entry  box. Whatever you type on that entry box will be sent to your phone as keystrokes. So yeah, you basically use your pc/laptop keyboard as a wireless keyboard.
It doesn't let you browse the phone remotely though, but you can use it to navigate your phone (via arrow keys). And your devices also need to be on the same LAN for the IP to work.

Just used it, looks great. Atleast no requirement to make root, but i can type from my PC. Great thanks. it works

What about AirDroid ? It does not need root access.


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Check which IPs or web-sites an app is communicating with?
Usually they do it behind the scenes. So I'd love to know where apps are actually sending data and from whom they are actually getting responses.

Some apps offer a network monitor, e.g. OS Monitor does:

As you can see in the second screenshot, it even allows you to look-up the destination and show it in a map.
Quick System Info offers a similar feature:

As you can see in the last entry of this screenshot, it even names the app which holds this connection.
These are two examples of real-time monitoring which do not require root. If your device is rooted, you might also want to take a look at DroidWall: This app offers to keep a log of all network accesses for each app. Plus, as a Firewall app, you can restrict apps to WiFi, mobile network, or even forbid them network access altogether.


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What is the Virtualizer sound effect in music players and how does it work?
I use PlayerPro to play music on my smartphone.
In PlayerPro there are "Sound Effects", which are similar to the DSP manager. One of the sound effects is the Virtualizer.
When I enable the Virtualizer, even at 1%, it really changes the way the music feels. The audio becomes more echoey, and it sounds to me like I'm closer to the music. It gives me a live concert feeling.
When I played with the Virtualizer level I noticed there's a major difference between 0% and 1%. The difference from 1% to 100% is also noticeable, but it's not even close to the drastic difference when the Virtualizer is disabled compared to when it's enabled.
What does the Virtualizer do? What is it for, really?
How does the Virtualizer work?
How does this sound effect simulate a live concert sound (at least that's what it feels like to me)?

What's really the purpose of the Virtualizer?

I am unable to understand why you've asked this. Virtualizers make music cool. Using it, users can tweak music listening experience. It enables you to experience live concert in a car, for example.

The difference from 1% to 100% is also noticeable but it's not even
  close to the difference when the Virtualizer is disabled compared to
  when it's enabled.

Its because your speakers aren't that powerful. Just connect your device to a high-end speaker/headphone & feel the changes.

How does the Virtualizer work?
  How does this sound effect simulate a
  live show music (atleast that's what it feels like to me)?

Demystify yourself when you are at a live concert. Your ear drums interface the air with special vibrations (sound waves) which gives you that feeling. At home, air hitting your ear drum doesn't have that specialty of live show. What virtualizer does is that it vibrates the air (hitting ear drum) in special way. In short, virtualizers just alter the sound in a special way.
How these algorithms work in background is out of scope of this site. To understand them, you need a strong background in Computer Science and Acoustics (Physics dealing with mechanical waves). Its thing of research. I can bet that even developers of PlayerPro haven't invested time & money to develop it. They have just used openly available libraries developed by research organizations, universities etc.

Thanks for the response. I didn't phrase myself correctly; I meant "What does it do?" and not "What is it purpose?" because I wasn't sure how to describe its effect and I thought that maybe it feels like a live concert only to me (edited the question now). Is using the Virtualizer have advantages? Because I noticed that because of its effect sometimes the vocals are louder, making the bass quieter (I haven't really tested it).

@amiregelz Yes. There are many advantages of virtualizers: I am repeating.. It enables you to experience live concert in a car, for example. If you're talking about controlling it, its deal for power listeners. Others should use presets & trial-error.

In the description of PlayerPro in Google Play this was mentioned:

STEREO WIDENING effect (virtualizer)

and a quick search on Wikipedia about what Stereo Widening is:

Stereo widening
Widening of the stereo image can be achieved by manipulating the
  relationship of the center signal M and the side signal S: M = (L +
  R)/2; S = (L - R)/2. A positive part of the side signal S is now fed
  into the left channel and a part with its phase inverted to the right
  channel. Some boomboxes feature such a process.
Another way of looking at this same effect, without extrapolating a
  center and side signal from the left and right signals, is to simply
  add the left signal, slightly attenuated and phase inverted, into the
  right channel and vice-versa. Taking this a step further, a small
  delay (20-100ms) can be added to the inverted signal before mixing it
  back in to the original for output, adding a slight reverberation to
  the effect.

The virutalizer widens the stereo of your speakers) headphones, by emitting what you could call an "Anti-Sound" (this is obviously not a correct name, but it explains what I want to say) to cancel out the left stereo sound in the right stereo speaker. That way it sounds like the stereo is further apart.

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


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Device always boots in recovery mode, but apparently there is no recovery partition
We have a BSNL Penta IS709c (cheapest tablet currently available / Oct 2012) running Android 4.0.
Feeling adventurous, I issued reboot recovery through adb and the device tried to reboot in recovery mode. However turns out that there is probably no recovery partition and the device is stuck at following screen. Rebooting the device doesn't help and it always boots to following screen.
So, what can I do to boot it back in normal mode? I'd also like to point out that this device does not has Volume Up and Volume Down buttons. Available 4 physical buttons are Power/Home/Menu/Back.

Is the battery removable? Pulling the battery might help. Alternatively, can you connect the tablet to a PC with the Android SDK installed and try doing adb reboot?

Do any of the buttons do anything at this screen? As far as I know this is the stock Android Recovery.

@ChinmayKanchi No battery is not removable (I might open the case as last resort though). I drained the battery by keeping it switched on, but still the same result.
@ChinmayKanchi Device is not detected by PC (not listed in lsusb).
@ZnewmaN None of the buttons seem to do anything, except of course the power button. I also tried some combination of the buttons but no success.

Is it within warranty? I'd just return it to the manufacturer.

Press the power button for 10 seconds and its going to reboot itself if you have not corrupted any system partitions. Or try adb reboot bootloader and from there select the start button and press it with the power key.

The power button trick doesn't work and no I've not corrupted any system partitions. All that I did was issuing reboot recovery through adb.

Device is no more being recognised by Linux, so can not use any adb commands.

This is a software issue and it's fixed in a more recent firmware version that can be downloaded from http://www.pantel.in/DriverDownloads (look for the IS709C firmware download).


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Only connect to certain Wi-Fi networks
I have a Bionic and recently upgraded from Gingerbread to ICS. I used to have my home Wi-Fi and my work Wi-Fi networks saved in my phone, and I had it set to not look for any other networks. I never got notified about Wi-Fi networks being in range, it just connected to those two when it could.
Now that I'm on ICS I keep getting notifications about Wi-Fi networks being in range and the only way I've found to resolve that issue it to turn the wifi off completely. Problem is, then I forget to turn the wifi back on when I am at home or work.
So my questions are:

Is there a setting to turn off the Wi-Fi notifications and I'm just looking right past it?
Is there a way to set up my phone to only connect to a couple of Wi-Fi networks and to ignore the other ones unless I go in and tell it to connect to them?

It sounds like you want to go into Settings->Wifi and then press the menu button to get to the "Advanced" menu, where you can then uncheck the "Network notification" option. This is the first option on the "Advanced Wi-Fi" settings page of my Galaxy Nexus, so a caveat here is that Motorola may have altered the settings menu.


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How to properly play 720p/1080p media with subtitles through MHL (HDMI out)?
I own a Galaxy Note and got a MHL cable for watching movies on my Sony Bravia.
I'm having some problems for playing it nicelly.
With hardware decoding:
Only the stock samsung "Video Player" is able to play at TV resolution with the subtitles. The problem is that it seems to have an annoying bug that makes the subtitles stuck. After someone ends talking, the last sub don't vanish/disappear, it keeps there on the screen until the next speech. It's discussed at an old xda thread but no one was able to provide solution at that time.
With Software decoding:
I can get the subs with a third party player (like MX Player), but it doesn't stream the video to the TV directly, like the stock video player does. What I get is a rescaled screen, like when not playing a video, just browsing Android, and as such, not only it's not playing 720p/1080p video, but also, I get black areas because the phone aspect ratio doesn't match the TV aspect ratio.
Is there a solution for this?
As can be seen in the mentioned thread, there was a "stuck subtitle" problem with another Samsung device. Is this a bug with all Samsung devices?
Is there an alternative player that can play videos with hardware decoding and also display subtitles? So it can take all my TV screen.
I've checked this thread too, but there was general misleaded advices...

So you're asking for a proper video player, right?

@Sidath Yes, if it's able to properly support what I said.

If you're rooted you could try to force a certain combination of phone screen resolution and DPI using Second Screen and maybe your selected video player will conform to that even as the video is being streamed out through MHL.
Just make sure you keep failsafe options like "don't keep settings after restart" enabled in case your experimental Second Screen settings make your screen unusable.

You can try mVideoPlayer. This supports HD videos well and has subtitle functionality. Should work with HDMI too. Hope this helps.

There're reports it doesn't work for this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1157886&page=2

Maybe you should try VLC For Android . It is able to properly display subtitles without glitches for now, atleast on my device. I haven't tried with MHL though.

MX Player works like a charm for anything with subtitles. Also it has both software and hardware decoding, so you're set!

I use MX Player myself, and it does not support hardware decoding with subtitles through HDMI. This is the player I use on my Bravia TV, and I use software decoding to get subtitles.


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Trying to factory reset, but it's not listed at all as an option

Possible Duplicate:
How to hard reset a Samsung Galaxy GT-i5800?

I'm using a GT-I5800L (firmware 2.1-update 1) and I'm trying to do a factory reset to see if I can get the Wi-Fi working again. I've done a factory reset on the phone in the past but it's no longer listed as an option.
When I go to Settings -> SD Card and Phone Storage, this is all that I see:
External SD card
Total Space
1.84GB
Available Space
1.47GB
Unmount SD card
Unmount SD card for safe removal
Format SD card
Format (erase) the SD card

Internal phone storage
Available space
80.7MB
At the bottom there used to be a factory reset option... Any ideas? I'm not overly computer smart either :/

This is a quite often asked question -- so please see the "Linked" and "Related" sections for more answers.
A good place to check for answers concerning factory reset is always hard-reset.com. At Samsung I5800 Galaxy 3 Android hard reset, they write how it can be done for your phone. Basically, it involves the following steps:
Using hardware buttons only

Press MIDDLE of the VOLUME + MENU (middle key) + POWER ON for 1-2 sec
Release Power. Recovery menu appears.
Select Wipe Data/ Factory reset with volume down, then press MENU
select Yes - delete all user...
press MENU or POWER button

They further recommend: to hard reset i5800 Galaxy 3 battery must be fully 100% charged.
Alternative approach
As you still can turn on your phone normally, there's a second option available:

open up yout telephone app (dialer)
dial *2767*3855#
follow the instructions

This is not a real phone call, but rather a "magic number" (shortcut to system functions).
Last word: Be aware that with a factory-reset all your manually installed apps and all your data on internal/phone memory are lost, so backup what you need before! I guess you knew that, but just in case ;)


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Dropbox, where did my pictures go? Disappeared!
I uploaded a bunch of pics from my android device to dropbox, and every single one of the pictures and videos that I uploaded are now missing from my phone! How do I get my pictures back and delete this horrible app without losing my stuff? Theyre pictures of my son

Have you tried logging in to dropbox.com to see if your stuff's there?

It would also help if you can tell how you uploaded your pics (which app you used, e.g.). This would make it easier to determine what happened and possibly tell you how to avoid the problem in the future.


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Do not go into standby when phone is plugged in

Possible Duplicate:
How do I keep my Android 4.0.3 phone awake when USB connected?

Is it possible to configure my S2 so that when it is plugged in, the phone doesn't go into standby?

What version of Android are you running? In CyanogenMod and other versions look in SETTINGS > DEVELOPER OPTIONS > STAY AWAKE / KEEP SCREEN ON WHILE CHARGING
You might also want to take a look at this app, if the options aren't available to you.
Seems like this question has been answered earlier - How do I keep my Android 4.0.3 phone awake when USB connected?

Disregard comment - now checking out CyanogenMod.


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Internal hard disk partitions (sda2) not showing in android system
I have a x86 system (Asus Eee Pc)having hard disk of 232 GB, in which 4 GB allocated for Android and rest I don't know where it is gone. If I open super user and running this command in android terminal: cat /proc/partitions I get following result:
Block_Size(232Gb) sda
Block_Size(4Gb) sda1
Block_Size(rest) sda2

This shows there are two partitions (sda1, sda2) of total 1 drive (sda).
Android is installed in sda1 and seen in it's file system. But sda2 data is invisible.
When i run mount command , we get :

rootfs /rootfs rw 0 0
proc /proc proc rw ,relatime 0 0
/dev/sda1 /mnt ext3 rw,relatime,error=continue,barrier=0,data=writeback 0 0
few lines ....
But nothing about sda2 .

I also try #busybox fdisk -l /dev/block/sda
   Device Boot     start   End     Blocks  Id  System

/dev/block/sda1       1     528   4241128+  83  Linux
/dev/block/sda2      529   30396  23914716  83  Linux
/dev/block/sda3     30397  30402   42714    ef  EFI(FAT-12/16/32)

And when i run
-#busybox fdisk -l /dev/block/sda2
result is :
 - doesn't contain a valid partition table .
How can I mount this drive in android? I just want to access and view the sda2 storage drive.

Not the final answer, but did you try the mount command (without options) in the same place? It should show you what partitions are mounted in the system and where. It's quite possible sda2 might be listed there, which makes the second part of your question (how to mount it) obsolete, and you can go directly to explore it with your favorite file manager.

hi Izzy , i try mount command but there is /dev/sda1 but not sda2 .

That was not clear from your question. It could very well be that the remaining disk space is not even formatted (i.e. has no file system) -- again, your question gives no clue to that. Maybe you add a few more details, e.g. which device it is, which Android version, etc.?

It;s android 4.0 version . Then why it show sda1,sda2 on running command .If it's un-partition how we partition it ?

I did not say "un-partition", but sda2 might have no file system (and thus cannot be mounted). Plus you still missed to name your device. Is it a phone, tablet, or x86?

it's x86 (having android 4.0 o.s), if sda2 have no file system how it mount ? how we access that space ?

If it has no file system, you must create one first. But I cannot tell if that's the case, it's just an assumption. You could try to mount it: Create an empty directory, and try mounting sda2 there: mkdir /sda2 && mount /dev/sda2 /sda2. This might fail either when sda2 has no file system, or when mount could not figure out the file system type used. Btw: I'd suggest you edit your question and add some of the facts from the comments: e.g. the output of the mount command for /dev/sda* (I just added the x68 tag for you).

Is the device inode missing? mknod /dev/sda2 b 8 2 maybe to generate it?

@Izzy i have edit my question & thks for adding tag.

You're welcome. Based on your edit: sda2 is a Linux partition, as is sda1. If there's a file system on it, it most likely is the same, too (ext3) -- so you could try mkdir /sda2 && mount -t ext3 /dev/sda2 (as root, of course). If that yields an error ("wrong filesystem" or the like), try again without the -t ext3. If that ends up with something like "unable to determine file system", there probably is none -- in this case, mkfs.ext3 can be used to create one (if ext3 is fine with you -- if not, there are more mkfs.* commands available).

on running the command in android terminal as super user i.e mkdir /sda2 , i got : it failed said read only file system , also unable to chmod .

Any one help me ....

Without being root, you cannot a) create directories directly in / (you noted: read-only, so you would need to remount it) b) mount other file systems will also mostly fail (so you need to make sure to run those commands as root).

i think it's rooted that why i can access as super user mode (su). I also research in that laptop and find that  there is some other OS (MeeGo)been installed ,but not working and have to option seen in boot menu.While using bootable ubuntu usb stick ,it show two partition and one have android and  another MeeGo. Can we access ?


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What exactly happens when I use Kies to perform a "Firmware upgrade and initialisation"?
I bought an unlocked Telstra Samsung Galaxy S3 4G, and it's loaded with some Telstra software. I wanted to get rid of those, so I loaded up Kies and it gives me the option to perform a "Firmware upgrade and initialisation". I don't want it deleting everything off my phone and I don't want to do anything to my phone to mess with it so I wanted to be absolutely certain I understood what would happen. I tried googling this subject but couldn't find any useful information.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can give me a detailed, clear and concise answer.

Basic Caveat.
It is likely (and to be expected) that a firmware (or OS) upgrade will wipe any user data or settings.

These settings are not easily translated / adjusted across such an update.  However, most tools will give such a warning before you proceed.

In more detail ..
Firmware Update (ROM code)
A firmware update will normally cause ALL user data, settings, and (custom loaded) applications to be lost. This is because many applications and your online identity (connection to e-store) are usually firmware specific.
Exceptions: For only a minor update it may be possible to just replace the firmware, and not disrupt the higher layers. This is only advice for developers and the truly adventurous.
Your specific case: You are attempting to replace the Telstra (big Australian telco) firmware with (possibly) later firmware. This will likely not include any Telstra specific applications, and you would need to re-register the phone (upon completion). By then ALL data, settings, and applications would have been lost.
Firmware Update (Android OS)
An Android update will normally attempt to retain ALL user data, settings, and (custom loaded) applications. But this is only true for minor update, as major changes will make your existing applications incompatible. For each application, the vendor may provide an update with support for the new version to convert (or import) any old data.
Exceptions: If you are attempting a major Android update (eg. from 3.2 to 4.0+) this will very likely not retain (in any useful form) any of your settings.
Your specific case: If you were using KIES to update Android from 4.0 to 4.0.4 (or similar) this should be as painless as OTA (over-the-air) updates (prompted on your phone). However, it is not clear from your description what type of 'firmware' (Android or ROM) it is suggesting.
Note: I have not used KIES, as it has no Linux support.

Recommendation:
Look at syncing or backup tools, to save any user data (phone numbers, messages, etc.) to your PC. Any applications will be more of a problem, but will still available (in the online e-store) to again download.

In that case, what constitutes 'user data'? Does that mean it's going to remove all the apps I've installed on my phone? Text messages and emails, as well? I'm sure these questions sound like the answer is obvious but I need to know I'm not just making assumptions here.


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How can I do factory reset on Samsung Galaxy 10.1 Tab?
After more evidence of my son breaking into my tablet (darned 11-year-old... going to be a true Social Engineer hacker, if I can't get through his thick head that he'll lose all computer privileges...), I changed the password this morning... and can't remember it now.
Unfortunately, after multiple failed password attempts, IT IS NOT ASKING FOR MY GOOGLE LOGIN TO UNLOCK. I don't seem to be able to get to the "failsafe" unlock mechanism any more, and so am looking to do a complete factory reset.
I've seen instructions to hold down the Volume-Up + Power buttons to initiate this (remember, I can't log in, so I can't do this from settings.) All that happens is that the tablet goes into a mostly-blank screen showing what is probably a newly-opened box, and a blinking Android that says "Downloading...". I let it sit for close to two hours in this state, and nothing. It did respond to a power-down from here, but just came back up to the password login.
What am I doing wrong? (Apart from choosing such a simple password as 10 U/L/num characters... obviously not sufficiently complex...).
Brian

If you were able to unlock the device, you would go to Settings ~> Privacy ~> Factory Data Reset & follow instructions. Done!
Since you don't have access to OS, press and hold "Volume Down + Power" for 10 seconds. Screen will appear with standard Droid recovery icon. Select it with volume down key & press volume up to enter. Now, you're in recovery mode from where you can factory reset your device.
Depending on your device sub-model, if its not working, try "Volume up + Home + Power" for 10 seconds. When something is displayed on screen,  release power button while holding other ones.
If this one is also not working, turn on device with power button and just after first display, press and hold "Volume up + Volume down" for 10 seconds.

As I just wrote on the same question for another device 5 min ago: This is a quite frequent question, so you will find a lot of ansers in the Related links section, and now some in the Linked section of this page as well.
I could not verify my search results, but basically there should be different approaches available for this device:
Using a dialer code
Though this option will not be available to you currently, since you cannot unlock your device, I will include this option for completeness:

Open your telephone app (dialer)
Dial *2767*3855#
Follow the instructions

This is not a real phone call, but rather a "magic number" (shortcut to system functions).
Via the system menu
Also currently unavailable to you:
In Menu Mode select Settings → Privacy → Factory data reset → Reset Tablet
Using hardware keys only
This probably is the only option left to you:

Turn your Tab off
Press and hold the Volume Up button, and then briefly press the Power button.
Use Power Up to move the cursor to the Left, and Power button to select.
Use the Power Up/Power Down buttons as cursors to move to the Factory Reset
Use the Power Up/Power Down buttons to scroll to "Confirm".

Last word: Be aware that with a factory-reset all your manually installed apps and all your data on internal/phone memory are lost, so backup what you need before! I guess you knew that, but just in case ;)

"Select Factory reset Wipe data" wasn't obvious in the instructions. Note that I was close; the "blinking Android" was actually a cursor for either "Download image" or "various factory reset options". I finally figured out where the factory reset was, but it is several steps past the very common answer "Volume Up + Power".
Additional steps:
2a) use the Power Up to move the cursor to the Left, and Power button to select.
2b) use the Power Up/Power Down buttons as cursors to move to the Factory Reset
2c) use the Power Up/Power Down buttons to scroll to "Confirm".
Backups? I keep data in cloud.

As I wrote: I was not able to verify my search results. So thank you for mentioning the exact way! I just updated my answer to include your steps. And yes, a cloud backup is a backup as well; as long as your data are stored/copied outside the device's internal storage, you can get them back after a factory reset ;)


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PPTP VPN Error 807 through Portable Wi-Fi hotspot
Recently I noticed when my laptop (Windows 8) connects to the Internet through Android Portable Wi-Fi hotspot (Nexus One running stock 2.3), it can't connect to my company's PPTP VPN (resulting a 807 error). But if my laptop connects through USB tethering, it connects to the VPN just fine. Has any one experienced similar issues?


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How to set high resolution on external monitor?
I have Samsung Galaxy S3. I connect my phone to 29 inch monitor using HML + HDMI wires. Also I connect it to Apple bluetooth keyboard and magic mouse. I get a very nice experience of Desktop. However S3 has maximum resolution of 1280x720 which does not give a nice look on big monitors.
I have following questions:

Can I extend my monitor screen from mobile screen so I can drag and drop apps from one to another?
Can I change resolution of apps running on my monitor to higher than 1280x720.

Thanks
Note: External monitor does not have touch functionality.

I doubt that the graphics chip in the S3 is able to produce higher resolutions.

And what about using Miracast?

Having a different external display was one of the new features with Jelly Bean 4.2  You will need a siutable update for your S3 to stand a chance.  What level of support you will get then is still in doubt depending upon the real hardware capabilities and what support Samsung put in.

Great. I have seen 4.2 documentation. When I had asked this question, 4.2 was not released yet. Do you have real life experience on this feature?

No real life experiance sorry.


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Change combined inbox account colors
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
I have 3 email accounts set up in the email client and I would like to change the colors assigned to each of the accounts.
Is it possible? I haven't been able to find any setting to do it. In this question they say it's not possible in Android 2.2, but how about 4.1?

I've tried on my Galaxy S3 and I couldn't find a way to do this.
Searching on the web returns nothing more (aside of trying to delete/recreate an account until it's given the color you want, which I didn't try).
You can use another mail client than the one pre-installed on the GS3.
I've tried the following ones:

MailDroid: great one, possible to choose the color for each account from a palette, free version is ad-based
AquaMail: good one too, you can choose the color for each account from 8 predefined colors, free version has no ads
K-9 Mail: possible to choose the color for each account from a palette, no ads, but looks a bit old

Enhanced email from the market will allow to choose account and notification colors for each account. However it lacks the subject in the notification, which is why I stick with stock.

Your suggestion to use another email client is a good one. It would be more useful if you also include a link to the app you're suggesting.


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Prestigio Multipad USB debuging
I am having troubles with Prestigio Multipad PMP3370B. I enabled USB debuging in Settings, but when I plug in my device to a computer and start adb devices, it does not recognize it. Does anybody have any similar issues? I am using Windows 7. Where can I find Windows driver for that device?

You can find USB drivers for the Prestigio Multipad PMP3370B (aka Prestigio MultiPad 7.0 ULTRA) in the manufacturer website
Just click the download link for the .zip file corresponding to your model, as seen in the screenshot.

At the time of this answer, the file name is PMP3370B_20121217_V1.0.8.zip, this file is ~224 MB size and it does contain USB drivers for Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 (32-bit) and Windows Vista/7 (64-bit), besides firmware update image file, upgrade manuals (in English/Russian, 32/64-bit) and other tools. I can tell it because I downloaded it myself and looked inside.

I don't know where you can find drivers for your specific device; but for most devices (of different manufacturers), Koush's universal adb driver does a good job on Windows 7 and 8 as well. You can download them from the linked site, and find instructions there as well.


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Change app page order
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 running Jelly Bean.
I have sorted my apps in pages, by topic or whatever (not the home screens, but the app/widget pages). Now I would like to sort those pages, but I can't find the way to change the order of the pages. Can it be done? How?

I've found it! Pinch with two fingers on the Home Page, to enter the edit pages mode, then move them around.

SWIPE with too fingers where ?

Edited content to make the Swipe a Pinch.

@wbogacz It certainly works with a pinch, but also with a two finger swipe (works better with a vertical swipe).


text:
Is there any way to install apps incompatible with Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean)
After looking around on the Google Play Store, I've found a lot of apps that 'I like the look of'. But by tapping on them, quite a lot of the time it says "This app is incompatible with your Android version." Is there any way around that?
P.S:I don't have any other Android devices and no, I haven't edited any of the files.

Did you by any chance modify something in your build.prop file? Like the DPI or device info?

If you have root on another device (runinng ICS or so) you can pull the same app from there (adb pull /data/app/APPNAME.apk) and subsequently install it on your JB device. You can at least then try to see if it works.

The Android Market pulls the OS version directly from the system.  As far as I'm aware there's no way to fake this other than building a custom ROM that fakes it, or possibly some sort of code injection.
As ce4's comment says, you'll need to obtain the app from a different device running a supported OS or through some other means (a different app store for example).

If it is due to the manifest, which most likely bit is, then an error will occur if you try and side load the app.
The only way to install it would be to use a utility such as apktool to edit the manifest file to make it compatible with your device, and then side load it.

Just to be clear here - doing these things will make the app LOAD, but won't necessarily make it WORK. Don't be shocked if it turns out the app doesn't actually work once you do get it on there. It may be that the developer was just not thinking in how they setup the manifest, but it's possible that they've done something that means the app really won't run, or perhaps the app has serious bugs under your version, so they've locked it out. Either way, just don't be surprised if the app doesn't do so well once you've force it to run on your system.

Yes there is a way first download apk editor pro from ihackdit.com then open it select any apk file that u want to run then click on it then tap on the option full edit then slide to third page and then select option below application line the type min version14and Max14 then click save above and then install the app and enjoy