text:
Can't connect to mobile network on Sony Xperia Z Ultra
Device: Sony Xperia Z Ultra
Carrier: The Peoples Operator (Same issue when tested with EE as well)
Android Version: 5.0 Lolipop
I recently lost the SIM card tray for my device, and Sony sent me out a new one. I inserted the new tray with the SIM, however now I get no signal. I occassionally pick up signal in a few certain places in the center of town, but that's it. 99% of the time it just shows an empty signal bar. The thing is, if I go to Settings>Mobile Networks>Network Operators and search for networks, it will find multiple networks most of the time, including my network (TPO) however, when I click to connect, it just says 'Registering on TPO' and just stays on this screen with the icon spinning.
I had this issue with an EE SIM, now I'm having the same issue with a SIM from The People's Operator, so I don't think it is the SIM. I've also tried two SIM card trays, one from Sony and one from a third party seller.
Any ideas why I can't get any signal? Getting Desperate now.
Don't think I can send it back to Sony even though I've only had it a couple of months as I had the screen repaired, which I'm guessing voids the warranty.

Try these
<> there is a usually a text facility to send to your Mob. ISP and they respond with GPRS settings that changes mobile Internet settings to correct
<> Else call their CS. Go to network settings--> Mobile data --> Your relevant SIM Card and ask manually what each parameter is beginning from ARN name etc

<> Last one to try  - if sony warranty is no good , is to get to a full reset and
 <> V Last one  is a new ROM using flashtool and xperifirm .


text:
Hangouts: How to make the phone dialer default (instead of the hangouts dialer)?
Following a recent Hangouts update, when using Android 5 on Nexus 5, in an SMS conversation with a contact, touching the "handset" icon automatically launches the Hangouts dialer, while I would like to use the default phone dialer instead.
I did not find any option to change this back to the previous behavior.  Is this possible at all?

Clear the default app for the dialer activity - see http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/42057/how-do-you-clear-share-actions-bound-to-copy-to-clipboard - where "[bound app]" is "Hangouts"

This does not work for me.  Dialer is still hangouts dialer.

If you don't really need the hangouts dialer, you can disable it (as I believe it's now a separate app). Try: Settings -> Apps -> All -> Hangouts Dialer -> Disable.
If you can't disable Hangouts Dialer, you can uninstall it.  Hangouts will still function as normal.

Set default hangouts dialer to "Cellular Network (The default dialer you want)"
If you clear the cache on the dialer (hangouts dialer), it should prompt you the first time after that (when something triggers the dialers) asking which dialer to use.  You can select "always" on the regular dialer.  This will use your cell service, not Hangouts.

Hi Matt, please note that you're privileged to comment anywhere and comments, et al, are meant to seek clarification. Please use them before posting the answers. The reason is, answers are supposed to be for everyone, but not everyone can reply to you.

@Firelord Okay, But he person who asked the question can comment anywhere on the page there question is posted, thus the person who asked this question can comment on this answer

This does not work. I have no defaults set at the "Hangouts Dialer" app, yet it is always used to place a call from hangouts.

@Udi can you try this?
If you clear the cache on the dialer, it should prompt you the first time after that (when something triggers the dialers) asking which dialer to use.  You can select "always" on the regular dialer.  This will use your cell service, not Hangouts.

@Matt07211 Clearing the hangout dailer's cache did not change anything.

System Settings > Apps Manager > Hangouts > Clear default values
(exact wording may differ, I'm translating from my language)

Hi! This does not work. The dialer stays the hangouts dialer

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
open viber audio(.ptt) files on pc or phone
my viber history got corrupted, but luckily i have backedup the important conversation i needed into text format using (backup text for viber). it might have been the reason that corrupted the history since it got corrupted right after i backedup that one conversation.
the problem is the audio files are there in the viber media, but they have no extension,and i can't open them, i tried every program possible but i couldn't find a way to do it. is there a way to be able to open them on pc or phone?

Try changing their extension?

your title says something about .ptt, not correct?

tried changing the extension, it doesn't work, from what i found out, it can only be opened by viber.
the title says .ptt cause the audio files are saved in a folder named .ptt in the viber media folder

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


text:
How apps write data into file-system on non-rooted device?
User Apps and Data are stored in /data/app and /data/data respectively. But we can't (even) see that without root permission. So, I want to know If device is non-rooted then How user Apps are installed (Apks are copied) to /data/app and how user Apps writes data into /data/data? In other words : What allow/permit Apps to write data without root-access?

See page 1 and 2 here: http://newandroidbook.com/Book/2-Excerpt-Data.pdf

The Android system does not have the conventional /etc/passwd storage for users and groups. In android, user and groups are used to isolate processes and grant permissions. The Android system creates a user per application when an application gets installed. Hence application data files are stored in /data/data/<app-name>/, and are read-writable only by that application process.
Here is a part of the output of ls -l /data/data:
drwxr-x--x u0_a31   u0_a31            2015-03-29 15:34 com.lenovo.themecenter
drwxr-x--x u0_a82   u0_a82            2015-02-27 23:20 com.lenovo.videoplayer
drwxr-x--x u0_a75   u0_a75            2013-12-31 21:30 com.lenovo.weatherserver
drwxr-x--x u0_a39   u0_a39            2013-12-31 21:30 com.lenovo.widetouch
drwxr-x--x u0_a73   u0_a73            2015-02-25 22:51 com.lenovo.wifiswitch
drwxr-x--x u0_a19   u0_a19            2013-12-31 21:30 com.lenovo.xlauncher

You will easily notice that each folder is created with read/write permissions only to the corresponding user/group of the app.
More about it here.


text:
WhatsApp - Set message sound that's different from contact ringtone?
On my Android phone, I've set my wife to have a specific ringtone (through the built-in Contacts app). Now every time she sends me a WhatsApp message, I get alerted with this ringtone.
I'd like to keep my wife's ringtone for incoming calls but have a different (shorter) tone sound when she sends me a WhatsApp message. How can I do this?

Why not shorten the sound using a sound editor and then use the file where ever you want? When choosing a tone from Settings, choose ES File Explorer and select the sound file you want to hear for notifications.

Thanks, but if I shorten the file then I get a short ringtone for calls. I want a regular ringtone for calls and a short notification sound for WhatsApp notifications.


text:
Native Support for Settings Profiles
Does anyone know if stock Android natively supports settings profiles, or if there is any plan to do so? To be clear, I am not talking about the user profiles feature that was introduced in Lollipop, but rather settings profiles that allow you toggle settings (e.g. WiFi on/off, GPS on/off, etc) in bulk based on a pre-defined set of profiles (Home, Work, Silent, etc.). I was first introduced to this feature via CyanogenMod, and loved it. I'm currently using a third-party app to achieve the same effect, but this seems like the sort of thing that should really be native to the OS itself. I've tried googling, but all I can find is information on the new users profile feature and third-party apps.

Are you pointing to the functionality to change quick settings?

I'm not sure if I understand your question. I'm aware of the quick settings menu that can be pulled down from the notifications bar at the top and used to quickly toggle settings individually. This is not what I'm asking about.

@Firelord the question isn't where to switch things, but rather *how to bulk-switch with a single tap. Quick-settings would still involve toggling each feature separately. See the CM Wiki on this, and check these images to see what it's about :)


text:
Location of battery animation file on a Chinese tablet
I'm working with a Chinese tablet. I need to turn on the tablet when it is attached to an external power source.
I'm looking for the equivalent file of playlpm that you usually find on Samsung devices.
Are there any names for Chinese brands?

The equivalent battery animation file in most Chinese Android Tablets is called ipod.
Replacing its content to /system/bin/reboot "partially" works. If I connect the NTC from the battery into the ground pin, it will try to reboot, fail and display the battery animation file.
But if I just attach NTC to the ground, and remove it when the backlight starts, it will reboot and show no battery animation.

Are you tying this device into another device? Update your original question to include the full scope of your issue and delete this answer.

There's no sense on deleting it since this is the animation file for these asian branded tablets. This is the correct answer. Now i'm running on another issue, that it might have another file generating the battery animation somewhere and I need to find it. It's working now, but unfortunately not the best way.

What NTC stands for?

Provided you have adb access as root while in recovery, you can adb pull the *.rc files from recovery's ramdisk and search the entry or similar to
on charger

to see what the equivalent service is.
Or ,again, while in adb shell in recovery,
cat /init.rc

which is where the entry for charger/on charger functions should be.
The battery animation resources will be in /data/media OR (while in recovery) /res/images/
As to the boot on charger plugin, if you don't have your own approach sorted see my answer to a similar question.
Look for the service under the on charger section that runs as per on charger, Using the Samsung example, reassign lpm service under on charger as reboot, You can't achieve an instant boot up on plugin, it just doesn't work, so you tell the device that on being plugged in it will reboot to normal operation INSTEAD of beginning it's on charger defined service.
Here is the Samsung example;
From,
service lpm /system/bin/lpm
    class charger
    critical

To,
service lpm /system/bin/reboot
    class charger
    critical

Find the equivalent service for your device and make that modification.
Redefining service classes can lead you into a minefield of problems.
Or you just won't boot. You do need to be rooted and so be able to dump,unpack,modify,repack and, rewrite your boot.img

The changes you are proposing are working just as I answered.

Aren't there any other solution instead of editing init.rc?


text:
Find out how many messages sent per chat
I have seen that iPhone users of WhatsApp are able to see how many messages have been sent / received in one specific chat. This feature seems to be lacking on Android though. Am I missing it or is it simply not there?
Are there any alternatives to find out how many messages you and someone else have sent eachother?

There's an App for that
WhatStat provides you with enormous amount of statistics with respect to each user.

Overview screen that depicts messages in numbers
Most active day of the week
Most active time of the day
Conversation starter percentage
Message distribution
History (Group by day/week/month/custom)

Need Root access after latest WhatsApp update

I'd like to note that this answer doesn't work anymore with the stopping of whatstat

http://www.groupwizeapp.com does the same as WhatStat and more! Works on Android and iOS.

I know this might be a stupid way, but it has worked for me at times.
First, email yourself your chat history. There you will get an email attachment (text file). Using any text editor (I used notepad++), find for the recipients name and see how many of their name pops up. The number would indicate how many times that recipient has send a message.
I'm sure this is actually easy to implement automatically (like an app, or a webservice), but I think it'll be more convenient just to wait Whatsapp does it for us.

I have thought about this, but instead of doing it the *hard" way, I could maybe write a script that just reads the whatsapp database file. But I just don't get why it's possible on iPhone and not on Android, seems like a simple thing to achieve...

Well, if you go by the translation files of Whatsapp, you'd notice that there are many features that are different between Whatsapp clients. It will usually eventually make it to the others, but considerable delays are usually there.

I would like to recommend a feature in what’s app which can project the message counter for individual and group chats. I have tried this manually & below is the procedure for the same.
1.  Export the chat log from a group or an individual contact.
2.  Save the document in MS Word format and perform a search using “Find” function.
3.  The keyword for the search should be the specific contact name. This gives the count of number messages sent by a contact in a group or individual chat
However, in the above scenario count will be projected based on “keyword (contact name)”. The overall count is based on number of times the “keyword” is found in the entire chat log. Although there is scope of generating the count based on respective contacts which might need further insight for retrieving the contact based relevant results.
I presume that below method can be applied to achieve the automation for same.
1.  Formulate a search function with a “keyword”, “start date” & “end date”.
2.  Keyword – What’s app contact name or number
3.  Start date & End Date-  To set up the range of the output.


text:
Does the StageFright vulnerability affect Facebook Messenger? What can I do about it?
I disabled MMS in Messaging on my phone. Is FB Messenger vulnerable?
If so, what can I do to minimize the risk?
(I couldn't find anything about MMS in FB Messenger)

MMS is not the only way Stagefright exploit can be run. It's one of the ways it could be run as the receiver of MMS just has to receive the MMS for the attack will start just after that. So whatever app uses the Media library will be a victim of Stage Fright. Read this article - MMS not the only attack vector for Stagefright

libStageFright is a general media library used widely on Android.  Facebook Messenger is likely to interact with it for media, and thus you are vulnerable through it.
Your best bet is to update — to a custom ROM if the manufacturer/carrier hasn't made a patch available.  Otherwise, see Stagefright security issue: what can a regular user do to mitigate the issue without a patch?
See also: http://www.androidcentral.com/stagefright


text:
adb and platform-tools not working anymore on Mac Lion
Ok, I had that eclipse + SDK + all projects working fine on my Mac (Osx Lion). After updating the SDK recently, everything stopped working. It seems that some very smart guy there forgot to allow adtand platform-tools to Mac Osx Lion (possibly because he has a newer version and he didn't care too much that other people don't. So, now I am stuck because I can't find a way to downgrade it back to where I was before the update. It seems there's no page from where I can download just the platform-tools in the version I had before. Any hint? Does anyone have a previous version of that folder?

Hint, Google repository. Ah here you go a better example from the past

Find your Sdk folder then locate both tools and platform-tools subfolders.
Check the Google repository  find what version you want to downgrade to and download the .ZIP for both.
Unpack the the .ZIP's you just downloaded move the Tools subfolder over to your Android Sdk folder. Then move and extract the Platform-tools subfolder to your Android Sdk folder.

Now you should be good to go.

I can confirm that this version of platform-tools is working on MacOS 10.7.5 with a device running Android 7.1.1.
https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools_r20-macosx.zip


text:
How to clear the data usage?
I'm using Android KitKat. I'm not able the clear the data usage of mobile data (Mobile) as well as Wi-Fi. Is there any option to clear the data usage in rooted and non-rooted Android devices?
(Click image to enlarge)

Somebody Please do help. Am using Non-rooted Android Device.

On a rooted device, go to /data/system/netstats/ and delete all the files there. Reboot the device and the data history would be gone. Worked on Android 4.2.1 and 5.0.2, and maddisonj and Beygi reported it works on 4.4.2 and Android 8.0 as well. It clears both SIM data as well as of Wi-Fi.
This would not reset the current cycle you would be having. I believe /data/system/notification_policy.xml manages it, so you can edit it out if that cycle also bothers you.
(Click image to enlarge; image order: before and after deleting the files)

On a non-rooted device, factory reset seems to be the only choice.

Somebody noted that, on Android ICS, the correct way is adb shell; su; rm /data/system/netstats*.bin; sync; sync /data/system; sync /data/system*; Then do a [tag:hard-reboot].

I'd like to let everyone know that this also works on Android 8

You just have to do that disable your app then enable again all the data usage history will reset automatically

No it will not, please do some research before you post answer

Apart from which: How do you disable a user-installed app? And how do you disable something like "Android system" if it comes to that? So even if that were true, it's not feasible.

authors: Једноруки Крстивоје

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


text:
How to reboot Sony Xperia V?
How can I reboot Sony Xperia V?
If I long press the physical power button, it only gives me an option to shut it down. If I long press that button, it actually asks me to reboot the phone, albeit in safe mode. I don't want that, I just want to reboot in unsafe mode.

Soo un-enthusiast let's try to boost that mood. Alright, which device do you have? Because the override shutdown can be different per manufacturer. Also what do you consider a long press?  Off the top of my head the standard override shutdown is to > hold down power button for at least thirty  seconds or till it shutsdown.  For some Samsung devices override shutdown and reboot is to > hold down power button + volume down  until it shuts down and then it will automatically reboot.

It says Xperia SOL21 on the back. The power button and volume down buttons are terrible close to each other. I can't touch both with two fingers.

OK the Sony Xperia VL the first try holding power down + volume up at the same time. This might take you to recovery mode but you can restart from there too.

Pressing the power button for a long time without interaction on the screen long enough shuts most android devices off immediatly and restarts them. So keep pressing till it goes black should do the trick in 90% of the time.

There are many apps in Play Store that provides widget to reboot the phone. Tapping such widget would reboot the phone normally. It is strange that normal reboot option isn't present in your device. You can change that power button menu and add normal reboot option if you've root access.

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


text:
Why i cant use some button with some game with usb controller?
I bought a USB controller called 'ShanWan USB WirelassGamepad'. The controller claims to supports all the games but when I try to play 'Real Racing 3' and 'Fractal Combat X', I can use just the Analog Stick(or D Pad) but I cant use other buttons.
I'm using Galaxy Note 2, Android 4.4.2 If it's relevant

Not all games have full gamepad support.  Manufacturers of these gamepads will claim that every game is supported which is only half true.  They will only have limited functionality.  I have the exact same issue on certain games using a G910 I purchased from geekbuying.
Here is a site that I use to check for full gamepad support.
Android Gamepad support


text:
Purchase cancelled from Google Play Store, but verification fee deducted
Yesterday I was trying to purchase an app from the Play Store. So I added my card details to the dialog window that appeared, and Google deducted a small sum from my A/C (Rs.51 INR), which I know, is for the purpose of verification of my card. But the problem is, the app which I was trying to purchase says the transaction was cancelled. Here's the transaction log from Google Payments:

Sep 1 » Google has canceled this purchase.
Comments from Google: Your credit card ending in XXXX was declined.
Please select a different payment method.
Sep 1 » Your XXXX-XXXX was declined for this purchase.

If I entered wrong credentials, then why did the verification amount got successfully deducted?
Should I attempt to make the purchase again?

The verification fee is refunded to the account within 3-7 business days.
Check this for details.
Google Play deducted extra Rupee 50 after first-time Play Store purchase of an App/Game. Why is that?

I know that already. Please read the question again.

Don’t take it personally, but does your card have balance? Also u sure the credentials was the only reason for the decline?

In order to determine if a card exists or is chargeable a small transaction has to be completed against the card. Normally for a 'validation' check this would take the form of a very small 'preauthorization' transaction, which requires a clearing bank, connections to credit card providers and all manner of expensive things. Google being a well-recognized company, they have all the resources required to perform this check while being in the legal guidelines(they are not deducting money forever).

Yes. I do have enough balance in my account.


text:
Why do applications update when I have declined the Google Play terms of service?
On my Samsung Note 3 I have declined the Google Play terms of service. Despite this, the system has connected to Google Play to download updates for all the bloatware preinstalled on the system, and a few other third-party applications such as JuiceSSH that I've installed.
By whose authority are these updates being made, after I've explicitly denied their terms?

Request for clarification: did you establish a Google account at all on that device – maybe for contacts, calendar, or some other part of the Google Empire's apps? If so, could their TOS be interpreted in "authority on all things Google"?

@Izzy: Yes, I do have the device linked to an account and sync contacts and calendar. However, if this is the case, then why does the device request explicit Google Play permissions at all?

I can't tell that. After all, you already confirmed the "general TOS" when configuring/creating your Google account on the device; so if there's a different agreement required, denying that should be honored (and if not, you shouldn't be asked). You could report that as a bug to Google – which is the only party to answer this question, I'm afraid.

Samsung has its own appstore: Galaxy Apps. The bloatware on my Galaxy S6 is installed and updated through that instead of through Google Play. Could that be going on on your Note 3? I don't know if Galaxy Apps updates apps installed through Google Play, but perhaps it does.

This explanation seems likely enough to accept, until contradictory information is found. Thanks.


text:
Why is Firefox not vulnerable to Stagefright?
This answer (to what can you do about Stagefright) says "use Firefox".
Why is FF not vulnerable and Chrome is?

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2015-55/

Firefox have used Android's StageFright Media Library which is disabled by default in Firefox for Android after the stage fright issue is found in Android devices. So the Firefox browser tries to use the Hardware decoder first and then the software decoder as a fallback. You can see the about:config page and search for stagefright keyword. Based on this article,

If Firefox does not recognize your hardware decoder, it will use a
  safer (but slower) software decoder. Daring users can manually enable
  hardware decoding. Enter about:config as described above and search
  for “stagefright”. To force hardware video decoding, change the
  “media.stagefright.omxcodec.flags” preference to 16. The default value
  is 0, which will try the hardware decoder and fall back to the
  software decoder if there are problems (Bug 797225). The most
  likely problems you will encounter are videos with green lines or
  crashes.

So if you are using Firefox make sure that the about:config values for the flags media.stagefright.omxcodec.flags and stagefright.disabled and stagefright.force-enabled stays default (i.e. 0, false, false).

Screenshot (click to enlarge)
While Zimperium zLabs' VP of Platform Research and Exploitation, Joshua J. Drake hasn't said not to use Chrome. But he has suggested that Firefox is your best bet to avoid hacking by browser in his tweet.

us to clarify:   stagefright.disabled = false, correct?
(seems poorly named setting.   Disabled=false would mean true to me.)

Yes, stagefright.disable = false is correct and is the default value. Updated the answer with screenshot with default values of a freshly installed Firefox.


text:
Move to application in sd card in htc desire 620
I have android phone htc desire 620 I want to move my all apps in sd card. I have tried but not able to do it. generally in another phone options is available in setting->apps->move to sd card
but in my phone it's not available so please suggest me how can I transfer my app to sd card

Is your phone rooted?

Our app2sd tag-wiki would be a good start for your research on this, as are the most frequented questions using that tag.

@rjt.rockx  I don't know how can I do that


text:
Retrieving data from a Nexus 6 motherboard
After a failed attempt to replace a broken screen on my Nexus 6, I was left with a Nexus 6 with a screen that no longer displayed anything. Yesterday, when I went to try to fix this I found that the battery had bloated out (exploded) which meant I had to throw the battery away.
All this now leaves me with a nexus 6 motherboard attached to a non-usable screen and no battery.
Since I am unsure at the moment if its the connection to the screen or the actual lcd that has broken. I don't want to spend money on new components to fix it (yet)..
So my question..
Is there anyway to retrieve data from the internal storage of a Nexus 6 from its motherboard alone?
If it were possible I'd imagine it would work in a similar way to using a laptop with the battery unplugged; powering the device from a usb cable and the fact that my android setting means that a computer would recognise it as a storage device so that I don't need to interact on the device at all..but then I don't know if usb alone would be enough to power the motherboard.

Did you have usb debugging enabled ?

@hg8 - Yes, I think I may have done but cannot remember if I did

you can try booting it, connecting it to your pc and run adb devices, if it shows up, you are lucky and you can retrieve data using something like adb pull

standard usb connections to a computer or laptop are as specified 500mA (0,5 ampere). that has to be enough. if you think It's not enough power, you will have to insert a battery and charge it before you connect....

@Schwertspize - will it still boot without a battery then? (like my laptop example?) I haven't tried yet since I was unsure if this would do further damage to either the "device" or less likely my pc. I know Nexus 6's are very power hungry but for the most part that was the display which was why i was unsure if it would work

first: you can't damage the device by providing too less power. and obviously you can't damage your laptop by powering your android... so if you do get a damaged device, the reason is your try to repair the display. and the "power hungry" thing: your stock battery has a theoretical capacity of 3220 mAh which would theoretically get charged in 6.44h via the theoretical 500 mA connection. just ask yourself the question: if it is fully charged, does it last longer than 6 hours of turned off display but active device. the answer is obviously "yes"

@Schwertspize - Thanks, I think i will nervously try it tomorrow on a computer at work. My worry was concerning whether or not the motherboard would know how to dissipate the power since it does not have a battery attached to divert it to

And yes, the charging electronic is way better than everything you can imagine, it could easily handle power supply and no battery to charge. but there may be the possibility that your damaged battery has physically damaged your power control and your processor or other components got accidentally too much power. if so, everything may be damaged now. this don't change by connecting to a power source. there is only the possibility of trying. And: just practice patience. give it enough time,....

@Schwertspize - Very plausible, another reason I don't fancy putting money towards something that could be a hopeless case


text:
Can't find Google Contacts in Gmail app
I have my Google Contacts on my PC. I have activated the sync feature in my Note 3 and synced my contacts with google. But when I open my Gmail app on my phone I can't even find the contacts link. I've searched everywhere for contacts and found nothing.
This is maddening!

There is no option in the gmail app for viewing the contacts! You can access them through web.

You have to open the Contact or People (etc.) app to view contacts synced from Gmail.  The Gmail app does not include a Contacts section, though the search and compose features will populate contact suggestions.

On Android, go to Settings and then Applications. Find GMail and set permissions to allow it to access your contacts.
Problem solved!

I don't think the Note 3 has marshmallow.


text:
How do I launch a widget from a shortcut on Home screen?
I use MultiROM manager to switch from one ROM to another. It has a widget which lists all of your installed ROMs and you can choose anyone to boot into.
(Click image to enlarge)

All good here, but I don't like keeping widgets on my home screen. I can only tolerate a shortcut (icon) on my Home screen.
I'm looking for a way to launch that widget (or any widget) from a shortcut icon on home screen. I think Tasker may be able to do it using Scenes.

While looking for a way to achieve the objective using Tasker I stumbled across the app named Popup Widget 2 (paid) on a subreddit. It does the job smoothly and I've given a use-case of it.
Usage

Install that app and launch it.
Tap + → choose a widget available there which  you want to launch from a shortcut → Create.
You may leave all the settings untouched since they are not integral to widget's launch or functioning of it.
Scroll down until you see your widget with sky blue outline depicting resizing functionality,

Resize it up to the ideal width x height you want for your widget and tap the floppy icon at the top once you're done with the settings.

Go to Home screen → Widgets → Popup Widget 2 → choose your newly created widget entry. You would find a shortcut now placed on your Home screen.

Tap that shortcut and it would display the widget.

Because the widget is available as a shortcut you can use it anywhere you want such as with:

GMD Gesture Control to launch from anywhere on Android using a custom gesture,
Gravitybox to make a quick setting icon,
LMT Launcher,

It isn't as smooth as Popup Widget 2 but it gets the job done, considering that its primary purpose is something else. Overlays - Float Everywhere (Pro, because free version impose restrictions on critical options) can launch a widget from a shortcut on home screen.

Launch it → create and name a Always/Manual (Global) profile → on the same page go to Advanced Settings of the profile and check Close profile on first overlay tap → save the profile.
Tap Add an overlay → Widget → choose the widget, configure it and then save it.
Go to Home screen → Widgets → Overlays → select the profile → Toggle.

Your new icon would now be able to launch a widget when tapped. You can also call that widget from anywhere on the system using either its sidebar feature or by binding it to a gesture or a custom shortcut such as mentioned in the bottom three points on my answer here.


text:
How does Android account for hardware changes in each individual device?
I recently wanted to use the fingerprint scanner on my Galaxy S6 in an app and doubted if Android would have classes pertaining to it (it does), which led me to ask:
Does Android add classes to its library for every minor hardware feature on every device that supports Android (like the fingerprint scanner on the Galaxy S6) even the obscure ones that maybe only 1 device has? If not, how would one access those hardware features?

Most hardware-specific code doesn't come from AOSP1, but is provided by the corresponding manufacturer (often as so-called binary blobs). This is especially true for "exotic components" (like your "fingerprint sensor") – but also for more common components as the camera. Which BTW also is one of the reasons why there isn't a "generic ROM" fitting all devices.2

1: Android Open Source Project
2: see Why is it that Android still can't be installed as regular OS? and Can I install any ROM for my Android device?

This actually depends on what you are trying to do. Like it has been mentioned, hardware-specific code is provided by manufacturer (a.k.a) drivers. But to use them, all you need is an API that gives you access to those driver features. Most of the time, these API's may come from Android API itself, or if it's not mature enough directly from the manufacturer.


text:
Looping through Terms and Verify Google Account after hard reset
I have a recent Samsung Galaxy 6S Edge phone that had to be factory reset. After the factory reset it will loop through the 'Terms and Conditions' acceptance screen and the 'Verify Google Account' after I enter the Google Account email and password correctly. After entering in this information the phone will go back to the Terms screen and ask to verify the google account again. Google notifies me that the account was accessed through this phone.
Any thoughts of what the trouble might be?

The answer from my carrier is that I have to get a new phone.

You will have to wait 72 hours, then try again and it will probably work. .. my guess is that you changed your google password, its a anti-theft thing that Lollipop 5.1 has.  anyways nothing you can do but wait for 3 days from the time you changed your google email password.  I had this same problem and figured out the reason after reading some threads.


text:
How to Pause Chromecast Screen Mirroring
TL;DR: How do I, when casting my device's screen through the Chromecast app to a Chromecast, pause the stream? Aka, the Chromecast shows a fixed image of my screen while I change screens on my phone.
More Info
Specifically, I've been using my phone to help me run a D&D campaign. I want to be able to show pre-designed maps on the screen, but also be able to swap to my notes on Google Drive (obviously without the players seeing those notes). I know I can stop/start streaming, but that doesn't leave the image on the screen, and is a lot of extra work.
The low-tech solution I have right now is just using a notebook for my meet notes, but I would like to be able to use my phone for most of it if I can.


text:
ES File Explorer unable to access `/storage/emulated/legacy` which it did earlier
I suddenly have a weird problem with the Android phone running version Android 4.2.2. I never rooted the phone but suddenly the app ES File Explorer is not able to access /storage/emulated/legacy which it did earlier. This contains my photos, videos and the likes. Even some of the apps are beginning to crash when I try to open them. I cannot even connect to Wi-Fi. I can only call and read/send SMS.
I tried using ADB to access the file system. See the result of ls -l on /storage/emulated/legacy,
shell@G20:/storage/emulated $ ls -l
ls -l
lrwxrwxrwx root     root              2015-09-01 03:41 0 -> /mnt/shell/emulated/0
lrwxrwxrwx root     root              2015-09-01 03:41 legacy -> /mnt/shell/emulated/0

And if I follow the /mnt/shell/emulated/0 symlink, the following is the actual permission,
shell@G20:/mnt/shell/emulated $ ls -l
ls -l
drwxrwx--x root     sdcard_r          2015-09-01 19:53 0
drwxrwx--x root     sdcard_r          2037-12-31 05:31 legacy
drwxrwx--x root     sdcard_r          2015-08-20 12:45 obb

I'm wondering how might have this happened. I never rooted my phone and is still under warranty so, I cannot root. Hence, solution without rooting will be highly appreciated.

I do not think those permissions are causing the issue since they are same in my Lollipop. Is factory reset not an option for you? What are the results with other file explorer apps?

Yeah using ADB I can access the files but not using my phone. Is there any way I could check what user is being used to access the underlying OS files from my phone? I'm really frustrated now.

I have important smss and without root I cannot back them up I suppose to my PC and because I cannot the os from the phone I cannot even save them using copy paste or whatever.

With other file explorer is the same. I also have FileExplorer or something.

Helium can backup and restore your SMS without root, so as SMS Backup and Restore. Also, if you want to backup SMS but are not concerned for restoring them then you can take screenshot of them on Android or on PC (see AirDroid).

I tried SMS Backup and Restore but when I try to configure the write location, I cannot use any because the phone cannot write to any one. And when I tried to take screenshot then the save fails with an error 'operation failed'. Whatever, be the case, let me try with AirDriod if I can take a screenshot directly using the PC and store in in the PC filesystem itself. I'll get back. Thanks a lot.

It seems I can take screenshot with ADB. Cool! I'll try a factory reset.

@firelord adb screenshot is a great idea. Also try and access pictures, videos, and such check with ES these locations. Because there's more than one entrance to folders though it's not the real path. /system/mnt/sdcard or /system/sdcard or /system/sdcard0 (it's different folder than just 0) One other thing try a different  file Explorer such as FX file explorer. Pull logs to find out what's going on with your device.

@BoLawson: Where do you find the logs in the file system? Forgive my ignorance. I'm new to Android and ADB.

Using a PC open a prompt then.   adb logcat *:W *:S > %userprofile%\desktop\logcat.txt  if using an terminal emulator  from within device then this will put text on sdcard.  adb logcat > /sdcard/logcat.txt

@BoLawson: I'll get back to you. Thanks a lot!


text:
''Unfortunately, Calendar Storage has stopped'' error on Sony Xperia M (C1905)
I get "Unfortunately, Calendar Storage has stopped" because of  which I cannot make calls or send Email from my phone. This affects my work too.
Is there a solution for this issue? I've already formatted my device because it was slow and lagging a lot.

First try rebooting.
Then try deleting app data from the calendar storage app (pictured below) preinstalled on your phone
If this problem persists try resetting your phone again.

authors: محمد الحارثيي


text:
treat wifi network X as cellular OR disable background wifi upload for one particular app on one particular network?
On a Nexus 5 running 5.1.1, I have the DS Photo from Synology set to do automatic background uploading of new photos/videos that show up to my NAS.  Normally works great.  The app includes a setting for whether to upload only over wifi or to upload over both wifi and cellular.
The one problem is that the phone uses cellular data via a hotspot, so while the phone sees it as just another wifi network, I really want it to be treated like cellular.
Even though I went into settings -> data usage -> network restrictions and marked the hotspot as 'metered usage', the DS Photo app still uploads new videos over it.  I'm guessing DS Photo would need to change to actively check this 'metered usage' flag and behave differently.
The 'best' fix would be to somehow have that hotspot's wifi connection treated like cellular across all apps.  Since DS Photo already has the 'wifi-only' support, that would be sufficient for this scenario.
Lacking that capability, I'm trying to figure out how I can make it so that one app isn't allowed to talk over that one wifi connection.
I tried Tasker, but it appeared to only trigger the profile of an app when it was the foreground app.  It would disable fine if I actively switched to the DS Photo app, but if it was just starting an upload in the background like normal, Tasker didn't didn't prevent it.
I also tried the approach from this answer and had it disable Auto-Sync when connected to that particular wifi network, but the DS Photo app still uploaded even though Tasker had disabled Auto-Sync :(
Thanks!


text:
How to simulate keypress event in recovery mode via adb?
I know it's possible to simulate a keypress event in Android via adb using a command like:
adb shell input keyevent 24

The command above will trigger a Volume Key Up event, for example.
My problem is, my volume key is broken. I can get access to recovery mode using adb reboot recovery, but how can I navigate in recovery mode while my volume button is broken?
I've tried to use adb shell ... commands as above but it said that the "input" binary was not installed.

Does you device has support for USB OTG? Volume buttons and digitizer doesn't work in my old device but it has USB OTG support so I use a mouse to choose the options. It is another matter that in my device stock Recovery doesn't support OTG but custom one does.

Hmm, how can i check if my device support USB on the go?
And if it's supporedt how can i do it?
Thanks :D

You can search on Google whether your device supports OTG. You may alternatively try apps like OTG Checker. If it's supported then you would have to buy an OTG cable (they are very cheap) and needs a standard mouse. Connect them and see the magic.

@Firelord
I follow your suggestion and OTG Checker app said my firmware support it.
Hmm im still a bit in darkness haha. So you mean by connecting OTG Cable adapter with standard USB Mouse I can access the menu in Recovery Mode?
Does the OTG driver loaded in recovery mode? If it can't (by using OTG Cable - USB Mouse), is there any command to invoke keypress event in recovery mode? Thanks in advance :).

As I said earlier my custom recovery loads drivers which supports some peripherals but stock one doesn't. It would depend upon which recovery you're using. Besides, did you mount /system when trying to use input command? Also I don't think it would work since it needs internals of full-fledged Android OS and Recovery is a bare-bone OS.

Ah yes, i didn't read that part you use custom recovery. And I think I didn't mount the /system  before. Ok I'll try it and reprt the result. :D

Well I think i just found a work around to handle my problem. I just realize that there ara TWRP Touch (TWRP recovery with touch screen support) I installed it and voila! I can isntall custom rom with that. Well this not answer my original question above. But maybe could be an alternative to them who face a same case with me. Maybe if anyone know how to invoke keypress command at recovery mode could fill it below. Thanks alot to Firelord and Stackexchange Team who already tried at his best to give support and answer this question. Thanks all :)


text:
Tablet report as charging with the charger unplugged
I'm having problems charging my Samsung Tab 2 device. It is reporting as charging after I unplug the cable, and when charging, it is drawing a small current from the charger. I've measured and it gets stuck at 500mA.
When I use the fix of "pressing all the keys during 10 seconds" that is supposed to reset the charging circuitry, the charging process becomes ok, I believe, and it then draws over 1 Amp but, if I unplug/plug again, the situation repeats, and it then begins just drawing a fixed 500mA value.
Basically, when I disconnect the charging cable, somehow, the device becomes erratic.

are you somehow using a custom kernel?

Yes, Syakur, I'm using Cyanogen mod.


text:
How to root my Karbonn A51+ Mobile?
My phone is not rooted. I'm using a Karbonn A51+ Mobile.
It's running the Stock ROM:  Android 4.4.2 "KitKat".
I have tried some apps to make it rooted like Kingo, Iroot, Framaroot and a tool like SRS Root Tool
Screenshot; I'm getting this error while trying with Framaroot:
 (Click for larger variant)

Please do help me to root my phone via PC or anything else?

Your question is poorly written.  It includes unclear terms such as "was is rooted".  -1.  Please [edit] it to improve the grammar and clarity, then ping me.

Thanks for editing.  Which version of KitKat are you running?  What have you tried already?  Please [edit] your question and enlighten us.  Each time you edit your question, it will get bumped to the top of the homepage; and more people might see it.

Please run Framaroot again.  What error message does it give you?  Please [edit] your question and tell us.

@Sridhar Are you using the latest framaroot version 1.9.3?

Same Error and I'm using V.1.9.3 only @Manubhargav unforgettableid

Have you done a Google search for [ root Karbonn A51+ ] to find more information?  What advice did you find?  Did any of the advice work?  Please [edit] all this into your question.


text:
List of icons for Moto G 2nd Generation running Android 5.0.2
I have a Moto G (2nd Generation) running Android 5.0.2.  I am new to both the device and to the Android OS, and would like to understand the meanings of the various notification icons present across the top of the home page of the device. Is there a list provided by Motorola or Google?
Note: I know about this related question but that link is specifically for a Samsung Droid Charge model, and is also dated.
Update: The link mentioned in the possible duplicate is a list of "suggested" icons from Google, and is not helpful.

AFAIK, there is no list of notification icons for every possible Android model. The best guide is Google's suggested icons for Lollipop system. Most of the icons are also self-explanatory. This makes the question too broad to be answered as of now. If you have particular icon in question, please describe and take a screenshot.

@AndrewT. That approach sounds more manageable, thanks. Just a side question: I am thinking that iPhone's icons are well-defined (although I don't know, I am not an iPhone user). If so, isn't this a weakness of Android against iPhone?

Well, that's because Apple has 100% control on iOS. Meanwhile, everyone can get Android source code and customize it. Whether it's a weakness or strength, I can't comment, though from what I see, most of icons on Android for core function are standardized.


text:
Old contacts show on my partner's phone despite erasing it on mine
My partner  tells me that number and names of contact I have deleted keep appearing as soon as I log on.
I do NOT have these numbers and names in my contacts.
How it is so? How can I fix that?
Do I need to delete my account?

It is possible that you have deleted your contacts on your phone, and not on your Gmail account.
Log on to your Gmail account at google.com, click the button at the top right, and then click more, then contacts.
From there you should be able to delete all of the contacts you no longer wish to have. Afterwards restart any devices, and refresh/sync any affected accounts. It might take a day (guessing) before the change is represented on every device.


text:
Is SlimROMS one thing or many?
I was looking at some threads to download a custom firmware when I noticed one thing as a thanking gesture, developers or maintainers were thanking SlimROMS team. I went to SlimROMS website and its forums as well but I couldn't pin point:
1) Is SlimROMS one thing or many?
2) I found somethreads featuring names like Slimsaber or Slimkat which shares some common features. Are they SlimROMs? It's really confusing to me. Are there other ROMs with naming convention Slim[XYZ]?

I think I found my answer after a bit more search.
I don't know why they use 's' and calls it SLIMROMs but Slim + Jelly Bean = SlimBean, Slim + Kitkat = SlimKat and Slim + Lollipop (LP) = SlimLP.
SlimSaber on the other hand is an unofficial build of SlimLP. I suppose 'Saber' comes from custom toolchain Sabermod.


text:
Xperia Z3 boot loop after TWRP installation
My Xperia Z3 was running Android 5.0.2. The model is D6653. I didn't check the firmware build number.
I followed these steps.
Everything was successful with no errors.
➜  Sdk  sudo $(which fastboot) devices
[sudo] password for eric:
➜  Sdk  sudo $(which fastboot) devices
CB5A276UDL  fastboot
➜  Sdk  sudo $(which fastboot) flash boot ~/Downloads/bootZ3monxtest01\ \(1\).img
sending 'boot' (13056 KB)...
OKAY [  0.413s]
writing 'boot'...
OKAY [  0.875s]
finished. total time: 1.288s
➜  Sdk  sudo $(which fastboot) reboot
rebooting...

finished. total time: 0.051s

Now my phone is just flashing TWRP logo repetitively - I cant' go into recovery.  I can't even get into fastboot mode anymore so I can't execute any more commands from my computer.
I'm using a Ubuntu laptop.
What should I do e.g. try to install another recovery like this one?

I'd say the person who wrote that howto messed up: recovery mustn't be flashed to the boot partition, but to the recovery partition. With your device no longer booting up (I doubt it would even boot to recovery), and not even fastboot working, you will have a hard time getting that fixed – I'm not aware of any solution here (unless there's a bootable SD card for that device which could be used to fix it up).

"why all the tutorials I found says fastboot flash boot bootZ3monxtest01.img instead?" I had one that had the boot image and recovery in the same .img file so it contained the kernel, ramdisk and the recovery image. Hence flashing the boot image file will be enough to get a custom recovery in that case.

The guide you linked tells you to type fastboot flash boot bootZ3monxtest01.img, which is wrong. I actually made the exact same mistake thanks to that stupid guide. It's supposed to be fastboot flash recovery bootZ3monxtest01.img.

I got into fastboot again, flashed another boot image containing CWM recovery (I don't think TWRP is to blamed but I just want a clean start).
The same issue happened as with TWRP boot image - I could not boot into system normally even after wiping data, cache partition and dalvik cache. I can only boot into recovery.
So I transfer a pre-rooted rom through adb push while the phone is still in recovery mode. Then I performed install zip and I got my phone rooted with Android Lollipop 5.1.1.

Now that you can enter into fastboot, you can execute the commands below
fastboot flash recovery ~/Downloads/bootZ3monxtest01.img
and fastboot reboot and install a custom rom.
flash boot boot.img is used to flash kernel images.
boot.img is a file which contains kernel and ramdisk.
More on Boot & Recovery images can be found here

why all the tutorials I found says fastboot flash boot bootZ3monxtest01.img instead? http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3/development/root-stock-kernel-twrp-v01-test-28-09-t2889794, http://www.theandroidsoul.com/install-twrp-recovery-sony-xperia-z3-65251/, http://www.infysim.org/2014/09/rooting-guide-sony-xperia-z3-rooting-and-installing-custom-recovery.html# etc.

@eric flash boot boot.img is for flashing kernel.. flash recovery recoveey.img is for flashing recovery

then all the tutorials listed are wrong?

I looked upon the 1st link It says that the file bootZ3monxtest01.img is ADV STOCK KERNEL + TWRP v2.8.0.1 . The img is "Kernel+Recovery". The tutorials might not be wrong.

You flashed to the boot partition, while you should have flashed to recovery partition. To fix, grab the boot images, boot in to fastboot and flash the boot image to the boot partition. To install TWRP correctly switch "boot" out with "recovery" in the commands. Since you can't get to fastboot the only solution for you would be something like this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2646405

OP wrote "I can't even get into fastboot mode anymore".

Well. Then. I don't even know.

thanks guys I don't know why but I was able to get into fastboot again yesterday and solved my problem

Yeah the guide OP linked to is pretty much crap, I soft bricked my device in exactly the same way. I can still recover and all, but damn. Had to erase my user data in the process.


text:
Where does the Gmail app save the previewed files?
I had previewed a PDF attachment from an email recently. I deleted the email permanently without downloading the attachment. I want to retrieve the previewed file if possible.
Is there a specific place the previewed files are stored in?

Gmail app stores those previewed files under its data directory. The file location would be /data/data/com.google.android.gm/cache/<YOUR_EMAIL_ID>/<ATTACHMENT_NAME>.
It seems that Gmail app doesn't have an in-built preview functionality so it gives the option to choose an installed app to open that file. If you did that then very likely, your file was also saved in the cache of that app. So now, there are at least two locations to get hold of that file.
E.g. WPS Office would have cached the file at /sdcard/Android/data/cn.wps.moffice_eng/.cache/KingsoftOffice/file/download/<ALPHA-NUMERIC-NAME>/<ATTACHMENT_NAME>.
Inbox by Gmail  app also saves the previewed file in its data directory. The file location is /data/data/com/google.android.apps.inbox/files/downloads/<ALPHA-NUMERIC-NAME>/attachments/<ALPHA-NUMERIC-NAME>/<ATTACHMENT_NAME>.
Inbox by Gmail doesn't allow adb backup so you most likely can't get your hands on that file if the device is not rooted.
Gmail app does allow backup but I couldn't get a working backup file for some reason, so you're on your own about it.


text:
After upgrade to lollipop, LG D415 grays out "Enable USB Debugging" when phone is connected to PC
I've linked this phone to the same PC many times, but since upgrading to lollipop (5.0.2), my phone is not recognized (in adb devices) when I connect.
When I look in "Developer Options", "USB Debugging" is ungrayed when I'm not connected to my PC, and I can toggle it, but when I connect to the PC, it changes to gray.  It changes to gray whether it was enabled or not before connecting.
If I choose MTP as my connect type, I do see my phone's file system from my PC, but there's still no "USB Debugging" link.
Trying to follow the directions on http://developer.android.com/tools/extras/oem-usb.html to connect a driver to this device, when the phone is connected, I don't see "Other Devices" in the list under "Device Manager".
My PC is running Windows 7.  My carrier (who pushed the upgrade to lollipop) is T-Mobile.
I've already tried:
 - updating all the software in SDK manager.
 - installing a driver from the phone's "pc software".
 - downloading and installing a driver.
This also fails in the same way from one other PC we have at our company that is used to set up very many other phones.

I had to connect as a camera (i.e. pick "PTP" from the item in the drop-down menu option you get when a phone is connected) to get the device to show up in Device Manager (it showed up near the top under Android Devices).  From that point, it was standard: right click on the entry under Android Devices, select "Update Driver Software", click "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer", then pick "Android ADB Interface" under "Google, Inc." as the manufacturer.
I had previously tried (several times) connecting charge-only and "MTP" and the device didn't show up under Device Manager.  It looks like I always need to connect as PTP; MTP and "debug only" still leave my device invisible to adb devices.

authors: ᜋᜇ᜔ᜃ᜔ ᜀᜎ᜔ᜎᜈ᜔ ᜁᜐ᜔ᜃ᜔ᜂᜊᜒᜂ


text:
How bad is my screen damaged? Do I need to replace the whole screen?
My dad has a Samsung phone. He dropped it once long ago and there was a crack across the screen as shown in the image:

Now he is having difficulty using the phone. There is always a touch at one spot automatically, which is very annoying. To show you what I mean, I have enabled "Show touch" in "Developer Options".
I have uploaded a video on youtube here showing how annoying it is.
Here are images showing the unwanted touch:

So how bad is the screen damaged? Do I need to replace the whole screen, as the guy at the repair shop said?
Update:

If there's a constant "touch" at one spot, the digitizer is probably damaged, along with the glass.  For some screen cracks, it's possible to replace the glass only (at least in some Samsung models including the Galaxy S4, which yours appears to be).  Unfortunately, that's probably not the case here.  A complete screen and digitizer assembly and labor to replace it cost about as much as a good used phone of that model, or a bit more than the insurance deductible if you carry insurance with service.  If you can do the work yourself, cost would be reduced by about 1/3, and it may be worth attempting.


text:
Cannot seem to lock GPS, what else can I try?
With the other answers outdated, I'm asking again: what can I do to make my GPS work? It worked before, but for some reason it just ceased to lock. I haven't done anything to the phone to make it not work.
Phone: LG G3 vs985 - CyanogenMod 12.1 8/27 nightly build - stock kernel - 8/24 GAPPS
GPS is set to high accuracy. WiFi is on. The phone has been restarted, wiped, restored, yelled at, and it still cannot lock.
FasterGPS has the configuration set to NA/US. I had reset it originally, and recalibrated my phone with the GPS Status app. No GPS lock was had.
The phone is literally outside of the building with clear skies.The case and the back is removed, and it still cannot lock GPS.

Have you tried other apps already? Is GPS really enabled? SAT 0/20 is somewhat optimistic, you won't get more than 14 unless you move to space.

well, SAT 0/20 says it doesn't even see a single satellite, so it has nothing to fix on. Maybe the GPS unit (or its antenna) gave up.

@ott-- what other app should I try? It can lock a location after a lot of walking outside and switching between GPS enabled apps. So I know it's there, on, and works after some time.

@Izzy Is there a way to force it to seek GPS coordinates? Why does it take so long to acquire the satellites now? I have tried this in different parts of the city, in open spaces, on top of buildings, etc.

@Zlatty I can't tell why, and you can't force it to fix if it doesn't see a single satellite. With all what you have tried (and I assume it worked before with the same ROM – otherwise trying a different ROM might be worth), it might well be a hardware issue.

Thanks @Izzy. I have tried looking at ifix and other places to see if there is a dedicated GPS antenna, but it does not seem the case. Many moons ago I had opened up the phone to put some thermal paste on the CPU as the phone was overheating, so I thought I nicked something and made the GPS go wonky.

That sounds like a logical cause – especially if the issue started right after that.

That's the thing @Izzy, this issue did not appear right after I opened up the phone. I think it has something to do with the gapps and cm12.1 update recently applied. Maybe something with the kernel that I'm not using. But, that does not seem logical.
I updated to the latest CM12.1 and the GPS gets acquired a bit quicker, but still it takes 10 minutes of leaving Stava on the bike outside to get it going.


text:
How to measure battery capacity (mAh)?
I've bought an Android device (Motorola Droid 4) online yesterday, the seller claims that it's 3300 mAh (and that's one of two reason why I bought it), but when I receive the device and check it, there are no printing that show it is 3300 mAh.
I tried to compare with pictures of Droid 4 battery EB41 on the the internet with mine, it looks like that mine is 1735 mAh, but I could not be sure that it's so.
I've tried to use apps to get the capacity information, but got no luck, I've tried:

CPU-Z by CPUID
GSam Battery Monitor by GSam Labs
Phone Tester (hardware info) by Miguel Torres
Battery Info by Kadett2
Battery Monitor Widget by 3c Tools
Ampere by Braintrapp
battery indicator free by Adcoms
CurrentWidget: Battery Monitor by RmDroider

but it always show 0 mAh, Unknown or the Capacity label not shown at all.
Here's the photo of my device:
(Click image to enlarge)

The question is, is there any way to make sure that my device is really 3300 mAh? or am I being fooled by the seller?
EDIT: thank you for the answers, now I have the proof that the seller lied, or maybe he didn't know that he give me incorrect product. This is the side view, because I don't have correct tool to remove the battery completely:

Which Android version? In Lollipop, you can do adb shell dumpsys batterystats | grep "Capacity:".

I'm using 5.1.1 the output was empty, the complete output (without grep): pastebin.com/17M5ERGe

Tried battery doctor app?

@Lucky battery doctor by who? by Cheetah Mobile Inc and Cingdy seems do not have such information (by the screenshot)

Yes Battery Doctors by CM will show the current battery capacity..

@Lucky i have installed it, which part of the UI that shows the battery capacity?

The first screen after you open the app I guess. Sorry I don't have the app right now installed on my phone. If it's not there just swipe right and check it. It will display the battery's current mAh. Charge your phone 100% to check your battery's full capacity.

@Lucky no, it shows nothing about mAh on this phone..

How did you pay for your online purchase?  If you paid using a credit card, then which type of credit card did you use?  (e.g. Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, Diner's Club, etc.)

no i use debit card

Motorola Droid 4 XT894
has 1785mAh battery with 2% tolerance i.e 1735mAh actual battery capacity.
Your seller seems to have fooled you.
Also it doesn't seem like the seller put up the battery description as 3300mAh by mistake as he has put this in Title name itself
You could have taken out the battery from phone and flipped it to see the battery capacity printed on the other side.
Side 1

Side 2

These apps will show the actual full battery capacity in mAh.
GO Battery Saver&Power Widget
Battery Monitor Widget Pro

Those show the "full capacity" reported to Android; from what I can tell they do not tell you the actual real-time capacity of the battery in mAh, nor the cycle count. However, GSAM at least, tracks the charge current and time, so it would be theoretically possible to export that data and calculate the area under the curve.


text:
I can't install any apps when I don't have a SD Card in my phone!
I've a problem on my SM-G350. I once set my install location to extrenal via ROM Toolbox Lite. I took out the SD card one day and the other day I tried to install an app and it said that I can't install it to my standard install location, which was fine. I connected it to adb and typed in pm set install-location 0 I got no error message (I got no message at all), and so I thought it worked, but it didn't. I also entered the command so that everything will be installed on the internal storage but that didn't help either.
What else could I do or what could be the cause of this problem?
Samsung Galaxy Core Plus (SM-G350)
Stock ROM (4.2)

You missed a dash: adb shell pm set-install-location 0 it is. See these posts :)

Also, try reinserting the SD card. If it works, try using Rom toolbox to reset the install location.

@Izzy, yeah, right, but only in the question. After the 5th time I typed it in I always triple checked what I was typing in the command line :D
@DanB, I installed rom toolbox after a couple of tries but that also didn't work. Reinserting the SD card didn't help. Also a restart didn't work.

Try checking with get-install-location if it took the new setting. If it didn't, try again with root powers.

It says 0 (automatic).

Okay, I changed it again with ROM Toolbox and install location was on ´1´ (internal). I tried to install a app and I got the same error message as always. Yes, internal storage is mounted.
I also got it to 2, but no success either.


text:
Galaxy S6 - MMS gifs not sending?
My Galaxy S6 Active (and from looking around online, the Galaxy S6 in general) sends some animated .gifs properly, but others just get sent as a still photo.
I search the web for a gif, find it, and save to my phone.  (For this example, I'm trying to send this gif).  I am able to view in the gallery as a .gif, yay!
However, when I go to send it, and attach - it is a still image (not sure if it's the whole .gif, just not animating, or if it's just the first frame).
Other gifs I can send fine.  I have yet to find a rhyme or reason some work and others don't.  I've seen some comments saying that the Galaxy/Android cuts the file size down when it changes the text to an MMS, and this could be stopping the gif?
Thanks for any ideas.  I'd rather not have to root or install a third-party app..I'm mainly interested in learning if this is just a fact of life for my phone, or if there's a fix.
Edit: With the two answers below, one partial solution is to use another messaging app.  I tried Google Messenger, and was able to successfully attach a .Gif that I couldn't with the default messenger.  However I still can't send those gifs, it says the file size is too large for an attachment.  I understand that carriers put a limit to MMS size, but I'm 99.9% positive my friend with an iPhone can successfully send the same gif that I am not able to. Hmm.
Edit: April 2016 - While it doesn't really answer the question of the .gifs getting cut down, I downloaded Google Messenger, and it seems to be sending .gifs that the default program wouldn't.  Not a perfect solution, since it involves downloading an App, but it's the best I've found so far.
Edit: March 2017 - while not a solution to the MMS sending/not sending gifs, in addition to Google Messenger, both WhatsApp and Signal work fine with .gif. However I believe it's mainly due to their use of the data plan/wifi which allows for the greater file size to be sent.

I figured out how to send .gif files with my Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and I'm sure there are others out there that are just as frustrated in their search. I tried downloading several .gif editors like Textra and they just did not work the way I wanted. The one app that I found that works is Google Messenger.
Steps I did that worked:
Downloaded Google Messenger app (free from Google Play Store), use Google Messenger as your default texting software for your device (MMS), google a .gif file you want to send (DO NOT TRY AND SAVE IT FROM THE GOOGLE THUMBNAIL PAGE.  CLICK ON THE LINK TO THE ACTUAL WEBSITE THAT HAS THE GIF ON IT), hard press the moving .gif to save to your phone, open GOOGLE MESSENGER, attach the .gif file to a text message from your gallery (IT SHOULD SHOW AS MOVING ONCE YOU HAVE ATTACHED IT), and hit send!! I hope it helps. Good luck!!!

Thanks so much for commenting, I'll definitely try that.  I am still amazed that it's not so simple to send Gifs.  I assume someone in Samsung's team has used an iPhone to send gifs, it does it pretty flawlessly, and yet with their brand new phone ...not so simple.

I updated my OP - your answer seems to be getting me on the right path!  It seems though that for some reason my attachments are "too large" (although the same .gifs can be sent with other phones, I'm pretty sure).  I'll keep playing with this idea and let everyone know if I find anything else.  Thanks again!

I found a similar question on Reddit, and here's what one of the comments (currently the only one) says:

Really depends on the phone and what app you're using. I've personally
  found that Textra sends GIFs correctly to both iPhone and Android
  users in and out of group chats over 90% of the time. Every once in a
  while, one gets stuck but it works for the most part.

... and if the filesize was cut down as you said, I think that could also be affecting the GIF. The GIF may not have been processed correctly.

Thanks - I'll look into that, but I'm surprised that one of Samsung's flagship phones, in 2015, can't straight up handle gifs? I mean the iPhone can, without hird party things. Am I missing some reason Samsung can't get a tighter "grip" on gifs?  Any ideas if rooted phones can do gif without an extra app?

Came across this while looking for something else, but I was having the same issue with my S6. Since it's several months later from when you first posted the question you may have already figured it out. But this method works for me each time: First, press/hold your finger on the gif until a white dialog box pops up. Hit "Download Image". After the download finishes, down at the bottom of the screen it gives you the option to open the download. Open it up, then get out of there and go to your messages to send it as an attachment. It always works for me, so hopefully this helps.


text:
Most secure peer-to-peer exchange of public keys?
Just what the question asks: I would like to have two Android users exchange public keys for use in a mobile app while not connecting to a centralized hosted server or website.

Public Keys are PUBLIC: they are meant to be shared. So, I think it wouldn't matter how you transfer those keys. What is more important is how strong those keys are encrypted, so they aren't easily hacked or bypassed.
You might also want to check on these two questions:

Strong encryption for base64 encoded public key in Android
how to secure Android Market public key

I fully understand that they are public; my goal is to find a secure means of exchanging (ie. sharing) public keys without using a third party.

@SeanDorman Some DEVs put their public keys on GitHub. Would that be an option for you?

Again the goal would be to avoid third party key exchange; I look at services like Lavabit which was forced to shut down due to the fact they had access to the keys and while I understand public keys are inherently made available through a CA (certified authority) it would be safer for people to be in total control of public and private keys.


text:
Disable popups on cancelled Sprint service on LG G2
I have an LG G2, and recently got a cell phone provided for by my place of work, so I cancelled my Sprint service.
I want to use the phone as a gaming device for my kids, but I keep getting error messages popping up regarding the fact that it cannot connect to the sprint network.

LTE : ESM-0 EMM-19
  EHRPD : 5
  MIP : 67

They pop up very frequently, and I cannot find a way to disable them.
TL;DR: Is there a way to disable the popup error messages related to no service on a Sprint LG G2?

Not sure about the error message and making it go away. But you could always put the device into airplane mode and still use WiFi. That should stop the device from trying to connect to the Sprint towers.

You can root your device and then manually disable those popup settings by editing databases using SQLite editor app.
Some manufacturers put their custom apps as ordered by service providers. Theses apps do not have their own UI, but used by other service provider specific apps to get updated values from service provider as per customer-plan.
These apps change default values of certain actions, responses, service access in SQLite databases that are present in Android devices or build their databases which are accessed by Android system.
By using SQLite editor app, user can browse these databases manually and change values that seems to be connected with this pop-up issue. To browse these databases, device needs root access.

How is that link helpful? Also, what kind of databases are you talking about? Please see [answer] and give us detailed steps. Thanks!

@Firelord Link used to be in a forum that gives some woking solutions for related issues as described but not working anymore.

Unfortunately, this is still too vague. Without specific app & database location, this answer is too general and probably won't help much.

I had the exact same issue. I removed the SIM card and restarted and have not seen the error message since.the phone still works fine and connects to wifi easily.
good luck I hope this helps you as well...

Turn off mobile data, this will fix your issue.


text:
How to check my phone hardware specs on Android terminal emulator
I was wondering if there is a command to check the hardware specs of my phone. I just installed the Android terminal emulator. I've tried the 'lshw' but it does not work. Thanks in advance.

You can enter getprop to get info about device. Or, you can do cat /system/build.prop
If you've root access then you can enter su and then  dumpsys | less to get the name of the services which can give more info about some specific things such as battery. See this answer to know more.
On a non-rooted device, you can do adb shell dumpsys | less provided that adb is running in wireless mode and your device is connected locally in loopback mode. See this answer for more info.

There are some bits and pieces under /dev, /proc and /sys but I can't get a hold on a central point like lshw.

And dumpstate has too many things to figure out.


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default_gain.conf not present (for volume)
I have been editing my default_gain.conf on my android devices for as ong as I can remember now.
I recently upgraded to the Note 4 (N9100F) and I cant seem to find this file anywhere. My device is rooted BTW.
The location should be /system/etc/default_gain.conf but it isn't there.
I also have a Samsung Galaxy Nexus running CM11 that I have disabled the radio and deleted all of the bloatware on, just so it can be used as a media player and I can't find the file on that device either.
Has the location been changed and I haven't noticed or do I now need to edit some other file to up the volume of my music player without using third-party apps?
I appreciate the help guys, thanks.

Try the app speaker booster on the play store. It claims to increase your volume/loudness by (up to) 30%, and I must say that (after trying it) it's pretty successful, with a handful of devices not getting boosted by it (it made my LG G2 quieter)
Also, it does not need root.

Thanks for the info, I'll try it out. The problem with apps is that they like to mess with the EQ, which in effect messes with the quality, is this something you have noticed?

Not really. Then again, my speakers tank everything. Also, I have never noticed this mess with my EQ, but it does toggle Xloud (Sony thing) when I turn the booster off (after boosted, exit, relaunch, turn all volume to 0 in-app and exit to turn booster off)


text:
how to send to special number in the new hangouts
before the update I can send messages to number like "2200" no problem but since the update hangouts instantly adds +63 to the numbers and now I can send sms to it and it doesn't even let me compose a new sms for that number.. please help I love using hang outs as my default sms messenger so please help me..

You to access Hangouts from the website version https://hangouts.google.com/ and then input the number that you want to send a text to once the conversation is created you can access the conversation from your phone.


text:
How to get the manufactured date information in Android?
In old Nokia phones we get the manufacturer information and manufactured date, purchase date, no. of repairs done etc using the codes like *#92702689# , *#0000# and *#06#. While only the *#06# works since its mandatory to include this code by the manufacturer for showing the phone's IMEI number.
Is there any way or an adb command we can get those information in an Android phone? Atleast a way to get the manufactured date information. BTW, my Moto G2 is not rooted and running Android Lollipop 5.0.1.


text:
Is it possible to make screen videos on a unrooted device? The device is Sony Xperia m2 aqua
Recently I want to record some screen videos like to show when bugs happen and e.t.c.Is it possible on a unrooted Sony xperia m2 aqua?If yes how?

Are you on lollipop? If so, any screen recording app should work without root (tested that on a note 4). If not, you won't need to wait forever for that update. See here

No I am on kitkat.Sony haven't released the 5.1 yet and I don't want to break some of the options.

Oh. Well thats a shame

Now, as Sony Xperia M2 and M2 Aqua have received Lollipop 5.1.1 update, you can start recording your screen with the help of screen recorder apps such as Screen Recorder by NLL.

I see that your device originally came with Android KitKat. You can try a command line method here. screenrecord binary does the screen recording. Its maximum recording duration is 180 seconds. In Kitkat, its usages goes by:
Usage: screenrecord [options]

Records the device's display to a .mp4 file.

Options:
--size WIDTHxHEIGHT
    Set the video size, e.g. "1280x720".  Default is the device's main
    display resolution (if supported), 1280x720 if not.  For best results,
    use a size supported by the AVC encoder.
--bit-rate RATE
    Set the video bit rate, in megabits per second.  Default 4Mbps.
--time-limit TIME
    Set the maximum recording time, in seconds.  Default / maximum is 180.
--rotate
    Rotate the output 90 degrees.
--verbose
    Display interesting information on stdout.
--help
    Show this message.
In Lollipop, a parameter bugreport is also added:
--bugreport
    Add additional information, such as a timestamp overlay, that is helpful
    in videos captured to illustrate bugs.
An example to record screen using in-built screen recorder (you would need adb setup in PC and USB debugging enabled in the device),
adb shell screenrecord --bit-rate 8000000  /sdcard/test.mp4

That command will save the screen recording in a file test.mp4 located under /sdcard. Change the bitrate as per your needs, or try an app for GUI.

In my experience with Sony phones, you can hold the power button and it gives you an option to record the screen/take a screenshot. Otherwise, use AZ Screen Recorder - No Root app.

Please link the app and also elaborate on the options available written you press the power button and mention the model as well

You might want to mention that the app you linked requires Android 5.0. and above while OP is currently running Android KitKat.


text:
Mobile/wifi network exclamation mark
I have a problem that almost always my mobile network is marked with exclamation mark and I can't connect to Edge/3G, sometimes this happening to WiFi. I have a Nexus 5 and Android 5.1.1. I'm also trying to enable/disable airplane mode but it doesn't help.
About WiFi, I reload my WiFi router and after it it works fine. Mobile network - it's happening at two cities and seems for everybody around me everything is fine.

The exclamation mark means you have no data connection. Go to Settings and in category Wireless & networks  enable Mobile Networks. This assumes Airplane mode is off.

It's enabled all the time


text:
how can i restore loosing system applications
I remove some system androids apps(that i dont konw which app) from my phon whith system app safe remover. and now my phon cant open any docx file whith any program. how can do i found the lossing app?
my phon: samsung galexy not N7000 rooted
android: 4.1.2
rom: n7000JPLSB   (rooted)

How is that you don't know which app you removed? Were you asleep  when you did that?

First lesson learned, meli: don't use root to touch system stuff unless you exactly know what you're doing. Second lesson along: before removing an app, always freeze (disable) it to see if everything still works. And lesson 3: if you finally remove something, make sure you 1) have a backup of that, 2) have a complete system backup (Nandroid) is to be recommended, 3) remember what you did. Then, the answer is: restore from your backup. As we can't be sure what else you possibly broke, safest thing is flashing the ROM again.

You probably removed some bloatware which opened word (docx) files. To fix download a docx reader like this: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=couchDev.tools.DocxParser&hl=en


text:
Unable to connect galaxy tab pro SM-T520 to PC with windows 8.1
My new PC having windows 8.1 does not recognize Samsung galaxy tab pro connected via USB cable. What to do?
I've tried different cables and different USB ports. It does not appear in Windows device manager. It only pops-out a window saying "The last USB device you have connected to the PC malfunctioned and Windows does not recognize it". I have not installed any drivers for the tab. I need just to copy files from PC to tab (music, movies...).
Thanks for help.

OK, thanks! So let's remove the comments, all is integrated with your question now. While waiting for answers: Please check the questions in the "related" section (to the right when using the PC web browser), and also see our other answered questions on USB connection issues. With some luck, that already gets you started. Fingers crossed!

You need to enable USB debugging on the tablet, and then install the USB drivers on Windows. For explicit instructions, see steps 2.1 and 2.2 in the following guide:
How do I install CyanogenMod on the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 Wi-Fi?
Again, you don't have to follow the whole guide to install CyanogenMod, just steps 2.1 and 2.2.


text:
How to remove monkey test and time service?
I am using a Micromax Canvas A116. It's not a rooted phone. I've done a factory-reset, but still malware app existing. How to remove monkey test, time service in mobile phone? And everytime phone gets reboot and unwanted apps like get touch, paytm etc., get installed. How to resolve this?

Screenshot (click to enlarge)
I tried all the possible ways suggested in this

I done everything as suggested on that but still it's not removed. additional app like easy touch and other apps too gets installed.

@HakunaMatata - This is why I would not comment on the uninstallers in my original answer. I believe they are merely other avenues to OTHER malware. Getting rid of malware is hard, once you are infected. Let everyone know at the other question, with the correct procedure, when you have resolved it.


text:
Turning my mobile into wifi hotspot using computer connection?
I know that my mobile can turn into a hotspot using a configuration option.
I know that my PC can use my mobile internet through the usb cable.
But is the other way possible ? Can my mobile use my PC internet connection and then broadcast it as a hotspot ?

If you're using a PC with Wi-Fi, you don't need the mobile to create a hotspot: How to Turn Your Windows PC Into a Wi-Fi Hotspot
You should also be able to use this method if you're getting the Internet connection on your PC through a mobile device via USB.
Hope this helps!

My pc isn't a laptop nor have a wifi card, so i can't use my computer to create an ad hoc. I knew about this way, that's why i'm looking for something using my mobile since it has wifi

Ah- well, that's why details are important. Let me Google this for you

I'm asking for a specific question, i don't understand how this detail is helpful


text:
Android pm command throwing transactiontoolargeexception
I am using rooted android phone and have installed AIDE for android. I am doing tutorial lessons in the app. When I click run app in any tutorials, it says "Starting… " and after few seconds "App not installed error". I looked at the superuser app's log for AIDE, and it says "unable to access package manager". Here's a screenshot:

Screenshot (click to enlarge)
Edit: I tried pm command in terminal emulator app with su access, it shows same error: "package manager not running…" I guess there is a problem with the pm command. How to solve this problem?

The problem has to do with your version of the su binary. I was using ChainFire's updated binary and it didn't work. I re-rooted with Kingoroot and it's now working.


text:
Why are some lollipop notifications able to be swiped away on lockscreen?
I have a pin set and privacy set to don't show sensitive content.
Some notifications such as tune in radio telling me about a recommended radio are able to be swiped away from the lockscreen where as some can't such as sky go notifications, texts email etc.
Why is this?

There are two types of notifications: Persistent notifications and swipeable notifications. Persistent notifications won't be swipeable because they are set like that by the app and for good reason (For eg: alarm or Poweramp or system notifications). There may be apps which abuse this. The only way to remove them would be to force close the app. And like you said, swipeable notifications can just be swiped away because it is assumed that they are unimportant.

+1 from me :) Note that this applies to other versions of Android as well, at least to 4.x.


text:
Droid Explorer does not recognize Android Studio as a valid Android SDK during install.
Trying to install droid explorer on a Win7 laptop.
To get Droid Explorer installed and working, do I need to:
1. Install older version of Android SDK?
2. Wait for Droid Explorer to catch up?
3. Do something tricky and undocumented?
Thanks in advance to all who answer.
Bill

Disclaimer: I am the lead developer of Droid Explorer.
I do not use the Android Studio SDK, nor do I have it installed. But what I can tell you is the following:
To be considered a valid android SDK for Droid Explorer to use, it has to meet the following criteria:

adb.exe must exist in the /sdk-path/platform-tools directory

It can also exist in /sdk-path/tools directory, as this is where it originally was located.

in /sdk-path/platforms there must be at least 1 platform. It will be named something like android-23.
Droid Explorer installer will check HKLM\SOFTWARE\Android SDK Tools\. If it finds a value there, it will set that as the initial directory of the SDK. It will still verify the tools in the directory.
Droid Explorer will also check that aapt.exe exists in the /sdk-path/build-tools directory.

If Android Studio SDK does not meet these requirements, then it will not validate the SDK as valid. These checks are made because Droid Explorer uses these tools, and even others in these directories.
The best way to get Droid Explorer to work is to install the SDK using the official SDK installer. You can set up Android Studio to use that path for the SDK.

Thank you, Ryan.
So in short, the answer at this time is to separately install an older version of the Android SDK, and point DroidExplorer to that.
Since as of Marshmallow the Android Studio is claiming that the older layout of the SDK is no longer the 'official' (whatever they mean by that) development platform, are there any plans to update DroidExplorer for the new SDK installation?

Why would you have to install an older version of the SDK? What I am saying is currently, Droid Explorer does not support the SDK that is installed with Android Studio, the only officially supported SDK is the Standalone install of the SDK. If you have an issue with 2 versions of the SDK, then you can have Android Studio use the SDK that is installed by the standalone installer.

Ahhh, So I was not aware that the layout changed in SDK for 5. I will look in to what has changed and will make changes to support that. So, since that is the case, yes, currently, the latest SDK is not supported.

Thanks again for the clarification, Ryan.
My confusion is due to the statements made when downloading the Android SDK via https://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html, which is where the claim is made "If you have been using Eclipse with ADT, be aware that Android Studio is now the official IDE for Android, so you should migrate to Android Studio to receive all the latest IDE updates.". I now notice it says nothing about the SDK. Thanks again for your answers.

ok, great. And I will look in to installing the Android Studio and see what is different about the SDK and see if I can add support for that in the future as well.

And i the meantime, I'll install the standalone SDK and see if I can make further progress.
Best regards, and this looks like a very promising tool for the things I have planned.

Surprise: Android Studio locates the SDK under %UserHome%\AppData\Local\Android\SDK.


text:
How do you run a virtual machine in Android?
I had an idea, run Chromium OS on Android. I got myself a tablet off eBay and I am wondering how do I create a virtual machine on the tablet itself. The image is a .img or I can get it as a .vdi if needed. I am stuck at what to do now.
Do I need an app for the tablet (Acer Iconia Tab 8) or do I need to root it to do anything?

I'll give my 100 points to  one who can come up with a positive working answer to this question. (My Device is OnePlus One). // My bet is the solution doesn't exist.

my issue now is my tablet is not 86x.

You don't need root running a VM. Just sit back, relax. A VM will pop up eventually.

you would think some one made one by now

Would love to know the answer...

I have try all day and got a little closer, I have a solution I'm trying now.

Duplicate How do I run Windows or Linux as a virtual machine on Android?


text:
What is CP and AP and what are these options used for?
There is this service menu where I can select different USB modes for my phone. One option is called CP and the other is AP.

What do the acronyms CP and AP stand for? I recognize MTP, PTP and ADB. But what are the options CP and AP used for?

I should have mentioned that, yes. It's a Galaxy S4 Plus.

I now understand from the answer below what CP and AP is. What I don't understand is how the selection of either one of these options on the menu affects the operation of the phone. I know, "it enumerates a different driver". So what? To what end? So if someone knows the answer to that please fill it in below.

The code to get this screen is #*0808# for Android 4.2.2 and above (if I recall correctly). In case someone else wants to try it.

@sammyg *#0808#

TL;DR
Application processor (AP) =  CPU + GPU
Cellular processor (CP) = Cellular modem

The long version:
CP stands for Cellular Processor. It's also referred to as Baseband Modem. Another reference is Baseband Processor, or BP for short. AP stands for Application Processor. These are 2 of the 3 fundamental building blocks in mobile devices. The third being the Graphical Processor, or GP for short. The CP includes all the digital components required to communicate with a cellular network. The CP usually consists of an ARM-based processor and a DSP. It has its own operating system and communicates via a HS (High-Speed) serial connection with AP unit on which operating systems such as Android, iOS and Windows Phone are running.
Previously, CP, AP and (GP) were found in separate, dedicated chips. However, there is a trend to combine all three components on a single System on a Chip (SoC) to save cost, reduce power consumption, and shrink the overall size of the circuit board.
The table below is showing SoC chips with two AP — CPU & GPU and one CP — the cellular or baseband processor. The table is copied from 3G, 4G and Beyond by Martin Sauter.

Bonus:
The USB settings in the image above is used to determine what drivers are enumerated when connecting your phone to the PC via USB cable. It is a multiplexer switch which determines whether the USB port is directly connected to the CP or the AP.
There are also options to select device features that will be enabled once connected to the PC. These options include:

MTP (Media Transfer Protocol)
ADB (Android Debugging Bridge)
PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol)
RNDIS (Remote Network Driver Interface Specification) for USB Ethernet
DM (Diagnostic Mode)
MIDI (Used to connect MIDI device such as MIDI keyboard)
Modem

Click on image to enlarge
More info can be found on XDA forums and in 3G, 4G and Beyond by Martin Sauter.

Reality:
AP mode of UART serial connection is favored upon.
Many blogs seem to have found that AP mode saves battery capacity,
charges phone faster when connected via USB, increases battery life.

But what difference does it make if the CP mode or the AP mode is selected? How do these changes manifest? What's the difference? Or when is one preferred over the other?

Can you please tell me what these CP/AP options do? You have explained the abbreviations and that CP is one component inside the phone, and AP is another. I thank you for that! But what difference does it make which mode is selected? Surely, both CP and AP are enabled in hardware? I tried looking for this info on the XDA forums link but didn't find anything more than a reference to it, and I did a term search in the book mentioned above but got no hits.

I found one clue about CP/AP, and it's from a discussion at Android Central. One Galaxy S4 user with AT&T in the US had to use this service menu to switch from CP to AP, in order for Samsung Kies software on the PC to recognize his phone. It kept saying SGH-I337 does not support initialising. It seemed to have something to do with a custom bootloader by AT&T, and it was probably set to CP mode by default. That's a clue, but not a clear fact. Switching it to AP made it recognized in Kies.

It appears to me that this comes down to having the phone behave and operate more closely like a cellular network device (CP), closely tied to its network, or as a mobile computer (AP), with a more independent spirit. It's like comparing a dumb GSM phone of the 1990's on a cellular network with telephone function only, and smart-like PDA devices that resemble mobile devices of today.


text:
galaxy grand duos gt-i9082l don't start
Well, I have a Galaxy Grand Duos GT-I9082L brasilian version and i try restore my phone with kies, but i still get this error

I try restore with odin, but result are the same

I think you should have to do a hard reset and flash it with a new or Custom ROM and optionally with Gapps. If you have a backup of your stock ROM, then try flashing it. Follow the steps from Xda deveopers. Be sure to search by your phone model and variant.

my solution was hard reset w/ ADB, thaks!


text:
Fake Phone Number
Nothing dishonest.  I do not want the world to have my phone number when texting.  Can I use a fake number to text from my laptop or cell phone Android S4. Verizon  I tried textfree but can't make it work no matter what I do.  Thanks For Your Help.No opinions please just suggestions. Thanks so much.

There are certainly ways to send a text without revealing your actual phone number, as spamming telemarketers have proven (we won't stoop to their level, however).
One way is simply using an app like Private Text Messaging & Calls.
A Google search found this interesting article.
Another way is to use Google Voice. Here is an excerpt from the support page: "You can send and receive text messages using your Google Voice number on the Google Voice website, in the Google Voice app, through your SMS messaging app, or through Hangouts." With Google Voice, you can create and use a totally different phone number right on your device.
Hope this helps!

Yes and no.
You cannot fake a number from an actual phone using a a network provider. The most you can do is hide your number from being sent, as it is handled by the network, not your phone. But, since you asked about texting, then the following applies:
You can, however fake a number from a text. Ever phone number has its own email address. Usually phonenumber@networkprovider.com or something. You can email a device that way, and fake your source phone number - you could even change the phone number to a word or phrase. But, note, it wouldn't be possible to receive any reply from the person you message.
A quick Google search should show various websites that provide a free hidden texting service. I am also in development of a site like this.


text:
Copying DCIM/Camera images causes hang/reboot
In 5.1.1 lollipop, I'm trying to transfer to a Windows 7 PC via USB some 19GB of images/videos using either Windows copy or Picasa Import. Whether or not I use MTP (Media device) or PTP (Camera) on USB, the result is the same:

after some time 4+ minutes, the connection drops;
it's not always the same file that is copying when the failure occurs;
the phone becomes unresponsive -- sometimes the screen freezes, sometimes everything just slows down;
eventually, Android reboots.

I have Android Studio and looked at the adb log. Here are messages just around the crash time (I think the stack trace is when Android reboots):
08-29 17:21:44.108      199-264/? I/ThermalEngine﹕ TM Id 'SKIN_THERMAL_management_1' Sensor 'xo_therm_pu2' - alarm raised 1 at 40.0 degC
08-29 17:21:44.112      199-264/? I/ThermalEngine﹕ ACTION: CPU - Setting CPU[0] to 1958400
08-29 17:21:44.112      199-264/? I/ThermalEngine﹕ ACTION: CPU - Setting CPU[1] to 1958400
08-29 17:21:44.112      199-264/? I/ThermalEngine﹕ ACTION: CPU - Setting CPU[2] to 1958400
08-29 17:21:44.112      199-264/? I/ThermalEngine﹕ ACTION: CPU - Setting CPU[3] to 1958400
08-29 17:21:44.123      199-264/? I/ThermalEngine﹕ ACTION: LCD - Setting max LCD brightness to 229
08-29 17:22:05.211      906-906/? I/Choreographer﹕ Skipped 3428 frames!  The application may be doing too much work on its main thread.
08-29 17:22:06.098      199-264/? I/ThermalEngine﹕ TM Id 'battery_LCD_monitor' Sensor 'batt_therm' - alarm raised 2 at 340.0 degC
08-29 17:22:06.111      199-264/? E/ThermalEngine﹕ override action 7500
08-29 17:22:06.112      199-264/? E/ThermalEngine﹕ Thermal-Server: Thermal received msg override 7500
08-29 17:22:06.115      199-264/? E/ThermalEngine﹕ override_notify : SS mode 1 override 7500
08-29 17:22:19.346      745-813/? I/Process﹕ Sending signal. PID: 906 SIG: 3
08-29 17:22:19.349     745-1049/? I/Process﹕ Sending signal. PID: 745 SIG: 3
08-29 17:22:19.354      745-751/? I/art﹕ Thread[5,tid=751,WaitingInMainSignalCatcherLoop,Thread*=0xb4828c00,peer=0x12c020a0,"Signal Catcher"]: reacting to signal 3
08-29 17:22:19.354      906-916/? I/art﹕ Thread[5,tid=916,WaitingInMainSignalCatcherLoop,Thread*=0xb4a23000,peer=0x12c000a0,"Signal Catcher"]: reacting to signal 3
08-29 17:22:19.356      745-751/? I/art﹕ [ 08-29 17:22:19.356   906:  916 I/art      ]
08-29 17:22:19.385      745-751/? W/art﹕ Suspending all threads took: 28.517ms
08-29 17:23:14.174      906-916/? I/art﹕ Wrote stack traces to '/data/anr/traces.txt'

Because the device is not rooted, I can't view /data/anr/traces.txt.
I see a similar problem has been logged in the Picasa forum. There's also one reported on Androide.SE here.
Is my device overheating?