text:
Large files on machine after installing Eclipse and Android Studio
After installing and uninstalling both Eclipse and Android Studio several times, I have some very large (> 200MB) files on my PC (Windows 7). I currently use the Android Studio version that is installed under C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-studio.
Is there any way to know which of these files is safe for deletion?

These files are all system images for the Android emulator. That is, they contain the filesystems for the emulated Android phone inside the emulator. The ones that are in SDK directories can be removed from the Android SDK Manager and reinstalled any time you want.
The ones in your user directory were generated by running the emulator: they contain the files and data you've created in the emulator. Only you know whether they contain any important data. If your emulated Android system doesn't have any data you want to save, you can delete them. Make sure to remove the corresponding AVD entries that use them from the AVD manager, as the AVD won't be able to boot once you've removed its files: you'll have to start a new AVD from scratch.
BTW, it's not necessary to download a fresh Android SDK each time you install an IDE. Just tell the IDE the path where you installed the Android SDK. Rather than just worrying about the large files, it'll be better to completely remove the copies of the SDK you're not using.

Yes these files are generated when you run the emulator in Android studio....you need not delete the files instead try wiping data from memory using the AVD manager from Tools menu

then choose wipe data after clicking the down arrow next to Emulator name


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Why are apps taking up more space?
I have a micromax A300 and it comes with an internal memory of around 25 GB. The problem is that my memory dedicated to installing apk file which is around 1.2 gb seems to be showing 200MB more data than the amount being used by the apps.
According to the phone I have around 464 mb of apps...

Click image for larger version
but when I click on the "apps" icon it shows:

Click image for larger version
I don't understand why it shows an excess of 200MB being occupied. It has android 4.4.2 and my phone is not rooted. Any help on how I could delete these files would be great.

The extra space is taken up by system apps so you will always see this difference. Once you root your phone and install app like Titanium backup then you can delete some of the pre packaged apps which can't be deleted otherwise.
Caution: Don't go on deleting system apps as you may face random crashes while using your phone.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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How can I identify if my device is using ART runtime or a Dalvik?
I have an app called Timberman.

Under the description it gives an important note:

Game is not compatible with ART devices at the moment. Please switch to Dalvik.

I don't understand what/ how can one confirm whether his device is an ARM device or a Dalvik supported. Also please give a clear difference between Dalvik and an ART.
Note: I would like to clarify that I am not seeking any recommendation regarding any particular application. I just want to know: how does the ART effect the game/device? Does it have anything to do with the safety of the phone or just the working of the device differs?
I have installed/used many applications so far, but I never came across this kind of a note.

You're confusing ART with ARM, ARM is the most common  architecture used in Android devices, while ART is the new Android runtime which is not present in Android versions prior to 4.4, in 4.4 it's available under "Developer options" in Settings, and in Android L developer preview, it's the only runtime you can use.
Most Android devices today use Dalvik.

@Shvelo I guess that's rather a typo, as it appears only in one place – while throughout the question, OP uses the term ART correctly ;)

Short answer: unless you've changed it yourself, it's Dalvik.
Dalvik is currently the supported VM for Android. ART is a new VM, which is expected to become the supported one for the future L release. If you are using the L developer preview, you're using ART.
In KitKat, there is a preview (an early beta version) of ART, which you can turn on from the developer options. It's not recommended to do this, because the preview has bugs and is not yet compatible with all apps. The option's there primarily for app developers to test their apps with ART and report bugs.
So unless you're using the L developer preview, or have turned on ART in the developer settings, you're using Dalvik, which is the only recommended option for end users.

Basically there are two run-time environments on Android.
1) Dalvik VM : Dalvik is the managed runtime used by applications and some system services on Android. Dalvik was originally created specifically for the Android project.
2) ART- ART is a new Android runtime being introduced experimentally in the 4.4 release that will eventually replace Dalvik. This is a preview of work in progress in KitKat that can be turned on in Settings > developer options.
Important: Dalvik must remain the default runtime or you risk breaking your Android implementations and third-party applications.
Above content is from Android developer site.

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


text:
Samsung GT-S5360 screen unlock
My mother has forgotten her screen lock password. is a four digit number. how can I reset phone so she can use it again?
Please assist!

I've just added the 'locked-out' tag to your question. Could you please check if its tag-wiki gets you started? Especially see: Can not unlock my Android device as have no internet connection?

Follow this process only if mobile data is disabled and phone PIN locked. What I'm giving is Factory Reset method.
(Warning: Factory reset erases all the data from the phone permanently. Phones resets to its initial state.)

Charge the phone fully.
Switch-off the phone.
Try these combinations -

volume key up+middle home key+power key

-or-

volume key down+middle home key+power key

A windows pop-ups for confirming Factory Reset/Wipe Data. Confirm it.
The reset process completes in a minute or two.

You should hold all the keys for few seconds when trying different combinations.

Aw. That's the last-resort only, MANI. There are ways to reset the lock without resetting the device. And what you describe is not a hard-reset (kill the power supply), but a factory-reset (killing all "custom data and configuration"). Unfortunately, these two terms are frequently confused ;)

@anish - Mark this as answer anish. It solved the problem right.

You can take the help of Google account to reset the password, first of all make sure the wifi/mobile data is turned on, if not then switch the data connection on by pressing and holding the power button until a pop up appears asking you wether to turn the device off, Data network mode use it to turn the mobile data switched on. Once mobile data gets switched on tap over the forgot password put your gmail account user ID and password you will be given the privilege to create new password. Follow the instruction and you are all done.

You don't find 'Data network mode' when power button long pressed. Give another suggestion.

Well, yes its available over the Samsung devices running JellyBean. I got the option while pressing and holding the power button I wonder why you are not getting the option to do so. Are you trying it correctly ?? I would say try doing the same again and let me know what are the options you are getting while pressing and holding the power button.


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How can I clear recent searches from search bar in Chrome?
To be clear, I don't want to clear my search history in general. I just hate that when I go to search something a few bars beneath my search shows my three most recent searches. I don't mind search suggestions, I just don't want my recent searches showing up every single time.
I've included a screenshot of what I mean.

click image for larger variant
Thank you for your help!

Are you trying to remove particular searches from the list, or turn off the display here?

Please, specify what version of android have you installed on your device

I'm trying to turn off the display.

I'm running 4.4.3.

@chiralphysicist's method worked fine for me

Here is an easy solution to disable recent search history in Google Chrome's (Android) search bar (as shown in OP's screenshot):

First of all you have to make sure you sign out of your google account, you       can do it from google chrome's settings. The first thing that appears is your account, click on it and search for close session in chrome.
Signing out is necessary for the option to disable search history to appear. Remember this is not your account's search history, but rather the app's history.

At the bottom of google.com (or rather you can access it  fromhttps://www.google.es/preferences) go to 'settings' -> 'Search settings' -> 'do not save searches' -> Make sure you click SAVE button at the bottom of Search setting page.

Now you can sign in again.

Those annoying purple recent searches should now be gone and never reappear!

To delete suggestions, type  your search string in the chrome browser
Now chrome will suggest websites, select and hold the suggestion, you will get a popup and you can remove the suggestion.

Well you have 2 ways here -

Sign out from Chrome. To sign out just navigate through Chrome>Settings>Account(on top)>Off. And you won't get these recent search history.
Open Chrome (use Desktop version when navigating through the webpages  I suggested). In address bar type-in history.google.com and sign in to your preffered Google account and remove all the history from using 'Remove items' from drop-down menu (Gear-like settings icon). Also you can 'Pause' this feature permanently by using 'Settings' in drop-down menu.

Second method is easy to follow if you have a PC.

I tried the first method and it turns out I'm not actually signed in to Chrome. Thanks for trying!

@sman - Have you tried turning off Auto-form fill data? Just give it a try.

@sman - Also have you tried second method I suggested?

If you (sman) still or anyone who is struggling with this exact same problem, here is the solution.
The problem happens to those who use Android Chrome. Many of these have tried by turning off (paused) one's google account's search setting. But when searching on google.com there are recent search histories still creeping out!
And one can only find tips to disable(pause) resent search history at google account setting. But we need one more step to fully disable search histories!

Go to google.com
If you are signed in, make sure you are signed out.
Signing out must be done, because those recent search results are not related to your google account, those results are saved in the device'
If you are signed in and proceed to step 3, you will only be able to turn off your account's search setting which is now managed under 'My activity' option...
At the bottom of google.com, 'setting' -> 'Search settings' -> 'do not save searches' -> Make sure you click 'SAVE' button at the bottom of Search setting page
Now you may sign in again!

The best you can do is just clear your mobile browser history. Also you can use apps like Clear master to clear temp files regularly.
Hope it helps!!

Thanks for your help! Although, I don't actually want to delete my history. I just want the recent searches to not come up when creating a new search.

Aren't "search history" and "browser history" separate entities – so you could clear one without deleting the other? Descriptions of many System Cleanup Tools suggest such.

I'm not sure if they are separate, but I'm not opposed to having the history on my phone, I just don't want it shown that way. It's probably a feature, but one that I wish I could just turn off!

Option 1:-
You can turn off your Search History to prevent future searches from being saved to your Search History.
But some features, including Google Now, won’t work when your Search History is turned off.
1.Visit your History page.
2.In the top right corner of the page, touch the gear  > Settings.
3.Touch Pause.
Your Search History will now be turned off for any computers or devices you use with your Google Account.
Note:-Doing so will disable all the search being saved irrespective of the device you use because your settings are saved based on the Google email id you use.
The bar which pop's is something called as auto fill/auto suggest.
Ex:-Your earlier search for Android is stored in your history and later when you simply type Android in the search box it will check for match in the history and display it .(I.e. Although your search is for Android devices and not Android it will display Android in the suggestion bar based on your history)
Option 2:-
1.Un-check the search suggestion from
Settings Menu > Privacy > Search and URL Suggestions (un-check this)
2.Clear your browsing history.(auto search suggestion will be displayed based on the history also so you need to clear the history every time you are done with browsing/when ever you open it)
3.Next time when ever you try a search ,The browser will not display the bar which pop's as the  auto suggestion is unchecked and browsing history is clear
Note:-If you want to avoid the auto suggestion bar you need to clear your history. If the  auto search suggestion bar is seriously annoying for you then you have to trade it with the lost history.
Hope this solves your problem

Man! I gave that procedure in my answer.

yeah you gave but the OP didn't try that second method so for more ease I also gave the link so that the OP has is to simply click the link and turn off his history.

Okay. Your answer is more descriptive than mine. Thank you.

@MANI no offense but just hope it is easily understood and descriptive at the same time.

Thank you both for your help! It's actually already on pause. So the searches are saved locally on the device, not with my Google account. Again, I don't mind the history on my device I just don't want those bars coming up every time I search!

@sman then that is highly impossible because it is a default action to be displayed (I.e. As you want history it will shows those bars by default).What I can suggest you is email the developer suggesting for a transparent kind of a auto fill.Maybe they might update it in their next version.

@sman check the update

Well, what you can do is tap over the search bar type chrome://history/ clear the history and it shouldn't bother you any more.
Update: You can try incognito mode over the browser if you don't want the logs or any history to be created.

Thanks for helping! I don't actually want to clear the history though. I just don't want it from coming up every time I go to Google to search something. Even if I did clear the history I would have to do it after every search to make this go away.

Then I would say why doing you locked yourself over the incognito mode available over the browser over chrome. Surfing over this mode means no history .... etc nothing ! In short surfing over this mode would not create any logs. Why don't you make sure that you are over the incognito mode while using the browser.

This would work, actually. It just seems like a hassle to go into incognito every time I want to use Google. Plus, I don't object to having the history recorded I just don't want it displayed every time I search.

Well @sman I am afraid but I don't think that there isn't any other option than left other than going to incognito mode every time, you open the browser.


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Why can't I install this downloaded APK?
I downloaded an APK and when I try to install it, the "install" button is completely unresponsive.
I have gone into the settings and enabled "Unknown sources" in the security section.
Is there something else I need to do?
I'm using a Galaxy S5 with Kitkat 4.4.2, unrooted.

Would you mind mentioning that .apk file? Is the 'Install' button greyed out?

No, the install isn't greyed out. Does it make a difference what APK file it is?

No. I want to whether that apk is compatible with the android version you are on.

It could be corrupt, it could be damaged in some way, what way are you clicking it to open it? It could have a script to only install on rooted devices / different version of Android. There's not enough information to go on here tbh.

Disable your screen dimming app. :)
Some screen dimming apps work by overlaying the whole screen with a translucent window, and letting touch events pass through to the activity below, but for security reasons, you can't interact with system dialogs (such as the package installer) through another activity.
It sounds counter-intuitive, but it could be the cause. It's more likely than a corrupt APK file or a version incompatibility, either of which would cause an error message.

Try to install it using adb. Download the Andorid SDK and then connect your phone to the PC via USB, make sure the USB Debugging option is ON under Developer Option in your phone settings.
Once you are done try to use these commands. adb devices to check the connection to your device and then if everything is OK try adb install <filename>.apk. Make sure you input the correct path to the file or simply copy the apk into adb directory.
adb usually resids into adt-bundle-$version/sdk/platform-tools
You can command prompt cmd in Windows or console in *nix based system.

Disable Verify Apps in Security. If that didn't help, you could just copy the apk file to /data/app/ and reboot the phone (as a temporary solution), also try Wiping the Dalvik Cache.

What?  There is no 'verify apps' in security.

if you received a warning,then Google can and does block apps that can be damaging,and or have malicious code in them. Google can even remove apps after installing as well. Find and read their policy on installing apks from other sources.

Not necessarily true.  In my case, I am just trying to test an APK in the emulator.  My own APK that I developed - and getting this error!


text:
Call recording app
I would like to get an app, that can record also incoming and outgoing calls and it should record mine and also my partner's voice.

Please, write also what version of Android is installed on your device

Android version: 4.4.2

What about my reply? You can try that app, then, if it works, you can mark the question as solved. Thanks

No, sorry, but not the same...

Please link the question with same answers!

Top-rated automatic call recorders in Play Store are -

Automatic Call Recorder - by Appliqato
Call Recorder - by ACR

They serve your purposes and are supported on Kitkat versions also.

I find many simply with search in google play:
call recorder should be exactly what you ask

Yes, I see, but some of these do not record each party's voice.

Have you also tried the linked app? It work with your android version and has a lot of good comments


text:
PC doesn't perform copy from it to sdcard/internal storage
I had create a custom ROM and trying now to copy it from my PC to my Lenovo Ideatab A3000-h, but when connecting the device and try to copy it from my pc to the device, it didn't do the process and gave me the following behavior (forever):

the ROM size is about 2GB, is there's some way to know what's wrong or a safe way to transfer the ROM rather than this way.
p.s. tried to copy another one with a very near size and got the same result, but copying a small-sized files works fine

Are you able to transfer other file types?

@sameer yes I'm

If it's an external SDCard: Why not use a card reader?

@Izzy unfortunately it's not

From the screenshot it looks like you are trying to copy to IdeaTab I think you should select Internal Storage first.

Did you try different USB cables? Is there a limit of file size? Remember that your trying to copy,  so is there enough room? I know it shows enough. Is the tablet encrypted? Have you pushed through adb? There are more than one way to skin a cat (figure of speech).

@Crayon he might have dragged and dropped(copy/paste)

@HasH_BrowN I did try different usb cables .... about file size limit, i don't kn ow what you are taking about, and who put the limit .... and there is enough room despite i dno also about encryption stuff but it copies other small files without problems(worth to mention I tried another custom room with a very near size and got the same result of this) .... and I don't know why but the adb can't read the device although the pc reads it. pleeeese I stuck in a stupid problem and need a help as my work stopped due to that issue :(

Did you try mounting the internal storage from recovery and then copying ?

@sameer No, I didn't

@MuhammedRefaat or you can try transferring the file through ftp. Look for ftp droid in play store

@sameer can you kindly tell me how to transfer the file through ftp

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/41583/how-to-transfer-files-between-your-pc-and-android-phone-wirelessly/ refer this link

@sameer i think your comment was the key, I'll upvote it and make a comment show that this is correct if you place if as an answer

Use ES File Explorer.
How to use:

Go into your PC and set up a shared folder. Use this as reference https://www.techrepublic.com/blog/windows-and-office/how-do-i-share-folders-in-windows-7-with-the-shared-folder-wizard/
Either place your file to transfer in the shared folder or make the shared folder where your file is located.
Now install ES File Explorer on the device and run the app.
Go to the quick access menu (3-dash button in the top left corner).
Select Network>LAN.
Bottom of the screen select SCAN, might take a minute to acquire a connection.
Select your shared folder.
Select your file (long pressing file and select copy at the bottom)
Go to the quick access again and select LOCAL
Pick your destination location from there and tap PASTE

it takes like million minutes to transfer but at least it worked as intended :D

@MuhammedRefaat I know, but like you said it works. Its got me out of bad spots a couple of times.  Glad I was able to help.

It's faster if you enable remote manager on ES File Explorer, that way you can access your phone from your pc with any ftp program.

@Crayon I didn't include that because using FTP you have a 500 mb per individual file limit. Some .zips exceed that size.

@HasH_BrowN thanks, I didn't know that. I'll try.

@HasH_BrowN I just copied a 1.8GB file using Remote Manager (FTP) function on ES File Explorer v3.2.0.

@Crayon was it a single file? I'll have to research that further for a definitive answer. I myself thought there would be a 2GB limit on single file since it is a fat32 format, but 500MB was the "official" figure that kept showing up.

Yes, single file. fat32 has a limit of 4GB for a single file but that is a file system limit it doesn't change how you transfer the file to.

@Crayon idk but when trying to enable Remote Manager, it became pretty slower, I just changed the Remote Manager IP to the corresponding one and Turned it ON.

I think the SD or micro SD card on Android is formatted as FAT32 as doesn't allow more than 4GB Copy/Paste from Laptop to it, there is a limitation to it.
Simulated the issue on my laptop and got this error message using TeraCopy app using windows 10, after I mounted the micro sd card directly to the laptop without using the tablet.

authors: Альона Кишинська

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


text:
Tablet Touch Screen partially unresponsive
I have an Android Tablet with Android 4.1.1, some days ago, the screen started to have random touches around the top of the screen, and sometimes, the top of the screen was unresponsive.
After a factory reset, the problem wasn't solved, but now the top of the screen had stopped being sensitive... I opened the tablet and cleaned the screen.
Now it stopped the random touches (Sometimes they happen again), but the screen still doesn't respond, what do I do?

I know this is a low tech answer but I've had this happen before, normally due to screen smudge from fingers or liquid splash/residue on the screen.
Give the screen a good clean (use cloth from a pair of glasses) and see if the problem persists.  Failing that, shutdown, remove the battery, and leave it for 5 minutes just in case it's a charge/capacitance issue.

(S)he said they tried cleaning and opening the tablet already.

I tried opening it and cleaning it again with paper, before seeing you answer, and it worked for some seconds, and started going crazy again.
But I think it really might solve the problem.
Well, but now I need to fix the sound too, the speaker wire broke. ç. ç

I have the exact same problem. Physically squeezing or lightly tapping the back (not the screen) of the problem area is a good temporary fix if you still have to use the device everyday. Still searching for a permanent fix in my case because most I've tried aren't working.


text:
Howto get device's features with adb
Howto get device's features with adb i.e. whether it has e.g. accelerometer, screen is capable landscape mode, etc.
These values are set in XML during build:
<feature name="android.hardware.sensor.accelerometer" />
<feature name="android.hardware.screen.landscape" />

Sdk:
adb shell getprop ro.build.version.sdk

Complete list:
adb shell getprop

Through the package manager:
adb shell pm list features

@pevik it added a space in there I didn't catch, but fixed now. Thanks for the proofread. Glad that this helped.

Thanks, adb shell pm list features was the one I didn't know. BTW: Complete list is: adb shell getprop (Sep 9 '14 at 8:52, edited)

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


text:
Is a custom rom which is designed for rk2918 tablet will run on any tablet with rk2918 cpu
I have 3q rc0710b tablet .. the cpu is Rockchip RK2918.
I am looking for a custom rom for this slow tablet ,to get better performance..
can I try any rk2918 custom rom ?
Where can I get best rom ?

A ROM that is designed to run on an RK2918 will not run on any RK2918 chipset.  The ROM still needs to be built for your device specifically.
Check XDA-Developers for a ROM for your tablet.


text:
remove or undo rating google playstore review
due to privacy reasons - How do I remove a rating I put from the Android app in the Google play store?  I just realized people can see more of info and do not want that.  I can't find where to undo my rating.  I just clicked on the stars, did not write a review.

You can delete your review/rating from both the Play store app page and also via the Play store on your device.
Web Play Store
Simply visit the page for the app for which you want to remove your review. Scroll down and you should see your review and also two buttons, 'delete' and 'edit'. Clicking the delete will remove your review.

Play Store app
Visit the app for which you want to remove your review. Just beneath the app screenshots you should see your star 'review'. On the right there is an 'edit' button. Click this and you will then see a 'delete' button. Click this to delete your review.


text:
ART internal storage problm
Using my moto e in Art mode and my internal memory is totally consumed will I get my internal memory if I switch again to dalvik?

Yes you will get your memory back.
During the reboot process, Android will have to optimize all apps, so this will take some time. About 15 min. to 60 min. for this to complete, that all depends on how many apps you have. Make sure you device is fully charged.

You also can manually edit the file with runtime values, which is located: /data/property/persist.sys.dalvik.vm.lib
libart.so and libdvm.so are the values.
Command:

adb shell 'echo libdvm.so >/data/property/persist.sys.dalvik.vm.lib'

Or

adb shell setprop persist.sys.dalvik.vm.lib libdvm.so


text:
Filesystem format used for SD Card by Galaxy S3
When I remove the SD Card that was formatted by my Galaxy S3 from it and put it in a MacBook, fdisk shows its sole partition as having partition ID 0C, indicating that it is a Fat32 LBA partition.  However, OSX is unable to mount it, and Ubuntu appears to be mounting it as an exFAT partition.
What is the filesystem used on this partition?  Could a discrepancy between the partition ID and the filesystem used on the partition be preventing OSX from mounting the partition?

The reason is, at least with Samsung devices and cards larger than 32GB, Samsung or Android formats the card with the exFAT file system, but incorrectly identifies the partition type as "FAT32 (LBA)", or partition type "c" or "0c" in the card's partition table.
If you format the card with exFAT using Windows or the Android partitioning app Aparted, it will correctly declare the partition type as 7 or "07" for "exFAT" (HPFS/NTFS/exFAT) in the microSD partition table.
I have struggled with this same problem, and just confirmed the above information by formating a completely blank, unpartitioned 200GB microSD card on a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 with Android 4.4.2, and in Windows, and using Aparted on Android.
If you are trying to recover data from a card that was formatted with exFAT, but whose partition is incorrectly identified as "FAT32 (LBA)" or "c" or "0c" in the partition table, I believe you will need to force the recovery app (e.g. Testdisk) to identify it as HPFS/NTFS/exFAT or "07".

I formatted a 1GB micro SD card in my SGS 3 (Android 4.3) then checked it in Windows 8.1 on a PC. The Properties dialog says it is FAT. (also the PC can read the content without any problems)
I also formatted it to exFAT on the PC and put it in the phone. It could read and write to it. On the other hand, a NTFS card was reported as unsupported.
More info:
According to this forum post:
[Q] What filesystem is used for SD cards on the S3? :

Anything 32GB and under will be FAT32. 64GB will be extFAT.

For your card the best bet is to try mounting it in Linux (supports the most file systems, note: for exFAT an additional package might need to be installed). If it works, check the used filesystem, like with cat /proc/mounts.


text:
What are `storage/emulated`, `mnt/sdcard`, `storage/sdcard`?
There have been questions about the old sdcard turning into sdcard0, which I understand to be part of the multiuser feature.
What I don't understand is the 3 paths in the questions. Some of them look like symlinks to me, since files copied to one place show up in another.
Could anyone systematically explain the relationship between those 3 (and any other storage path)? Given that relationship, where should I store my files (e.g. Firefox's Download location, Aldiko's ebook storage directory, etc.)?

"In the case of devices without true external storage, it's still necessary for Android to provide an emulated external storage in order to remain compatible with older apps. In other words the RAM is physically internal (non-removable) but a section of it is partitioned and the Android file-system APIs treat that partition as being "external" and world-readable."

Taken from answer by @Squonk https://stackoverflow.com/questions/23625104/storage-emulated-legacy-vs-storage-emulated-0-vs-data-data-myapp

As to where to store your downloads at storage/sdcard. The others are symlinks to that location.

A symlink is a shortcut, a low-level pointer. A symlink will look like the linked file is actually there, rather than it just being a shortcut. Once you tap on it, it’ll be directed toward the actual file location and run/use data from there.


text:
Prevent using YouTube app for watching YouTube video
What are the ways to get FireFox (or another browser) to play YouTube videos, rather than open the app? Of those, are there any that work on a relatively low-end phone ?

If it opens in the YouTube app by default go to Settings > Apps > YouTube > Clear Defaults and next YouTube link you select it will ask what to use to open it.

it used to give me options (youtube and tubemate). But not a 'native' option

as it turned out, for some reason, requesting the desktop site did the trick

You need to clear the default setting to open YouTube videos in the app.
Go to settings -> Apps -> YouTube -> Defaults -> Clear defaults

You can use any browser that supports streaming. You type in the address bar or Google search for YouTube. Tap on the link for YouTube. Then search for your video(s). There maybe some buffering issues on low-end/legacy devices. You can change the quality of the stream (ie. 240, 480, 720p). Aside from that,  make sure all background processes are shut down and you don't have any other running apps.
As to which one works best, that would be an opinion and not correct forum for this. Although I just use stock Android browser.


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Closing my LG Quick Cover disables alarm clock
I've recently bought a Nexus5 and a LG quick cover, and I discovered something very bothering :
When I set an alarm clock and close the cover, the alarm doesn't vibrate as I'd expect. I need to keep the cover opened to hear the vibrations.
Does anyone know a solution for this?


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Drivers for TrekStor Surftab Xiron 7.0 3G
I just bought a TrekStor Surftab Xiron 7.0, and I was trying to use it to test apps. It's the first time I do this, so maybe I'm just doing something wrong.
I turned on the developer settings and the USB debug, connected the tablet to the computer and tried to install the Google drivers (The ones in the SDK), it didn't work. Then I tried to search for drivers on the TrekStor website, but they don't seem to have download links. I tried another couple of drivers I found online, but none of them worked.
Does anybody know where I can find working drivers? The Android version is 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean).

I had the same problem!
You have to add the vendor-id to adb_usb.ini !

echo 0x1e68 >> $HOME/.android/adb_usb.ini

source:
https://urbanjack.wordpress.com/2014/10/23/howto-use-surftab-xiron-on-mac-for-development-adb/


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Unlocking Nexus 4 with cracked screen
Recently a short fall broke not only my Nexus 4's cheap phone case, but the digitizer as well. The LCD and everything else is perfect, however the touch screen only works on the top quarter of the screen. I have no bluetooth mouse/keyboard and USB On-The-Go doesn't work for Nexus 4.
Unfortunately USB Debugging is disabled (I really regret turning it off). How can I unlock it or back up the data on my phone?

Thanks for the help! That's exactly what I was looking for. However I managed to fix it a very unorthodox way. The pattern unlock would only register the top row of dots, but if I put water on the screen, occasionally the other half would flicker a touch response. After several painstaking hours of swiping in my needlessly complicated password onto a wet screen, it unlocked, and I was able to enable USB debugging.

Wow. I wouldn't suggest anyone to "put water on the device" for troubleshooting – as that usually rather results in the trouble shooting you #D Next time, try contact spray instead #D

This is word for word from http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-4/help/broken-digitizer-to-enable-usb-t2206706/page2 response from Dabyd64. I copied this in its entirety for reference and to have this on the Stack Exchange.

"I finally get it working by installing CWM recovery, which has ADB, and enable the adb debugging.
adb shell
mount -a

(if the following two commands show error "file doesn't exist", don't worry, it's ok!)
rm /data/property/persist.service.adb.enable
rm /data/property/persist.sys.usb.config

echo "persist.service.adb.enable=1" >>/system/build.prop
echo "persist.service.debuggable=1" >>/system/build.prop
echo "persist.sys.usb.config=mass_storage,adb" >>/system/build.prop"
/system/xbin/sqlite3 /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db "update global set value='1' where name='adb_enabled'";
/system/xbin/sqlite3 /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db "update global set value='1' where name='development_settings_enabled'";
sync
reboot

If the sqlite3 command shows error (command not found) then your phone doesn't have sqlite3 installed.
Still, you can do it!
First extract settings.db:
adb pull /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db

Copy that file to a usb drive or whatever.
Now you need linux. It's ok to use a live Ubuntu DVD, but you need to be connected to internet.
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop
I recommend to use the 32bit version for compatibility.
Usually sqlite3 is not installed by default.
In ubuntu:
sudo apt-get install sqlite3

You will be asked for the root password!
Now we can edit the settings.db:
sudo sqlite3 /path_to_your_folder/settings.db
update global set value='1' where name='adb_enabled';
update global set value='1' where name='development_settings_enabled';
.exit

Now we have the settings.db changed and ready!
Copy that settings.db again to a pen drive or whatever, go back to windows or keep in linux if you already have a working ADB.
adb push settings.db /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/
adb shell "chown system.system /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db"
adb shell "chmod 644 /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db"
sync
reboot

Done! ADB should work when in starts.
I had to use "mass_storage,adb" because "mtp,adb" or just "adb" didn't work. Thought, the phone was not working in mass storage, but who cares! ADB was!"

I have used those on my Nexus 7 when I broke my digitizer and adb was turned off. It worked perfectly, should work just as well with TWRP.


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Display other calendars in calendar app
In my google calendar I created some new calendars. How do I get them to show in my "Calendar" app on Android? I'm using the stock one.

This answer applies to 4.4 (Kit Kat) and "Calendar" version 201404xxx. Although I am guessing it will apply to most other versions.
When I click on the menu in the Calendar app I have two options that may be relevant
1: "Calendars to display". I can choose from all the calendars connected to my various accounts including shared calendars and birthdays etc...
2: "Settings". I have the ability to add new accounts

I don't see the option "Calendars to display" where are you looking? I'm using Kitkat 4.4.2 and Calendar 15.0.A.2.0

Do you have the option of updating your Calendar app in the Play store to the latest version?

I did a factory reset and now the Calendar is displaying properly with the default settings. Maybe the firmware was corrupt and it screwed it up.


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google play store crashes
Seems like impossible to fix:
I have a ZTE Max which I've rooted. I downloaded a ROM but didn't quite install it: just ran to recovery and hit factory reset, thinking it will just ask me for update to load. Anyways, I've rebooted the phone and when I click Play store it crashes immediately.
I tried enabling but nothing is disabled. Cleared data and cache for anything with "download" or "play store". Got agravated, removed the root and factory reset about 10 times after repeating the steps over and over again.
Also when I click to add a google account it doesn't respond. Any idea how to solve this issue?

When you flashed your ROM, did you use the correct GApps package?

@HasH_BrowN from the description, OP didn't flash the ROM, but only did a factory-reset: "I downloaded a ROM but didn't quite install it: just ran to recovery and hit factory reset". But I might have misinterpreted that: If really flashed, a wrong version is the most likely reason indeed.

@Izzy Oops,  your right.  "Didn't quite install"

Factory-resetting only wipes the user data. If you want to go back to the original ROM and unroot to fix your phone, you need to find the original ROM that your phone came with, and follow the procedure to flash it to your phone.

Thanks when i get home im going to try to flash a factory rom for my phone. Hopefully have play store back. And no just installed rom to phone but didnt flash it.


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How to set alarm?
How can I set alarm in my android phone? My phone is SYMPHONY Xplorer W35. Android Version: Jelly Bean 4.1.1
I can set alarm through many apps. For example in my phone there is a app called "Clock". Is there any built in process by which I can set up alarm??

Clock is the standard application for alarms. In Android, pretty much every feature is an Application, and one application can be replaced by the other.


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Is it possible to restore apps/data from 4.2.1 to 4.4.4?
I'm prepping to upgrade from PA 4.2.1 to CarbonROM 4.4.4 (VZW Galaxy Nexus). I'd prefer using TB to restore my selected apps + data I've had running on 4.2.1, but understand that this is a big jump between Android OSes.
Is there any way to do this? If not both, then what about just the apps?

Generally this shouldn't be a problem. The only problem with restoring between different Android versions is when you backup and restore the system apps' data from a different version. If you only restore the apps you installed and their data, you'll be OK in most cases.
A few apps might have different versions of the app for different Android versions, so those apps might not work properly because you've restored the data from a different version of the app. This is unusual, though, so you'll probably find that all your apps work just fine.

By default all the apps are forward compatible(moving apps from a previous version say 4.0 to 4.4.4 in this case) because there are only new API additions to the existing ones .
As mentioned by @Dan In Rare cases you may find the app not compatible with the latest version only because an API is removed possibly due to some issues.
Still if the app is not compatible an update is released by the developer's in order to make sure the App compatibility stays  even with the future versions of Android.
Note:- Android applications are not necessarily backward compatible(moving back from v4.4.2(Kit-Kat) to 4.1(Jelly bean) or even 2.3(Ginger bread)) due to lack of supporting API's in the present which lack in the previous versions.
So you can go ahead with your restoration provided there's a backup ready for any unwanted issue.

I have experienced so very many problems with 4.4.4 which really SUX!!! It has been such a waste of time and effort after getting 4.4.4

I sure do miss being able to just plug in the OTG to my Moto G XT1034 2298 and a flash drive to dump most any file I wanted into the flash drive. It was so very quick and easy. <<<

Although I found the fastest way to transfer pics and files is with a free app from GooglePlay that is called ""SEND ANYWHERE"" It works a whole lot better than anything else I've tried... But requires a great deal of patience and time.

One of my biggest REGRETS was the moment I "upgraded" to the Android 4.4.4 OS!!!

Please be kind to yourself...  DON'T  Subject Yourself to all the NIGHTMARES of 4.4.4

authors: Коля Маринов


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PDF (not text) to Speech
I need a TTS program to read my PDF files. I tried several programs, but all convert PDF to raw text, then read it. My PDF files have lots of pictures and designs, and I need to look at the PDF file when the TTS program is reading the text.
Is there any TTS program to read a PDF file when viewing the original PDF?

PDF to Speech Pro https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.practicalapps&hl=en $2.99.
One of the better ones, actually does what it is suppose to. I haven't came across any free ones.

I came across this app, but contrary to its name, their videos do not show a PDF to speed, and all videos just show text to speech instead.


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night mode with reverse video?
I have seen apps that lower the brightness, but is there a way to get rid of all light colored backgrounds such as (selectively?) inverting the image colors? For instance, I have an app that only provides black ink on a white background; this emits a lot more light at any brightness level than if I could reverse it to show white ink on a black background while in night mode.  Ideally even all light colors would turn to solid black and all dark ones to a gray light enough to see. Some apps provide the ability to control these colors, but others do not.
Is there some in-built way to accomplish this starting with any specific Android version, or some other way to accomplish this? Simply reducing "brightness" is insufficient when the goal is to be able to use the tablet for short periods during the night without disturbing one's partner or even affecting one's own sleep cycle.
Update: Also, it seems the backlight by itself emits a lot of light even on a black screen, and the filter approach does not seem to affect this at all.

You'd be better off on a phone with an LED screen. That way, there wouldn't be a blacklight, so making the image darker would actually make the whole thing emit less light.

I have found under setting (in Android 4.3 anyway) that I can go to Device: Accessibility:Negative Colors.  This will produce the "inverse video" effect so normally white backgrounds are black.  In conjunction with normal (or app enhanced) screen dimming this reduces liht significantly over the normal black on white output.
I will update this answer if I find a way to control backlight brightness.
Update: This mechanism does not work when the onscreen keyboard is involved, as those are typically dark and negative video makes them too bright.

Note that not all phones have this: it's a Samsung-specific accessibility feature, not a standard part of Android. Since you didn't say in your question what phone you have, nobody else would have suggested this.

This helped me on an LG G5 because Screen Color Inversion got turned on somehow (I think during update to Marshmallow). I wasn't looking in Accessibility. Thanks!

The one I use is Screen Filter https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.haxor&hl=en free.
It doesn't invert any colors,  but has the lowest brightness setting of any filter app. Use in conjunction with system brightness to achieve any level of brightness needed.

In this Android tutorial, William J. Francis demonstrates how to read and write to the LCD backlight brightness control.
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/software-engineer/control-androids-lcd-backlight-programmatically/
Its some good reading, very nice write up. This is how I'm going to fix my backlight brightness.

But here's another filter app that's free https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.digipom.nightfilter&hl=en No programming required.

"Night Filter is an easy to use screen filter application for your Android phone or tablet. Night Filter makes it easy for you to dim your screen, adjust your color tint, and more! Use it to read at night with less eye strain and correct for an excessive screen tint."

Thanks, I tried that. Two issues: one, it doesn't really dim a white background enough, and two it reduces contrast making it harder to see when it is dimmed enough to make any real difference in output.  It also does not seem to dim the backlight any (black screen still emiys a noticable amount of light) but that's a separate issue.

Thanks for the update.  I'll check out the other two links you added.

I tried the Night Filter app and while it worked fine for already dark backgrounds, it still does not dim white backgrounds enouh at any setting. also, it interacts strangely with "negative colors" actually making liGht backgrounds brighter somehow.


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What are alternative IDEs to ADT eclipse ? the emulator in adt eclipse is VERY SLOW
I tried to develop apps in standard ADT - but it is very slow to respond to my clicks on the virtual smartphone..
Are there other FASTER alternative IDEs to ADT and better simulator coming with it?

The emulator is part of the developer tools, not the IDE, so switching to another IDE will leave you with the same emulator.

Use BlueStack App Player Its extremely fast and easy to use with eclipse. In order to use it with eclipse, just open the command prompt and type
adb connect 127.0.0.1

then you can launch your apks on it and it will run without any hassle.
Find the detailed tutorial here


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Download Photosphere images
I have Google Cardboard which works great with Photosphere. I've created a few of my own, but I'd really like to get some spectacular images (e.g. Times Square, Grand Canyon etc) to install on my phone to demonstrate to people.
I have found Photosphere images online, but they are only viewable online - is there a way to download these images** so they can be viewed as photosphere images on my Android phone ?
** Assuming of course that appropriate license allows me to download a copy.

As photosphere pictures are just "normal" jpg-files, you just have to download the photosphere image. If you use android you can view photosphere images with the google+ app. There is no real download-button, but you can use the share button and then send the picture to your email-adress for example. The standard android gallery viewer will open the picture like every photosphere picture you make with your mobile by yourself.

Google+ has the option "Download" on most images, in Chrome you can long press the picture and "Save" it. They're not necessarily JPG format either.

If you donwload the image with long press, make shure that you don't download the thumbnail preview of the panorama. The panorama-informations are saved in the XMP metatag of the jpg file. Detailed information here... What else format than jpg did you see, Ross?

Sorry, that got cut off as I had to run to a meeting. If you are downloading it online it might be saved as any format. I have seen them online in png etc, but yes the device does save them as JPG generally. I was more thinking "don't go online looking for only jpg files." Good point on the thumbnail, but that's up to the user really!

You need to add " PANO_ " without the quotes to the front of the jpeg name, PANO_ abc.jpg for instance. Then you also have to add metadata. You can do that here. http://photo-sphere.appspot.com/.  This is a google page which you upload your image and then add metadata in respect of place. Then you download the image again and put it in the 360 Panoramas folder of your phone. Sorted.


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Game won't update: difference between Play Store and manual Install ? (Plants vs Zombies 2)
my "Plants vs Zombies 2" won't update (it never did).
I wonder if the reason is that, for the rush to have the game, I probably installed it manually downloading it from the internet.
BUT, Play Store says the game is already installed, and won't update it.
Do I have to manually remove it and then install it ?
How do I have to backup my savegame ?

How do you know there's an update?  I accidentally bought Angry Birds on both the Play Store and the Amazon App Store, and the former will happily overwrite the version from the latter when there is an update.

My guess is that you have to remove it, then reinstall it from the Playstore. It will probably see the installed file on the phone, but your Playstore account doesn't know about this, and won't activate the update.
You can use Titanium Backup to backup the game, if your phone is rooted. Titanium Backup can backup apps and their data, and restore either of them separately. If the phone is not rooted, I don't know how to do this if the app doesn't have an export function.
But... probably it won't overwrite your personal data. I can't give you any guarantees, but you probably won't lose your personal settings.

Titanium Backup also has a feature to attach or detach apps from the Play Store.

@MatthewRead that doesn't work anymore. Play now always scans all installed packages and re-links them – even if installed from "other sources". I didn't check however what happens on a signature mismatch (e.g. packages from F-Droid use their own signatures), maybe those are left alone – which might explain the case, and approve the path recommended by this answer.

thank you very much. Sadly I'm not rooted, do you have any suggestions to backup my PvsZ2 savegames before I go on with the suggestion to remove - reinstall the game ?

No suggestions. It's a gamble. Your settings probably won't be overwritten.

If your device isn't rooted, but runs Android 4.0 or higher, there's also Helium Backup you could use to backup (and later restore) the app and its data. By default, Helium only backs up data – so if you do that, then uninstall the app, re-install it from Play, in a final step you might be able to simply restore the data and be done.

@Izzy Play doesn't re-link apps that have different signatures. Apps installed from Amazon or F-Droid contain different signatures, and if the OP downloaded a non-official version, it definitely wouldn't have the correct signature either.

If you uninstall the app, you will lose all your game data (unless you can back it up with some utility). And you can't update/install from the Play Store because Android doesn't allow updates when the signatures don't match. The only option is to uninstall the original and install directly from the Play Store.

@StephenSchrauger Apps on Aptoide often have the same signature as those on Play. Same applies to .apk files a dev might send you by mail (I know that, got some that way for testing quite often in the past). So since they've got the same signature, you're premise no longer holds – thus they get "linked" again.


text:
Galaxy S5 unlock + change region
I have an stock, locked, Telstra Australian Galaxy S5 and I'm about to live in the UK.
I would like to know if there is currently a way to unlock it without code so I can use it with an English carrier.
I've searched a lot about this but results are highly polluted with commercial links.
Thank you

I'll look around, but newer samsung firmwares often do need a paid unlock code. Your network may send you one if you explain your situation to them.

Ok thank you that's too bad, I'm a very recent customer so they won't give me a code.


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New Message error message, PHONE STORAGE IS FULL, but it's not
I have a user who receives the "Phone storage is full." message when trying to create a new text message.  It appears immediately when clicking "New Message".  However the user has like 20GB free on his SD card, 6GB free in phone storage and 96MB free in system memory at the time.
How do I stop this obviously erroneous message from appearing?
I checked a couple other threads with similar titles but none included a fix for this.
Also tried restarting the phone of course.

Not sure if it helps, but we have a couple of quesions on "invalid claims" on full storage. I've just added the insufficient-memory tag to your question, its tag-wiki might be a good starter. You can leave out SDcards (internal as well as external), they have no influence on this at all.

Thank you for the response, I looked under these tags as you suggested, there is nothing helpful that I could find.  The model of the phone is a LG Thrill if that helps anyone respond?

Figured it out.  It looks like the LG Thrill was reporting the memory wrong.  It was saying it had plenty of memory available, but in fact it was low.  The user removed some unused applications and it works again.

If the problem is fixed, then answer your own question, to help other visitors.

Google Earth and Swype is the problem.
Uninstall the Google Earth and Swype .

Where does the question state any of those installed? So how do you conclude this?

I have face this problem so i conclude this result. One Time try it my problem is solved through this

I also face some problems, but that doesn't make my solutions apply here. There are many big apps eating up to several (hundreds) megabytes. It must not necessarily be GE and Swype. OP might not even have those installed at all, so it's rather misleading. Correct might be: "Some big apps might eat up the space, as in my case GE & Swype. Uninstalling these two solved the issue for me. To find out, go to Settings→Apps and..." (continuing with how to analyze and proceed). But the way it is currently, it is an answer to your question – not necessarily to the above.


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Exchange service polls every minute and drains the battery
Two days ago my Sony Xperia J phone's battery began to be drained very quickly. It seems, the Exchange service has gone mad (it uses 57% of the battery time). It polls constantly, I get a new mail every minute according to it (I have only 1 new mail actually). I already restarted the phone.
It even polls when it requests a security update.
What have gone wrong? Did Google release a new version of it?

No idea, but a request for clarification: Are you using an Exchange account with that device? That service indeed polls every minute, even with no account created. I simply disabled it, as I don't use Exchange at all. Solved it for me.

I do use this device, but it worked very well until now. What changed? I need to use it to get my workplace emails.

It gets even worse, it uses 64% now, and used up my 3G package as well.

If you can afford it: Try resetting the apps related to exchange (Exchange, plus maybe the Mail app used) by going to Settings→Apps→Manage Apps, force-closing the app, delete cache and data, reboot. You will then have to re-configure it, and if there were any local data they will be gone, but that might solve the issue. If your device is equipped with a custom recovery: boot into it, wipe cache and Dalvik. Nothing lost that way, but that solved some mysterious issues already in the past.

I switched to a 3rd party Exchange app and set the built-in Email application to Manual sync. It seems to work now.


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Displaying photos in "years, collections, moments" structure?
Since iOS7 the photos has been organized by time and location and I find it quite handy to find photos, however when I switch to Android it's quite a painful experience to find photos. Is there any way to achieve the similar?

So far I didn't find any Android phone that does similar thing. However if you are OK with 3rd-party albums, here's one that seems to do exactly what you want. It's not as fast as iPhone but the performance is quite acceptable.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.atomicadd.fotos


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forecast.io format for tasker
I am trying to get hourly precipitation probability from forecast.io 's api.  I am very beginner with tasker, without any idea of JSON.
So as given in the first profile of the blog http://blog.artesea.co.uk/2014/06/one-line-weather-summary.html,  I have changed the info.minutely.summery to precipProbability.hourly.data,  which is not working.
Kindly help.

You're close on the syntax, but there's an error based upon the .api's structure.  Instead of  precipProbability.hourly.data, you'll need to use hourly.data[0].precipProbability.  Replace the [0] with any value between 0-48 for the number of hours into the future you want the data.
Also,it's helpful to get a json viewer to help interpret the structure for selecting the correct values.  I use json viewer which allows you to enter your forecast.io api call direct and see your data live.  You can also use the timemachine functionality and test your parsing against different weather conditions (e.g. severe weather alerts).


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Gear 2 Neo Not Connecting Galaxy S3 CM11
So I was able to get Gear Manager, and it finds the Gear in the list. When I click connect, it just tries to connect forever.
Is there any way to get the gear working, even without Gear Manager?
It is a Galaxy S3 running CM 11 M9. I am open to changing roms if necessary....

If you look on this XDA Link you'll notice your not the only one with this issue, in the forum there is a "Fix forever connecting issue" section which will prompt you to download a file and install it on your phone and it should resolve your issue
By doing this you should be able to get gear manager working properly as if I'm correct its the only way to use the gear 2 (neo) with a mobile device, also switching custom ROM won't fix the issue without doing the above.

I tried that link before, but the fix didn't work. In fact, it ended up hard bricking my device. I am chalking the hard brick up to user error, but I would be careful using this one. I ended up with a new phone. I am going to mark yours as the answer though, since the link is likely helpful to someone else.


text:
Use new hangouts dialer from google search
The new hangouts app let's me call out from it and uses VoIP... Nice!
When I google a business in chrome I often get the business card with a button to call... Nice! But... It opens the regular android phone app...
How can I make the new hangouts dialer the default for this?

Not currently.
[Edit]:
Hangouts received an update since this was posted.  It now registers itself as a dialer with the system, and comes up as a choice when phone links are tapped in the browser app like Chrome.  However, it's still not an option when you use built-in People/Contacts apps.
The Hangouts Dialer app does not register itself with the system as an actual dialer.  In fact, it's simply a shortcut to a particular tab within the main Hangouts app.
Right now if you want to make true VoIP calls, you have to open the Hangouts Dialer (or main Hangouts app) manually, and copy/paste the number.  Perhaps such integration will come in a later version of these apps.

Copy/paste is what I ended up doing which is inconvenient.


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How to return SAMSUNG GT-S5670 to Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread?
I have SAMSUNG GT-S5670, and I had android version Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread, but I wanted updated it to Android 4.4. Kitkat. I download on computer Cyanogen Mod and Google Apps package. I put it on SD card, got into recovery mode on mobile phone and then I made backup and after it I rebooted system. But it wont rebooted. It constantly turning on and on. What I can do, except that I need to bring it to a SASNSUNG service?! :( Help me somehow. Can I return it somehow to Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread again? :/

Welcome to  Android Enthusiasts! We will need much more information to give good recommendations here. Please [edit] your question and include at least which CM packages you've used (and their download source). Are you sure you picked the right ones for your device? Have you wiped at least cache and Dalvik (otherwise instability or boot-loops are quite common)? Can you still boot into recovery?

You can download matching firmware from SamMobile.com and flash it through odin.
If you search XDA-developers you can find instructions on how you can flash an ODIN firmware. Some initial details can also be found in our odin tag-wiki.

Wouldn't that require the device to be booted in the first place? Sure, not in "operational mode" but "download mode" or the like. May I suggest to [edit] your answer and at least include  some links as well as describing the basic steps (see here and here for details on "why")? Thanks a lot!

Yeah, sure! But I hadn't time to provide links :)

So take that as a reminder, and catch up :) As I've pointed out, you can [edit] your post anytime. Earn some rep, come on – I even help you get started – took me not more than 2 minutes to insert the links :) Your turn now!


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Is NFC required for reading RFID?
Can we read RFID like QR-bar code without NFC in Android? I am confused because we can read QR-Barcode with simple apps like Bar Code Scanner. After searching 2-3 hours I found NFC with every detail where RFID is defined.
So I have to consider that it is impossible to read RFID without NFC.

Can you read RFID without NFC? No you cannot.
Can you read QR-Code without a camera?
You need the right hardware to read codes. For reading QR-code you need an image of the QR-Code therefore a camera. Without a camera you cannot read QR-Code.
To read RFID you need hardware to read the code. The hardware needed is NFC, so without NFC you cannot read RFID.

RFID states for Radio Frequency Identification, and this kind of technology use Radio Waves for identification purposes, now when we know RFID is nothing else than radio wave (electromagnetic field with specific frequency), we know we need transmitter (source of signal) and trans-coder (signal reading device) eg radio in your car and signal broadcasting antenna.
NFC - Near Field Communication is a specific kind of RFID technology and reading device can only read the signal from certain distance, all depends on the transmitter signal strenght and on the trans-coder operating field eg like a CB radio equipment, the bigger antenna you have the bigger operating field you got.


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press and hold home button to see all running apps in teamviewer quick support
I use teamviewer quick support  to control my mom's android from my mac.
It works ok. But still can't figure out how to press and hold home button to see all running apps in android using my mac's trackpad or keyboard.
I tried to move mouse over home button and press left mouse long and tried right mouse key but there is no result.

Alternatively you can install an app that emulate it. For example application home button . After installation long press to show the recent apps. Application *floating toucher * has an option named recent app


text:
How do I repair my Motorola Defy rebooting instantly after start-up?
I installed a few different operating systems (“ROMs”) on my Motorola Defy and I decided to (temporarily) go back to the original one, also known as “stock”, by using an SBF file. But now, whenever I try to start up my phone, it reboots almost instantly. I cannot do anything.
I tried booting in “Safe mode” as explained here (Power button + both volume keys). But that did not change anything. I also tried reflashing my SBF files multiple times, to no success.

Boot into recovery with Power button + lower volume key. Then, in the recovery mode menu, select “Factory reset”. This should delete all previous configurations from your previous ROMs that may interfere with your current installation.

That's a general rule when switching between different ROMs: Always make a wipe of at least cache and Dalvik. Sometimes, wiping /data is needed as well. Take the 3 together, and you have a factory-reset ;)

@Izzy it's generally a good rule in life, as well as Android flashing, to wipe thoroughly!


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Auto-Tether when another phone nearby (in car)
I have an android phone in car for Spotify purposes.
I'm trying to set up the system so the car phone tries to connect to my own phone once car power is on (phone starts charging) and start playing music:
My phone would notice that the spotify android is nearby (bluetooth) and automatically start up tethering for the spotify phone to connect to.
Music would start playing as soon as the spotify android notices it's charging and start downloading new songs once it's connected to my phone's wifi.
Does anyone know how to do this?

As I've never tried exactly that (and more specifically, never worked with Spotify), I cannot give you exact steps. But I can outline how this should be possible using tasker:
On your "Server" device:

Condition: State → BT Near (specify the BT MAC of the "Player" device)
Task: Launch App (whatever "server component" is needed)

On your "Player" device:

Condition: State → BT Near (specify the BT MAC of the "server device")
Task:

Launch App (the music player used to connect to the other device)
Either one of the "Media Control" actions, or "Play Music" should start playing

Of course, this assumes that – once the devices are paired, which should happen automatically once they are in reach of each other if they had been paired before – the app on the player-device automatically selects the "server device" as source to play from. As most players on a re-start resume where they stopped before, this should be the case unless you've used a "different source" in between – which might be avoidable using a specific app for this task.
On the other hand, my Collection of Tasker Resources a.o. lists the Media Utilities, dealing with Tasker as well as with Spotify, and thus might prove helpful in the process. And in fact, you can find a comparable process e.g. described here – explaining how to make Tasker launch Spotify when you plug in your headphones, then raise the volume and play the last played track.
Also see:

Is it possible to get Tasker to play the next song in Spotify
This is how I use Tasker in my car [VIDEO]
Tasker + Media Utilities + Spotify


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Unable to uninstall apps for secondary account
I have a Nexus 10 on which I have a master account, and a secondary  (restricted) account for my kids.
Recently, one of them got hold of it while it was logged in and installed a bunch of games. I removed them again — or so I thought. I just found out that, while they don't show up in the list of apps tray, they do show up among the app permissions for the secondary account, as well as in the list of apps available via settings -> apps.
I can't uninstall them from either location. While I suspect I can I uninstall them from the secondary account, how do I know they're really gone if I do so?
Shouldn't I be able to uninstall them from the master account?

Not really a dupe to the question, but yes: same cause, so the answer fits both :)

@Izzy I'm not sure how duplicates are handled here, but I'm used to the SF Stack, where duplicates focus on the answers rather than the questions. Also, I'm the OP and that answer solved my problem.

I was not critisizing you – just left a pointer for those who might wonder. I fully agree with you and marked it duplicate. Sorry for any confusion I might have caused!

@Izzy, I didn't take it as criticism, so no problem.

Duplicates are always supposed to be about the question.  I was on SF a couple days ago and saw 5 open questions with the same answer.  But, you're the OP.

Go to Settings > Application Manager > Downloaded under both accounts and uninstall the app(s).

Will that indeed uninstall them completely, or just leave them inaccessible for both accounts?

@SQB It should comoletly remove the apps. If the are getting reinstalled there must be anither issue.


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IRC client with XDCC support
Honestly, I haven't installed and checked all irc clients for Android, nevertheless I wasn't able to google any.
Does it exist?
If yes, mention it, please :)

RSS client or IRC client?

@RossC fixed :)

Looks like there are some clients now.
AndroIRC, Yaaic, XdccDownloader and probably even more

CoreIRC or IRC for Android are the ones that currently work reliably.


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Moving applications to SD card
I own a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (GT8010-Wifi) model and I would like to move some of my apps to the external SD card and change the default installation location to be the external SD card from now on. The Android version on the tablet PC is 4.1.2 and I have rooted it following a guide on the internet which can be accessed via the following URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv8440QhHsw
I would be happy to get some assistance on this matter, thanks in advance.

You can use the Android SDK. Instructions at http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-install-apps-onto-your-SD-Card-No-Root/?ALLSTEPS

Thanks, I tried the method described in that site but it did not work.

Whilst a link theoretically answer the question, it would be preferable to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference. @Vesnog what exactly is wrong? What didn't work, what is the error (if any)?

@RossC Thanks for the comment. The part that did not work is that after I change the storage location for applications through adb it downloads the application, but is not able to install it and display a message telling that the storage is insufficient.

@Vesnog do you have enough storage space at the moment? Maybe clear some out and try again? Delete caches etc? Uninstall some apps?

@RossC Actually, I have nearly 35 GB of free space on the SD card and 10 GB of free space on the internal memory.


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Why does Chrome reload the page when I turn on my bluetooth keyboard?
Lenovo Yoga 10 HD+ tablet with Android 4.4.2.
Logitech Tablet Keyboard
If I am in Chrome and I turn on my bluetooth keyboard, the current page will reload.
This appears to happen no matter which web page I'm on.
This is obviously a waste of time, and I'd like it to stop. Especially because if I"ve already activated the edit control on the web page, the reload de-activates it and I have to tap again before I can begin typing.
Is there any way to disable this stupid behavior? I haven't seen anything in the settings that would seem to be related.
Updated: Per Dain's question, it happens no matter how many tabs are open (1 or many).

Do you have multiple tabs open when this behavior occurs?

I turn on my bluetooth keyboard

That is probably detected as configuration change, which triggers a restart of the current activity in android (chrome in your case). Only the app developer can change this behavior, so the only thing you could do is to file a bug report.


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Accessing temp files created by an application
I have an application that I know writes temp files to the data/data/app-package directory. Using a file browsing app or windows explorer it seems these directories are sufficiently protected.
Is there a way for a power-user to access these files? Any unusual methods welcome.
So far it sounds like: Step 1 - root. Step 2 - ?, Step 3 - profit!

The /data partition on most Android devices is usually inaccessible without [tag:rooting].  You would need to post your device's make and model number for us to recommend the best rooting methods.

I have a moto g and samsung tab 3. Do you have general steps to root? I'm not necessarily interested in a device specific process, but more the possibility/general process of this.


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How to authorize device for adb when the touch control is completely broken?
My Nexus 7 2012 has fallen from a table and though the display as well as the device itself is fine, the touch control is completely broken.  You cannot tap or touch anything.
I believe I can manage a restricted access to it (thanks to great tutorial: http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/1r2zha/how_i_managed_to_use_my_android_device_with_a) if only I can execute adb commands.
Unfortunately any attempts end with simple:
$ adb shell
error: device unauthorized. Please check the confirmation dialog on your device.

Which is no option for me as my touch control is gone :-(.
I am looking for any option how to bypass/authorize the confirmation without using the device's touchscreen.

It depends on what version of Android you have, but you should be able to connect a microUSB OTG cable with any old USB mouse to the Nexus and get control of the cursor. You can then click with the mouse in place of touch controls.

Stupid of me, that I did not realize that.  Saved my day.  Thanks a lot.


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Scan for Existence of Other Devices
Is it possible to know how many devises are in a certain area? I'm just trying to passively count the number of people in a room and I was hoping that my phone could recognize them by WiFi, Bluetooth, cell or some other frequency. I don't actually need to connect - just want to get a count.

There are several apps for sniffing and port-scanning to identify devices on the network. But how would you make sure to only gather devices located in the same room – and not in front of the door or even further away? No such tool considers physical topology of your surroundings IMHO.

I'm not too concerned with the topography of the room / picking up people in the next room. I guess I threw that out there as an example, not a rule.Do you know if any of these apps are able to be embedded in another project as a jar file?

No. Android apps don't come "as a .jar file", but as .apk file. Though the file structure is comparable, I doubt they can be used that way.


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Quickest way to sync video taken with Android to computer
I'm taking a video on my Nexus 5 and I want to view it on my computer immediately afterward. What's the quickest way to do that? Here are the options I know about, please tell me if there's something faster.

Connect the phone to the computer with a USB cable: Transfer would be blazing fast, but having to connect the phone physically would suck.
Use Dropbox's auto-upload to get that video automatically to my Dropbox: This is great in that there's no need for fiddling, but it takes way too long, as Dropbox is not smart enough to transfer the file directly from phone to computer through the LAN, but rather first uploads the entire file to the Dropbox servers, which can take hours. (The file is a few hundred MB big.)
Use AirDroid. The upload transfer is reasonable, but having to turn on the app, go to the browser, navigate to the file in their interface... That's annoying.

Isn't there a way to have the video automatically transferred to my computer over LAN after it's taken? Or better yet, while it is being taken, to make it even faster?

All three are viable options that I have personally used. I have found that connecting via USB is the fastest and most reliable. (By reliable, I am referring to control over the transfer; with Dropbox you will sometimes wait for it to sync.)


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How to troubleshoot OTG cable?
Because android doesn't handle the broken screen problem very well (frankly, it doesn't handle it at all) I bought OTG cable in hope that I'll be able to connect my mouse to the device.
I connected it to the broken phone (Huawei U8500) and nothing happened. Well, I tried my new android phone Samsung GT-S7710 with Android 4.1.2. However, still no effect. I tried USB flash disk, but that didn't do anything at all.
How can I debug the USB OTG function? To find out what's actually wrong?

Use adb over Wifi or Bluetooth?

What is ADB? Sometimes comment character limit sucks.

A tool for developers to communicate between Android and their PC. Unfortunately it needs developer mode to be enabled first which a broken screen might not allow you to do so.

I had fortunatelly enabled that because I thought I'll have some time to make android apps. I didn't even have time to figure out this broken screen issue in two years.

Are you sure your device is OTG-A (meaning it provides power to a peripheral device)? You might need a powered USB-OTG adapter instead.

Maybe try OTG Troubleshooter first to check if your setup is working:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.homesoft.otgtroubshooter
It will check if your device supports 'usb host mode', if your OTG cable is working and if a mass storage device is found.


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Huawei y530 internal storage problem after rooting with TowelRoot
My phone had a bug that said: "Insufficient internal storage", so I tried to solve this rooting with TowelRoot, but when I did things became worse... Now, it seems I can't access internal storage.. if I try to save anything (image, music, etc) to it, it crashes, it just says: "Unable to save file, try again later" if its from WhatsApp, if I try with chrome it closes, if I try with the computer it stays some time trying to copy the file then it says it cannot do it.
After this, I did a Hard Reset (power + up volume buttons), but that didn't do it... What can I so now to access the internal storage and be able to save files again?

Try installing  SuperSU from google play. SuperSU has an option to unroot. Try multiple times (if it doesn't work once) and reset the phone this fixes the internal memory problem.


text:
Hide photos in the Google+ photos app
I want to back up my photos using the photos app, but I don't want some of them to show up when I open the app on my phone. Is this possible?

This is exactly my concern, too.  I let my kids use my phone all the time.  Sometimes they want to look at the pictures, take camera photos, etc.  I don't really want them rummaging through all the pics that I have stored on Google+ Photos.

Install file manager
Locate folder where backed up photos are
Put a .nomedia file in that folder
(A .nomedia file is an empty file with no code, which hides media in that folder. To get it you can copy paste it from elsewhere, like if you have WhatsApp, you can browse to it's media in file manager, go to pictures or videos, then to sent, and it should be there, or just do a search in your file manager for .nomedia, or you can make the file yourself)
Go to settings, apps, media storage, and clear it's data.
Restart your phone, go to gallery.
You might need to wait a bit for photos and videos to show up, because you cleared media storage, but the photos in the folder with the .nomedia file won't show up.

Thanks. However, the pictures are not on my device. They are backed up in the Google Photos cloud. My goal here is when I open the photos app some of the pictures are not seen in the photos app.


text:
How do I know whether my HTC One m8 has quick charge 2.0 capacity yet?
Although the HTC One m8 has a Qualcomm 801 processor, the Quick Charge 2.0 capacities has been disabled and the charger that the M8 comes with is a Quick Charge 1.0 one.
Apparently, some markets have had a firmware update that have enabled this feature.
I just got my phone so I was wondering, how do I know whether my m8 supports QC2.0?
I'm thinking about buying one but don't want to buy it if it is turns out my device isn't supported yet.


text:
How can I fix a bootloop on my Nexus 5 running Cyanogenmod 11?
I've been running the Cyanogenmod nightlies on my device. If I remember correctly, I was running the nightly from 2014-09-07 (7th of September).
Yesterday I flashed the M10 release without totally understanding what it was all about. I thought it was newer than the nightly but apparently not.
My phone is now stuck in a bootloop. It boots all the way to the home-screen for split second and the whole process repeats all over again.
I've messed this up real bad and don't want to lose all my data. Is there a way I can fix this? Can i just side-load the latest nightly and flash it onto the device or do I flash the same nightly that I was running?
This sort of question has been asked so many times before but I couldn't find one that explains how to resolve this. Thank you.

As you've used the boot-loop tag: Have you checked with its tag-wiki? Do the pointers help you with your case? If that didn't solve the issue: What have you tried, and where are you stuck? If you've solved the issue: Be welcome to answer your own question to share your solution and experience. Thanks!

Yes I've checked the tag-wiki. I even cleared my cache and my davik-cache from the recovery but the bootloop continues. I know it's not an app-related issue; it was the ROM I flashed. Now all I need to figure out is whether to reflash a newer one or the same one to resolve this? Thx.

It could also be the data of some app which is in the way, if it's a "core app" needed to run the system, so a factory-reset might be required. Of course, you could also boot into recovery and try deleting the app directories below /data/data one by one (i.e. delete one, reboot to see if the problem is gone, if not repeat with the next) to avoid a complete reset – which can be compared to the "delete data" button in "manage applications". The corresponding apps would re-create their directories then.


text:
Contacts phone numbers disappeared after sync to google
After synchronising with Google, all contacts that have phone numbers associated with them disappeared.
I tried to enter a new contact just to test this. If I sync again the new entry disappears as well. How can it be recovered?
My phone is a Galaxy Note II

This bug is still present. Android 5.0.1 Samsung S4 here. But in my case if I reenter the contacts, the second sync was ok. Sync should NOT delete your contacts without warning. Very bogus.

The same happened to me, same Android version and same device of Pedro77. I lost hundreds of contacts because of this bug. Very frustrating!

Did you clear Contacts Storage?
Settings > Applications > General Applications > All (at the top) > Contacts Storage >  force stop   > clear data
then
Bring up "Contacts" you will then see "You don't have any contacts to display" > press Menu button >  Accounts > choose account to sync (your gmail account) > Sync

where is this? android or google/gmail? i couldn't find it in either one.

@zz Android settings you will have select ALL at the top; otherwise you will not see Contacts (not the one that has to be cleared), but Contacts Storage which you will also see would be the one to clear.  The next line refers to bringing up the  Contacts application which is a preinstalled application which is populated from gmail contacts, with the intent to synchronize from your Gmail desktop contacts.  But in the next answer you have stated that you don't have Gmail contacts so this sort of becomes mute, if true.  I would try this first. Other answer my desktop has "My contacts" not All ...

Just clearing the data was enough to solve my problem on Android 4.4. Thanks!

This does not solve the problem mentioned in the question because the contacts were NOT copied from the Android device to the Google account, they were simply deleted.

Google can restore your contacts from the last thirty days.  This is for your desktop computer, and would probably propagate into your  Android as well, if Android is not fixed after fixing your desktop contacts, fix those on Android with our other answers, afterwards. Google search:  lost gmail contacts

 Restore contacts - Gmail Help, You can restore your contact list to the state it was in at any point within the past 30 days.
How to Restore Google Contacts: 6 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow

Since the contats are only on the cell phone and after sync they disappear. Restore using gmail is useless, the contacts have never been there.

This answer is useless, as Pedro77 mentioned

Ensure "contacts to display" is set to "all contacts" (under the settings in your contacts app). This ensures you will see contacts from your Google account.
It would he good to validate your Google Contacts data by going to http://www.google.com/contacts. Verifying that all the data is there confirms that the issue is with your phone's display, not the data.

the problem is I don't have any contacts in my gmail account since I started it recently. I wanted the google account to save the contacts I have on the Galaxy. maybe it went the other way and copied the zero contacts I have in the google account to my phone memory. question is can it be reversed.

This answer is useless, as explained by ZZ productions


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Can't save Shared photos
There is an option on Facebook messenger that lets you view shared photos  I can't save any of them to gallery. After I long press on photo it opens but there is no options.

Once the photo is open there should be three vertical dots in the bottom right corner (if you don't see them initially tap once on the image/screen). Tapping on the dots will open a menu that includes the save option.

You need to go to Settings within the Messenger app, then to Photos and Media and select "Save photos". After that, all photos will be saved automatically. This is the only way AFAIK.

Maybe he doesn't want all photos to be downloaded

But maybe he does. We don't know. "Any" can be 1 photo or all of them. My answer gives the correct end result, as the OP asked. The process of how he wants it to work is not specified in the question and is probably  irrelevant for the problem.

authors: Једноруки Крстивоје


text:
How can I turn off speaking of incoming caller?
I can't figure out how to change the settings on my Samsung Galaxy S phone to actually have a ringtone when receiving a call.
When receiving a call a voice says "call from 123-456-7890" or "call from Fred". I know how to set the ringtone which has been set but I don't know how to take the voice off.
I tried accessibility and talk back, there are no option for driving mode but it is still speaking caller name.
What to do??

Please add a screen shot of your driving mode options and check whether Talk back is enabled in your driving mode.

Well, what you can do us head over to the Settings>Accessibility>Vision>Tap over Talkback>Tap on Settings over the Talkback window>Uncheck speak caller ID, that should fix your problem out.

authors: ابو مالك عربي


text:
What App do I need to use NFC on an android phone to pay for things in the UK?
I'd like to know if it's possible to use NFC on an HTC One X to pay for things in the UK and if so, what app do I use?
Google wallet doesn't seem to be supported here in the UK.

Do you mean to take over the payments with phone, just as you would pay with a card you got from a bank?

Yes, as I said in the question, I want to pay for small items using NFC in my phone.

A more generic answer, not specific to the UK alone:
As Ross pointed out, there is not "one specific app to rule them all". That payment stuff is very much vendor-specific – whith "vendor" meaning the company dealing with the payments. Unless several shops/companies join up for a "standard", it might very well be you'd need a separate app for each shop even.
So this question cannot be answered by a "this-is-it" app, but rather would become a pretty long list (Ross' answer already indicates such), which would be subject to (almost daily) changes whenever a new "vendor" joins or another gives up.
To give you an example: Here in Germany I know of two grocery chains using NFC payments, each using its own app – though both belong to the same "mother corporation". If not even those can figure a "joint approach", I very much doubt there will be a "global approach" any time soon.

removed my answer, it was out of date (an issue in the question itself imho) and I was editing in a LOT of detail (I have a lot of experience in this field) using the article as a basic template. HOWEVER, I was also concerned about saying anything that would be sensitive information so best I avoid for now! Thanks.

NFC payment support is still pretty hit and miss in the UK.  "Cash on Tap" and "Quick Tap" seem to be just pre-pay NFC cards you can load into your phones NFC chip, and not many phones are supported (your HTC One X is not).
If you have a BarclayCard, you can get a "Barclaycard PayTag NFC" sticker for your phone which seems like a better solution since it will work on any phone and it is actually linked to your card.  It also claims to work on any contactless till. There might be other banks doing this too.
Worth noting that contactless card support is still hit and miss too - I've found some big stores don't advertise it but it works (eg Tesco) but others claim to have it and it actually doesn't work (eg Co-op).

Hi Colin, I edited your post by putting a space in at the end (nothing is changed at all otherwise) so that I could un-do an accidental downvote on this answer. It's absolutely fine, and I clicked it as I was getting out of the car. If it's any consolation I nearly dropped the phone in the process into a puddle! My apologies for any inconvenience! Usually if you see me do something like this, you can assume I'm being a complete idiot rather than anything malicious!


text:
Current profile as condition in llama
Llama is a great tool, but I cannot figure out one (maybe) simple thing. I have a rule that sets the volume low at night (10pm - 6 am) and it works fine. Last night (9pm) I was at the cinema and selected the profile "silent". But at 10pm of course, llama set the profile to "low volume".
Is there a workaround a profile changes only when a certain profile is set (or not set)?
When the profile "silent" is set by another rule I set a llama-variable silence=1, and in the night-rule this variable is checked first. But when I set the profile manually, the variable-workaround doesn't work. I know I can lock profiles, but is there a more elegant way?

I'm not familiar with Llama – but given it's similarity to Tasker obviously also for variables, you could try adding a profile setting silence=1 whenever the profile is set to "silence", and reset that when the profile is left (with Tasker, there are "entry-tasks" and "exit-tasks", so this could be done definitely – not sure how Llama does that, hence just a comment for now). Please let us know whether that works, so I might make this an answer.

In Llama there are no "entry-tasks", that would be helpful. I'll try Tasker, thanks for the suggestion.

To ease your start (and the search for tutorials etc), you might wish to take a look into my Collection of Tasker Resources (tutorials and documentation at the end of that page). Good luck!

Shortcuts to activate specific Llama Events can be placed on the home screen. Therefore create an Event (or use an existing one):
Name: Go Silent (or whatever you want)
Enabled: yes
Conditions: None
Actions:
     1. llama variable: silence=1
     2. Profile: Silent (can also use Advanced option to lock the profile for a fixed time e.g. 2 hours, so other events won't change it regardless of whether those other events check the silence variable. Note that that after this time elapses, it'll automatically switch back to the prvious profile)
Now that the event is defined, go to your Android home screen and put a Llama shortcut on it which will open a window listing the various Llama Profiles and Events, and select your Go Silent event. Now pressing the shortcut will activate the Silent profile and set silence=1 for testing by your other events.
Alternatively, rather than creating the Event first, just create the shortcut and select "Custom event actions" and this will drop you to limited a Llama Event creation screen that only allows a name and Actions to be defined (without conditions etc).

Or you can use the profile lock. As that is what is intended for.
Go to the profile press the lock icon next to the profile you want to set,  then just select the length of time.
Also if you go to the same theater,  make a profile for that area for silent. Obviously if it uses the same tower as another area, you will have to add condition such as"and" or "or" to prevent conflicts.


text:
How to find custom ROMs for rare android devices?
I've recently bought a Tesla H7 tablet. Since it's a 'local' brand, I don't expect to see any updates, and I was wandering how could I find some other (cyanogen, or other) ROMs to update the software myself (currently, it's 4.2.2).
Do I search for roms that match the CPU/resolution/ram/... does it need to match every specification, or only in part?

A ROM needs to be for the exact device and model. If you use anything even SLIGHTLY different you will brick the device. It needs to be made for the device in question.

You might wish to take a look at Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device? – and also at our rom tag-wiki.

So basically, it has to match each-and-every hardware specification to be applicable (makes sense)... if you put it in an answer I'll mark it as solved... thanks!

authors: Наташа Савенкова


text:
How can I enable field test mode on Samsung Galaxy S3?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3. Are there any codes to enable field test mode, like band selection? Has someone managed to enable such an option?

*#*#7262626#*#* – Perform a field test
*#2263# - If previous doesn't work.
Sadly, Samsung used to provide field test display by entering codes in keypad. However, from Galaxy S3 onward, the service mode *#*#197328640#*#* was disabled. Only *#0011# is still available.  The worst is that even the Android default testing info *#*#4636#*#* was disabled as well.
And just because this looked very sparse, here's a big list!
For IMEI Number: *#06#
For RAM Memory version: *#*#3264#*#*
For FTA SW version: *#\*#1111#*#*
For FTA HW version: *#*#2222#*#*
For Touchscreen version: *#*#2663#*#*
To test Bluetooth: *#*#232331#*#*
To display Bluetooth Physic Address: #*#232337#*#
To test secret GPS: *#*#1472365#*#*
To test other GPS:  *#*#1575#*#*
To test WiFi/Wireless LAN of phone: *#*#232339#*#* or *#*#528#*#* or *#*#526#*#*
To display Wi-Fi MAC Address: *#*#232338#*#*
To test Vibration and Back-light of device: *#*#0842#*#*
To test Proximity/Distance Sensor: *#*#0588#*#*
To test Touchscreen: *#*#2663#*#*
For Audio Test: *#*#0289#*#* or *#*#0673#*#*
To launch Service Mode: *#*#197328640#*#*
Hidden Service Menu (Motorola Droid): ##7764726
Field Test: *#*#7262626#*#*
To format the phone: *2767*3855#
To Restore Factory Settings: *#*#7780#*#*
To create Immediate backup of your multimedia files: *#*#273282*255*663282*#*#*
To display Phone Information: *#*#4636#*#*
To get detailed Camera Information: *#*#34971539#*#*
For Software & Hardware Information: *#12580*369#
To display HSDPA/HSUPA Control Menu: *#301279#
To start GTalk Monitoring: *#*#8255#*#*
To get PDA, Phone, H/W and RF Call Date: *#*#4986*2650468#*#*
Displays Build Time and Change List number: *#*#44336#*#*
Packet Loopback Test: *#*#0283#*#*
LCD  Display Test: *#*#0*#*#*
Enter Service Menu (on New Phones): *#0*#
Diagnostic Configuration: *#9090#
USB Logging Control: *#872564#
System Dump Mode: *#9900#
View Phone Lock Status: *#7465625#
Executes Emergency Dial Screen to unlock PUK Code: **05**#
Enables Voice Dialing Logging Mode: *#*#8351#*#*
Disables Voice Dialing Logging Mode: *#*#8350#*#*
Change behavior of Power button: *#*#7594#*#*

Thanks very much for the reply!!!But unfortunately am not able to enable the most important for my case Field Test: ##7262626##.Do you know any way to work it out?

@GiwrgosRizeakos they took a lot of this out in newer firmwares, try *#2263#  and let me know. We'll find it!

Just managed to do something by rolling back to older software version,but is not excellent....Have you managed to use it properly?

@GiwrgosRizeakos nope, not on any device I have to hand, but they are all newer devices. Annoying.

Just a heads-up: most of the asterisks here are disappearing due to Markdown formatting. If you see italic, then it means it's enclosed by single asterisk. If it's bold, then it's enclosed by double asterisk. See the source to see the correct codes.

@AndrewT. Yeah I rejected your edit in error this morning, I had too many things open, my apologies for that. I've fixed it now, I'll make up the rep to you next time. This is why I'm not posting much lately, head just isn't on straight!!

People do some mistakes after all, no worries :)