text:
how to monitor mobile data usage but exclude wi-fi
I'm aware there are a large number of data monitoring apps for android but as far as I can see, they all include wi-fi usage in the total.
Since my wi-fi usage is unmetered, I only want to monitor 3g mobile data usage. is there an app that can do this?

Try My Data Manager.  It monitors network and Wi-Fi data.  If you have at least Android 4.0 it should also allow you to view the data use directly without having to install any additional apps.

Hmm, after further inspection, it seems that onavo doesn't include wi-fi data, even though it claims to. Maybe I have got completely the wrong end of the stick, and in fact none of these apps monitor wi-fi data (though I'm not sure why they would claim to because 99% of people wouldn't want that). I'm confused but at least I have a solution :-)

@Andy check out my solution if that helps your problem..the mobile and wifi network usage is displayed by date separtely..

In your Android: Check under Settings › Data usage › Mobile, as shown in the screenshot below:

Screenshot (click for larger variant)

Where do you see the option for "Mobile"?  A screenshot might be useful.

Like this one, @MatthewRead? :) AFAIK you need to enable that explicitly via the (3-dot-) overflow-menu. By default, WiFi is excluded – so OP would already get what asked for.

@Izzy Interesting, I do not see these tabs on my devices nor does the overflow menu offer an option!

@MatthewRead I didn't check that lately. I remember I've played with that on 4.0. Just checked: It's still there on 4.1 (no overflow-menu, but hitting the menu button reveals the option: stock ROM on my LG O4X), and also on 4.3 (same as described for 4.1; CM on my Moto Milestone²). Cannot say for 4.4 and up, as I have no device running that. So I'd say: try the menu button – if there is one :)

You have to check out Internet Speed meter Lite. You can measure the downloaded data either on a mobile and wifi network and get stats for each day and for each month measured by the app separately(Check screenshot). And its available as a free and ad-free Lite version. For advanced features use the Pro version.
Features mentioned on Playstore,

Lite Features:

Real time speed update in status bar and notification.
Daily traffic usage in notification.
Separate stats for Mobile network and WiFi network.
Monitors your traffic data for the last 30 days.
Battery efficient

Screenshot (Click for larger image)

There is a cool app to monitor 3g mobile data usage as well as wifi.
Download this app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.rgruet.android.g3watchdogpro&hl=en
It also has a Lite version for free, check out that. I am sure you will like this app more because it generates graphs too for each hour, day, etc along with setting the limit of 3g Data.

@Andy - Please try Phone Usage Monitor .
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rachittechnology.PhoneUsageMonitor
App to monitor your Internet ( 4G/3G/Edge/GPRS/Wifi ), Phone calls ( Incoming/outgoing ) & Call History reports.
Key features of ' Phone Usage Monitor ' -
- Track your phone usage real time to avoid extra charges on your bill

View your Wifi and Internet Usage
Track historical data to understand your calling patterns
Detail reports as per your billing cycle
Intuitive reports available at single click
Generate Customized Reports
Share and print your report
No Internet connection required
Progress bar on top ( marked in green/ yellow/ red color ) displays current data/phone usage

PS - I'm creator of this app
Any feedback is highly appreciated


text:
Backup/restore question for Moto G XT1033 converted to XT1032 GPE
I have installed TWRP as my recovery and rooted my device. But I only had the space to backup the "system" and not the "data". Now I was going to install CyanogenMod.
My real question is, if things go south during installation, will I be able to return to system with Phone (sim) and Play Store apps working through the "system" backup?

Moto G XT1033 as it seems from this question supports OTG, which means you can connect a pendrive using an OTG cable and store complete Nandroid backup in it through the recovery.

Will I be able to return to system with Phone (sim) and Play Store apps working through the "system" backup?

I cannot comment anything about Baseband/IMEI issue, but you will definitely lose Play Store apps since they are downloaded and their data stored under /data, which you're not backing up here.
On a side note, the device has good amount of Internal Storage available; can you not make space enough to store the backup in it?
May be you can try making a backup of /system only and then pushing it through ADB into the PC. Do the same for /data and /boot now. ADB will work in Recovery.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Does Android allow swapping processes to memory?
I'm  currently  doing a project  on Android  in which there are certain  questions  one of them is this one which is quite  difficult  to find. Please  help it out

What do you mean by "swapping of processes"?  I'm not sure if you're referring to multithreading (yes), the use of swap space instead of RAM (depends on the kernel), or something else.

is the swapping  of processes  allowed  or not when the memory  is full?

There is no swap partition on Android by default. The reason they don't use a swap partition is because flash tends to be slow to write. As Matthew said, the kernel itself supports swap files (yay linux!). You could replace the kernel and you would have swap support.
However, Android does do paging. Look at this answer on stackoverflow as its quite useful.

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


text:
Cannot upload picture because browser refreshes
When I try to upload a photo to most sites, my low-end phone (an LG Optimus F6) refreshes the page after I select the file, regardless of what browser I use. Chrome at least explicitly tells me that it could not complete the operation due to a lack of memory. This is true regardless of whether I use the camera to take a new photo, or whatever app I use to choose an existing photo.
Has anyone else encountered this problem? Is anyone aware of a workaround?

Does this happen if you try uploading files on a different website? If the issue happens only on a specific website, then it's a problem on that site not the browser or system, and you should report the problem to the site owner.

I was have the same problem with my Motorola Fire XT311 from 2 years ago, but i tried X-plore FM to select the files and it's works great sometimes, try it and tell me the result!


text:
Privacy/Security concers for setting up business email using Gmail app on Nexus devices
I need to set up my business email*(non gmail email)* on the mobile devices (Nexus 5 and Nexus7). The business has its own private mail server. The way I can do it is by using Gmail app on these devices. The question I have is does Gmail app on the mobile devices store the IMAP emails(non gmail emails) on the gmail servers? Or Gmail app is just a client and does not bother storing the IMAP emails(non gmail emails) on its servers that are not gmail emails? Thanks for the insight...

The gmail app is just a client and nothing is stored on Google's servers. The use of IMAP simply means that the email is stored on your company's servers and your phone, as compared to the older POP where the email is pushed to your phone and deleted from the server.
The emails might show up "mixed" if you show all inboxes but you may be rest assured that they do not reside on Google's servers.

do you know whether this is documented somewhere by Google?


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Can I remove my custom recovery?
I'm in a weird predicament with my Nexus 5. I rooted easily when I first got it then 5.1 was rolling out and I really wanted to upgrade and did, then I was able to reapply the root access but didn't really use anything required root access enough to care. Now my OTA is ready for 5.1.1 so I clicked install (when the notification popped up) and it went into the recovery bit which is the twrp mod and cuts of the rest of the install process. I think. Can i remove twrp without losing my phones data and apply this update or is there an easier work around perhaps? My boot loader is also unlocked, I just really can't be bothered to flash a new ROM (although cataclysm looks fun) and then sort out all my apps and settings again.

Download the 5.1 factory image, Then extract the tgz, you will find a zip file, copy recovery.img to the same directory that have the fastboot file
Reboot to bootloader and connect to PC then open terminal or cmd 'Windows' and type that:
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
then enter, then wait to finish and now everything is good!

After extracting out recovery image (recovery.img), you can also flash it using apps like Flashify or Rashr (they will need root access), in case you arent comfortable with using adb and fastboot.

Thanks for the help. In the end however I went ahead and used a Cataclysm ROM, I think it's worked out for the best.

Yes, you can just flash the recovery and you won't lose any data.


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Nexus 4 fails to mount with mtp mode
My Nexus 4 fails to mount with mtp mode. All other modes work (ptp, adb, fastboot). Three months ago I was able to copy the /storage/emulated/0 directory from the Nexus 4 to my pc for backup so all worked then. I was running the same systems then as now, Ubuntu 13.04 and Cyanogenmod CM11 M12.  I have rebuilt the phone with no success. I have tried two other PC's running Ubuntu 13.04 with no success. There is no change in the response to "mount" before and after connecting the phone. The phone correctly shows "Connected as a media device". The response to "lsusb" correctly shows the phone connected:
jim@Toshiba-Satellite-M35X:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 046d:c00c Logitech, Inc. Optical Wheel Mouse
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 18d1:4ee1 Google Inc.

Using "mtp-detect" I get the following response:
jim@Toshiba-Satellite-M35X:~$ mtp-detect
Unable to open ~/.mtpz-data for reading, MTPZ disabled.libmtp version: 1.1.6

Listing raw device(s)
Device 0 (VID=18d1 and PID=4ee1) is a Google Inc (for LG Electronics/Samsung) Nexus 4/10 (MTP).
   Found 1 device(s):
   Google Inc (for LG Electronics/Samsung): Nexus 4/10 (MTP) (18d1:4ee1) @ bus 1, dev 3
Attempting to connect device(s)
Android device detected, assigning default bug flags
USB low-level info:
   Interface has a kernel driver attached.
   bcdUSB: 512
   bDeviceClass: 0
   bDeviceSubClass: 0
   bDeviceProtocol: 0
   idVendor: 18d1
   idProduct: 4ee1
   IN endpoint maxpacket: 512 bytes
   OUT endpoint maxpacket: 512 bytes
   Raw device info:
      Bus location: 1
      Device number: 3
      Device entry info:
         Vendor: Google Inc (for LG Electronics/Samsung)
         Vendor id: 0x18d1
         Product: Nexus 4/10 (MTP)
         Vendor id: 0x4ee1
         Device flags: 0x08008106
Configuration 0, interface 0, altsetting 0:
   Interface description contains the string "MTP"
   Device recognized as MTP, no further probing.
Device info:
   Manufacturer: LGE
   Model: Nexus 4
   Device version: 1.0
   Serial number: 00364595560f4a2f
   Vendor extension ID: 0x00000006
   Vendor extension description: microsoft.com: 1.0; android.com: 1.0;
   Detected object size: 64 bits
   Extensions:
        microsoft.com: 1.0
        android.com: 1.0
Supported operations:

..........etc.
Does anyone have ideas on what to do next?

Do you strictly want this MTP for some purpose, or would an alternative would suffice as well? This site has answers for the alternative in case you need them.

@Firelord I don't have to use MTP although it was very easy when it worked. It would be nice to figure out why it dosn't work now. Would you point me toward some alternatives that I can evaluate.

It would be good if MTP works out, otherwise you may consider the alternatives mentioned in this question.

It seems you're on linux. If you're on debian or a derivative of it, try sudo apt-get install mtpfs. If you are on some other distro, try installing the mtpfs or libmtp package. Then reconnect your phone and it should work. This worked for my Moto E2 and G2 on Ubuntu 14.04

OP is running Ubuntu 13.04 and Ubuntu is a derivative of Debian, and is a GNU/Linux. That said, OP did say that MTP was working fine three months ago, which means MTP packages are already installed. OP also mentioned mtp-detect. Are you saying mtpfs or libmtp is different from those installed packages?

I'm not sure if they are same or different, but my stock nexus 4 worked without installing the packages. I got an E2 and G2 recently, and they weren't working out of the box. I installed mtpfs and they've been working since then, and nexus 4 too


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How to repartition of Samsung Galaxy Core GT 18262 By adb?
My phone storage is 8GB but my phone showing I have System storage is 1.5 & Internal storage is 1GB. Please how I fix it.

Please install Diskinfo and post the screenshot (app's output) here. Also, when an OEM says a device has XGB of storage, then it means all the partitions will be covered under this storage. Somebody mentioned that 5GB is available for Internal SD-card alone. // Do post the screenshots.

You cant repartition using adb. You will have to use Odin (the samsung flash tool).
Get Odin.
Download or create partition information file (PIT) and flash that using odin.
Ofcourse your data will be wiped out.
If you decide or have to create partition file yourself, you can use EFS professional/PIT Magic for that. Just be extra careful and make sure you do your research. Corrupt partition data is never a good thing.
Also, I kinda didnt get how you could get just 1 GB as usable internal memory, it will probably help if you connect your phone to adb and run the command adb shell dfand post here output. But again, if you feel like you must repartition, go ahead.

You may try another app named  AppMgr III and clear all the data using that app, or go with any other storage analyser app. I used Link2SD and AppMgr for my Samsung Galaxy Grand 2.


text:
Moto g partitions deleted .How to flash internal partitions again Emmc
UPDATE
I have found this xda post with the partition table and sizes of the moto g.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=48855450&postcount=35
I also found this xda post where they partition the emmc
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2596521
, if someone could help me identify what should I put in adb.
My first gen moto g is stuck in a bootloop, everything i have done so far has not worked.I have tried to flash using fastboot and mfastboot with diferent stock images in all I get failed to erase partition, remote failure.
The internal storage says it has 0 mb of space.
I have Twrp installed and using cat /proc/partitions finds no partitions
~ # ←[6ncat /proc/partitions
cat /proc/partitions
major minor  #blocks  name
I have managed to push a Stock rom but can´t flash it with mount data error,mount sd card error, mount system error and mount cache error..
I have tried to use Adb remount but it fails
remount failed: Success
Any help will be greatly appreciated

Assuming you selected correct partition info file (I didnt verify that from first link you posted, so thats up to you), I will only tell you what you asked-> What to really do in terminal from that tutorial.
Part one of tutorial is settings up ADB and getting things ready. You can also follow this tutorial to get adb ready. Then its about backing up things and getting ready (follow tutorial for all steps).
Part two is where main terminal process begins and all you have to really enter in terminal is those commands inside "boxes" (or code area). Just be open minded and read the outputs and interpret them carefully.
If you are trying to repartition and assuming partitions are corrupt because of this->

I have managed to push a Stock rom but can´t flash it with mount data
  error,mount sd card error, mount system error and mount cache error..

Then dont. Because your method of mounting partitions from adb is kinda... (incomplete?). Try entering these commands first and then flashing (whatever method you are using from adb)->
adb shell
su
mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /system
mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /data
mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /cache

This should mount your partitions and you should be able to proceed with flashing. Even if you want to flash through twrp, you can go to Mounts option and make sure system, data, sdcard, cache etc is mounted by check marking them. Though I still cant understand how you are trying to flash a stock rom through sdcard/adb (I never owned a moto so idk what methods are used for flashing process).... but anyway, I told you method to mount those partitions. You need root to use those commands. See if they work. Because a mount error does not mean partitions are corrupt in any way.
And make sure that adb can access your phone as root.

I think my partitions are corrupt or gone because using the command cat /proc/partitions it finds no partitions, in all the examples I seen they have a list of different mmcblk0 blocks.I tried to follow the code that you gave me but all my folders are empty in Twrp, I have folders but  nothing in them
adb shell
~ # ←[6nsu
su
/sbin/sh: su: not found
~ # ←[6nmount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /system
mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /system
mount: can't find /system in /proc/mounts
~ # ←[6nmount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /data
mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /data
mount: can't find /data in /proc/mounts

Ok, lets confirm that partition missing/corrupt theory. You use twrp right? In recovery mode, go to advanced, then Terminal Command, then enter the command    df and that should list you the partitions. If this command gives pesky output then we can confirm your partitions being corrupt and you shall follow your method then. In any case, please do tell me output if you can. Thanks for feedback.

It gives me a table
Filesystem        1K BLocks     Used       Available     %Use tmpfs/dev         443852              48         443804           0 tmpfs/tmp        443852              24         443828           0
I don´t know if it is wrong thanks for all the help.

If the output was similar to this-> http://s24.postimg.org/hm587meb9/screen.png then its ok. Though sizes and number of partitions may vary, but partitions still exist then.

I don´t know if they are similar, mine don´t have data cache or system.I have uploaded a recovery.log in http://pastebin.ca/3012018.Cheking that I think that I have the partitions but they don´t know their own size. Partition Logs:
/data |  | Size: 0MB Used: 0MB Free: 0MB Backup Size: 0MB.

ok, you do need to repartition. Its not about size, but they actually dont exist somehow (you can see recovery is failing to mount the partitions. This is never a good pointer, not with recovery). So well, I wish  you good luck with procedure then :)


text:
parental control
I have a Kindle Fire and I have mistyped the password for the parental controls. I do not care how long it takes to reset the personal settings. all I want is for the thing not to be locked and not to lose anything. is there any way to do this with out losing anything?

Try to connect with Technical Support of the software you use, or install another keylogger ( I use http://www.refog.com/ for all my Android gadgets). Last year I had the similar problem, I just installed another parental control software)Good luck!


text:
JOdin3 and Heimdall - corrupt PIT file - Samsung i9300
I'm running an Android 4.3 (never rooted) on my Samsung Galaxy S3 (I9300).
I'd like to install a brand new CM 12.1 (Android 5.1).  Along with rooting, I need to install Clockworkmod Recovery to backup the system before wiping and installing the new system. To install Clockwordmod, I need to root the phone with CF-Auto-Root.
I'm trying to do this using JOdin3 on my Ubuntu. I can't do that, because JOdin3 says:

The PIT file was corrupt. We cannot continue without a PIT file.

I created the PIT file using Heimdall, this works without error. Also, I can print-pit with Heimdall and everything seems fine.
It seems really strange for me, because the rooting has been done before thousands of times from other people using the phone.
Anyone knows what to do?
Thanks in advance!

I also tried a tested PIT file from elsewhere for the phone, but the corruption error message remains the same. I would guess it as an Odin bug and the error shouldn't be caused by the PIT file or the mobile phone.

As I wasn't able to solve the problem related to JOdin3, I rooted the device using heimdall and CF-Autoroot. It worked flawlessly. I installed Clockwork Recovery and I'm able to backup the system. Now, I can continue upgrading the system to CM 12.1. Anyway, heimdall-frontend seems to be more advanced than Odin.
Here's a tutorial for it: http://www.all-things-android.com/content/how-root-samsung-mobile-device
The tutorial shows how to use CF-autoroot by using the heimdall-frontend. First, you need to download/create the PIT file from your mobile phone. Be aware, that there is no finished dialog or something similar shown. After doing this, you can flash the recovery image and the cache image from CF-autoroot. If everything went fine, you should see "Flash completed successfully"!
I installed CM 12.1 successfully and Android 5.1.1 is now running on my I9300. :)

In the event the link dies, the worth of your answer will definitely decrease. Why would anyone want this to happen? That's why please consider mentioning/quoting the relevant parts of the link in the answer itself, to make it self-contained (independent of other links). Thanks!

"in the event the link dies". LOL it's exactly what's happened... Here's the archive version: https://web.archive.org/web/20170704003044/http://www.all-things-android.com/content/how-root-samsung-mobile-device


text:
Nexus 5 Stock Recovery Images
I have been searching for quite a while and can't find anywhere to download JUST the STOCK google android recoveries for Nexus 5. I'm looking for the LMY47I recovery.img to be specific. I dont see why I have to download the entire zip from google if I only want the recovery.img. Does anyone have a link or somewhere to download these files? If not I think I'm going to host my own as this could be very useful for people in my situation.
Thanks in advance. Sorry if my google skills are -3 but I have seriously been looking for quite a while and haven't found anything so far.

I'm not aware of them being hosted apart from the Factory Image archives you mentioned.
Have you checked out Nexus Root Toolkit by WugFresh yet?  Much easier than cruising XDA for solutions and downloads.

I have taken a look on XDA (no luck). I do actually have that installed on my windows machine but unfortunately I'm at work and my laptop is linux based. Ill check to see if theres a port.

Ahh.  Just did some poking around.  I should give Nexulockr a whirl on with my Linux box.


text:
What is this port on my Samsung phone?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, what's this in the screenshot below:

Have you looked into the manual that came with your phone..? or Online Manual?

@Lucky I can't find anything in the guide.

Isn't that an antenna of some kind? I believe there are two other antenna's up top, WiFi, GSM and I think the bottom one is Bluetooth.

@Tom if it's a GSM antenna can someone confirm that for me?

Just saw the whole back of the Samsung S4 mini and I believe that is the only one there on the back.
It's definitely the GSM antenna.
The hole there is on purpose. This way the phone gets a better reception.
Sometimes, a void sticker gets put on there.
Check this video to hear about this port (on the S4):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9pDB1kGmLY
More questions answered about these kind of ports:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2342889
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1625663


text:
Emulate Android Wear on Android tablet
I have Dell Venue 3830 un-rooted, Android 4.4.2. I want a kind of Android Wear emulator so I can run Android Wear apps.
What should I do so I can run Wear apps or make my Android tablet an Android Wear?

What Wear apps could you possibly want to run that don't have (better) tablet counterparts?

I want to run android wear apps(try them).

Emulating Android within Android on a low-end device isn't going to work.  You're also not likely to find a Wear ROM for a 8" tablet.

Josh Holland's answer would be the only answer, editing your question doesn't change what the answer is. Its either you use the emulator on PC or port it. Sorry.

You can run the Wear emulator on a Windows PC according to http://www.tomsguide.com/faq/id-2452471/install-android-wear-emulator.html, although running Wear on a tablet is probably virtually impossible (unless you feel like porting it...).
(Copy/pasted instructions for posterity)

Log on to your Windows PC.
Download Android SDK by going to this link.
Once downloaded, extract the Android SDK.zip file.
From the extracted folder, double-click the SDK Manager application.
Go to Packages.
On the Packages window, check the Android SDK Tools checkbox under the Tools section. (If the version of the SDK Tools is below the 22.6.)
Under the Android 4.4.2 section, check the ARM EABI v7a System Image checkbox to install the Android wear.
Under the Extras section, check the Android Support Library checkbox if the update is available.
When the things are in place, click Install.
From the Choose Packages to Install window, click to select the Accept License radio button and click Install to start installation.
Once the installation is done, go to the C:\Android SDK folder.
Once there, double-click the eclipse.exe file from the eclipse folder to launch the application.
On the opened window, click the Window tab from the top.
From the expanded list, click Android Virtual Device Manager.
Once the Android Virtual Device Manager box opens up, click New from the right pane to create a new Android Virtual Device.
On the next window, populate the available fields with the most suitable values and click OK. (See footnote)
From the opened window, click the Start button available in the right.
When the Launch Options box appears, click Launch.
Wait till the Android Emulator is loaded.
Turn on Bluetooth on your PC (in case of laptop).
Note: You may have to get a USB Bluetooth device and connect it to your computer if you are using a desktop PC.
Once the process is complete, on the smartphone, launch the Android Wear app.
Note: Make sure that the Android Wear app is already downloaded, installed and functioning on your Android smartphone.
On your smartphone again, tap the More icon (icon with the three vertical dots) from the top-right corner.
Tap Pair with a new wearable from the available list.
Note: If prompted, turn on the Bluetooth on your smartphone.
On the Choose a device interface, tap the Settings icon (icon with the Gear symbol) located at the top-right corner.
Finally, tap Pair with emulator from the next screen to pair the smartphone with the emulator.
After the devices are paired, you can test the apps and use the Android Wear Emulator as per your requirements.

Footnote: Choose the following options to populate available fields:

Provide the name of the Android Virtual Device in the AVD Name field.
Select the desired device from the Device drop-down. (i.e. Round or Square)
From the Target list, choose Android 4.4.2-API Level 19 (or greater).
Select Android Wear ARM (armeabi-v7a) from the CPU/ABI drop-down list.
Check the Hardware keyboard present checkbox.
From the Skin drop-down list, choose either AndroidWearSquare or AndroidWearRound as desired.
Keep the values in the other fields as default.

Well at least it can be emulated! ;) +1


text:
Battery draining fast because of Android System
I'm on a HTC Droid DNA with 4.4.2, not rooted. My battery is going down really fast. When I look in power settings it shows that the main offender is Android System with 92% of power usage. I know that android system is a collection of apps, so how do I figure out which ones are doing this?
It's only been bad like this for the last few weeks. Before that I usually had no problem making it through the day.
I'm hoping there is a way to find the culprit without having to guess.
Since it may be more than one sub system at fault, and since there isn't an easy way to determine battery usage outside of controlled conditions, I don't want to have to shut off a system, wait a day to see if it seems like things have gotten better, and then move on to the next one, hoping to divine the correct sequence by chance, while taking normal usage into account.
I'd try Better Battery Stats, but I don't think it will work right since I'm not rooted.

turn off the location and under 'Location' in the Settings you can use 'Power savings Mode' for the GPS, and also turn off the Google Reporting and Location..

@Lucky I can do that, but when I go into location settings it shows power usage for recent location requests. I have Google App 1%, Google Services 9%, and HTC Services 1%. I'm sure going into power saving mode will help, but I am wondering if there is a way to pinpoint the real problem without just guessing.

Disabling some system apps can help your cause..disable google+ photos backup and try to disable some system apps(bloatware)..and disable app data sync in background

mine had the same problem too. just turn off any connections. turn on airplane mode, disable location services, wifi, bluetooth, all kind of those. Reset your phone and let it be idle for a couple minutes and things should get back to normal.

What's the point in toggling the rest of the stuff if you are  ultimately going to reset the device? Makes me wonder what you meant by "Reset"?

Unfortunately, the only way to jurasticly improve your battery life is by getting a new, more efficient phone. However, there are definitely compromises you can take to make it last longer.
One of the main killers is using 4G mobile data. Hence why turning on aeroplane mode uses like 3% an hour, so switch over to 3G when not needed, or turn off mobile data when connected to wifi (if you haven't already enabled in developer settings).
Another is location. Turn it off because chances are you won't need it most of the time.
Thirdly brightness ( obviously ). Huge killer. To see if this is the case, go into settings > Battery > 3 Dots top left > Battery Usage > Show full usage. You can then see in more detail what's draining the battery.
Another big consumer is Instagram, Snapchat. Try switching over to apps like Messenger lite or Facebook lite when possible. This uses far less mobile data and battery.
Use dark mode. Helps massively. Trust me.
Again if you're in need to message people, try use SMS if you already don't.
Or bring a powerpack, but we all know that's effort.

Thankfully I upgraded from that phone several years ago, but thanks for the answer. Hopefully it'll help someone else with the same problem.

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


text:
Nexus 5 in recovery mode not being recognized
I wanted to sideload Android 5.1.1 (currently running 5.1) to my Nexus 5.
I've sideloaded before and it's really easy, but now I've ran into a weird problem I can't seem to fix. The Nexus 5 is completely stock.
I connected my phone with the USB cable it came with onto my desktop computer (Windows 8.1) with the USB driver (08/28/2014,11.0.0000.00000) installed and USB debugging is turned on.
adb devices showed me a device, adb reboot recovery worked, but then Windows didn't want to find any USB device attached.
No sound, no nothing. It did not appear in the Device Manager (also not under the "Other devices" section)
Tried my laptop (running also Windows 8.1 with the same driver), but didn't want to recognise the device either. So, exact same problem.
After hours of searching the internet, I came across several potential solutions which I've tried but not succeeded with.
Koush's universal USB driver installer & Universal Naked Driver both did not work for me.
Then I tried following the steps in this article, which tells you to change the INF file of the driver.
I've added various lines of code and installed it after disabling the driver signature check in Windows, but did not succeed.

The article tells you to add this line:
%CompositeAdbInterface%     = USB_Install, USB\VID_18D1&PID_D001

But that did not work for me. After reading this in the article:
The ID I saw in device manager against the Nexus was
USB\VID_18D1&PID_D001, which didn't turn a lot up in Google!

I found my ID in the Device Manager when the device was booted into Android, changed the last part of the line, but that did not work in the end either.
I've tried using another cable as well, though I don't think that's the issue. It's plugged in quite firm and the device is being recognised in Android and the bootloader immediately.
Who can help me out?
Edit:
I just got the update through OTA, but I still would like to know why my computers act like the N5 isn't plugged at all when in Recovery mode.

This may not be a solution or answer, but since my reputation isnt enough to make a comment... In case you are using twrp, try going to Mounts and enabling/disabling MTP (enable if its disabled and disable if its enabled). Then try connecting again?
This has worked a fair number of times for me.

I'm not using twrp but tried it anyway. Did not work for me, unfortunately. Thanks for thinking with me, though.

You might already have tried that as well (but not mentioned): Does it work using a different USB port? Especially pay attention to USB2 vs. USB3. I've heard of several cases where the USB3 port caused problems. Concerning the .inf file: you can cross-check VID (vendor ID) and PID (product ID) using lsusb when the device is connected to your Linux machine. Be aware the very same device might present different PIDs depending on boot mode (recovery/bootloader/normal).

I did try other USB ports. I even tried another machine. I tried it on USB2 ports on both machines. I noticed the change in different boot modes. It was different in normal and bootloader, couldn't check the recovery mode. I'm going to see if I can use lsusb on a linux machine. Thanks so far.

Hmm, I tried using lsusb and it showed the id and pid like it should in normal and bootloader mode, but once I go into the recovery, the machine acts like there is no USB input at all

Okay, this is no daily task. I forgot two steps...

When in recovery mode, press the power button and volume up.
A new screen will popup.
Select "Apply update from ADB"

Sorry peeps. Hope this will help some people though.. Maybe...

it sounds like you don't have the correct drivers installed. there is a third-party windows based toolkit that runs a setup wizard available online. makes the driver install very easy. you can download it here.

However the driver installation was really well explained, it didn't work either. The phone just isn't plugged in either one of the USB ports if we have to believe Windows or Linux, but it is.


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Installed CWM/TWRP but it isn't installed when booting to recovery mode
I have an LG G2-D800 running 4.4.2 KitKat and it is rooted using an app called Stump Root. I have been trying to flash a new ROM onto it and every time it boots into recovery, it boots into the android recovery, even though I have flashed it using Clockwork Mod and TWRP Manager.
Can anyone help with this and suggest good ROMs to flash to it?

How did you flash the recovery?

I used an app called ROM Manager v5.5.3.7. When you first enter the app, the first option is called "Recovery Setup". And as of now, it says that the current Recovery is ClockworkMod 6.0.4.4 (which I believe is the latest version). But, if I use the "Reboot into Recovery" option under that, it just opens the Stock Recovery.

I had similiar problem and explained everything here [http://en.miui.com/forum.php?mod=redirect&goto=findpost&ptid=297691&pid=8767131][1]

I had same issue on a TAB4 10.1 SM-T535.. Anyway, to get it to boot into TWRP I just had to install the TWRP app from the play store, which has an option to boot into TWRP, the key combinations never worked for me. I also had flashed CF-Auto-Root to the device to install SuperSU, which might have allowed the TWRP app with Root access to boot into recovery mode straight from their app, bypassing the timing issues of having to press the keys in a certain order.

Some stock ROM's may replace the custom recovery with the stock recovery. To solve it you should install the custom recovery with fastboot and reboot to recovery and don't reboot to system. That will prevent the stock ROM from replacing the custom recovery.

Catch: That will prevent the stock ROM from replacing the custom recovery. -- not completely true. This answer will not work on CM 11 and CM12 that ships with OPO unless you explicitly uncheck Update CM recovery under Developer options.

@Firelord The OPO's bootloader does recovery verification before entering fastboot mode?

@MatthewRead This pdf on Linux Foundation says about an unlocked device in respect of bootloader states -- Unlocked devices do not verify boot or recovery images.  Your comment held completely true for a locked bootloader of OPO. However, the answer involves fastboot flashing which assumes device is unlocked, and hence, my comment is still true for OPO. // Thanks for explicitly mentioning it. I learned some other good things from the pdf. :)

If he reboots into the newly flashed recovery, when is the stock rom supposed to reset the recovery? does it check the recovery before the reboot? How is flashing with fastboot more permanent than flashing with a 3rd party app?

I have the same issue but there is no "update cm recovery" option in "debug options"

Its because stock roms come with their own recovery. That will always replace custom recovery. To prevent this, whenever you download a rom, open its tar or zip or whatever format is there with winrar and delete the recovery image inside it (if its zip file, then open it and go to system/etc and delete "recovery.img" and if its tar file, again open it and delete the recovery.img or any file with similar name. Keyword here is recovery).
The next step is to edit out the scripts so it doesnt give error on missing recovery image. For zip file, the android flash script is inside META-INF/com/google/android/ and you need to edit the file "updater-script". Now various rom builders use various methods to flash recovery using script, so there isnt any specific way really, but look for any line that resembles something that means "copy/flash recovery.img" and delete that line.
For ex in one of the roms I downloaded, recovery was flashed using this command->
package_extract_file("system/etc/recovery.img", "/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/recovery")

You can clearly see that its extracting recovery image to some location, so delete this line. Then save file inside zip and flash it. Your recovery wont be changed.
For roms in tar or any other format, it should normally be some batch file which carries flash instructions. Again, open it and remove line corresponding to flash recovery.
This may sound haphazard, but try it first before deciding difficulty, its relatively easy ;) All you need to do is just edit the script that controls flashing.
One more thing, if you have lost your recovery, you can flash it using fastboot.
First, follow guide here to set up adb and fastboot.
Next, connect phone to pc with usb debugging enabled. Then open command prompt and enter these commands->
fastboot erase recovery
fastboot flash recovery PathToRecoveryFileAndItsName.img

For ex if my recovery file lies in D:/Recovery folder, then I would use->
fastboot flash recovery D:/Recovery/TWRPblabla.img

Good luck and hope this helps.
Here's more detail on how to deal with this in case of stock roms:
HOW TO PREVENT STOCK ROM FROM OVERWRITING RECOVERY:
In stock roms, the general procedure used is to put in a recovery image file. For ex if you open a stock rom archive in winrar, you will see some image file with name and extension similar to "recovery.img". This is stock recovery, you delete this file. Now similarly, we need to edit flash scripts so it doesnt go berserk on not finding recovery image. It actually depends how stock rom is flashed (or rather what method it uses). Some need individual parts flashing (system is flashed separately and recovery is flashed separately and boot or kernel separately, like in samsungs). In this case you can simply skip step for flashing recovery and no script editing is needed. But if its using some script (like nexus stock roms have a batch file script), you will have to edit that script. Its usually batchfile. Open the file in notepad and remove the lines that lead to recovery flashing. To help you identify these lines, look for words like recovery or recovery.img since it actually depends on how stock rom flash script is made. For ex in my nexus 4. the stock rom I downloaded flashed recovery using fastboot as->
fastboot erase recovery
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

Here, as you can see its actually first erasing my recovery, we dont want that either. So I remove these two lines. First, to prevent it from erasing my already inserted recovery, second to prevent it from flashing and over-riding my recovery with a new one. So you must also look out for such lines that may overwrite the recovery. As I said, you can simply search for keyword recovery in script if you are having difficulty in finding such line.

Now, when I try to reboot into Recovery, it reboots into fastboot and all it says it " [D800] Fastboot mode started" on a black screen.

Are you sure your button combination is right? Because the method I told simply causes no recovery flashing. Nothing changes for existing recovery. On side note, if you have set up fastboot and adb in PC, you can force phone into recovery using this method-> go to fastboot mode (as you are now). Connect to PC. Open cmd or terminal whatever os you have set up adb and fastboot in. Enter the command "fastboot reboot recovery" without quotes. This should get you into recovery.

@Hackaholic I think that is behavior of a locked bootloader...You stopped it from re-flashing the stock recovery, but it still won't boot into a a recovery that doesn't have the correct digital signature...

Also, Jaskaranbir, you might mention at the start of your answer that your trick requires root.

Worked like charm in Nexus 7 2012. Previously even after flashing, default recovery with android icon was appearing. fastboot erase recovery worked!

There is an easy step... I used it to boot in to rec on my N910g (note4)
1 .flash the custom rec using odin (it was TWRP 2.8.7.0 for me)

As soon as the device restarts after flashing press and hold menue button and volume up button (this should be so quick, u have to press buttons as quick as the screen get Black screen)
repeat the steps it will work.(remember to flash the rec again and again when u repeat steps

:D

LG devices has a different way of flashing recovery and another key combination (some even unable to enter recovery via key combo). Nice try anyway.

That quick pressing worked ... I was breaking my head trying to figure out how since the past 4 hours... Thanks You!

Hello i just had a personal experience with my Asus zenfone selfie Z00T Stock recovery kept replacing TWRP. (Boot loader already unlocked)
This is how i got around it  i downloaded the latest TWRP for my device and placed directly in  minimal adb and fastboot app folder then i renamed it to recovery .
then i put my device in fastboot mode using the buttons on the phone and
After i ran minimal adb and fastboot app as admin then i typed fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
once done i then i typed fastboot boot recovery.img. and my phone booted to twrp recovery then i  selected reboot recovery directly on my phone and to finish reboot system (still in twrp) that's it.
(OEM commands to boot from fastboot to recovery do not work on some devices )
it only worked for me eventually because i downloaded the latest TWRP from the official TWRP website.
The idea is to flash the custom recovery and then booting from the custom recovery.img that you just used to flash (the one still on the pc)  using minimal adb and fastboot app.
IT may not work on all devices as the commands may change from one device to another but the idea stays the same.
(example for nexus fastboot -c "lge.kcal=0|0|0|x" boot recovery.img)
I hope this will help some people out.


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Can not uninstall facebook
I have a brand new Qmobile 400 dual sim tab with jelly bean android 4.2.2 version.
Downloaded facebook from play store but now unable to uninstall it. The message say" delete all the updates on this device" but not the app itself. How do I uninstall it???

Are you sure the facebook app wasn't installed when you first bought the phone? there is a chance it was a system app and you are unable to uninstall it but you can remove all updates.

As Tom suspected, this seems to be a system app which you can't uninstall but only disable as a normal user. However, if you decide to root the device then you may very well uninstall any app.

no the app was installed by me after i bought the device...it also didnt create any shortcuts like others..

You can install Link2SD, an app that allows you to uninstall any and all applications, system included.

Link2SD additionally requires root permission to do system app removal, a condition unstated in the OP's question, and, not a clear assumption.

@wbogacz True. I assumed root access.

@user110507 It would be much better if you provide a brief description of this app. You may quote it directly.


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If a device is already running cyanogenmod os, is rooting still required?
The phone Micromax Yu Yuphoria already comes with Cyanogen Mod OS v12. Does this mean I can uninstall unwanted pre-installed apps or do I have to root the device?

This was answered before in http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/13335/how-can-i-tell-if-i-have-root and http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/38486/how-to-tell-if-a-phone-is-rooted

First of all, a correction is required in the question. The device maker Micromax has partnership with Cyanogen Inc. to ship an OS into the former's YU series devices.
What does it mean to me?
Cyanogenmod is a community driven open source Android based ROM. Cyanogen OS (installed in Yureka and Yuphoria) is a proprietary ROM based on Cyanogenmod, owned by Cyanogen Inc., and is used in all those devices that you hear nowadays ships with Cyanogen. (I repeat the stock ROM is not Cyanogenmod but Cyanogen OS.)

Does this mean I can uninstall unwanted pre-installed apps or do I have to root the device?

It means nothing unless one of the partners clear the fog here. Micromax in its Yureka device allowed the users to root it without issues of voiding its warranty, but the device wasn't shipped with an unlocked bootloader, let alone being rooted. There can be multiple reasons why OEMs do not prefer to ship an unlocked/rooted device. Major is the integrity of the phone itself which can be compromised before it reaches user's hands. (Google them)
So, what do I do?
It means you should ask the OEM or Cyanogen Inc. to reveal details, or perhaps, they are already their on web which you may need to search using Google. :)
Ultimately, given the background of the OEM here, do not expect the device's bootloader pre-unlocked or the ROM rooted.

Now I see why you used Cyanogenmod OS 12. I wonder what kind of reporting this news outlet does.

Checkout the official source. It says Cyanogen OS 12

Having Cyanogenmod installed does not mean that your device has been rooted per se.
You can check if you're rooted by checking the Settings. In Cyanogenmod there is a built-in superuser manager:

If still unsure, install Root Checker.

CM12 has embedded Superuser under Privacy Guard. Which CM screenshot would it be? Seems to be <12+ while Yuphoria device comes with CM12+ !


text:
Initiate voice recording via Bluetooth dialling in car
I drive a car with a built-in hands-free interface to a Bluetooth phone (it's a Volkswagen Passat).  From the "on-board computer" interface in the dashboard, I can select an entry from my contact list and dial that number to talk to them.
I often find that, as I am driving along, I have a thought that I would like to remember by recording a voice memo to myself.  The only way I know of doing this is to unlock my Android phone, start a voice recording application and hit the record button.  By the time I've typed my pin number into my Android phone to unlock it, this is already very unsafe while I'm driving along, so I don't want to do this!
Is there anyway I can set up my phone such that if I dial some "special" number (#*#*# or whatever) that, when I call it will just record my voice rather than actually dialling an external number?  I could then program this number in to my contacts list and access it via the buttons on the steering wheel of my car.
Ideally, when I hang up the call I'd like it to email me the recording, but that may be going too far...
This would also be useful on the motorbike where the phone is in my pocket, but I can dial numbers (when safe to do so) via the Garmin Zumo 660 GPS.  If I stop at some traffic lights, I can quickly dial a number on the GPS, but I certainly wouldn't have time to take my gloves off, unzip my jacket, take my phone out and run a voice recording application!

Set up Google voicemail. Call that number and record a message.

Sadly I can't: Google Voice is only available in the US.


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Using Local (private) DNS server on Lollipop
I have a website hosted on an IIS server on my network. The DNS for this website on only valid from within the network. The DNS cannot be resolved outside of this local network.
I am using Wi-fi to connect to the network, but I believe my phone is trying to use the Google DNS servers in order to resolve the website name when I try to access it from Chrome in my Galaxy S5.
Are there any workarounds for directing Android to use a separate DNS server?

You can modify the network config to set a specific DNS value.  Find the WiFi network you are connected to, press and hold on the name of the netowrk->Modify Network Config->Show Advanced Options.  From here you can set a specific DNS, after changing the IP Settings to static.
I believe that most devices look at the DHCP for a DNS server, with a google IP as a backup.
There are some handy apps (must be purchased though) that allow you to only change your DNS but keep your IP address dynamic, based on DHCP.  Overrride DNS

After I click the checkbox for "Show advanced options" I am only seeing proxy settings. Nothing about DNS or IP.

Even after I do this, I can't get the android to use a dns different from 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4

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


text:
Trouble answering calls on Motorola G
When my phone rings my screen is black - to unlock I have to press the button on the lefthand side which then ends the call.It used to automatically show the caller id but since an update I am unable to answer any calls :(. Hope some-one is able to help me please. Thank you

First go to Settings -> Apps -> Disabled(Tab). If you can find Dialer or Phone please enable it and then check after restarting your phone.
If your Phone/Dialer app is not disabled then try these steps,

Settings -> Apps -> All(Tab) -> Dialer
Clear Cache and Clear Data
Disable it and restart phone and Re-enable the Dialer app.

If problem persists you can for emergency purpose attend calls using your motorola headset.

Thank you for your help. My phone is now working properly. I appreciated your help.

Honestly, without proper logcat pointing to exact bug is difficult. But it could be a rom bug most likely.
Anyway, you can go to Settings->Acessbility and there somewhere in calls options should be an option Power button ends calls disable it and your power button will no longer cut calls on power button press.

Thanks - but didn't work


text:
Answering a phone call
When someone calls me I can't see the call screen but I can feel the vibration and I hear my ringtone. But the screen is total black. I have to push the lock button to wake up the screen. How can I fix it?

Which phone and Android version would it be?

What phonebhave you got and optional what ROM and version?

First go to Settings -> Apps and check if you have disable the Dialer or Phone app. If so please enable it and then check after restarting your phone.
If your Phone/Dialer app is not disabled then try these steps,

Settings -> Apps -> All(Tab) -> Dialer
Clear Cache and Clear Data
Disable it, restart phone and re-enable the Dialer app.


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Failed to root CM 12.1 and nuked Samsung I9300
I upgraded to CM 12.1 and lost root on my Samsung Galaxy S3 (I9300).
I tried to root the device with CF-auto-root again. It worked. But when I rebooted the phone, the blue android screen appears and didn't stop loading resp. didn't continue. After rebooting again, the same happend.
Furthermore Clockworkmod Recovery has been replaced by Android Recovery, so I tried to reinstall it, but the installation failed.
I'm not able to enter Recovery mode (HOME+POWER+VOL.UP), instead "Downloading... Do not turn off target !!" appears.
I can enter Download mode (HOME+POWER+VOL.DOWN).
Finally, as already mentioned, the system doesn't start either.
What could I try?

Do not fret. Its a simple condition called bootloop.
First things first, root is merely nothing but bootloader unlocked. Rest stuff is just permission managers that interact with root.
So when you installed cm 12.1, you didnt actually loose root, you lost permission manager without which apps cant interact with root (in other simple words). All you had to do was install supersu or any other permission manager again from play store. CF-Root and stuff wasn't needed. Just telling for future reference....
Now for real problem. You can fix it using Odin (the samsung flash tool).
First, download Odin. Then download framework corresponding to your region from here
Install samsung drivers.
Next run odin on your pc and connect your phone while its in download mode (First go into download mode and then conenct it. You actually went into download mode. That "Downloading... Do not turn off target !!" screen is called download mode, so you know how to go into download mode).
Make sure Odin recognizes you phone, it should say something like "com..." in one of the boxes which would mean odin has detected your phone. If it doesnt, your drivers arent proper.
Next extract the firmware you downloaded earlier using winrar.
Then in Odin,
a) Click the PDA button and choose the file with .tar.md5 extension.
b) Click the phone button and choose the file with modem in its name (skip this step if file not found).
c) Click the CSC button and select the file with CSC in its name.
d) Click the PIT button and select the .pit file (skip this step if file not found).
Make sure that the "Auto Reboot" and "F.Reset Time" check boxes are selected in Odin. At the same time, uncheck/disable the "Re-Partition" option. Click it only if a .pit file is being used.
Then click "start" button and wait a while. It may take sometime. After process is done odin should show "success" and then you can restart phone (may take sometime at first boot. Wait atleast upto 20mins by watch). You will be back to stock android rom. Your phone is still rooted, only it doesn't have any permission manager or custom recovery.
First install something as permission manager (like supersu) from play store and set it up.
Next, to install custom recovery, you can use twrp manager or similar.
After custom recovery is installed, you should be able to proceed with custom rom installations and such. Hope this helps :)

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.


text:
Can I use the Samsung Galaxy S5's Finger Scanner as a finger-print scanner for laptop?
Can I use my Samsung Galaxy S5's finger scanner as a finger-print scanner for my laptop? Because I want to register on a site that requires my fingerprint from home. My phone is rooted.

Currently, the general practice ongoing is that androids by default only support being connected as camera or as mtp to PC. So by default atleast this is not possible.
However, you can make it support by adding some module in kernel for this purpose. But since no such such module exists (ayleast not the one I could find), so you will have to create one yourself and implement it.


text:
Ringer not ringing when phone call comes through
I have a Nexus 6 running the latest version available to it (5.1.1). All of a sudden, a few days ago, the ringer has stopped ringing when I receive a phone call. I have the volume turned all the way up, and when I listen to the sample ringtone in the settings screen, it's audible.
I'm sure I must have accidentally changed something, but have no idea what. Any ideas?

Shutdown -> Pull the battery -> Resinsert -> Turn on the phone and check..And also do you have any Call blocking apps installed? Please remove if any and try..

Go to Settings > Apps > Dialer > Check "Show notifications". That fixed my problem.


text:
Location of saved images from Facebook Messenger app
I don't use Facebook app (browsed on Google Chrome), but I use its Messenger app. Where can I find the saved images from Facebook Messenger app?

Do you use Facebook messenger app or Google Chrome to access facebook? Are you able to see the saved photos into your phone's Gallery?

Facebook Messenger saves photos to $EXTERNAL_STORAGE/Pictures/Messenger.  That variable depends on your device, but on mine it is /storage/sdcard0 which is also pointed to by the /sdcard symlink.

Is there any way to change that? I don't want syncthing to sync all the gifs I get sent.

Computer\SAMSUNG-SGH-I537\Phone\Pictures\Messenger is where they appeared with a USB cable to my Windows 7 desktop.

This helped, but it would also be great to provide a  contextual reference (like version numbers or documentation link) in case this changes.

@ryanwebjackson This answer is nearly 9 years old, so I'm not sure what the app version was back then.  Feel free to report your version here, if it still works.

If you are using Chrome Browser then you can view it in your Downloads folder. If you are using Facebook Messenger App then you should be able to view the photos in you Gallery app. Internally when using Facebook messenger, it hides the downloaded photos inside the system. You have to have a rooted phone to access those hidden files. Its in the hidden root directory,
data/data/com.facebook.orca/cache

you have to copy the folder to a directory and rename the .image files to .jpg files.

Can I not take ADB backup (no root) of this facebook app and then extract it to see these images?

@Firelord Yes that can be another way but the OP's question title asks "where can I find the saved images.." so that's why I mentioned the path to access it


text:
Internal and external SD storage inaccessible as root
I'm having a bizarre issue where apps, adb, etc. can properly access my internal and external SD storage without issue unless they are running as root, in which case they are completely inaccessible.  This is on my Oppo Find 7 running ColorOS 1.2.7i (Android 4.3), and I've verified that I am not suffering from this issue with WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE.  I am not sure when this started occurring but I think it was after an OS update quite a while back.
When I run mount in an unprivileged adb shell, it has these entries that do not appear when I run it as the superuser:
/dev/block/vold/179:65 /storage/sdcard1 vfat rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1023,fmask=0702,dmask=0702,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0
/dev/block/vold/179:29 /storage/sdcard0 ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,discard,nodelalloc,noauto_da_alloc,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/vold/179:29 /mnt/secure/asec ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,discard,nodelalloc,noauto_da_alloc,data=ordered 0 0
tmpfs /storage/sdcard0/.android_secure tmpfs ro,seclabel,relatime,size=0k,mode=000 0 0

I can remount those partitions elsewhere while root and access them just fine within the same shell, but the permissions are funky and no other root apps can access them:
$ su
# mkdir /storage/sd_test
# chmod 777 /storage/sd_test
# ls -al /storage | grep sd_test
# drwxrwxrwx root     root              2015-05-28 15:17 sd_test

... good so far ...
# mount -o rw,user,umask=0000 -t vfat /dev/block/vold/179:65 /storage/sd_test
# ls -al /storage | grep sd_test
d---rwxr-x system   media_rw          2015-05-28 15:00 sd_test
# chmod 777 /storage/sd_test
# ls -al /storage | grep sd_test
d---rwxr-x system   media_rw          2015-05-28 15:00 sd_test

... different permissions, but I can see and read/write the files inside ...

... Root Explorer shows it with the "original" permissions but the folder is empty ...
# mount | grep sd_test
/dev/block/vold/179:65 /storage/sd_test vfat rw,dirsync,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1023,fmask=0702,dmask=0702,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0

... hmm.
My /etc/vold.fstab just has one line:
dev_mount sdcard /storage/sdcard1 auto /devices/msm_sdcc.2/mmc_host

And /fstab.qcom:
/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/system         /system      ext4    ro,barrier=1,discard                                wait
/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata       /data        ext4    nosuid,nodev,barrier=1,noauto_da_alloc,discard      wait,check,encryptable=footer
/devices/msm_sdcc.2/mmc_host                          /storage/sdcard1   vfat    nosuid,nodev         wait,voldmanaged=sdcard:auto
/devices/msm_sdcc.1/mmc_host/mmc0/mmc0:0001/block/mmcblk0         /storage/sdcard0   ext4    nosuid,nodev,barrier=1,noauto_da_alloc,discard        wait,voldmanaged=sdcard:29

How can I fix this?

First  Android 4.2.2 and earlier, the device-specific vold.fstab configuration file defines mappings from sysfs devices to filesystem mount points, and each line follows this format dev_mount  <mount_point>  <sysfs_path> [flags] Yourdevice dev_mount sdcard /storage/sdcard1 auto /devices/msm_sdcc.2/mmc_host. Cont. Next comment.

Android releases 4.3 and later, the various fstab files used by init, vold and recovery were unified in the /fstab. file. For external storage volumes that are managed by vold, the entries should have the following format.  <mnt_point>  <mnt_flags> <fs_mgr_flags
Do you understand the format your running is for 4.2.2 and below as stated in post color OS 4.3 which is wrong format (reference)

@BoLawson I tried copying /fstab.qcom over top of /etc/vold.fstab and rebooting, but there is no change in behavior.

I'm looking I would say go to the source code for your  OS and get the device-specific storage_list.xml somewhere around frameworks /base/something: xml to get the storage_list.xml which has the mount points. But I think color os is closed sourced I just have not found the legit one. I am unsure but I think Sdk platform might have them  through I am researching. This is the [storage_list.xml] (https://android.googlesource.com/device/moto/wingray/+/master/overlay/frameworks/base/core/res/res/xml/storage_list.xml) not your device file you are looking for and at the bottom is the mount points

So, it turns out that SuperSU automatically checked off its "Mount namespace separation" setting without telling me!  I had no idea it even had such a feature, much less that it was broken.

Good that you figured it out already. Could you tell us how did you end up at this conclusion? That may help somebody in troubleshooting a similar case.

@Firelord Luck, really.  I was going through SuperSU's settings and saw it, and immediately realized it was probably causing the issue.


text:
How can I get rid of "Caller Name ID" from notification panel?
"Caller Name ID" appears on the notification panel constantly even though I clear all the notifications.
How can get rid of this?
(I'm not asking how to uninstall this app.)

Tap and hold on the notification. Assuming Samsung hasn't altered the Lollipop interface too much, you should see a small Info icon in the corner after it switches. Tap that, and you'll be presented with three options for notifications for that app, one of which is to block them entirely.
Alternatively you can access notification settings from the phone's main settings app (again, as I'm on stock, I can't speak to Samsung's exact method for accessing this) and find the app in that list and alter its settings. You can also use this to undo something you blocked in error.


text:
Delete group in Viber
I made a group in Viber by mistake. The other members complain that their phone number is made known to unknown people.
Can I delete the group?
I read that "When all participants leave a group, it will automatically be deleted". How can someone leave a group? There is no choice to "Leave group".

Everyone can leave any group of Viber on their own. Tap the overflow menu on the top-right and select "Leave and Delete".

authors: สุวรรณ พรมเมฆ


text:
"Connect USB Data Cable" message on fastboot screen preventing recovery/reset of Nexus 6
I have a Nexus 6 that doesn't boot after a failed Android M developer preview install (worked perfectly on my Nexus 5).
Booting into fastboot via power + volume down shows the device is unlocked but says "connect USB data cable". I believe "connect USB data cable" is the critical problem preventing any kind of recovery.
It is connected via the cable that I used to reboot it into fastboot successfully (and I've tried unplugging and re-plugging it in) so I think the cable is not the problem.
I'm guessing it's permanently bricked?

Have you tried using the Nexus Root Toolkit (yes, purists hate toolkits, but they're very handy in situations like this) and its functionality for reflashing stock Android even when it's bootlooped? It's very, very unlikely that the M preview could have killed your USB port. Also, the drivers may have changed. You'll want to check those, too. But NRT can help with that.

I did give that a go and it failed, but I did magically get it working (I think, phone is rebooting now, knock on wood) by rebooting my computer! Something was weird about the USB connection or maybe ADB/fastboot. Was able to reset to factory using this: http://www.androidrootz.com/2014/11/nexus-6-one-click-mac-toolkit.html

So the solution for me was to reboot my computer. Whatever the ADB/fastboot connection issue was went away after that. I definitely tried adb kill-server + adb start-server, tried switching USB cables and ports, etc. …rebooting was still the only thing that fixed it.


text:
Android Wifi hospot 5.0 -> 5.1 stops working
Here is my situation:
I have frequently used tethering to pair devices with phone phone and it has worked spectacularly. At one point I moved 50gb of data over my cell while I sought out a dedicated service provider.
The only caveat was that it would give me the t-mobile hotspot splash page if I hit a non-ssl page from a laptop. After some investigation to verify I discovered that this was based on the user-agent (force the user agent to identify as a cell phone browser and it works fine but you get the mobile page).
The issue: Since the upgrade to 5.1, when tethering, my mobile devices (any) show the '!' on the wifi connection to my tether.
*results of the investigation

I verified I was indeed getting the t-mobile splash page
Same issue when tethering with my Nexus 5 and Nexus 4 (both 5.1)
No problem on my wife's nexus 4 with my SIM (5.0)
No problem when using wife's sim/phone (5.0)
No problem using my sim in my friends nexus 4 (5.1)
Doesn't work with his SIM in my nexus 5.
Any device that pairs to my cell (even if it's another nexus 4/5) get's the tmobile splash. Leading me to believe it's not entirely user-agent based.
I have heard that 5.1 is much more aggressive at trying to figure out legitimate wifi connections and I wonder if this has something to do with it?

Anyone have a clue what the blocking logic is and if the tip-off is android based, phone based or sim based? What changed between 5.0 and 5.1 that might effect this?
Update
As suggested, I turned off captive portal detection. The '!' went away but I still get the t-mobile splash screen when I use HTTP. When I use HTTPS I just get a connection timeout.
So, there is still a user agent detection going on with http.
Theory:

My tablet sends it's user agent as a tablet and that isn't permitted on my tmo plan, so it's block. Ok, so then I had a friend of mine use his cell to tether to my phone. He still gets the splash.

At this point I have to actually see what's going over the wire to t-mo. How can I intercept that? Easy way with adb?

This might help: http://android.stackexchange.com/q/100657/1465


text:
Will Google+ Photos automatically migrate to the new Google Photos?
Today in their Keynote at Google I/O, Google announced their new Photos app that does most of what they did with my photos when they auto-uploaded to Google+, but with a few and some significant additions and differences.
My devices are currently uploading to the new Google Photos but my question is, since my pictures are/were already being auto-uploaded to Google+ Auto-Backup already, will those show up in Photos as well? Or am I starting out fresh?

I just installed the app and I have access to all my G+ photos, plus the ones I have in Google Drive and a few scattered ones that were only on my phone.

Ah! It seems I do as well, although they weren't there earlier when I was poking around after installing. They do connect, thank you @Al E.!

It did take a little while to build the local database.


text:
Reverting refurbished devices to previous versions
I just purchased a few refurbished Samsung (S3, S4, S5) devices from Gazelle for a testing lab I'm organizing. The product listings for each said they had Android 4.2, 4.3, and 4.4 respectively. However, when they arrived and booted up, they all appear to have 4.4.2 installed. Factory reset seems to only reset to version 4.4.2. Is there a way to (without rooting) revert the devices back to previous versions of Android?

Yes. There's a very easy way using Odin.

First, download odin from above link and also download whatever android version firmware you want from Sammobile, also download samsung drivers.
Then extract the odin archive.

Now, enable USB Debugging mode from developer options on your phone

Backup everything from phones. Data will be erased.

Now run odin and click on PDA button and point it to firmware file downloaded in earlier step.

Switch off your device completely. After that, turn your device on in download or Odin mode. This can be done by simultaneously holding the power button+volume down+home button on your phone. You should now be in download mode (it should say Downloading.... Do not turn off Target!).

Connect phone to pc using usb now. Once connected, the ID:COM section in Odin should turn to light blue. This means that the device has been connected and is ready for flashing. If it doesn't show any response, you may need to reinstall drivers.

Make sure "Auto Reboot" and "F.Reset Time" are enabled and disable every other option.

Click on Start in odin and wait a while, it may take sometime. Once done, it should say Success.

Finally boot the phone, first boot may take a while so wait atleast for 20mins by watch.

Perform these steps separately for every phone one by one.
Good luck, and hope it helps :)

Unfortunately, this might not be possible or cheap. version 4.4 usually comes with secured bootloader, which is not downgradable by PC.
But give it a try, worst thing would be that you'll permanently disable KNOX on the s5. As an attempt to downgrade FW is considered a security risk because of allowing old FW's exploits. the s3 and s4 don't have the knox trigger AFAIK.
It's not for sure, so you definitely should try, but before you begin, Note down your current FW version exactly if you don't and flashing of old FW will fail, you'll need to flash as close version to the old one as possible, because all parts of FW will get overwritten except for the bootloader and the phone won't probably even boot , or will work with issues.
But don't worry, if that happened, flashing back the previous, or maybe newer version of the FW will restore everything, except probably for the KNOX on the s5.
The important version info is under Settings-About device-BUILD NUMBER
Dumping the original FW would be too much hassle and would require root, so a better option is, if you'll need to go back to original FW, to search for it using only second part of the version-string, e.g. on mine it's XXXXXX.N910FXXU1BOC5 so I would search N910FXXU1BOC5
as for the second part of the first sentence, a more costly way of doing this is to give those phones to a company offering "unbricking of hard brick phones".
I mean you give them your working phones and tell them to flesh them with older fW. Maybe even too old, if they won't have exact version. then you still can go up.
Unbricking of hard bricks is done by removing the memory chip and flashing it outside of the phone, the culprit then won't be able to tell what's happening during the surgery and so an downgrade should after all be possible.


text:
Mute (not pending) a caller during a call
I want to use conference mode for calls in a webradio. But i need to control who can speak, i can't find a way to mute a participant who should be cut to let others speak.
So, there is no way to mute someone during a call ?
I know pending but it's not that i want (caller can't hear the radio with pending).

You may need to look for a third party app like this one:
Voxeet Conferencing
(the one not based on regular phone call are the more versatile)

It's seems like to Skype, it's not using GSM ? I can't using that for my webradio concept.

no, it is not based on regular phone call. This is why you get more option / feature.
To say the truth, I don't know if what you ask is technically possible. (I don't know if the phone receive the diferentes voices separately)


text:
When will my device get the Android 6.0 update (Marshmallow)?
Android "M" was officially announced on at the Google I/O conference on May 28, 2015 and revealed to be 6.0 Marshmallow on August 17, 2015.
You can review the high-level changes at the Android website and the announcement on the official Android blog.
Of course, not all devices will get this update right away and others won't get it at all. Each manufacturer and carrier often choose to add their custom modifications which tend to delay the official release.
When will each device get Android 6.0, either officially or unofficially, if ever?
See also:

When will my device get the Android 5.1 update (Lollipop)?
When will my device get the Android 7.0 update (Nougat)?

I just realized these canonical questions mentioned "unofficially" in "When will each device get Android "M", either officially or unofficially, if ever?". Does it mean unofficial announcement, or unofficial update (e.g. custom ROM)? Recently, it seems that most of the editors (including me) only prefer official news for official update. My concern of "unofficial update" is because it can be too ambiguous.

@AndrewT.: that's probably a question that should be discussed at [meta].

Preparation: http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/134946-when-is-android-6-0-marshmallow-coming-to-my-phone, http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2428042/android-60-marshmallow-rollout-set-to-begin-on-5-october, http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/09/24/android-6-0-marshmallow-ota-updates-to-arrive-for-the-nexus-5-and-6-starting-october-5th-says-telus/

@AndrewT. It means an unofficial update, not announcement.

This community wiki will list all of the known and rumored dates for devices. If you have an update make sure to follow the format that's been established, and the following guidelines:

Keep devices in alphabetical order listing the manufacturer and model
Specify if the date is confirmed or rumored and link to the source
If there is an unofficial release, link to the site where it can be downloaded

Phones
HTC

Butterfly 3 - announced - (source)
Desire 816 - announced - (source)
Desire 820 - announced - (source)
Desire 826 - announced - (source)
One E8 - announced - (source)
One E9 - announced - (source)
One E9+ - announced - (source)
One M7: Never (confirmed)
One M8 - by the end of 2015 - (source)
One M8 EYE - announced - (source)
One M9 - by the end of 2015 - (source)
One M9+ - announced - (source)
One ME - announced - (source)

LG

Nexus 4: Never (confirmed)
Nexus 5: 2015-10-05 (confirmed)

Motorola

DROID Turbo - announced - (source)
Moto G and Moto G with 4G LTE (2nd generation) - announced - (source)
Moto G (3rd generation) - announced - (source)
Moto MAXX - announced - (source)
2014 Moto Turbo - announced - (source)
Moto X (2nd generation) - announced - (source)

Pure Edition in the US
in Latin America, Europe and Asia

Moto X (3rd generation) - announced - (source)

Pure Edition
Style
Play

Nexus 6: 2015-10-05 (confirmed)

OnePlus

OnePlus One

Cyanogen OS - in first quarter of 2016 - (Source)
OxygenOS - no fixed date confirmed, but not in 2015 - (Source)

OnePlus Two - in first quarter of 2016 - (Source)

Tablets
Asus

Nexus 7 (2012): Never (confirmed)
Nexus 7 (2013) - 2015-10-05 (confirmed)

HTC

Nexus 9: 2015-10-05 (confirmed)

Samsung

Nexus 10: Never (confirmed)

Other

Nexus Player: 2015-10-05 (confirmed)

Seems too early estimate carrier device deployments.  For Nexus devices, there is a tad more info.  According to the Android developer's site, here's the expected OTA schedule for Android M releases:


text:
Nexus 5 crashes, battery down to 0% on Android 5.1.1
I'm currently running Android 5.1.1 (Chroma custom ROM) on my Nexus 5 and recently have been experiencing some weird issues with my battery, which have appeared more frequently in the last few days.
From time to time, when I use my phone (the screen is on), with a battery level of about 50-70% it just crashes (the screen turns black, no shut down notice etc) and when I power it back on, there is only about 0-2% battery left and the phone basically turns itself off again immediately.
After connecting my nexus to a charger and letting it power up again, I look at the battery statistics to find out that something pretty weird is going on:

Click for larger version
This gets really annoying if it happens all the time, as the phone really isn't reliable at all any more.
I don't have any unusual apps installed and this has happened to me on a few Roms so far, so I have gone through some factory resets as well without any success.
Can software discharge a battery in such a small amount of time or is this issue likely to be hardware-related (e.g. battery)?
Thanks in advance for your help!

I've had a similar problem on the Nexus 6, stock 5.1.0.

This seems to be a Nexus related issue. I was looking reasons for this strange vertical drop when I encountered these viz 1, 2, 3.

Did you find any solutions at that time? Because I only found people having the same issue when I searched Google -  No solutions. Or do you know if it is hard- or software related? It's kind of impossible to really use the phone...

Been happening since my Nexus5 updated to 1.1 about 2 weeks ago. Camera and Photo app particularly.

This issue is widely reported and discussed on Google support forums. I experienced exactly the same thing on my Nexus 5 when running any CPU/GPU intensive apps. In my case running SkyForce game immediately caused the phone to shut down with 100% repeatability. Most of the time after the restart the phone would report significantly reduced battery charge level. Repeating the attempts to run SkyForce resulted in further shutdowns with battery charge quickly dropping to 0%. In some cases the phone refused to turn on after the shutdown unless connected to an external power source.
I attributed this behavior to the battery's inability to sustain the load, i.e old battery. Under small loads the battery behaves as if everything is normal and maintains the voltage. Under elevated loads the battery suddenly gives in and the voltage crashes "through the floor". This is expected behavior for an "expired" LiIon/LiPoly battery. It easily fools battery management subsystem into believing that the battery is at 100% charge, when even a slightly elevated load causes the voltage to "crash".
I bought a new battery and did the replacement, which fixed the issue for good. I have been using my Nexus 5 for a few months now with no anomalies of any kind.
The only thing that is not immediately explainable is why most people report the issue only after the system update. BTW, in my case the problems began after update to 5.1, not 5.1.1. I received the update to 5.1.1 later, after battery replacement, and it was completely uneventful. Yet many people report that in their case it was specifically 5.1.1 that triggered the problem. The only explanation I have is that the updates change something in battery management algorithm that tends to exaggerate old-battery issues.

I guess there is something of a fact in your point that "updates in the battery management algorithm exaggerate old-battery issues". Mine started after Android 6.0 Marshmallow update and have persisted through the further bug fix releases.


text:
Android Device doesn't have a Clock app
So, here is my problem: One time, I am setting an alarm, but I noticed that my phone doesn't have a stocked Clock app. I also go to /system/app/ClockPackage_ESS.apk using ES File Explorer. I installed that .apk, but when I'm trying to install it, it says "File not installed."
Here is the screenshot (click to enlarge) of the App Drawer:

Also, here's the device information:

Device Information:
  Samsung Galaxy Core Prime
  Model number: SM-G360HU
  Android version: 4.4.4 (Kitkat)
  Baseband version: G360HUXXU0ANL6
  Kernel version:
     3.10.17-388893
     dpi@SWDD6214 #2
     Thu Feb 5 16:44:31 KST 2015
  Build number: KTU84P.G360HUXXU0AOB1

Does someone know how to fix this problem?

try this https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.maxlogix.clock&hl=en

Thanks, @Lucky! This Clock app was much better than the stocked one.

Your phone does have clock if there's that app inside system/app as you told. Its not necessary that it must be shown on launcher, though normally clock apps are shown. I suggest you give a try to some third party launcher on store and see if that does some trick. On contrary, you should be able to access clock by tapping the clock in notification panel.
Also, if there's some app inside system/app, its already installed. And apps inside this folder are called system apps. You cant install them like normal apps by simply tapping and pressing on install (or rather they dont need to be installed like normal). You install them by simply pushing their apk file to system/app or system/priv-app depending on type of app and then setting their permission to 755 or rw-r-r with some file manager. So that "install failed" is justified. In other words, app is already installed.

Thanks, @JaskaranbirS. I have installed CM Launcher from Google Play Store, and still the Clock app was not there. I also searched "Clock" on the Local Apps/Web, and it has no results. Also, as you said, if I tap Clock on the Notification Panel, it just go to the Date & Time Settings.

Then its the way clock app is made mate. You can either install third party clock app from store or use it from notification panel. There are ways that might force it to show on launcher by decompiling it and editing manifest. But its kinda not worth the trouble. Anyway, if my answer solved your query then you should mark it as solved for future reference :)

What's the correct permission to set?  You've mentioned two different permissions, 755 and rw- r-- r--.  755 is equivalent to rwx r-x r-x, whereas rw- r-- r-- is equivalent to 644.  Click here to learn more about Android permissions.


text:
Problems with time zones on a Micromax unite 3 with Lollipop
My timezone is GMT +5:30 but it always changes it to GMT +2:00. Please help me fix this problem. This made me miss an important meeting.

I'd first check your settings under Date & Time (at the bottom of the settings menu).
Possibility 1: Automatic time zone is deselected.

Issue: Your phone is manually setting an incorrect time zone.
Solution: Select Automatic time zone

Possibility 2: Automatic time zone is selected.

Issue: Your phone is automatically selecting an incorrect timezone
Solution: Set your time zone manually by deselecting Automatic date & time and pressing Select time zone below and setting it to Kolkata or Colombo (both GMT +5:30).

Let us know if either of these fixes your issue!


text:
Nexus 6 display performance, PWM and flickering
Does anyone have any information about Nexus 6 (and its "brothers") real display performance? I'm worried about PWM/flickering, that usually exists in AMOLED displays and makes them completely unusable for me. (For example, all recent Samsung phones have flickering issue and because of that they are unusable). And Nexus 6 has AMOLED, if I understood right — but I couldn't find any details about it on the Internet yet.
It would be especially great if you have proofs (high-speed camera recordings, for example).
A good article about what is PWM and how to test it: http://tftcentral.co.uk/articles/pulse_width_modulation.htm
Update
I've found this test result in a review:

It implies that above 30% brightness level the flickering must be (almost) absent. But it's not a complete answer, because

it's unknown what's the real brightness at 30% and how much it differs from 100%, and is PWM completely inactive when brightness is above say 40% (the graphs show that at 30% there are indeed pulsations)
is it possible to lock the brightness setting in such a way that it's forced to stay ≥ 40% for example

I don't own a Nexus 6, but you can disable auto-brightness in Android (Settings -> Display), and CyanogenMod (if not stock android - I can't confirm if it exists or not) has the property ro.lcd_min_brightness which can be set using adb shell setprop, and checked using adb shell getprop.

True, this simple option always exists. Automatic is better when it works, though. :) Interesting to know about the ro.lcd_min_brightness. I don't own a Nexus 6 too (hence the question), but just tried it on LG D856 (stock Android) — there's no such property.

Oh well. This app seems to let you set minimum auto-brightness level, but I'm not entirely sure. Might be worth taking a look.

Hopefully this helps. I have a Nexus 6, and the display can get extremely bright if it needs to. 100% brightness on the nexus 6 is about 30% brighter than 100% on my Galaxy Note 10.1 2014. When under typical indoor lighting, I set the brightness between 35% and 50% (on adaptive display), to give you a reference. I've never noticed the screen flickering, but I've also never purposely checked for it.

Let me know if you'd like to know anything else. :)

@GreenRaccoon23 Thank you for the info. Well, what's really interesting is how steady is the light output at different brightness levels — in other words, when it does flicker and when it does not. And many (if not most) people do not notice flickering even on things like 60Hz CRT displays, so this doesn't tell much, but it's easy to check, for example, by shooting it with video camera by both 50(or 25) and 60(or 30) FPS, or some other common techniques for testing flickering.

https://youtu.be/IHKWQRzS2tE — that's an example of a test with video recording

I think a valid question here is why does the screen flicker make the device unusable to you and if this can be fixed in some way.

@MichelfrancisBustillos flickering is harmful to eyes and the brain, and causes fatigue. This is perfectly normal, most people just don't notice that or think that it cannot be better. (because A LOT of screens out there do flicker, and also there are a lot of crappy light bulbs that do flicker like crazy, too)

@SargeBorsch If most devices have this screen flicker, doesn't that mean that most are unusable to you? Sorry, but it seems your worrying about something that cannot really be avoided.

@MichelfrancisBustillos Most devices are definitely unusable. (Vendors care only about the 95% of population, who don't notice flicker OR don't realize it's harmful, because, ultimately, they care only about money) Fortunately, some of the devices are better, for example, I can say for sure that LG G3 doesn't suffer from this disease because I own it and never noticed it.

and it's certainly not only me, this is widely acknowledged fact: http://www.flatpanelshd.com/focus.php?subaction=showfull&id=1362457985

So I saw Nexus 6P phone in action (it was one of the testing devices at work).
The results are, unfortunately, pretty bad: it indeed does flicker, flickering increases as the brightness decreases, and even at 100% brightness there is some flickering that's noticeable by naked eye.
Not sure if "regular" Nexus 6 (not 6P) is the same, though.

Either steer clear of Amoled, or at 40% brightness use a screen filter app like Twilight to further reduce brightness without flickering. Contrast and colours may suffer though.

It was already clear that the phone flickers at 30% and less. But if you know something specific about the display performance in 40%..100% brightness range, then it'd deserve an answer.


text:
Is there a way to rotate google map with single finger?
I know that one can enlarge/shrink the map with single hand by double tapping the screen, holding the second tap and drag up or down. (This actually works for many other app. Not sure if it is built-in behavior of android of just a standard action to handle by developers) Is there a way to rotate the map with single hand?
(well, I got a normal hand, but I find it difficult to use 2 fingers when holding the phone)

Yes it can be done with single hand..Do you mean with single finger..?

Yes, and I actually wonder if you can use 2 fingers when you are holding the phone.

Can u give us the app's names that support this behaviour?

You mean that trick to enlarge/shrink with single finger? There are many apps supporting this behavior. All browsers (chrome, firefox, the original android browser), ingress (a game by NIA under google), the default image viewer of android and so on. Basically all the apps that offer an enlarge function except those written with flash.


text:
When receiving a call, how do you mute the phone?
This might seem like a stupid question, but I couldn't find the answer on this SE so here goes. When I receive a call and my phone starts to ring, how do I mute the phone without answering or dismissing the call? Is this done differently depending on the Android OS version?

Just press any volume button while its ringing.
On side note, make sure there isnt an option like answer by volume buttons in settings->accessibility. If there is, make sure its disabled. If its not there, then you are fine ;)
Hope this helps.

Yes this seems to work well. I tested it by having a friend call me (I am using Lollipop) and pressed either volume up or volume down to mute the incoming call without dismissing or answering the call. Also I noticed that simply pressing the power button will do the same muting, same way as with iPhones. Seems to work also when the screen is locked.

Glad  your query is solved, good luck :-)


text:
Lollipop theme on Android KitKat
I have a Dell Venue 8 running Android 4.4.2 KitKat. I want my Android to look like Lollipop without rooting, from status-bar to navigation keys, everything like Lollipop.

This device seems to have a lollipop update from OEM. Is there a reason you want to theme but not update to Lollipop?

I have 3830 update is for 3840.

Thats not possible. Not without root. Even with root there is no mod to turn that navigation panel as you said (atleast no universal verified mod).
You can change navigation keys though. Again, not without root.
At best, you can install some custom launcher and make homescreen icons and style look like lollipop, nothing beyond that.

Let me declare what I have already Google launcher,android apps updated to material design, google keyboard, material peoples app, lollipop lock screen,material wallpaper.

Yup, and additional launcher and icons are only customization you can do further. Since modifying any system elements (for ex the notification panel, statusbar, navigation bar etc etc) require system files modding which needs root.

But super status bar? Don't forget about it.

Yes there are a good bunch of similar apps. Besides super status bar theres omega status bar a lot of similar apps too. But they simply make an overlay on your current statusbar. In other words, they dont modify anything, but instead try to overdraw on them. Hence more than70% of times it wont work because android doesn't allow overdrawing system elements that easy.... You can clearly see that from reviews of that app. So if I were you, I wouldnt rely on these apps.. Again, you can always give them a shot ;)

But they don't really have lollipop theme, looks like their is wait for update.


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How to get "Say Ok!Google" text on google search widget
I have a samsung galaxy A5 running android 4.4.4. I've seen many kitkat devices having the text "say ok google" on the google search widget in the home screen. How can I get that? It gives the look of a flagship and is awesome.

I figured out a way. I uninstalled the updates of the google app in my device and re-installed the latest version from the play stoore. Then the text appeared. Once I activate ok google detection form "any screen" the text disappears.

If I remember correctly it requires Samsung to enable something. You could try going into the Google app and have a poke around (settings -> voice -> OK Google detection) and see if there's an option there. If not install the Google Now Launcher which does the OK Google from home screen.

Click image for larger version

Sorry, I said the TEXT. just the "Say OK google " TEXT

@SuryaTeja I knew you said that but I thought that would make it appear. As its still there on my phone...

Text in my widget comes and goes. When it is gone I do this to bring it back: I go into settings and reduce text size. I do not know why it works. I then restore size, and the text remains visible for several days.