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My LG Motion is stuck in boot loop after hard reseting
I tried to install a font using Font Installer on my LG Motion which was rooted, and it went into a boot loop. I hard reset it, but it is still stuck in a boot loop. Help me out, please? If I need to download any files, please, give me a link.

Might not do the job, but worth a try: have you removed the battery for 10s+, and then re-inserted it? Oh wait, that is a hard-reset -- if you did not mean factory-reset (which would be a last ressort as well). You could try booting into safe-mode and see if that is possible. But if you meant factory-reset when you wrote "hard reset", that won't help either.

Once again, I hard reset it because it went into a boot loop. But it is still in a boot loop...

Once again, too: What do you mean by "hard reset"? Check the hard-reset tag-wiki (hard reset = take out the battery, put it back again), and the other links from my previous comment -- and then please clarify what you really mean. Often people say "hard-reset" when they really mean "factory-reset" -- and I'm not sure if this is one of those cases. Unless you clarified that, it's hard to help you.

Actually, Hard reset was the short term originally used for "Factory Hard Reset," which replaces safe mode when it cannot be booted. But if it pleases you, Factory Reset.

Eff, it's not that I have it with words (as for me, it could be called "potato chipping"). But you will admit that there's a little difference between taking out the battery (hard-reset), and a factory-reset, technically spoken? :) Usually, a factory-reset should solve this issue. So if removing power completely for 10s+ doesn't do it, that's really weird -- and might require a flash (see: Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?). Did you modify something in /system before this happened?

I have already removed the battery for a whole day. I did not touch anything in there. I was just installing a font package. I dont know how to flash or do any of that. I don't even know how to put my phone in fast boot. Do you have a link to a tutorial?

You probably installed that font-pack to the system partition -- which is why the factory-reset cannot help you, as it doesn't touch /system. I have no tutorial for fastboot at hand, but I will try to setup some basic help as an answer.

Usually, you use a factory-reset to solve a boot-loop -- but it doesn't cause one. Sometimes, a hard-rest (i.e. removing the battery for at least 10s) solves things, as it makes the entire device powerless so nothing can "stick". In your case, however, none of the two could help:
Analysis
As it turns out, the culprit is a font-package you installed. A little background on that:
While "normal apps" get installed into the /data partition, more system-oriented stuff (font packs, specific frameworks, things changing core system behavior, modded notification bars, and more) need to reside in the /system partition. Now, when it comes to a factory-reset, the /system partition is never touched -- so if things get messed up there, they stay messed-up. As in your case, obviously.
So what's the remedy? You no longer can boot up normally, as your device is stuck in a boot-loop due to some system mismatch. You also cannot help yourself booting into safe-mode to remove the culprit; while this would work for user-space apps (which are not run in safe-mode), you won't even be able to boot into this mode with a messed-up system. This leaves two things:

if you still can boot into recovery-mode, you might be able to undo your changes via adb shell from your computer. But this usually requires a custom recovery (such as clockworkmod or twrp) on your device, as stock recovery won't give you the required root access.
if you cannot boot into recovery mode, or have no custom ROM installed on the device: re-flashing your device-firmware will fix your issue for sure, as that would wipe /system and install everything anew. With a stock-rom this usually also means you lost your root access. Flashing in your situation can still be done via either recovery mode (if you can boot your device into it), or fastboot mode (if your device supports it; I've read many LG devices need to have the bootloader unlocked to do so)

Flashing needed?
You might want to check Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device? for the rom to be flashed. Further hopefully helpful links include:

Fastboot Commands for LG Android Smartphone
How to Flash LG Motion 4G

Abstract from the latter link:

get the official firmware from lg-phones.org

KDZ_FW_UPD_EN to be extracted to your PC
LG Motion .cab firmwares need to be converted to .kdz (see Official LG Motion 4G Firmware Download for details)
msxml.msi needs to be installed to your PC (ouch, Windows only, sorry)

get the USB drivers from lg-phones.org and install it
start KDZ_FW_UPD.exe

"Type" choose CDMA
Choose in "Phonemode": Emergency
Click the folder icon and choose the .kdz file that UpTestEX_mod2_marwin.exe just made (in step 1).
Click "Launch software update"

The rest should run automatically.

Postscriptum
I included a bunch of tags into this question. You might want to follow them:

click them for questions relevant to the topic
better: hover your mouse over it, and follow the revealed 'info' link to their "tag wiki". Out tag-wikis often include a good description as well as some "first aid"
hovering your mouse over them lets you also chose to see...

the most frequested questions tagged such
top users contributing to that topic (might be helpful to see their profile, as they obviously are "experts" in that area that might reveal further interesting and related questions/answers)


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Best way to auto-synchronise music between HTC One and PC
got my new HTC One today and now i wanted to set up something that i can put all my desired music for the smartphone in a folder on the pc and then they get automatically synchronised on the smartphone.
is this possible? i often change my songs and i dont want to always copy them by hand, thats a pain...
Jottacloud has something in the right direction, but it isnt fully automated i guess

Google Play Music?

first of all its not available in switzerland, and i think you must have bought the music there, right?

No, you can use Google Music Manager on your PC to upload all your music to Google, and then stream it to your phone over the Internet.

hmm ok, but i wanna have something that stores the file permanently to the phone's sd-card

Playing with words: if you want a folder to sync, have you tried FolderSync? Should be perfect for this purpose. You can sync entire folders between your PC and your Android device, and also use different cloud storage services. Thanks to an integrated Tasker/Locale plugin (in the full version), you also can automate it to your wishes. But even without Tasker/Locale, it offers User specified sync interval or specific sync times.

nice, does all what i need. thx!

Always glad to help :)

Winamp for Android also has a sync music capability. You would however need to install Winamp on your PC and configure it accordingly.

You could try Style Jukebox. It's a cross-platform music app that stores your music and playlists in the Cloud and lets you listen to it on all your devices. It's like Dropbox for music and you start from 2000 songs for free.
You can get Style Jukebox at get-jukebox.com

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts. Are you affiliated to this software in any way? If so you are required to mention this is your answer.

tryed it out now, the idea behind it is good, but it's a bit more like in beta-status. With bigger improvements this could get really big, for now i will still use FolderSync

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Automatically cycle between web tabs on Android?
I have an information board in an office which I wish to display live web data from an external source as well as data from an internal source.
I was using Revolver Tabs for Chrome but this is not supported for Android.
Is there any other way I can achieve that?

You might want to add information about what device you're using, what Android version and which browser.

Even if you can't find a web browser with this functionality built in, it's something that would be easy to achieve by writing your own web page with a little Javascript to cycle a frame between the pages you want to see; or to add a split-screen with frames.

There is a small web project which does exactly what you are looking for, and it works in any browser (Android included):
https://github.com/stevepeak/taberific

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


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Can't download custom APK files on Cyanogen Mod 7
I'm developing a simple apps for my own purpose using PhoneGap Build. For convenience, I'm pointing web browser, on each device where I want to install & test such app, to application download site on PhoneGap Build and download .apk files directly from there.
It works like a charm on every device, that has original system (i.e. first Galaxy Tab, first Google Nexus etc.). When I'm trying to do the same on my old LG GT540, which has non-standard Cyanogen Mod 7 ROM, download process fails. I don't get any extra information, only download manager adds status bar notification, that download failed and I can try to restart it, by touching that notification (no effect).
This is first time I run into such situation. I've heard many times about many factors that could prevent installation of .apk file, but never about not being able to download it.
My Internet connection is just fine, and this is related to .apk files only. I can download any other file types using web browser. I can also install .apk files manually, once I deliver them by cable to phohe.
Has anyone else got similar experience or know, what is going on here?

Did you look for information in the logcat on that device?

Could it be blocked from downloading apks out of security aspect?

Maybe a secure connection with a self-signed certificate? That might be handled differently by different browsers. But without any more details (e.g. logcat, as Dan already suggested), it's hard to tell. Have you tried with a different browser?

@Dan: I'm a very basic user of Cyanogen mod (using only on this one device) and a complete newbie, as it comes to testing, debug, jailbreaking, system stuff. So, unfortunately, I got no idea, how to use logcat on Android and/or access its logs. :|

@Izzy: This is a very old phone with a very poor performance and I fear that anything except system default browser will simply not work. But you're most certainly right -- I should test this issue on at least Opera Mini before posting sorry. Will do it soon and post some results here.

If you're trying to write an app, even with PhoneGap, you need to know how to look at the logs. It's an important tool for debugging problems. The logs for the web server you're trying to download from would be useful too, to rule out the possibility that it's treating the CM device differently.

Easiest way to take a look at logcat is using a logcat app (being on CM7/Android 2.3, there should be no issues with them). Another way is using adb logcat (see Is there a minimal installation of ADB? for a simple way to get that working)).

@DanHulme: I'm building a very easy mobile apps, purely in HTML 5 & CSS via PhoneGap Build. I don't even have local PhoneGap installed, so I don't think I need logcat in this case! :] I assume, that as along as master WebView application, added by PhoneGap Build, to surround my HTML 5 & CSS code, works fine, I won't get any extra information from logcat about problems with my app. I agree, that it would be necessary, when developing PhoneGap apps with local / manual build, Java plugins etc. But in this case?

@Izzy: Though I have CM7/Android 2.3, I did not found logcat icon in my app drawer. But following link you provided, I managed to install Windows version of ADB and with logcat window on-board it I managed to catch a warning, that I have /mnt/sdcard/download/ folder missing (some funny app, not me, renamed it to /mnt/sdcard/Download/ with capital D in the beginning). After fixing this (renaming folder back to /mnt/sdcard/download/), downloading problem is gone. Please, put this as formal answer, so I can accept it.

@trejder I didn't say such an app comes pre-installed with CM -- instead I provided you with a search-link on good candidates -- little misunderstanding :) Glad you were able to solve (or rather "work-around") the issue. As requested, I summed up an answer below, containing additional background information.

@Izzy: Just a small addition: Since we're talking about two years old, pretty much worn-off, poor performance LG GT540, I'm even happy, that I misunderstood you and not installed any logcat-related app on this phone. Looking at external program (QtADB) and how many data logcat can collect per second, I'm pretty sure, this could kill-up that old boy, LG, when I would try to read logcat logs on-line, directly on mobile phone! :]

I doubt that. Understanding logcat: it uses a circular buffer, size is defined by ROM-cook (most likely pretty small on yours). My good old Wildfire had no trouble with aLogCat ever :) But nevermind: Having discovered QtADB, guess you found some additional things to be happy about :D

Summing up the solution from above comments on the question itself:
Finding the culprit
First step is to get to the logging information on your device, to figure out some more details on what's going on. Multiple choices to do so:

get a logcat app from the Playstore. There are many, and as long as you run Android 4.0 or below, none of them have issues. Starting with Android 4.1, apps can only see their own log entries (so a logcat app only sees what it writes itself, which makes it quite useless) -- unless your device is rooted (your CM7 is), and you convert the logcat app into a system app (which can be done e.g. using Titanium Backup ★ root). To find a suiting logcat app, simply use this playstore search -- AFAIK none of them comes pre-installed with CM.
get it done from your PC. See Is there a minimal installation of ADB? for how to get ADB installed on your Linux/Mac/Windows computer, and how to set up its configuration so it recognizes your Android device. Then either use adb logcat from the command-line, or a graphical interface (e.g. QtADB, as described in the linked question)

Solving the issue
As you followed above device, you were able to pick the corresponding error message from the logs: the app was looking for a folder named /mnt/sdcard/download/, which did not exist -- instead there already existed /mnt/sdcard/Download/ with a capital D. The problem behind this little thing is: While the underlying file-system (FAT) supports mixed-case file/directory names, it does not differentiate correctly: cd download doesn't work due to different spelling, but mkdir download conflicts, though. So the solution, in your case, was to rename the existing Download directory to download.
While I still hold this as a bug in the apps used (they should be able to work around the issue, at least by asking the user where to download to), this simple trick at least enables you to download the .apk files now :)


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Hacking frequency range in tuner
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 with FM Tuner application. It is rooted.
I also took a look at Spirit FM Unlocked.
My question is: provided that this is illegal in some countries and not in others, and that AFAIK aviation frequencies are amplitude-modulated (AM), is it possible to (first and foremost) listen to radio frequencies beyond the 87.5/108 MHz standard ranges? Then is it possible to listen to AM frequencies wit Spirit FM or any other radio app after hacking the range?
Obviously, I just would like to listen, and fortunately it's not possible to interfere with a simple Android device into these frequencies.

Interesting question - have a dig around the kernel and its related FM chipset driver, it may be possible to alter it... but then again, this could be opening up a can of worms here, grey area, legalities etc?

According to Chipworks' teardown, the FM functionality is part of the Broadcom BCM4334 chip, which also handles the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.  If you can find a datasheet or anything on that, it might tell you if what you're wanting is even within the hardware's capabilities.


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Unable to load stock firmware (US Cellular)
My phone has gone into emergency recover and I've tried to recover it by flashing it with both "Odin" and the samsung "SimpleUpgradeTool" but it has failed everytime I've tried it.
I have the SCH-530 from US Cellular and am unsure on what to try next.
Any and all help is greatly appreciated.
The following is the ouput message from Odin ---
<ID:0/003> Odin v.3 engine (ID:3)..
<ID:0/003> File analysis..
<ID:0/003> SetupConnection..
<ID:0/003> Initialzation..
<ID:0/003> Get PIT for mapping..
<ID:0/003> Firmware update start..
<ID:0/003> recovery.img
<ID:0/003> NAND Write Start!!
<ID:0/003> cache.img
<ID:0/003> Complete(Write) operation failed.
<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1)


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Can't turn on my Galaxy s2 sprint SPH-D710
I tried to root my Galaxy s2 Sprint. I turned my phone off and went to downloading mode, then I turned the odin and connected my phone to pc. After it, i hit start and nothing happened except saying "do not turn off the target." So I waited an hour and nothing happened or downloaded. SO i though theres so glitch in odin so i unplugged it and turned it off. Then tried to turn it on but it didn't. The screen is black on the blue light on. I tried to go back to downloading mode but it didn't respond. Now I can't turn it on or charge. When I stated to root my battery was full.

Isn't there something missing? Your S2 said that right away when you started the Odin programm? No other components (say, some image you tried to flash, or some file to transfer)? One doesn't usually just connect Odin and then do nothing. And even if, that IMHO doesn't change anything in the device :)

I used odin excution v1.81, i hit start and waited. No files were transfered.

Start what? OK, looks like I don't get it at all, but isn't Odin used to flash something instead of flashing nothing? Just start Odin, and hit "Start"? Didn't you select any files in the section above the start button?


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Text Messages Sporatically Get Stuck In Unsent State On Droid 3
I have been having this issue for a long time on my rooted Droid 3 using the ROM it came with and this happens daily with relevant logs being left or any clear trigger.
Basically what happens, and it tends to happen after the phone has been on for a few hours, I will send a message, usually with Handcent SMS (though I've experimented and tried other apps including the stock SMS, still happens) and occassionally a text will get stuck.
Now one of two things generally will happen. Either it'll sit "sending" for about 5 minutes before finally failing. This acts like a text bottle neck, because if, say, I have a multi-page text being sent, the other queued messages will send instantly when the initial text fails.
The other thing is that the text message will just sit sending indefinitely until I notice it hasn't sent and I delete it manually. If I resend it, sometimes those subsequent attempts will also hang.
And once this starts happening, it will continue to happen until I restart my phone, resulting in my restarting my phone several times a day.
An interesting observation that could help diagnose is the issue is once when I observed this happening, I open up a SQLite debug app and when I try to open up the mmssms.db file, it cannot read the file, which makes me think, perhaps the file is locked which is why the SMS process cannot commit the change to the database. Just an idea; don't know if that's at all related.
Edit: This does seem to happen more often after heavy usage, say playing a game. Could it be that' some sort of SMS-handling daemon gets killed, perhaps?


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Can I connect my Android mini PC to my Laptop as a monitor ? How?
I am buying a new Android Mini PC : http://uae.souq.com/ae-en/mk802-iv-rk3188-quad-core-cortex-a9-android-wifi-mini-pc-4995376/i/
How can I connect my Android Mini PC to my Laptop ? My Laptop only has a VGA Port.
Any Help would be appreciated.

"... as a monitor"?

ya as a monitor. mean to say, people install it with a tv but I want to run it with my laptop is it possible ?

possible duplicate of Is it possible to use an Android device as a second monitor?

I don't think it's a duplicate. Similar, sure, but I think there are enough differences here for them to be separate questions.

@Aditya: What kind of output does the Android mini PC have? It looks like HDMI. If so, all you'd need is an HDMI-to-VGA converter.

Does not make sense! an output of video signals from Android Mini PC to your laptop (which is also output as well!)

In short, no. You could install a VNC server, which would let you use a VNC client on your laptop to connect to the "mini PC" over Wi-Fi, and use the laptop's keyboard, mouse, and screen to control the "mini PC", but there are two caveats. First, you'd need to be able to use the mini PC directly (with a TV or monitor) to be able to install and set up the VNC server; second, you'll probably find that using VNC is not as smooth as using it directly, especially for video-intensive applications like video calling and gaming. Some games may not work at all.
To use the device properly, you'll need a monitor or TV with an HDMI input, or a monitor or TV with some other input (such as DVI) with an adaptor. You can also buy adaptors that have an HDMI input and connect to a PC with USB to make the PC act as a monitor, but they're relatively expensive. Either way, you'll need extra hardware to use this "mini PC".

I have a CRT 1024 x 768 Resolution Monitor with VGA Cable.

will that VGA work with the Mini-PC ?

Maybe. I've had mixed results with HDMI-to-VGA adaptors and Android tablets. Some tablets support it, some don't.


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Can I download a paid app on a second device from Google Play?
Say I have bought an app from Google Play and already have it installed on one device.
My question is – do I have to pay again if I download this app from Google Play from another device(but same Google account)?

Other related question Can I re-install a purchased app from the Android market? and Move paid apps between devices?

Yes, you can have your Google account on several devices and you'll be able to use all paid apps on all those devices. There is a device limit, however (around 10 I think) which is meant to prevent abuse of that.


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Sony Xperia Z corrupted photos in LOST.DIR folder inside microSD
I have a curious problem and I hope someone can help me
I was traveling and took about a hundred photos with my new Sony Xperia Z 6603 phone which were saved on my Sandisk 32GB microSD card
Some photos would not show, so I rebooted the phone (unaware that this may result in corruption). Yes, all the photos were corrupted and appeared under LOST.DIR in my SD card under titles 8216, 8217, 8219 and so on. They have no extension (original should have been jpg)
They still take up the normal space for a JPG photo and there's exactly a hundred. They are just simple files, no extension
I tried to change the extension to JPG, JPEG, PNG for photo formats, ZIP, RAR as I read they may be compressed. I also tried to repair them with JPG repair software. They do not open with any photo viewers, photo editing software either
They do not show up under Recuva, ZAR, Wondershare Dr.Fone, or any other recovery programs that scan the SD card FAT32 sectors. They just stay there in the LOST.DIR folder. They are not overwritten as I have removed the SD card
Can they really be gone and are only just ghost files? Or are they still my holiday photos that I so desperately need to recover? Is there anyone that experienced a similar problem and is there any way to recover? I wouldn't mind taking my microSD to a specialist should it come to that, as those photos are really important

Usually, the tools you named should be able to recover them, also a simple rename to .jpg in most times should work. A few more options include Scalpel and PhotoRec. But apart from that, it looks like you already covered all possibilities :(

well the 4.1.2 was in the fat32 format however the 4.2.2 wants a "exfat" but becarefull since this format is very weird because in not always working due to the fact that the master table very messy therefore it might asking for the deframenting often. so it can lock it self 0x....
So re format to exfat and everthing should will be fine and there should be no issues .

Any sources to back this up? Android doesn't do exFAT afaik.

As far as I know, exFAT is not supported. You deliberately need to install an altered firmware that supports this ( see this XDA thread)


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What is in Nova's Google folder?
I just installed Nova launcher on my Android phone. When I installed it it created a Google folder with all my Google Apps in it. I accidentally deleted, but I want it back.
Can anyone tell me what apps were in it?
Is there any way for me to figure this out?


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Xperia V New SD Card, can't make it recognize it as external
SEARCHED FIRST, WANT TO ASK MYSELF!
So I just bought a new Micro SDHC card, 32gb Samsung, placed it in the turned off phone, then turned it on, the sd card is recognized, but it doesn't appear in the Applciations directory in Settings as External Memory, and if I try to move some app to external memory, it only appears as Move to INternal memory, and if I click it it changes to Move to Phone.
With Root Explorer there are 2 sdcard folders, sdcard and sdcard1, also a folder storage which contains sdcard0, sdcard1 and usbdisk.
What can I do to make the phone recognize the sd card completely and not use emulated sd card anymore?

Is your OS rooted?

yes, it is rooted

Stock ROM -- or custom ROM? Many stock roms do not support moving apps to the external sdcard. Still, your card should be included with the device's Storage settings.

Stock JB rom, I mean is it possible like it was on my last phone with ICS, to just be able to install the apps on the sd card? Or in JB is different


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How to install Android to any phone very first time?
I know this sounds weird one. But I have a Motorola Photon 4g which has got corrupted or some unstable ROM. I am facing 15-20 blackouts and restarts. This led to think like that.
I want to know the procedure for flashing the very first time to phone. That is when the company manufactures the phone. It is has nothing. So they must follow some steps to make it alive. OR Simply, how do they flash the phone? What are the tools and steps they follow? I want that. I knew it must be somewhere on google. But I am not able to find those stuffs. Any help on those direction will be a great help.
or
Any generic way to completely format and install ROM as we do in our desktop. From boot completely erases the HDD , repartition and instally any desired OS to it (I know in case of Android ROMs, its is restricted to Phones and their basebands.)

You already used the rom-flashing tag. Have you taken a look into its questions? The procedure is different for different devices. For yours, you might want to take a look at How to take Motorola Photon 4g out of the grave? (found via the first link, by the way :).

@Izzy : That was my post. Thanks for recommending me that one. I knew such steps. And I did these so many times but it never helped.

Oh -- my bad to not cross-check the author of the post #D Sorry for that. I will leave that comment, though, as it might be helpful for others. My apologies to you, nevertheless!

@Izzy : No issues man. We are made to make mistakes :)

The short answer is that it's different for each phone. There's no generic "install Android" procedure for two reasons:

Unlike on a PC, where the Windows installer or Debian installer has drivers to access (almost) any PC hardware, in embedded devices each model needs a ROM image specific to that combination of hardware. The first part of any installation procedure is to download or compile a ROM image for the device you're going to install it on.
The steps to follow to install the ROM are different for each device. Different devices have the internal storage configured and partitioned differently. Some manufacturers may use their own tool in place of fastboot. And of course some hardware might require special measures to access it, such as changing jumpers on the board, or connecting to special pins not normally accessible. Most devices don't need anything so extreme, but even in the easy cases it's important to get all the command parameters correct.

Manufacturers don't have a problem with this because each production line only needs to flash one kind of device. They don't actually have someone sitting there typing fastboot commands over and over again: they use special-purpose hardware and software to flash many devices as quickly as possible. Only those who design the production line or work in the factory know exactly what steps they take to initialize each device.


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Not all files are visible over MTP
I have LG L5 (e610 model) device with Cyanogenmod 10. When I connect the phone to a computer with Linux (I have mtpfs installed), I can see both internal storage and the SD card.  However when I navigate inside them, I can't see some of the files.
For example, if I open file manager app on the phone, I can see several files in the Internal storage/Notifications directory, however the directory on the computer only shows one of those files.
If I switch USB connection type to PTP (camera) - as OS X doesn't support MTP natively - Image Capture sees the phone as a camera, however it can only see about a third of all the images present on the phone.
I don't have a Windows machine to try, but I suspect the results would be similar.
I tried upgrading Cyanogenmod to the latest nightly, clearing and reinstalling it - same results.  Any idea as to what is going on?  How can I make all files appear on the host computer?

Similar question on SO: Nexus 4 not showing files via MTP

I have the same issue with LG G3 running Lineage OS 14.1 (Android 7.1.2) and rebooting doesn't fix the issue, selecing USB storage instead of MTP doesn't fix it either.

Related: Why does MTP show wrong directory location?

This is apparently a known bug in Android which is not even acknowledged by Google since Oct 2012, bug #2 — depending on the method of creating files on the Android device, these files may remain invisible when accessing the device using MTP, until the device is rebooted.
Known workarounds include:

Use USB storage mode instead of MTP, if it is supported by the phone. This is apparently not an option for LG Optimus L5 (e610), because this phone has unified internal storage (file storage is in /data/media on the same ext4 filesystem as /data), which cannot be exported as an USB storage device.
Clear data of the “Media Storage” app, then use the SDrescan app to rebuild the media database (discussed here).
Share files over the network using third-party apps such as AirDroid or one of Samba server apps (in the latter case you will need to have root to make the server reachable from most clients, including Windows).

While it might not work for the internal SDCard, there might be a solution for the external SDCard enabling UMS :)

On my Nexus 5 was enough to reboot after clearing data of the “Media Storage” app. Thank You.

As I don't have enough reputation yet, I'd like to add another option that worked for me: copying the files via "adb pull". Basically, this means that I quit trying to use MTP, it does work well, but the problem is that it seems to work well, but I can't trust it anymore.

The best workaround I found is to install SSHelper (an Android ssh server) and rsync from the Linux (or windows) computer. Use USB tethering for fast connection. Explained in detail in this answer.

Had a mini heart attack when I though that clearing data of the media storage app had deleted my images. The index of images didn't appear in the gallery or via windows explorer. Rebooting did rescan and allow me to access files via windows explorer once more. SDrescan was garbage and crashed when I opened it.

Reboot worked, and this apparently did a rescan. (Acer T07 phone with Android 6.0). No additional app or clear-data needed.

Current bug report: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/37071807

Seems they fixed it last year ^^^^^ - finally.... Android 11 should not have the bug then

Go to settings > apps > all applications > media storage > tap 'clear data' ...
Reboot and everything will appear in Windows Explorer once again.

Thanks for your answer.  Note however that (1) you did not add anything new that wasn't already in another answer; (2) there's no need to clear data in media storage at all; a simple reboot does the trick.

@Aleks G actually this was the best and most direct (quick) instructions that worked for me. It's a good answer :). I didn't need to use SDrescan as said in the other answer, (thank goodness), and I DID need to do the exact thing this answer said - rebooting did not work in my case.

On my nexus 5 latest update the Media Storage is app is hidden, You must select "Show System Apps" from the menu in the apps screen in order to find the media storage app. YMMV.

I'd just like to add that (at least, on the Marshamallow ROM I'm using), clearing Media Storage data does work for redisplaying most files, but still there are files which don't get displayed. Yes, it's almost 2017, these are already old question and answers, and this problem still exists.

Similar to ScoobyDo's answer

Disconnect the USB cable from phone.
Click 'Clear data' on the Media Storage application.
Then 'Force stop'.
Reconnect the USB cable to phone.
The Media Storage application is restarted and rebuilds the media list.
Missing files are now available.
This avoids rebooting, which was important for me.

Your mileage may vary

My mileage varies :) On my Xperia Z1 with Android 4.3, the Media Storage app restarts after reconnecting USB, but doesn't start rebuilding the media list. The phone appears on my desktop, but shows no files. I have to actually reboot the phone in order to rebuild the database. It would sound like the quickest solution though, for those devices on which it works!

Nomu S30 mini has no "Media Storage" app, yet same problem occurs.

I'm running a Galaxy Note 3.
The solution to the problem I found was by using the Android file browser and moving the folder/file i had downloaded to another directory that wasn't as cluttered.
This enabled me to see the 50mb .rar file I had downloaded and pulled it onto my PC.
I don't know if this solution will help anyone, but it worked for me.
Thanks all :)

Go to
 Menu > System Settings > Storage

Unmount SD card and press "OK"
Mount SD card

You will see Scanning media files on SD card... in the notification bar. This means you are fine and the stuff in SD card is rescanned so you can see them now :)

Tried that but didn't work.

Disconnect your device from PC
Movie file To other directory like "Playlist" via file manager
Now, connect again your device and do your stuff with your files :)

Tried the "Media Rescanner" app @georgiecasey linked to, but it did nothing. However, simply renaming the folder that was missing using a File Explorer app on my phone from "Music" to "Music1" did the trick - it showed up immediately in Android File Transfer. Simple, quick, dirty :)
The folder can easily be renamed back when you're done transferring. Easy solution for those one-off transfers, perhaps not the best one for often recurring ones though.

This is how I solved this problem on my Galaxy Note-3:

Install FTP File Server Application on your android device
In your computer: Map network drive -> Add network location -> Choose FTP site -> enter the ip address of the FTP server
Connect (unanimously or by ID) to the "Server" and you'll be able to access ALL folders and files in the android device.

Thanks for the answer, but that's not going to help in my circumstances, as (1) I don't have a windows machine; and (2) the policies on our desktops explicitly block outgoing ftp connections.

All I had to do is restart the android device. In my case a lenovo tablet, model A10-70F, Android version 6.0.

Restarting did NOT work on my LG G3.

authors: ဗီူံ ဗီူံ ဗီူံ

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


text:
How can I require the pattern unlock only for specified times
Is it possible to require the pattern unlock only during certain times? For example, while I'm at work, I don't want to require the pattern unlock, however, anytime I'm not at work I do.
Is this possible?

Sure. If you use automation app like Tasker, you can make your phone to disable screen guard, if it detects you are in your office. Detecting your location can be achieved in many ways. You could use any WiFi, if it can be used as a reference or rely on cell id, defining a radius.
Please see a guide aptly named as Location without tears. It explains the various ways with which the Tasker can identify your location. It goes more explaining the pros and cons, the trade off between the battery life and accuracy etc.
I use Tasker in my mobile to reduce all volumes when I am in the vicinity of my office. I did this by creating a profile and choosing the State as my first context.

In the next screen Select Phone Action I selected Phone and select Cell near option. This brought up the following screen:

When I pressed scan Tasker started to log near by cell tower's id. I left it for a while and walked around my office so that it will gather maximum ids. I initially thought Tasker only retains last eight ids, but when I exported the profile to XML, I could see many entries. Hence the more time you keep it scanning and more walk around you make, more will be probability of successfully recognising your location.
Well that's only half job done. I then assigned an action that the Tasker can perform when this profile is active.  There are two kind of tasks - one is called entry task and other is called exit task.  I used Keyguard action to switch key guard off  as entry task, which will fire when this profile is made active. I used the same Keyguard action to swtich the key guard on as exit task so that when this profile is deactivated.

Yes it is possible to enanble and disable the phone's key gaurd (phone lock) depending on various context's (Example, when in office)
I have personally setup my phone to do it.
My setup uses Tasker (a paid automation app in Playstore) to identify if I am in office using an approximation of my phones GPS location co-ordinates
And then I use Secure Settings (A Free Plugin for Tasker) which has the capability to enable and disable the phones key-gaurd
Note - System Settings will require root to be able to toggle the keygaurd.


text:
Eclipse ROM on Droid X2 = no Wifi
Having a problem with a Droid X2 after installing the Eclipse ROM.  The Wifi connection won't connect, and upon looking in the settings window it just says, "Error".
Phone-> About shows version 2.3.5

You went through the whole "install 2.3.4 SBF, temp unroot, update to 2.3.5, etc." process, yes?  If so, did you use the 2.3.5-418 update?

I was on 2.3.5-418 when I flashed to Eclipse - do I need to 2.3.4-380, then use the "Official OTA" update to 2.3.5-418?


text:
how do you turn off the vibration alert for incoming text messages on a samsung galaxy s3 mini?
I've gone through the settings menu but can only find options to change the vibration pattern, not to turn it off completely. Any ideas??

On my Samsung Galaxy S3, this setting is inside the Text Messaging app, rather than as a general setting.
Open the Text Messaging app, and start the Settings menu.
About halfway down I have a block of Notification settings.
First being Notifications,
Second being Ringtone,
Third is Vibrate.
Uncheck and you're done.
Hope your Settings Menu is similar since its from the Samsung family.

I don't have any settings options in the text messaging app unfortunately!

You have to press the hard menu key, then pick Settings from the menu.

Answer is also good for Samsung Galaxy Ace 4 ([...] menu inside the Text Messaging app).


text:
Can I remove silent mode from the volume rocker?
I've got a Nexus 4.  I keep accidentally going into silent mode by hitting the volume down button.  My intention is to only put it into vibrate mode though.  Is there a way I can just get rid of silent mode from the volume rocker so that I don't do this by accident anymore?

I had the same problem. Download the app called "Vibrate mode by force" and enable the Never Silent option.
Hope it will help :)

a link to the app please?

http://www.google.com

Thanks also. I'll stop missing my calls! We should be able to disable this behaviour in the phone's options!

I have a similar issue with the Note 3. Shush seems to work fine. The app lets you configure after how much time to reenable the standard ringer, and it gives you hard-to-miss notification that the phone is in silent mode.


text:
Using USB peripherals with hardware debug
I have a developer tablet, and I also need some peripherals connected via USB to my tablet and debug cable at the same time. I tried to connect USB hub to my tablet using OTG cable, by got the problem - tablet can use peripherals, but PC doesn't show the device in adb devices.
Is it possible to connect debug cable and USB peripherals to my tablet at the same time?

No, this is not possible. In order for your device to be in debug mode/connect to the computer with the debug cable, it needs to be connected as a slave device. The OTG cable tells the tablet to go into host mode. So now your computer is telling your tablet to be a slave but through the enumeration with the OTG cable the tablet believes it needs to be the master, there's a quarrel and it appears the tablet wins and is the master and thus your computer does not acknowledge the tablet's existence.
If you need the debugging tools have you looked into ADB wireless debugging? (Sorry I can't find the link right now but I've used it in the past and know it is somewhere on the developer.android.com site)
I couldn't find the link so I figured out how to do it again:

Open the command prompt and navigate to your sdk/platform-tools/ folder.
Type adb tcpip 5555
Type adb connect <your device IP address>:5555
At this point you unplug your device and type adb logcat
At times, such as unplugging/plugging into a USB device, the logcat will become disconnected, just redo steps 3 & 4.

Make sure the phone and PC are on the same network (pingable), then get the IP address of the phone from WiFi settings.

From Android Studio's terminal window, cd to where your platform-tools are located. Example: cd C:\Android\sdk\platform-tools

By default, ADB will be in USB mode, so you can see your connected phone with adb devices

So, restart ADB with cmd adb tcpip 5556

Then connect with cmd adb connect 192.168.141.115:5556 where the IP is the IP of the phone

adb devices should now show the ip:port device
C:\Android\sdk\platform-tools>adb devices
List of devices attached
192.168.141.115:5556    device

You can then connect the debugger to a running app that is using the USB connection


text:
Profile based on location(s)
I am an independent contractor who has trouble keeping his time sheet up to date.
Is it possible to create a tasker profile or task to do either of the following?
When leaving from this list of locations between a certain time and day of the week, remind me to make a note of what I did (possibly using S Memo).
Between certain times and days of the week, record phone calls from this list of people and note how long the conversation is.
Want to know if this is possible before buying Tasker. Most of these places will have wifi, but a few will not. I have a Samsung Galaxy S4. Have at it. Please let me know and any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your patience.

you can easily achieve the first with Llama, a free app (easier to use than Tasker, its location sending works with cell towers) but for the call recording I think you would need tasker for that (as call recording is not that easy to achieve on android)

Location Based hours tracking has recently become available using the GeoFence technology. I would recommend taking a look at the following apps:

Time Clock - Automatic Location Based Time Tracker (Made by my team):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.timesquared.timetracker

Hours Tracker - Auto Clock in an Clock out based on GeoFence
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cribasoft.HoursTrackerFree.Android

But since these apps are more focused on a work log and time sheets, they do not have any features related to call recording.


text:
Custom Boot animation is not working in Android Jelly Bean
I am reading this tutorial for creating a custom boot animation.
I have created a custom bootanimation.zip and put this file into the system/media/ folder but it's not working. When I replace it with the original bootanimation.zip it works fine.
How can I get my custom boot animation to work?

I have tried to clean up your post to make it more understandable. Please [edit] it if I misinterpreted what you were saying.

What device do you have? Reading that link it seems there are limitations on some devices. Also, have you unzipped the original boot animation to see that yours looks similar?

@MichaelKohne smile tablet  1024*768 resoltion 7 inch.


text:
HTC First - Not getting any Notifications for Phone, text or Voicemail. Only can see when Clicking on it
One thing I liked about my old phone was if I got a missed call, text or Voicemail, it would putt a number, or in a more  older phone I owned, an Alert symbol, notification informing me that I have one of these.
My HTC first is good, My first smartphone. But it does not inform me of a missed call. I have on my start up page of my phone my main 5 Apps, Contacts. Phone, Messaging, voicemail. and of course the shortcut to all my apps and phone stuff. I have these up there specifically cause that's what I use most. But when I get a missed call for any of those, no notification informing me :/. I have to go in each 1 at a time to see if someone sent me one, 3 out of 5 times there is nothing.
I would greatly appreciate if someone can tell me exactly how I can get notification on my HTC first for my missed calls / text and messaging. Will greatly appreciate it!

All those notifications usually turn up in the notification bar, located at the top of the screen. On all devices. Have you checked there?

example of the Android notification bar
As you can see in this example, that's where notifications are displayed. Here you see, this user has new SMS and mail in their GMail app pending (to the left). Other notifications are indicators of available services (to the right), here telling that WiFi is active and the device connected, silent mode (no sound) is active, cell phone signal is available, battery is about 3/4 full, plus the current time.
Your "missed call" notification should also appear in the left-hand area, the symbol looking like this:

missed call icon
Often, there're also numbers associated with them. Some launchers/lockscreens even allow for more custumization.
I would wonder if none of these are available with your device. Above examples are standard, and should be always available. Numbers on the icons (indicating how many missed calls, or how many SMS are pending) are something different: some manufacturers ship them by default, others don't. But using custom launchers / custom lockscreens, many things are possible.
Trouble with your HTC First might be the launcher: if I'm right, it comes with "Facebook Home", which wants to facebook-ify everything, and thus might hide some things usually visible. I don't use facebook at all, so I'm not that familiar with this area. But if that's the culprit, according to a review at AndroidCentral, Facebook Home can be turned off. On the other hand, a bunch of screenshots in the very same review clearly show those notifications being there, though a bit colorless:

HTC First screenshots (source: AndroidCentral)
See the top of those screenshots -- and you will easily identify the GMail notification described before, here in the second and third screen :)


text:
Screen turns black after a telephone call on a Samsung i9220
The phone is fine. But. If... after I had a phone call on my Samsung i9220 then the screen turns black. If I press the button on the top right on the phones side I can see the "Desktop" for about ~0.5 seconds, but the screen turn black again. What could be the problem? The phone had been reseted several times and I can't find a setting for this in the "Settings". It has Android 4.1.1 and I think there is no update for the Samsung i9220 Android version yet, so it's up-to-date.

The problem could be your proximity sensor, which is located on top of the front of your phone. Basically the way it works is if you're on a call and you put your phone to your ear, the screen will go out to avoid your ear messing with the touch screen. If you are under warranty, have it checked on your nearest service center. I had this problem once, told my service center that I think the proximity sensor is the problem, then they fixed it in under 30 minutes.
Check out this question and install the apps from the top answer and see for yourself:
How do I test that proximity sensor on Galaxy Nexus works as expected

the problem was with the screen cover... I removed it and it doesn't goes black anymore... omg.. :D


text:
Samsung Tab2 without Google ID
Is it possible to use a Samsung Tab WITHOUT using a Google account? I don't like Google to monitor all my activities.

Yes, it is. When you first boot the device, it asks for your Google account. Just select the option "I don't have a Google account" and then the option that says you don't want to create one.
Note that you can't use some Google services like Play Store which require a Google account.

Thanks a lot. But I can ignore the Play Store and install certain apps via the website of the developer?

Yes; there are other app market apps too, including Samsung's own. Don't forget to click Ask Question if you have a follow-up question to ask.

You might also want to check F-Droid, which is a FOSS (free-and-open-source) Android market. They have their own "market app" which you can find on the linked website, install on your device (after having enabled "unknown sources" in your settings), and then enjoy an alternative market app -- without having a Google Account.


text:
How to enable SD MSC mount in Jelly Bean?
Since upgrading to CyanogenMod 10, the dropdown notification when I connect my phone to the computer no longer appears. How do I mount the SD card via USB MSC in Jelly Bean? Note that the drive still appears to the computer, just empty. My phone is an Xperia Arc S.
Update: I see no mass storage mode under USB connection settings:

Settings screen (click image to enlarge)

Similar questions that may have relevant answers: phone mounts as media device not usb storage, How can I use my Galaxy Nexus as an external USB storage drive?

@eldarerathis this is not a CM-specific problem, while this is an attempt of imposing DRM by Google (see here).

First, I read that comment, and I've already gone to great pains to explain that other devices (literally, the ones on my desk) do not experience the behavior you're describing, so I'm not really sure why you would point me to that comment again (or how that proves your point). Regardless, the question is not directly related to DRM or interacting with DRM'd content. So even if we assume you're correct (and I don't) the tag would be describing the content of your answer, not the question, which is incorrect use of the tagging system. You're basically using tags as a soapbox.

Seems as if Google is evil¹ and removed that option from Jelly Bean to enforce their DRM schemes². I found however a tool which restores it: Automated Framework Kit

¹Like we didn’t already know that.
²I have no idea what was the rationale behind it, but remember it’s the company which has a mail service that’s immensely popular despite not properly working with any major mail client.

What does this have to do with DRM, though? The intention behind the switch was that you would have one partition for all of your data rather than having to fiddle about with moving apps and such between the internal storage and the SD card. Here's Dan Morril's explanation on Reddit as to why they've been moving in that direction.

@eldarerathis They’ve made it impossible to access the SD card from computer.

Well...no, they haven't. MTP provides access to the SD card, just not at the block-level; if you can't access the storage at all then that's a bug, possibly even in CM rather than upstream Android. If it's a physically separate card then you can always remove it and put it in a reader as well. They've moved from one access method to a different one, not made it "impossible to access".

@eldarerathis MTP requires drivers,while MSC is part of the USB standard. I access my phone often from different computers.

“What does this have to do with DRM, though?” Preventing user from accesing the .android_secure folder, which contains app files (of course, that doesn’t matter anyway when your device is rooted).

Well, I guess I'll just say that your argument RE: DRM is unconvincing and fairly hyperbolic. I can perfectly well access .android_secure (or any folder on external storage) on my phone via MTP. The fact that it's not as widely supported is certainly an issue depending on your environment - in particular, Linux/Mac do not support MTP out-of-the-box in most cases - but your claim that it's "impossible to access the SD card from computer" is just plain wrong. Again, if you can't access the storage at all, that's a bug.

@eldarerathis the .android_secure folder is impossible to access without root. Google want to prevent people from illegally redistributing the apk files.

I don't know whether it will work for your device, but the XDAs have a tool supposed to work with several LG devices at least. You can find it in here, and it looks like this:

You might want to browse through the linked thread at XDAs. As far as I remember, there were some people trying it on other devices, and had success. No guarantees, however :)

Your screenshot shows the built-in interface.

Tell the guys at XDA: if you follow the link I posted, you see where the screenshot comes from. I didn't test that tool yet. And even if it's the built-in interface: on many devices (including my Optimus 4X), manufacturers simply removed the links to several configuration screens -- so other tools sometimes do nothing but invoking the corresponding activity directly. Of course, in such cases the "built-in" interface is shown.


text:
Deleted stock browser browing history recovering and stock browser "opened tab" information
For some reasons, I cannot see my browsing history for a week (does Android stock browser automatically delete browsing histories?):
So, has my browsing histories been deleted? If so, is there any way to recover it?
Secondly, if stock browser crashed and opened tabs weren't recovered, is there any way to find out information either by trying to recover some file that contained the information (so, I guess android equivalent of Recuva) or anything else?
BTW, I use Android Ice Cream 4.0 and my stock browser does preserve tabs, except in some crashes (not all crashes close down tabs). I use LG Optimus LTE II.

any help or comment?


text:
What Effect Will Installing A Custom Launcher Have On MIUI V.5?
A friend installed the custom rom MIUI V.5, and is finding it a bit different to stock jelly bean. I told him to give it time to adjust, as i'm sure "its not that different".
Rather than disposing of MIUI altogether, he says he is thinking of installing a custom launcher eg Nova launcher.
He therefore wishes to know what effect (if any) will installing Nova launcher have on MIUI, and will it bring the stock Jelly Bean "experience" back or not ?
Edit:
What he trying to say is:
By combining Nova launcher with MIUI, will the experience/functionality of doing so be similar to using Nova launcher with stock jelly bean, thereby making this transition to MIUI less unfamiliar & more user friendly ?

If you do not like miui and rather want stock jellybean then why not switch back. I don't see the point of this question.

First, launchers are apps like all other apps you can install. Which means: per se, there should be no problems -- but they of course might have bugs and, in rare cases, side effects. Again, this is not limited to launchers. So far for the "generic info".
Now specifically for the launcher: After having installed a launcher (Nova should be fine, Apex might be another choice close to Nova), when he presses the Home key to switch to the home screen, he will be asked which launcher to chose. So still he's got the choice to use the MIUI launcher or his "custom one". On every press of the Home button. Until he decides to always use one of the two, and marks the check button to remember his choice ("always use..."). Now on Home key press, it's always that launcher being started.
If at a later time he wants to switch back: still no problem. The "decision popup" will come again if one of the following conditions are met:

he installed another launcher
one of the installed launchers receives an update
more than 2 launchers were installed, and the current default launcher is uninstalled
in Settings→Applications, the settings of the current default launcher are opened, and the "clear defaults" button is pushed
some "default apps" manager was used to trigger it

So in short: I'd expect no trouble. Some special features of the MIUI launcher might not be available in other launchers, some specific MIUI widgets (specifically built for the MIUI launcher) might not work with the other launcher -- but if he wants, he can always return/swtich or even revert his changes.

By adding Nova, this will have very little impact on the way he uses MIUI ?

As written: just adding it will have the effect he will be asked which launcher to use when pressing the "Home" button. But once he starts liking Nova more, he of course might use MIUI differently :) No worries. He can always uninstall Nova if he doesn't like the results.

So having Nova could potentially make using MIUI different, than not having it installed....if i'm making sense...in other words by having Nova on MIUI, would therefore be similar to having Nova on Stock Jelly Bean in terms of user experience?

I'd say so. Just give it a try and see for yourself. As I wrote, no damage to be expected -- and if you don't like it, simply uninstall it again. After all, it's an app -- and you do use apps on MIUI, don't you? ;)

Thats what i tried to say...by putting Nova on MIUI, it would make the phone similar in functionality to putting Nova on Stock JB, and therefore make MIUI less different and more friendly so to speak :)......Thanks

Well,
You will lose home launcher. That's it. Every other MIUI feature will be intact :-)

You won't lose it, it'll still be there. Just something else will be in use.

@Malfist I meant the same.. You will loose = you will be using other one :P


text:
cannot download apps from play store
Previously my BSNL Penta T-Pad 701C was connected to the internet through a Beetel MF 190 3G USB dongle, but I could not download apps from Google Play. I contacted customer service who advised me to do a factory reset. After resetting my tab no longer connects to the net. How can I solve this problem?

Factory resetting wipes the Wi-Fi settings along with everything else. From the Wi-Fi page in the Settings app, click on the network you want to connect to and enter the password (if it requires one), just as you did previously. If that doesn't work, update your question to say what happened.


text:
Why does charging leads to battery losing charge at times
I have a LG Optimus S Android on Gingerbread (The one on the cheaper side with least specs for an Android).
I have found that when I use the USB charger connected to my computer, at times instead of charging my phone, the battery gets drained. (Also I perceive that the battery gets drained faster than normal phone usage at such times)
While I have a fix which is to restart my Android phone. Could someone explain why such thing happens?

Now your typical wall charger on a smart phone provides 1A of charging current. The USB 2.0 on a computer will only supply a max of 500mA, that is half as much. So if your screen is on and you are using the phone then it is drawing more power than it is taking in since the screen is the largest drain on the battery, therefore the battery will drain while charging on a USB connected to the computer.

Actually the thing that I forgot to mention is the device is in standby the whole time, I hardly use the device and most of the times I disable sync (Another battery drainer) as well.

@veepsk That it is a bit odd... I could understand charging slower in that case but discharging...? Is your battery dying? How old is the battery?

The battery is 1 Year 6 Months old.
Maybe that might be the reason, but when I charge my battery using wall charger, it seems to charge just fine.

Seems rather early to be dying... Is that a 4G phone? And if so is the 4G antenna on? That could draw some power away...

No it is a 3G phone. I was stunned when this happened the first time but I have seen this occurrence couple of times and I don't exactly know what is the reason I believe that might be some bug with Gingerbread for that version because it seems to get fixed when I reboot the phone.

Could very well be a wakelock. I hate to sound like a broken record on these types of questions, but if it's not a hardware problem, it's probably an app or service that's preventing your phone from conserving power like it should.
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/defend-your-battery-with-wakelock-detector/


text:
Emulator takes forever to shutdown!
The title just says it all. My 3.3", Android 2.3.3 emulator (armeabi) boots averagely in 150 seconds on my Ubuntu 12.04, 64 bit system, with 2 GB DDR3 memory. However, sometimes when I tried shutting down using the power button provided in the emulator. I am made to wait indefinitely!
This doesn't hurt much, for I usually just close the emulator just like closing a window. However, I somehow can't reconcile the fact and need to know reason(s) why, in spite of booting fairly fast, shutting down takes ages! Does shutting down consume more resources than booting?!


text:
Watch videos with SUB/IDX subtitles
I have video files with their SUB/IDX subtitles.
I'm using MX Player Pro but it does not support SUB/IDX subtitle.

SUB/IDX subtitles won't display.
SUB/IDX subtitle is not supported as of yet. It will be supported in the future.

How can I watch videos on my Android device with SUB/IDX subtitles?

Somewhere between Nov 9, 2014 and Apr 17, 2015, MX Player Pro (and also its ad-supported free version) supports both SUB/IDX subtitles.

Subtitle formats:

DVD, DVB, SSA/ASS subtitle tracks.
SubStation Alpha(.ssa/.ass) with full styling.
SAMI(.smi) with Ruby tag support.
SubRip(.srt)
MicroDVD(.sub)
VobSub(.sub/.idx)
SubViewer2.0(.sub)
MPL2(.mpl)
TMPlayer(.txt)
Teletext
PJS(.pjs)
WebVTT(.vtt)

You can use VLC to view videos with subtitles. Copy the subtitle files on the same folder as the video, then change their names to be the same as the video (don't change their extension).

You can use an application like MKVToolNix on your PC, attach the SUB/IDX file to the video file, make one single video file with hard sub, and after that enjoy watching the video with hard sub on your Android device.

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


text:
Quick way to go to downloads from Chrome?
Often after downloading a file, I try to open this from the notifications page, only for the wrong app to open it. Since I've clicked on it the link has disappeared. Now I have to go through tonnes of menus to find the file! Is there a quicker way?

From the home screen, click the "all apps" button, then there's an app called Downloads. By default, downloads are sorted most-recent-first, so the one you've just downloaded will be at the top.
If even that method is one step too many, you can long-tap on the Downloads icon in the apps menu, then drop it on the home screen to create a shortcut to that app. Now you can open it from the home screen directly.
Additionally, if the wrong app opens a certain kind of file, you can stop that and go back to having a chooser to pick which app to open files with. Open the Settings app, then go to Apps (on some phones it's called Applications manager). Choose the offending app from the list: if it's a built-in app, you'll need to swipe to to the All page. Scroll down and click Clear defaults. Next time you open a file that would open with that app, you'll get the chooser instead (assuming you have another app installed that can open that kind of file).


text:
Backup Link2sd ext4 partition, resize it and restore
I have messed the ext4 partition resizing it with Gparted, it still works but shows the old size and Link2sd doesn't seem to be able to link all the pieces.
I was wondering if I could backup the content with Titanium or other, format the partition at the correct size with Gparted and then restore the content to the new larger partition.
I know the ext4 cannot be resize but I guess that it can be deleted and created again, what I am not sure if there is something in the current ext data that is dependent on the size of it. I think that is why I should not be doing a backup image directly but instead backup the files individually.

Speaking of GParted, I assume you have a Linux computer available. So steps to be performed are quite simple -- speaking of an external SDCard:

Unmount the card from your Android device, and take it out
Put it into a card reader, attach it to your Linux computer. Mount it there.
Copy all contents into an empty directory on your Linux machine. From the command line, you can use the cp command for that to ensure everything is copied: cp -a </path/to/source> </path/to/target> (replace </path/to/source> with where you've mounted the card, and </path/to/target> with your empty directory's path; for details on the cp command, run man cp or see its man-page on the net)
Optional: check that everything was copied fine. If there were no errors displayed in the previous step, it should have worked fine.
If your card has multiple partitions containing data, repeat the previous two steps for each of them.
Use GParted (or whatever tool of your preference) to drop and re-create partitions as needed, and re-create the file systems
Repeat steps 3-5, reverting source and target (to get your data back on the SDCard)
Unmount your SDCard, safely remove it from the computer, put it back into your Android device, and enjoy!
If everything went fine, and all data is available on your device as hoped, optionally remove the "backup directories" created in step 3.

Job done :)

Thanks for the detailed steps, I did the resize with the SD card inside the phone while in recovery mode, but probably it is safer to do it as you said with a card reader. Will find one and try it out.

In the end I didn't used the backup, as the current link partition didn't hold all the data I moved the most important apps to the inner memory. Then with phone connected/started I used GParted directly to remove the ext4 partition, and created a new one with the correct size. Reboot phone to detect new partition, launched Link2SD recreated/mount partition and reboot again. Then I could link again all the apps to the new partition with Link2SD correctly.

Thanks for the feedback! Technically comparable :) I just a) don't trust doing things like that with the card mounted directly from the device, and b) thought about those having no UMS support anymore :) But glad you've solved your issue!


text:
Adjust magnetic auto-lock sensitivity
I just bought a case for my Nexus 10 tablet (EasyAcc Smart Cover), but it seems the magnetic auto-lock sometimes thinks the cover is closed when the cover is flipped to the back side, behind the device. This especially happens when holding the tablet open in my hand, and it's easy to accidentally adjust the position of the cover on the back.
Since this false positive condition doesn't always happen, I'm guessing a simple sensitivity change might be enough to make the auto-lock feature of the cover work proprely. Another possible fix could be to have some sort of delay, os that when the system detects the lid as "closed", it'd wait for a few secs to see if it stays in closed state, and only then put the device to sleep.
Is there a way to adjust the magnetic auto-lock sensitivity?
(Nexus 10 tablet, running Android 4.2.2)

Sounds like the simplest solution would probably be to stick a small piece of something non-magnetic (strip of plastic?) on the case in front of the magnet to just lift it slightly further away from the device when you flip the cover over?

It's very unlikely that you can control the sensitivity. Most of these magnetic switches are simple reed switches: the magnet pulls two contacts together, closing the switch. The software simply gets an on/off signal, not a quantity it can filter.
It might be possible to add the delay solution you suggest in a custom-rom, but I don't know of any with this functionality.


text:
How to change a pattern unlock from the phone settings without knowing the original
I have two unlock security options set up on my phone (HTC One). Firstly there is the facial recognition (which works well and lets me in) but on the occasions when it is too dark / doesn't recognise my face then it falls back to pattern unlock.
However, I have no idea what this pattern is as I set it up ages ago and the facial recognition works quite well so I've not had to use it.
I can get into the phone fine with face unlock, and can get to the security settings, but I can't change anything without first having to enter my unlock pattern.
If I can't reset this pattern that means I can't ever shave or change my haircut for fear of not being recognised by the phone!
Can I disable / reset the pattern security from within the phone? I have also got AirDroid set up on my laptop so that might open another route if I can't do anything from the phone itself.

See Cannot unlock tablet as have no internet connection?. My answer there includes an example to reset the pattern. As you still can access your device (face-unlocked), that one should be easy for you. Btw: If you never shave, the long beard might be problematic for face-unlock as well :)

@izzy thanks, but I was hoping there was an option from within the phone itself for me to do this, as I still have (mostly) full access to everything. Installed a paid app to get around it would be a last resort (only a few quid, but still!). I've updated the link in that answer too as it went to a dead page.

Thanks for the fix, Jon! Sorry to hear this app got converted into a paid one for a price like that; it was free before. Still, if one's really locked out it might be worth its price, as it might save a lot of headache...


text:
How do I resize the phone's screenshot size without using an image resizer?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S4, running a pre-rooted stock ROM.
Using the Home + Power combo, I can take a screenshot that is 1080x1920 by default. Is there any setting where I could change this fixed size, without having to use a 3rd-party image app to resize it?

1080x1920 will be the native resolution of your phone's screen. Are you trying to take a screenshot of only part of your screen (cropping?)? Or do you want the image resized/downsampled before its saved?

@GAThrawn I want a full-screen screenshot, but in a smaller resolution. Although it's small in filesize, I want it smaller so that it doesn't look too big on a PC, or on email.

The closest solution I've seen is streaming the framebuffer to the PC but I can't get the new adb shell exec-out to work for some reason.


text:
Copy contacts from iCloud to Android phone
Just went from an iPhone to an Android phone. How do I get my contacts that I have on iCloud on to my Android phone?
I looked at SmoothSync, but what's the point in paying for that when I know there is a free way such as as doing it manually.

See also: How do I transfer iPhone contacts to an Android phone? and How can I transfer my contacts from an iPhone to an Android device?

Assuming you still have the iPhone in order to get the contacts off of it - There are free applications such as "my Contacts Backup" for iPhone that will export all your contacts. This particular one exports them as .VCF (i.e. vcards) and / or .CSV and then emails them to you. I'm sure there are other apps out there too to use, but I went with this one as it's free.
You can then import the vcard file into your Google / Gmail contacts via PC and then sync your contacts from Google onto your device.

Shouldn't take more than 5 minutes end to end.

You could go http://icloud.com and click on "Contacts", there you can click on the cog in the bottom left corner. You will have the option to "Export vCard", with that vCard, you can import it into Google Contacts, similarly to what JonW said.


text:
Ejecting a device connected via Android File Transfer
I recently upgraded from a device running Android 2.3 to 4.2. On my 2.3 device, I could use USB Connection Mode to automatically mount the device on OSX. When I first connected my 4.2 device, I was surprised when I was prompted to install Android File Transfer instead. Is it safe to disconnect by simply removing it from the USB cable?


text:
Improving local wifi speed
I'm would like to use local Wi-Fi Hotspot with no Internet access to connect to multiple Android phones. The problem is, even though is a local network with only a few phones connected and no Internet connection, the phones are a few centimeters away from the hotspot, yet cummunication seems slow/unreliable.
Here are a couple of ping results from a computer to the phone IPs:
PING 192.168.0.100 (192.168.0.100): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.0.100: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=393.810 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.100: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=158.493 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.100: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=181.057 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 3
Request timeout for icmp_seq 4
64 bytes from 192.168.0.100: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=1006.483 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.100: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=37.513 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.100: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=64.257 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.100: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=93.225 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.100: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=111.115 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.100: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=139.826 ms
^C
--- 192.168.0.100 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 9 packets received, 10.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 37.513/242.864/1006.483/286.991 ms
PING 192.168.0.101 (192.168.0.101): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=385.699 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=203.539 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=151.443 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=232.699 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=219.184 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=262.831 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=249.220 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=266.070 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=471.806 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=114.990 ms
^C
--- 192.168.0.101 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 114.990/255.748/471.806/99.526 ms
PING 192.168.0.103 (192.168.0.103): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.0.103: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=319.546 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.103: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=137.394 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.103: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=160.845 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.103: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=184.010 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.103: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=206.503 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.103: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=24.546 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.103: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=47.437 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.103: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=69.973 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.103: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=93.257 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.103: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=730.538 ms
^C
--- 192.168.0.103 ping statistics ---
11 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 9.1% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 24.546/197.405/730.538/195.910 ms

I've used a macbook to ping with a D-Link DIR-505 set to Wi-Fi Hotspot to Xperia  phones with the shipped Android OS 4.1.2.
I think the ping responses are slow and inconsistent. Has anyone else experienced this ? Why does this happen and how can this be fixed/improved ?
Update based on Sergey's input:
Pinging the computer from the phone doesn't look great:

And here's the output using adb shell:
shell@android:/ $ ping -c 10 192.168.1.18
PING 192.168.1.18 (192.168.1.18) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.1.18: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=1012 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.18: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=8.21 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.18: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=184 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.18: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=714 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.18: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=635 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.18: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=556 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.18: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=171 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.18: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=705 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.18: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=622 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.18: icmp_seq=10 ttl=64 time=238 ms

--- 192.168.1.18 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 received, 0% packet loss, time 9015ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 8.210/484.855/1012.056/300.283 ms, pipe 2

This is a bit worrying. Also, the power saving scenario sounds plausible but not sure if it still applies in my case as I've got the Stay awake setting turned on and the above tests were done with the usb cable connected and powering the device.

This behavior may be caused by power management features, and does not indicate a problem. Try installing Android Terminal Emulator on the phone and pinging either the router or a normal PC (not another phone) by running ping -c 10 <address> from there. You should notice that ping results in this direction are better.
(Note that without the -c <n> option you will need to figure out how to send Ctrl+C to the terminal to stop ping; it is possible to use a volume button as Ctrl if your keyboard does not provide such a key.)
The difference between pinging a phone from another device and sending pings from the phone itself is that when the phone itself sends ping requests, it is active and can receive the ping response without any significant delay. However, when you attempt to ping the phone from another device, the phone is most likely is in some low-power state, and waking it up can take noticeable time. Wi-Fi also has some powersaving features (e.g., the access point can buffer packets directed to a mobile device and transmit them only according to a specified schedule, so that the mobile device can stay in a low-power state between these scheduled polls).
Because of all these powersaving features you cannot make any conclusion about the Wi-Fi link quality just from ping results you show, unless you either turn off any powersaving during the test (see below for an example in my tests), or at least perform testing from the phone side.
Here is what I see when pinging my Samsung Galaxy W (GT-I8150) using the unofficial CyanogenMod 9 ROM, when the phone is idle with the screen off:
PING 192.168.43.114 (192.168.43.114) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=1 ttl=64 time=690 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=2 ttl=64 time=418 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=3 ttl=64 time=329 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=4 ttl=64 time=54.7 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=5 ttl=64 time=579 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=6 ttl=64 time=306 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=7 ttl=64 time=217 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=8 ttl=64 time=557 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=9 ttl=64 time=467 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=10 ttl=64 time=195 ms

--- 192.168.43.114 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 received, 0% packet loss, time 9006ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 54.730/381.686/690.746/187.341 ms

As you can see, the results look pretty bad. However, when I start Android Terminal Emulator and select the ”Take WifiLock” command in it, then turn off the screen again, I get significantly better results:
PING 192.168.43.114 (192.168.43.114) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=1 ttl=64 time=95.5 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=2 ttl=64 time=2.66 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=3 ttl=64 time=94.3 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=4 ttl=64 time=2.62 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=5 ttl=64 time=88.9 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=6 ttl=64 time=3.14 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=7 ttl=64 time=91.9 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=8 ttl=64 time=5.57 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=9 ttl=64 time=93.9 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=10 ttl=64 time=2.62 ms

--- 192.168.43.114 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 received, 0% packet loss, time 9010ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 2.622/48.136/95.551/44.845 ms

And if I repeat the same test with the screen on, ping result is even better:
PING 192.168.43.114 (192.168.43.114) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=1 ttl=64 time=2.29 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=2 ttl=64 time=2.21 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=3 ttl=64 time=8.87 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=4 ttl=64 time=3.27 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=5 ttl=64 time=4.01 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=6 ttl=64 time=2.26 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=7 ttl=64 time=2.22 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=8 ttl=64 time=2.13 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=9 ttl=64 time=2.73 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=10 ttl=64 time=2.23 ms

--- 192.168.43.114 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 received, 0% packet loss, time 9011ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 2.132/3.226/8.878/1.970 ms

(For some reason, releasing the WifiLock and even closing the terminal emulator does not restore the original behavior, until I turn Wi-Fi off, then back on — probably there is a bug somewhere.)
Running ping from the phone itself gives about 12 ms average RTT without taking the WifiLock, and 1.95 ms after taking the WifiLock — so even when testing from the phone side the effect of WifiLock is significant.

I'd suggest Hacker's Keyboard anyway, not only to be able to send Ctrl-C.

@ott-- Yes, in fact I use it too.

@SergeyVlasov I've tried what you've suggested, results look a bit better, but still kind of slow. Am I missing something ?


text:
How do I hide or disable the Clear Defaults dialog or notification?
Everytime I am asked to associate and select a default app to open something with,
I always get this Clear defaults message:

Screenshot; click image for larger variant
Selecting Always (after selecting a default app) and clicking the OK button
will stop this message from appearing for that kind of association.
BUT, it will still appear for other types of associations.
Is there any way I can stop this notification from showing up?
(given that I already know how to Clear defaults)

Is there something wrong with the top answer to this question? If you don't want to accept it because you're looking for something else, you might [edit] your question.

You can stop this notification from showing up, but you will need root and Xposed framework installed. So this solution is only for experienced Android user.
http://repo.xposed.info/module/com.mohammadag.disablecleardefaultsdialog


text:
How to setup ADB for TCP on Galaxy S3 with broken USB port
I have a SGH-I747 phone that has a problem with the USB port (it will charge, but is never recognized so no ADB. Phone was actually sent to Samsung and they stated 'Beyond repair - gross electromechanical damage').
I would like to use the phone for development and was hoping to setup ADB to work over TCP. Seems like the only way to set this up is to either have a rooted phone or be able to set the phone into tcpip directly over USB.
I was hoping to find an apk that would root this model but there doesn't appear to be one.
Is there any other way to get adbd into TCP listening mode?


text:
Do all HTC One X's use the same screen?
I'm going to replace the screen on my HTC One X, but I'm nervous of buying the wrong LCD assembly (I did that with a version of the iPhone 4 before).
Somehow no one seems to have an answer for this - do all versions of the HTC One X use the same screen assembly? My serial starts with HT23, and not the GS23 that so many eBay advertisers have in their description.

Yes they are the same.  The one x and x+ use identical display and digitizer.  Buy the assembly the digitizer is adhered tightly to the lcd.


text:
Internal memory full even when all apps are linked
I have an Acer liquid Metal rooted. I have already linked(with link2sd) almost all my apps, even some previously system apps, to my sd. The problem being that my memory is still full, the best I can get is 30 mb free and this, only for a while.
Is there any solution to that? Like bypassing what the phone thinks as being its internal memory?
Thanks

Have you checked with the link2sd tag-wiki? This includes some hints on what to look for. Also check the insufficient-memory tag-wiki for more. After having that done, you might wish to edit your question with what you've tried and, if so, where you are still stuck.

@Squirtle What version of Android are you running? How much internal and external memory do you have?

link2sd doesn't move data to your extra partition of SD Card. So even when you've linked all apps your internal storage will get filled by app's data.
In lnik2sd click the sort icon and select sort by data size. From there you can see which app uses most data and maybe clear them.


text:
Unlock phone with a different button
I have a Nexus 4, and everything is OK, but I have realised that the power button is not working as well as I want. Sometimes I have to press it twice or push harder, so my question is: could I set up my phone to unlock with a different button, for example with the volume buttons? Is there any solution in case that the power button becomes inoperable?

It might be possible using Tasker, if your device has a camera button (which was, when I looked last, the only hardware button you could bind actions to)...

If your device doesn't have a hardware camera button, as @Izzy suggests, then I believe it's also possible on a rooted device. But you'd essentially lose a button for the sake of the new power button.

But I just have 3 buttons, power, and two volume buttons :s

I don't think you would sacrifice one of your volume buttons. And the power button is just the one you want to "replace". So the answer is somehow obvious, right?

When the power and back button failed in my rooted LG P500, I used Button savior.  This app works without any restriction on rooted devices and with few limitations on unrooted.
This app creates a small overlay on the screen (which is customisable in terms of its size, visibility, position etc.) and pressing this overlay slides a virtual buttons on screen to lock, volume up and down, back, home, search, menu, camera etc.
It was indeed aptly named for as it saved my trip to service centre to shell out money on my phone to replace the keys.

Thanks a lot, I will keep this answer in mind. Definitely I will use it!

The power button is not actually replaceable with any soft key as it is also used for powering up, during which no software component can help. Other than that this key plays important role in booting to recovery mode. Again this will not work with software key. But in my case the power button was only working inconsistently as you said and the back button totally stopped working. Had a difficult time when using CWM and hence switched over TWRP touch recovery.

A week ago or so I started using Gravity Screen Off.

Same problem occurred to my fathers Nexus 4 phone. We tried 3-4 soft best of them is Auto Screen On this soft used Proximity sensor on Left top just tap that sensor once or twice (set in setting).. and go your phone will unlock w/o power btn. actually it also support gravity sensor but may be not compatible with nexus 4.
Also works w/o rooting  ..

So, Did any of those Apps work fine?


text:
nexus S with self built Android system is not working
I have an unlocked Nexus S. I downloaded the latest Android source code and built it with lunch option "full_crespo-userdebug". I followed the instructions on the official website and boot my Nexus S with the new image.
Then phone boots up. But I can not enable Wifi or bluetooth in settings (failed after a long hang). A black screen will show when I open the camera. It seems that there are some problems with the device driver! Does anybody have any clue?

This site is for users of Android, which means that questions about development/programming (including "building your own ROM and finding/debugging its drivers") are off-topic here (see the FAQ). Development questions are on-topic on our sister site Stack Overflow. You might also wish to consult Where can I ask questions that aren't Android Enthusiast questions? to find a fitting place for your question.

Sounds like you didn't get the drivers


text:
What are apps 10110 & 10109?
On my galaxy S2, the mobile data usage shows two applications 10110 and 10109 consuming a lot of data. Does anyone know what these apps are? Or how I can find out?
I am running jellybean 4.1.2 on Samsung Galaxy S2.

Can you see those apps in Settings -> App?

No, I can't  see them there.

That are most likely not app names, but their "user IDs" (and the system is unable to match a name).
On a rooted device, you could find out more on those by executing
ls -l /data/data | grep 10110

(which should show you the data directory of the app owned by that user, together with some more data). Investigating that directory might give you an idea: its name is the package name, which you could even lookup at Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=<package_name>

While that's unlikely to find the app (or your system really is in trouble not being able to match the two), it's at least worth a try. In case nothing is found, you can investigate that directory's content to make a "good guess" what it might be about. Also, the name of the directory itself might already have given you a clue.

I will give you an example (from one of my extracted Nandroid backups). Let's say ls turned up com.motorola.android.fota on a Motorola device. So by the fact it's a Motorola device, and the package name starting with com.motorola.android one can deduce it's a system app build by the manufacturer. Assuming one doesn't connect the fota with anything, in the subdirectory databases one finds two SQLite files. I checked the config.db and saw it has two tables, at least one of them seemingly all about updates (auto_update_interval, auto_update_enable, and more). The second one is fumo.db and seems to hold information about packages. So this is most likely an app responsible for updating apps -- and if you not already know, "FOTA" stands for "Firmware Over The Air update".

However, to do that your device must be rooted (users other than root it won't permit to browse the /data/data directory).


text:
How to add new language Unicode range to Android OS
Background
Sri Lanka has its own language called Sinhala with its own Unicode range (0D80 - 0DFF) and set of rendering rules. Currently Android phones do not support this language (but Linux and Windows do). We have built a temporary solution using JavaScript to read Sinhala in Android but we face issue when need to input by users.
Questions

How can we add a new built-in Unicode range to Android?
Do I need to request this from Google or can we do it ourselves?
Do we need to request this from Android manufacturers such as Samsung, HTC, Acer?
How can we create a Android keyboard that is suitable to our language.

I don't understand this, but I found it on Google: http://sinhala.kalingasblog.com/2010/07/25/sinhala-unicode-on-android-google-nexus-one/

geffchang: Thank you for your cooperation. But this says how to place a new font in Android. But without language rendering rules, Asian languages not working correctly.Because Most of Asian languages having helping characters should place top bottom or other sides, instead of vowels in English.

it's a problem of font rendering, not Unicode. You can't requests to add a Unicode range to Android because as long as a platform supports Unicode, it'll support any codepoints in Unicode. But rendering is much more complex


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What can cause sudden drop of my battery in Nexus 4?
I have new Nexus 4 phone and I found it dead several times after the night. Obviously it wasn't used during night, screen was turned off.
After I plugged it to the charger I had to wait a few minutes before I was able to turn it on. Battery monitor's graph has a sudden drop from 60-70% to 0, what can be a reason for this?
See screenshot here:

possible duplicate of How can I find out what causes "Android OS" to consume battery?

@geffchang I've read plenty of articles about how to determine which app is eating the battery but none of them is similar to case above where phone immediately shuts down while having almost full battery and there is a gap in the battery history.

What you're probably seeing is the charge monitor greatly mis-estimating the amount of charge left in the battery. It thinks there is a lot of charge left, but in reality there isn't—the battery is almost depleted. When the battery actually runs out, reality takes over, and the phone goes off.
You'd normally only see this when using a battery that is long past its lifespan. You also should see this during the day—or at least, you should see a much shorter than expected battery life.
You could try resetting to factory defaults (wiping the phone), which might help if its just a software issue.
I'd guess its a hardware issue, and you need to RMA the phone.


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Clear cache and data of Download Manager
Google says to clear cache and data on Play Store and Download Manager when experiencing download problems. I can't find Download Manager on my Android device.

See if you have something like this:
System settings > Application Manager > All > Downloads

In Android 9, go to Settings > Apps & Notifications > App Info.  Select 3 dots in upper-right and Show System.  Download Manger should show in list now.

Steps to clear the cache of the Download manager app:
1.Open "Settings" - either:
a) pull down the top (right) menu and click the "cog" icon
b) click on "Application" and select "Settings".
2.Go to "Applications" then tap on "Manage Applications" (older versions)
Or "Application manager" (newer versions)
3.Select the "All" tab (to the right)
4.Now scroll down to the "Download Manager" app and tap it.
5.Tap on "Clear cache" and "Clear Data".
...all done.

On samsung galaxy, go to "apps," then click on the three dots in upper right corner.
Select "show system apps."
From there you should be able to find download manager. Go to "storage" then "clear cache."


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How to connect an android tablet with a laptop using a USB cable?
My AAkash 2 tablet has a mini-USB port and comes with a cable to convert the mini port to standard USB female port for connecting flash drives etc.
I want to connect the tablet to a laptop using this port. For this I bought the standard male-male USB cable, which attaches to the female port of the USB connector of the tablet and female port of the laptop.
But no devices are found by either the laptop or the tablet. Do I need to make any setting changes to make this happen?

You will most likely need to install appropriate USB drivers on your PC in order to have the tablet recognized by Windows (assuming your laptop has Windows OS installed.)
Datawind's site doesn't seem to have any drivers available for download, so your best bet would be to contact them directly, or try your luck with a Google search (be mindful of viruses posing as drivers).

Good-buy to the old times of special drivers, a while already now there's the Universal USB driver available which should work with most devices. All Hail to Kosh, once more :)

@Izzy: I tried the Universal USB Driver, but it wasnt able to detect the android tablet that I had connected, any more ideas.

No other then as Chahk already mentioned: contact the manufacturer/seller.


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Unable to access Google Play
I have a Samsung Galaxy S Duos, and ever since I bought my cell phone, I am unable to access the Google Play Store due to the error message:

Authentication is required. You need to sign in to your Google Account.

I had signed in my Google account already and have used it on my phone with other apps, like Talk, Gmail and etc. I have tried clearing the account and re-entering it, wiping out all the data and re-building a new account, and other possible solutions, but still my problem is there.
My one possible guess is that it is due to the country I live in. It may be that Google has put some sanctions on my country, Iran.
How can I get Google Play Store to work on my phone?

I believe you're correct; Google Play is not currently available in Iran. This help page lists the various Google Play services and where they're available.

Hm, if I read that page correctly, it doesn't say anything about the availibility of free (not-paid) app content (and thus access to them via the Google Play App) -- or did I miss something?

This page lists the supported locations for downloading free apps.

It is really complicated, although i am using a proxy i still get the same error, i wish somebody from google play staff could help!