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Galaxy S4 - Exchange ActiveSync picks wrong Display Name
When I add an MSN @live.com email account the Galaxy S4, it doesn't pick the Display Name set by Exchange.
From the web interface, it shows the Display Name set as the full name (e.g. John Smith), but on Android, all out-going emails have the username set as the Display Name (e.g. jsmith).
The Display Name for office365.com email accounts seems to be working fine, but not for @live.com email accounts.
Further more, Android doesn't give the option to re-set or update the Display Name in Exchange ActiveSync email accounts. That options is available under IMAP and POP3 email accounts only.
Is this a new issue?
Has anyone been able to fix this?
I called Samsung and they couldn't find a solution in their support knowledge base, asked me to contact my Cellphone Carrier. I called my Callphone Carrier and they said it's out-of-scope for their Support and that I should contact Samsung.

For posterity's sake, I'd like to point out that after doing research online, I have found out that this is an issue plaguing Samsung Galaxy S2 and S3 as well. Most of the discussions on this issue end with, "Why don't you just get a @gmail account?"
Since I refuse to have an email with numbers in it, I am going to stick to my more professional looking email on @live.com. I don't want to put an ugly email like jsmith223@live.com on my resume or any other correspondence for that matter.
Anyhoo, long story short, if you have a hotmail email address (@hotmail.com, @live.com, @outlook.com, etc) and you value a synchronized mailbox (meaning, having all sent and read messages marked as such on your desktop, web mailbox and phone regardless of where you sent or read a message), then don't get an Android device until there is concrete evidence online of someone being able to show that it works. POP3 is archaic technology from the mid-90s. IMAP isn't a whole lot newer, but you can still get by with IMAP. Unfortunately, Microsoft has refused to offer IMAP services on hotmail accounts. So your only options are POP3 and Exchange ActiveSync (EAS).

Can I just point out that this isn't an android issue but a Samsung issue. The android stock email app on a vanilla Rom allows you to set the "Your Name" field. Samsung's modified email app doesn't have this field


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Setting phone to silence, but play notification sound on incoming mail from certain contact
I know "blocking mode" on Samsung S3, but it allows only phone calls from certain contacts. Can I do the same for email sound notifications for certain contacts? preferably without installing any apps...

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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FTDI chip used by Android 2.3.6
Is it possible to use FTDI chip with Android 2.3.6? I've found an application which works with FTDI chip, but it uses Android 3.1 and later.
I'd like connect my phone to peripheral hardware over UART. This company provides the FTDI chip which can be used for it, and they provide an application (see above), but it's only for Android 3.1 and later. I'd like to use it with Android 2.3.6, but I think it's missing Android Open Accessory Protocol which is needed for it. Is there is another possibility to connect it to peripheral hardware?

Can you please go into a little more details of the purpose behind your question? It's hard to understand what you want to achieve. Thanks!

I'd like connect my phone to peripheral hardware over UART. This company provides the FTDI chip which can be used for it, and they provide an application (link in my question), but it's only for Android 3.1 and later. I'd like to use it with Android 2.3.6, but I think it's missing Android Open Accessory Protocol which is needed for it. I'd like to know if there is another possibility how to connect it to peripheral hardware.

Thanks for the additional details! I integrated them with your question, and also updated the tags accordingly. Unfortunately that's all I can do for you so far -- but now your issue should be clearer for other "bypassers" who might know something. Good luck! -- Besides: Maybe an upgrade of your OS would be an option. If so, you might want to take a look into Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device? while waiting for an answer here.

I think It's possible. But you need to port the sourcecode to support 2.3.6 API. You need install Google API Add On and follow the steps posted in android development page http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/connectivity/usb/accessory.html
I think the sourcecode could be found in FTDI webpage.

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


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Missing internal flash memory: It does not mount
I am using a Xtouch X718 tablet. It is very nice: at the beginning I could do almost everything.
It used to be connected in computer and one day I was accessing it through the computer. Afterwards I took it out and opened the gallery -- but it did not open. When I looked at the settings it said "mount sd card in internal storage". I tried, but it did not mount.
Next time I accessed if from my computer it asked "disk" instead and showed the external sd card; as there is no external sd card it is not connected. It just goes as if in process for hours.


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Samsung Galaxy S2 - Screen Lock Options Disabled
Following the recent upgrade to Jelly Bean on my Samsung Galaxy S2, I have enabled the lock screen with password but when I want to change the other options to like Swipe, Motion, face Unlock Pattern, PIN and None which they are disabled.
Other than the option "password (High Security)" option rest of the above mentioned are disabled. Don't know how to disable the screen lock password.
I have gone through various website & forum and YouTube videos none explains this issue.
How can I remove the screen lock?

Do you have a "device administrator" set for this phone, or Exchange sync or a VPN set up?

Try checking the "With swipe lock" checkbox and see if that enables it.
I have no idea what "With swipe lock" does, other than enabling the "Lock screen options". You can enable it, change the options, and disable it, and the options will stay changed. shrug
No, it doesn't make any sense to me, either.


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Is there a way to open SketchUp models on Android?
I have a model designed in Google SketchUp, I want to be able to show it on my Android device (Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy Tab) - is there any way to do that?
I did try DAE View 3D from Afanche Technologies - but it is not working on the exported dae model and also registers for every intent.

Did you search in the Play Store? FYI: Questions that ask "Is there an app that does X?" are generally unwelcome here. ([FAQ]) This site, and Stack Exchange in general, do better with questions that are about an actual problem you face.

I did search play store and there is no app. My actual problem is displaying SketchUp model on android.

You can try exporting from SketchUp to other formats such as DXF (tutorial to do this in the free version here) for which there are viewers for Android.  More information here.

I don't see option to export into DXF on SketchUp free?

I linked the tutorial in the answer, I will edit it to be more obvious.

Answears should be self contained, not just link to video, which shows zou how to google the link to the plugin - sic. Improve and I will accept

Actuallz the output does not seem to be compatible with any free DXF android viewer. I don't know about paid ones


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Asked to set PIN for credential storage
I've never had a smart phone before. Now, I'm being asked if I want to set a pin or pasword for my "credential storage" before using it. I'm not even sure what this is. It looks like I do not have much storage left and I've had this phone only a few months.

It's for installing VPN and SSL client authentication certificates that you use to access VPNs or web servers that use certificates as logon credentials. It's fairly rare to need to use credential storage for the majority of Droid users. If you don't possess any digital certificates that identify you,it has no value to you.(found in some forum)


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How do I mount my phone?
I'm super puzzled because my phone used to just appear when I plugged it in. It doesn't anymore and The development options are definitely set to allow USB debugging. The phone is charging via USB but doesn't appear in lsusb:
[0 amanda@luna android-sdk-linux_86]$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 17ef:4807 Lenovo UVC Camera
Bus 003 Device 012: ID 413c:1003 Dell Computer Corp. Keyboard Hub
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 08ff:2810 AuthenTec, Inc. AES2810
Bus 003 Device 013: ID 413c:2010 Dell Computer Corp. Keyboard
Bus 003 Device 014: ID 046d:c001 Logitech, Inc. N48/M-BB48 [FirstMouse Plus]

adb devices -l shows nothing.
Based on some instructions on the internet, I also went into my Wireless and Network settings and changed the USB connection settings to "Mass storage" -- they were set to "Ask on connection" though I definitely wasn't getting asked. I don't get any Click here to connect via USB alert either.
I wouldn't be surprised if I clicked some "stop asking me" button at some point, but I don't see how to undo that.  What else should I be doing to mount my phone?

I asked the same question over on Ask Ubuntu and someone suggested it was a dodgy USB cable. I'm kind of speechless, but indeed, swapping the cable solved my problems. Now when I plug my phone in to a USB port, I get a little notice that the USB is connected. Onward.


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Lost pictures on Samsung Galaxy S3 internal memory
I just hooked my Samsung Galaxy S3 up to my PC via USB to transfer some photos from one folder to another on the device itself.  Well, the USB cable got accidentally unplugged during the process, and I lost all the photos that didn't have a chance to transfer before the device got unplugged.
Is there a way to retrieve these photos as I cannot get a drive letter when I plug it in, and Samsung does not offer a Mass Storage Device option for this phone.
I really need to recover these photos. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Have you tried checking with a file explorer app directly on your device? Take a look into the LOST.DIR directory as well (which is where "lost" files sometimes land -- usually if the system encountered any file-system errors and does not know where the file belongs to, but maybe in your case as well).

if you have root access, there are file recovery apps, that you can install and they'll scan for deleted files. one of them is called disc digger undelete, another is called hexamob recovery. Also there is android-recovery.net. Neither of those have resulted in anything for my problem though...

Diskdigger. Plain and simple.


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How to sync Nexus 4 and Nexus 7?
I have the both Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 devices. I want them to have the same (at least similar) list of installed applications and their settings. How can I synchronize them, so that I do not need to install and set everything up two times?

Android lets you backup settings & data for installed apps, but doesn't have a straightforward way to sync the actual installation of them. If you prefer not to manually search/install each app from the device itself (it gets really tedious) you can do what I do:
1) Go to https://play.google.com/apps to view the apps which are already installed on one device. Select the app you want to transfer over to view it's details page.

2) If the app is compatible with both devices (most probably will be but not all) click the button that says INSTALLED.

3) Select the other device where you want to install it and click INSTALL.

You'll still have to repeat this for each app you want to carry across, but I've found it to be much easier to do it with a mouse in a web browser than searching/installing

Thank you very much. I will try that. The reason I asked is that I first installed apps in my Nexus 4. Then I got my Nexus 7, and surprisingly, I find that it automatically installed the apps. But later on, when I installed new apps. in Nexus 4, nothing happened to Nexus 7.


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Android phone file structure seems corrupted when connected via USB
so I have a Sony Xperia Play, and it's worked for awhile, but now I'm finding that sometimes when I plug it into my MacBook through USB, and try to copy files from the EasyVoiceRecorder folder onto my computer, I will get
"unknown" -39 errors
- Sometimes the file I copy is starts to copy over but then replaces itself. Example: Copying Recording 256. You see Recording 256 start to put itself on the desktop, but at the last second it becomes Recording 44 that's ACTUALLY put itself on the desktop. To fix this (SOMETIMES THIS WORKS) I put Recording 44 on the desktop and THEN copy the Recording 256, and it works.

Other things like that.

What's happening and how can I fix it? Do I need to reinstall the app maybe?
Also, I modify/delete the audio files in EasyVoiceRecorder directly from the directory, not from the phone. Could that've messed with the structure?
Thanks!

Does this problem occur from the SD card?

Yes, this seems to be an SD card issue

I'm not sure about doing this on a Mac, But if you have a windows PC, preferably a windows 7, try the following:-

Connect your phone via USB to the PC with the SD card. Turn on file sharing.
Go to My Computer, find your SD card "drive", right click > properties.
Go to Tools tab, under "Error Checking", click on "Check Now".
Any SD card related file system errors should get automatically fixed.


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Cannot sign-in Google account on Samsung Galaxy S with 2-step authentication
I recently use 2-step verification to sign-in my Google account.
But after turning this on, I cannot sign-in my phone since no SMS is sent to my phone.
What can I do to sign in now?

If you signed up for 2-step verification, you may need to enter an application-specific password in place of your regular account password. You can generate an application-specific password when you are authorizing access to your Google Account. This process takes a few minutes, and you only need to do it once per application or device.
Note: For Android devices running 4.0 or higher, you do not need an application-specific password and only need to submit your username and password. You'll be directed to another page where you can enter a one-time six-digit code.
To check if 2-step verification is on or off, visit https://www.google.com/settings/.

Using the application-specific password helps me sign-in. Thank you!

Thank you! Wanted to change my app-specific password. Revoked the old one, created a new one, and kept entering and re-entering it. Phone wouldn't take it. Didn't realize that after upgrading Android, the app-specific password no longer works! Entered my regular password and used the Google Authenticator app to create a 6-digit code. Is this documented someone on Google's help pages?

Wow turns out the phone itself needs the regular password plus 6-digit code, but the phone's native mail app, connecting to Gmail, needs an app-specific password. Confusing!

I had a hard time because I had two Gmail accounts on my Android,: one for work and one personal. The process is broken if you have two accounts and you try to apply two step auth on a phone (I have a Galaxy 4 by Samsung).
The solution was to delete my personal account off the phone, do the sign-in process which kicks out an SMS 6-digit code then authenticate (worked). Afterwards you can add back the second account.


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My phone galaxy GT-I9003 is stuck in flight mode and not able to detect Sim card.
I want to disable the airplane mode in order to return to normal state. After a long press on power button, I do have the "device options", however nothing happens when I press Airplane mode (airplane mode enable). I am stuck in airplane mode
Have you experience this? Is it a known bug? How can I disable airplane mode.

Which ROM you are using? Did you tried Basic fix "Restartng your Device"?

I had this problem, check http://www.inflightmagazine.co/?p=351

I think this device is not the galaxy-s, but the galaxy-sl. if so the tagging should be adjusted. http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9003_galaxy_sl-3761.php

Go to SETTINGS > WIRELESS AND NETWORKS and uncheck AEROPLANE MODE from there.
If that doesn't work, remove the battery and SIM card, wait 1 minute and re-insert SIM + battery and restart.

Run this on
adb. This will toggle Airplane Mode.
adb shell am start -a android.settings.AIRPLANE_MODE_SETTINGS
adb shell input keyevent 19 ; sleep 0.1; adb shell input keyevent 23; sleep 0.3; adb shell input keyevent 4;
echo "Toggled airplane mode";

[Source]


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Google Play Services taking more and more storage
I'm using HTC Desire A8181 with Android version 2.2.2. I'm currently running out of free internal space. Besides of some applications growing bigger from release to release, the greatest space consumer is Google Play Services. It is currently using 13,55MB and is automatically upgraded, taking more and more space. Soon I'll be forced to deinstall some of the apps because of that :(
Is there anything I can do with that Google Play Services? For example, can I safely uninstall it, install older version or tell it to move to external storage? My phone has barely 2 years and it's in danger of running unusable, while normally I'm using electronic devices 5 to 10 years...

Related: My internal storage capacity is running low, what can I do?

What Akas refers to is using the Link2SD app, which is "kind of" App2SD, but much more flexible: You can get the entire app moved out (not just parts), and can even move apps you otherwise couldn't. But Akas missed one important part: your device must be rooted in order to use this special way.
As to the other part of your question: Sure you could uninstall the updates of Google Play Services -- but that wouldn't help you in any way, as the app will automatically update itself again. Furthermore, there might be dependencies, as other apps use this service (e.g. Google Play to access the playstore, and others). So newer versions of those apps might rely on newer versions of the Play Services.
Maybe someone digged (or will dig) a little deeper into all those dependencies and what can be done about them. It might end up in using some "legacy apps" -- like e.g. the Legacy Playstore (original post), while the original ones could be frozen/removed. Maybe all this is possible -- it again would require you to root your device, as these apps need to be installed as system apps.
While we all wish our devices might have a long life: if you look at the specs of your two-years-old, and compare it even with todays low-end devices, you will see the difference. And if you compare app sizes from two years ago ("What? 1 MB app size? Too big!") with todays ("Unfortunately, the play store has a limit of 50 MB app size, were we cannot fit our app into"; with my own words the summary of LibreOffice for Android), you see were it goes. And while I fully agree that core services/apps should be kept slim, there's nothing we can do about that...
Enough theory: if your device is rooted, or rooting it is acceptable (and doable) for you: Akas recommendation seems the best way out for you.

If your phone is rooted, you can partition your SD card and move Google Play Services app on to your SD card. That could free up a lot of space. You can use this method to safely transfer all your apps(except the system apps) to your SD card. The procedure for partitioning and transferring can be found here. http://www.aroundandroid.com/tag/how-to-increase-android-phones-internal-memory-with-link2sd-app/


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Google Play store crashes and gapps process not working since upgrading to Jelly Bean on Samsung Galaxy S II
My phone is about 9 months old and has not given me any problems before I upgraded to the latest Android version - Jelly Bean 4.1.2. I downloaded an original version (not a cracked version) when I got an upgrade for my phone. However, since then, while I try to launch the Google Apps store, it just crashes and I'm unable to browse the store, forget downloading new apps!
It hangs often now - while typing a message or browsing on the phone, I randomly get the message - Something like, gapps.process is not responding and has stopped.
I reckon, I shall have to format and re-install the Jelly Bean again on my phone. I'm open to suggestions though :D

I do not have Kies pre-installed on my laptop yet. Will it cause an issue? If needed, where do I download it from?
My phone is not rooted - I would not like to root my phone as yet.
Would appreciate only legal methods, as I'm worried about my warranty on my phone.
My phone memory - contacts (extremely important) and apps(if possible) need to be safe.
I would like to keep the data on my data card ( music, videos ) safe.

I do a bit on my S II (I9100G), but I'm no real expert with the phone. Appreciate a tested way..!

You won't need Kies for that (how does that make the phone more stable when installed on the laptop? Are you carrying the laptop around with you, permanently connected? ;) One thing you could try is to factory-reset the device (beware: this will delete all your data and apps, so make a good backup before -- do not solely rely on "Google Cloud Backup", as a) this doesn't include all app data, and b) it's not really reliable). If that doesn't solve the issue, it's time to call the service; it was their update which broke it...

No need for a factory reset, friend.
All you have to do is go to Settings>Application Manager>All>Download Manager>Clear Cache and Clear Data.
Go to Google Play>Clear Cache>Clear Data and then Go to Google Play Services>Clear Cache>ClearData.
REstart the Phone and it will be alright.


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Getting double message notifications after replacing Talk with Hangouts
I've updated Google Talk to "Hangouts (replaces Talk)". Now whenever I get a message, I receive two notifications: one from the new Hangouts app and the other from the old Talk app. How do I disable the notification from Talk?
Device is Samsung Galaxy S II running Android 4.1.2.

Hmm, Hangouts seems to have truly replaced Talk on my AT&T SGS3 (I can't remember whether it was built in or I installed it from Google Play, though). But try this: Settings ->  Application Manager -> All (tab) -> Talk (maybe Google Talk) -> Disable. Or you could try going into Talk's settings and disabling anything related to notifications.

@TreborRude the app menu no longer contains "Talk" so I can't access its settings. In the application manager, neither "Talk" nor "Google Talk" appear under the "all" tab.

They just changed the app's name. If you take a closer look: the package name is still the same for hangout: com.google.android.talk. So it's technically impossible to have both apps installed at the same time (unless manipulating one of them into using another package name).

What happens when one is built in and the other downloaded, @Izzy? There must be some reason he's getting double notifications. That couldn't happen if the app was completely replaced. Stray service? Have you rebooted since installing Hangouts, @Oak?

@TreborRude it gets "overlayed". What do you think happens with all the updates of the Google Play app, which is a system app as well? As for the double notifications: admitted it sounds strange, but it must have another cause. Might be some "stray service" which (whyever) was not "cancelled" on update, so a reboot sounds like a good idea which should solve it in that case.

@TreborRude just tried a reboot and it solved it. I guess I need to watch The IT Crowd some more :) please post an answer so I could accept it.

I have the same problem, but a reboot doesn't solve it. I posted a new question: http://android.stackexchange.com/q/46060/30136

The answer in this post helped me out:
http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/46060/double-message-notifications-after-upgrading-talk-to-hangouts-cyanogenmod-7-2

As Izzy pointed out in the comments, the package name of Hangouts is the same as the one for Google Talk: com.google.android.talk. Therefore, even if Talk was built in to your ROM, it should be 'overlaid' by Hangouts.
However, it's possible that there's some Google Talk service that didn't get killed by the upgrade process. If that's the case, a simple reboot should solve the problem.

I am having the same issue with my HTC Incredible 2.  This issue has persisted after a reboot.

Several reboots did not fix error

I had exactly the same problem. I solved it by doing the following:

Settings
Applications
Manage applications
Tab 'All'
Google Services Framework
Clear data
reboot the phone

Good luck

After following these instructions, my hangouts were no longer being notified of new messages.  I ended up clearing data of Hangouts. Uninstalling Google Play Services, then when I launched Hangouts, it had me re-install Google Play Services.  After install I had to re-open Hangouts twice and then it was working correctly.

If a reboot doesn't solve the problem, such as in my case (HTC Desire HD), try going to Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > All > Hangouts and tap "Clear Cache" and "Clear Data". Go back, open Hangouts again and it will sign you back in. You may need to verify your number again, but that got rid of the duplicate notifications for my case.

This is now fixed in the latest release of Hangouts:

Fixed a problem where you could receive two notifications for a message: one from Hangouts, one from the old Talk app.

The new version details are below:
UPDATED:
June 6, 2013
CURRENT VERSION:
1.0.2.695251
REQUIRES ANDROID:
2.3 and up
Google Hangouts

I fixed mine a different way. tried all the above and nothing worked. I figured it was still seeing me as logged into Talk.
Try the following:
Uninstall updates for Hangouts. (brings you back to talk)
Open Talk and Sign Out.
Reinstall update (brings you back to Hangouts)
Fixed it for me.

I have no idea if this will work, but you could try and install "Root Uninstaller" and remove Google Talk, and then just install hangouts.
In the app you have the option to back it up, so if something goes wrong you can restore your google talk back.

This led me on the right track: I did not use Root Uninstaller, but followed these instructions on the CM wiki to completely remove the system Talk.apk.

Alas, removing Talk.apk did not solve it after all.

So you are still looking for a fix on this?


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How to store all photos to one folder like in iPhone?
iOS saved all photos in one folder, but Android saves them in different folders which is difficult to organize.
I am using a Samsung Galaxy S3 with custom ROM 4.2 & using the QuickPic app for photos.
How to make Android save all photos in one folder?

More information is needed.  Which phone do you have and which Android OS version is it running?  Which app are you using to take photos?

added more info!

Photo saving location is up to the individual apps.  Stock Android camera app, for example, always writes to SD Card's DCIM\Camera folder.  Other photo taking apps may have a different default location, but you should be able to change that in those apps' settings.
Various photo managing apps will try to scan your entire SD Card for images, and may pull in folders that belong to various other apps, not necessarily Camera/Camcorder.  Such apps usually have setting to specify which folders to include or exclude during such scans.

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


text:
Swype remove special characters?
Is there a plugin or any other way to use swype but force it to auto-replace special characters like č with c,  ž with z etc. ?
As currently Swype is predicting words - for example: "Španija" and it would be great if it would be replaced with "Spanija" as it would then have 160 characters in SMS message instead of 70, like when using special characters.

What if you added these words to your dictionary?

..then I would have to do that for all the words in the dictionary that have special characters, sadly

Enter the message application, click the menu button and enter Settings, select "Text input mode" and change the option from Automatic to GSM Alphabet. When you type in the message it appears as special characters but when the message is sent it is automatically converted to normal text.

I have actually read this before posting question here. I have triwd it again, and I see that it is working. It actually replaces special characters with "regular" english characters, BUT so far, I can see it is only working on stock messaging applications. I have tried, I have set it, and used Pansi messaging program that I use, and it is still sending special characters within the message. I will mark the answer as correct, but effectively I still need to find an answer for my Pansi messaging app :/


text:
K9 doesn't like my SSL cert
My mail provider recently updated their SSL certificate and now I'm getting errors in K9 mail when I try to test my server information:
java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.RuntimeException: error:0407006A:rsa routines:RSA_padding_check_PKCS1_type_1:block type is not 01 (SHA-1))
Is this a problem with their certificate? It works fine in Thunderbird. Or is the problem with K9 mail?

It's hard to tell if it's a bug in K9 or Android's SSL handling itself, but it looks like it was reported and discussed on K9's issue tracker. The last comment references a GitHub pull request that doesn't appear to have been merged into the main codebase, though. The ticket's about a year old, so I don't know if it just got abandoned or what.

I'm having trouble figuring out whether Dreamhost could solve this by fixing their SSL certificate.

I'm not really sure either. The discussion seems to imply that the error is caused by certificate chains that have a self-signed cert in the middle of the chain, and OpenSSL is more tolerant of this than Android's SSL implementation (which might be why Thunderbird works).


text:
How do I enter the Safe Mode on a HTC Desire?
This is for those of you who need to enter what is known as "safe mode" on HTC Desire. There may be several reasons why one needs to enter this mode. It is usually because the phone is not working properly.
One such reason can be that you have flashed your phone with a custom ROM and you are stuck in what is known as a "boot loop". If you manage to boot into safe mode you may be able to backup your data to a safe place before you attempt to rescue the phone by data destructive methods such a re-flash.

For basic information what "safe-mode" is, plus links to useful ressources on the topic, you might also want to see our safe-mode tag-wiki (you'll find those tag-wikis by hovering your mouse over a tag and click the "info" link in the popup -- or by simply clicking the tag, and then select the "Learn more..." link). Quite a few of our major tags have such a wiki with first-aid :) I'll link your question there now, as it is one of those "ressources" :)

This applies to the original HTC Desire, codename Bravo. The instructions have been tested to work on the GSM version of the phone with Android 2.3.3.
How to enter Safe Mode

Power off the phone.
Press and hold down the menu button, and then press and let go of the power button, but continue holding the menu button. The phone will power on and start booting.
The phone will vibrate when it enters safe mode. Let go of the menu button when you get past the HTC logo with "quietly brilliant" animation, or when you feel the phone vibrate. You will see the text "Safe mode" in the lower left corner of the display if the phone has entered safe mode properly.

How to leave Safe Mode
To leave safe mode, follow these instructions.

While in safe mode, press and hold the power button until you see the power options menu.
Tap the option "Power off". The phone will now leave the safe mode and quickly reboot into normal mode. Note that it will not actually do a power off. If you want to power off repeat these steps once more (while in normal mode).

Important notes about Android 2.3 and Fast boot
If you have upgraded to Android 2.3.3 then you should have "Fast boot" disabled. If Fast boot is enabled the phone will not do a complete power off. This has the advantage that the phone boots more quickly. But to enter safe mode the phone needs to be completely off. You can achieve this by either disabling Fast boot first, and then powering off the phone. Or you can power off, with Fast boot enabled, and then take out the battery to disconnect the power source, and then put it back in. Then you can enter safe mode as described above.
You will find the Fast boot option by pressing menu button, then going to Settings, Applications, and then check or un-check the option "Fast boot".
If you have Android 2.2 or below, then you don't need to worry about Fast boot. You can check which version you have by pressing menu button, then going to Settings, About phone, and then Software information.

Nice answer, Sammy -- but what is "Android 2.29"? Never heard of such a version. Also: "Fast boot" is a misleading term; it does not really "boot", but rather kills the "System Server" (see Can somebody explain the boot process of an Android device?) -- which basically means: from the 6 levels of boot-up, it leaves the first 4 untouched (and running), and just re-enters at level 5. Which should explain why it's faster :) Btw: do not confuse this with the fastboot mode for flashing, which again is something very different...

Yes, that's actually Android 2.2. I confused it with the build number 2.29.405.5. Thanks! Yeah, that's why I tried putting quotation marks around "fast boot" to indicate that it is not THE "fastboot". It's difficult when they use same words to mean different things. They could have just called it "quick boot".

I was not blaming you for the "confusing terms" :) Don't know why HTC even decided for that ("quick restart" would be much better fitting -- and in fact it's called "quick boot" on some devices, to avoid the above confusion. However, the term "boot" does not fit here at all. Not your fault :)


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Is there a nice one click alarm for android?
Sometimes when I'm tired, I take a nap of 1 hour. Doing that with the native clock on Android requires a lot of clicks. I would like to have an app that whenever the button is pressed, it starts to count 1 hour.

Setting alarm on with a single click and One-click access to alarm settings

It sounds like what you want is a timer rather than an alarm clock. (Did you look in the Play Store?)
One very simple timer app I use is Tick!.

Tap to open
Use your finger to spin the dial to the amount of time you want to count down
Tap to start the timer

You can use Google Now:
say "OK Google Now",
say "Set Alarm for one hour",
then touch "Set Alarm"

You could try an app called Simple Alarm Clock by a developer called Moula soft Inc.  It is in the google app store. I like it.


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Galaxy S3 Mini drains excessive battery when Wifi is ON
This question is linked to this one: Wifi battery saving tips or automation
This time, the question is different.
I have here a Galaxy S3 Mini phone that behaves strange. When Wifi is OFF, battery takes a lot of time to drain. When Wifi is ON, battery takes up to 4 hours to drain.
I have a personal Galaxy S3 "Large". As we all know, wifi increases power consumption. But not at that crazy level. My S3 consumed little less than 40% its battery power when the other phone was at 15% of remaining charge.
The battery monitor indicates that "Android operating system" takes 67% of the consumed power with a high CPU usage. When wifi is disabled that does not happen. The phone is rooted. ROM is I810NXXALL6, version 4.1.2. At the current time I don't remember exactly how I rooted this phone, but I can remember I flashed a stock no brand ROM.
I would like to ask if this behaviour:

May have been caused by hardware damaged (which means phone is to unroot, de-odin and send to repair)
If I could flash something (e.g. a radio ROM) to improve wifi performance

When wifi is on: is it actually connecting to a wifi network or is it simply searching for a network?

Both cases. It's difficult for me to tell whether the battery drains faster when home (connected) or out of home (searching)


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Setting custom permissions per-application
I want more granular control over permissions. I’m fine with applications having some permissions, but I want to be in charge and have more granular control.
Can this be done on Android? I know iOS has this for some things like contacts and calendar data. The user is prompted before the application gets access to these sensitive datasets.
Technically, I can see this working by denying API access when the application tries to access it.

Looks like it is available in Android 4.3, though hidden by default. http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/07/25/app-ops-android-4-3s-hidden-app-permission-manager-control-permissions-for-individual-apps/

Adding to Chahk's answer: Yes, it's true that "natively" permissions are an "all-or-nothing". The "standard user" is expected to either accept all permissions an app requests -- or to refrain from its installation.
And yes, it's true: using an app like Permissions Denied, which simply "denies" an app certain permissions, apps might force-close as they don't expect this.
But there's a third way where apps are simply fed "fake data". This is done e.g. by LBE and PDroid (see Other apps to manage permissions? and how to fake my personal information for details). App wants the contacts? Ooops, address book is empty. IMEI? OK, how about "1234567890"? Internet? Sorry, but we're in a tunnel -- neither WiFi nor mobile data available. So all returned data make sense to the requesting app: It does not get a simple "exception", so it doesn't crash. And what it makes up from the fake data -- who cares? :)
Needless to say: root is required here as well...

Each app will present a list of permissions it makes use of during installation, at which point a user can either accept them and install the app, or deny and stop the installation.  The permissions model in Android is an "all or nothing", meaning that you either accept everything the app asks for, or not install it.
Out of the box, after that initial acceptance, stock Android doesn't provide ability for users to deny specific permissions.  However, if your phone is rooted, there are 3rd-party apps that enable this functionality.  Some custom ROMs have this as well.  Keep in mind that the vast majority of apps are coded to assume that all of their declared permissions are available (since you have to accept them in order to install said app.) Therefore they won't bother checking for the conditions where permissions were denied via non-standard methods.  This means that apps will most likely become unstable and may crash or hang.

You may get what you want, but you need to alter or flash an aftermarket firmware onto your device.
There's CyanogenMod 7's permission management, but it's only capable of revoking permissions. API requests fail then. Eventually this is the same as if the developer forgot to declare the permission in the first place and apps often don't check that condition and fail.
Then there's the Privacy Droid (pdroid) extension patch set. It's been originally developed for Android 2.3 and consists of a closed source (Management App on Google Play and an open source patch for the firmware (see the link on the play store).
Because development has stalled, others ported the system patches to newer Android versions and open source management apps were also written. Some custom Roms include all necessary changes already, for those who do not (CM, et al.) there's the autopatcher project to modify firmware images to include all necessary bits:
AutoPatcher thread on XDA

Hint: There are two forks of the original PDroid available meanwhile. Details can be found via the links in my answer on this question. One of the forks is even Open Source (OpenPDroid).


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How to access Samsung Galaxy S2 storage while phone is off
My Galaxy S2 recently froze while browsing facebook using Firefox (the loading animation kept playing though), then shut down after a minute. I haven't been able to turn it back on since then. I tried turning it on while charging, using someone else's battery (working with their phone), USB connection to computer, SIM in or out, just the power button and volume up/down + home + power buttons; but no luck. The hardware seems to be fine, as the phone starts heating up around the camere when I leave the battery in (which I interpret to mean that the processor is doing something, just not the right thing - maybe stuck in an endless loop).
The advisor on O2 chat has suggested to send it back for repair, which I am happy to do; except that I'd like to save the app settings, photos, contacts and calendar entries which weren't backed up.
So now I'm looking if there's any way to access the storage without the phone having to turn on. Is this possible hardware-wise? Does anyone know how?
The OS is the O2 (UK) Android 4.1.2 if it helps at all.

A friend mentioned that pretty much all phones have 'surgical tools' out there which allow doing that - so I was hoping that somebody might be able to point me here :)

Just noticed the phone and charger (but not battery) heat up when I'm charging it - but still no turning on.

I'm afraid that's not possible without voiding the warranty. Without the device powered on, all you could do to access its storage is using some JTAG like device to get physically access -- which requires more than simply opening the device, and carries a certain risk. All you can (and should) do is to take out your microSD and keep it back, so at least that data is safe.

Hey! Thanks for the hint. I think if you post that with a bit of detail on what using a JTAG would involve (i.e. opening the phone, potentially having to solder on another connector) that would make a good answer to this question :)

I believe you it would -- but it extends my experience. I know that those methods exist, but I never applied them myself. Wrongly done, you might end up with a real "brick" beyond any repair. I rather leave such an answer to someone more experienced in that area :) But you could of course take that "keyword" for a Google Search, and... wow! Lots of promising-looking links! Didn't expect so many of them right on the first results page...

Phone turned off, no way of accessing storage. end-of! :) think about it, power has to be active for that to work and for usb cable plugged in to device in order for desktop/laptop to be able to "see" the storage... just saying :)

I wasn't expecting it to work, but I figured since the hardware is clearly running, there may be software out there able to hijack whatever processes are running and kill them.

what I would suggest is that you flash your device with Odin, your files such as mp3, pictures and videos would be untouched, basically every file on the internal SD memory would be untouched, if you have your contacts synced with Google you should be able to get it back.
but this would void your warranty
sorry I assumed you could boot into recovery or had hit a boot loop, this might not work but is worth a try, you could try clean the terminals on the phone and the battery (I have had instances where my s2 just wouldn't boot and this helped)

Surely that would require the phone itself to turn on in order to access the storage?


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How do I delete a Non - primary Gmail account from Gmail app 4.3.1?
This was easy to do before the upgrade,  now it doesn't do this.  It  doesn't make sense to have to do a factory reset!   It's less intuitive!

I believe you'll need to remove the associated Google account on your device. Go to Android's SETTINGS > PERSONAL > ACCOUNTS & SYNC. Tap on the account you want to remove. Next, tap the overflow/menu icon and choose REMOVE ACCOUNT
http://support.google.com/android/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1663649


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How to fix the boot of an android tablet
I have a Plum link tablet that when it is booting doesn't load the OS. When it tries loading the OS it gives me this error: Unfortunately system UI has stopped, and then cannot complete loading the OS; it just shows me that message and no more.
I've try everything: I wiped the data, and nothing. What else can I do?

Edit: Some facts integrated from below comments (by Izzy)

factory-reset (done via the recovery menu) did not help
what broke it was most likely increasing the screen resolution (DPI?) too much, so the config now holds invalid values (does anybody know if that is revertable e.g. via recovery menu + ADB, or something alike?)
last item indicates that root access is available on the device

I've just edited your question to make it easier to understand (I hope I've got that right?), and added a link to device information. Just a question for clarification: by "I wiped the data", are you talking of a factory-reset? If not, you might want to give this a try. If a factory-reset doesn't solve your issue (try also booting with the microSD card removed), you might need to turn it in for service, or ask them if they've got a "software fix" (usually a firmware update).

So did you try a factory-reset? If so: did it solve your issue? Still not clear :)

I try to reset the tablet pressing the volume up + power key and didn't work

What reset is that? I didn't know that some devices get reset just by that (or any other) key combination. You could go into the recovery menu, and select "factory reset" there -- just to be sure.

Whne you pressed Volume Up + power key and hold comes a menu to update the cache system, wipe user data, wipe cache data and load a new firmware i choose wipe user data, that i think is the factory reset.

Correct -- and that menu is the "recovery menu". OK, in this case you should ask your vendor for an update (even if it's the same version). Have you tried to remove the microSD card and see if it boots up then?

It doesn't have microSD

Then this leaves you with the service, as described. Nothing more you can do, sorry. What did you do before the device broke? Flashing some custom ROM maybe?

No, i try to expand the resolution more.

Oh. That perfectly explains your problem: you set it too high, so the GUI can no longer load. But to do that, your device must be rooted. Which means, you could flash another ROM as well. Or, if you've got a custom recovery, and hopefully did a Nandroid backup before, you can simply restore that. Otherwise you will have to explain to the service how that happened -- and have to pay them for repair, as (outside the EU) rooting voids your warranty.

How i can flash another ROM?

First find it (see e.g. Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?). On the page from where you can download it, it most times has a description on how to flash it. Methods and tools differ a little between devices, and I don't know yours. As you always only give us "snippets", I e.g. still don't know if you have a custom recovery (CWM, TWRP, ...) installed on your device; they e.g. enable you to flash update.zip files from SDCard.


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Google Now for GingerBread?
Is it possible to get Google Now on old phones ? It really sounds amazing.I would love to try it out :)
I found this for ICS.  - http://techzei.com/get-google-now-on-android-4-0-ice-cream-sandwich/

Which phone do you have? I wonder if there is a third party ROM (e.g. CyanogenMod) which you could flash to get newer android features.

Unfortunately Honeycomb and below is "dead" development, people are focused on doing more on ICS than anything.
When Eclair rolled out, development stopped on Cupcake and Donut, and now its quite hard to imagine someone still working on those old versions of Android. There may be around it involving rooting your phone but I doubt it. Look at your link, the third requirement: Deodexed ROM. That is part of what is holding older phones back. My suggestion would just be to upgrade your phone but i realize that is not an ideal solution. Sorry man.


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Using the same Skype number on computer and phone
I have a Skype account on my computer. I have a need to have the same number on my cell phone.  What do I need to do?

Install Skype application for your phone
Login using your Skype ID & Password (which you are using on your system).

Your Skype account information is held on the Skype servers, not your local device, so from Skype installed anywhere you can just login with the same Skype name and password. I agree with the first answer.


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Clock widgets and other widgets freezing on GS4
Often when I charge my GS4 phone two different clock widgets and my GNotes widgets freeze up. I have to restart the phone to make the widgets work again. The clock widgets are BeWeather and Fancy Widgets. I never had problems with them on older galaxy. Does anyone know what might be causing this problem? Thanks!   Edit btw I'm using Holo Launcher HD.

Consider using an alternative launcher like Apex or Nova and load up the widgets there and see if you have similar issues? Also, have you tried removing the widgets, restarting your phone and then adding once more the widgets to your current launcher?

Have you by any chance moved the apps holding those widgets to your SDCard (I know App2SD wouldn't let you do that, but there are other means to force it), and charge your device via USB from your computer? If "yes", does the SDCard get offered to the computer automatically via UMS? If again "yes", you've got your answer :)

I should have mentioned I'm not using the stock launcher but I'm using Holo Launcher HD. The apps are not on the sd card.

I'm getting a little frustrated with this problem now. I kept thinking it may be a Holo Launcher issue so I spent a lot of time installing Apex Launcher and setting up all my screens. For a little while I thought I solved my problem. However today all my widgets froze up again three different times.


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Last seen time for Whatsapp contact not showing anymore
Is there any reason - other than being blocked - that I wouldn't be able to see a WhatsApp contact's "last seen" time any more?

Can happen if you don't have a working data connection when you check.

Thanks for the answer, but it's just for one contact. I have data connection, and can see all information for other users.

Can you get rid of a Whatsapp account? Perhaps they've deleted theirs?

There are a few apps for Android that allow you to hide your Last Seen status. The iOS version also gives users the option directly in the app.

Any examples of those apps that allow people to hide their Last Seen status?

How did you get to this screen? My iOS "Whatsapp" >> "Settings" doesn't have this "Advanced" option.

There is no possible way of hiding status from your contacts on Whatsapp. Therefore if you are unable to see any messages on the status bar then chances are that the person has probably deleted his/her account or the person has blocked you. For further information regarding this you can read the FAQ section of Whatsapp. http://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/android/23225461
Edit: it is possible for people to hide their last seen status if they are iPhone users. So Android users beware, any of your friends using iPhones can hide theirs. Its nothing they've done just to you, its a global setting for them.

iPhone users have the option to turn this Timestamp off in the Settings. Source.

Android users can install a 3rd party app that would allow users to hide last seen status. Apparently its a paid app.
WhatsHide Last Seen WhatsApp

try Secret WhatsApp
Secret WhatsApp allows you to get in WhatsApp without a trace of you!
Do not ever be online. The data on your last visit will not be 'more' up to date.
Simply clicking on the icon will open 'WhatsApp mode' Secret.
When you close or quit WhatsApp, your messages will be sent and you will not leave a trace!

There is an app in google play to hide whatsapp status:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hidewhatsappstatus

I faced the same issue but after a few days, I received a text from my friend that his handset was damaged and all applications, including Whatsapp were uninstalled when repairing. So, keep this possibility in mind before jumping to the worst case scenario.

You must make use of " Hide Last Seen Time " feature. There are two ways to make it possible. One is Using an application and another is doing it manually. You can find complete guide here :
Hide WhatsApp Last Seen Time.

WhatsApp's privacy settings allow to hide last seen. So it is possible to hide last seen without blocking the contact. But this will apply for all contacts; i.e. you can't hide last seen for specific user.


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If I charge Nexus 4 with a wireless charger will it charge considering red LED error
I've had a red LED error in my Nexus 4 for a week and it won't turn on or charge. I've tried everything, pressing the power button for 60 seconds, etc. I even opened it up and removed the battery and plugged it back in. It just won't help. I think it's due to very low power levels in the phone and it won't even charge. I was thinking that if I charge with a wireless charger will it charge or not?
Also if I charge it with an iPad charger the LED becomes stable red otherwise it's blinking using LG's original charger. So what's the issue and how can I resolve it?

If you have the red LED and the device won't charge from the wall, using the original charger, then it's faulty. Send it back for a replacement.

I live In pakistan , and I can't get it replaced from here. Any other solution?

Isn't there any LG service center? Go to one of them and try.


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Trouble moving apps to SD card
I followed the instructions mentioned in this site and I partitioned my 8GB SD card alloting 512 MB to my second partition. I then used Link2SD and linked all my apps to SD card. Every time I install a new app I get the notification that the app is linked to SD. But my internal memory still get used up and I get the message "Low Internal Memory". After partitioning I set the Link2SD location to EXT2. But looks like my apps are not getting installed there. Appreciate any help! :)

How do you tell it "looks like apps are not getting installed there"? File manager? Or is it rather an assumption? One more thing to consider is: Link2SD does not move application's private data files; it moves apk, dex (dalvik-cache) and lib files. (from Link2SD description at Google Play. So it might rather be the apps' data filling up your internal storage.

Actually the apps are getting installed on to the ext4 partition. When I unmounted the partition the apps failed to show up in the drawer. So now why is my internal memeory still getting used up? I am unable to install any new apps because it says "Insufficient storage avaliable" but my ext4 partition still has a lot of space remaining.

As I indicated in my previous comment, it's most likely app data. You might want to take a look at Something is secretly eating up my tablet memory and I need help finding it and Android “Internal Storage” used but not reported for a closer investigation, also most frequented "internal-storage" questions might prove helpful. PS: You might also want to update your question to fit the new facts :)


text:
What does the "last seen" status in WhatsApp stand for?
My boyfriend's phone is shown to me as "Last seen at 22.57 pm". I last spoke to him at 20.40pm. He tells me he stays online and doesn't close the app.
So what does the "last seen" stand for then? Is it the time he finally lost his signal or signed off -- or the last time he actively use the app chatting with someone?

Please be more clear with your question. I'm assuming you are using Whatsapp. So I would suggest you go to this site. http://www.whatsapp.com/faq/general/20971848

I also don't see the connection between your question and the tags used: what has your issue to do with email or the playstore? And how is it specific to Android 4.0? If it's about Whatsapp (as Akas assumes), there's a whatsapp-messenger tag available which would fit better. Same applies to Google Talk.

After the re-phrasing (which still matches the original, very emotional question), this looks like a completely valid question to me -- as trivial as the answer might seem ("last seen" = "last online"; it's the status of the app/connection, not of the user/activity ;)

From WhatsApp's FAQ:

"Online" and "Last seen at" are timestamps that tell you whether
  that your contacts are online, or the last time they were connected to
  WhatsApp. "Last seen at" refers to the time the contact left WhatsApp.
  You can also think of this as "Went offline at"

So having the app open would still show you as "Online", but does not mean that any messages are being sent. Note that even then, the timestamp might still be incorrect.

The Whatsapp last seen timing is actually when was the last time the contact was seen online, or last used Whatsapp. It is a time stamp that is generated by the Whatsapp server.
There are actually apps that track last seen timings of contacts, like this one called Spyder. It's pretty cool! It is like an MSN console that shows which of your friends are online right now!


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Why does "Phone booted!!!" toast message show up on start up?
Recently, whenever I power on my phone, a toast appears saying "phone booted!!!". What does that mean? Is it a virus? I haven't installed any apps in a week or so.

I've never seen anything like that. Are you running a custom ROM?

@AlEverett: Yes, my phone is only 4 months old.

Can you provide some sort of screenshot or picture of the phone showing this message? Are you running Android 4.2? If so, you can long press the notification and see which app is generating the notification.

The age of your phone has nothing to do with whether you're running a custom ROM. If you are running a custom ROM, which one? Specifically where are you seeing this message?

@BryanDenny: I'll do that next I time I see the notification message again.

@AlEverett: I know it has nothing to do with the age of the phone, that was an irrelevant piece of information! I don't understand what you mean by which one. I see the message at the start up screen just when the phone is booted.

@Gigili: A "notification" is a very specific term for something that appears in your "notification bar". If you're seeing it at the start-up screen it's not a "notification". Please [edit] your question to include the missing information.

It's shown like delivery reports and other notification messages. I don't know any other term to describe it and there's no missing information.

Does it appear in the notification bar? Then it's a "notification". Does it rather flash up somewhere else on the screen, and disappear automatically a few seconds later? Then it's a "toast". Does it appear in its own "sub-window", and you have to close it manually? Then it's a "popup". Does it appear full-screen, and you have to press the "back" button? Then it's an "app" (or at least an activity ;)

@Izzy: TIL. Thank you for your explanation, I edited my question accordingly.

OK, that's clear now :) Additional questions (please update the details into your question as well): 1) by "turn on" you mean "power on", or really every time you switch on your display? 2) Did this happen from the beginning, or did it just start recently? 3) If recently: Did you install any new app immediately before it started?

Any application that uses RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED permission can run when the phone boots (i.e. when it is first turned on), in your case to display a toast message.
Try checking the permissions on your (recently installed) apps. Any application that uses "Start on boot" permission is a candidate for your problem.
To further answer your question, I doubt it's a virus, especially if the app in question is installed from official sources. Most likely just a feature developer implemented to notify himself.

I have encountered this message as well. Its one of your applications.
Try to uninstall the last three applications you've installed if you remember their order.

pls dont use txtspeak, write normal English. Many users here are not native speakers, and some of them already have a hard time without scrambling.


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No web access on Android 2.3.7
I have an LG Optimus V, rooted, with Cyangenmod 7.2.1 (BackSide-IHO) that has developed, lately, a weird network problem:
While on 3G (or wifi) every app on the system with the exception of the two browsers on the system work perfectly. The browsers, which are Opera and the "built-in" browser cannot get to ANY webpage. They act as though they have no internet connection. Whereas I can fire up an OpenVpn tunnel via WiFi or 3G and it connects fine. Every other network-using app on the system also works fine on either 3G or WiFi.
I have the "SetDNS" applet and have changed from Sprint's DNS over Google's with it. This change was LONG before this problem began.
As I'm familiar with Linux, I've poked around via adb shell to see if I can suss out the weirdness, but nothing jumps out at me. Everything I do at the shell command line having to do with the network works fine. It appears the browsers have something misconfigured.. I have no idea what...
Does anyone have any idea of what it could be, or what else I could test -- and how to get the browsers work normally again?

Do you have any proxies configured, maybe?

Thanks for the reply!! I forgot to mention I'd snooped around in both browsers to see if that was the case, but was unable to find any settings for proxies in either browser. I couldn't find any proxy settings in the basic Android settings either..

You might want to add these important facts to your question (simply hit the edit link directly below it) :) A third place I guess we can exlude now is some proxy app you might have installed (there are several "http proxies" on the playstore which would only affect browsers, mostly, and some WebApps, maybe), as you would have remembered them by now. The system's proxy settings should affect all apps (they are mostly hidden in the "advanced" sections of their resp. APNs), so we can ignore them I guess.


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Xperia V require root permissions every time
I have Xperia V 9.1.A.1.140 and I just rooted it using "Root Many Android" (see closer decription on XDA), and now I installed Titanium Backup and every time the app loads it requires permissions multiple times and every time I try to uninstall and app, why is that?
EDIT: And here is the solution - I also rooted it with motochopper (again described at XDA) which installs the SuperSU, and in now only asks the SuperSU for permissions only once and it's working fine now.

Boris, could you please give us some more details: 1) What is "this method"? (a few words on the tool used would be helpful; for full information one still can follow the link); 2) What kind of super-user app are you using (SuperSU, SuperUser by ChainDD, SuperUser by ClockworkMod/Koushik)? 3) On the popup, is there a box to make the grant permanent (usually labeled "remember") or something similar, and did you try that? 4) What do you mean by "try to uninstall and app" (maybe you meant "everytime I try to uninstall an app"?)?

actually I did it with another method from XDA http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2228613
with this it installs the SuperSU and then it only asks it for permissions only once, and it works fine now

Which means your problem is solved? In that case you might think about a) updating your question to make it easier understandable (as described in my previous comment) plus adding your solution with a few more details as well, or b) removing your question if a) is too much work :)

check it now, better?

Well: An answer is an answer, not part of the question :) You should post it below, where it says "Your answer", and then can accept it after the technical two-days delay, so it shows up as "solved issue" in searches. It would also help to name the methods instead of only calling them "this" and "this other", so people would not have to look behind links for basic information (see my edit ;).

ok, will answer it tommorow

So here is what I did:
First I tried Bin4ry method's from XDA
with the 3rd option, it installs Superuser, but its buggy and it doesn't remember the permissions.
So then I did it with Motochopper method from XDA
which installs SuperSU, and the root apps now require permissions from SuperSU just once, and it's working fine.
After that I safely deleted Superuser.


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Xperia V heats up very much near the camera
So I purchased this new Xperia V today, updated to last firmware 9.1.A.1.140, but when I do stuff on the phone even when not too CPU demanding, it heats up very much, and I mean really heated up, near the camera flash... What could be wrong?

That is most likely where the battery is located. I don't know what your definition of "not too CPU demanding" but i know when i use my Galaxy nexus for extended lengths of time it heats up noticeably over where the battery is. Even when the screen is not actually on and i am not interacting with it, it can heat up due to processes and services going on in the background such as email sync or music playback or social site syncing. This could be part of what is going on with you. Also, when I charge it it heats up. There probably is not anything "wrong" with it, just a lot of stuff running. If it makes you feel better, when it starts to heat up, turn it off and take out the battery until it cools down, then put it back in.

No, its not the battery, its around the camera, and even in the front side where the SONY logo is, and I mean I just pick the phone from my desk, its cold, and after I download (just plai download) 2-3 apps from google play (even dont launch them) it starts to heat up

Switch off your phone when you are not using.
Lock your phone when it's not working.
Don't run too many apps in same time.
Don't use the phone while it's charging.
Don't play games or watch videos when it's getting overheated.
And I have to tell you something... I have an Xperia V.

Try system updates (if available).
Usually company fixes these kind of problems in them.
Else close all the unwanted apps n restrict them from starting up again


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what is the download mode
could anybody explain what is this download mode?
As described in here How to root Innos A35
as I hold vol up +vol down 5 seconds and at the same time connecting the USB cable to
my computer it shows up a removable disk and unknown drivers in windows 7.
My phone is also Innos A35 device locally sold as i35 from dialog telecom.
What are those? And what is this download mode?
But unlike the recovery mode, I didn't get a screen up. Is these two modes all coming
from ROM. what kind of code is there on ROM. [Well in x86 computer I could review
a opensource bios implementation, any idea on Android ARM ?].Where that consoles
come from?
Where is uboot located? Is this download mode is a mode that programmed into a ROM, where
I could not change it?
I have read the boot procedure of a typical android phone. But can't organize the info
with this.

Download mode is for flashing radio firmware/rom upgrade through official means..its an open-ended question as there's no reference of your device that spurred the question on... can you include your device please?

my device is innos A35 as well.

Some devices uses U-Boot over the generic boot, its a bootloader code found in the /boot partition, for details of boot - see this As for Download mode, for example ODIN is commonly used on Samsung devices to flash ROMs, those devices needs to be in download mode prior to flashing.

@t0mm13b I'd say you should merge your two comments into an answer :)

if that is a partition under linux/android. you tell me how this happen? In wikipedia page it said that bootcode is completely isolated from the android/linux itself. Could you please explain that also to me in your answer.

And yes Izzy, I think he knows the right answer that I'm seeking. Please merge as Izzy told, so I could give some credit to the contributor.

Download mode is for flashing radio firmware/ROM upgrade through official means.
Some devices uses U-Boot over the generic boot, it is a boot-loader code found in read-only ROM chip on the board, which uses a certain memory address offset, in which the kernel from the /boot partition gets loaded into that specific certain memory address offset and jumps into that address and the kernel starts running.
For details of the generic LK boot which is employed by most, if not all, Qualcomm based devices, see this
As for Download mode, for example ODIN is commonly used on Samsung devices to flash ROMs, those devices needs to be in download mode prior to flashing. However, ODIN is not the official way to do it, rather Kies, is the official route in upgrading the firmware, this is for Samsung devices for example.

I've reviewed your answer that you referenced 'this' . It seems like you are a great kernel hacker.

The device has both "download mode" and "bulk mode" as part of the SOC. When it is turned on, it decides if it should jump to any of those modes, or actually boot the "main processor". If it does, then the preloader/secondary bootloader (two different names for the same thing) kicks in. If you turn the device on, the preloader will run the bootloader (on QC devices usually the lk that was referred on another answer).
The bulk mode is meant to expose, in bulk, the device's partitions.
The download mode is meant to be used to push a programmer into the device and run it.


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use wifi for data but not phone?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 and figured out how to connect to WiFi, but I want only the data to go through WiFi, not the telephone calls. (I have had trouble w/ phone over wifi; the data is fine though + it saves me money going through WiFi.)
Is there a way to do this?

Since when do phone calls go via WiFi? Are you talking about some VoIP app (e.g. SIP)? Standard telephony goes via your mobile provider, WiFi connected or not.

It's builtin to my phone. Not a VoIP app.

aha, found it:
under apps -> settings -> connections, I can turn overall use of Wi-Fi on or off.

Then if I select "More networks", I get this screen:

and I can turn on or off "Wi-Fi Calling".
Tmobile has a note about it here: http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-5864

All the telephone calls go through Mobile network not Wifi. If you have any VoIP application like Viber or Skype installed. Then while making call, it asks whether you want to use Phone or Viber/Skype. I guess you might have selected one of these apps with "Always" settings.
In this case, go to Application Settings & Clear Defaults. And next time be sure of selecting Phone Always.

No that's not true. My phone can use wifi for regular phone calls, I'm not using skype or anything like that.

But that's quite unusual: cell phones use phone cells (to phone phones at other cells, yeah ;). Do you have a reference link, so we can better understand what it is about?

I wonder if it's a Tmobile thing only. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2417990,00.asp "The S 4 also supports T-Mobile's excellent Wi-Fi calling system."

http://t-mobile-coverage.t-mobile.com/4g-wireless-broadband-service


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Protect music player from being killed?
I am using an SGS+ with 512 MB RAM (which leaves about 380M for the OS) running the CyanogenMod 10.1 Beta build 2013-04-15 (Android 4.2.2 on Linux 3.0.73-rc1-PhenomKernel-V3) and as soon as firefox has to load a page with a couple more gifs or large images the music player (Apollo) is being killed. I'd rather have the front app being killed than having to stop listening to music.
I tried the App RAM Manager Pro on setting Hard Multitasking without any success.
So, how do I protect the muisc player from being killed?

Does it happen with other music player too? Like Meridian e.g..

Couple options :

Use the swap file feature of your RAM Manager.  That'll give you more (up to 256MB more) memory to play with and might be enough to stave off the music player kill.
Toss the RAM Manager and use something (Like MinFreeManager or manually edit the values in /sys/module/lowmemorykiller/parameters/minfree1) that will let you manually specify the Low Memory Killer's parameters.

For the latter, since your priorities aren't the usual ones (kill foreground before killing background, rather than the other way around), you want to toss the presets (which assume "the usual priorities") and set the values as such.  Specifically, you want to set the VISIBLE_APP (an app that is not on screen, but is doing something, in this case, cranking out tunes) value to be lower (and thus lower on the kill list) than the FOREGROUND_APP (exactly what it says on the tin) value.
Further information on what the LMK does and what all these values mean can be found on my answer to this question, which is probably more relevant to your question than the one it was an answer to.
1As I mention in my other answer, values in this file are in pages, which are 4KB.  8192, for example, is 32MB.


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Downgrade Samsung 2 7.0 from CyanogenMod 10.1 (Jelly Bean 4.2.2) to stock ICS
I recently updated my Samsung Tab 2 7.0 (GT-P3100) to Jelly Bean 4.2.2.
But I after successfully installing, I see that there's too many things that I don't like with the update.

Alphabetic Indexing is not present.
Confusing settings (unlike previous version)
Hate Apollo. Music suddenly stop. Shuffle always default to OFF whenever using the player. Liked more the default samsung music player.

Is there a way to restore back previous OS version provided by Samsung? Previously, it's 4.0.4 if my memory serves me right.
I was also trying to "Restore" in Samsung Kies but the software always cannot detect my tab. Tried uninstalling/reinstalling Kies with the same outcome.
How can I go back to stock ROM?

You might want to check Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device? for a ROM source. If you found the corresponding stock ROM, you can flash it via Odin/Heimdall (as for your device not being detected: try different boot modi, such as e.g. download mode, recovery, fastboot).

It’s very important to make sure you perform a backup of all your data before attempting to install this!
Follow the steps below:

Make a backup of your all data.

Download the stock firmware for your device here. (Stock ROM is also on 4.2.2)

Download it and then unzip the file. (Do not extract the tar.md5)

Open Odin 3.04 (If you don’t have it you can download it here)

Restart your device into download mode, to do this press the Power  and Volume Down button on your device.

Connect your phone and wait until you get a yellow/blue color with port number in Odin software interface. (If your system didn't detect the device, re-install the USB device driver/Kies)

Add the firmware_name.tar.md5 to PDA, verify re-partition is NOT ticked, Start flash, don’t touch anything and wait a few minutes.

Your device should now reboot.

NOTE: Do it on your own RISK

The stock firmware is at 4.2.2 :)


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How does voxer build your list of contacts?
I use Voxer on my tablet as a Push-to-talk application. On my tablet I don't have list of my phone contacts. Also I didn't give Voxer the permission to browse my gmail contact list.
But something weird is happening, it lists some people I've not been in contact for ages, I don't have their phone number and I know nothing about them for ages. So, how is Voxer building my list of contacts?


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Can I get my old keyboard back after update?
I have an HTC Desire X and I Updated Android yesterday (I have android 4.1.1 now).
Since the update I have a new keyboard, which has keys on different places (such as the change language button). Also the Swype (or trace or whats-it-called) function is gone.
The picture below was my old keyboard, is there a way to get this keyboard back?

I already looked in Settings > Language & keyboard where I found HTC Sense input, but there is no possibility to turn on trace (or Swype) there or the option to select my old keyboard.

It might help if you could say what keyboard it was, a picture alone can just make guesses possible. There are multiple keyboards supporting "swype input", most of them are available at Google Play: like the "original" Swype, Swiftkey, SlideIt (looks very much like your screenshot), TouchPal...

It was the keyboard that was on my phone when I bought it. I did try some Keyboard apps, but I like the old one better.

My experience is that the Swype option disappeared with the upgrade.  At first, I was really annoyed.  Then I downloaded the Swype trial from Play.  It is so much better than what I had before that I have no hesitation in paying the $0.99 to get the full-blown Swype.

using touchpall now, which is also quite good. i just find it weird that you get a downgrade with an update

I checked a few alternatives and found that the free Go keyboard is the closest match to the old HTC Desire X one as the spacebar is longer and easier to press.
However, my phone gets slower whenever I want to open the keyboard to type like sms, Whatsapp,etc. Could be that the app is slowing down the phone. I wish they had include the swype keyboard in their latest software update. Kind of weird that they have taken out a function for an update.

As soon as your keyboard appears, pull down the notifications center.
There you should see a notification "Choose Input Method", tap it.
A menu dialog should appear allowing you to choose a different keyboard.

I does offer HTC keyboard but this one is not the old one


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Android Tethering DNS Problem
I am using a Sony Xperia Go mobile device with Android Gingerbread (2.3.7).
Whenever I try to use Tethering (USB/Mobile Wifi Tethering), I could not immediately access website using my laptop.
However, I know that there is an Internet connection because I can access websites using their IP address in my Google Chrome in my laptop. I tried nslookup in command prompt several times, trying to query Google's DNS servers (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) and 192.168.43.1 (my phone).
I always get the error DNS request timed out.
However, after several restarts, turning on/off Data and mobile hotspot, it would suddenly work and all the DNS requests through command line would get responses. But there is no definite number of restarts. Just today, it took me about 30-45 minutes doing this routine of restart-turn off hotspot-turn on-turn off mobile data-turn on.
Every time I do this, I can use my mobile phone to access the Internet. So, that is not the problem. The mobile phone can connect to the Internet.
I also use AirDroid. AirDroid is also working normally and I could access it in my browser. So there really is an established connection between the phone and the laptop. It's just DNS requests are not pushing through. I have tried this for both mobile hotspot/USB tethering.
My mobile provider allows tethering and I have a mobile data plan. Can you help me determine what is causing the DNS problem? This happens almost every day.

There's an update to Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) available, maybe it'll fix your tethering problems. Tethering on Android does NATting, just like a normal router. I.e., there's a DNS proxy running on your phone, probably dnsmasq. You could try to use 8.8.8.8 (Google's DNS) and see if there's a difference. Also you can try to use different means (Bluetooth-tethering, USB-tethering, WiFi-tethering) and see if the problem is the same there.

For your problems running Nslookup from the terminal, see Android terminal not able to nslookup? for more info.

Is your Mobile Network Setting correct?

Try setting your gateway on your desktop to that of your mobile device?

BTW What does your ipconfig output say?

Same results. Mobile network setting is correct - in fact, I am able to access the Internet using IP addresses.

You're not rooted on the mobile? Running Droidwall/AFWall+? Blocking DNS is what I suspect, you can access using IP addresses but not by DNS names...

@Mr.Buster Is there not a mini "dns server" for devices, such as this?

@t0mm13b Sorry, I removed my comment because I hadn't read the question thoroughly enough :-/ (where he mentions his carrier allows tethering). For those not as fortunate I imagine something like that might work well.

I was able to solve it by manually setting my DNS.

I ended up manually changing my DNS server to tether Internet from my mobile phone. My phone uses a local DNS server from my mobile carrier which I was able to trace using CompruebaIP.
Any other DNS server is blocked by my mobile carrier (Globe Telecom). I reckon that my phone's DNS service is not properly working. When tethering, the DNS provider should be my phone which serves as proxy when connecting to my mobile carrier's DNS servers. Thus, I had to set them manually on my laptop.
I am using Windows 8 and my phone is an Android Gingerbread 2.3. So basically, the problems are:

My mobile carrier is bad. They are blocking other DNS servers and are monopolizing DNS requests. This isn't good because their servers aren't that good.
My phone's DNS service appears to be broken. This means my laptop could not connect to the DNS service of my mobile phone which then forwards DNS requests to my mobile carrier's DNS service.

Fortunately, after two months of despair, I was able to resolve this. This is what I did:

Find out what the actual DNS servers are my mobile carrier is using through CompruebaIP.
Manually set my laptop's DNS servers to the one used by my mobile carrier.
Even better, I retained Google's Public DNS server 8.8.8.8 as my primary DNS server and used my mobile carrier's primary DNS server as my alternate DNS server.

So, now, I can use my mobile phone as my Internet provider for my laptop whenever I am not at home or at work without having to change anything every time I use it.

I had a similar issue, solved it by using proposal 3.

I had a similar problem for a while. It was working for years, but a few weeks ago I got this annoying dns issue.
After a lot of googling and various attempts, I changed the password of the android hotspot and hop, it was working again.


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Cursor positioning in SMS editor
I bought an Android phone (Philips w632) and I'm unhappy with the text editor used when I SMS because when I want to edit a letter in the middle of a word I need to keep tapping the letter until the cursor gets there. When I tap and hold on, a magnifying glass appears and this shows clearly where the cursor is and it appears as if I can change its position, but the moment I let go the whole word gets highlighted with two tabs on either side.
When I'm typing something in the browser however an orange tab appears under the cursor and I can move this which in turn moves the cursor to the correct position.
I did download Swype with the hopes of changing this situation but unfortunately it has the same issue.

I don't know for sure as I haven't seen a Philips phone, but it sounds like Philips have put in their own SMS app which doesn't use the standard text entry field. The little tab to help you position the cursor accurately is part of that, not part of the keyboard.
If this is the case, then using a third-party SMS application instead will make it easier to use. There are many on Google Play, so just try one out and see if it helps.

Thanks I will check that out, but I must say that the keyboard does look a lot like the standard android keyboard. But I will give it a try

The keyboard is completely irrelevant. What matters is the TextView: the box within the app layout, where the text appears.

Are you sure you have Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)? Because I think this is a feature that was added in this version of Android. I know I got this when I upgraded my HTC Desire from Android 2.2 to 2.3. You can see some images below showing this feature in action. Click the images for high-res.

The first four images show this feature in my SMS messaging app, and the last one shows the same feature in my browser. I use the stock apps for SMS and web browsing that came with the phone. But like I said, I didn't have this until I upgraded to Android 2.3.
Now from what I understand this is probably what you get when you try to do the same on your phone.

Something like that? And maybe a magnifying window?
You need to make sure you have Android 2.3 (or higher) also known as Gingerbread. If you do have Android 2.3 (at least) then it probably has to do with your SMS messaging app. In that case you need to try a different SMS app.
Here are some SMS messaging apps you can try out.

chomp SMS
Handcent SMS
Go SMS Pro


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Internal Memory getting low despite apps are moved out using Link2SD
There might be similar questions. I don't want to open those old question.
This is what I have done:

I have rooted my phone.
I have installed Link2SD.

It was working good. Suddenly I started to get interal storage full warning.
I uninstalled apps one by one. I got some space in internal storage. I got about 80MB. I should get 150MB. Anyway, I am now installing apps one by one. Whenever I install an app, the internal storage is going low. Once I moved the app using Link2SD, I am getting some space.
But the problem is, I am not getting the same amount of space. So if I install few more apps, the internal storage will surely go down and i will get warnings.
What is the best solution to keep the apps in SD card? So I can keep good internal memory.

Have you seen this: HTC Desire low on internal storage, I'm clueless -- Any help? Can you elaborate as to why your question is different?

Please see the insufficient-memory tag-wiki for your storage problem, plus the link2sd tag-wiki for some background on Link2SD. Special quote from the latter: Link2SD does not move application's private data files; it moves apk, dex (dalvik-cache) and lib files. So with any new app installed, even if moved with Link2SD, additional internal memory will be used for the apps data (e.g. database files).

@Al Everett That question and answer didnt solve my problem. I guess it would not have solved the problem for the asker!

@Izzy how do we move data files too? I just found that twitter, facebook and g+ use lot of data. If i clear them, i am getting more space and i need to re-login. They fill the data very fast.

@Mahesh take a look at the link2sd tag-wiki :) Or guess the word: App2SD -> Link2SD -> Data2SD :)


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Clearing app data without waiting for it to be counted
When I need to clear an app's data, the "Clear Data" button is greyed out until Android has finished counting how much of it there is. Sometimes it never completes, and I need to force quit Settings and try again.
This is, obviously, a complete pain.
Given that I don't care how much data the app has stored — I just want it to be zero bytes — is there a way to force Android to enable the button and let me clear the app data without waiting for it to be counted first?
(I have a Nexus 7, which updated to 4.2 pretty sharply after I got it, so I don't know if this is a 4.2 bug or a poor design decision which has been around for ages…)

That issue bugs me in Android 5.1.1 as well.


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Got weird noises with auxiliary jack while charging in the car
I'm using Galaxy Note. And I got this weird noise with auxiliary jack while charging in the car.
There is no noise while music is playing, and there is no noise if the charger is unplugged.
How do I solve it?

Just to verify, you have an audio cable running from the 3.5 mm out on the phone to the 3.5 mm aux input on the front panel of your stereo? Or is it some custom installation? What's your charger?

@Sammy: Yep, audio cable running from the 3.5 mm out on the phone to the 3.5 mm aux input on the front panel of my stereo. The charger is just a USB car charger that fits to the lighter plug.

After a lot of Googling around, I found 2 possible solutions:

Hardware solution: Kensington Noise Reducing AUX Audio Cable - haven't tried it myself. Yet some guys at android central report it worked for them.
Software solution: Aux Noise Filter app - Tried it on my Galaxy Note. Works like a charm.

Yeah man, grounding is a real bitch! Humming noise problems in audio are often caused by some grounding issue. The cause is not easy to locate or identify. There's ground from the charger coming in to the phone, and then there's ground coming out of the phone via the 3.5 mm audio plug and enters the car sound system via the aux in. They need to have the same potential. But a ground loop isolator can often solve the issue. But I didn't expect to see this problem with a smartphone. So much for being "smart".

That Kensington looks promising. It probably has a ground loop isolator built into it. I'm not sure how that app can solve this type of problem. I'd say it cuts off some low frequencies when no music is playing and no other audio service is running, like receiving a phone call. I mean there's not much more you can do, software-wise. This is a hardware problem. It's a way of sweeping the problem under the rug. I'm glad it worked out. But in the long run you might consider getting that special audio cable or get the grounding checked out.

@Sammy: Can this grounding issue cause damage to the battery?

No, it can't damage your battery. It can't damage anything, it just causes interference problems. You don't even know you got a problem until you try connecting some audio equipment. Audio equipment, especially in cars, is sensitive to interference. Humming is just one of these problems, and it's usually caused by improper or not optimal grounding situation (from audio point of view). A professional car audio installer should be able to work it out. Check out ground loop (article).

I had this problem on my Galaxy S4 - whining noise from alternator (changing pitch with engine revs) plus random static. It only occurred when the charger was plugged in the USB port, and when no music was playing. I installed Aux Noise Filter and it worked a treat.

Now, that is weird!

Play some music or unplug the charger.
Try a different cable.
Try a different charger.

I won't tell you to change your car, your stereo, or your phone, as those are expensive. But you can always try it out in someone else's car, if that's an option. You have to narrow down the problem by using trial and error method.

Hi Sammy, thanks for the quick answer. I Tried both different chargers and cables. Didn't helped.
Playing music or unplugging the charger are not an option sometimes (when GPS is running for example).

Playing music with the volume set to zero maybe? Weird work-around, but better than nothing until you have a real solution.

Same problem. Tried changing the charger and audio cable. Only buying a ground loop isolator worked. The PAC SNI from Amazon solved my problem, and got high reviews too.
http://www.thoughtworthy.info/BlogPost/158/Android-Phone-Buzzes-in-Car-While-Charging-And-Listening-to-Music


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Sending single SMS message to multiple contacts causes MMS
I'm experiencing an annoying (and costly) problem on my HTC Desire X. (Android 4.1.1) Every time I send a single message to multiple contacts at the same time, the message will be sent as MMS rather than SMS, even though it is a normal text message (not too many words).
I am using Facebook's messenger app to send 'normal' messages as well, but I don't think it has anything to do with it.
EDIT: okay, so after some testing I noticed it has to do with Facebook messenger's app. I went over all settings but can't seem to find anything that disables MMS for group messaging?

Are you using the stock app or Facebook app to send the messages? If I recall correctly, Facebook doesn't handle MMS.

On Stock Android 4.2, in the Messaging app's settings, there is an option called "Group messaging". Disable it. "Use MMS to send a single message when there are multiple recipients"

@BryanDenny My phone can only receive 4.1, so I don't have 4.2. (I checked and "Group messaging" is not in the options or settings.)

This is an easy problem to fix, I believe @BryanDenny already mentioned it.

Go to the stock Android messaging app.
Click the Overflow menu button down in the lower left hand corner (it looks like three boxes stacked on each other).
Select "Settings" from the pop-up menu; should be the first option.
Under "Multimedia (MMS) Messages, uncheck the item that says: "Group messaging- Use MMS to send a single message when there are multiple recipients".

As I said in the comments, I do not have that option. (Android 4.1)

In all likelihood, MMS is just the standard for a group message due to the slightly larger overhead even though you are sending only text. It technically has to send that text times the number of recipients and even though that is still considerably less information than a picture, I would guess it's yet another dick move by big telecom to rake in more money.
SMS/MMS should be free, and it can be:

Get a Google voice number
Install/configure Hangouts (also integrates with chrome)
Set Google voice number in hangouts to the default sending number
Free MMS/SMS over data
Added bonus: Free phone calls with Hangouts using Google voice

You can still have facebook as well as the stock messaging app on your phone and choose to use any of the three at any point in time. They should all synchronize to a degree.
An alternative workaround would be to send the message to one person, and then copy the text and send it to the next person, etc.
Also worth noting just in case:

If you add a Subject to the message you're making, it gets converted
  to MMS format. Even if the Subject is empty, at least, that's what I
  know (source)

It is also relevant how many characters are being sent. If it is > 160 (or perhaps another close number), there is a good chance the protocol gets bumped to MMS automatically.


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Set Nook Simple Touch back to Stock Reading App
I've a Nook Simple Touch, rooted, with ReLaunch and Aldiko. I'd like to return to the Stock Reading App (instead of Aldiko).
I can't find the stock reading app. I have 'Open with' available on the context menu but then the stock reading app isn't listed. 'File Associations' will also fail to find the stock app and the intent is being picked up by Aldiko.
How do I get back to opening PDFs and ePUBs in the B&N stock app?

Have you checked in your app drawer? Also, you could check in Settings->Apps->Manage Apps, go to the "All" tab, scroll to Aldiko, and check whether it's set as "default app"; if so, delete the default. Next time, you should be prompted again when opening a book.

I think @Izzy is right, you have set the default action for opening these file types with Aldiko. You need to go and find the app information for Aldiko and clear the defaults.

I found that if you install another reading app, then when you open an epub it will offer the choice of reading apps and you can pick the default one "reader". You can then delete the extra reading app.


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Samsung Galaxy SGH-i897 with SlimBean won't connect to AT&T
Samsung Captivate
AT&T Network
Slim Bean 4.2.2
I was having issues with my phone and decided to try a ROM and give the phone a new life.  I chose the SlimBean Android 4.2.2 ROM and all went pretty well.  I like the interface and speed.  I tried to make a phone call this morning and discovered that it isn't connecting to the AT&T cell network.
Is there a step I missed?

I found that the APN settings weren't sticking.  I tried it dozens of times but it never would stay.