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Google docs on Android cannot authenticate
I have a Galaxy S3 on Sprint with the latest software and firmware updates. When I use the internet browser to browse to docs.google.com, it keeps redirecting me between accounts.google.com and then back to docs.google.com. It does it so fast I can't type in my password to authenticate.
This has persisted across a reboot. I am logged in to my google account if I go to Settings, Accounts.
I just want to get on to Google Docs. How do I stop this redirection? (note this method worked fine on another phone of the same make/model.)

Even if if goes from docs > accounts > docs, you are still logged-in to docs (correctly) right?

@geffchang I don't think it's logged in appropriately. At least not for google docs. It basically leaves up the authentication page where I type my password, but keeps stealing the focus when the URL bar switches, killing the keyboard display so I can't type my password. Very odd.

Have you tried using a different browser (e.g. Boat Browser), and see if it's also doing the same?

I haven't tried another browser. I'll do that.

@geffchang I tried Firefox. It let me authenticate for the first time, then after I had given it my password, it started doing the same thing. I cleared cache, history, and cookies, and was able to get the authentication page again, with the same results when I signed in. If I used the wrong password when I signed in, this did not happen. It wasn't until I authenticated. Does this have something to do with the google account I'm using on the phone for email? It's the same account.


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CHKDSK (check disk) for Android
My Android tablet "went berserk" this week and eventually, I managed to stop the behaviour that was stopping me from even getting the "desktop" to stay up front.
I eventually discovered a corrupted directory (the name was "mashed").  I deleted it and the device now seems stable.
What is the Android equivalent of the Windows/DOS CHKDSK command?  I want to be able to scan the device and repair any nascent problems on a regular basis.

note that you'll need root privilege to run fsck on system partitions.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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How do I stop Maps and Street View from auto updating?
I'm on Froyo.
My phone internal memory is nearly full, so I've stopped updating my apps and uninstalled updates from the preinstalled apps.
However, every few days, my phone keeps auto updating the Maps and Street View apps, filling up the internal memory and I have to uninstall them.
Is there any way I can disable the auto update? As far as I can tell there's no entry for these apps in the Store.

Do you have root access on your device? Are you using those apps (or don't you need them)? Did they come pre-installed with your device, or did you install them manually (from "uninstalled updates" I guess the former)?

I don't know if the most recent version of the Play Store runs on Froyo. In any event, in the Settings for the Play Store, there's a setting for "Auto-update apps". Make sure that's off. Perhaps toggle the setting to ensure it's set properly.

@Izzy No root, preinstalled, I'm not using them

@AlEverett I'm currently on the factory version of the Market; no settings option :/

"no root" in combination with "Froyo" then rules out most possibilities (with ICS and up, you could simply disable those apps, and with root you could have cut the market/playstore connection). But as Al suggested, even the old market app had the possibility to disable auto-updates AFAIR. Open it, scroll to those apps, open their item, and check through the description; if I remember correctly, with the old market app this setting was done on a per-app basis. For the general settings of the app, try the menu button on your device.

@Izzy Yes it was, but I'm skeptical that an app entry is there for the factory apps. I'll try, though.

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


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unknown error code -24
I have Android 4.1.2 on Samsung galaxy S2
I install an app and get this error:
unknown error during appliaction install -24
googling this line should clearing Google play cache might help
but it didn't work for me. Any other solution?

Why do you need another solution? Doesn't clearing the cache solve the issue? That's the least dangerous thing to do. Of course, a factory-reset might help as well, but that's like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

I've just checked that again: "Error -24" in most cases is caused by a failed install/update. To solve it, uninstall the app from your device. After that, you should be able to install it again.

authors: Александр Дорохов

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


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Reflash 1st Gen Kindle Fire Bootloader?
I rooted my Kindle Fire and flashed TWRP, FireFireFire, and AOKP, and it's been working fine for a while. Recently, however, there have been strange problems with the bootloader. It has gotten to the point where the bootloader requires the user to select how to boot, then crashes and starts up again. How can I reflash FireFireFire to my device? Thank you for any help.

What is FFF? From the context, it's either a custom recovery like TWRP, or a custom ROM like AOKP (as the Fedetation of Fly Fishers makes no sense here, nor does this FFF (ouch!)). Mind to provide an explanation? ;)

FFF is a custom bootloader, short for FireFireFire. I need to reflash it in order to fix the issues that have been cropping up with booting the device.

Would it not work if you flashed it using the same method used before?


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clockworkmod/backup can it be removed?
Today I installed cyanogenmod JB on my galaxy note and I found this huge directory (2.47GB) in the /sdcard partition. Can it be removed or it could be useful? Can I move it on my pc?
Thanks in advance

Two times yes: Of course it can be removed, and of course it can be useful. At that place ClockworkMod stores the nandroid backups you've created with it, and from that place you can restore them when need for that arrives.
In case of an external SDCard, and when space on it is precious to you, you could simply copy its contents to your computer, and then empty the directory. Or just keep the latest backup on it. If you need to restore one of the removed backups, it then would be possible to use a card reader, copy them back, and re-insert the card to your device so they can be found.

You can boot into recovery and check how the "/sdcard" is mounted using the command "mount". If it is not mounted, you can mount it and should be able to get rid of this directory using "rm -rf"(however, you might like to check the significance of this data first). If it is mounted as read-only, remount it with "rw" option and go for deletion.
As for moving it to the PC, "/sdcard" is usually visible when the device is connected to Windows(Underlying partition is usually formatted with FAT). Have you already tried that?

I was talking about /sdcard/clockworkmode/backup directory


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Is my phone listening to me?
I've recently received a Nexus 5, which touts very tight Google Now integration. This weekend I've been visiting my parents. We had a discussion about a local restaurant which they went to last night. I just flicked over to Google Now and it's got a card about that restaurant, and only that restaurant. (we're in a big town, there are many restaurants, and it's by no means the nearest. I've never been there before). Is this a crazy coincidence or is Google Now listening to me?

We've had nothing mention of the restaurant in email's or texts, only a face to face conversation this afternoon while I had my phone out (but not explicitly listening).

Happy to see that you too believe that speech recognition could be used for targetting customers!

Fredley, I don't think you're crazy. I think my Android is listening to me too. It's brought up two articles in my news Highlights that were related to conversations I had with friends or family in the last week. And it was totally strange topics like cooking "sous vide" and Norway king crabs. And I never searched on it or had emails about it. This is freaking me out...

Just happened to me too, with the lyrics to the Folk song "Do your ears hang low". I'm 99% sure none of my Circle, Facebook friends or anything like that has searched for this recently. It's creepy.

It is possible that maybe your parents  (or your friends) searched for it, or +1d it, or checked into it, and they are in your Circles! Google regularly gives you suggestions based on what people in your Circles like.
Take a look at http://www.google.com/policies/terms/changes/

Feedback from people you know can save you time and improve results
  for you and your friends across all Google services, including Search,
  Maps, Play and in advertising. For example, your friends might see
  that you rated an album 4 stars on the band’s Google Play page. And
  the +1 you gave your favorite local bakery could be included in an ad
  that the bakery runs through Google. We call these recommendations
  shared endorsements and you can learn more about them here.

Hope I helped!

Yeah. Time to think about which services we really want from "Big G", and which intrude too much into our privacy. As nice and useful as Google Now might seem, it's not an altruistic gift. Google Starts Tracking Retail Store Visits On Android and iOS, and I'm not sure how far that will go. I saw this coming (hence never used G+ and GNow), still I was shocked...

I believe their algorithms are very good at analyzing who you interact with most and how recently. Me and a girl texted each other one time after meeting on the street for the first time and never meeting again. The next time I went on facebook, she was recommended as someone I may know. I assume she uses the facebook app which has access to who she contacts and it was able to connect us because of that. This type of permission could easily be extended to advertising based on what people you know have viewed on the internet as well as geolocation data if they visited the restaurant recently.

Right now this is not very likely. If the phone was listening and analyzing the surrounding voices constantly that would drain the battery very quickly. You could also detect app activity, data connection, etc. while that process occurs. Indeed @gunner has a plausible explanation.
Nevertheless, it is likely that at some point phones could analyze phone call conversations the same way that Gmail analyzes the text of emails and suggest personalized ads based on these conversations.

The technical limitation isn't really true anymore. See http://developer.android.com/training/sync-adapters/index.html and http://www.wolfsonmicro.com/media_centre/item/worlds_lowest-power_speech_recognition_solution_for_mobile_devices_now_avai/


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Do you need root to flash a custom recovery?
Does flashing a custom recovery requires rooting the device, or just unlocking the boot-loader is enough? On my Nexus 7, I was able to flash custom recovery (CWM) without rooting. Is the same applicable on other android devices too?

Welcome to the Android Enthusiasts! Two interesting questions – but which one to answer? Q&A sites like this work best if you only ask one question per post (each page being a 1:n relation: 1 question with n answers). This makes it easier to follow, and to search for the answer to a given question. Might I suggest you [edit] above post, and move your second question to a separate post? Besides, for that 2nd question: it's quite unusual to flash apps via recovery (with a few exceptions); plus if it's rather a development question, it should better be asked at [SO].

Thanks Izzy. Edited the post as you suggested. My second question was not about flashing the apps, but to replace the stock recovery with my piece of code (say "hello world") rather than CWM. Adb has the option of flashing a custom recovery image, but I was wondering about how to make one in the first place.

Yes, fastboot has as well. But as said before, adjusting your code goes beyond the scope of this site. You might wish to check the Android section at StackOverflow.

Did post the question there, yesterday itself. Just wanted to clear my point. Thanks.

No, it doesn't require root. Although we talk about rooting the device, all you're actually doing is getting root access within the Android OS. Flashing a new ROM or recovery happens before Android is running - it's a lower-level part of the firmware - so you can do it regardless of how Android is set up or what permissions you have within Android.

Another thing, a lot of custom ROMs come 'pre-rooted' so if you choose the right ROM the rooting process is completed during the installation of the ROM. Obviously only applicable if you are considering installing a custom ROM.

You need to unlock the bootloader to flash a custom recovery. Search over at XDA to see how and to choose the best custom recovery for your device. Some popular ones are TWRP and CWM.


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How to see the contents of boot partition
Does anybody know how to mount the boot partition?On my nexus 7, I booted to recovery and tried to mount the boot partition using the following-
mount -t ext4 /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/boot /boot
But this failed.
I tried to do read-only mount and mount using vfat, but with no success.

The boot.img file is a bootfs partition. I also tried to mount this partition, but in the end I stumbled upon this script. It may help you solve your problem.


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Why doesn't Android report accurate Netflix data usage?
I played ~2h of Netflix on my Nexus 5, on T-Mobile's LTE network early this morning. I had switched off WiFi. After doing so, the data usage screen looks like this (scaled down):

Netflix data usage (click for larger image)
Note that the phone reports 2.85GB of data used, with the top user being Netflix at 22.2MB. That's different by two orders of magnitude; and nothing else on the list comes close to making up the difference.
T-Mobile gives a different number still (~1.3GB). The screen notes that may differ. But it confirms that the data did indeed go over T-Mobile.
Why is Android under-reporting the data used by Netflix by two orders of magnitude? Is there some way to get accurate data usage stats (I'm rooted, so root-only solutions are OK).
edit: Checking /proc/net/xt_qtaguid/stats shows Android is reporting on rmnet0 while reality is on clat4. Not really a solution as that file reports since boot only, not a particular time range.


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Updating Android on a Rooted Tablet
I have an Android tablet that I rooted to attempt to install a different OS. After I failed and restored my tablet to a backup that I had made earlier (it's still rooted), I tried to update Android. It checked for updates, and promptly displayed a box that said "Your device has been modified. Software updates are not available." Is there any way that I can update my tablet while it's rooted?

It might help if we knew a bit more information about your tablet. Who is the manufacturer? What Android version is it running?

I ended up just installing CyanogenMod. They have features that stock Android should have had from the beginning, and support pretty much every Android device on the market for many years after Google and the various device manufacturers abandon it.

Can you provide more information on the steps necessary to use this? My Samsung tablet apparently has a Knox "warranty" flag which is an eFuse and cannot be reset. From what I have read I am uncertain if the device can even be modified, especially if the bootloader is involved.

There are different methods for updating your device. Once you've rooted it, the checksum for your /system partition changes, and an update might check that and abort because of it (as you just experienced); this is mostly the case with ota-updates.
However: major version updates are rarely spread OTA, but mostly have to be flashed manually using a corresponding computer program. Which one that might be, is manufacturer-specific and depends on your device (so for details on that, we need to know which one it is). Still, applied as an update it might again fail with its checksum verification.
A third variant would be assuming a "virgin device", and make a full install. This usually does not apply any checksum verification (as it does a complete install, and not an update). For this, you might want to check with Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?
More details on device updates can be found checking frequent questions tagged "update" and our update tag-wiki.
P.S.: After clarification for the targeted device, there are two more tags you might want to investigate: odin is Samsung's flash-tool for Windows, heimdall is a multi-platform open source equivalent.

Sorry for not clarifying this in my question; it's a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 (p3113), running Android 4.2.2

Thanks for clarification! I've just updated my answer accordingly with links to the Samsung tools involved in ROM flashing. You can take a look at their tag-wikis for more details (and consider accepting the answer by tapping the checkmark next to it, if it answered your question sufficiently).

I originally used odin to root the tablet, and then installed ClockWork Mod Recovery. Is there a way that I can update Android but keep my settings and apps, like it would do if I updated it from the settings pane the normal way?

That always depends, and you never can be 100% sure. Details I must leave to those used to Sammy's devices and tools – but it never hurts to have a good backup. Take a look at our backup tag-wiki for good hints on that. In short, Titanium Backup and adb backup (including the Helium frontend) can be your good friends with that.


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Out of space message although I'm using link2sd!
I've Android 2.1 (Sony Ericsson Xperia X8) so I'm using link2sd becasue many apps need some extra space but OsmAnd always shows "Out of space" message.
How can I fix space issue?
P.S.

link2sd works fine.
I've 64.13MB of free space in the internal storage and 4.61GB in the 1st SD card partition and 2.18GB in the 2nd SD card partition.
The size of OsmAnd apk is: 16.5MB

I don't know how much the installed size of the app is. But considering how the install process works, the explanation might be easy:

the .apk is downloaded to /data/local (internal storage)
for installation, it might require some unpacking, with temporary files again being created on internal storage
only after that, the app will be stored to its final location (in your case, Link2SD would then take care to move things to your card)

Checking with our insufficient-memory tag-wiki, you will find that the "insufficient memory" error is triggered when available free space on internal storage falls below ~ 25 MB. Now let's make a little math: You've got ~64 MB free there. The .apk is ~18 MB. We need to leave ~25 MB to not trigger the error. So: 64 - 18 - 25 = 21. If the installation process requires more than 21 MB for temporary files, you've got your explanation. With the (packed) .apk file already being 18+ MB in size, it's very likely to break that limit.
For a possible work-around, you might want to take a look at Configure Play Store to download temporary files to SD Card.

Thanks a lot for fabulous explanation; Do you've any idea how to override "insufficient memory" error to be able to install such kind of apps? BTW I downloaded the apk into the SD card not into /data/local and when I extracted the apk manually on my Ubuntu I got a folder with 29.6MB!!!

I don't think that limit is easily overrideable. I don't even know where exactly in the system it is set. And there probably is a good reason for its presence (e.g. to prevent a system freeze due to "out-of-diskspace"), so it's not a good idea to tinker with that. // Btw: if this answer is "acceptable", you might consider accepting it (via the checkmark next to it), so others with a similar issue can identify it ;)

Another one that might be helpful to you: Configure Play Store to download temporary files to SD Card

Unfortunately I don't use Google play, I'm using F-Droid the open source repository

I guess both are calling the same package installer, so the very same trick should work for FDroid as well. Worth a try for sure.

OK, I performed the mentioned steps in the above link but unfortunately I still get same error message (ln command executed successfully so /data/local content is physically on SD card)

In that case, I'm out of ideas, sorry.

Thanks a lot, I with some one in the community give some help

You can also free space when you move the dalvik-cache to the sd-card. The problem is that android uses a cache for the applications effectively double the occupied space in the data partition. Together with link2sd it can be very effective.

Good idea but how can move dalvik-cache to the sd-card? does it a folder name?

Oops dalvik-cache is already exists in my SD card?! I think it created by Link2SD

I had same problem.
Fix for me: I changed the default install location to automatic, which fixed it for me.


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Tab bar in Chrome browser
I have a Galaxy S4. I use Chrome browser. Anytime I play with an Android tablet, Chrome has a tab bar like on a desktop OS. I want to enable this on my phone, but I can't find an option to enable it. I tried looking into the prefences file but didn't see anything pertaining to this. Is there a way to enable this? I'm rooted, and don't mind messing around so I don't mind if there's a "hackish" way to do this.
It seems like Chrome is a universal app, so I don't see why it acts different on a phone versus a tablet. Or at least provide an otion for it.

Yet to find a way for chrome without installing a tablet ui rom. Boat browser has this feature. After initial install it will dissapear if you scroll down the page. If you go to settings and lab, just tick the top option to show nav bar.
Dolphin browser also allows this but used too much battery and ran more sluggish to be worth it.
I dont understand why chrome doesnt allow it. Im on a note 1. Its a deal breaker browser feature for me.


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How can I communicate with someone that only has a tablet?
My wife and I recently ran into an unusal situation: She left her phone in my car, which I didn't know. I, of course, drove off with it. So we couldn't communicate by standard voice or text.
She did, however, still have our tablet with her. So I was wondering: what are the various ways that a person with a tablet can communicate with a person that has an Android phone (so never mind "borrow another phone" type answers)? I'd like as many different solutions as possible since, in this situaion, certain methods of commication (such as email) might be ignored as unexpected.

Here's a couple of answers to start with:

Email
Hangouts (or any other IM app), which usually require the other person to be logged in.
Glympse - Send a check-in glympse to their mobile number with a message. They'll get it as a text.
using some SMS gateway either via Web (browser) or a specific SMS app supporting this
using a messenger app like Tango, Skype, or LINE

A Tablet has several methods that it can utilize to make a connection into the world:

WiFi Connection
Data Connection
Bluetooth
USB
NFC

Both WiFi and Mobile Data Providers connect into the Internet. Any service that uses such a connection may send messages from one device to the other. Email and Instant Messengers like WhatsApp or Telegram can be named here.
Two internet capable devices can also connect through Bluetooth. Bluetooth is a direct connection between two devices, with no router, switch or modem in between. Two devices can communicate through Bluetooth. There are some Bluetooth Messengers out there, even though it does not make much sense (when the two devices are close enough for bluetooth to work, why don't you just communicate directly?). PLUS, there are so-called Bluetooth Hotspots, where you can log onto a hotspot using Bluetooth instead of WiFi.
A Tablet can communicate with a device it is connected to via USB. This option allows 'USB Tethering' for example. In theory, you could also directly connect two phones with USB to enable communication between them.
NFC is short for "Near Field Communication" and does exactly that. NFC sensors are very weak and only work when in very close proximity to another NFC sensor (within another phone). This is a wireless communication with a range of 1 to 10 centimeters.
These are all options a modern phone has to communicate with other devices.

Facebook Messenger.  Of course, the tablet needs to be connected to the internet.

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


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Can I make a Google Doc shared with me more accessible on my Android device?
A friend of mine shared a Google document with me. If I use my Gmail app on my Android device to open the email that includes the link, I can see the document in the Google Drive app.
However, I can't seem to find any way to mark that document using the Google Drive app so that I can get back to it easily. Every time I want to view the document, I have to find the email in which my friend shared the link, and then click that link.
Is there no way I can bookmark or add that document so that it is available without me having to search for it? Ideally, I could leave it open in the Google Drive app so that when I reopened the app it would show me the document without me having to select it again.

If it was shared to your Google account, you should be able to find it in Shared with me:


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SMS Thread / General Limit?
Is there a limit within Android, or possibly set by OEMs (heard this from a friend who is a technician), of the total amount of SMS messages you can have? As in, messages within a thread  and/or all threads combined? Not just the limit within conversations which you can manually set. I mean a limit android has coded into it, or one that OEMs set, that actually would "limit" (whether by slowing down or stopping) the number of SMS you can have?
And I'm not talking about a couple thousand, but even in the hundreds of thousands in a thread?

I cannot provide a definitive answer, but some folks have had over 20,000 messages, based on this Reddit discussion. So if there are any limits, it may have been set by the OEM (or their custom app). Using 3rd-party SMS apps might provide a workaround to the limit.
I would bet that if are hundreds of thousands of messages, there could be a significant performance issue, although that may depend on how the app processes the records. Go SMS Pro, for example, does not load the messages all at once. But if it reaches the point where it has loaded already a lot of messages, the app slows down.
UPDATE #1: To paraphrase Izzy, the storage limit will also trigger the "insufficient memory" error, usually when there's less than ~25 MB free space on internal storage. This would also prevent the SMS from being stored (plus the possibility to send some on your own).

Well, I have ALMOST 100,000 SMS in one thread. I currently use Hangouts with the new SMS integration, but previously had to use GoSMS. GoSMS would be a little sluggish, and annoying. But, in the stock SMS app, I could load it one time, tap the big thread, and it wouldn't load. Then when I went back to the thread view, it wouldn't load. I don't want to delete them, and I won't. Just wondering why that happens, and if there is a limit in Android/OEMs.
Also: I am rooted running a CM 10.1.

@David I would assume this would be more of a hardware issue. On a PC, just try opening a really large text file (maybe 2-5GB) on Notepad, on an average PC. I think it would crash.

I thought of that as well. Is there an app, that you know of, that would, cache x amount of the messages, only loading them if specifically called upon? Like if I kept scrolling up in the conversation, and hit a "load more" option? That seems like a simple enough fix for large SMS threads, no?

@David I have no idea. You'd have to check the play store for that. 100K seems overkill to me though. I normally delete my conversations after some time, or back-up those that are important to me.

well yeah I could always backup and store somewhere. But I haven't found a solution for that which I like, yet. I just think, that even how absurd the message count is, the app should be able to handle it. Every message already sent or received won't change, so there is no need to load the first x amount of messages after a thread hits x length.

One more thing to keep in mind (geff, you might wish to include that directly with your answer) is the storage limit triggering the "insufficient memory" error. If I remember correctly, that would also prevent SMS from being stored (plus the possibility to send some on your own). This error is triggered usually when there's less than ~25 MB free space on internal storage.

@Izzy no it isn't. It just REALLY lags the phone / stock SMS app. I have over 10 GB free on my internal SD card (no external slot). I never get the memory issue, just the lag.

@David I think the phone can only handle so much (think of PC RAM vs hard disk)

@David I didn't mean to say this has to be the reason in your case (and I'm sure geff didn't understand it that way either). We were just completing the list in general, as for a future visitor this might be the crucial point. And it could have been a point in your case, so we wanted to make sure you know it and eventually can either rule it out. Besides: the internal card is of no interest for it, neither is the external card. The insufficient memory error is only related to phone storage (aka "internal storage"), not to any SD/external storage.

@Izzy Oh okay. Just thought you might have meant that was happening to me. But do you think an SMS app, designed (probably on some simple function) to cache a certain number of messages and not load them, would alleviate my problems?

@David Sure, why not? [But ASE is not a programming site. That would be better off in StackOverflow]


text:
Connected to Wifi but not internet
I have S4 ,I have a full 5 bar signal on the WiFi but no internet
if I try to browse internet it says : the server at www.google.com can't be found,becasue the DNS look faild.
 I tried connecting / reconnecting, turning off the phone and restarting it but no Connection.
while the other devices such as I phone ,another Galaxy are OK
please advise what do to do

You can use a static ip address and gateway address. It's also possible to edit the nameserver. You also need a route for the interface. You can use the route command to add a route. When you have a terminal emulation and root user you can type route -h to show a little help screen. To add a route try this: route add default gw xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx dev xxx.

Thank you for your feedback, but how to route ? I don't know how to do it

Thank you , I forgot to metion that my problem is connecting to my Company Netwrok , IT says he can't connect directly to the server following your advise

Thank you , I forgot to metion that my problem is only happens when i am at the office,while at home it is OK . our corporate IT guy says he can't connect me directly to the server as per your advice becasue it is private phone .....another advise please


text:
SMS messages won't delete no matter what
I have a phone which has thousands of SMS. Now it's very difficult to delete them all and the SMS app always hangs. I have tried the following to no avail:

Select All SMS > Delete
Downloaded SMS Backup & Restore App and used it's delete function
Downloaded Super SMS Quick Delete App and used it's delete function

They all just hang.
I am also trying to "Clear Data" the Dialer Storage App but it's not pressable, even after "Force Stop". How can I make the Clear Data button pressable?
Or, is there another way to delete all SMS aside from Factory Reset?

When you say they hang, are you sure they're not just working?

@DanHulme Yes, I left it overnight, it deleted very few amount of SMS. Tried it again, doesn't delete anymore. Maybe it's stuck on some corrupt SMS.

Reposted from a comment by Gretchen Hollinger: Did anyone ever figure out this issue? Here it is, 2015, and I'm having the exact same problem. I've emailed the developer and left a poor review in the app Play Store, hoping to get a response. If I deleted these messages manually, it might only take 10 minutes, so why can't the app do it? And before anyone asks, yes, I did change my default messaging app to SMS Backup & Restore.

You could always download Handcent and use its "Force Deletion" feature. I've seen that work for many others. But depending on how many SMS you have, you will need to let it sit for a while.


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How can I remove the notification header in Android 4.3? (Big hour, date, clear all button, notification/quick setting switch)
As shown in below screenshot: is there a way to remove the notification header, or at least replace it with a transparent image, on Android 4.3?

Screenshot (click for larger variant)

out of curiosity, why would you wanna do that?

This is why: http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/4079/ttza.png (it is my actual homescreen)

how did you make the notification shade fully transparent ? I guess your problem is there not with the buttons themselves.

Not easily- no. The notification shade is part of the systemUI APK which will need to be de-compiled and reverse engineered to do so. I know of no custom ROM or MOD at this time which will allow for this behaviour; although posting this request on the relevant sub-forum for your device on XDA-dev might turn up a lead.


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GSM signal lost - howto get signal back without restarting
Several times a week I have the problems where the GSM signal is lost on my phone, due to bad coverage in that area. The real problem for me is that when that happens, and when I move to a place with known coverage, the signal doesn't come back. The only solution I know is to restart the phone. Switching to airplane mode and back doesn't help.
Is there an app or method I can use to avoid the restart?

Phone: Samsung Galaxy S2
Android: Jelly Bean 4.2 (Avatarrom)

Until a real solution is found: you might wish to take a look at apps like Quick Boot. They avoid a complete reboot by restarting the system server, which is much faster as most of the boot-steps are skipped (5 of 7, to be more precise, see Can somebody explain the boot process of an Android device?).

Thanks for the quick boot tip. I've installed it and will see how it works out.

If you add your comment as answer, I'll reward that.

Done. Better a work-around than nothing. Still keeping my fingers crossed for a "real solution" to the underlying issue; maybe a future update to your ROM will do that.

The following is no complete solution, but at least a work-around, avoiding a long reboot:
There are apps like Quick Boot (others have things like "fast reboot" and the like in their names/descriptions). Other suggested by those names, they do not really reboot your device, but simply restart the system server (for details, please take a look at Can somebody explain the boot process of an Android device? – the system server is started at step 5 of 6 boot steps, so this skips more than half of the way down and up, effectively resulting in a process about 3 times as fast as a complete reboot).
While this way all your apps are killed as a side effect (as they require the system server to work), it's still a lot faster than a real reboot, and thus "less hazzle".


text:
Can 2 smartphones malfunction if they are hold together in the pocket for long times everyday?
I apologize for my ignorance but I am not very tech savvy.
Basically  I do  a field job and I always have 2 phones in one of those bags you put around your waist.
I had 2 Samsung galaxy S2 in the past and after a while they started having trouble with receiving signal. I went to a "specialized" shop where they sell smartphones and the guy told me that the malfunctions is caused by keeping them together for prolonged periods of times.And went on with some speech about electromagnetism.
Now the two S2 were malfunctioning for real as I tried with different sim cards, factory resets and the problem persisted.
I then bought a S3 and yesterday I bought another one. I always need 2 phones..long story.
Now some other people basically confirmed that keeping them close to each other breaks them but none of them,in my opinion, seemed to know their shit.
so,
Can 2 smartphones malfunction if they are hold together in the pocket for long times everyday?


text:
Port already Using Error in Android
I have an android application which is running on Huawei S7,Android 2.2. It is getting inputs from an arduino board.Arduino Board is connected to the tablet by USB cable.Application is using USB Protocol to connect to arduino.
The application is written for Android 4.1.And it is using a backward compatibility pack to make it runnable on 2.2. We had to use a 2.2 device.But now we have a device with Android 4.3. And when we try to run the same app in 4.3 device it gives an error saying 4567 port already in use. 4567 port is the port used by arduino application to connect with the Android Device(Tablet Application).
How can i find the application which is using the 4567 port?
Is there any way i can free up that port?
My 4.3 device is not rooted. Will rooting do any good in this problem?

You could check whether the netstat binary is available on your device. It's a command line tool, so you'd either need a terminal app or an ADB connection to use it. netstat --tcp --listening -p then should list up all listening ports together with the associated "program" (didn't try this on Android, so I'm not sure whether all options are supported. If you can confirm this, I'll write up an answer).

I used terminal emulator app and ran the above command.
This is the output i got.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8JZMxx6Km7oZFpqRGJkcUV0cDQ/edit?usp=sharing

Do i need the root access to run this command?

Just a second: Your linked screenshot does not use above command. You ran lsof (LiSt Open Files). I wrote netstat --tcp --listening -p. Complete different commands, for different purposes (though partly overlapping). Please ty again :) And no, it should not require root to run netstat (though the -p parameter might ask for it, depending on implementation).

Sorry i linked the wrong screen shot. I was trying that command suggested by another stackexchange site user.This is the one i got when running netstat --tcp --listening -p
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8JZMxx6Km7od1BzN1BaR1ZGNWc/edit?usp=sharing

OK, that makes more sense. If I interprete it correctly, there's either nothing listening on any TCP port altogether – or at least nothing you have access to. As indicated by my last comment, -p might require root permissions (at least according to its man pages). Try again without that parameter to see whether the list is really empty. If not, you've found out if rooting will do any good in this problem ;)

These are the outputs i get when i try that without the -p
#1 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8JZMxx6Km7oalJtaUVvVkdQd1E/edit?usp=sharing
#2 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8JZMxx6Km7oMy04TnB3QXlIeG8/edit?usp=sharing
#3 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8JZMxx6Km7objRONnR3MEUwM1E/edit?usp=sharing

In that case, my assumption was correct and -p requires root. -p would show you the app along the result list's entries, so you could figure out which app stands behind it. Looks like without root that's not possible – at least not in this way. But I've just found an app that might do the trick: NetStat Plus. You might wish to give that a try.

Without any additional tools, this should be possible via adb shell or a terminal app, using the netstat command: netstat --tcp --listening -p should list up all listening ports along with the app behind it. But it might very well be (as in your case, obviously) that the -p parameter requires root; and without it, the output won't show the app holding the port open.
However, NetStat Plus might offer what you need:

NetStat Plus and Connection List (source: Google Play; click for larger image)
I did not try this app myself, but the screenshots suggest it does exactly what you need: Listing apps with the used ports and status along. No word that it requires root. It further seems to work at least from Gingerbread (2.3.6 is explicitly mentioned) onwards to at least Jelly Bean 4.3 (also explicitly mentioned). An alternative would be Connection List (second screenshot).

I tried both the apps but any record they generate doesn't show any app using the port 4657. :(
Shall i give the screen shots of those too?

I don't think that will help. At least the screenshot of Connection list shows it deals with ports in LISTENING mode as well. So if no such is shown with any of the apps (and netstat --tcp --listening | grep ":4657" doesn't yield a result either, then there isn't anything listening there. Maybe some outgoing session was just using the very same port? Have you checked that? If that's the case, it might already be freed again. Try to start your app again. If it fails with the same error, use one of those apps to check for all entries with that port (not only LISTENING).

I ran the netstat --tcp --listening | grep ":4657" command and got this result.
It has 4567 in it but the complete port number is 45675.I guess it's not the same.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8JZMxx6Km7oMU5NREhldEQwZjA/edit?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8JZMxx6Km7od3RuMjlJLU1CNk0/edit?usp=sharing

It is as much the same as 4,657 USD and 46,575 USD are the same :) Please, try again with your app. If it shows the same error, check with the apps again as described (and optionally netstat --tcp | grep ":4657" for the general information whether the port is in use, and if so, in which state). Assuming either ESTABLISHED or CLOSE_WAIT, another app could be using it for outgoing connections.


text:
internal sd storage partition/mount problem
I got my nexus 7 2013 a few weeks ago. It worked great for some time until I decided to flash a kernel that claimed to add support for CIFS windows shares mount. After installing this kernel, when the OS booted, I did not have landscape mode working anymore - only portrait. I decided to do adb full restore to a full backup i made before this step, which seemed to have passed without any errors, but something happened to the recognition of the internal SD memory - applications are not able to use it - I am getting "no external storage" messages when I launch the gallery application and an error when trying to run the google play store - "unfortunetley, google play store has stopped". The device is still starting with only portrait mode.
i then tried to format the device and used TWRP to format everything including the internal memory. After that I reflashed the original rom of google for this device (taken from here). The problem is still the same. In TWRP recovery console - I am able to access and push files to and from /sdcard folder with no problems, and see its content with adb shell.
When android loads - cd /sdcard + ls shows that it is empty (even though it does contain files copied to it in recovery console mode) the reason for this is that with ls I can see that /sdcard points to /storage/emulated/legacy which points to /mnt/shell/emulated/0 which DOES NOT exist. /mnt/shell/emulated/ folder exists, but it is empty.
I am unable to use the device - just start the OS (and get the error messages when trying to launch applications). When the OS loads I immediately get the "unfortunetley, google play store has stopped" error without doing anything.
running google earth application when logcat active gives the following output:
E/cutils  (10727): Failed to chmod(/mnt/shell/emulated/0, 0): Read-only file system
E/dalvikvm(10727): cannot mountExternalStorage(): Read-only file system
I/ActivityManager(  492): Start proc com.google.earth for activity com.google.earth/.EarthActivity: pid=10727 uid=10024 gids={50024, 3003, 1015, 1028}
D/dalvikvm(10727): No JNI_OnLoad found in /system/lib/libearthmobile.so 0x41dc5158, skipping init

Any idea how do I solve this? Why are the folder links broken when I am using an original google rom?

Are you sure the kernel you flashed was intended for Android 4.3? Though mount-points shouldn't be kernel-dependent, I don't know what "shipped along the lines". With Android 4.2, some mountpoints have changed for the multi-user support – which happen to be the very same you're now having trouble with.

yes - taken from here: https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#razorjss15r (the wifi version)

OK, so that's ruled out at least. Hopefully there are a few kernel/Nexus-7 specialists around here to help you out. Good luck!

updated the post with some new info


text:
GTalk_ASYNC_CONN wakelock detailed report. Keeps draining batteries
It's been a month since I've tried dealing with this wakelock. I've read a lot of articles, including this. A week ago I was also dealing with NlpWakelockCollector, which sometimes gets stucked draining my battery and sometimes not.
This time the problem is GTalk_ASYNC_CONN. I really don't know what's the problem with Google. It's frustrating.
Here it is what I did.

Full Charge 100%. Didn't touch it for about ~2 hours.
Set the alarm clock and went to sleep at about 6am.
Woke up at 12.50pm and the first I did was to save the LogCat's log and check Wakelock Detector and GSam Battery Monitor apps. Screenshots here,

and this is my log from Logcat: http://tny.cz/8122229f
PS. I had uninstalled Hangouts and reinstalled it replacing Google Talk again, thereupon I logged out from Hangouts. This was two days ago.


text:
Data Recovery - Is the internal sd-card part of /data (gs4)?
On every other phone I have owned (with CWM recovery) when I did a factory reset, it left my (internal) SD card contents intact.  I wasn't thinking and did a factory reset and deleted everything.
As you all know reformatting a hard drive doesn't actually wipe the drive.  From the looks of things the internal sd card is part of /data.  So I took data's block device and did the following from ADB shell
I'm not looking up the exact paths but I believe I determined the block device to use by looking at "busybox df -h"s output
dd if=/dev/*--PATH-TO-mmblk-WHICH-DATA-IS-ON/ of=/cache/img1.img bs=1M count=1024
tar cvzf /cache/img1.tar.gz /cache/img1.img
*Copy img*.tar.gz to network share on my comp with ES file explorer
rm -f /cache/img*

dd if=/dev/*--PATH-TO-mmblk-WHICH-DATA-IS-ON/ of=/cache/img2.img bs=1M count=1024 offset=1024
tar cvzf /cache/img2.tar.gz /cache/img1.img
*Copy img*.tar.gz to network share on my comp with ES file explorer
rm -f /cache/img*

dd if=/dev/*--PATH-TO-mmblk-WHICH-DATA-IS-ON/ of=/cache/img3.img bs=1M count=1024 offset=2048
tar cvzf /cache/img3.tar.gz /cache/img1.img
*Copy img*.tar.gz to network share on my comp with ES file explorer
rm -f /cache/img*
,
.
.

I did this with all 10 or so GB of /data/ (forget actual size, but it's a 16GB model).  I then opened these up in a hex editor and searched for known strings in my saved data (contents of messages from SMS backup & restore).  I was unable to find my data.  As far as texts are concerned I was able to find raw texts on my current device (not before I reset),
My question is, is the internal sd card on a different partiton than /data/?

It appears that the internal SD card is on the same partition as /data (I verified with my GT-I9500 at XXUEMJ9 - 4.3, output below):
root@ja3g:/storage/emulated/legacy # df
Filesystem               Size     Used     Free   Blksize
/dev                   931.8M    76.0K   931.8M   4096
/mnt/secure            931.8M     0.0K   931.8M   4096
/mnt/asec              931.8M     0.0K   931.8M   4096
/mnt/obb               931.8M     0.0K   931.8M   4096
/system                  2.7G     2.1G   588.6M   4096
/efs                    19.7M     9.2M    10.5M   4096
/cache                   2.0G    32.6M     1.9G   4096
/data                    8.8G     8.3G   540.4M   4096
/persdata/absolute      11.8M     4.2M     7.6M   4096
/mnt/shell/emulated      8.8G     8.3G   520.4M   4096
/mnt/shell/container     8.8G     8.3G   520.4M   4096
/mnt/ntfs              931.8M     0.0K   931.8M   4096
/storage/emulated      931.8M     0.0K   931.8M   4096
/storage/extSdCard      14.8G    10.4G     4.4G   8192
/storage/emulated/0      8.8G     8.3G   520.4M   4096
/storage/emulated/0/Android/obb     8.8G     8.3G   520.4M   4096
/storage/emulated/legacy     8.8G     8.3G   520.4M   4096
/storage/emulated/legacy/Android/obb     8.8G     8.3G   520.4M   4096

Some other manufacturers have different implementations of the layout; in fact, this decision was the largest possible reason why the Mass Storage option disappeared and MTP had to be used - because /data used ext4 which most Windows PCs can't recognize.
Some CWM versions do not perform a format on /data when you request for a factory reset - that is because they are either:

Running on a pre-3.0 version of Android that uses the older implementation
Using a manufacturer-defined custom layout
Running custom "Factory Reset" code that does only rm -rf on the folders

As to why the plaintext cannot be found, I'm not entirely sure - but I thought it might have to do with the formatting being done with secure erase (MMC_CAP_ERASE).
More information can be found here: http://teamw.in/DataMedia
And in the 4.2 source code itself: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/docs/source.android.com/+/android-4.2.1_r1/src/tech/storage/index.md


text:
Emulate an RFID card with android 4.4?
Is it possible to do it with the host card emulation feature of android 4.4?
Is there a sample how this framework works?
https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/connectivity/nfc/hce.html

RFID card is very unspecific. What type of RFID card?


text:
Recovering from lengthy rom upgrade on HTC Desire S
I started installing Android 4.0.4 on HTC Desire S from the official website. It had an executable that I just launched and clicked through to start installation. It should have taken about ten minutes but now it is over half an hour later. There's no progress bar on the phone. I can only see "Sending.." (with number of dots growing repeatedly) on my laptop (under Windows 7). Is there a way to recover from this situation? Is my phone doomed to be bricked if I just disconnect usb?

I disconnected the usb and then some sort of debug screen showed up and gave me an option to reboot the phone. To my astonishment I still had Android 2.3.5 installed and working. It looks like installation of new ROM newer really took off.
The second attempt to upgrading rom succeceded.


text:
How to upgrade Avatar ROM's old kernel?
I've got an S3 LTE version (GT I9305), with CyanogenMod (Avatar) installed.
I've tried nightlies too, however, I'm still running Linux 3.0 (shown in about in settings). And I've seen CM screenshots where they're running 3.4.
Why is my phone stuck even when I update? How can I get a recent kernel?

What is Avatar? Is that CM9? CM10? CM10.1? CM10.2?

I believe it's CM10.1 and JB 4.2.2

I couldn't find any details on this XDA thread regarding Avatar ROM for the S3. However, the Sony Xperia Z thread thread mentions that it has a Linux kernel of 3.0.x. So, I assume it's the same for the S3.
While Avatar is based on CM10.1, it's possible that the developer used a different kernel (lower than 3.4). So, don't compare it with pure CM ROMs that are using the 3.4 kernel. I would suggest going through the first link I gave and ask for help there about upgrading your kernel.


text:
Restoring one application data from ClockModRecovery Backup
I was using CyanogenMod 4.10.3. Due to slow-downs I decided to downgrade, but took a backup of all available apps using ClockModRecovery including WhatsApp.
In backup/ directory, I see some img files, not individual apps.
Since I changed my number and I would like to use my old number with WhatsApp, I would like to restore WhatsApp backup from this backup. Is it possible?

Yes, it is:

Titanium Backup can restore from nandroid backups (which is what CWM created)
AppExtractor can extract individual apps/data from Nandroid backups
Nandroid Browser lets you... guess what :)
and then there's Nandroid Manager to browse them, restore single items, etc.

Further readings:

the nandroid tag-wiki
Restore only part of nandroid image
Extract App Data from Nandroid / CWM Backup

Woow. Very nice explanation. AppExtractor helped a lot :). Thanks,


text:
How can I change music track without getting my phone out of my pocket?
I know there are apps that let you change tracks with the volume button. But that can be awkward (e.g. if the phone's in your pocket and you're jogging or something). I was wondering though, do you guys know of like a clip/ adapter thing that that you can use to change tracks on Android phones? I had something that could do that for my Discman back in the '90s, but I cannot find any mention of it on the internet today. You connect this adapter to the Discman, and then connect your headphones to the adapter.

I use my pebble for this: http://getpebble.com

Yes: there are essentially three possibilities.

Wired headphones often have extra controls inline (on the cable). You have to be careful when buying these: the way the controls signal to the phone is not standardized, so which one you need depends on who manufactured your phone. It's really easy to find "iPhone-compatible" ones, but you may have to search hard to find one which claims compatibility with your manufacturer. In that respect, things have not improved much since the Walkman days.
Bluetooth headphones can make this much easier. In Bluetooth, the media control protocol is standardized, so any Bluetooth headphones with volume and track controls will work with any phone that supports that protocol (the remote control profile). Pretty much all Android phones do, but some of the extremely low-end Chinese knock-offs might not.
Using the same Bluetooth profile, you can instead buy a dedicated remote control. This might well clip onto the cable of your wired headphones, or come in a convenient form factor (like Flow's Pebble, which is a lot more general-purpose), but it's still one extra thing to carry around.

Happy shopping!

Try Knock Control. It allows you to control music by knocking on the phone. It works even when the phone is in the pocket.


text:
Disable images in Chrome for Android
I want to save some bandwidth for my mobile data plan, is there a way I can disable loading images for Google Chrome, the way I can for Opera Mini for example?
I couldn't find an option in the settings.

Wikipedia mentions that this feature exists, but I can't seem to find it in either Chrome nor in Chrome Beta.

Yes, Wikipedia links to GSM Arena about this, but they don't mention how to find the setting either.

@sashoalm I'm thinking maybe Google removed the feature in the latest versions (if it really did exist as mentioned in Wikipedia).

I don't see anything in chrome://flags either.

It did exist in an earlier version I was using late 2013..but as of the current release, the option has disappeared.


text:
Multiple #'s on Note 3
Can the Note 3 have more than 1 number associated with the same phone? Someone gave me their # and then another #. They said it was the same phone.

It seems there is a Galaxy Note 3 with dual SIM support.

Geff already showed one easy explanation: Dual-SIM devices.
But never mind how many SIMs: I have a single SIM phone which has two numbers assigned. Well, even 3 now. I've got

the usual mobile number, plus
my provider assigned me a landline number, to which I
forward calls from another landline number.

Number 3 clearly shows how it's possible for everybody. Though technically I have to admit, I assume that even #2 is nothing but a call-forward on the provider's end. So it all comes up to your definition of "number assignment".


text:
Dalvik VM vs. ART (Android Runtime): Impact for end-users?
With Nexus 5 (Android 4.4 KitKat), Google has shipped two runtimes to run apps.

What are the differences between Dalvik & ART for endusers? How can endusers be affected by this? Is there any specific reason I should choose new ART runtime?

The fact you have to enable and search through the Developer options to find this setting should be a hint that it's not intended for end users.

@DanHulme Nice point, but still non-developer enthusiasts do play with Developer options & they even use it for positive non-development purposes many times.

As far as user experience is your point then you will only notice that battery power is saved to much extent,... however you will not be able to see the speed difference while switching from Dalvik to ART.

Dalvik VM (Virtual Machine) is Google's version of a Java VM (on which apps run). VMs keep apps isolated and independent from actual hardware and other apps. But, for this to work, Dalvik needs to convert so called bytecode (designed for virtual machine) to native machine code. In order to minimize the performance penalty that the bytecode to native code conversion introduces, a process called Just-In-Time (JIT) compilation is performed, which converts hot, i.e. often used, bytecode to native code.1
ART (Android Runtime) is a replacement for Dalvik that uses Ahead-Of-Time (AOT) compilation, meaning your apps are compiled to a ready-to-run state before you even launch them. This is usually done, at the time of app installation, making the process of launching and using them much faster and smoother. And since this means that compilation is only done once, you may also see better battery life, too.

If ART is better on performance & battery life perspective, should I
  start using it?

No. If you do that, you may break third-party apps. Google has shipped this ART preview with Android 4.4 for developers to test their apps on it.
Side Note: Google's approach with ART is to beat iOS (iOS apps are native so performs better even on low-end hardware specs), but I don't know where it is heading... Another fragmentation? See OEMs are free to build devices using either one or both. While final version shouldn't affect most of apps, but its not 100% cross-platform thing.
1Note that JIT was added to Dalvik in Android 2.2

Maybe two facts are worth noting along: ART's AOT results in apps using 20..25% more storage compared to DEX. Plus tests on a Nexus-5 I've read didn't show any differences in subjective speed nor battery endurance. Both will certainly improve, considering ART in KitKat being just a developers' preview and compatibility check (which e.g. WhatsApp failed). So I second Sachin's conclusion: It's not yet good for end-users.

Excellent answer. I took the freedom to improve it a bit. But I don't agree with the last paragraph: ART does not increase fragmentation: If ART is considered production ready, it shouldn't matter if your App is run by Dalvik or ART, both use the same .dex format as starting point. Only that ART does AOT compile the .dex to native code.


text:
List of Android devices benchmarks
Are there any solid reference websites where I can compare benchmarkings of various Android devices? Similar to sites like CPU Benchmark and Video Card Benchmark for PC devices.

Have you tried an internet search for it? This was the first result on Google for "android benchmarks" and it seems to fit the bill.

I thought it would be an interesting topic to be covered on this site.

While I can't say this is off-topic with any authority, I recommend reading the What topics can I ask about here? page. While this kind of question is not expressly forbidden, it doesn't seem to fall into our standard format of questions which are about 1: using your Android device, 2: using a particular app on your Android device, or 3: trying to solve an error or other issue in using your Android device.

I have read What types of questions should I avoid asking? and my question doesn't seem to be off-topic by those standards as well. My only intention by asking it was to help android owners who want a way of comparing their devices when deciding to purchase a new device. I know it is quite useful to me, at least.

PassMark has a quite comprehensive list of Android devices with CPU, memory, storage, 2D graphics and 3D graphics benchmarks. If your device is not on the list, you can use the free app on Google Play to measure your device (and contribute to the public list).


text:
accidental wipe android nexus 4
Well, accidentally ended up formatting a nexus 4 by clockworkmod, was the system and everything else, I've tried various ways to try to recover this brink, worked no more, all require the famous usb debugging, plus he has no system and windows no longer see it as an external drive to be able to put an image on it, and is it ..
obs.: I still have access to recovery
Grateful for now and sorry my english

If you can get to recovery you should be able to flash the full factory image which will restore your phone to completely stock.
Download the full occam factory image, which includes the full system, bootloader, recovery, kernel (boot.img), and radio. It's a clean slate for these components - they'll flash cleanly over anything you have now.
You can run the bundled script called flash-all (in which case it will run all necessary commands for you) or you can unpack the tgz (tar/gz) archive, and then the zip contained within as well. This will put all the components into one folder:
Then run the following commands:

adb reboot bootloader
fastboot flash bootloader bootloader*.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot flash radio radio-mako-m9615a-cefwmazm-2.0.1700.84.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot format cache
fastboot reboot
fastboot flash userdata userdata.img Note: this command will wipe your device (including /sdcard), EVEN if your bootloader is already unlocked.

Note: Instead of unpacking the image*.zip and flashing system and boot manually, you can actually do fastboot update image*.zip - this won't delete data (you would pass a -w flag if you wanted that to happen), but it will re-flash recovery back to stock if you were running a custom one. You can then flash it back, or just use the commands above instead. Either way, the result will be the same.

went an idiot ... I tried to use the command commands, more for some reason the windows did not recognize, so I used the flash-all.bat factory image that comes in and funcionol perfectly, thanks for your help ^ ^


text:
Google Drive crashes on start
I has happened 4 times now, I change some setting, delete the sheet open in the app from the PC, create a wrong function, and from then on, the Google Drive app crashes on start. I can not close the faulty document, so it keeps happening until I remove the application. You would think a restart of the phone should help, but it does not.
Is there a setting somewhere that lets me open the list instead of the most recent document?

Have you tried clearing the data (via App Manager) for the Google Drive app? See if that helps.

Clearing Cache is not enough, however clearing the Data solved the problem. Of course then you have to set offline availability of your documents again.


text:
Provably, temporary, disable wireless networking on Android tablet
I am taking an exam during which any materials or electronic devices are allowed, provided that I can demonstrate that they cannot be used for communicating with others. I want to take my Android tablet and use it to display PDF files that I don't want to print out.
I need to come up with a way how to temporary turn a Nexus 7 Android tablet from a communication device into a book reader incapable of connecting to WiFi. I need to be able to quickly prove to the teacher that this is so and that whatever I do it will remain in this mode during the exam.
Do you have any ideas how this can be achieved? My belief is that this is impossible, but I decided to ask anyway.

Welcome to the site! Interesting question, but I don't think this would be possible. How would you prove that you can't/won't just enable it during the test?

Even if it would be possible: it's easy to prove you can do something. But it's impossible to prove you cannot. Even proving it's not possible by normal means, you could have placed an unusual backdoor somehow.

@Izzy When I said 'prove', I meant some reasonable scheme that would allow the other party to form a well founded belief in a short amount of time that it is indeed the case. I also assume that the other party is reasonably forthcoming and would not assume treachery on my part in places that do not provide obvious opportunities for it.

I could not come up with anything in Android. If Android had something like UEFI secure boot, I could put teacher's key into the device, get a an offline only ROM from him, load the ROM into the device and before the teacher could verify that the key is still his (and therefore it has not been tampered with the system). Other possibility I come up with is cover the tablet in wire mesh that serves as Faraday cage. I can see through it the screen and plug in USB mouse (because I wouldn't be able to touch the screen). But EM shielding is tricky stuff and I have no real experience with it.

Your last comment was very close, and knocked free what was lurking behind the curtains of my thoughts: I was sure there was something, but couldn't get to its core, until you opened the door with the "key" (literally, as it was that word, in combination with "secure" and your previous-to-last comment almost describing a parent-child-relation :)

As no "bullet-proof" system is required here, and at least some level of trust assumed, possible solutions hide behind the buzz... ahem, key-words kiosk-mode and child-protection. In short: you create a "jail" you're working in, and hand it's key (password) to the teacher (let him/her set a password – of course on the premise to unlock you once the exam is over).
Options on establishing a kiosk-mode are already discussed in several other questions tagged "kiosk-mode", so there's no need to repeat them all. You might wish to take a look at SureLock Kiosk Lockdown, which should meet your requirements: one of its features is to prevent access to system settings. So disabling all network features (mobile data, WiFi APNs, etc.) and then locking the settings with the teacher's password should satisfy both sides – provided you've allowed all required apps for kiosk mode. As the "dirty trick" to regain control would also remove all data from the device (factory-reset), it cannot be expected you'd do that during the exam ;)


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Problem upgrading a Lenovo A2107
I have a Lenovo Ideapad A2107-H and I read this guide. I followed the guide step by step to upgrade my Tablet.
On step 6 I got assert failed: getprop("ro.product.device"),
so I deleted this line in the related script file and tried again.
Afterwards, I tried to reboot my device. It only shows me the Lenovo logo and won't boot into Android.
How can I fix this?

Welcome to the site! We're excited to have you here! Usually, when flashing these ROM images, you have to follow the steps exactly. In this case, deleting that line was probably a bad idea. I'm nor familiar with Lenovo tablets, and a Google search doesn't give me much information for how to help you. Are you able to get to Recovery mode?

Actually, deleting that line was not a bad idea – but a very bad idea. Because it was a "safety guard", preventing you from flashing something incompatible to your device. If and how you can recover from this, people at this forum are best to answer – as who wrote it most likely knows it best. By the way: Is your device a ZTE Warp Sequent? Because that's what the ROM over there is for. Which might explain why the assert failed (wrong device).

i know that my device is not compatible with that ROM, but i did! and now i am very very remorseful, so i can access to CWM and when i restoring my backup, it will be crash and gives error in restoring /system partition and says:  format_volume: make_extf4fs failed on /dev/block/mmcblk0p6
i think that ROM has changed partitions and it cannot be mount or something like this


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How do I move the voice input button to the numeric keyboard in KitKat?
In Android 4.4. KitKat, how do I move the voice input icon, i.e. the one with the microphone icon, from the alphabetic keyboard (next to the spacebar, at left) to the numeric keyboard?
At least up to Android 4.3 It used to be possible to do that via an option in the settings. I checked several times the settings of my Nexus 5 with KitKat, especially the Languages and input section, but I cann't find the option.
Is moving the button still possible? What input method and settings options are required?

The only way to achieve this is to port over the old keyboard from an older device. This might break stuff, and probably is not the safest bet.
You could install MultiLing Keyboard and have a voice button on your numpad.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.klye.ime.latin&hl=en

So the stock KitKat keyboard no longer provides the feature for moving the microphone icon that Jelly Bean had, right?

Correctamundo (unfortunately)

If you are running ASOP keyboard, and are on the num pad, you can press and hold the SPACE bar to get the text imput method select. There you can choose Google voice typing.
Esentially
Keyboard -> NUM key -> Long press on space bar -> Google voice input

I'm actually interested in how to permanently add the microphone icon to the numeric keyboard. I already know how to activate voice input.

I see. I wonder if there is a way to get a perma voice button, through an app or something.

I tried Floating Voice Launcher - but it does not do text input, just commands https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.evan.floatingvoicelauncher

Try VoiceButton. You can download it here Dowload VoiceButton

This app doesn't do what the questioner is asking for. This is a voice-dialer app, but the question is about voice typing into any app. Also, note that the site's rules require you to declare your interest if you're recommending your own app as an answer to a question.

@DanHulme just as a curiosity how do you know it is his own app?

@RossC Please come and ask in chat where we can discuss it properly.


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Is it possible to recover data from internal memory?
I have Samsung Galaxy S2, that was sent to the lab for repair.
The phone arrived and all the internal memory was deleted.
All the data that was on the internal memeory: Media, SMS, Contacts (actually I synchornized the contacs with my google account, but some contacs were deleted from my phone..)
Is there any way to recover this internal memory? I know that some application can recover an SD card.. but which one can recover the internal memory ?

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Have you seen this question?

Hi, no I didn't see this question.. is there any software for the PC? because I don't know how to root the device :)

Not that I know of. A USB connection isn't likely to give you the access you need for a PC application to restore the data.

dotVezz is right: no low-level access to internal storage via PC. So it's unlikely to find a way without root. Still, it's always a good idea to check the related tag-wiki, in your case the one of the data-recovery tag. Those wikis often hold some first-aid, and almost always hints to further readings (like the question dotVezz linked).

There is some hope to recover data which was stored on the “internal SD card”. Samsung Galaxy S2 supports USB connection in the mass storage mode (unlike some other more recent models). This mode provides the required block-level access to the partition which holds your media and other files (but not contacts, SMS and app data). Therefore you can connect your phone to PC in the USB storage mode (not MTP), then use the same utilities as you would use to recover files from an SD card which was accidentally formatted (one free option for Windows is Recuva).
Recovering data from the internal memory is much more harder for several reasons:

You need to root the phone in order to get access to raw partitions (with some phones which have an unlocked bootloader there is an option of flashing an alternate recovery image with root access through ADB). Note that the rooting process in most cases involves writes to the /data partition, which could overwrite the data you want to restore.
The internal file system is not the usual FAT or NTFS, like in Windows (recent models in most cases use ext4), therefore many recovery tools designed for use with Windows filesystems won't work well (scanning the raw disk for pieces looking like data in a well-known format might give a useful result even if the filesystem is not supported, but see the next point).
In most cases the app data is stored in some format not used outside of the Android OS (e.g., contacts and SMS/MMS messages are stored in SQLite databases with the Android-specific schema), and these formats are unlikely to be supported by commonly available data recovery utilities.

And this assumes that the phone repair lab did not just replace the main phone board (which they often do, unless the problem was obviously in some other component).


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How do I delete all data from my Android phone?
My phone has got some error and I am returning it to the service center. As my phone contains my personal data, images and videos I would like to erase them so that they can never be recovered (even after being rooted).
Is there any easy way to do that because I am not an Android developer.
Does factory reset do this trick for me?

What is the make and model of your phone?

As John states in his answer, a factory-reset is sufficient in most cases. I doubt a service technician would take the effort required to restore the data from your storage – though it's definitely possible.
What John had in mind, however, is true: If flash storage is really wiped, all data is gone from it. It would take a highly specialized forensics expert a long time to restore at least a part of it. So unless you have the secret formula for a longevity serum stored on your device, and your service technician knows that, it's definitly not worth the trouble.
If you want to be on the absolute safe side, take a look at Nuke My Phone resp. Nuke My Tablet. These tools do not simply delete your data or wipe the storage once, but they overwrite it multiple times, then wiping it, and then finalize their work by a factory-reset. I very much doubt that a single file would be restorable after that procedure.
Btw: Always think of your external SDcard, which might not be covered by the procedure. You should better remove that and keep it with you; the service techs don't need it anyway.

+1 thanks for the answer. I don't have any nuclear bomb plan on my phone :) .. I usually take scan of all my documents and of course my family pics.

Glad to see it solved your issue! As for your "nuclear bomb plan", I was just scanning my answer for my usual fly-joke ("sure you can kill a fly with atomics...") – took me a few secs to make the connection to "Nuke My Phone" :D Good luck for your device getting serviced!

Unlike standard hard drives, once flash storage is erased, it is gone. All Android devices (at least to my knowledge) should have flash storage. If you delete something, it would be next to impossible to recover it.
A factory reset will erase all of your user data unless the device is rooted and you stored it somewhere else. If the device is running stock firmware and you do a factory reset, you should be good to go!
Note:
It is possible that your device will not do a secure erase of your personal data. If you want to be absolutely sure that the data cannot be recovered, you should make sure to do a secure erase. After a simple secure erase (writing over the data with all 0's) the data should be gone forever.

Not 100% correct, John: a forensics expert for sure can retrieve data from a factory-reset device.

Oh: And as for longevity of the storage, "if you delete something" it will only be marked as deleted. Blocks are not "re-formatted" before they are really needed, as such a "re-format" can only be applied to larger "chunks", not to single "blocks". Thus it is really easy to recover a single deleted file: you just need to scan the "unused blocks". This technique is called File Carving (see also File Carving @ Forensics Wiki). However, a factory-reset should wipe (re-format), and thus be pretty safe.

Yes but if you do a secure erase, then the data is gone forever. Writing over the data with all 0's will completely erase flash storage, correct?

100% correct, yes. It's a little "safety versus longevity", but one usually doesn't do that on a daily base. So this might be a good idea when e.g. selling the device. I don't think such a "complete wipe" is really needed when giving the device for service (a factory-reset should be sufficient then), but as that's neither done as "daily routine", it's at least an option to consider with sensitive data stored on it. (Excuse the hair splitting: flash memory usually is overwritten with 1's when wiping (or "resetting/erasing chunks"), not with 0's as on "hard disks".)

yes. going into recovery, (normally by booting your phone while holding volume up and power button) should do the trick. while in recovery, you should see something like factory reset. use your volume rockers to go down the menu until that option is highlighted, then press the power button to select it. hope this helps
--Daniel


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Make a device appear in ADB
I have a Zen Touch 2, a Cyclone Voyager and a Samsung galaxy Fame, all configured for USB debugging.
I also have a laptop running Ubuntu 12.04, the standard ADB obtained from apt-get, and Fastboot obtained from apt-get.
My problem is that when I plug in my Fame on it's own, I can see it in the list of attached devices when I run the adb devices command. However, when I attach the others, I cannot.
I have plugged them in on their own and tried all 4 different ports. Switching to PTP doesn't work. And it is not just the devices command.
How can I make them appear and allow me to use them?

Maybe you are missing udev rules for the other device manufacturers?
A rule for samsung is probably included by default.
Look here for instructions http://developer.android.com/tools/device.html

why look so far if such beauty is right before your eyes: We have this here in an answer as well :)

Thanks to both of you neither worked but when put together works fine.


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How can I hide the Status/Notification Bar on Android 4.4?
I'm trying to replicate Paranoid Android's "Expanded Desktop" with PIE controls (as much as possible) on my Nexus 5. Until PA is actually released, however, I've got to hack it together myself.
So far, I've successfully...

Hidden the Navbar (Lots of methods work. Editing build.prop still works. In this case, I'm just using a feature in Cataclysm ROM)
Enabled PIE Controls via LMT Launcher

The last thing I want to do is...

Hide (or disable) the Status/Notification Bar

Initial Googling has told me to install a launcher with the option to hide it. However, I rather like the new Search/Launcher hodgepodge thing.
Is anyone aware of a way to hide (or disable) the status bar?

Edit: 2013-12-04
Now that Xposed Framework works on Android 4.4, I'm using it with the GravityBox module, which has also been updated to support Android 4.4.
Unfortunately, using GravityBox Expanded Desktop to hide both the Navigation Bar and Status Bar disables the notification drawer - something I certainly don't want.
The PIE controls from LMT are more functional than those from GravityBox, so I'm using LMT PIE controls with GravityBox on expanded desktop until PA is released.


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How can I set a data cap per application?
In Android, you can see how many data each application has used. You can also forbid an application from using data by hand. And you can set an automatic data cap for the entire system. But is there a way to automatically cap how much a certain application can use?
An example scenario is how Cyanogen (a custom ROM) kept trying to download Android updates from Google on 3G, over and over again, even though it couldn't do anything with them. It was of course not supposed to do that, but it did this for many users. It emptied my monthly bundle in a day. In the statistics, this data usage showed up under the Google Services Framework, if I recall correctly.
I did not want to block this application altogether, because much of the Google stuff depends on it. So I wanted it to be blocked from using any more data over a certain threshold. In the end, I disabled the receiver that queries for updates; but that was an emergency solution that shouldn't have been necessary.
I'd also like to be able to cap certain applications individually in the future, for who knows what might happen. I might want to cap my Internet radio in case I forget to turn it off, or whatever. I can't find an application that can do this; can you?

Well, I don't know of any application that can "cap" data usage, but there's a useful application called Android Firewall that can disable / enabled Wi-Fi and 3G/4G connection so you can use the application to disable Wi-Fi and 3G/4G connection for certain applications when these application do not need an Internet connection. You could also log a request to the developer of Android Firewall to have a capped feature in future release of this application.


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Huawei Mercury stuck in boot loop
about 4 weeks ago, i was developing a paranoidandroid rom for my huawei mercury. well, after the download, i needed to unzip the .zip file (using the base/port method). well, that was taking WAY to long, so, i decided to just flash the rom to my phone. well that didnt go so well. ever since then my device has been stuck in what i beleive to be is a boot-loop. i can access CWM-based recovery version 5.0.2.7 and DownloadMode (the screen you get while combining power and both voluume rockers, giving you access to the /image folder). i am not getting the blue screen of death, just the stupid huawei logo. if anyone can help me, and beleive me, 4 weeks of google can get tiring, can help me fix this, i would be soo happy. Thank-You much.
--Daniel

Try flashing the stock ROM for your phone. That will usually fix things. Let me know if it works so I can add it as answer. :)

triied. stays stuck :`( is there any way to fix thhis

Try it again and again. Sometimes I've had to flash more than 3 times before it succeeds.

ok, so just try it like 5 times, and if that doesnt work, ill tell you?

Yep. Try it. :)

it didnt work :,( any other ideas


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Sync Outlook Calendar on my PC to Samsung Galaxy S4
I use Outlook Calendar on my PC.  Can I sync it to Samsung Galaxy S4?

You can use Samsung Kies for this.

You can sync contacts, calendar, and tasks between your Microsoft®
  Outlook and your device and vice versa.

Related question:

Is there any way to sync my Outlook calendar to my Samsung Galaxy S without Kies?


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help me out making my transition from iphone please
I am used to doing a long-press-on-the-home-button to trigger the voice- search. That's a bad iphone habit. Here with Android, it is always switching to the currently-running-apps screen.
I tried so many ways ( including the home2 share app) but I could not figure it out.
Could you tell me an easy way to configure note 3 ( or s4) hardware buttons so that I can program them to do certain things upon long press, double click, even triple click etc...  What's the best app for that?
And secondly (and more practically speaking), please tell me how I can configure that a long press on the home button puts the phone into the listening mode?
Thank you...

Joe, just splitting some hairs: it's not the "currently running apps", but the "recently used apps" (which are not necessarily running in background, though some certainly still do). As for your button issue: have you tried long-pressing the search button (if there is any)? That's what I've heard did it on other devices, if I remember correctly.

If you have the Note3 or S4, that might be getting KitKat soon, so you can activate listening simply by saying "Ok, Google"

Izzy, thank you for pointing out. That recently used apps thing... That I did not know. thx for that. As to the long press on the search button issue.. well, that does the multi-window icon for me. On a different issue: Is there a way to configure the power button on the site to do literally well, "nothing"? :) It gets in the way many times... and I accidentally close the  phone..  For turning on or off of the phone, I'd rather do a double click.. that would have been so much better for me... Are there apps that lets you do these things without rooting the phone?

To put Android into "listening mode", do your Long press, then click on the Google logo at the bottom of the screen. That's Google Now, your Siri counterpart.
For Samsung devices with S-Voice, double-pressing quickly on the Home button will trigger S-Voice.

any more app/setting recommendations for other hardware button configurations for their long presses or double/triple click stuff... I'd appreciate it if you know of a good app for this.


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Locating a stolen phone with Android Device Manager
On the weekend I had a brand new phone stolen from me. It was out of battery at the time. I'm assuming whoever stole the phone has removed the SIM card and probably re-flashed it as it was locked.
Does Android Device Manager still have ability to track it? Can anyone inform me how the tracking on it works? I have not yet had the phone locked via IMEI as im sure that would halt this method of location (they cant use it anyway).
The phone is an HTC One.
Much appreciated.

No. Once it's factory-reset or even flashed, the Android Device Manager is no longer able to find it.
Background: Android Device Manager uses your Google account to communicate with the device. Moreover, you have to explicitly enable it on the device. Once factory-reset / wiped / flashed, all that is gone.

As its an android phone do you think Google would flag a second account being registered with the same IMEI considering its a stolen phone? This seems a very simple for them to find out.

@MaxSan Google will not track your phone via IMEI - end of story.  They will only go by the Google account on the phone.

@MaxSan Why should it? There are many people out there having multiple SIM cards (I do, for example) and/or multiple Google accounts. So no, I do not think they will automatically consider such a device "stolen"; though I'm not that sure they don't use the IMEI to identify devices in some way or the other.

I understand but if a phone is stolen and its on registered database of stolen phones, you would assume it is something they would check when creating new accounts on mobiles..

That's not a question for us to answer, as it's at least not "published". You would need to approach Google directly with this question.


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How can I change the data usage cycle for Mobile data?
The mobile data cycle (Settings -> Data usage) looks quite arbitrary. Since I have changed my data plan, now the new cycle should start at the first day of the month instead of the 6th.
How can I change the begin of a data cycle? I cannot seem to find some edit button, though I vaguely remember seeing it at the Data usage cycle menu.
Affected versions: Android 4.0, 4.2.2, 4.3.1.

Changing the starting day for Mobile data is indeed non-obvious. You need to enable the mobile data connection (2G/3G) before the options are available:
TURN OFF WIFI First.

Enable Mobile data.
Exit the Data usage settings app.
Tap the spinner below the Set mobile data limit checkbox.
Tap Change cycle....
Change Date of each month (I prefer the first day of the month, 1)
Hit Set.
Undo Mobile data if necessary (e.g. if on Wi-Fi).

The option Change cycle may appear after selecting the set mobile data limit in the dropdown with dates.

The cycle length changing feature is in roadmap
https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=23676

Even in Android 6.0, you have to turn on mobile data before you see the option to change the cycle.

@Lekensteyn, What Android version is this? Re "spinner below the Set mobile data limit checkbox"; Meaning?

@Pacerier It probably applied to Android 4.x (see question). The "spinner" referred to a "drop down" menu where you could select the time range (and the Change cycle option). With Android 8.1 (Pixel 2), there is a Billing cycle option within the Data usage menu (which is visible, independent of whether mobile data is enabled or not).

For me (CM 12.1), it is still confusing. You have to go under Settings, Data Usage and then:

make sure that both Data connection and Set mobile data limit toggles are  ON
below them, there is range of dates dropdown, which you can choose to see data usage of previous months. Click on it, and you will get a list of previous periods.
now, you have to scroll all the way down through all periods (mine seems to go back all the way down to January 1970 !!!) - below the last one there will be Change cycle... option. Click it, and it will allow to change starting date.

I ' ve got it
- Go to Settings -> Data Usage
-> Tap Mobile and them, on the 3 dots at upper corner, chose Disable all appls.
-> Tap WLAN and do the same, disable all appls
-> Restart phone
-> After entering your PW (if any) a display is shown warning about your data usage limit, saying it is paused. them gives you 2 options RESUME or OK
-> Tap RESUME . That's it ! you are back on the road to setup a new cycle.


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Install the Galaxy Nexus Messaging app onto the Nexus 5
It seems that Nexus 5 ships with Hangouts as the default (only) app for SMS messaging but I'm not interested in Hangouts and I prefer the messaging app I had on my Galaxy Nexus.
How do I get the Galaxy Nexus Messaging App onto my Nexus 5?

You're not alone in wanting the old Messaging app!
Even though the old stock Messaging app is no longer included in Android, you always have the option of installing an alternative. In fact, people are recommending 8sms as a replacement for Hangouts that is almost identical to the original stock Messaging app. In fact, it is built from the source code of the original Messaging app, with "some enhancements".

Your best bet will be a third party solution as Google is attempting to consolidate many of their services and apps together for a more streamlined approach.  I can understand not wanting to muck with Google messaging when all you want to do is send SMS, but that's the way they are headed with Hangouts being the Messaging app.

Now, if your Nexus 5 is updated to Android 5.0+ you can use this new Messenger app from Google.


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How does Redphone encryption work?
Redphone is known for providing encryption for end-to-end calls. I am eager to know how it protects our privacy from telecom companies.
How does it secure our call and text and protect our privacy from even telecom companies?

It uses a Protocol called zrpt to encrypt your voice which then is transfered via voice over ip.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZRTP


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How to Clear notifications once and not be bothered/repeated again?
Simple yet annoying behaviour of Android (Galaxy S3)
Notifications appear for many apps (email, games, messages etc.,) but once I view them (by a slide down, not by opening/responding to each of them ) I want them to be gone. They keep on repeating & appearing again and again until I respond to the notification.
ie., If it is a new email, I'm being notified repeatedly until I open the Email program!  I find this extremely annoying. I don't want to Turn off Notification because they are useful. But, I don't want to be bugged by them as well.
Good, show me once & then disappear.
How do I get this behaviour (View once, clear notifications & the same notifications don't repeat?

Interesting. This isn't normal Android behavior. I wonder if it's a midification Samsung made.

Having same issue on lg g2x


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Revert to official Android from Cyanogenmod
I have installed CyanogenMod 10.1.x on my Note 2, but I find it very unstable and it often goes on a reboot loop.
I use ClockworkMod recovery.
I would rather work with a stock android at this point.
Questions:

Since I have ClockworkMod recovery, I presume I can use it to flash the "official" ROM? Is this correct?
Can someone point me to the official stock android from Samsung?

Have you seen Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?

Yes, you can use CWM to flash the official ROM. As Izzy linked, this question is our guide to finding ROMs for devices. In particular, you can find stock Samsung ROMs easily on SamMobile: there are different ROMs for each particular type of Note 2 and each country, so be sure to pick the right one for your device and location.
Also, it may be worth sticking with Cyanogenmod. Many new users don't appreciate how great the difference is between a nightly/snapshot build and a stable release. If you've been using a nightly or a beta, and a release candidate or stable release is available for your device, you might want to try that out before going back to stock. At the very least, you might consider filing a bug report for the boot loop you've observed. If nobody reports it, it may never be fixed.


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Grey Wifi and mobile data icon after upgrading to CM 10.2 20131102
I had intermittent issues before with my Google syncing not working as it should (although I've always been able to go to google.com in the browser), rebooting usually solved it. However, after upgrading from an older 10.2 version to the latest one (via CMs own update functionality), both the Wifi icon and the mobile data icon stay completely grey. As usual, I have no issues with going to Google in the browser, so I'm suspecting this is a Gapps issue or something with the ROM.
Any ideas on what I can do to troubleshoot and/or solve this? I'll go ahead and try upgrading Gapps now and let you know how it goes.
This is not a duplicate with any question asking what this greyed out icon means, I'm asking specifically why the sync functionality stopped working with the upgrade (if anyone knows), and how to fix it (if possible).
edit I just realized I might be running 10.1 gapps on a 10.2 CM build, I'll update this if upgrading gapps solved the issue.

Upgrading gapps to the correct version (I was running 10.1 gapps on a 10.2 CM build) solved the issue. I did not have to reinstall the ROM or anything like that, simply flash the new gapps over the old.

I had the same problem (on a toro, Verizon Galaxy Nexus), grey signal icons and had almost all GAPPS unable to open at all.  Most would cause a force close message when the phone was idle every few minutes.
I went to CyanogenMod Wiki: GAPPS and downloaded the 10.2 GAPPS, uninstalled all that were available in the play store (from the play store) and re-installed them immediately.  Once I went through and linked them all back to my Google Account and did a restart on the phone the connection icons became the familiar and comfortable cyan color.
Once I did all that and gave the phone a day to 'soak', it's running with even more buttery smoothness than ever.


text:
Which program allows remote management of Android devices?
I have 50 Android tablets. I want to be able to control from a central place the following things on the devices:

General settings like date-time, unlock method, display sleep time etc;
Chrome specific things like clearing the history and cookies, saving bookmarks, setting the homepage etc;
The ability to install or uninstall apps on particular device or all of them.

So I need a mini SCCM for Android. Is there such a thing?

I presume you're aware that the Device Management side of SCCM 2012 can do almost all of that out of the box (it uses the InTune service for the premises-cloud-device link)? http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj884158.aspx

No, I was not aware, but thanks. But I don't have SCCM, I just compared it to SCCM :)

Might 3CX offer a possible solution?

There are a number of Mobile Device Management services on the market, with varying focuses and feature sets.
Mainly mentioning this, as SCCM is mentioned in the question, but Microsoft's solution (that ironically is far better at managing iOS and Android devices than Windows Phone devices) is either InTune (1) (for a cloud-based subscription service) or SCCM MDM (2) (3) (if you're happy managing your own on-premises infrastructure servers).
A good round-up of current services can be found here: 10 BYOD mobile device management suites you need to know. That round-up includes AirWatch, AmTel MDM, Dialogs Smartman Device Management, Exitor DME, FancyFon, Fiberlink MaaS360, IBM Endpoint Manager, MobileIron, Symantec Mobile Management & Zenprise. I've trialled and had good experiences using three of those, and we're actively using one of them to manage BYOD devices at the moment, I think there are different winners depending on exactly what your needs are.

Superb answer, deserving lots of up-votes!!!


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How do I get an android media player without going to the google play store ? I will transfer the media player to the smartphone using bluetooth
How do I get an android media player without going to the google play store ?
I will transfer the media player to the smartphone using bluetooth.
step 1: I download the android media player to my notebook.
step 2: I transfer the android media player to my smartphone.
step 3: I install the android media player on my smartphone.

Also (if you've already found a media player APK from the author's website): How can I install an app given only its APK file?

On your notebook, look for a FREE app (in your case, a media player) in Google Play.
Copy the link of the app in Google Play.
Paste the link on APK Downloader, and download the APK file to your notebook.
On your phone, make sure you allow external APKs to be installed. On my Samsung Galaxy S4, this is on System settings > More > Security > Unknown sources.
Using bluetooth, transfer the file from your notebook to your phone.
Once download is complete on your phone, look for the APK file and install it.


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Apps on memory card taking internal memory
I noticed that many apps that are, according to Android, installed on the memory card are actually taking internal memory space, as when I delete their data or uninstall them I notice a change on the phone memory, and no on the SD. Why does this happens? I am moving my apps wrongly?.
I run Cyanogen Mod, and some of the apps are ones that should not be moved (according to the app App2SD) or that couldn't be moved (but moved them anyways via other apps).
Thanks.

App2SD doesn't move the entire app to SDcard, just parts of it. That's normal (or rather "works-as-designed"), and no error on your end.
Please also see our apps2sd tag-wiki, where alternatives are listed along. Note however that those alternatives require root access on the device. Methods like link2sd are able to move the entire app; Data2SD and Simple2Ext can even move its data.