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Mail app stuck at "in progress"
I'm trying to configure the mail app in Android 4/ICS with my IMAP account, but I get stuck at "in progress" after setting up the SMTP server.
These are the exact steps I'm going through:

Open the mail app.
Go to settings.
Click the plus sign in the top right hand side corner.
Enter my email address and password. Check "Push notification" and "Send from this account by default". Click "Next".
It says "Retrieving account information" for a while before giving up and asking me "POP3 or IMAP account?" I choose IMAP.
I enter the correct IMAP server name and check "Use SSL". The port changes to 993, which is correct. I leave NTLM authentication unchecked.
I enter the correct SMTP server, which just happens to be smtp.euromail.se. I leave the port at its default of 25, no SSL, no authentication.

Now it just sits there saying "In progress..." forever. I've tried starting over several times, but it always chokes at the last step. How do I solve this?  These same settings work just fine in K-9 Mail.

Are you in the Mail app choosing accounts or in the Accounts area of the Settings list?

@Dez: The Accounts area.

@damd: Per your flag: It would be better to edit this question than to create a new one if you have new details/clarity to add.

There is No 'Automatically Configure' box to check or un-check in Ice Cream Sadwich 4.0.3! Mail no longer Syncs even though set up as Push and when deleted from Phone, the emails remain on the Server. There is also no option anywhere in the Settings to 'Delete email from the Server and the Handset.'

Open Email.
Enter your email credentials (the address and the password).
Choose Manual setup.
Choose IMAP.
Enter server settings.

There is no "Manual setup" choice in Android 4.0.

What mail program are you trying to configure? Gmail, your carrier's 3rd party app, or the native email app?

The native e-mail app.

If there's no 'manual setup', untick the 'automatically configure' check box and then click Next.

You need to go into the Mail application and set up an account through there.  The Accounts area is for syncing accounts for the phone (like your Gmail address).


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SMS and Gmail notification volume
Is there an app that can control the volume of notifications for separate apps like SMS and Gmail? I searched around and found a number of old threads that says it's not possible.  There was an app called WhoIsIt that did what I was looking for but it seems to have been discontinued.
Otherwise I guess I'll have to make a custom ringtone that's louder than normal and use different ringtones for SMS and Gmail.
I'm on Android 2.3 btw.

Quick Answer
Volume control is managed system wide. The Android OS doesn't support independent control per application, only per stream type.

Technical
The AudioManager Class only provides developers a way to adjust the audio volume per Stream type, not per application running.
This means that when setting the volume for a specific stream, will affect the entire system.
Currently available streams:

STREAM_ALARM - The audio stream for alarms.
STREAM_DTMF - The audio stream for DTMF Tones.
STREAM_MUSIC - The audio stream for music playback.
STREAM_NOTIFICATION - The audio stream for notifications.
STREAM_RING - The audio stream for the phone ring.
STREAM_SYSTEM - The audio stream for system sounds.
STREAM_VOICE_CALL - The audio stream for phone calls.

Most of this screams exists since the API level 1, and continue to act the same way on the current API level 16.

My Sprint Store Assistant Manager loaded MP3 Ringtone Maker from Google Play.  He used that for the SMS text notification sound.  I'm delighted since I now can hear when a text massage comes in.  The result can be volume adjusted.
Sadly Google Reader and Google Gmail are almost whisper quiet despite his efforts.

There are several apps on Google Play called "MP3 Ringtone Maker". Which one are you referring too?

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Unable to enable Mobile Network settings (options greyed out). Is there any way to restore lost mobile connectivity data?
I have a HTC Desire HD that up until recently has been running well with a custom ROM. For some reason, the phone started to "misbehave" in a number of ways after about 10 months of painless operation, so I decide to try and put the LeeDroid ROM on the phone. End result, the phone is now not much better than a basic iPod touch.
My mobile network settings are all greyed out, and the phone is telling me that it no longer knows what its IMEI, IMEI SV, IMSI, Phone Number, and Base Band details are. Every other feature of the phone seems to be working OK, just not the mobile network connectivity.
Yes, it's a very sad little brick indeed, and I now find myself going retro and using my old Sony Ericson Walkman phone which is SO old school that it's not funny! Yes, it looks really pathetic when I go to touch the screen and... well, you get the picture!  LOL
I am still hopeful that someone out there might know how I can restore the missing information.  I have most of what I need documented, but no idea if there is a way to locate and restore the data more directly from the phone, or if there is a tool that will allow me to feed the missing values in (remember, these are meant to be unique identifiers) in order to help me to restore the phone in some way.
No amount of master resetting, or alternative ROM installing has been of any help so far, and asking this question is really a last gasp attempt to try and de-brick the mobile features of the phone before I find myself either buying an expensive repair at the local authorized repairer, or buying an expensive replacement phone.
Serious KUDOS to anyone who might have an answer to this.

Have you tried reflashing the Radio ROM?

Did you try flashing stock?

The Radio ROM is different from the OS ROM.

Carrying on from above. As the name suggests, it controls the radio part of the phone. You can use the same Radio ROM with different OS ROM's but sometimes there are incompatibilities. I suggest searching for a stable Radio ROM that works with a OS ROM that worked for you and flash them both.

Had the same issue with galaxy s I91000, fix by installing stock ROM for corresponding device. you should try flashing the ROM specific to Country/operator.. and search DesireHD section on XDA.. its common problem when efs files are not backup

Problem solved, and I think I'm finally getting a handle on all of this after several hours of some serious digging through the interwebz, and a bit of trial and error.  So here is what I ended up doing, step by step:

Locate a stock ROM as suggested by Matthew Read and user12295.

This was possibly the hardest part as there were so many dead links out there, and I ended up using a link I found to the Shipped Roms website.

I elected to download the file labelled RUU_Ace_Gingerbread_S_HTC_WWE_2.50.405.2_Radio_12.54.60.25_26.09.04.11_M2_release_199042_signed.exe.
Fully charged the battery on the phone.
Located the original HTC cable in a fit of paranoia and connect my phone to my laptop using a USB2.0 port.

For some weird reason the USB3.0 on my particular laptop wouldn't let me connect the phone during the flashing process the first time I tried to do this.

Ran the RUU utility that I had downloaded, crossed my fingers, and waited for the phone to be wiped and flashed after navigating the various screens of the RUU.
Saw my phone go through a reboot at the end of the process... and all connectivity was working with full networking/identity data restored.

So it turns out that the IMEI number is flashed to a different bit of the phone's internal memory, and the stock flash somehow picks this up.
So All systems go, but I miss many of the features of the phone, including the better battery life that I had under a better ROM and because a couple of my own experimental apps will no longer work.  All of a sudden I wish I'd downloaded the 1.72 version of the RUU as it seems I need to go through a downgrade process in order to root the phone and get a custom ROM reinstalled.
After a bit more Interwebz digging, I came across an application called Ultimate Multi Tool, and I worked through the following procedure:

Connected phone to laptop (as per earlier process)
Set phone to charge only
On the phone, enabled Settings -> Applications -> Unknown Sources
On the phone, enabled Settings -> Applications -> Development -> USB Debugging
Ran the Ultimate Multi Tool
Operations -> TempRoot
Operations -> Gold Card.

Clicked on the CID button to get the id for my SD-Card.
Clicked on the "Free HTC goldcard generator" link and filled out the form on the screen to generate a goldcard image.
Clicked on the Load goldcard.img button and located the goldcard.img file
Clicked on the Create GoldCard button.

Operations -> Downgrade.

I needed to locate a file called PD98IMG.zip before I could begin the downgrade process. The downgrade process was VERY slow. Took about 30 minutes for me, but your time may vary. As an afterthought, simply applying an earlier RUU may have been a better approach, but I thought I should document exactly what I did.
Phone rebooted into HBOOT menu, and I simply followed instructions on PC and phone screens.
Waited for downgrade to complete and rebooted phone.

Repeat steps 2, 3, 4, & 5
Used On Screen buttons to push Visionary+ and SuperUser to the phone.
On the phone, Ran Visionary+

Checked the Set System r/w after root checkbox
Selected Temproot now
After process finished, Selected Permroot now
Superuser asks for permissions, so pressed the Allow button
Phone Reboots

Set phone to charge only once it had finished rebooting completely
Back to Ultimate Multi Tool, and selected File -> Check S-Off/CID/SIM

Superuser asks for permissions, so pressed the Allow button
Tool now reports back that the CID is a whole bunch of 1's, phone is S-OFF, and SIM Unlocked.  :-)

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


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android what is the minimum software that must be present in my PC to detect my android phone
Hi this is very basic question
I have an android phone and when i connect it to few of the PCs in office i can see that "device drivers getting installed" and device ready to use
but few machines its giving "device driver not installed"
I have not specifically installed any software in these PCs to detect the phone.
So please explain me how it is getting rightly installed in few and not in others

maybe you forget install the android usb driver, look this:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/win-usb.html
and
http://developer.android.com/sdk/oem-usb.html#InstallingDriver
when you finish this work, if it also dont work, please try get your device specialized driver.

Thank you very much . What i am using is a prototype phone ( prototype for something to be released ) and it doesnt have any driver fro OEM . So what i think is that the devices which it was detected already has android SDK installed. SO might be the phone is getting detected with the google USB drivers.


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Is it posible to change the locale of my device?
In my Android phone when I go to Settings -> Language and Keyboard Settings -> Select Language I see "Locale" as the title on the top row and see that only few languages are listed. I suspect its because of this "Locale" setting.
Where I can change it so that all supported languages will be listed? Under Settings -> Language & Keyboard I don't see a "Locale" option.

What phone do you have and what version of Android is it runnning? That may well affect the answers.

I don't think "Locale" is a separate setting anywhere. It just looks like the list title/header to me. This also sounds like it may be a duplicate of How do I add a new language?

android version is 2.3.5 . Does the language list depend on teh android version or is it divide by the mobile manufacturer

The keyboard settings shows all supported languages no matter the locale of the device, so if a language is not listed than it's not supported. A good alternative is AnysoftKeyboard; you can download language packs for it.

If you want to change locale settings on your device, the Set Locale and Language app1 might prove helpful as well. Locale-Einstellung looks almost the same. MoreLocale 22 might offer an alternative, as it also allows to create custom locales -- which is also supported by Custom Locale3.

With Any Locale4 switching the locale can be as easy as tapping a widget -- as it is with LocaleSwitch5 or the Language Picker Widget6.

Also very nice: Raygional7. And there are probably many more to chose from...

Here was how I changed them on my Google Pixel 7:

Open "Settings"
Choose "System"
Choose "Languages"
Choose "System Languages"
"Add a language" (I added "Español")
Drag that language to the top using the drag icon (two lines) on the right

My system switched to Spanish, although bits were still English. I bet if I restarted the phone they would all switch to Spanish.
Then finding that setting again was not so easy for me! (I hadn't written down how I got there, and now it was all in Spanish.)

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


text:
Samsung galaxy S2 can't upgrade to 4.0

Possible Duplicate:
When will my device get the Android 4.0 update (Ice Cream Sandwich)?

i have Samsung galaxy s2 with android 2.3.6 and when i try update it with Kies to 4.0 (ice cream sandwhich) it shows that I9100XXKL1/I9100OXAKL1/I9100XXKL1/I9100XXKL1 (KOR) can't be updated.
This is old phone, broken android or i should wait for update?

Just wait, it takes a few weeks before everybody gets the update... And it was first released two days ago... So if you don't have it in two weeks, write back :)


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Disabling smiley key on keyboards with the stock messaging app in ICS
I'm using a custom ROM for ICS on my Samsung Galaxy S.
I like being able to create a new line in a text message, but the 'enter' key on all keyboards I use (though primarily Swype) is replaced with a 'smiley' key.
Is there any way to change this behaviour? Some research shows me it's to do with the field type used in the messaging app. Can the MMS.apk package be modified to use a different field type, or is it possible to modify Swype so that the 'enter' key is used instead?
I'm aware that I could use a 3rd party messaging app, but I like the stock app. I know some people are happy to send multiple messages in bursts rather than a long message with new lines but I'd find that annoying to receive and I don't want to annoy people I text.

Up to at least Android 2.3 this wasn't possible in the vanilla messaging app (came up here: Is it possible to remove the “:-)” smiley key in Swype for stock Messaging?). It may not be possible still, unfortunately.

Thanks, I saw that question but it looked to be more of a Swype question - they were asking about resizing the backspace key rather than converting it to an enter key. In CyanogenMod 7 (and below) the stock messaging app was tweaked with an option in settings that toggled the input field type so that the smiley key would become an enter key. I was hoping for something similar.

Ok, so after looking into this a bit more I managed to get somewhere.
I pulled the Mms.apk file from /system/app and decompiled it with APK Multi-Tool. Then I started editing the file /res/layout/compose_message_activity.xml.
It has an  tag towards the bottom of the file. I removed textShortMessage from android:inputType on this line. This means:
android:inputType="textCapSentences|textAutoCorrect|textMultiLine|textShortMessage"

becomes
android:inputType="textCapSentences|textAutoCorrect|textMultiLine"

This worked for me in that the smiley key is replaced with the enter key after recompiling, signing and pushing back to my phone. My problem is that the enter key sends the message rather than inserting a new line.
After more Googling I came across this thread on XDA. This Mms.apk works exactly how I want it to - no smiley key and the enter key adds a new line. It's also black themed which I prefer for my screen.
I decompiled the newly found black Mms.apk file from XDA to try and find what they guy did to make the enter button actually add a new line, but I can't see what's different.
I'd still like to know how to do this if anybody knows - this was my first time playing with a decompiled APK so I don't really know what I'm doing. For now though I'm quite happy with my new black themed Mms.apk app.

Have you tried using Shift + Enter to add a new line?

I have a custom (Baked) Jelly Bean 4.2.2 ROM on a HTC One S and Swype 1.4 installed. I was ready to go on a shooting spree when I thought I couldn't hit a return button to start a new line!
I opened a SMS thread, tapped Menu > Settings and scrolled all the way down. There is an option at the bottom called Soft keyboard type. Open that and you get --
<> Smiley key
<> Send
<> Enter for a new line
Select the bottom one and you're golden!
This setting will change it for both the stock Android keyboard and Swype.
Cheers!

If you go into the settings of the stock mms app, there is a setting to have the enter key instead of the smiley key

This post is about a bit old now, but I guess, since I also faced the same issue, I should share the solutions I found.
Before KitKat, the Messaging app had an option in its Settings to either use smiley key or a newline key. However, after the KitKat update, there is no such option. Instead, we can access the newline key in some other way. Actually, when you press the capitalisation key to switch all the characters to uppercase letters, the smiley key also switches to the newline key. There it is! It's not gone, just hidden.

There is a way to fix the issue
GO to sms setting > click "soft keyboard type and select "show the emoticons key""
Then go to swift key settings and select Enter key option
It works for me all the time.

On my phone, I changed character support to "Reduced" in messaging settings and the return key returned.


text:
Install android on Nokia

Possible Duplicate:
Can I install Android on my non-Android device?

I would install Android (no matter the version) on my Nokia 5800 Xpress Music. Is It possible? Someone ever tried to do this?

Hardware sucks.. CPU and RAM aren't enough..

If you are a software developer it may be possible, but for normal people: No...
It's because all the drivers need to be made into something android can understand which is based on Linux...
Why don't you just buy a Android phone? It dosen't have to be that expensive...

I don't cause I'm a soft developer.
And I'd like to hack my own phone.

Alright, then you have a lot of work ahead of you.. But you have to design every single driver by your self, and the hardware is as i know it not open source, so you need to make all the work your self...


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How to take backup of all installed APKs from Phone to PC?
How do I take backup of all installed apks from my sgs2 to PC using android sdk/ 3rd party tool etc? My phone is not rooted. I can install/uninstall apks using adb, but is there any similar command line tool to take backup of the same?

If you're not rooted then I think the answer is pretty much that you can't, but perhaps someone more familiar with Samsung can say for certain (don't know if Kies offers any kind of backup ability).

This is one of the things that are far easier with a rooted phone: you could just type in:
adb pull /data/app C:\Users\User\Desktop\Apps

and your apks would magically appear on your desktop. In your case this isn't possible because accessing the data partition is only allowed for root users. (And this is a good thing. Imagine what would happen if any app could read your email or text messages.)
There are several apps in the android market play store that can back up your apps.
My favorite is App Backup & Restore. It's a pretty simple app that even has an option to automatically back up all new apps.
Than you can just copy  the apps to your computer using your preferred method. I use Foldersync Lite to upload it to my DropBox.

There are desktop apps which can backup the apks without the root on phone (http://www.wondershare.com/android-manager/). But I want to know how.. any idea?

being rooted doesn't mean that "any app could read your email"

I never said it means that. Just that if /data would be readable by any app like /mnt/sdcard than any app could read it.


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Disable buttons for emergency call and volume control in lock screen
When you see Android's lock screen, there are still some controls available that may be used without unlocking the phone. For me (Android 2.3.3 - LG version) it's the volume control and the button for emergency calls.
Unfortunately, it has happened a number of times now that, when the phone was in my pocket, it somehow automatically started an emergency call or increased the volume. I don't know how this could happen but ...
The only solution I can imagine is to disable those controls. Is this (easily) possible? If yes, how?

I don't know that LG makes the lock screen configurable like that, but you could always try a lock screen replacement. Something like Widgetlocker or Lockbot might do the trick for you. Lockbot has a free version, so I'd start with that and see if it does what you want.

Thank you, good idea! But unfortunately, WidgetLocker etc. don't really replace the original lock screen. Instead, they're just a normal app which opens directly, right? They don't offer PIN unlock and the other security options.

Well, I've played with widgetlocker and lockbot free, and they both pretty much replace the lock screen (turn your phone off and when you turn it back on, there's the new lock screen), and I'm looking at lockbot's options, and it allows you to do password, pattern or (in the pay version) shake to unlock. So as far as I can see, it's a full replacement for the lock screen.


text:
Screen lock settings won't change on Ice Cream Sandwich with MS Exchange Email
I have a Samsung Galaxy Nexus running Android 4.0.2. I have a corporate email set up to Microsoft Exchange. My sys admin said we use the default mobile policies for Exchange, but he doesn't know the details.
My phone's Screen Lock setting is set to None and I cannot change it. If I select PIN, it asks me to enter and confirm a PIN, then returns to the Security settings page and shows my Screen lock is set to "None"
After reading http://boingboing.net/2012/03/13/the-scary-consequences-of-a-lo.html I thought it best to at least have a PIN, but right now I can't set one. Any suggestions?
--- update
I just did a test (with my sysadmin's help). We set up a Nexus One with Android 2.3 and the lock screen settings worked fine. Is there something in ICS?

Get the sysadmin to find out the details.  Let him know that it's his problem if your unsecured phone gets stolen with company data on it and it's because he didn't configure the Exchange policies properly.

I'll update the question with some new info

Well. First, I deleted my Exchange account. Then I was able to change the screen lock settings and the change would be displayed in the settings page, but when I locked the screen, no PIN or pattern was required to unlock. Then I power cycled the phone. After that I was able to successfully use Screen lock settings. Then I added back my Exchange account, and the phone continued to work fine.
I have no idea what the root cause of my problem was, but it is all working now.

If you have a VPN set up on your mobile phone, the OS will not allow you to remove the PIN... I installed VPN and it asked me to secure the phone and led me to the PIN settings and I set a PIN... Later, when I wanted to remove the PIN, it won't allow me and it didn't come to my mind that it was because of setting up the VPN.
I had to completely get rid of all the VPN settings to be able to remove the PIN.
However, in your case, the problem is opposite but I posted this for information and this may help.

I read you post with interest as I am having trouble since updating my phone to ICS and getting it to work with Exchange 2003.
Since updating to ICS I can not change my sync settings from hourly of peak and every 15 mins in peak hours if I change the setting the next time a sync happens it get changed back.
The same phone worked just fine when it was on GB so I am thinking there are a few bugs in ICS
What I have noted is if I put on security policy on out Exchange server (meaning I have to put a pin in on the phone) it all seems to work fine.
Odd I know
I am guessing that it will take a long time for google to fix this if they bother at all.

If this is a recurrent issue, perhaps reporting it to Google would be the appropriate solution to let them know and schedule a fix.


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How to search the Play Store by permissions?
How do I specify that I do not wish to see apps that require for example internet access? Or to only show apps that use a specific permission?
A specific repository with search on its webpage? An app that provides searching the Play Store?

This can really be a great suggestion for Google..

If you use Play Store's web interface, you don't need to attempt installation to view an app's permissions - there is a tab on each app's page that lists them.  Could save you a few clicks.

AppBrain should be able to add this feature. Here is the feature request. Vote for it. :)

@Chahk I can not find the tab. Would you mind to post an example link for that tab?

@Marcel The Play Store website was recently redesigned by Google.  Unfortunately they removed the functionality I was talking about.  You now need to click the "Install" button to view permissions.

@Chahk That was exactly what I was doing, but hey, this feels so bad, can't believe there is no other way :-(

As of today, there seems to be no good option for this.

It would be interesting to have, in the device, also a filter by which conditions is each permission granted... Related: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/145114/android-permissions-confusion/145115#145115

Reltaed: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/129470/is-there-a-native-way-to-find-all-the-installed-apps-that-have-access-to-a-phone

How it currently CAN be done
During my morning routine reading my RSS feeds, I stumbled on a review at N-Droid, discussing an app named APEFS. This app is developed by German students (hence its description on the Playstore is in German, even if you set the language to English). But for our non-German readers, a short description here:
Basically, APEFS is an alternative front-end to the Google Playstore. You browse the playstore as you do with the original app, and search it the same. But when on the results list1, an advanced filter2 comes into play:

As the second screenshot shows, you can select what permissions your wanted app is permitted to have (checkbox marked), and what permission it should not have (checkbox unchecked).
However: While this can be used to filter out apps with unwanted permissions (e.g. show only apps whitout the Internet permission), you can not restrict your results to the opposite (e.g. show only apps with Internet permission). The app clearly targets at users concerned about their privacy/security -- and according to the review (I just found it a couple of minutes ago, so I could not test it yet) it does a very good job.

EDIT:
As it's already a year ago, and the promise on the APEFS Homepage (GTransed to English, as their own English version doesn't have that statement in the first paragraph) seems not to be fulfilled anytime soon (the app is still offline): Please consider the web-based solution from my other answer as an alternative meanwhile.

The link to the Google Play store is broken, is this the updated one? Ps: if yes, there's already English support...

@Zuul No, that's the wrong one. The Play link is only temporarily broken, thanks to the "Play-8 relaunch" of the now tile-store (see APEFS Homepage (GTransed to English)). Obviously the app used some site-scraping ;) Unfortunately, their English page does not contain that notice...

Bad timing for me, was reading your answer and following up on the subject... I will try later on, thanks ;)

@Zuul Don't expect the app to return within the next hours. It was taken "offline" at least more than a week ago. But what the power of Google breaks might take a little to repair by a small team :) But don't give up hope (yet)... Just watch out once a week ;)

I tried downloading the app, but Google Play couldn't find it :(

@sashoalm see three comments on top of yours. It got incompatible with the PlayStore relaunch. Their website says they're working on an update – but that seems to take rather long (it says so ever since the relaunch already). Still, don't give up hope!

4 years later and they're still working on that update. However, @Izzy has inspired me not to give up hope ;-)

@SpencerDoak I very much doubt we'll ever see that update. Instead, head over to StripSearch – which basically is what APEFS promises to be :)

@Izzy, fyi, StripSearch is also broken it seems. I'm not sure if it is still somehow working for some people, but for me it did not work, and I believe I read comments somewhere else that other users were reporting it as broken. (Those might have actually been in Play Store reviews of the app.) Regardless, I ended up using your solution which worked perfectly. I didn't want to leave feedback on that, though, just saying, "+1 thanks;" however, your webpage is the only working search/filter I found. So, you got my upvote and my gratitude. You made an excellent contribution to the community.

Thanks, @SpencerDoak! Unfortunately, my search engine covers only a small subset (~14k) of apps. Sad to read that StripSearch stopped working; Google must have applied some changes then on their end. Haven't installed it currently (I so rarely search for new apps that I can do that manually). Glad to read my work is appreciated and helpful :)

More than two years have passed since this question was asked. Still, there's no „official solution” available. Despite its promises, APEFS (introduced in my previous answer over a year ago) has not returned. So I decided to create my own solution:
For almost 4 years now, I maintain listings of „Android apps by purpose”, i.e. grouped by their use cases. In march, I started moving them to my own server. All MetaData are stored in a database on that server, and so finally I was able to setup a search by permissions.

Search Mask to find "apps by category and permission" (click image for larger variant)
You can select between 1 and 5 categories here (note that selecting a „parent category” automatically includes all its „children”), plus one or more permissions. Default presets are for finding „permission-friendly apps” – so if you're after such a candidate, you can simply submit the form after having made described selections. This should make it easy to e.g. find a PIM app which does not request the Internet permission (to keep your personal data on your device).
However, the opposite is possible as well: If you e.g. want to investigate what good NFC can do for you, select the up to 5 categories you're interested in, then the NFC permission, switch the „Permissions” dropbox to „include”, and optionally the sorting to „by rating, descending” (to get the best-rated apps first).
When in doubt, there's that little question-mark icon in the top-right corner, providing you with some „online help”.
But that's not all. As I've explained in the second paragraph, apps in my lists are grouped by their „purpose”, i.e. what you need them for. So apps with comparable functionality should appear next to each other:

Category with app details (source: the help page (hence the „red numbers”); click image for larger variant)
So you can compare them not only by rating, but also pick the one requesting less permissions (number in the box; in above image indicated by a „red 6”) or, if possible, without any concerns (no red border around the box). Clicking the app's name reveals some more details, as shown. And there are many „easter-eggs” (i.e. MouseOver events) – again, be pointed to the help page.

Full disclosure: As initially indicated, the described site was designed by me, built by me, filled by me with its content, and is further maintained by me. It's available bi-lingual (English/German), free of any charge (this includes: no cookies, Flash-cookies, whatever), etc. This question here at Android.SE was one of the reasons I've set it up.
Further be aware of the fact that this doesn't cover the entire „playstore collection”. As of today, there are a little over 10,000 apps recorded in the database (which is probably a little less than 1% of what's on Play – unless you don't count the crap, fakes, and useless apps on Play, then my records might cover about 10% ☺). Still I hope (and think) it's already a useful resource you'll enjoy.

Can your database be updated via automation, so it covers all of the Play store (up to the time of running the script/scraping/etc.)?
If so, why not doing it?
If not, how far is it from doing that? Can it be opened to the community for a collaborative effort towards that end? I guess that would be a huge milestone for privacy.

@sancho.sReinstateMonicaCellio my database is updated via automation. But apps have to be added (and categorized), including their related information (links to reviews etc) – which is a manual job. And no, I wouldn't even have the resources to enlarge it by factor 300 (Play has ~3 million apps), even if I wanted (more than half of what's on Play is IMHO crap: low quality, copy-cats and apps primarily intended to (illegally) collect user data).

I understand your database is curated.
I guess a full non-curated version would also be useful (even if it were for the permission filtering capability alone), and then you would have the curated apps as a subset.
How about that idea? Would that also overflow your resources?

Yes, that would overflow my resources. I'm just a single person, and all this (my app lists, my F-Droid repo, my eBook server) run on personal resources and have to be maintained in my free time. I cannot take yet another responsibility. If you want such a solution, check this answer, it already exists.

I checked it. It looks good, but lacks a basic functionality which, in my view, makes it unusable. I posted a comment there.

Why currently  this can't be done
When a developer performs the upload of his application to Google Play, the application manifest file gets read to a database, from where the search for apps is performed.
To allow searching for applications based on their permissions, one would have to access the database and collect data that concerns the application manifest node  <uses-permission>, previously read from the AndroidManifest.xml file,  where the developer has declared his application permissions.
While this seems quite straightforward, Google API does not provide means to this end:

Strictly, Google Play does not filter based on  <uses-permission> elements.

From the Filters on Google Play Filtering based on Manifest Elements - <uses-permission>.

Elaborating
Essentially, Google Play Store uses the application manifest file to automatically apply filters based on the user's device, hardware specifications, country, carrier, etc.
All of this is done silently without the intervention of any search parameters.
A user either from Google Play or third party search engines, can limit the results after they get automatically filtered by Google, based on personal preferences like excluding paid apps; limit the results to apps that are compatible with the user devices, among others. But there's no way to interfere with the filters applied by Google. Even if,  some how, we get to that part, the API essentially isn't prepared/designed to filter based on permissions as mentioned above.

I must say, your guide was helpful (see my answer here): it works, extracting app data (including permissions) via the Playstore API, feeding it to a database, and run the search against the latter :)

@Izzy - I did not understand:

the motto "It can't be done" and you say "it works"... can it or cannot be done?
"Currently" (2012)... does it still apply in 2021?

@sancho.sReinstateMonicaCellio do you ask if it is "technically possible" (yes, it is) – or whether it is feasible (for an individuum, it is not as it would require tremendous resources).

Simple answer: you don't. Though you can feel free to ask Google. As user Chahk said, the web interface saves you a few clicks, but there is still no way to filter results as you are requesting.

A round about way is to create a Java app that utilizes android-market-api. Presently it can search app based on "keywords or package name". The search query can be built to search for the necessary permission that is being sought. Little homework required, but seems useful.
After downloading androidmarketapi-0.6.jar and protobuf-java-2.2.0.jar (of course you should have JRE already setup) you can execute the following:
java -jar androidmarketapi-X.Y.jar myemail mypassword myquery

You have to replace X.Y with 0.6 as that is the present version and replace credentials and query.  For building query you can visit this page.

What kind of query would yield apps by permission? I don't see anything related to that.

I am not sure about it as only searching by package name by "String query = "pname:";" and by developer name "String query = "pub:";" are given as example.  By providing the suitable keyword in search (which has to be dug out), I hope you could get what you are looking for.

I also created a similar application (http://play.gqqnbig.me/).  Source code is at https://github.com/gqqnbig/advanced-play-search

This looks good. An option for unchecking all permissions at once in the drop-down list is essential for usability.

None of the solutions mentioned here are working as of Feb 2018.
So I created my own simple solution which I will document below.
TL;DR: use AppBrain's API.
The long answer

Create a folder called appSearch, for example.

Sign up for an account on AppBrain. Then go to your dev dashboard. It will prompt you to enable the Developer option for your account.

Navigate to the API access page.

Copy the authentication field, which looks like di=xxxx&t=zzzzz and store the values into a file called appBrain.json in the following format:
{ "DI" : "xxxx", "TOKEN" : "yyyy" }

Now download filter.js and save it to the same ('appSearch') folder.

Install Java 8+

Run the following command: jjs -scripting filter.js -- keyword, where keyword can be any search term.

You should see a list of 50 apps that match your search term and are sorted by the number of permissions, with a link to their play store page.
Edit: The code in filter.js is relatively simple and can be tailored to suit your own criteria, if you know a bit of programming. I will try to make it more configurable in the future.

The free tier allows limited number of queries per day. Still, you will be able to make about 30 searches per day, which is enough for personal use.

"None of the solutions mentioned here are working as of Feb 2017." Cannot believe that. My app search still works, and it's Feb 2018 even ;) // Thanks for your approach – but it doesn't fully fit the question. Goal was to eliminate apps from the result list if they request certain permissions – not just a list sorted by numbers of permissions. And AFAIK the "free tier" is limited to 10 requests per day. Nice idea, though :)

oops, edited to feb 2018. I like your solution, but it's a curated list, which doesn't scale. The apps that I have developed, for example, are understandably not on your list, although they require very few permissions and are popular. The filter.js that I linked to is example code that can be tailored (by someone who knows programming). Perhaps if I get more time I will make it more configurable for non-programmers.

Sure, the incompleteness is a draw-back. But you're always welcome to recommend apps to become listed, Harshad – here for the app listings, and here for the repo :) As you take care to request as few perms as possible, I'd be especially interested to have those apps listed.

I just followed steps 1 and half of 2. I did not find "the Developer option for my account."
It seems to me that I have to have an app in Google Play to access a developer account.
Alternatively, I created an organization account, but I am not sure this helps.
Could you confirm or give precision on how to do this? Thank!

Searching with the permission name still means it searches at best through the description of the app
For example :"COARSE (NETWORK-BASED) LOCATION" -> searching for this will list down applications which have this information listed in their descriptions, but it fails to search through the Permissions tab.
If google allowed to scrape the info of all the apps, like i was, then i would be able to provide the world with a search engine to search apps through permissions they require :)


text:
How to clear blank entries from Titanium Backup (pro)?
I often delete those backups which are no longer useful to me. Backup entries are removed from list (popup), but app/element entries aren't removed even when those app/element are not installed.
Here's an example:

You can see No backup yet & the app is no longer installed. How to remove these entries?
I'm rooted and have latest version of Titanium Backup Pro.

How are you deleting the backups? If I delete a backup from Titanium's UI and then refresh the list the deleted backup is no longer listed.

@eldarerathis Deleted backup entries are removed from list, but not the main app entry (with ZERO backups).

I've clarified with screenshot.

Your screenshot suggests you simply uninstalled those apps. In TB, hit the menu button, select "batch processing", scroll to the end of the list. There you'll find "Delete Backups". Second item in that section should read "Delete backups of uninstalled apps" (or the like -- I run a localized version, was just back-translating). That should get you rid of those "striked" entries.
For more details (as well as solution to other TB-related issues), you might want to visit the Titanium Backup Knowledge Base, which provides you with a user's guide, FAQ, troubleshooting tips, How-Tos, and more.
As for the one circled entry, the linked knowledge-base a.o. states:

You can easily remove orphan data by running the “Remove orphan data” batch job.

It just removes the backup of uninstalled apps, not its entries! See the highlighted item in screenshot. It has no backup, so batch operation can't work on it.

Ah -- I was only looking at the last entries, sorry. From your "-1" I take it you missed the link in my answer. So let me quote what is found behind it: You can easily remove orphan data by running the “Remove orphan data” batch job. I will update my answer and explicitly quote it there :)

Why did you expect me to visit link to general knowledge base which may be a big encyclopedia? :) Well, "Remove Orphan Data" batch operation is the solution. Thanks!

Sorry for that -- "may be" is an understatement, I admit :) Glad I could help. And "may be" I try to be a bit more precise next time from the beginning :)

The app is uninstalled but still in the system partion root/custom/app or root/vendor/operater/app after finding these apk's you need to delete them


text:
Why does my phone consume megabytes of traffic when idle?
I have installed Traffic Monitor to check how much data is transferred between my phone and the rest of the world. The traffic is categorized by application, but there is also the category "system traffic", to which all uncategorizable traffic belongs. Strangely enough, the "system traffic" consumes the lion share: 2 of 2.8 MB within several hours of idling (over wireless LAN).
Skype is off, only E-mail (K-9 + standard client), the news+weather widget and the browser are running. For these apps, a consumption of 0.8 MB is shown. Still a lot, but I can handle these. Apart from these: Traffic Monitor, Settings, Google Services (what's that for precisely?) and the Android keyboard.
What is responsible for the rather heavy traffic here? What are typical "traffic eaters" that could fall into the "system traffic" category? Is there a way to disallow communication while the phone is not used (blank display)?
Purpose: Estimate the required data volume or enable a pay-per-data connection. This question on monitoring is related, too.

For your last question: Use Tasker..

@SachinShekhar: Thanks. But do I really need an app as huge as Tasker for such a simple setting?

Its not a simple setting.. It uses if-else logic & involves user presence intents. Even with Tasker, you'll need multiple logical steps.

"Heavy Traffic?" ... It's 2.4MB; calm down.

Just a guess, but: I imagine the built-in Google apps (gmail, contacts, calendar) are the culprits.  Try turning off "Account Sync" in settings.


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Galaxy Nexus - How do I start adding strangers' numbers to "auto-reject"?
I regularly get phone calls from people trying to reach an old folks' home and I want to outright reject those automatically (without any "send to voicemail" ideally).
This was fairly painless on the Galaxy S: from the Call Log, tap-hold on the bad number, menu pops up, select "add to auto-reject". [Auto reject was enabled in the phone's settings before]
How do I achieve the same thing with the Galaxy Nexus?  I'm figuring the same feature should be available from the stock ICS somewhere.  If not, I'm open to lists of auto-reject apps.

If it's the same people ringing you regularly what you could do is:

Add them as a contact, under 'Ignore1', 'Ignore2' etc. whenever they
ring
Go to Contacts -> Select 'Ignore1' -> Options (or action menu) -> Select 'All calls to voicemail'

Or if you don't like this method then you could try:

Mr. Number: Text, Call & Block
(free)
Extreme Call Blocker Droid  (paid)

I didn't want to add a new contact called "Auto Reject List", but I guess it's good enough for now... Although, I'm just going to add all of the rejects into the same contact, because it's cleaner than flooding my contact list with "Ignore #1, #2, #3... etc"

Ah yes I didn't think of adding them to the same one. I know it's irritating have to have them saved as a contact, you'd think you could just block people and then have a separate list of who you've blocked so you can revoke it if you change your mind.

You can also try Call Manager.


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Use android phone as bluetooth receiver in car
In my car I have my old Android phone as the GPS and music player. I was hoping to use it as a receiver for my calls coming to my other phone and any bluetooth devices around it streaming music. Is there a way to do this? I have searched Google thouroughly.

How old is it? Android's Bluetooth stack took a long time to mature and it was very limited until a late 2.x version of Android.

Did you find any information about this?

A link for this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=780500 - we are looking for A2DP receiver capability in Android.

Possible duplicate of: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/5796/can-an-android-phone-be-used-as-a-bluetooth-headset-speakers

Technically it is possible with most Bluetooth Android phones  but you would have to root your device and find a ROM  with source code  like CyanogenMod and rewrite the Bluetooth driver.

Unfortunately there is still no bluetooth server implementation available for android devices.
The connect as "music player" part of your question could be realized via WiFi, using the SoundSeeder Music Player app (soundseeder.com or forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2392672
You need to connect your devices via "WiFi direct" or the portable hotspot of your device. Then you can use your old phone as wireless speaker for your main device. The app also supports google music and online radio stations.


text:
Why is my Huawei IDEOS X3 (U8510) not appearing in the Device Manager list?
I have just written my first Hello World app for Android using the Eclipse plug-in. As I understand it, I can run the app from within Eclipse so that it will be automatically downloaded to the phone. I should be able to select whether the emulator or phone should be used.
So far I have not been able to run the app on the phone. There are no connected phones to deploy to. When I look in the Device Manager (Windows 7), there is also nothing there that looks like a phone and nothing in the 'Other devices' group either.
Can anyone suggest what I can do?

Have you installed the USB drivers for your handset on your PC?

@chahk - do you mean the drivers which can be downloaded from Huawei? If so then I'm in trouble. The web site seems to be down :-(

Strange, the site and the download work fine for me: http://www.huaweidevice.com/worldwide/downloadCenter.do?method=toDownloadFile&flay=software&softid=Mzk1MzA=

Alongside installing the correct dirvers, I've found that you may need to also do a bit of manual setup so that your computer can recognise the usb device.
Try this: find the .android folder in your home directory, and replace the adb_usb.ini file with this one. this tells your computer to let adb work with a load of different usb devices. You may need to restart ADB via the command line:
adb kill-server
adb start-server

and now adb should show you your device
adb devices

I had the same problem few days back. I discovered that device drivers were not installed correctly on my PC. I installed the device drivers and snapPea.
Hope this helps.


text:
How can I move incoming  messages immediately to the SIM card?
I need to move the incoming messages in my Android phone directly to the sim card. I know I can click the message and move manually to SIM, but I need to do it automatically. I couldnt find that option anywhere in the settings. I am also fine with an app doing this.

I don't think this will ever be supported. Storage space on SIM cards is very limited: The first generation, as far as I remember, could not store much more than 10 SMS, more recent generations might store maybe 100. Still, most people would very likely run out of storage here, and thus block new messages from being received. As it is uncertain how long providers would retry sending an SMS to the device before discarding it, communication would get lost -- surely not a goal of a communication oriented device.
Access to SMS stored on SIMs is only provided for compatibility reasons, I would say -- and I doubt this will change (not for "better support" of SIM for sure -- instead, it might be dropped completely). It's an out-aged technology.

"640K of RAM ought to be enough for everybody" - Bill Gates - 1981... xD ;)

Why not store it in SIM initially and when it fills up, start storing it in phone? I know there are many apps out there for sms back up and all, but for normal GSM users who change their phones in a jiffy, doesn't it make sense to keep some of the messages if not all in SIM?

Looks like not so many people are interested in this. So nobody implements it. Just my guess...


text:
How to make Android use remote DNS servers over VPN?
I've set up an L2TP/IPsec PSK VPN between my phone and my home network.  It works, but Android doesn't use my home DNS server, so none of my internal hostnames resolve.  I can access internal servers by IP address, but not by name.  How can I get the phone to use my internal DNS instead of whatever servers it normally uses?
Some background: I'm using a Samsung Epic 4G running Gingerbread.  My VPN server is running xl2tpd and openswan on Linux.  I checked the routing table on my phone, and traffic is correctly being routed through the VPN.  On the server, there are options in the PPP config called "ms-dns-1" and "ms-dns-2" that allows the server to push DNS server IPs to the client.  But apparently those options are only used by Microsoft clients.  I've Googled the issue, and other people have the same problem, but I haven't been able to find a solution.
My phone isn't rooted.  I'm willing to root the phone if I have to, but I'd prefer not to.
Edit, 2 months later
I finally found out what was wrong, and it had nothing to do with DNS.  I'm using my desktop computer as the VPN endpoint, and I had neglected to turn on IP forwarding, so it wasn't forwarding packets.  I could access services on the VPN endpoint itself, but anything that required forwarding packets (including DNS lookups) failed.  The VPN client was correctly picking up DNS information, but it couldn't reach the DNS server because of the forwarding issue.  Once I corrected that, the VPN worked perfectly.  To summarize, I'm an idiot.

Isn't there a DNS configuration for the VPN connections? When I set up my PPTP VPN connection, it asked me for remote DNS servers specifically.

I think it only asks for DNS servers if you configure a static IP.  If you use DHCP (very common), it picks up everything from the DHCP server.

I have similar issue. (Still have.)
There is something I don't understand in your initial description. You wrote "I can access internal servers by IP address, but not by name." Did you are able to access internal machines with IP forwarding turned off?

@utom No, that was another mistake on my part.  I was able to access my VPN endpoint by IP address.  I didn't even check other IP addresses.  I just assumed I could access them the same way.  If I had checked other addresses, I might have found the issue sooner.

You might want to take a look at the DNS Settings app, which claims to be able to do what you want (you just have to switch once to a static IP to change the DNS settings, and then switch back to dynamic IP, according to the description). That's the only non-root app I could find for this issue -- there are two more apps at least, but they require root to work.

I know this is an old thread, but I recently ran into this problem on my Samsung Galaxy A21s and figured out the fix yesterday.
In my case, I had a VPN server where DNS resolution was working fine when used with my iOS device, but DNS resolution was not working when I used an Android device to connect to the same VPN server.
In my case, the issue was the DNS settings on the Android device.
Under Settings > Connections > More connection settings, there is a feature called Private DNS. This was set to "Automatic". I set that to Off. After that, when connected to the VPN server, the Android device started using my internal DNS server (as specified by the VPN server). When not connected to VPN, the Android phone uses the DNS servers specified by the local network. This was the desired behaviour for my use case.
Apologies, but whether someone set the Private DNS feature to Automatic while troubleshooting is unclear. So I can't tell whether or not Android sets that to Automatic by default. Frankly, I've spent too much time troubleshooting the issue to confirm either way (this was only meant as a POC). Just sharing my experience in case anyone else runs into the same problem in the future.


text:
use wav file for sound notification when receiving a new Facebook/Google+ message?
How can I change the notification in my Android 2.3.5 device so that I can use a given wav file for sound notification when receiving a new Facebook message? If this is not possible with the Facebook app, is it possible with the Google+ app?

For using custom ringtones, I suggest Rings Extended app along with any file manager to browse the contents of your SD Card.  This will allow you to pick any supported sound file to be used as a ringtone in any app.
In Google+ app, go to Menu -> Settings.  Under "Ringtone" you can select the WAV file (pick "Rings Extended" when prompted, and navigate to wherever you saved the file), and "Notification settings" will give you finer control of which actions will trigger the notifications.
I don't use Facebook, but I imagine the app has similar controls in its settings.


text:
Nexus One stuck in loading screen - How to save application data? (ROOTED)
I have my N1 rooted and after I installed BlackRose and change the partitions with password protection I wasn't able to start Android ever again. It show this screen:

I can access to the adb shell, and I can see all the private folders. So my question is
What folders/files do I need to backup to restore after the phone is fixed?
I know:
/data/data
anything else?

Is there any output to adb logcat while the phone is on that screen?  Can you still boot to Recovery or Bootloader?

Hi I can see the device on the adb list but no logcat nor application is opened.. I can start bootloader and fastboot. But because of the password thing I cannot do anything in there.

Here are the locations you can try to back up:
/data/app/         --> location of APKs.
/data/app-private/ --> location of protected APKs.
/data/data/        --> location of app settings.

However, if you are trying to install ICS a complete wipe is most definitely required.
Generally, re-partitioning the internal memory should wipe its contents.  I would try manually re-flashing Recovery, wiping the device completely (system, data, cache, and dalvik cache) and re-flashing the ROM.  If you do manage to salvage any app data, I would highly recommend not restoring it on the new ROM, as that can lead to problems, especially if you are backing up to FAT/NTFS drive (Linux file permissions are lost.)

Thanks. I'll not install ICS.. I'm going to install again the same ROM I was using.. Thanks for your answer.


text:
Hebrew word suggestions on ICS
I have a Galaxy Nexus with Ice Cream Sandwich OS installed, and I write emails and text messages in Hebrew and English.
The English keyboard has as-you-type word suggestions that appear (in blue) bove the keys while typing.
The Hebrew keyboard does not have that feature (it only suggest to complete contact names). How do I add word suggestions to my device?

Are you using the stock keyboard, or a 3rd-party replacement?

Try using a 3rd-party keyboard replacement app.
I've previously used AnySoftKeyboard, and can confirm that it does show word suggestions on other languages.  For Hebrew you would need to install the corresponding language pack as well.


text:
How can I share a post on my wall using the Facebook app?
On my PC, I can repost (share) a post from a friend on my own wall.
How can I do that in the official Android Facebook app?

You can re-share your friend's post using FriendCaster for Facebook app. Simply install it and use it as your primary fb app. Its better than official fb app in many aspects..
Update (November 2012):
In recent version of official Facebook app, this feature has been added. Happy Re-Sharing!


text:
Why an android device overwrites the header named message-ID?
I do not understand why android devices (I think mobiles devices in general) overwrite the mail header named message-ID. I need to pass some parameters through this header to build threads but each time I try, is overwritten.
My apps works very well with webmail and mail clients like Outlook and Thunderbird.
Any idea? Do you know some apps to debug mail headers within android devices?
Thanks
Adam

There are mail headers for threading (in particular I'm thinking of References: and In-Reply-To:), why not use one of those rather than trying to overload something else?

I also tried with References header but unsuccessfully. It seems that mobile device not use this header nor In-Reply-To: header. For this reason, I would like to assert my hypothesis using a debug apps for mail mobile device. Someone knows somehow for debugging of mail headers?


text:
Is there a keyboard featuring Undo/Redo?
Undo/redo feature is generally provided by input box host app, but.. the way Android's input works, it can be provided universally for all input boxes. Is there a keyboard which has undo/redo feature?

Comments explaining the downvotes would be nice...

I expect because you're basically asking for app recommendations, which don't do well on this site (or any site in Stack Exchange, actually). You're not asking help with a problem, you've already chosen your solution. Now you're using us to do your app searches for you.

The default keyboard does not have the redo/undo features. However you can try some third-party keyboard app like AI type keyboard which have these features.


text:
Does Galaxy Tab 10.1 USB adapter allow an external web camera?
Does the Galaxy Tab 10.1 USB adapter allow you to plug in an external web camera?
The Samsung site does not appear to say either way (or to even list what you can use with the USB adapter.)
And if it does not, are there any tablets that do?

Does the Galaxy Tab 10.1 USB adapter allow you to plug in an external web camera?

No

And if it does not, are there any tablets that do?

Acer Iconia Tab A500
It all depends on the kernel configuration. You can install custom kernel on any device to make it to allow external camera. It is a lengthy process and involves rooting the phone.


text:
Root my EVO wihtout USB cord
I want to root my EVO... but my charging port is broken (I've been using an external battery charger to get around this). Anyway to get the files I need to root my EVO onto my EVO without using this cable? I was thinking about going through Box or Dropbox or something like that but I'm not sure how to download these files into a specific folder on my EVO.
Thanks.

It is possible but I have to advise against this. If something goes wrong you will not be able to repair it without USB connection.

You can use unrEVOked root exploiter app: http://androidspin.com/2010/06/05/unrevoked-one-click-root-evo-4g-cdma-hero/ But, the apk file has been officially removed. Search the web for this apk file.. Good luck!

there is no way to backup my phone on an SD card or anything so that if something does go wrong, I can just pull it off the card?

You can always put the files on an SD card and transfer them to your internal storage from there, but as was said in the comments, if something happens during the process and you are unable to boot your phone, the only way to recover from that is to reflash it from the computer, using the usb cable. You can use Titanium Backup to back all of your apps up onto the SD card, and hopefully you keep everything you can backed up through Google, but you still would have an unusable phone if something happened.

cool thanks. in addition, will I be able to flash a custom ROM onto my phone without the USB cord?

Yes, so long as you have a way to put files on the phone (You can even download them straight to the phone), you don't need a computer unless you're changing the bootloaders (Such as going from 2.2 to 2.3/4.0) or if something goes wrong.


text:
List of all devices connected to my network
Is there any way to get list of all devices connected to my Wi-Fi network?

Theres's an app for that. See Fing.

Though I should mention that "Fing" in Hungarian means fart.


text:
How can I group duplicate contacts from different sources (Google, WhatsApp, etc)?
I have installed an ICS ROM (Virtuous Inquisition 4.0) on my phone. In my address book I am syncronizing all contacts from my Gmail, Google+ and WhatsApp accounts with the consequence that some contacts have THREE entries! Is the ICS address book not able to group them together by default? I know this question is similar: How do I remove duplicate contacts from Google+?, but the proposed solutions don't seem to work or are not really adequate.

I guess these steps can reproduce the problem:  (1) Create a contact "A" with phone number, no email on google contact; (2) Let B add you to his/her circle on google+; (3) Change contact A's email address to B's email. .... You now see two contact are merged on web, but seperated on phone.

Please try the following:

Select the duplicate contact Edit the contact
Access the menu for the edit contact page, and select the Join action
Select the contact you want to merge with from the suggested list, or search for
the appropriate one.

Doing this will link the contacts.


text:
What does [HYPOS] tag on logcat relate to in Samsung Galaxy S II?
I have Samsung Galaxy S II. When I check the logcat using Eclipse, I see an entry with tag [HYPOS].
What is that? I am worried about my privacy.

Please provide more information. I'm not sure that anyone will be able to give you a reasonable answer based on the content of this post, currently. What are you doing when you see this "log tag"? Where are you seeing it? What is it exactly, an entry in the logcat "Tag" column?

From:

Is GPS chip control affected by 'sensor aiding'? - Stack Overflow
Suspected memory leak (in Sygic); how to interpret the Allocation Tracker - Stack Overflow
Show on Map - cgeo Issue Tracker

All of these people are posting issues or logcats relating to the GPS on their phone, I would imagine yours is something similar if it's in a line like:
DEBUG/(2696): [HYPOS] NOMOVE Time 13114, PowerMode 2, GPSWeakSignal 19, GPSFixTime 0, Car 1, DOE 3

The fact it also says GPS in the logcat entry is a hint also.

An app developer can use any word as log tag. The log tag 'HYPOS' can be from any good/bad app that you have installed in you phone.


text:
Which directories does the Media Scanner scan?
Which directories does the Media Scanner scan at startup?
Is it only the sdcard?

Media Scanner scans both SD card as well as USB storage, but not ROM and system storage. Means, it scans from /sdcard/ and /sdcard/external_sd/ mount points. It goes deep inside all non-hidden sub-directories, unless .nomedia file is detected.
Media Scanner skips ROM and system storage because both require root permission to write anything there. And, its very unlikely for an end-user to store music, photo there.

and except the hidden folders.

@roxan oh missed that.. thanks. added that in answer..

btw, would it be possible to make it search further dirs?

@MobileCushion Unable to understand what you're asking.. Plz, elaborate it. If you are concerned about .nomedia, it works as follows: When this file is found in a directory, all items (including sub-directories) of this directory are skipped.

If you don't want to create/manage .nomedia files by hand, use Nomedia app.

I was asking if there is a way for the Media Scanner to search more dirs than just the ones you mentioned

@MobileCushion Why would you need this? What I have mentioned aren't directories. Those are mount points of storage devices. And, all of end-user files/directories can be located under it. So, both mount points cover overall file system usable to end-users!

@roxan Does this mean that if I put all my files in subdirectories of a hidden folder, they won't be analyzed by Media scanner? This would be cool for my purpose.

@Basj You're correct.

@MobileCushion I am using Musicolet player, and it gives you an option to use its own scanner or system scanner and you can choose which folders to scan and not to scan, also internal storage. I do not know, if it affect to what media files other apps see.


text:
How can I flash ClockworkMod with Heimdall on Galaxy Mini?
I tried to flash ClockworkMod with Heimdall on my Galaxy Mini by doing the following:

I go into download mode
Plug in my phone
Go into the recovery image folder
Run heimdall flash --kernel zImage

I get this error and my phone stays in download mode:
Initialising connection...
Detecting device...
Claiming interface...
Attempt failed. Detaching driver...
Claiming interface again...
Setting up interface...
ERROR: Setting up interface failed!
Re-attaching kernel driver...

USB debugging mode is enabled of course and I'm on Ubuntu. How can I successfully flash ClockworkMod?

Try connecting your phone to the PC via USB after starting the Heimdal tool.

i tried it but it fails detecting the device btw is heimdall compatible with galaxy mini right ??

Sometimes this is a permissions issue. If the command works with sudo in front of it but not with your user account, you don't have the proper permissions to the device. I'm not sure Heimdall uses ADB permissions - the Heimdall webpage should have more details.

i have run it again with sudo but i get the same error as before

Does the computer recognize the phone at all?  What does adb devices terminal command return? (you may need to install Android SDK if you haven't already)

I just a got an email from the Heimdall dev, he said it's not compatible with the Galaxy Mini.  Thanks guys for your replies.

Too bad, thanks for letting us know the answer though.

@roxan i can't now tomorow ill :D


text:
"App_Name" Could not be downloaded due to an error (500)?
I developed an app for android. I used my two devices (Galaxy Nexus running 4.02 & Galaxy Tab10.1 running 3.1) to test the app before I published it.
When I published the app to the Market, I removed the tested version of the app from my devices and tried to install the one in the market but I couldn't install it !
In my Nexus device, It gives me this error: *"App_Name" Could not be downloaded due to an error (500).* In my Tab, a progress bar is shown then disappear with no error message.
To solve it, I tried:

Rebooting the devices.
Removing my Google account from my Tab and re-adding it again. the problem still exists.

I can install other apps with no problem. If you think the problem is from my app, try installing it. Search for "Untiny" in the market
-Thanks

Turns out that the app didn't upload completely! Something went wrong while I was uploading it to the Play store.
It installed just fine after I uploaded a new version.
Thanks to all.

The app works on other devices according to the user reviews. Perform a factory reset on your device and see if the error occurs while installing

I have had this problem before and tried everything, including hard resetting my phone. I forget what worked, but I think going through the web version of Market helped.
I had tried restoring a backup previously of a previous version of the app. This may have caused the problem but it doesn't explain why several apps have failed on auto update this time. I use Vodafone, and the service is not that good, so maybe the apps are getting corrupted.
Thinking about it might have contacted android support on web market place and got a resolution there after a few goes. So the thing about google fault see them, last time might be the only valid answer. I also have the error on new installs to, I have discovered. So it is likely some corruption between the app configuration on my phone and the market. Google should have had a method to fix this, if only by reinstalising the data. As I said before I waited 1 to 2 minutes for it to clear, it did not, so contact them quickly.

Your commentary regarding the previous edit is completely unnecessary and incredibly inappropriate. If it failed to capture the meaning of the post then you're of course free to fix it up however you want, but the there were many grammatical and spelling errors in your original post, to the point that it was literally difficult to comprehend what you were saying.

Go to recovery => wipe cache
Go to advanced
Wipe dalvik cache
Fix permissions
Reboot

Source: http://androidjinni.com/google-play-store-error-500-solution-2353/


text:
Mapping Xbox 360 (wired) controller buttons on SuperGNES
I'm trying to map A & B buttons in the SuperGNES emulator (on ACER A500 running Android 3.2) but it seems that A & B buttons are mapped as "back" action by default on Android. Is there any way to bypass or change this configuration so I can use those buttons?

The problem is related to SuperGNES app.
I've tried other emulators like SNESDroid and Animaonline SNES and voilà worked as a charm!


text:
How can I make a selected calendar notification behave like an alarm, that is, audible even on silent mode?
I keep my phone on silent most of the time but would like audible reminders for critical calendar reminders. Short of silencing everything else manually, is there a way to acheive this?

Check out CyanogenMod. It's a custom rom that has a profiles feature built in where you can define which apps should have audible notifications.

Its somewhat tricky..
Don't go in Silent mode using stock settings. Use Quick Profiles app to silent everything except Notifications. Then, hunt down all apps which are generating audible notifications. You will found Gmail, Facebook, Astrid etc. Check settings of all those apps. Generally, they all allow users to set notification ringtone. Access this option & choose Silent ringtone for all apps except calendar. Done!


text:
Where are the bookmarks in Firefox for Android?
This may be a ridiculously simple question, but where is the bookmarks list in Firefox for Android?
I'm looking at the interface on my Galaxy Tab 10.1, and I can't find the bookmarks anywhere. They're not available when clicking on the top right corner. They aren't available anywhere else.
The only place I can find them is when I open a new tab, I get an interface which shows my bookmarks as one option, along with "History", "All Pages", and "Desktop".
Surely I don't have to open a new tab every time I just want to go to a bookmark?
This is one of those things that's so simple it seems they haven't even bothered to mention it in documentation. At least, not that I've seen.

From at least Firefox 11 onwards (may have originated in 10) you just need to tap on the address bar. The dropdown menu with the four tabs you mentioned (including Bookmarks) should appear when you do. This also applies to phones, though the tabs on the phone version appear across the top of the menu right under the address bar rather than along the left side.


text:
Custom ROM on Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro (MK16i)

Possible Duplicate:
Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?

I do really hate the system that Sony Ericsson has placed on the top of Android and I would like to have ICS (but no problem if not possible or recommendable). I have tried googling and looking around for a couple of days to find how and what custom ROM I could install on my telephone, but I have had no luck in this venture.
Does anybody here know about a custom ROM I could install on my telephone? Preferably as clean as possible or similar to HTCs system and ICS if possible and usable.

How about this ROM based on CM 9.0?

I do not seem to find out how to install the ROM, do you have a guide for that? :)


text:
Is there a search app for Android with no-tracking privacy policy?
On the desktop I use ixquick to avoid Google tracking my searches. But on Android it is even worse since I am logged in and Google can track everything I do. Is there an app for ixquick or for another search engine that does not log?

DuckDuckGo

I've had pretty good luck with duckduckgo for Android. You can also set your browser home page to it or startpage or ixquick.


text:
Why does Google play show a "no connection: retry" error?
Recently I bought a Spice MI 280 with Android 2.3.4, I downloaded apps from the Android Market like App2sd, Task killer, Soundhound etc.
A few days ago Android Market was upgraded to Google Play and when I try to open it it shows a no connection: retry error...although I can browse the net through Opera and uc browser without any difficulty.
When I open YouTube through Opera it shows the main page of the site, but then when I try to play a video it shows cannot play the video.
I have tried adjusting the current date, clearing data and caches etc. I've tried a factory data reset but its asking please input phone password. Any suggestions?

Okay, I ran into the same issue and finally found a fix that worked!
First off, go to settings>Applications>Manage Applications>Google Play Store and select "Clear Data"
Then, return to your home screen and just wait for the Play Store to auto-update.
If it does not come up on its own, re-open the store and select "update"
Finally, close the app (after it boots up), give your phone another minute,and have at it!
After trying this, my Play Store has been working just fine.
I hope that helps!
Cheers

The same kind of technique applies to some, not all, apps. :) Go as far as Settings > Applications > Manage Applications, select the app that's giving grief, then Clear Data

nope doesn't work

I'm finding that I can install apps again if I downgrade from Google Play Store to Google Market on an HTC MyTouch running Android 2.2.1.
To downgrade, go to Settings -> Applications -> Manage applications -> Downloaded -> Google Play Store -> Uninstall updates.

I had the same problem with my Xperia ZL. It was supposed to be because of incorrect setting up when the phone booted for the very first time.
I did a factory reset and the issue is fixed for me. So simple.
Good luck.

If you have root access, you can also clean up the "host" file content.that sould also work. It is under /etc/ directory.


text:
Is there a way to cancel a sending message?
While the message is "sending", I discovered that I had sent to the wrong person. Isn't there anything you can do about this? I used to use Nokia. In those older phones (or systems) you simply press the "C" botton to the right and the sending message is aborted.

Airplane Mode  immediately..then force stop, then clear the data, the restart phone... Worked for me!

One way I can think of is by killing the Message application. But I'm not sure if the message sending is done by the Message application itself or if it passes the message to other process or android core to do the real transfer of message.
Anyways you can check by going to Menu -> Settings-> Manage applications -> Select all tab and select Message and click Force stop.

I'd venture a guess that the delay is caused by the Messaging application waiting for a response from the cell tower that the message has been successfully sent. If that's the case, killing the app won't work.

Killing messaging service works..

I'd just pull the battery out.. that'll always kill

I think by the time one navigates to the screen where the "Force Stop" button is, the message will probably have reached the destination and most likely have been sent from the phone. What OP needs is something like an UNDO in Gmail which basically sends a message after a specified x seconds delay, allowing a user to cancel the message.

While the message is "sending" press and hold the comment/text massage. A menu option should appear giving you the option to cancel message before it sends. Airplane mode is a good one that'll work too.

Take a look at Cancel SMS - works as I mentioned in the comment above.
There's a delay of one minute before sending, thereby allowing a user to cancel the send within a minute of typing out the message.
Be warned, the app adds a bookmark and a search shortcut.

One easy way is, putting the phone into Airplane Mode. So the sending message will be cancelled.

Yes. You can do it with the SMS UNDO app for android. It runs in the background and is very easy to use. Also you can set up timer when it will be active and the time the message will be put on hold.

Considering the number of installs the app has as of now, I suppose this answer did nothing more than shameless promotion.

Check out PVLL. The app puts a delay of 5 seconds before sending, called the "5 second rule". Works for me.
It also has a feature that lets you schedule texts in the future, and there's a sharing layer on top of SMS that lets you discuss your conversations. I use it instead of taking screenshots or cut and paste.

So far you have two answers on this site, both to promote the same app. What's your relationship with this app? It's important to be clear about this so other users can judge your recommendation accordingly.

just delete the text while its sending (click and hold on the message)
if the text is not too embarrassing just tell the person who it accidentally got sent to that you didn't mean to send it to them and that it was an accident. or every time you send a text you could create a new text (by typing in/searching for the correct phone number or contact name within your phone's address book)with the correct person's name instead of texting them from the list of names from previous texts that shows up when you open the texting app (to avoid sending it to the wrong person in the first place)

The c button you mentioned works in Nokia only if the message stays in outbox which sometimes don't work always. The closest option you can get is by using Textra SMS from play store and set the delay sending SMS option to 9seconds. If you happen to send a message to a wrong recipient, you can cancel the SMS by pressing the x button after pressing the send button.


text:
How to change country?
I want to install this application
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.scoompa.callrecorder.open
but I can't, because I'm in a wrong country. I would like to change country. Do I need to travel to another country to install this application or can I somehow pick a right country ? what is the right country for this application?

To answer your question, see this previous question for options on changing the country that the Market think your phone is in: How can I circumvent regional restrictions in the Android Market?
For the second part of your question about which country to change to, from the app's description:

Currently for U.S. and Canada based phones only.

But from this description:

The application dials to our service, which dials to the other party,
  showing your phone number as the caller ID.
The service then records
  the call at the telephony level, and sends a very high-quality
  recording straight to your email box.

I think that even if you get it to install, it will only work properly if you are currently in the US or Canada, as it seems to work by redirecting your call through a landline call forwarding service, which either won't work in other countries, or will be using a hideously expensive international rate call for that purpose.

I had the same problem and asked Google to help me.
This is their answer:
We use the billing address of your default payment instrument in Google Wallet to help determine your home country for accessing the Play Store. Our collection of content can vary by country, so your view of the Play Store may differ from what others are seeing when you travel outside of the country listed on your default payment method's billing address.
Please note that you must have a valid payment method with a billing address located inside a country in order to access that country's Play Store.
If you're having issues viewing your intended country's Play Store and would like to change your default payment method or update an existing billing address in Google Wallet, please use the following steps:
1) Sign into your Google Wallet account to manage your payment methods (https://wallet.google.com/manage/paymentMethods)
2) Add a new card or change your default payment instrument to one with a billing address located inside your desired country
3) Open the Play Store and navigate to any item available for download
4) Click to begin a download until you reach the "Accept and buy" screen (no need to complete the purchase)
5) Close the Play Store and clear data for the Google Play Store application (Settings > Apps > Google Play Store > Clear Data) or clear your browser cache
6) Re-open the Play Store. You should now see the Play Store that matches your default payment instrument's billing country.
If you haven't yet added a payment method to your account for the first time, please add a card directly from the Play Store with a billing address that matches your intended country location. Then, follow steps 3 through 6 to show your intended country's Play Store.

Just attempted this procedure in a US to Australia move, it didn't work.

I had the same problem and got over it by doing following

go to Samsung website, login and then delete the account. Did this from my PC.
go to Android settings, accounts and then delete the account associated with Samsung app
go back to Samsung app store on Android device, create new account.


text:
LG Spectrum Jumping To Home Screen
I've got a problem with my LG Spectrum.  I've had it about 3 or 4 weeks now.  It keeps jumping to the home screen.  In other words, whatever app I'm looking at or have open, it will just exit to the home screen.  It's an intermittent problem.  It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does it will often happen several times over and over again.  It exits, I go back into the app.  It exits again a second later.  I go back into the app, etc.
I haven't been able to find any particular pattern to it.  It can happen in any application.  It can happen while I'm typing, swiping or just looking at something.  It can happen if the phone has been on for hours, or if the phone was just barely turned on and I'm in my first application.  It never shows my any error whatsoever.  However, about 25% of the time I will see for a brief flash the Car Mode screen popup or the Car Mode icon appear on the status bar at the top.  So, I'm guessing it has something to do with the Car Mode being activated inadvertantly/incorrectly, but I'm not even sure how the phone decides it's time to start Car Mode yet.  Every other phone I've ever had you started Car Mode manually.
The phone is not rooted and the latest OTA updates have been applied.
Firmware: VS920ZV4
MUC 6.2.0.3_B013_6

Do you have a screen protector on it? That can sometimes cause the hard buttons to activate. Or has something happened that may have damaged your charging port? The phone determines when to start car mode by a certain jumper connection in in the cable.

The phone activates car mode during normal operation whether the cable is connected or not.  All I have to do is stick it in the winshield mount and car mode comes on.  And no, it doesn't have any screen protectors on.

possibly related: Screen goes back to home screen frequently, after Data Network enable


text:
How to force Android 2.3 to believe that there is networking?
(unsatisfied by answers in "Let Android believe it is connected to internet", they more about "how to set up networking")
The android device is connected to the Internet though my laptop over Wi-Fi in ad-hoc mode, not from any Android interface, configured from console (Android thinks that it is offline: both wifi and data transfer indicators are off).
All console tools, browsers, etc. see the network, but Google things (like Google Talk) show "Network currently unavailable. Will connect automatically when available" and [seems like] doesn't even try if the network is really unavailable. Google Market shows pages, but silently fails to download anything in this state.
How to explicitly tell Android that "there is network" without turning on Wifi or mobile networking?

I think we've had a question that was actually the same as this before, but I can't find it.  I've had much the same annoyance on pre-Android smartphones where apps don't understand that Wi-Fi means internet access even if I'm not connected to a cell data network.

Here the system (Google Talk, Google Market) sees that there are neither Wi-Fi nor call data connection (actually there is Wi-Fi, but with trickier setup) and does not even try to use networking.

(Currently having to use airbase-ng to force my BCM4313 into "master" mode to be able to connect Android in usual way. This is inconvenient (unreliable, no encryption, low speed))


text:
Copy all contacts from HTC Desire HD to my google account
I'm trying to sync all my contacts from my HTC Desire HD to my google account but I can't see them anywhere in my google account. I have already found several tutorials on the the internet but still can't make my contacts visible in google account.

You can do this the old-fashioned way if you want to do one-time sync only:

Go to Contacts and export to SD card. This will create a handy vCard file that will reside in the root of your SD card. Most often this will be 00001.vcf or some such.
From a desktop computer, go to Gmail contacts and choose Import from the menu above.

From the desktop you can add and edit your contacts much more easily than you would on the phone. However, I found syncing to be unreliable sometimes, especially with HTC Sence (I had the stock ROM previously on my HTC Desire) -- I had to deal with duplicate contacts and mysteriously vanishing phone numbers on a few occasions.


text:
Suspicious Permissions And A Safe Repository?
I have found older version of Facebook For Android app here which was hosted on geekfiles.in
When i wanted to install 1.8.1 and checked permissions, the following arose my suspicions:
Services that cost you money:
Send SMS messages
Your messages:
edit SMS or MMS, read SMS or MMS, receive SMS
Your accounts:
act as an account authenticator, manage the accounts list
Phone calls:
read phone state and identity
Your accounts:
discover known accounts
Storage:
modify/delete SD card contents
Can unscrupulous people inject malware into APKs? If yes, what are trusted repositories for downgrading apps to older versions?
Is this repository trusted source?

For future reference, you can use something like Titanium Backup to make backups of previous app versions and revert to them if something goes wrong (This saved my bacon when I almost got locked out of my Google account due to a botched Authenticator update).

I am UNrooted as long as i have actual warranty, so cannot use Titanium Backup yet. I used MyBackup full version but could not find Facebook For Android .APK file and all that i have found was Facebook Messenger.

As a general rule, I don't trust any "freeware" or "shareware" site that has not specifically been recommended to me by someone I know and trust, and because these sites aren't my thing I can't either recommend or condemn this specific example. I can answer part of your question, though, and say an emphatic yes, unscrupulous people can inject malware into APKs. Installing an APK from an unknown source is generally a very bad idea.
The permissions you mention, though, are actually the same that the legit Facebook for Android app asks over in the Play store (see the "Permissions" tab). Permissions alone are a bad judge of an APK's potential for harm. In this case, personally, I would say the risk of an unknown source far outweighs the app's permission requests.

I wouldn't install an APK from a non-trusted source either.

@Mr. Buster Not the same actually. I don't see legit Facebook for Android app asking permission to send/receive SMS messages.

@Boris_yo - the SMS/MMS permissions I see are Send, Edit, Receive, and Read per the Play Market.

@Mr.Buster I see now that since version 1.8 send/receive SMS messages permissions were removed.

If you really want to downgrade an APK, the best way is to get it from another device that you trust using one of the methods in  Where are the .apk files of currently installed apps stored on my Android device?  Then you can put that APK on your device.

After using MyBackup full version, i can only find Facebook Messenger .APK file but no Facebook For Android.


text:
How to unlock device when I forgot my password?
I've read Recovering from forgotten lock pattern which states that there is an option to disable the lock using my Google account information. However I did not noticed such an option when I entered my password five times wrong. (Although there was also a 20s or 30s delay to complicate brute force attacks.) I use Android 4.0.3 on a Asus Transformer Prime TF201.
Would factory reset work?

Why do you think, factory reset may not work? It wipes out every custom configurations..

As the device is locked I did not know if I could employ a factory reset. I just guess that there is a key-combination like: volume down + power button or something similar.. I was not sure.

Yes.. you can factory reset from recovery mode. How to enter this mode varies as per devices.

If you're just trying to remove the lock pattern then a factory reset would work, recovery mode is usually accessible by powering off the device and then pressing power+volume down until it boots into bootloader mode, from there up/down volume keys will get you to recovery where you can factory reset. but if you need access to the data that is behind the lock screen and you don't have root then you're practically out of luck unfortunately.

Factory reset will work. You can unlock the device remotely if you have some app installed for that, like the MIUI unlock service.
https://www.devicesfaq.com/en/reset/asus-transformer-prime-tf201

You can always factory reset your device. Factory reset wipes out all custom configurations including PIN/Security Lock.

Yes, a factory reset will work.
First, you will need to boot into recovery mode, this is device-specific, so you will need to google how it's done on your phone. But on mine for example: hold power and volume up until a menu opens up, select recovery with volume up, press volume down, and when the "no command" screen opens up, press power and volume up.
Once you're inside recovery mode, select "factory reset" or "perform factory reset" with the volume buttons, and press the power button. Then select yes, and press the power button.
After the factory reset is completed, it will ask for your Google account credentials. If it asks for the previous password, tap "use Google account instead". If your device doesn't have a Google account or you don't know the password for it, look up your phone on hardreset.info and select "bypass frp" or "bypass factory reset protection".

That depends. If you do not want to lose your previous data, I suggest using the Android bypass tools available, but it needs a subscription though. Or if you are thorough in your monthly backup, I suggest factory resetting your mobile which differs with each phone model.
I can give an example for the Samsung model.

Press the power button and lower part of the volume button simultaneously
When the screen blanks out, immediately stop pressing the lower volume button and press the upper half button with the power button.
It shows you the settings like reboot, restore, etc etc
For navigation, use volume buttons. For selecting, use the power button
Select the factory reset
Then select reboot

Tada! Then it asks for the password, just sign in with Google account instead.


text:
GTalk and phone with wrong time
I have a phone where I like to have the time a few minutes forward the right time. Now, when I chat with people through Google Talk, I got all message mixed up because the received messages arrive with the sender time. If the answer is faster than my forwarded minutes, it appears before my message.
Example:
Phone 1 time        Phone 2 time       Sender       Message time        Message
08:01               08:18              Phone 1      08:01               I'm fine
08:00               08:17              Phone 2      08:17               How are you?

Is there anything I can set up (beside the right phone time) to avoid this?

Unfortunately not, except perhaps a different chat application that can interface with Google Talk. Talk uses the timestamp of the sender to order the messages, using the assumption that cellphones on a cell network will have a consistently accurate clock. It is likely that a different chat application (such as IMO or Trillian) which interfaces with Google Chat will display these messages differently; I do not use multi-protocol chat applications, or change my clock, so I cannot confirm that this will solve your problem; I remain rather confident it will however.

Check the time zone you have set under Settings -> Date and time and make sure that it's correct. I had the same problem on my Samsung phone and this solution fixed it.

He deliberately choose a different time so while this would fix the problem, it was noted in the question that he doesn't want to do this.


text:
SMS-Email Gateway App
Is there any combination of android applications which can connect to a POP3 account and:

transfers emails to SMS (by phone number provided in the subject of
the email)
transfers SMSes to an email?

The first could be tricky, but the second is possible with SMS Backup+ (only to a Gmail account AFAIR).

I need it to connect to a POP3 server, not Gmail account.

Not sure how much reliable this is, but I found this app: SMS Gateway
Their description says that e-mails via POP3 can be sent via SMS, while SMS can be sent via HTTP GET request.

Thank you, I'll check it. What can I do for sending automatic email with incoming SMS?

No idea about sending SMS automatically as e-mails, as I have never tried it myself. It would be good if you're able to do that with the respective app, else may be suggest the developer to try providing the functionality in the further update of the app. :)