text:
Manually starting wpa_supplicant
I can start wpa_supplicant just fine through adb shell. The firmware and stuff for my WiFi radio is all loaded before this.
However, I want to start it via execv() in a C program. When I execute execv(), I get the following error:
E/wpa_supplicant( 3008): Failed to initialize control interface 'wlan0'.
E/wpa_supplicant( 3008): You may have another wpa_supplicant process already running or the file was
E/wpa_supplicant( 3008): left by an unclean termination of wpa_supplicant in which case you will need
E/wpa_supplicant( 3008): to manually remove this file before starting wpa_supplicant again.
I/wpa_supplicant( 3008): ELOOP: remaining socket: sock=15 eloop_data=0xa5320 user_data=0x0 handler=0x6acd9

I also have this in the serial console:
mkdir[ctrl_interface]: Permission denied

The full strace ouput is here: http://pastebin.com/fuQnqjXK
Here's the strace output snippet of interest:
2380  mkdir("wlan0", 0770)              = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
2380  write(2, "mkdir[ctrl_interface]", 21) = 21
2380  write(2, ": ", 2)                 = 2
2380  write(2, "Permission denied", 17) = 17
2380  write(2, "\n", 1)                 = 1

Also, here's the logcat snippet. I've already verified that there's no wpa_supplicant running in the background, and the file that is created when wpa_supplicant is successfully run (/data/misc/wifi/wlan0/wlan0) does not exist. Are there other files that wpa_supplicant is creating?
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): wpa_supplicant v0.8.x
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): random: Trying to read entropy from /dev/random
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): Initializing interface 'wlan0' conf '/data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf' driver 'nl80211' ctr
_interface 'N/A' bridge 'N/A'
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): Configuration file '/data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf' -> '/data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.co
f'
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): Reading configuration file '/data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf'
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): update_config=1
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): ctrl_interface='wlan0'
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): eapol_version=1
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): ap_scan=1
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): fast_reauth=1
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): config_methods='push_button keypad display'
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): device_name='U8500'
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): default_bgscan='learn:60:-70:300:10:20:/data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant_bgscan.db'
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): wmm_enabled=1
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): uapsd_enabled=1
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): nl80211: interface wlan0 in phy phy0
I/wpa_supplicant( 3627): rfkill: Cannot open RFKILL control device
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): nl80211: RFKILL status not available
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): nl80211: Set mode ifindex 5 iftype 2 (STATION)
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): netlink: Operstate: linkmode=1, operstate=5
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): nl80211: Using driver-based off-channel TX
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): nl80211: driver param='(null)'
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): wapi_initialization()
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): wlan0: Own MAC address: 00:80:e1:c2:89:9a
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): Country: 00
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): wpa_driver_nl80211_set_key: ifindex=5 alg=0 addr=0x0 key_idx=0 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): wpa_driver_nl80211_set_key: ifindex=5 alg=0 addr=0x0 key_idx=1 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): wpa_driver_nl80211_set_key: ifindex=5 alg=0 addr=0x0 key_idx=2 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): wpa_driver_nl80211_set_key: ifindex=5 alg=0 addr=0x0 key_idx=3 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): wlan0: RSN: flushing PMKID list in the driver
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): nl80211: Flush PMKIDs
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): wlan0: State: DISCONNECTED -> INACTIVE
I/wpa_supplicant( 3627): WPS: Converting display to virtual_display for WPS 2.0 compliance
I/wpa_supplicant( 3627): WPS: Converting push_button to virtual_push_button for WPS 2.0 compliance
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): nl80211: Regulatory information - country=00
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): nl80211: 2402-2472 @ 40 MHz
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): nl80211: 2457-2482 @ 20 MHz
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): nl80211: 2474-2494 @ 20 MHz
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): nl80211: 5170-5250 @ 40 MHz
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): nl80211: 5735-5835 @ 40 MHz
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): nl80211: Added 802.11b mode based on 802.11g information
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): WPS: Set UUID for interface wlan0
E/wpa_supplicant( 3627): WPS: UUID based on MAC address - hexdump(len=16): b2 15 b7 6a cb d7 55 cf b9 d4 3e 8c 40 ae 2d
30
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): EAPOL: SUPP_PAE entering state DISCONNECTED
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): EAPOL: Supplicant port status: Unauthorized
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): EAPOL: KEY_RX entering state NO_KEY_RECEIVE
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): EAPOL: SUPP_BE entering state INITIALIZE
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): EAP: EAP entering state DISABLED
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): EAPOL: Supplicant port status: Unauthorized
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): EAPOL: Supplicant port status: Unauthorized
E/wpa_supplicant( 3627): Failed to initialize control interface 'wlan0'.
E/wpa_supplicant( 3627): You may have another wpa_supplicant process already running or the file was
E/wpa_supplicant( 3627): left by an unclean termination of wpa_supplicant in which case you will need
E/wpa_supplicant( 3627): to manually remove this file before starting wpa_supplicant again.
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): Failed to add interface wlan0
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): wlan0: No keys have been configured - skip key clearing
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): wlan0: State: INACTIVE -> DISCONNECTED
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): wpa_driver_nl80211_set_operstate: operstate 0->0 (DORMANT)
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): netlink: Operstate: linkmode=-1, operstate=5
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): EAPOL: External notification - portEnabled=0
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): EAPOL: Supplicant port status: Unauthorized
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): EAPOL: External notification - portValid=0
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): EAPOL: Supplicant port status: Unauthorized
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): wlan0: No keys have been configured - skip key clearing
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): wlan0: Cancelling scan request
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): wlan0: Cancelling authentication timeout
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): nl80211: Set TX rates failed: ret=-22 (Invalid argument)
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): netlink: Operstate: linkmode=0, operstate=6
D/wpa_supplicant( 3627): nl80211: Set mode ifindex 5 iftype 2 (STATION)
I/wpa_supplicant( 3627): ELOOP: remaining socket: sock=15 eloop_data=0xa5320 user_data=0x0 handler=0x6acd9

Anyone can hint to me what I might be doing wrong? Permissions?

have you tried to 'strace -f' your problem? Seems like you start it from an app, right? You probably need to start it as root.

I'm starting it from a C program (let's call it myapp) that I compiled for ARM, and myapp is from init.rc as a replacement to console (a bit of a hack really) so I can't really strace -f right? When I do a ps myapp, it shows myapp running as root.

you could do that as well (and write stderr of 'strace' to some /tmp folder to read it later). What I guess is: wpa_supplicant needs some location where it can store some tmp stuff to. You are launching it too early maybe and there's everything still read-only accessible. You can do a manual 'strace -f'  just to see where it wants to write to.

Thanks ce4. But how do I do that? Using execv and strace? By the way, when I do a ps in adb shell after getting the mkdir[ctrl_interface]: Permission denied, I get wpa_supplicant running as user wifi. I suppose I must force wpa_supplicant to run as root?
ps wpa_supplicant
USER     PID   PPID  VSIZE  RSS     WCHAN    PC         NAME
wifi      2611  1426  0      0     c009c348 00000000 Z wpa_supplicant

Use strace just by doing a 'strace -f myapp' with your parent C program (-f is for following childs).

Hi ce4, I did it another way. http://elinux.org/Android_Booting#strace
For easier viewing I've included part of the strace in an answer below.

Hi ce4, edited my original post. I'm new to stack exchange's working culture, so pardon me mods. I also added the workaround solution I found.

No problem, just come back again if you have questions of feel like getting involved in answering questions :-) (Sorry for my last comment, typed that quickly on my non-english auto-correcting handset, thus the bad typing).

Side-note: This question is on the edge from power-user to developer related. You can also ask the more dev related stuff over at stackoverflow.com (it might also be migrated over from here as this is a sister site). Just FYI.

I managed to find the answer, although I don't really understand why or how. If anyone can add on to why working directory matters, I will greatly appreciate it.
In my C program, I have to do a chdir() to /data/misc/wifi, then do the execvp().
if (chdir("/data/misc/wifi") == -1) {
    perror("chdir");
    return;
}

pid = fork();
if (pid == -1) {
    perror("Error forking process");
}
else if (pid != 0) {
    return;
}
execvp("/system/bin/wpa_supplicant", wpaparmlist);

where wpaparmlist is the args to wpa_supplicant.
Thanks for your help ce4!

Maybe wpa_supplicant checks if it's run from within a terminal or forked by another program - or- you recently launched it in the /sdcard folder where it has also all rights to modify files / mkdir.


text:
Locating lost android device in home

Possible Duplicates:
An app to locate my Android device around the house?
My phone was just stolen an hour or so ago. Are there any options for tracking?

Ok so i lost my Samsung Galaxy player 4.0 somewhere in my house. It was connected to Wi-Fi. And i've heard that i can track devices that are connected to my router, how do i do so?
Router- Belkin Play N600. Please Help!

The best tracking you'll get is just that it is in your home.  Does it have upnp - perhaps you could stream music to it?

you need to have installed an app before you lose it to track a device, and you are not going to get pin point accuracy. You would be lucky to close to your house let alone telling you if its currently under your left side cushion of the love seat.

Install Plan B using the web version of Google play. Trigger it with a text message to sound an alarm.

I suggest deploying the mk.1 human child.
Tell them if they find it you'll buy them a treat.
...I'm serious. It's alot easier than going technical.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Which directories can I remove in internal SD in Galaxy SII w/ Cyanogenmod?
I used ClockworkMod to wipe my Samsung Galaxy SII and install Cyanogenmod 9.1 on it. However, when I mounted my phone on my computer, I see that lots of folders were left on its internal SD by apps from before I flashed my phone.
I was tempted to just delete everything on the internal HD from my computer (running Mac OS X 10.6.8), but I noticed there seems to be critical directories on it like one for Clockwordmod.
Here is a list of the directories on the internal SD via ls -a:

Are there directories in here that are essential to the normal function of the phone? A related question is: When I flash my phone, how to I completely wipe it so that when Cyanogenmod is installed, there will be no traces of previous activity as shown in the screenshot above?
Thank you!

When doing a complete wipe, you can safely delete all directories off the internal storage.  Generally, Android OS will re-create any folders on user areas like internal/external storage if it doesn't find them.
You may want to hold onto (or at least back up prior to deletion) media folders like DCIM and Pictures, for example. Keep in mind that on different devices Camera apps may store photos and videos in other, non-standard directories.  And of course do not delete the clockworkmod folder if you wish to keep the NANDroid backups you've made previously.
Under normal operation, .android_secure is the only directory on either internal or external storage that is absolutely necessary.  It contains apps that were "moved to SD" via settings (if external SD card is not present, apps get moved to internal storage instead.)  If this folder is deleted, it will cause instabilities where these apps would not start (obviously), but you may also have trouble uninstalling them from Android, and would need to manually remove their left-overs (the caches, for example.)
Another notable directory is Android - it contains data for installed apps.

Thank you! This is exactly the information I am looking for.

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


text:
Changing file permissions with root, will they remain if I unroot?
I currently use the run-as command through adb to be able to access the data folder of an app that I am developing directly on my phone using AIDE.
When connecting to the phone locally, using connectbot, I can find the run-as command in /system/bin/ but it has no executable permission. There are other programs/scripts in that folder that do have executable permissions and I can run them.
My question is this. If I root my phone, I can change the executable permissions of run-as. If I then remove the root, will these permissions remain?
I'm not totally averse to rooting my phone permanently but if I don't need to, I'd rather not.
This is on a Galaxy Nexus.

I'm aware if I leave run-as executable then I'm possibly allowing myself wide open for security risks. But I am willing to risk it, even just to see if its possible.

Yes.
There's nothing magical to restore /system partition to original state. Many users gain root access temporarily to remove bloatwares from /system/apps & then unroot.
But, remember, if un-rooting method involves flashing /system image, you'll lose your changes. So, use proper un-rooting method.

Cheers Sachin.
Any ideas where I can get this 'proper' un-rooting method. Googling doesn't really filter on the word 'proper'

@RussWheeler By proper method, I mean remove su binary, SuperUser.apk etc & seal off any exploits. For one-click rooting & unrooting Galaxy Nexus, I have found only one software viz. Wug's Nexus Root Toolkit and looks like you are out of luck. It unroots by flashing whole original firmware. Its not proper way.

@RussWheeler Try to root temporarily: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1331258

@RussWheeler This one also looks promising: http://androidforums.com/verizon-galaxy-nexus-all-things-root/499117-galaxy-nexus-root-un-root-without-unlocking-bootloader.html

Thanks Sachin, I'll check them out later and let you know how I get on.
I'm very keen not to wipe any data though. If that's the case, I'd rather not root and keep plugging my phone in to get the db off it :)

@RussWheeler Your data will not be affected in any case..


text:
How can I find out the make and model of the chips in my device?
I'm trying to find out what kind of GPS receiver is in my phone. Every spec sheet is vague on this. I can easily find out what kind Soc or CPU it has, but parts like GPS and FM receivers, Bluetooth modules, Gyroscope etc. are not listed anywhere.
Is there any way to find it out?

What general phone model is it to begin with?

@ce4 Well the more general the solution, the better but the device that I'm most interested in is a Droid Charge.

Some hint may also stay in the obligatory android kernel source and may also be accessible via the commandline (dmesg and such)

For the best resource out there, use PDADB.
This details every comprehensive chip-set used, for the Droid Charge, this is the spec sheet given.
As for Huawei U8160, this is the spec sheet given on that page.
Depending on how open the manufacturer is with the more intimate details, some may be marked proprietary which will be stated clearly.
The other way of doing it, in the case of the Droid Charge which is a Samsung model, might be to hit up on the Samsung's open source site, and look for the appropriate kernel version for that handset and examine the kernel configuration as appropriate.

+1 pdadb is nice, but it doesn't list the Bluetooth chip :( Kernel source might reveal it, but it's a little ridiculous that we need to look at that for such simple stuff.

@RichardBorcsik ridiculous I know but what other way can you dig it up - use the source luke! :) The kernel can reveal a lot more then just any web-site!

@RichardBorcsik Cheers for the bounty award :)

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/
A good starting point. They usually note also the chip/part numbers in their teardown reports.

I couldn't find my Huawei u8160

+1 It's a great resource. Sadly it doesn't have a teardown for the Droid Charge.

There is a pretty good teardown of the Droid Charge on Droidforums.net


text:
NTFS file system supported although portable hard drive doesn't mount?
I have a Huawei u8160 running Cyanogenmod 7.2 .
I've recently been testing things on my recently activated OTG I've tried to connect a USB Portable HDD, However when I connect the HDD the LED flashes like it's reading/writing , dmesg notices it :
 <6>[12, khubd] [10776.834610] usb 1-1.4: new full speed USB device using msm_hsusb_host and address 40

 <6>[12, khubd] [10777.015514] usb 1-1.4: not running at top speed;
 connect to a high speed hub

 <7>[12, khubd] [10777.018517] usb 1-1.4: default language 0x0409

 <7>[12, khubd] [10777.021505] usb 1-1.4: udev 40, busnum 1, minor = 39

 <6>[12, khubd] [10777.021544] usb 1-1.4: New USB device found,
 idVendor=174c, idProduct=5106

 <6>[12, khubd] [10777.021567] usb 1-1.4: New USB device strings:
 Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=1

 <6>[12, khubd] [10777.021589] usb 1-1.4: Product: StoreJet Transcend

 <6>[12, khubd] [10777.021607] usb 1-1.4: Manufacturer: StoreJet
 Transcend

 <6>[12, khubd] [10777.021624] usb 1-1.4: SerialNumber:
 WD-WXF1E32VNMN1

 <7>[12, khubd] [10777.022149] usb 1-1.4: uevent

 done.

that is what dmesg says directly after connecting.
and when I write lsusb on terminal emulator it returns :
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002

 Bus 001 Device 041: ID 058f:9254

 Bus 001 Device 042: ID 174c:5106

one of them is always there,and another one is the USB Hub ,and another is the USB HDD
I already successfully mounted an NTFS Flash Drive (Fromatted using Minitool partition wizard,mounted using Paragon NTFS&HFS+) then the problem isn't the File System

EDIT :
Error when trying to mount USB flash drive that is NTFS formatted :
mount: mounting /dev/block/uba1 on /sdcard/data failed: Invalid argument

Error when trying to mount NTFS formatted portable HDD :
mount: mounting /dev/block/uba on /sdcard/data failed: No medium found

that means that the error in the HDD isn't with the NTFS file system.

EDIT #2:
I've tried this method but when I try to mount it it gives me this error :
Failed to mount '/dev/block/uba': No medium found

the kernel may not have the NTFS filesystem driver compiled in to the CM version.

@t0mm13b "I already successfully mounted an NTFS Flash Drive then the problem isn't the File System" and I already said that ,please read to the end

Have you actually confirmed there is a NTFS Driver in place in the kernel?

NTFS Flash Drive? How did you format a "thumb drive" as NTFS? windows will only flash those sort of drives as FAT32

@t0mm13b there is not but you could refer here : http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/29159/is-ntfs-file-system-supported-on-huawei-u8160/29162#29162

If you grep the kernel configuration, CONFIG_NTFS_FS, usually that is disabled so not to clutter up the kernel!

@RyanConrad using minitool partition wizard

@MohamedEssam that link is irrelevant - the relevant pertinent bit is is the NTFS driver compiled and built into the kernel?

@t0mm13b the problem here isn't NTFS I've successfully mounted NTFS that's not a problem

You have not answered the question, look in /proc/config.gz and unzip that to a text file to see the kernel configuration, and tell me if CONFIG_NTFS_FS is compiled or not, if it says # CONFIG_NTFS_FS is not set then that's your answer

let us continue this discussion in chat

CyanogenMod does not support NTFS. You would have to compile your own kernel module for the CM Kernel in order to mount NTFS.

Edit for you comment about the Paragon App:
using an app like that is different then actually mounting it in android. If it doesn't work with your drive, it is an issue with the application, not CM7.
The app is implementing the NTFS protocol within the application. If it fails to mount, then there is a problem with the application. There are lots of reviews for the app that say "did not work with X", so it seems you are not the only one that has issues.
Your only option is to contact the developer and send them the problem you have, so they can fix it.

In response for your Edit #1 and Edit #2
You will not be able to mount with mount android doesn't have a kernel module that supports NTFS. As I said above, the reason that you can mount it within the app is because the app developer implemented the NTFS protocol in their application. Invalid argument means that the filesystem type you are trying to mount is not supported by mount. No medium found means that it does not see that dev block or cannot access it.
It also sounds like the problem may be that the HDD you are trying to mount requires different drivers to communicate with the HDD controller. Sounds like you are able to get flash drives to work, and that is because they are probably using a "standard" communication, while the HDD could be using something non-standard, or has a different chipset and is not supported by default by the kernel.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.paragon.mounter

it doesn't fail to mount it ,it doesn't see it at all

and people mention that too. it is still an issue with the application. Android does not have NTFS support.

it worked with the thumb drive ,why wouldn't it work with hdd?

the drive could require different drivers. could use a different protocol, might be larger then the app actually supports. There are many things that could answer this, but since the only one that would know this is the developer of the app you are using, any answer would basically be speculation.

Try to use ntfs-3g. Over it you add device, then you need mount you device to some mount point. This util simply compiled for arm.

but I can't find fuse.ko for my device

found out it was already compiled in cm 7.2 , my bad.


text:
Droid Bionic screen won't auto shut off when plugged in
My phones screen will remain backlit and on while plugged in after getting a text or something that would pop up.
Even if nothing popped up, if I just unlock it while plugged in, it will never re-lock on its own.
This wasn't always the case but I didn't notice it for a while and am not sure what might be causing it. Maybe a background app?
Works normally when not plugged in.

Check to see if "System Settings / Developer options / Stay awake" is checked.  It's intended to give exactly that behavior ("Screen will never sleep while charging").


text:
Pin lock screen - avoid pressing ok
Is there any way to avoid pressing ok on the stock Android pin screen? There was an option to do this in cyanogenmod (9?) for my Nexus S 4G but it's not in stock (which I'm using now, unrooted). Is there any way to make it so that pressing the correct code automatically unlocks it, without having to press ok?

There's a reason why pressing OK has to be done and cannot be avoided is this - the PIN number can be of any length of your preference, and by pressing OK that is signalling the intention that There I have all the PIN digits entered, now Android, please verify!
If there was a way to avoid pressing OK, that would impose the restriction on the length of the PIN digits used, once the length of digits is reached (for example the PIN can be four digits long), then it would be automatic, but unfortunately in this case, no, you do have to press OK.

So there's no way to do it at all on stock? Because like I said, cyanogenmod has this option.

It could be done by modifying the source in AOSP, and re-build the ROM for your handset :)


text:
In ICS 4.0.3 using ADWLauncher EX, how can I make only three home screens instead of five?
I just upgraded my android phone to ICS. When I had Gingerbread (2.3), I remember the option to change the number of home screens. I also had ADW launcher in 2.3 before. Now I can't find the option in ICS to change the number of home screens.

From the Homescreen, go to Menu, then Edit. This brings you to an overview of configured home screens. Long-press the one you want to remove, and drag it to the trashbin which appears. Continue until only 3 screens are left.
Similarly, if you want to add more screens, there's one "screen" with a plus-sign ("+") in the same place. Tap that one, and you'll get an additional screen.

Accepted, 8 years later! I forgot about this question.

Thanks :D Nice you remembered. Hope it helped you all the time already ;)


text:
I have to set the phone to silent twice to make it "stick". How can I do it after once set?
I have a VZW Galaxy Nexus running bugless beast 4.1 and when I hold the power button and select silent mode, the phone immediately switches back to normal mode.  Then if I do it again, it will go into silent mode.
I was using the Shush app and thought that was messing with it so I uninstalled Shush and it still takes two tries to make the phone be silent.
This is relatively new behavior that used to work before.   How can I isolate what is causing this problem?

Before uninstalling, did you clear the app data? Also, have you restarted your device to insure that nothing from that app is still loaded into memory?

I did reboot, but did not clear data.   Since it didn't fix it, I reinstalled.   I'll clear data, uninstall and see if that fixes it.

Don't forget to answer back here if it works :)

Sadly, that didn't fix it. I still have this weird double choose to mute problem.

I just started getting this weird behavior too. I swear it only started happening recently without making a change/update of my Bugless Beast ROM. I use Silent Time to silence my phone on a schedule, but it stopped working properly because of this.

I have the same symptom on stock 4.1 (Nexus 7). As with you, this is a fairly new behavior that started without any OS updates.

@Aron Mine suddenly started working again.  If anyone has an idea how to debug it or isolate the item causing the issue, I'd still love to hear it and upvote/accept the answer.

@Alex B - Ditto mine! I haven't noticed the problem for some days now. I can only imagine some app was misbehaving, and they released an update to fix it...

I have the same problem as documented here.

I'm also experiencing this on stock 4.1.1 (Nexus S). Only started recently and I don't think I've installed any apps that could be causing this.

This may help: On my GN also running BB JB 4.1.1 if I want to silence it I will typically hold the volume control down until it gets into vibrate only mode. Then I have to down again to turn that off. So even that is a two step process and it may just be the nature of the Bugless Beast. :)

I did start using the volume rocker as a work around, but this works on another Bugless Beast install (same version) on an identical phone so it's not only due to Bugless Beast.


text:
How does the App "Battery Repair" work?
I just found this App (Battery Repair) on the Google Play Store, my question is how can it make my battery last longer. What optimazions are they doing? Has anyone tested this tool, does it work?

reading the reviews it reminds me of a scam application in which shaking the handset to charge up the battery and resulted in a lot of troll reviews... just saying, if it sounds too good to be true... beware... :)

@t0mm13b believe it or not, on AndroidPIT we had a whole thread on that shake-charger as one asked how that worked -- and only when someone insisted his phone replaced an atomics reactor (but he now had a tennis arm) the guy who asked got it's a fake... So I basically think the same (too good to be true), though the comments here sound more reasonable then the one I just mentioned. I see no way how it could work. Still curious if someone can convince me otherwise.

I believe that even there is an app like Battery Repair, it will never repair your battery. I agree with erik that an app can only recalibrate a battery, not repair. I guess it's only a way to increase the volume traffic for that particular app.

You think another third party application can do better power management than Android?

my battery was not charging. Left it overnight and only got 47% charge that lasted less than an hour. I installed this app and ran the process, same as above it "found and repaired" bad cells in my battery. When I got home I put the phone on the charger again and it actually charged to 100% this time. Im not sure if it was the app but something happened. I just unplugged it to see how long it will remain on and will get back with an update on active time.

OK, so, first... "Make sure your iPhone is connected to a feed source"... Second, like everyone else said, that's not possible...

No app can "optimize" or "maintain" the battery in any way as it can't get the necessary access to the hardware -- probably not even if it required root. This app explicitly advertises that it does not. Anyway, the manufacturer's engineers surely have already implemented all the necessary optimizations. There is no way that the app's developers knows anything useful about every phone's charging circuitry and battery that the engineers don't.
In short, there is no way this app does anything useful at all. (It might even be malware, but I don't get that impression in this case).
(Note: the following is probably not true)
The only thing an app can do (on a rooted phone) is to recalibrate the battery. If the battery is miscalibrated the OS might think that it is as good as empty and force a shutdown although there is still a useful amount of charge left. One app that does this is the aptly named Battery Calibration.

Though that calibration stuff is called a myth in many places (as the battery stats file should only contain statistics on how much battery was used by which app), that's the only explanation making halfway sense. Still I'm not sure whether to believe it or not, also due to the "myth" part.

for an app (Battery Calibration) which requires root, it's desirable to be open-source & audited. The best way to check that the app is not harmful would be to inspect its source code. It's a pity that this popular and small app doesn't seem to be open-source. (I'd like to use it, but I won't install it because it's not open-source.) Secondly, being free software (open source) would be beneficial for the maintenance of the app, and its further development.

MYTHBUSTED
I installed this app yesterday with some uncertainty and it detected (and fixed) a number of problems. I then found this thread which made my suspicions even more so. Today I ran the app and it detected zero problems, not surprising since the battery presumably got no new problems overnight. Out of curiosity I set the date to a month in advance and ran the test again, and suddenly there are eight 'cells' with low charge and two inactive! So obviously all this app does is check when it was last run and the longer ago it was the more 'faulty' cells it throws up in a random pattern to make it look like it's found 'faults' which it can then fix.
Don't waste your time, I assume the only thing this does is provide ad revenue to the developer.

Yes. Infact I tried similar other apps which claimed to "repair" batteries by running them on Android Emulators and they showed "bad battery cells" on the first run!!! How is that even possible. An emulator has no battery :D  I wrote a furious review on Playstore with these findings. Such apps should be banned.


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Is recalibrating the battery after flashing a new ROM really neccessary, and if yes, why?
The description of the app, Battery Calibration, claims that after changing ROMs you should recalibrate your battery gauge. It has good reviews so it seems like the general concept is sound and trying the app at least won't cause harm.
What I'm wondering is what the battery statistics have to do with the ROM. My understanding is that the batterystats file contains a mapping of charge values in mV to %, so why does it need to be regenerated if a new ROM is flashed?

This may also answer this Question

No.
This App just removes the file "batterystats.bin" in the "data/system" directory. It has nothing to do with your battery life and also not the status indicator of your system.
It only keeps the Infos in the "Battery Usage" screen. It will also be resetted every time you connect to a power source.
Further Information and Sources:
XDA-Developers and Dianne Hackborn (Google employee)


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PC Suite For Android Galaxy S3 I9300
Why hasn't Google developed such a suite as good as the Nokia suite that would almost 100% allow us to use most of our phones' basic functions on our PC?

We can't tell you why Google has or has not done something because we are not Google. Do you perhaps have a more answerable question on this topic?

You're looking for Samsung KIES probably?

You're asking us to speculate as to Google's reason(s) for (not) doing something. Only Google can answer that. We prefer questions that can be answered, not just discussed. Or, put another way, questions about real, concrete problems you're having with your Android device, which have the possibility of a single, correct, answer.

You might want to re-phrase your question to keep it from being closed. See my answer below for an example ;)

Google unlike Samsung and Nokia and such is a service company that wants to bind you to its cloud (sorry for the buzz word).
You can see it with Gmail, Google Docs, Google+, Google Voice and of course Google search which all are (more or less) agnostic of used operating systems, hardware and so on. They all operate in the cloud, the only dependancy is a decent browser.
And so does Android. You aren't bound to even own a PC if you have an Android device at all. It's meant to be a replacement for some of the stuff that you currently do on a PC. For a comparison: Only with iOS 5 has Apple removed the hard dependancy to have iTunes installed for backups and updates of ones iOS device.
Courtesy of Google :-)

Rephrasing your question to something more constructive:

Google hasn't developed such a suite as good as the Nokia suite that would almost 100% allow us to use most of our phones' basic functions on our PC. Are there any alternative ways available to fill this gap?

In this case: Yes, there are good answers available. The market playstore is full of apps offering similar functionalities. For Windows users, the closest solution probably is MyPhoneExplorer. Together with its PC component, it offers almost all capabilities you find in your mentioned PC suites:

sync your phone with Outlook, Thunderbird, Sunbird, Lotus Notes, Tobit David, Windows Contacts, Windows Calendar,...
manage your SMS, Calllists, Apps, Files, handle Calls, create backups...

Connection via WiFi, USB-Cable or Bluetooth.

Other solutions include e.g. AirDroid, which allows you to manage your Android device from your PCs browser:

There's a Video Guide available on Youtube to show you this apps capabilities, which are quite amazing.
I could continue this list with a lot of apps, but that's not the intention of this site. Having given you the idea of for what to look and where should get you started filling your gap -- from here on, I guess, you can continue on your own ;)


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Why "media seems to be more than allowed space and cannot be uploaded" and how to get fast uploading of images to social sites such as Twitter?
I have photo-uploading such as Twitter in my default Android -camera-app. It works some time but some time it fails, problems such as lag and odd errors about the size of the pictures. I don't like it. I want a fast uploading because I like to use Twitter uploading in not-so-important -situation such as draft-uploading and so on -- situations that usually do not last that long. It should not be hard, just a $ mogrify -resize LIMIT -command in sending but has someone done this app or is this just a bug?
Helper questions

How can I fix this lag problem?
How can I fix the reliability problem?
How can I fast upload photos to social sites such as Twitter?
Does there exist better apps to make the images just right size for uploading images?

Why don't you just turn the resolution of your camera down, then your images will be smaller.

@cjk how do you do it and what is the limit? And what is causing the lagging? I see your idea of turning resolution down as a way not solving the main problem i.e. finding better social image sharing -app.

It depends on your phone and the camera software, but somewhere within it should be a setting for how many megapixels you are using.

There are lots of Twitter apps that include photo support. Ditto camera apps. Without knowing what phone you have, we can't give any more specific advice.

Yes, there are lots of apps like

Image Shrink Lite
Resize Lite
Share Image
and many others, just search the market

Instead of sharing to Twitter, just share to these apps, choose from a list of predefined sizes, and reshare to Twitter. You can do this from any apps that can share images to any apps that can receive shared images.

...which one would you recommend and why? I want just Twitter and fast usage. I want that the resizing is an automatic action, I don't want to waste time to decide some percentages to upload things such as school notes to Twitter.

@hhh: it's a bug in your Twitter client for not ensuring that the image fits Twitter's image requirement. I don't know which client you're using as there are many of them, but the proper fix to this is to contact your Twitter client's developer and have them fix that. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone writing an app that specifically address this bug for your specific Twitter client. In the mean time, these apps can do the resizing for you. it's not a bug in Camera app because Camera are not aware (and should not be aware) of Twitter's image requirement.

@hhh: as for which I recommend, I think Image Shrink Lite is the fastest and easiest. It's also the most limited in its options though, the other apps provides more options if you needed it.


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How do I add a phone number to contacts from the text message app?
I have a text message sent from a phone number that is not yet linked in any other method.
Is there a way to use this message's number to create a new contact or modify an existing one directly from the text messaging application?
If it is relevant, I use Gmail for my contacts and have imported from Facebook.
I have Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).
What I've tried
This question is vaguely similar, but not quite what I'm looking for.
I know I can copy/paste the number if I open the "modify recipients" dialog, click on the number, and click/hold to open the cut/copy/paste tool.  I can also simply write down the number on paper.  I'm looking for an alternative.
There are no menu options if I select the message at the top-level of the Text app.
The menu options while in the text message thread don't seem relevant:

Insert smiley
Delete
Set priority
Add subject
Modify recipients

The menu options if I click and hold on an individual message don't seem relevant:

Delete message
Forward message
Copy message text
Protect message
View message details
Add to task

On my Android 4.0.4 if I click on the picture of the contact, I get option to save it.

To add a contact that you haven't called yet, you can open the "People" app, then click the icon with the + in the bottom middle.
If I recall correctly, Android 4.4 was kind enough to include this option from the phone dialing screen.
Reference: Android Tapp - What’s New in Ice Cream Sandwich Android 4.0 » Android 4.0 People App (Contacts)

Go to your main text screen and in the list of people who have texted you, for example
James
Mama
Caroline
555-555-5555

(tap and hold this number)
On menu it says Add to Contacts

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


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adb listing all forwarded ports
I have forwarded a machine port to an emulator using
adb forward tcp:1234 tcp:8080

I want to see which ports are currently being forwarded to avoid any conflicts. How do I do that?

can we do the reverse process in the same way ? I mean forwarding emulator port to host port ? can you have a look at my post
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14950748/adb-forward-does-not-work

you can ping the machine port directly from the emulator by specifying the machine port. For example if you open up the browser in the android emulator and type the default machine address 10.0.2.2:portNumber you will send data to machine's port. Its been a long time since I last did it  , check the ip it might be different. Just look up the docs.

I think a new command has been added since the earlier answers:
adb forward --list

Do you mean you want to see which ports are being used on the PC or Android device? You can use the netstat command for this.
On Windows:
netstat -an | find /i "listening"
On Linux:
`netstat -an | grep "LISTEN " (notice the space after LISTEN)
This shows all the ports that are listening for incoming connection (i.e. have a server of some kind behind them). If you need to know which server, you can use this on Linux: netstat -anp | grep "LISTEN ". Don't know about the Windows counterpart, but there's a -o switch to print the process ID and you can compare it to the ones in task manager.

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


text:
Replying to the original tweeter in a retweet in TweetCaster?
If a friend retweets something nad I attempt to 'reply' to it tweetcaser only shows my friend who retweeted the item as a recipient in the @ thing, is it possible for me to be able to see the original tweet username @ as well so my reply goes to both?

Some Twitter apps allow you to "retweet with comment" or "quote & reply" in which case you can remove the original username before retweeting.  If your friend chose to do that before retweeting, you won't be able to see the original username.
TweetCaster Pro has the "retweet with comment" option.

Could you provide a link to the latter on Google Play?

TweetCaster Pro for Twitter on Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.handmark.tweetcaster.premium

You can edit your answers, any time, to improve them. Thanks for the link, I added it into your answer!


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Micro-USB headphone support in Android
I have a micro-usb headphone (from my LG GS155 phone that is a feature phone).
I plugged it to my Xperia Mini Pro (Android 4.0) but it did not work.
Is Micro-USB headphone supported by Android? How does it should be configured to work?

The “Micro-USB” headphone used by LG GS155 is not really an USB device — it just uses the USB connector for the same analog audio signals as in usual 3.5 or 2.5 mm round connectors. Look at the MicroUSB to 3.5 or 2.5 jack headset pinout.
In order to work with such headsets, the phone needs to have the appropriate hardware to detect the type of connected device and switch functions of USB port pins from USB to analog audio. It is highly unlikely that the phone will have such hardware if it also has a standard 3.5 or 2.5 mm audio connector. Even older HTC phones using the proprietary “ExtUSB” connector compatible with Mini-USB did not switch pin functions when a headset is connected — they used separate pins for audio.
The only way to connect this headphone to your new phone is to build an adapter with a 3.5 mm plug and a Micro-USB Type B receptacle connector, so that the headphone will be connected to the audio circuit through the 3.5 mm audio connector on the phone.

Some Motorola phones have both a 3.5mm connector and support audio via the USB connector; they apparently use a specific resistance across two of the USB pins to indicate that it's an audio device rather than USB.   This functionality is used by their car and desk docks to provide a 3.5mm audio out connection in the dock or via a special adaptor cable... which doesn't help with your Experia, buy may be of interest to someone else.

Looks like a driver is definitely needed at least.
Take a look at this XDA post and this Acer Tablet Forum post.

These posts are about real USB devices, which could be connected to Android devices with USB host (OTG) support. But the headphone in question is not really an USB device — it is just a simple analog headphone using the standard-looking Micro-USB connector for nonstandard functions.


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Cannot receive calls but can make calls on my tablet HCL ME Y2
I recently bought a HCL ME Y2 tablet with Android 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich) installed.
It has a SIM slot and when I use the Phone dialer (the blue phone icon app), I can make calls over GSM but when someone tries to call this number, the phone vibrates for less than a second while I hear a single ring at the calling phone and immediately after I get the message that the phone is busy.
I cant even sent SMS / receive SMS on the tablet.
I Couldn't find any solution to this, any input?

I had the same problem and resetting the device fixed the issue. Give that a try.


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How do I save an address in Google Navigate?
I see that there is a Star system but I really can't seem to figure out how to star a map in the application, or outside of it for that matter, it's driving me insane.
How to I save an address in Google Navigate, from my Android device?

Finally figured out how to do it in Chrome but I keep forgetting how. Not intuitive at all.
In Google Chrome type in an address. Once the search results pop up click the blue link on the side bar. The little popup box will show up in the map blocking the view of the map. There is a star in there. Click it. (Red Circle in picture will help.)

But still don't know how to do the same thing on the Android app?

If you are referring to the Google Maps Android application (aka maps), the star option is available from within the location details:

Open the "maps" app;
Search or navigate to the desired location;
Tap over the balloon with the location name;
After the location options page opens, you'll find on the top/right corner a star;
Tap the star and that location is now starred by you.

Access The Starred locations

Navigation app
In the Navigation app, swipe left to see your "Starred" locations. Tap the one you want to get your Navigation directions.

Maps app
Tap the top/left app icon, just before the search box and select "My Places".

On my Nexus 7 tablet, the star isn't always visible; sometimes I have to tap the stack-of-three-squares button in the upper right, which reveals a "star this" option.

Is it just me, or this doesn't seem like 'intuitive' design. Once you know it's great but man was I hitting brick walls with my head.

You need to search for the address in maps first then star it, then it will show up in navigation. They are two different apps


text:
Changing Google Play from French to English

Possible Duplicate:
How can I circumvent regional restrictions in the Android Market?

I recently bought a lovely Nexus 7 for my wife. We live in France although we are English. The Google Play store is French, but we want to buy English books, and download English films. How to we do this?

I've seen some reports that the Play Store follows the language of the device. Do you have Settings > Language & input > Language set to English (UK)?

@AlEverett: For apps, that's true. However, for books it isn't. I live in Korea but have my phone set to English. While I get English recommendations, everything else in the books section is in Korean.


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fastboot does not discover my device
I want to connect my device (Omega T107) in fastboot mode.

I reboot in bootloader mode (adb reboot bootloader)
Screen is black(0 light comming out of it) computer can discover it and driver installs properly
fastboot devices returns empty list

What am I doing wrong ?

Does adb get-serialno show you the correct device number?

What platform are you accessing the phone from? (Windows, Linux, ...)

fastboot is just one of the protocols to talk to the bootloader. Some manufacturers choose to support it (e.g. Google, HTC), others choose to make their bootloaders talk some other protocol (e.g. Samsung).
After googling a little bit, I don’t think that the bootloader of your device supports fastboot (at least, there are no mentions of this). Most likely, you will need a special tool from your manufacturer that will be able to talk to your device in bootloader mode.

The command 'fastboot devices' shows only the devices it can access properly with fastboot protocol.

Check if you have sufficient rights for accessing the device (either do it with root or add aproppriate UDEV rules).
Check if you really started the device into fastboot mode

How do I make sure I've started in fastboot mode when bootloader is a black screen ?

Look at this answer that explains how to create the udev rule.


text:
Examples of application, used Android Backup Services
Do you know any Android applications (with open source, if it's possible), which use Android Backup Service (http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/data/backup.html)
I need examples, how Backup Service can be used in real applications.

In your Google account Dashboard view, in the Andoid device part you can see which applications stored someting in the Android backup service, for my account, beside the standard Android Wallpaper, Android System Settings and Android Market I have some "Dragon, Fly! Free" data (a game).

Do you have some other apps in that table?

@Hit : no, I have many other applications installed on different devices, and there are only 4 applications that appears on this table.

thanks for your reply. It's very strange, I have more then 160 apps on my Android, most of them from Top Paid or Top free, and none of them uses this great feature of Android OS


text:
How to synchronize Chrome web history on different Android devices?
In Chrome, I can find options to synchronize bookmarks, passwords, web search (nice feature) but nothing about my web history synchronization.
Am I missing an obvious option ? Is there an external application that could do that or should I try to synchronize manually my history ?
This is particulary annoying when doing a search in my desktop Chrome, looking for some results, trying one website, another... then later doing the same research on one of my Android device and re-trying the same websites and discover after loading that I already visited this site with no luck.

Google Chrome Application for Android
The Google Chrome Application for Android comes with some sync features as to allow users to keep their web-experience mirrored to other devices or desktop computers.

You need to be signed in on the services screen:

If you're not on the sign-in services screen, touch Menu > Settings > your email address to manage your sign-in options.

You can adjust your sync settings from the Services screen:

touch Sync to adjust your settings.

You can either set the sync to affect all data or specify each data is intend to be synced:

Enable the service:

Use the blue slider at the top of the screen to enable or disable the service.

Define what's to be synced:

If you don't want to sync everything, deselect the Sync everything checkbox and choose the data you'd like to sync.

Encrypt your data:

Touch Encryption to choose whether to use your Google Account password or a custom passphrase to protect your data.

Rest the sync service:

Touch Reset sync to remove synced data from your account. If you've forgotten your sync passphrase, use this option to reset the passphrase.

Note:

To fully take advantage of this feature, make sure you're signed in to Chrome on other devices, such as your computer or tablet.

Additional documentation about this can be found at Google Chrome Support page for sync data.

Google Web History
Google takes care of this for you as long as you've logged yourself into your Google Account on every browser and/or device you use.
Additionally, using history.google.com, you can manage the information stored:

What I most enjoy with this is the fact that all my searches are synced between Mobile, Desktop and Laptop, saving me precious time.

I known my search are stored and synchronized, what I want is to synchronize the site I visited, not only the one I searched.

@CédricJulien Are you referring to the color change of a link, that lets you know you've visited that site already?

yes, that's it :)

@CédricJulien Google takes care of that for you thru the web history :) (but that only works for their sites, not inside another site!)

@CédricJulien I'll improve the answer with the available settings provided by the Google Chrome App.

Sign in to Chrome on your Android device. Open Chrome on your Andorid device, go to Settings and you will see "Sing in to Chrome". Select the option and sign in. After that, your Android device history appears on your Chrome desktop.


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Why can't I have flash_image working?
I've rooted my device (Omega T107) and i cannot install any recovery (tried cyanogenmod adn amon_ra)
When I use flash_image as root it never ends
Screen link:

Uhhh, you're going about this the wrong way.
You do not adb push the flash image onto the handset itself then adb shell into it and flash from there.
The two reasons being is that

From the adb shell it cannot "see" the recovery partition and does not know anything about it!
There is limited space within the /data mount point which could have contributed to the endless stalling...

The correct way to do this is from the PC side, put the handset into fast-boot mode or boot-loader mode, plug in the cable into handset and use the fastboot flash recovery recovery.img then reboot the handset via fastboot reboot, holding down the volume down key to get into recovery mode.
The windows equivalent of the fastboot command would be fastboot-windows IIRC.


text:
Wi-Fi connection dropping
Lately I've been having trouble keeping a connection to Wi-Fi, first at home and now at work.  What happens is that after a while I'll notice that my phone is using 3G.
If I go into my Wi-Fi settings, I'll see a strong signal from my router. When I try to connect manually,  I often get the message,  "Failed to connect to network" with no further details.  (There's a special place in hell for those who write error messages that give no indication of the nature of the problem.) Other times I can connect,  but the signal is reported as weak and drops quickly.
My computers can connect with no problems and report strong wireless signals.  My roommates have no similar problems.
I have a Galaxy Nexus running Jelly Bean.  My roommates have a Galaxy Note and a Galaxy S2, respectively,  both on ICS.
What's wrong with my phone?
Additional details

My phone is rooted but running the stock ROM.
My phone is the international GSM version.
I first noticed this problem while using Tasker to implement a Bluetooth wireless leash. I've stopped using the leash--and Bluetooth entirely--but the problem persists. I'm still using Tasker for other things.
In trying to track down this issue, I disabled "Avoid poor connections" but that change had no effect.
I'm willing to consider flashing stuff to my phone as a last resort, but I strongly prefer alternative solutions. I didn't have problems initially, so I doubt the radio is to blame. Furthermore, I will down vote any answer that provides an incompatible ROM/radio, etc. or that provides it from a non-reputable source.

Have you tried disabling "Avoid poor connections"? You can find this in Settings -> WiFi -> [overflow menu] -> Advanced -> Avoid poor connections.

I disabled "Avoid poor connections" a while ago to no effect.

If I were you, I'd uninstall tasker. This isn't as painful as it sounds, since you can have it back up all your settings, and restore them once you've reinstalled.

I've had similar issues and went as far replacing my AP which appeared to work at first, but then WiFI was bad again. The franco kernel appears to have some fixes for this. I used his app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.franco.kernel.free&feature=more_from_developer#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEwMiwiY29tLmZyYW5jby5rZXJuZWwuZnJlZSJd to update my stock kernel and so far so good

My solution, which seems to be working so far, is quite related to what was proposed by t0mm13b.
That proposal was to adjust the DHCP settings. However, my router is quite limited in functionality and it's impossible to adjust wifi settings on it. Insane, I know. So, I set my phone to use a static IP address instead of using DHCP. So far, so good.

Three things that springs to mind

Channel number of the Wifi's broadcast for the SSID (the identifier of the wifi network), try changing it to another channel?
Wifi Sleep policy, go into Settings > Wifi, hit menu, tap on Advanced, Keep Wifi on during sleep, set that to 'Never'
Lease time on the dhcp's IP address, there's a persistent bug in the wifi driver (well it existed in GB) if the lease time is set to -1 (which is standard de-facto for "unlimited"), the wifi mechanism within the ROM has difficulty in understanding that -1 i.e. negative number for the lease time, which results in similar problems with connecting to the Wifi. Try setting the lease time to a positive range, eg, 7200 seconds, or 2 hours and see what happens.

For number 1, do you mean to change the channel on the wifi router or on my phone? It's a shared router, so I don't want to break wifi for everyone else.

For number 2, I don't understand how the wifi sleep policy can have any effect since the dropout often happens while I'm actively using my phone. Am I overlooking something?

For number 3, I'll look into it, but I'm not too confident since the router configuration is presumably in a language I don't understand.

To answer the first comment, sometimes, wifi chips can have difficulty connecting, channel 6 and 9 can be a problem, its no problem with PC's laptops, as they obviously have more wifi "support". For number 2, when the handset goes to sleep, the connection drops, by setting it to never, the handset's wifi chip periodically "pings" to ensure the connectivity is there.

My router doesn't appear to have options to let me set the channel or modify the DHCP settings (it seems to be rather bare bones). I've set my phone to use a static IP, as that seems to be the closest I can come. We'll see how that works. Regarding number 2, my phone is set to disable wifi when the phone is asleep to save the battery. I don't think changing this setting will have any effect as the connection drops while the phone is awake, which means that wifi isn't getting disabled by that setting.

I have started having this issue in the last 3 months on a Samsung GS5, (Android 4.4.2). I get the same symptoms that the phone decides to swap between wifi and 4g intermittently. This issue on the google forums sounds very suspicious to. The issue is with Android by the looks of it. It relates to a combination of which encyrption setting (switch to WEP) you use, and also you may have to also disable WMM in your QOS settings.
Going on now for at least 2 years. If the kids at Google can stop eating pizza and thinking of ridiculous names for their OS's for a while, and do some real coding, they should be able to fix it.
Failing the solution above, the only way to ensure I stay connected to wifi at home is to turn OFF "mobile data" on the phone and leave wifi on. It seems to me that the phone sees both wifi and LTE and switches over even while I'm using the phone, and then re-connects in random intervals. By denying the stupid phone a choice, it remains connected to wifi. The only thing is that you have to remember to re-enable "mobile data" when you leave the house.

The Wifi Fixer app may be able to help. It will detect and attempt recovery when low signal or disconnection problems are detected

Please mention a brief description of this app so that the reader doesn't have to invest time in clicking, finding and reading the description on some other page. Also, since it is a guess  based answer, IMO description must be mentioned. :)

There are newer radios out there that greatly improve the radios. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/19045917/411_radios.zip
Since you are rooted I assume you know how to flash radios.

Thanks for the answer.  However,  I don't generally flash stuff on my phone (you can't assume that rooting equals flashing stuff) I'm concerned about breaking things, especially when it comes to some random zip file posted by some random person with no details about what it does or mention of its official source. If you fix your post, I'll remove my down vote.

Upon further inspection of the radio ZIP file,  I discovered that it isn't even compatible with my phone.  Had I tried to flash it,  it likely would have bricked my phone.


text:
Sync Chrome Mobile with Desktop Firefox?
On my desktop computers, I use Firefox with the Firefox Sync service but on my mobile Android device I prefer using Chrome Mobile. Is there any way to sync Chrome Mobile with Firefox Sync? (I thought of syncing at least history, bookmarks and password).

Comment:
For now, I'll use XMarks and LastPass to synchronize my bookmarks/history (and passwords for Chrome Desktop only). But that's indeed not the ideal solution because I need a running Chrome to have the synchronization with my Chrome Mobile running. Because of this, I plan to write a small tool, that hooks into the web APIs of Firefox Sync and Chrome Sync to sync them against each other.

Did you ever write your small sync tool? I'm in the same boat as you, so I'd like to use it.

No, it turned out there was too little information on the APIs :/

There's no direct relation between the Chrome Mobile and any Firefox version.
What you can do, is to synchronize the information from your Chrome mobile to the Chrome desktop version, and then, using a desktop application, pass the bookmarks for any other browser.
Xmarks is a FREE Bookmark Sync application that supports among others, synchronization between Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox:

Install Xmarks on each computer you use, and it seamlessly integrates with your web browser and keeps your bookmarks safely backed up and in sync.
Xmarks will sync across browsers too. Today we support Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Safari (Mac OS).

Additionally, you can go Premium and benefit from the Android application to ease the process:
Premium Features Overview

Xmarks on Android
  The Xmarks mobile app for Android is available in the Google Play Store. You can also install via lastpass.com/xmarks.apk
It lets Xmarks Premium users access all their desktop bookmarks and open tabs on their device.
Supports Google Android 1.5+

Xmarks for Premium Customers by LastPass available from Google Play Store.

Bookmark Sync and Web Discovery
Application that will allow you to carry your Xmarks (formerly Foxmarks) data around with you.

Sync bookmarks with Android Browser
Add, update, and delete Bookmarks
View Open Remote Tabs

As for the remaining browser capabilities, like saved passwords, AFAIK you can only pass them to the Google Chrome desktop version.

Does this add the bookmarks to chrome or are they only accessible via the XMarks app?

It will add them right into Chrome.


text:
Private setting in standard calendar from ICS
I switched from 2.3 to 4.0 on my SII and miss an option in the standard calendar app: There used to be a setting for private appointments, which could be seen at the very end during creating a new appointment after selection of extra options. Neither the option, nor the setting seem to exist anymore.
Does anyone know how to set this or has the option been deleted? I need the feature, since I use my synchronized company calendar for both work and other appointments, where privat ones are marked as private in Outlook. I know that there are other calendar apps around, but I like to keep the setup as it was before if possible.

Are you referring to this setting? The screenshot is from Cyanogenmod 10's default calendar app. I'm fairly sure it's also still there in CM 9 and Sony's ICS.

@Erik: No, mine looks totally different. I am referring to the default calendar app on an a standard Samsung Galaxy SII.

setting not app

@Erik Yes it's that setting, but it's gone since my galaxy s ii updated to ics.

I have an SIII on ICS and when I add an event to the calendar I have a "Privacy" option which allows me to choose default, private, or public, however I sync my Calendar with Google Calendar and not with Exchange.

Hmm why is it different on s2? I had the setting before.


text:
How do I test that proximity sensor on Galaxy Nexus works as expected
I've noticed two days ago that I've initiated some random things while having hands in my pockets and phone was in as well...
And today I just picked up a call and while talking on the phone I realised that I turned on stuff with my face...
It seems that proximity sensor isn't working or working improperly.
How do I test it without placing a call?
How can I test proximity sensor anyway?
Is it at all possible?
I've read about some proximity sensor light... I don't see any light turning on or anything... I can just locate two holes behind glass between front camera and speaker. I suppose one of them (or both) is proximity sensor.

Galaxy Nexus is 2 weeks old and running Jelly Bean

The proximity sensor uses no light, the two holes you mention are the proximity sensor and the ambient light sensor, which measures the lighting around the phone and uses it to adjust automatic display brightness

Install a sensor app like AndroSens or AndroSensor.
They both are able to show you the proximity information.
Note:
The sensor only distinguishes between near and far proximity (0-5cm and >=5cm usually). It is OK that you won't get accurate distance measurements.

Many android phones have a hidden app called "service menu" which runs when you call some codes in Phone app.
for example, service menu for Sony (Ericsson) android phones will appear when you call *#*#7378423#*#* or *#*#SERVICE#*#* and for most of samsung android phones, it appears when you call *#0*# or *#9072641*#
from "service menu", you can test Screen, Keys, Touch, ... and most importantly, sensors. So, test this code in your phone and see if "service menu" appears, then test your proximity sensor from there, without any need to install a third-party app.


text:
Which service provides Facebook notifications and how to disable it to use mobile network
I'm having a bit of a problem trying to disable services from using mobile data connection on my Galaxy Nexus with Jelly Bean.
I've disabled Facebook to use mobile data connection, but I'm still getting Facebook notifications1 which is very odd. I'd like to disable it on mobile network completely and only have it enabled while on wifi.
My main mobile data connection users are:

Google Services - is it possible to control individual ones because there are many within this one and I can't even see which ones because they're all truncated
Gmail - I want this one enabled on Wifi and mobile network
Facebook (?!?!?!) - should be disabled on mobile
Google Search - what do I lose if I disable this one as well? which app uses this one? I'm not using Google Now on mobile network anyway.
...

I don't want to resort to manually disabling/enabling Facebook app every time I go to work which would hopefully disable these notifications as well.

1: Those notifications that display Facebook icon in notification area, not those that get delivered to my Gmail and I'd actually get email notifications about emails related to Facebook.

Try installing an app firewall such as DroidWall (needs root) and disallow 3G access for the Facebook app.

Onavo Count helps manage 3G data usage and doesn't require root.

I'm not interested in rooting... :(

@AlEverett: But ICS/JB already have great data monitoring tool built into the system that also includes setting margins etc. That's actually the tool that I used to get this data from initially anyway. What additional stuff does Onavo give me on top of that if anything at all?

Ah, yes. Forgot about that. I'm not sure. I do know that my daughter's Gingerbread phone had nothing like that, so I installed Onavo on hers. There are some blocking mechanisms in Onavo that might help. (A related question I asked)

It doesn't look like you can control the data connection for your Facebook notifications. You can have notifications on or off.
You might consider increasing your notification interval to reduce the impact of the notifications. (I see no need to receive Fbook notifications every 30 minutes.)
There may be a Tasker (et al.) "recipe" which can turn on/off Facebook notifications based on location, existence of wi-fi, etc., but I don't have any knowledge there.


text:
Does a MIUI-Phone work in Europe?
I've just read about the chinese MIUI Phones (Mi Two), my question is wheter they work in Europe, or might there be some issues because of other phone networks? Might there be some other issues apart from that?
Bonus Question: Does the official MIUI-Rom has any other languages than Chinese?

China uses a variant of CDMA type of radio baseband IIRC (definitely not GSM that's for sure) Last I heard there was a MIUI distributor based in Germany.. :)

According to GSMArena, the Xiaomi Mi-Two supports the following frequencies:
2G Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network: HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100
You can check what frequencies your country uses here. It should work in most if not all EU countries though.
Also, it supports Chinese and English officially but there is unofficial support for other languages, located here.


text:
Add rotation toggle to powerbutton menu?
Is there any way (short of reflashing to a totally new ROM) to add a "toggle auto-rotate" or "toggle portrait/landscape" option to the menu that comes up when you press and hold the power button?
I'm endlessly fighting with auto-rotation. For whatever reason, every Android device I've owned ends up being over-eager to rotate, but stubbornly resistant to rotating BACK, even when my gestures should be making it completely obvious that I didn't want it to rotate. However, every time I disable auto-rotation, I end up finding myself in a position where I have to rotate to landscape for something, and have to kill even more time trying to re-enable it.
For what it's worth, I have both a Galaxy S3 and a Xoom (wi-fi) (S3 running ICS, Xoom running JB).

In short, no way of adding it except obtaining the source and modifying it, compile it and flash the freshly built ROM. Why not use Widgetsoid or Extended Power Controls

Hmmm. I was afraid of that. If anybody happens to know, is the code that governs the power-button menu behavior kernel-level, Touchwiz-level, or merely a normal app with source that's not intended to be user-modified, but can be trivially hacked and extended anyway as long as the phone is rooted & the partition can be mounted +rw?

Definitely not kernel-level. It might be an apk but certainly not a normal app in that sens.

In the more recent updates to the Galaxy S III (at least Android 4.1.2) you can modify the notification panel at the top of the notifications screens that you get when you drag from the status bar. Open settings, 'Display' (under 'Device' heading) then in the 'General' heading choose 'Notification panel'.
Here you should be able to choose which Quick setting buttons you want to appear and one of them is the toggle for 'Screen rotation'.

Not what he's asking for.

Have you tried Notification Toggle from the Google Play store?
It will let you change the rotation lock from the notification screen.

I don't think that an app can change the power button menu. The same is true for the "power widget", a strip of toggles at the top of the notification area that some ROMs offer. You can, however, get something very close with the help of Widgetsoid -- in this case the toggles are inside an ongoing notification instead of part of the notification area.
Auto-rotate is one of the toggles included, of course.

Notification toggles in your rom are related to the framework.apk and settings.apk. So you technically need to edit them to enable/add other toggles. You could try Swipepad for launching/performing quick tasks.


text:
Successfully activated USB host mode using terminal emulator; now mass storage won't work
I have a Huawei u8160 running Cyanogenmod 7.2 .
I've recently been digging into USB host mode and I finally activated it. However when I connect my phone to the PC it doesn't give me a notification about "USB connected". It only charges the phone (that means it's connected).

How I activate USB host mode :
su
insmod /system/lib/modules/ehci-hcd.ko

or by using Module Loader App.

How I tried to deactivate USB host mode (which failed):
su
rmmod ehci_hcd

and when I list the mods using lsmod it returns that ehci_hcd mod isn't there
My question here is how can I deactivate the mode in a way that USB Mass Storage would work?

NOTE: I saw USB Mass Storage Not Working question and it doesn't work.

Instead of ehci_hcd, use ehci-hcd instead:
su
rmmod ehci-hcd


text:
Unknown Host - Emulator network config question
I have an issue I need help with. I have the android emulator running using Eclipse Helios & ADTv20. I am able to get to internet using emulator. (google.com) However I cannot access any local domains. I have tried using -dns-server with X.X.X.X to our local DNS, but no avail. I have also modified /etc/hosts file using ADB push/pull to manually add entries, but sill not working. I am unable to use PING command or NSLOOKUP command using ADB SHELL. I have tried deploying a custom app using DefaultHttpClient and setting hosts properties static also. ..I receive "UnknownHostException" or "onReceivedError -2" "The URL could not be found". I verified that I have the INTERNET permission.
Can someone please guide me in the network configuration for my emulator so I can resolve my local domain?
SDK version is 2.3.3 API level 10
What am I missing? Thank you in advance.

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Please read the FAQ. Development questions can be asked (and answered) on http://stackoverflow.com.

@VC'ers: I find this question legitimate here. The problem is a power user's one who happens to be developing. The core problem is however the emulator and GB with some local routing/network issue. I had a similar problem already (adt not updating due to proxy).

My apologies for posting to the wrong forum...I have been searching for answers nearly all day and eventually stopped here. Please feel free to remove my post or move it to stackoverflow.

From the Android emulator docs:

At startup, the emulator reads the list of DNS servers that your
  system is currently using. It then stores the IP addresses of up to
  four servers on this list and sets up aliases to them on the emulated
  addresses 10.0.2.3, 10.0.2.4, 10.0.2.5 and 10.0.2.6 as needed.

Source: http://developer.android.com/tools/devices/emulator.html
So, it's possible that if you have more than 4 DNS servers configured, the emulator won't know about them.  I do see that you're passing the -dns-server arg on the command line, so can you paste the command line and all args you're using the start your emulator?

some pointers:

The emulator (it's Qemu!) does in fact NAT the client, has a tiny dhcp server implementation included. The real issue must be here.
Try to reconfig it to 'bridge' the client traffic (search 'qemu bridging + your OS' or 'Android emulator bridging', etc.)
look at IP & routing conf:
adb shell, then 'ip link', 'ip addr', 'ip route' if it matches your real network before and after having done bridging setup

Thanks, strangely enough I tried using a different AVD using a more recent SDK version (4.0.3, API 15) and had some success. I still had to "push" the modified hosts file onto the /etc/system, but the browser was able to resolve the hosts. I'll continue my investigation and try to develop a conclusive cause for the issue. Thanks again for your feedback.


text:
Persist Background Process Limit setting
Is it possible to persist the Background Process Limit setting? It's lost upon reboot and reverts to Standard Limit.
Settings \ Developer Options \ Background process limit
Android 4.0.3

Do not think its meant for persisting... See Dianne Hackborn's comment
Also had a mosey around the ICS source code found in packages/apps/Settings/src/com/android/settings/DevelopmentSettings.java
Source code to the related screen, found on Android's github.
By looking for the variable that is associated with Settings > Developer Options > Background Process Limit (see line number 103)  and (See line number 215) called mAppProcessLimit.
With that in mind, keep looking further down in the source, the routine that is responsible for saving the settings for this particular screen called onPreferenceTreeClick.
That is, in programming parlance, called a "listener" that is monitoring the changes made on that screen and writes it out immediately to the backing store by Android. (See between line numbers 790 and 858)
Unfortunately, the "listener", in this case, does not have a reference to the persisting/saving of the value for that variable mAppProcessLimit; which is what the OP is experiencing, set it for the duration of when the handset is alive, then upon reboot, it gets lost.
In short, you cannot do anything about this as that is built straight from the oven, and bundled onto your handset, but with that in mind, you can roll-your-own-custom ROM variant of ICS with a modified version of the source to do that.

Any updates to this in newer versions of Android?

I have written a small android app that can be used to set the process limit by using Java Reflection to access the internal API. On Android 4.0 you don't even need to install it as a system app. This is required for Android 4.2 or so onward.
https://github.com/flode/SetAndroidProcessLimit
Thank you @t0mm13b for the internal API reference ;)


text:
Reduce delay when waking up the phone
The delay between me pressing the power button and the phone actually waking up is annoying. Is there any way to optimize this?

Maybe you should give some more details about your phone and software(Rom etc..) I think for a lot of people this is no problem. What I mean it might be a Problem of your Device/ROM

On a ROM supporting this, setting the CPU governor to "performance" will help a lot. This is not a practical solution though as this means that the CPU will always run at its maximum frequency which wastes a lot of energy.


text:
How to limit data usage of individual apps?
There are many apps out there to limit data usage of entire system. Using Firewall, I can block an app from accessing Internet, too.
But, I don't want these. I want to limit data usage of individual apps. e.g. - AppX should be firewalled if it comsumes 1GB within a day or month etc.
How can I achieve this?
I am rooted on ICS. I have tried to use Tasker but without luck.


text:
TCPView for Android
Someone know if exist a TCPView (windows application) similar app for Android?
Googling I've found only the use of tcpdump but it's not easy and immediately readable.
Thank for any suggest

Ok for -1, ok for no comment, but at least tell me if the Q isn't clear or not constructive will be helpfulll for me. No one needs to know what process is connecting and where it connects?

I've not found any app. But using a terminal emulator on a rooted phone with busybox I can use:
netstat -p ( or any other command's argument needed).

I use TrevE.apk. It's not a TCPView replacement. but it has a number of network monitoring tools. I'm suggesting it because it keeps getting better. I started with v6, and now I use v14.

How this app can help me? Coul you please add in your answer the link to download on Play Store? Thank you


text:
How can I tell CWM to perform a full backup instead of an incremental backup?
A recent update to CWM touted the ability to perform incremental backups instead of full ones.  Having performed those for a while, I find that I have quite a few old backups that I don't know if I can remove, since newer backups may depend on them.
Last time I was in this situation I deleted all of the backups and made one full clean backup.  That, however, carries the risk of some failure before the new backup is complete.  Is there any way to tell CWM to perform a full backup, so that I can safely remove all of the old ones?

Technically, CWM 6 isn't doing incremental or full backups. What it is doing is storing "blobs" that are shared between backups if the data hasn't changed between the two. When you run a new backup, it reuses what it can. If you delete a backup set, you don't actually delete the data, and the next time you run a backup, CWM deletes any blobs no longer in use.

So you're saying that it's perfectly safe to delete old backups?  Is that what the "freeing space" part of the backup does?

Yeah, from what I understand, the "freeing space" is deleting no longer used blobs from deleted backups. The downside is that you can no longer move off entire backups, though (the dated folder doesn't actually contain any backup, just pointers to the blobs).

Do you know where this is described?

Koush (the writer of CWM) described it on his Google+ account.


text:
How to clear/wipe an Android phone before selling it?
I have two phones, the LG GT540 optimus and Samsung GT-i5800, both using Android 2.1, and I intend to sell them in the near future.
Before selling (just like before selling a HDD), I want to wipe all the personal DATA from the phones.
Question:
Does a "factory reset" (from the Android phones "menu") surely wipe all the personal data? Or will there be something left to use? (ex.: contact list, Gmail password, etc.?)

Related: How do I prep my phone for resale?

How to make a complete factory reset, without anyone being able to retrieve my data?

By doing a factory reset and formatting the SD cards, I would say that it is safe enough to sell. If you want to be perfectly sure, flashing the original ROM with option of wiping the cache will make the phone as good as you got it when you purchased. Of course, still you have to format the SD card in that case as well.
To know how to flash the original ROM for you LG Optimus GT540, you can visit this page, which has a step by step instructions about this process.  You should be able to find similar such page for your other Samsung device just with Google search.
Update: I found this web page, which explains about to how to downgrade i5800 to 2.1. By that process you can get the original ROM (watch out for the region) and safely sell.

I will not sell the SD card

Your phones probably have an internal SD-Card

It is an addition to the Narayanan`s answer
There are two opposite researches about safely deleting data from flash-memory: safety of simple formatting and unsafety even after rewriting disk several times
If your device is using HDD, you must rewrite disk with 0 and 1(usind dd comand). It is possible(but very hard) to restore your data after first rewriting using magnetic force microscopes.

I wonder which Android devices use HDDs. Even eMMC is getting outdated.


text:
Install your own software

Possible Duplicate:
How can I install an app given only its APK file?

I'm thinking abount getting a smartphone, mainly for tinkering with it. On iOS, in order to install your own code, you need to either root the device, or buy into Apple's developer program. What's the current state of things in the Android world? I see the SDK and developer documentation are readily available, but people talk about Kindle's Fire and Google's Nexus as closed systems.

You can give someone the APK generated when you debug your code, and they can insall it provided that they activate the flag "install from untrusted sources" (or something like that... don't know the exact words because I have the italian localization)
BTW: distribution of APK signed with the SDK-generated debug certificate is a bad thing, you have to sign it with your own key


text:
How can I test my ePub files in Android emulator?
I have installed the Android emulator and everything is going fine. But I don't know how to test my ePub in it. This is actually the main reason I installed Android emulator and SDK, to test out my ePub's.
Target Name: Android 1.4
Platform: 4.1
API Level: 16
Thanks in advance!

Why would you use Android emulator for that? I suppose different epub readers will give you different results...

What exactly are you testing?

Install different ebook readers like Aldiko / Moon+ Reader etc and see whether your ePub displays as intended.

How? Because I tried going to https://play.google.com/ and installing Aldiko. And it refused to do so. It says it does not recognize the device or something.

Don't you have an Android device? Is that why you're using the emulator? Get the APK from the dev's site and install it from within the emulator. http://www.aldiko.com/download.html and http://www.moondownload.com/zthMoonReader.apk

Nop I don't. And my friends testing ePubs also don't have Androids, they have IPads and IPhones.

In any case, you can get the APKs from the links in my prev comment and install them within the emulator.


text:
Google Playstore force-closes
I have a Samsung Galaxy 10.1 tablet. I cleaned up some applications, deleting them via settings, and now I receive an error message when I open some applications. The message reads

The application Google Play Store (process.com.android.vending) has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again.

This error keeps appearing, usually three or four times with option of forcing close or reporting error.
Maybe I uninstalled some key file that I needed unknowingly. I cant find anything on updating this application or reinstalling factory setting only for this. Can anyone help?

Have you tried the usual methods to try fixing a truculent app?

Yes, tried the usual methods with no luck.

You may need to wipe and reload the device?


text:
Will Samsung Galaxy Nexus i9250 work with Indian SIM Cards?

Possible Duplicate:
Can I use my device on a different carrier?

I understand that Samsung has stated they will not launch Samsung Galaxy Nexus i9250 in India and hence am planning to buy it from Amazon. Was just wondering if the unlocked version of the phone would work well with Indian SIM Card? Please advise.

Ya it will work..
I am using it..

I got mine from Google Play Store from one of my friends coming from US. And it works just like that. There are no hardware / software shortcomings at least as of till now except for being not able to access Play Store, Play Music and other geo-location specific apps.
I got upgraded to Jellybean as well almost immediately.
Just in case, if its useful, I am with Airtel.
If you buy it from Amazon, its costlier at least by $60. I would suggest order it from Google Play. And ask one of your friends to pick it up.

Thanks @prashanth. I need it shipped to India hence was relying on Amazon. Worried if the legal battle between Apple and Samsung may result in rejection of my order at Amazon.

The phone specification says it supports the following frequencies:

2G Network    GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network    HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100

I think this is almost all the frequency, so the phone should work in India.

Thanks @roxan.  Would there be any other hardware/software shortcomings ? I would most probably be using Vodafone SIM Card.

There wouldn't except things like Google Wallet which doesn't have any function in India. If you find the answer helpful you should upvote/accept it.


text:
Get Gingerbread back on Samsung Galaxy Y
I have a Samsung Galaxy Y mobile. In internet I saw a post that update your Samsung Galaxy Y from 2.3 to 4.0. I tried the steps but I went wrong now my mobile getting rebooted again and again. How can I get my previous version?

Restore the nanddroid backup you made.

Thank you all. I got the Solution here

If you can enter into Recovery Mode(with Power and Volume Up buttons pressed on startup) try to restore a nandroid backup(if made) or flash a new ROM.
If you can't enter into Recovery Mode you need to reflash a stock ROM using ODIN. You need to choose the Right Stock ROM for your region. See XDA-Developers, it also contains a guide to flash these files with ODIN.
Then you can go on trying to update to ICS or JB.


text:
Is there anyway I can disable the posting of app shortcuts on my home-screen when an app is installed?

Possible Duplicate:
How can I disable shortcuts from being created after install from Google Play?

Every time I install an app a shortcut gets created on my home-screen, I don't want this to happen so I am wondering if there is a way to prevent the creation of shortcuts unless I want them created.

If you are not talking about Google Play then please edit this to clarify (however, I do not know of any other installation method that auto-creates shortcuts like Google Play does).


text:
How can I remove system apps / stock apps?

Possible Duplicate:
How can I uninstall applications that are locked by phone vendor?
How to remove pre-installed apps like Peep and Friend Stream from my HTC phone?

There are alot of stock android apps on my phone like Email, News and Weather etc. that I dont use. I really need the space because my phone is running low on memory so I am wondering if there is a way to uninstall them because I dont see that option in the Manage apps section.

Question: Are you rooted?

these can only be removed if you root your device. And even then, some of them you would not want to remove as they tie in to the system.
Additionally, removing them will not free usable space for "non-system" apps. The /system is separate from where user apps are installed and the space is separate.


text:
Boot loop after ROM write  in recovery
I have an HTC Sensation with ICS Android on it. How can I revert back to Gingerbread?
I have root and s-off. I tried to flash my Gingerbread ROM (??) in the recovery but am now stuck in a boot loop.

What do you mean "no effect"? What happened when you flashed the rom?

Just out of curiosity; why do you want to revert to Gingerbread? Also, can you try another ROM? Try reflashing /system if that is a part of the instructions. Also try a stock factory reset.

Did you wipe before flashing?

-I tried about 12 or 15 ICS roms but gingenbread is better to me.
-Yes, I've done a full wipe before flashing

Do this:

Boot into Recovery
Wipe cache
Wipe Dalvik cache
Wipe them again
Install your ROM

The first successful boot afterwards is going to take a while, as it is rebuilding Dalvik cache.
If you are not boot looping here, just let it go for a long while. If it boots a while and reboots, wait some more.


text:
How much data does Google Maps navigation use?
Does anyone have a rough number for how much data Google Maps navigation uses per, say, 100 miles or something? I know it will vary slightly by user and area, but I'm just looking for an average/estimate.
I'm going to be driving to Canada soon, and trying to estimate how much "International Data" I should purchase on my plan to cover the Google Maps Navigation.

Okay, I did a brief test the other day... only drove about 80 miles, ... obviously longer drives would give better averaging samples.
But from my short drive, it seems that Maps navigation uses roughly 1 MB for every 10 miles.

also note that Maps will cache the map data; so as long as the map can fit into the allocated cache space, it should use less data if you drive along the same roads. You might also want to precache the map while on a Wifi and use offline navigation if you have a recent enough navigation.

Precaching really wasn't possible, because I needed to cache the basically the whole state of New York and some of Canada, and it was too large an area. Would be nice if from the Google Maps website you could select a route, and ask it to cache everything 20 miles off that route to your device. Ultimately wound up using Sygic GPS. It allows you to download regions as offline maps. Worked very well, even in some pretty rural, backwoods areas of Canada.


text:
Error in unlocking bootloader in xperia ray with testpoint method
I was following guide to unlock my bootloader while preserving DRM data.
http://androidflip.com/unlock-xperia-phones-bootloader-without-losing-drm-data-track-id-working/
Everything went fine except the last one. Here is the log
I did all the steps in guide and receiving error for my xperia ray :crying:
Here is the log
Welcome to S1 tool.
That is small and crippled subset of SETOOL2 service tool.

DETACH USB CABLE FROM PHONE
REMOVE BATTERY FROM PHONE
ATTACH TESTPOINT
PRESS "READY", THEN ATTACH USB CABLE TO PHONE

PROCESSING ...
REMOVE TESTPOINT NOW, THEN PRESS "READY"

qcReceivePacket: can't get packet start.
Elapsed:24 secs.

Couldn't find a suitable answer in google. Any help?
Infos:
Boot loader unlock allowed : Yes
Build date 12W23
Can go to flash mode.

Currently xperia phones with newer EROM, bootloaders can't be unlocked via the above mentioned test point method.
Got the information from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=30675295&postcount=108


text:
How can I make a route offline in Google Maps?

Possible Duplicate:
How to get maps for off-line usage?

Google maps recently added offline caching of maps. But I can only see a way to download a small area. If I'm going on a long road trip soon, is there any way I can tell it to download all the data for the navigational route between point A and point B?
I'm looking for it to be used for Google Navigation for driving between the two points with turn-by-turn directions.

Well, I know how to select a specific (small) region in GMaps and download it for offline. I'm specifically looking for how to do that for a whole ROUTE between two points, which out needing to manually download innumerable small sections along the route, specifically for use in Google Navigation.

Sure. My Nexus 7 (Jelly Bean) was able to sustain a certain time of being not connected (to a bluetooth tethered internet), I'm not really sure though if it is a viable solution for complete pre-loading and not just for temporary loss-of-cell-coverage situations only. For that you'd best bet on a real off-line solution like proposed in the answers in the linked question. At least there are no options (it's all auto-magically done), so I guess it's for bridging temporary no-cell-coverage situations only. Maybe the whole route is pre-downloaded but what will it do if you do a wrong turn?

I don't believe any flavours of Android support true route caching. You can save a route as a link though. This question might provide some ideas:
http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/27631/how-to-load-public-route-into-google-maps
As a backup, I use an Open Street Maps based utility for true offline use, such as OSMdroid.


text:
Original ROM for Samsung Galaxy S i9000
I've put a custom ROM on my Samsung Galaxy S I9000 and now I want to go back to my original ROM. I was wondering if there was a way to get the original ROM, that came with my device, from an official site somewhere.
I've searched this websites and other forums but the links were old and not valid anymore.

+1 was wondering the same after I'd installed an ICS rom. Will be interesting to see if the answers differ based on whether the device was rooted or not (which, in my case, it was).

In a way, the answer is Yes. Although, I would not consider any of the sites where you would get the ROM from to be "official".
What you need to do is download ODIN3 (or hemidal) and use that tool to flash the Stock ROM on the device. Doing so will most likely require you to completely wipe the device to factory state.
I found a couple sites that do have the Stock Firmware, but I don't want to link to the ROM directly for a couple reasons. One, I don't know the legality of linking to a the Stock Firmware and if the file is no longer valid in the future, I do not want this post to be "out of date".
If you google "flash i9000 odin stock" you will likely find a couple different sources that have the files needed to flash back stock. When I did this, the first site had the 2.3 XXJVU release for the i9000, and the .pit file (which is also required when going back to stock, and the drivers. It also is a tutorial on how to flash it.

You also may be able to find a One-Click Odin for the I9000 on XDA. This is a prepackaged Odin which has no function other than to flash the stock rom.


text:
Should I disable mobile data while I'm connected to WiFi?
If WiFi is activated, the phone expends energy trying to find WiFi connections, even if I'm not using the internet. Is the same true for mobile data? Does the phone expend any energy trying to keep a good data connection even while it's connected to the internet via WiFi? If so, I'll set Llama to disable mobile data while WiFi is connected. Will that make a difference to my battery life?

http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/28529/is-wi-fi-always-favoured-over-other-data-connections/

When Wifi is activated, all data is pulled down via the Wifi. It is a mutually exclusive/flip-flop mechanism. That is to say, if Wifi is off, 3G is used.
And yes, regardless of whether one or the other is activated, battery is being used likewise :)
No discernible difference in terms of battery consumption.

I understand your first paragraph, but I'm not sure about the other two. Your second appears to be false. If Wi-Fi is activated it will use more power, regardless of whether you're actually connected to/using the internet. My question is if the same is true for mobile data.

using 3G does use battery, think about it, either way, battery juice is used! Look at the masts you see out there, 3G continuously hopping and scanning for the nearest mast...that's what happens when using 3g mobile data... and expensive operation on the battery may I add!

That's my thinking, but I wondered if perhaps Android was intelligent enough to not bother scanning for a good signal when it's connected to WiFi.

Android does not care nor discriminate the lower-level base-band radio scanning (we're talking about telephony here), that is left to the actual radio firmware to deal with :)