text:
In using a VNC to control a computer, is it possible to have the cursor go to where you touch?
I don't have an Android device, but I'm thinking of getting a Nexus tablet, and using android-vnc-viewer to make the Nexus an input device to control the PC, and provide faster cursor movement/text editing. Both screens would be a mirror of each other.
From VNC videos that I see on YouTube, such as in this video, after optionally zooming in, you can touch the screen, and slide it to move the view. However, the cursor remains centered. The cursor seems to only move when you touch a button/control.
Once I'm happy with the view, can I lock it? Screen touches would then just move the cursor to where I touch. I already know of text manipulation commands once a cursor is within text such as words, sentences, or paragraphs; I'd rather not have to double tap to move the cursor and select, as I have some RSI (repetitive strain injuries)/Tendinosis.
Thanks for any information.

The app has multiple input modes. In the default, tapping the display moves and clicks the mouse. In another mode, the display acts like a trackpad, so dragging along the screen causes the mouse to move accordingly on the remote system. See the "input modes" sections of the documentation for details. You can change the input mode from the app menu without disconnecting.

Thank you! I believe that I want either “Touch Mouse Pan and Zoom”, or “Mouse Control Mode”.


text:
How can I get a voice confirmation of an alarm?
When using the voice search and speaking "set alarm for 10 am", the only audio I get back is "setting alarm...".
While the screen displays a helpful "This alarm is set for 3 hours from now", I'd like to get a similar audio feedback. Is this possible?

While this may be extremely helpful, I believe that the only way to get this functionality would be to modify the Google Now app, or build the additional response into a custom ROM using one of the TTS modules.
While it is by no means an optimal solution, you could try third-party voice action apps like Vlingo or Jeannie to see if they include this functionality.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Samsung Android phone / tablet drivers without using the Samsung Kies
As Samsung Kies require one to be online in order to install but all I need are just Samsung drivers so that the OS (e.g. Windows XP, Windows 7) can recognize the Samsung Android device.
So, how to connect the Samsung Android phone / tablet to the PC without using Samsung Kies so that the OS can recognize that the Samsung Android device?
Similarly, how do one install Samsung Kies without connecting to the Internet? This is because sometime, one need to access the android device on PC which does not have Internet access or in an restricted area.

What device do you have?  Some have driver packages available separately from Kies.

Have you looked into SideSync for Samsung devices? I use it instead of Kies now and love it
http://www.samsung.com/us/sidesync/
Sidesync has a lot of great features:

Display your phone or table from your PC and control it.
Send and receive phone calls from your laptop
Access all of your apps (like sending/reading SMS messages)
See notifications from your device on your PC
Access your Phone/Tablet via USB or wireless on the same network
Drag and drop files to and from device

1wayjonny on XDA has released a Naked Driver for some Samsung devices. The driver itself will let your PC recognize your phone in ADB, FB or APX mode.

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


text:
Non-root methods to mount USB storage devices
From my understanding, one can use StickMount to mount USB Sticks / Thumbdrive. However, StickMount require one to root phone.
So, are there ways that I can mount a USB Sticks / Thumbdrive to a Android phone / tablet without rooting the phone?

This maybe of interest http://blog.gsmarena.com/sony-launches-a-dual-usb-flash-drive-geared-towards-android-smartphones-and-tablets/

This depends on your device. Sone Android devices have USB ports that can work in host mode or support USB OTG. These devices can at least have read access to the USB drives, some can even use them as full mounts. One app that allows read access on a lot of devices is Nexus Media Importer. You can use it to browse media and copy files to internal storage.

I notice that the Nexus Media Importer require a Android phone with Android version 3.2 or above. Are there any for Android version below 3.2?

"USB host mode is supported in Android 3.1 and higher." (source)

Thanks for the information. May I assume that there are no solution for Android version below 3.1? (e.g. those using 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and below)

There are, but these are (as far as I know) device-dependent, there's no general solution.


text:
Can one avoid losing everything on a Galaxy Nexus when applying a new ROM (safely)?
The makers of most ROMs suggest that you do a full device wipe when moving from one ROM to another. I have also found this is usually good practice, so data from the previous ROM does not affect the new one. On my EVO 4G, this was not a problem, since wipes did not affect the SD card. However, my new Galaxy Nexus (Sprint) has no SD card, and is managed all on internal memory. Every time I do a full wipe (in TWRP and Clockworkmod recoveries) they erase everything on my device, including my SD contents (photos, documents, the new ROM I'm trying to install, etc.).
This is quite problematic and annoying, as it requires much more time to manually backup my backups before flashing anything.
Has anyone found a way to avoid this? By that, I mean is there a way to keep portions of data (preferably the faux "SD" portions) between flashing new ROMs?

I wonder if partitioning the internal space would work, although that might be dangerous.  You could always wipe /data manually -- the phone might not boot afterward but you only need to get into recovery anyways.

You can use adb backup command to back-up everything to your PC. Use this manual on XDA for correct parameters.

This is intriguing, however my question is aimed at finding a way to not erase the entire phone (including SD partition) to begin with. Any thoughts there?

A combination of Titanium Backup ★ root and FolderSync might do. You need to set it up once, then have TB taking care to backup your apps and apps data -- while FolderSync automatically transfers those backups plus additional selected folders ("SD contents") to your computer when connected to your local WiFi network.

Unfortunately Titanium Backup has problems with SMS transfer between different ROMs, so need to use SMS Backup too (tested transfer between 2.1 and 4.1).

Did you check TBs "Migration" feature (which btw. always should be used when transfering data between different ROMs)? According to Joël (the dev) this should work.

I can make Titanium Backup sync with my dropbox, it just takes sooo long to upload (usually over a gb).

@jlehenbauer that's why I mentioned FolderSync to do a sync to your local computer via WiFi. Much faster :)

I am in a very similar situation where I want to install a new ROM but I don't want to have to re-install everything.  Fortunately, we are not alone.  Seems Wartickler from from xda-developers have done the hard work for us.
He has posted the very detailed solution at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1994705
It actually recovers your partition as a RAW file, coverts it to VHD and then recovers the data from it (using magic I presume)  It is not a 5 minute exercise and not recommended for beginners, but seems to solve the problem.
PS. I have not tried it myself, so results may vary.

this is an interesting process, and i'm glad to see it can be done! However, I am looking for some way to flash new roms without ever losing that data, if it is possible. Backup and restore or recovery options come second to that.

I tried Galaxy Nexus Toolkit to take backup when I updated my Galaxy Nexus to Android 4.2.1. It worked very well and I was able to restore my apps with data.
But for the games like need for speed, I lost the downloaded data. So If your app downloads extra data from servers, you may need to take /Android/data/[app package directory] to avoid extensive data download after installation. There is an option in this tool to take entire internal sd card image as virtual sd card.
Just explore more about this tool and decide if it really can work for you.

let me starting answering the title question, about backups:
honestly, titanium backup is overrated. (unless you have a lot of non-market app, or apps that have weird local data storage --I, like most people, do not have either)
second, depending on rom compatibility, your apps will be untouched. but do not count on it. I count on it when i update the nightly cyranogen ROM on my device, but that's the only case when i do that.
For a new rom, you wouldn't even want the same apps to being with. for example, most of my apps before i flashed cyanogen mod were to give me lame solutions for what i was missing without cyanogen. after i got cyanogen, i think i reinstalled only 1/3 of the apps i had before.
Also, very few apps will store anything exclusively locally nowadays. just go over your list of app, see the ones that install data locally, export it one way or another, just wipe, reinstall and restore.
now it's even easier than before as the market will save your previous installs.
now to the particular phone issue:
there's something wrong. i never had a phone sans SD-card, even the touchpad has a fake SD partition... i assumed every install of android required a /data partition to begin with. But even if your phone does not have one, i think it's possible to create, as the guys from cyanogen mod created on the touchpad.
now, if by full wipe you really mean full wipe (factory reset something) than you ARE wiping the /data partition as well as the system and the dalvik cache, and everything is normal. you just have to stop doing it :)


text:
Back up not only games, but also game progress before flashing ROMS
I have a Galaxy S2 (GT-I9100) And I'm about to flash a custom rom on it. I've done it a bunch of times but what really irritates me is that I lose all progress made on the games that I have on my phone!
I backup the actual games and other applications using Astro file manager, but when I star my phone up after flashing a rom and re-install the game, I have lost all progress.
How does one backup a game, with game progress intact?
Thanks for any tips!

Possible duplicates: How to backup an Android device and Backup Angry Birds and see also how to use adb backup

I believe it's slightly different. He's asking how to backup app data specifically, which could be the case with angry birds, if it didn't have dedicated backup apps.

Another fool-proof method (no need to worry about having a specific backup app) is to grab the game's data directly.
The data for all user-installed apps can be found in /data/data/*package name*. This will be all settings, saves, and anything else.  Just browse into there and copy the relevant directories to somewhere safe and put them back when you're done flashing and have reinstalled the app and run it at least once.
Yet another way, which will work without root, is you do the same as above, but using adb.  Turn on USB debugging, connect up to your computer, and run adb pull /data/data/*package name* C:\where\you\want\the\files.
Then once you're done with your ROM flashing and have reinstalled the apps, do adb push C:\where\you\put\the\files /data/data/*package name*, or if you now have root with your custom ROM, just copy the directories you pulled to the SD card and put them back in /data/data on the device.

The syntax for adb push or pull is the wrong way around

Got push right, but pull was backwards, fixed now.  Need more coffee.

The best are backup methods that backup and restore app data. Titanium Backup is excellent for this, and easy to do, especially with the pro version. It allows you to backup the apps, including the relevant app data, which holds the game progress. The pro version lets you restore them seamlessly, while the free version requires manual re-install, like Astro. You can also sync these backups to online storage spaces like dropbox or Google Drive.
If you have multiple devices (I have a tablet and phone that I like to sync progress on, for example), DataSync is by far the best option. It can sync to dropbox or strictly device-to-device, but can sync all the app data with game progress to another device for subsequent use, or resyncing back to the original device later.
Let us know what you choose!

Thanks for the pointers! Does your phone need to be rooted to use titanium backup though?

Yes, TB's most useful features require root.  However, seeing how you are about to flash a custom ROM on your phone, it's a pretty safe bet you've already rooted it.

It does require root, unfortunately the only way to back up app data from the internal system is to have root access. The answer below describes the manual method, but this will also require a root access file browser. And as @Chahk pointed out, new ROMs usually mean root, I was assuming :)

Give a try to Go Backup Pro which is completely free. It need root access and backup your apps+data, and when you will restore your backup it will not ask you Install app every time.

Backup contacts,messages,GO launcher settings, system setting and apps
  Backup apps data（needs ROOT）
  Hide annoying app installation interface when restore apps（needs ROOT)
  Cloud Backup supported, sync to Dropbox.


text:
Android 4.2: How to get the Easter Egg, a new daydream, and Developer options?

How can I get the Easter Egg hidden in Android Jelly Bean?
How could I use that Easter Egg to enable a hidden daydream in Android 4.2?
How can I enable the Developer options, hidden by default in Android 4.2?

Jelly Bean Easter egg:

Go to app drawer and open Settings, go to bottom and tap About phone
Repeatedly tap Android Version 3 times: It should open a screen showing your current wallpaper and a red Jelly Bean
(This step is optional) Tap the red Jelly Bean once and it will change to a smiling Jelly Bean android head, and the screen will
show the text

Android <4.x version>
JELLY BEAN

That screen is the Jelly Bean easter egg. But don't close it: it has
to be open to enable the...
Android 4.2 hidden daydream:

Tap and hold down on the red Jelly Bean for about 1 sec.
You'll see an animated screen with lots of colorful Jelly Beans and smiling Jelly Beans, which you can play with, pushing
("flinging") them off the screen.

In that moment the hidden feature will be enabled: that animated
screen is known as BeanFlinger and from now on it will be
available (with black background, though) to be selected as one of
the Daydreams. The Daydreams are an Android 4.2 new feature,
consisting of screensaver apps that can run when your phone or
tablet is docked or charging (more info about Daydream).

Enable developer options (If you enabled them, but you want to revert this process, see Note 3)

Go to app drawer and open Settings
Go to bottom and tap About phone
Tap repeatedly Build number 7 times. Starting at 3rd tap, you'll see a toast saying You are now X steps away from being a developer.
After 7th tap, you should get a toast saying: You are now a developer! (If you keep tapping Build number, the toast will change to: No need, you are already a developer.)

The above steps enable the Developer options screen, disabled by default in 4.2 (more info). From now on, you'll see the Developer options in Settings screen.

NOTES:

Tapping the Android Version in About phone screen 4 times will do
the trick too, showing directly the smiling Jelly Bean.
In Christmas season, along with the jelly beans, you'll may see a
wandering candy cane! It works in both BeanFlinger easter egg (left image)
and BeanFlinger daydream (right image).

If you don't need Developer options you can either turn off the switch in that screen (left image) or clear data from Settings app (Settings > Apps > All > Settings) if what you want is to completely remove the Developer options entry from Settings screen (right image).

All of the above work in Android JellyBean 4.3 and Android KitKat 4.4.x too

The first part also works in other Android versions. The animation will differ with each version.

The developer options can be rehidden by going to Settings -> Apps -> All -> Settings and clearing the data. This will only hide the dev options, AFAIK. Other settings like alarms and wifi passwords etc. are still present

Thanks @raghav-sood, now I can update the answer by adding all the missing screenshots!

The behavior you specified in item 3 in the first part of your answer is in fact required by the Android CDD, section 6.2, and is not merely an Easter egg.

(continuation of previous comment) "The upstream Android implementation hides the Developer Options menu by default, and enables users to launch Developer Options after pressing seven (7) times on the Settings > About Device > Build Number menu item. Device implementations MUST provide a consistent experience for Developer Options. Specifically, device implementations MUST hide Developer Options by default and MUST provide a mechanism to enable Developer Options that is consistent with the upstream Android implementation."

@DragonLord if you read more carefully, you'll see I never used the expression "Easter Egg" in the item 3, because I'm aware this behavior is not an Easter Egg. Thanks for the info anyway.

Understood. I just wanted to make sure it wouldn't lead to confusion, because I (wrongly) thought the OP misunderstood it as a Easter egg.


text:
How to disable proximity sensor
I dropped my Motorola Charm (Android 2.1) and the proximity sensor doesn't work which is annoying, it makes the the touchscreen disabled when I dial anything (super annoying).
I would rather like to disable the proximity sensor, so it will never disable the touch screen.
Does anybody know how I can do so?
In case of absence of any ready made solutions, I am even willing to write my own app for that (there are programs that do that but for Android 2.2).

If all other readymade solutions let you down, you can do a small app that will do exactly as you asked. Please see this StackOverflow question which talks about the same.

You need root and an app called Hardware Disabler from Google play. See also here

See also http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1658474

The first review of @ce4's suggestion looks to fit your case nicely: For me, this is very good app. I found that my proximity sensor is not working and the phone app is freezing because of it so I just found propriate drivers with other app and disable them with Hardware Disabler... Works like a charm

@ ce4 Hardware disabler is for android 2.2 and above, it wont install on mh 2.1 android.

this device is android 2.1 so unfortunately hardware disabler wont work on it, I wish I had the source code for the hardware disbler so I could compile it with 2.1 sdk

Motorola CHARM has a proximity sensor located on the upper left corner; as stated in Motorola CHARM product support site, external lighting conditions will affect this sensor.

My suggestion is: each time you need to use the touchscreeen while making a call, try to "trick" the proximity sensor illuminating it with a flashlight or LED, so the sensor "thinks" that you've moved away the smartphone, thus re-enabling the touchscreen circuits.
If you don't have any of these items on hand, look for a place with bright light toward which to move yourself/your phone.

We have come a long way.
Almost a decade later, Android 10 comes with a Quick Setting Title to disable all sensors temporarily.

Enable Developer Options. If you don't know how to do it, check the steps here on my blog.
Tap on Quick settings developer tiles
Enable "Sensors off"
Swipe down to open notifications shade and you will find the "Sensors off" title.

You can now toggle the "Sensors off" title to enable and disable all sensors on your device including the proximity sensor

Hello Amar. Our policy requires full disclosure of affiliation with the product/website mentioned in any of your post. I have edited your post to reflect your relation with the weblink. In future, please do keep that in consideration when writing answers. Otherwise, your answer is likely  to be treated as spam, and would be dealt with accordingly.

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


text:
Why does Spotify say that there is no Internet connection available when there is one (Samsung Galaxy S)?
When I start the Spotify Android app from my Samsung Galaxy 1 it seems that the internet connection is not working:

What can I do to resolve this?

Have you asked on the Spotify Community?

I'm still having this issue with Wifi on a Galaxy S4.

This happens on the desktop client as well. Spotify's code for detecting network connection must give up permamently after a period of time.

Lucky for you, I am a super user on the Spotify community.
First, you need to wipe the data for the Spotify app, and then re login.
Once this has done, it may take a few seconds for the app to recognise the Internet connection.
If that fails to work, reinstall the app, and login again.

I just went through the same issue.
Definitely solved now.
At first I had a very bad connection speed even on H+ or 3G. On spotify app the "bad connection" problem turned to "no connection" so I decided to investigate.
The problem was my network AP which was configured over "WAP" which is not a real full featured Internet connection.
So I had to switch to the good AP (I've had to create a new one).
I did so on Android ICS like this :

went to : Settings > More... (Wireless and network) > Mobile Networks > Access Point Names
Switch my AP : I only had "WAP" and "MMS". None of these two are recommended for spotify app which doesn't use HTTP protocol to stream data. So I created a new one named "Internet" and filled in the settings page with informations found on my network provider support page (I am in France so my settings won't be suitable for you)

Now spotify works great + I have a new blasting Internet connection for all the other apps !!!
Hope it helps


text:
Need browser with websocket and full screen mode support
I need a browser that supports websocket and full screen mode and where I can set a default homepage.
The device that I am using is Rikomagic MK802 III. I am using a startup program to open a browser in full screen mode with a default URL when the machine is booted.
The default stock Android browser works fine, but does not support websocket. It also does not have a very good support for JavaScript.
Next, I tried with Chrome, Firefox and Opera. All of them support websocket and works fine. But none of them have a provision to set a default homepage and full screen also is not supported.
However I found an add-on in Firefox that supports full screen, but don't know how to make this a default behavior when the browser is opened. Setting default homepage is still a problem.
Please suggest me what option I am left with. Is there any workaround ?

There is another addon, but somehow it is not supported for Firefox 18 and above. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/my-homepage/

Wow, I'm looking for the same solution and even using the same hardware. Are SureFox and SureLock the apps you're currently using to open the URL fullscreen on startup? If not, please share what you're using, and give them a shot - might be what you're looking for (though requires root, let me know if you need a hand with it since I documented the process last night.)

Hi Mark, that would be great. You can share the document. Yes, finally I got Dolphin Browser to do the trick and I used "start" (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=info.niwota.start) to start the browser at boot time. Now to hide bottom bar or system bar, we can use "hidebar" (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=be.ppareit.hidebar). except for hidebar, I tried everything and it works. Hope this helps.

I know that Chrome For Android (not the Android stock Browser) does have Websocket support, and you can set a default homepage, not sure about Fullscreen mode though.

I know that Dolphin was a web browser specifically designed for the Android Platform.
It was so successful it was then introduced for iOS devices.
I don't know if it will accomplish your needs, but if it can't then...
You can get it from Google Play Store.
Alternatively you may like to try Maxathon Cloud based Browser http://www.maxthon.com/

Does Dolphin support websocket ? I do not see this in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebSocket

@user644745: In my answer I stated "I don't know if it will accomplish your needs, but if it can't then..."

It supports websocket and I can set a default home page. trying to find out if i can make it full screen.

@user644745: I hope it works out, as it was specifically made for Android. I know it was highly rated amongst Android users and thats why iOS users wanted a version of their own (which they eventualy got). Hopefully it will :)


text:
Is there a camera app which would let you access the gallery?
In this accepted answer user @Parth Mehrotra writes:

You can't really change the things camera intent has to offer, and if
  you do find a device where the camera app would let you access the
  gallery I wouldn't depend on it.

I am a user of the BuitenBeter app. With this app Dutch civilians can easily report issues to their municipality by taking pictures. The app offers me only the possibility to upload pictures from the camera and not from the gallery. I spend several hours looking for an app which I would name Camera2Gallery, which would appear as a extra option in the screenshot below.

Does it exist? Can it be easily made? I think there is a real big need.

Maybe just mail them, there's contact info below the play store description. I'd say the app has to support it properly, don't try ugly workarounds?

I think it would be very easy to write an app that does exactly this, since it would basically be registering an Intent Filter that would simply start an intent to pick a photo from whichever gallery application that user has. I'd be surprised if no one has written this.

There is currently no app like this that I am aware of.
However, you could ask the app developer of the app you are using to allow pictures to be taken from the gallery, and not only a new picture - this is very possible.


text:
How do you configure a Nexus 7/10 for family use
I'm considering getting one of the Nexus tablets for my family.  I think the multi-user support is a great way to separate my apps from the kids games.  But what I've read about the implementation of multiple users seems lacking.  Without a device to experiment on I am left to ask here how this works.
What I would like to do is setup myself as owner, with my Google email address and Play Store  credentials.  Next I'd like to add users for my wife and my kids.  Setting up a profile for my wife is easy as she has her own android phone and I can use her Google account for that.  It's adding a user profile for each of my kids that I'm uncertain about.

My kids are young and don't have email addresses.  Nor do I want them to yet.  Do I have to create an  address for each of them?  What are my alternatives?
Can I configure the Play store for the kids user profiles to use my Play store sign-on / credentials?  On my phone I have the option of doing this, though I don't know what effect it would have there either (does it uninstall the apps from the first sign on and sync down those from the second)?

Obviously I don't want to pay multiple times for apps for my kids.  It's one thing for adults to buy their own apps, but does Google really expect each kid to have an associated credit card and to buy their own apps?
Any assistance in the correct way to configure the tablet would be appreciated.

I've a Nexus 7, I'll set up a new user and test it out, take a few screenshots and post them up as the answer. Good question.

Thank you, I'm really curious what happens with some of the different permutations.

If you do test a few things out, see if you can create a test kid user profile with no google account, but then configure the Play store to use a real google account.

Yeah I'm doing that, I'll have it written up in a bit.

Not sure my answer covered the "(does it uninstall the apps from the first sign on and sync down those from the second)?" could you clarify what you mean?

What I meant was, lets say I add a tablet user for my son and specify a new gmail account my.son@gmail.com.  Then I go to the play store, open the menu, select Accounts, and then add my account, dad@gmail.com.  I then proceed to buy and install Angry Birds.  Now that I've done that, I switch the Play Store account back to my.son@gmail.com.  What happens to Angry Birds?

@tcarvin It stays there as if it was always installed, as my answer tries to state.

Ah, I'm sure it will just stay on the account, I'll give that a quick whirl to confirm though and update my answer. -edit Yup it stays, answer updated.

@TheAndroNerd Sorry for my confusion.  There are too many "accounts" floating around, between the owner Google Account the device makes you setup, the Google Account for each user/profile, and then Account used in the Play Store which it seems you can change to be different than the Account of the current user/profile.

Set up a child account on the device, this is pretty simple, there's an overview of that process here. You don't to sign the child in using a Google account, it lets you skip these steps.

Assuming you want your kids to be able to download any apps you've already paid for, or want to be able to download any apps you buy them, sign into the Play Store on the child account using your main account's credentials, it's probably worth also choosing not to sync all of the main account's emails/contacts/etc. across at this point. You can then add a PIN to the Play Store so that they can't buy anything with your details and also choose the maturity rating of the content they see, this won't affect the settings of the main account's Play Store on the device despite the fact you're using the same Google account on the store.
From this your kids can access all your already paid for applications but thanks to the PIN won't be spending any of your money, at least not without your knowledge, and you haven't had to sign them up for a Google account.
Any apps that they download also aren't automatically put into your main accounts app list so you don't have to worry about them downloading a load of games and it filling your home screen a la iPad/iPhone style.
The downside to this approach is that your kids will be able to read your GMail, see your calender and contacts etc. A good solution to this is an app locker which restricts them from using these applications. I tested APP Lock and it seemed to do the job well.

If you don't mind your kids not being able to download apps you've already paid for on your account and aren't bothered about not being able to access any games you buy them then I think it would be worth signing up for a new main Google account and adding your credit card details to this. You could then sign onto the child's Play Store using this new account, set up the PIN same and maturity in the same way as the last approach but this time you won't have to worry about them seeing your emails or any other information that is linked to your main account.

For both of these approaches if you download an application on the child's account with your main account selected in the Store but have added the child's email as well and then switched back to this on the Store after the download the app will remain on the device and still be usable.
If you want any more information, clarification or screenshots just say in the comments and I'll add it or test it out if I haven't already.

It sounds, so far like I have to do the second option, but for those of us with more than one child it still causes problems because each child cannot have their own setup in that situation right (without re-buying the same game for the same device for each child)?

Either option would work for multiple children's accounts on a device since there is one main account that buys the apps and they are linked to this. So if you made two children's account on the tablet and added your account to both of their Play Stores when you bought a game for one of them it would be available to the other as well.

Sweet!  Wish I could throw you an extra +1

If your children use your Google Account, you could install some kind of app locker to stop them opening the GMail app and reading your emails.
The newer Google Play versions also allow you to apply a PIN to purchases - which would probably be handy in this place.
If they use your Google Account, they will have access to all the apps that you have purchased, but if they do not then they will have to be purchased again.
If you do not want to use your email address/google account for your children, then you would have to make them one, if they were to use Google Play. You could keep the passwords, and install an app locker to prevent the gmail app from opening.
The only issue with them having their own accounts would be that you would have to re-buy apps for their accounts.
For your number 2 point, you can have an unlimited number of devices with a single google account - it will not remove apps from your phone, but it may download apps if they are backed up. To counteract this, you will have to make sure you untick the 'Restore data from this Google Account' option when setting up the Google Account.

If I create a profile for each of my kids with a new secret email address for them, can I subsequently change the Play store account to my credentials and buy apps for them that are then associated with their profile?

No. App purchases are linked to google accounts, and cannot be transferred. You can make them an account, and then add your account to google play, and download paid apps. You can even then remove your account, but the apps won't be linked to their account, and you would have to use your account to update them.

I don't mind that they are not linked to the fake google account I setup as long as they are linked/available from their "profile" on the tablet.  I cannot tell if a Google account and profile on the table are synonymous or just associated to each other.

They are associated to each other. If you set up a new profile on the tablet, it has it's own Google Account and needs to use that account to download the apps.

Just to confirm, it seems that from the testing Peanut did that the answer to my question of "If I create a profile for each of my kids with a new secret email address for them, can I subsequently change the Play store account to my credentials and buy apps for them that are then associated with their profile?" is Yes?  (Though perhaps replacing associated with accessible is more accurate).  I appreciate all the help and feedback...I'd throw you both an extra +1 if it let me :)

@tcarvin No worries. That is correct yes, and if someone answered your question you can click the tick to give them 15 rep and mark it as the answer. If you haven't got a correct answer then don't bother ;)

If you are happy to root your tablet, you can use Multi-User App Share. With this, purchase/install all apps for the tablet as the administrator user, then you can choose which of these apps is available to other users.
This way, you don't need to set up an email address for each child, and the child will never have access to your account. If you give the child an email address in due course, then (s)he can access his/her emails without seeing yours.
Warning: Multi-User App Share is currently in beta.

Do you know if using something like this is something that Google is ok with, or is it probable they'll try to disable this hack somehow in the future?

Another alternative if you have a rooted device, or are willing to root it, is AppShare(+).

(Full disclosure: I am the developer).
It mimics the method that Google uses to enable/disable apps on a user account.
You can install it on your primary account, and then select which of your apps you'd like to "share" (enable) with each of your kids' accounts.
You also have the ability to "unshare" (disable) system or user apps.

So you could remove the Gmail app, or even the Play Store app, to prevent your kids from getting at stuff that you wouldn't want them to. I have found that this works best when you remove system apps from a "fresh" user – i.e. One that has not had a Google account set up on it yet.
For paid apps however, you may – depending on how their licencing works – have to add the Google account that you used to purchase the app, to the user that you wish to share the paid app with in order for it to work.
The Play Store description explains what can be done, and some of the limitations, in more detail.

Do you know if using something like this is something that Google is ok with, or is it probable they'll try to disable this hack somehow in the future?

authors: Томица Кораћ


text:
How do I copy Opera Mini browser cookies?
Is there a way to copy the Opera Mini's cookies from one phone to another? (same model of phone)

If you are rooted, you could use an app such as MyBackup Root or Titanum Backup to backup Opera Mini, and then restore it on the new device.
It is not possible if you're not rooted.


text:
Are there any landline phones running Android?
I'm looking for a landline phone (not necessarily cordless) which runs on Android and gives me the associated control, customisability, and for a bonus, market access. Does such a thing exist?

Apparently Yes. The Archos Smart Home Phone is an Android Phone priced at £130 in the UK:
http://www.androidcentral.com/archos-smart-home-phone-now-available-get-android-your-landline
Although the reviews on Amazon UK arent very good:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Archos-501809-Smart-Home-Phone/dp/B005H0M8LW
Binatone iHome Phone iDect with DECT and Android Technology
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Binatone-iHome-Phone-Android-Technology/dp/B004EBV1GI
Currently unavailable (maybe its that good)

Thank you! That's interesting and disappointing at the same time :(

@Simon beat me too it again ;)

Hope it helps. In the next fews years it will really kickoff. Its only in its infancy at the moment :)

The iDECT iHomephone has Android.
I do not know whether or not it comes with Google Play however.

Thank you. The page does not mention that the phone runs on Android. But from the looks of it, it's the same as the Binatone in @Simon's answer.

Motorola also has a device similar to the Archos Simon mentions, though they don't seem to be available for sale yet, despite clearing FCC approval back in April.
Binatone also offers such devices, though it appears to only be available in Europe
There's also Android-based VOIP units, like the Panasonic KX-UT670, though I imagine that isn't what you're looking for.

Thank you. Do you perhaps have a link or a name for the Motorola phone?

Info I've got is from engadget, who found it in an FCC filing.  http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/03/motorola-hs1101-mbp2000pu-android-home-phone-fcc/


text:
Recovery Mode does not find internal nor external storage
Before I had CyanogenMod 9 on my Samsung Galaxy S i9000. Then, suddenly it did not boot anymore and I could not boot into recovery mode neither.
So I flashed different kernels with Odin (speedmod, vodoo) to be able to boot into recovery mode - which worked.
Within the recovery mode (ClockworkMod Recovery v5) I can not access neither my internal storage nor my external SD card.
I just see: unknown volume for path [/cache...]
Also tried the vodoo Kernel with ext4 support (as I assumed CM 9 uses ext4).
Which steeps are necessary to get the phone working again? I can not access any storage at all...
I appreciate your help!

Do you have valuable data on it or are you OK with just moving forward and get it working again? If you can sacrifice your data just use heimdall and start over: CM's full update guide for the i9000. CM10 nightlies are here: i9000 and i9000 model B

I'm OK with flashing the whole device. The only thing I don't know how to flash the full ROM onto the device without using the RecoveryMode option "install from Zip". I only flashed different kernels onto the device with Odin, but never a full ROM. Does this work too?

You need heimdall only once to install a custom recovery (see my heimdall vs. odin remark in my comment below TheAndroNerd's answer). Then you boot into this recovery and do all further steps there (backup/restore/install_from_zip/wipe/etc.)

I actually can access a recovery. But inside the recovery I can not access my memory. so I can not backup/restore/install_from_zip. Probably I need to re-partition while flashing another kernel, but I still don't know where to get the partition information.

You should use Odin or Hiemdall (preferred) to flash a new ROM, and or flash a new partition table.
It sounds like the partition's have been erased, and as such should be remade by flashing a new ROM.

Heimdall is said to be more reliable (use ODIN for factory firmwares from Samsung). Source XDA

I followed this howto link to re-partition and flash a stock ROM. This worked for me.


text:
I can't upgrade my S III software from 4.0.4 to 4.1.1
Samsung have released the 4.1.1 update for the SGS III and I am trying to upgrade my software from 4.0.4 to 4.1.1, but my Galaxy S III keeps saying:

The server is busy or not available now, try another time or use the
  PC Kies to upgrade it.
  When I used the PC kies it gave me the message shown in thi pic below :

Is there any way to solve this problem? I'm very eager to upgrade my phone Jelly Bean.

Have you tried using PC Kies to upgrade it?

Actually I don't know how to use PC Kies to upgrade it ? can you explain it to me , kindly ??

What carrier are you on? Here are the instructions for the ATT SIII in the US: http://www.samsung.com/us/support/SupportOwnersFAQPopup.do?faq_id=FAQ00050358&fm_seq=55362

you may want to have a better data or wifi connection.

As suggested by Compro01 in the Answers you could try using ODIN to upgrade your device. Instructions for the GT-I9300 (Which it appears you have) can be found here: http://www.androidauthority.com/galaxy-s3-i9300-android-4-1-1-jelly-bean-official-upgrade-118073/

does ODIN loosen my warranty ?? does ODIN mean that my S III will be rooted ?

BTW when I use the PC kies to download the upgrade it reaches 14% or 45 % or 80 % and stops suddenly , is that something happens regularly ?

@Yahya Ahmed No to both warranty loss and root if you're flashing an official Samsung-signed image, like the ones samfirmware provide.

As the error says, you've got 2 options

Use Kies to install the upgrade.
Wait until your carrier's wind-up toy servers get un-overloaded.

A third option would be to obtain an image of the appropriate firmware (e.g. from samfirmware) and flash it via ODIN, though this is slightly more involved.
As an addendum, I was getting this myself with my own GS3 on Virgin mobile Canada (aka Bell Canada) and I ended up waiting just about 2 days, from the initial reports of people upgrading on Sunday until I got it late Tuesday evening.


text:
Install Android-x86 on USB drive
I am live booting the Asus laptop version of Android-x86 4.0 on my Acer Laptop from my USB Pendrive. Everything is working fine, however I want to install the OS on the USB drive instead of live booting it. The USB drive is 16GB in size.
I want to live boot the system and then install on the same drive without using any other drives. If possible, later on, I would want to mount some part of the USB drive as the SD Card. How can I do this?

I am struggling to understand what you are asking?

and what part you are not understanding?

btw..problem resolved.

The solution is pretty simple, far more easier than I anticipated:

Partition your USB drive/SDCard, into two partitions, using this EaseUS Partition Master, which is what I used.
Partition layout needs to be one with 1GB of space with FAT32 filesystem, that is for the installer.
Remaining partition of type ext3 (Linux partition).

The installer, when live-booting from the USB Drive/SDCard, will show the just-created partition on the USB/SDCard, just select that partition to install on it and its done.


text:
Help with LG Optimus Logic Memory
I recently purchased an LG Optimus Logic for StraightTalk, which runs Android 2.3.6. The phone was advertised as having 1GB internal Memory and also came with a 4GB Micro SD.
I've used the phone for about a week now and noticed something which I believe is drastically wrong with the Memory Scheme. As I've downloaded apps, they seem to not be using the internal memory properly. On the Applications Manage screen, the apps take up "System Memory", which is about 190MB maximum. As you can imagine, this space is used up rather fast after only a few apps installed. So I tried to see if I could move apps to the SD Card, but there's the hitch. The option didn't refer to an SD card at all, but was a greyed-out "Move to Internal Memory". A few of the apps had this option, and when I selected it they began to take up the 1GB Internal Memory, which was not used at all before. The option for memory management then read "Move to Phone". Also, I noticed that as I installed more apps RAM was being used even before the Apps started running.
My theory is that the phone was poorly configured. A section of RAM is being treated as the Internal Storage or Flash Memory or whatever you call it, which was labelled "System Memory". The actual, 1GB Internal memory is being treated as external storage much as an SD card would, which leaves the real SD card out in the cold. My best evidence for this is that I removed the SD card and the apps I moved to the other memory still functioned.
I have two questions:

Am I correct in assuming this, or do I not grasp Android memory properly and your knowledgeable minds can enlighten me?
If I am correct, is there any way I can fix this manually, as LG and StraightTalk seem to be of no help on the issue.

Thank you for your time.

Probably related: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/25200/why-cant-i-install-apps-when-i-have-enough-storage http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/4132/cannot-download-not-enough-space-when-phone-storage-clearly-lists-enough-sp

I doubt they are using system memory, as /system is mounted read-only. It will rather be "phone storage". And yes, stupid thing is internal memory being mapped to /mnt/sdcard on several devices, the real sdcard moved to /mnt/sd_external or something like that...

This is the issue with Android.
The 1GB internal storage is classed as an 'Internal SD Card'. A section of this (normally about a 10th) will be used to store /data.
/data is where the apps are installed too, and is mounted as a completely different area.
The rest of the 1GB internal storage is most likely mounted at /sdcard, and the external sdcard mounted at /sdcard_ext or something similar.
This is down to the history of Android devices, and can be quite annoying.
An example that shows this is correct is my SGS2. The app install area has 1GB of memory, and the rest of the 10GB internal is used as an internal SD card.
This is why when you select to move an app to the SD card, it moved it to the 1GB space.
If it grayed out, it is already on the SD card, or the developer does not want it installed on the SD card.


text:
Is there a way to enable the headphone output for audio while using HDMI for video?
I have a yarvik tab464euk tablet, which I'm mostly happy with in an it-was-cheap kind of way. However, there is a particular annoyance.
I have a monitor which has a rarely-used HDMI port (my PC connects via DVI). I don't have a HDMI TV, or any kind of TV at all. Sometimes, I'd like to use my tablet as a media player using the HDMI monitor.
I can connect the tablet to the monitor without any problem, but of course it's a monitor - like many monitors, it doesn't have speakers. That's fine - the tablet also has a headphone jack socket. I thought I'd do exactly what I do for my PC - connect the tablet to the speakers separately.
Unfortunately, this doesn't work. The headphone socket works fine, but not when the mini-HDMI cable is connected. As soon as I have a HDMI monitor connected, the headphone output is switched off - I checked with two sets of headphones as well as speakers to make sure this wasn't a dodgy cable issue.
Giving priority to HDMI seems very odd to me. First, monitors with HDMI but no speakers are quite common. Second, even if I was using a TV with speakers, the obvious reason for having headphones plugged in is because I want to use those for the sound, not the TV speakers.
So... Is this a general thing with Android tablets? Is there a setting I can change to control it? Or is there any other way to get the headphone audio output to work while a HDMI monitor is connected?
I've seen this question about splitters, but the price is out of proportion plus the convenience isn't there. Part of the point is to reduce hardware clutter, tangled cables etc. I already have a media player that works with separate HDMI and audio just fine, but it never gets used because it gets put away to avoid the clutter and tangle, then it's just not worth the hassle to set it up again later.
And it just seems so stupid anyway that the headphone socket is there and works, but it switches off when I most want to use it.

This is a non-answer to close the question. In the unlikely case that an actual answer appears, I'll transfer the accept to that.
No solution was found for the question as asked. By now, I doubt that anyone will ever care for that particular model of tablet, which was cheap even back when it was new. I'm still using it, as it happens, but mostly only as a PDF reader.
For displaying video, some monitors have an audio output to external speakers driven by the audio from the HDMI. It turns out my monitor had that - I'd just somehow managed to miss that at the time. I also now have a TV/monitor with built-in speakers. I still don't care about broadcast TV - I want the composite video inputs for an old PS/2.

Yes, I have tried bluetooth and it works. It's a viable alternative if the tablet is bluetooth:image via DVI, and sound via BT. You just need to pair your favorite BT speaker or headset.

If your tablet has bluetooth, then a bluetooth speaker may be used in this case. It's worth a try.

No, that tablet doesn't have bluetooth.


text:
How to stop Chrome from causing Download folder to reappear in gallery?
Wanting to exclude the Download from being scanned by the Gallery application, I do as required, and create a:
.nomedia

file in the Download folder. That correctly causes the Download folder to vanish from Gallery. And all is well.
But then
If I Save an image from Chrome, the Download folder reappears in Gallery. This coincides with Chrome adding a special file to the Download folder:
ic.bin

Deleting the ic.bin file does not cause the folder to disappear from Gallery. Deleting, and re-adding the .nomedia file to the Download folder does cause the Download folder to vanish from Gallery.
I could ask this a number of alternate ways:

how do I really prevent a folder from being scanned by Gallery?
how do I deny file creation permission of a file called ic.bin in the Download folder?
how do I deny file creation permission of a file called ic.bin in any folder?
how do I stop Chrome from creating an ic.bin file in the Download folder?
how do I stop the Download folder from reappearing in Gallery?
how do I prevent Chrome from causing the Download folder from reappearing in the Gallery?

What I'm really asking is, "How do I exclude a folder from the Gallery?", given that .nomedia doesn't always work.

Device: Nexus 4
  Android version: 4.2.1

That really looks very strange. Not sure if it helps, but lacking other ideas: Remove both files, then create an empty ic.bin (making it read-only) plus the empty .nomedia (in this order). It's a wild guess, but maybe the contents of ic.bin are a key to it. Thus having created a read-only ic.bin should prevent Chrome from placing its own copy. No guarantees, as said -- just a wild guess, but worth a try.

Ian, it would be nice if you could let us know whether the hint solved your problem. If so, I'd convert it into an answer -- so other users with the same problem would know about the solution.

@Izzy Sorry for the delay; my Nexus 4 broke and i'm using a spare. The problem is that there is no way to mark files as Read only; the MPC interface in Windows doesn't allow doing that. The other issue i discovered is that it's not just a problem with Chrome's download folder. Another app, that saves images into its own private folder with a .nomedia file, also appear  in the Gallery once you save a file there.

As for marking r/o: You could use a file explorer on Android for that. Dunno about the other app you mention, sorry...

@Izzy The point was that ic.bin is a red herring. It seems that .nomedia is only honored if it is the last file written to the folder. Edit: which might provide a solution. If it is date based, then perhaps Android has a way to alter the date of a file to December 25th, 3091

Just another though, using atomics: you could use Tasker: If file_created(ic.bin) then delete(ic.bin, .nomedia) & create(.nomedia)...

I think it's so because Chrome is manually adding that file to the android media database (rather than the scanner is scanning the file). And the .nomedia-File is only been considered by the media scanner.

I know this doesn't answer your exact question. You'll save yourself a lot of time and effort going with another picture app such as QuickPic
It's fast and customizable, and you can select which folders to include OR exclude :)
Do yourself a favor and disable Gallery.

I do use QuickPic; for this exact reason. But it would still be nice to have a solution for everyone else (and me).


text:
Is there a simple way to undo an app update?
I'd like to revert to the previous version and stick with that permanently. Is that possible?
I have Beautiful Widgets installed, and had it set to auto-update. It just did, and the 'update' is totally unacceptable.
I've got several devices, all rooted and running different versions of Android. Some have auto-updated the APK to the new version, some have not (I just disabled auto-update on those that have not).

Android does not natively back up applications so you can't "undo" an app update. Best thing I'd say you can do is something like this howto. It backs up your apks and their settings. It uses Titanium Backup and requires root, but rooting is not your problem.

So glad I had more than one device, and that I caught this before they all updated. Titanium Backup FTW!

Unfortunately once the new version is installed there is no way for you to roll back. The only way you can get back to the old one is if you already have a copy of, or can manage to find the APK file for the version that you want.

Finding the APK is the problem, since this just leads to 'warez' sites, which I won't use or trust. I'll recover from one of my other devices instead. Thanks for the answer though.

"can manage to find" was open ended. If you have the version you want on another device you should be good to go. If you're rooted just copy it out of /data/app/ if not use My Backup Pro or some other app to pull a backup copy to the SD card and then copy it from there.

To be pedantic, you can uninstall updates for System apps. They will revert to the version installed when the phone was at factory defaults (or when you installed a rom). But otherwise, you will need to find a copy of the previous version in order to revert an update.
On my (rooted) device, I have a Titanium Backup schedule set up to backup everything every week. In the future, you could set up something like that (root required).

Titanium does very well this job!

You could install AppMonster Pro Backup Restore to your device. This app automatically captures each .apk installed and stores it on your SDCard (initially, you can do this also manually for all your installed apps). Now, if you've installed some update you don't like for some reason (bugs, reduced functionality, or whatever), you can simply start AppMonster and have it restore a previous version.

AppMonster Pro (source: Google Play; click images to enlarge)
To not fill-up your SDCard entirely, AppMonster can also be configured to "only keep X backups". And it offers some additional features as well, as e.g. showing which app can be moved to SDCard, or which app contains ad-modules.
And yes, for the automatical backups you will need the (paid) Pro-version. To take a look at the app first, there's also a free pendant, AppMonster Free Backup Restore -- but here you have to do all backups manually. Also, the Pro version offers a batch-restore. I'm using the Pro version for years now, and can only praise it (saved my day more than once). Support is excellent as well, by the way -- some of the app's features came from my wish-list :)
Ah, and one more remark: this app does not require root. But it (currently) only backups the apps (.apk) itself, not their data.

The Astro File Manager can be easily used to make backups of the application and to restore these later.

Simply go to play store, search for that app, there will be two options 'uninstall' and 'open', just simply click on uninstall and your good to go. Dont worry, it wont uninstall your app completely but only the update gets uninstalled. After that you'll see there two options 'update' and 'open' and thats what you always wanted!

This only happens if the app is a system app, in which the user can't totally uninstall it. If it's a 3rd-party app, then the app will be gone from user's device, obviously.


text:
Advanced searching in Play app store?
It is not easy to find good apps. Is it possible with some other app website to only search within apps (list apps) that have at least 500k downloads and at least 10k reviews?
Something like make the Play store a database of app names with columns for reviewcount and downloadcount and do SQL commands with where clauses?

I created this.
It's an advanced Google Play search engine, I wanted to create that a long time ago. Now, it's done
Since Google doesn't have an API for Play search, I use an open source scraper.
Almost all app specs can be filtered and sorted.
I hope you'll like it, and please let me know if you find any bug or have any feature request.
It's open source : KPlaysearch

Search mask looks good (if you want some more ideas, here's my limited search, just based on the ~14k apps in my lists). Good job!

Confirmed, at this very moment it works, thanks! Cleaning up comments then. // Good job! Upvoted, and already mentioned in my (German) Android eBook (in the new version just released a week ago :)

I created an awesome list of free, ad-free and in-app-free apps for Android if that can help some of you ^^

Simply watch out for the apps with a star in my app lists for those. And definitely avoid those having "monitor icons" (or too big "numbers", aka "permissions", next to their names) :) But thanks!

You shouldn't recommend people to avoid apps because of permissions count, because it's not always all right or all wrong : more permissions also means more features, so better user experience. I agree that permissions can sometimes reduce safety and privacy, but that's too much stereotyped today.

Why not? A flashlight app requiring more than 2 permissions does something one wouldn't expect from it. And if there's another one coming with 2 or less but offering the very same features, this helps you chosing. I agree it's not "just numbers" – which is why you can check the details by clicking the app's name. (but as this is not a forum, let's not discuss this in depth here. Be welcome in chat :)

I wish this also had a "min price" field.  I have some credit left that I need to spend...

Here are better options : 1. Wait to have no choice but to pay an app — 2. Donate for an app you love — 3. Pay for an app you may have cracked but actually worth paying. Spending to spend is wrong and the shops are already efficient enough for that.

Hi kaki, i need filter rating too + category

You can filter by category and sort by rating.

I also created a similar application (http://play.gqqnbig.me/) to KaKi87's.  Source code is at https://github.com/gqqnbig/advanced-play-search

Hey, you should update this with a checkbox that discriminates between PAID apps. Basically you want to mirror the categories that google has. Sometimes I want to find the best paid apps or free apps.

It would be nice if it had a filter of download numbers similar to rating. Eg 10000+, 100000+, 500000+, etc

Looks like what the OP is looking for can be done at AppBrain, using the &sort=popular URL parameter. See e.g. this example search for file sync: First result page mosly holds apps with 10k+ downloads with a good "internal rating" (they have their own "rating number" in addition to the playstore rating). Checking some, they seem to have 10k+ ratings on GPlay as well. Additional filtering is possible for free/paid, new/updated, app2sd, reduced price.
Though not being exactly what was asked for, I guess it's pretty close. Another good result list can be obtained with the &sort=highest-rated variant, which seems to sort by playstore rating: "file sync" by rating.

Since Google (and other search engines) index the web version of Play Store, a massive database of every element of the Play Store has been created and searching it is totally free!
On Google, you can refine web searches like using - to exclude words from the search, or .. for range search, etc.
As an example, to search for free apps that don't contain ads and in-app purchases: site:play.google.com/store/apps/details -"Contains ads" -"in-app purchases" -Buy Free

Unfortunately, Google sometimes returns other localized versions of the Play Store (like Germany, Espanol, French, etc. as shown on the URL with &hl=), and since different localization uses different keywords (e.g. "Contiene anuncios" instead of "Contain ads"), it might be hard to sort out the real result.

that page claims I can put a dollar sign in front of a number to search for a price, but when I do this it only returns results with that number which aren't prices!  I wish there was a way to search for a specific price for (for instance > $4.99 and < $5.25)

As mentioned before it's still not best, I tried a variant: site:play.google.com/store/apps/details/ -"Contains ads" -"in-app purchases" -Buy Free "1B+" "en_IE" "gl=US" but i still get manx duplicates and no way to sort and view in shorter list. Not only do languages play into, but also pagination. Unfortunately/details/ will also include /details?start=20 kind of pages . And adding this somehow skios many results (apps rhat should be there) : -inurl:start So not very useful :(

App Finder is the most advanced search engine for Android apps.
It has 2,300,000+ apps indexed, with data for all 200+ countries/regions, many filters and search operators, and a very detailed result list with scalable screenshots.
For more information see the thread on XDA, and here. Available from Google Play here.
Disclosure: I am from Skyica LLC, the developer of App Finder

Couple of ways you could fine tune or eliminate this:

Select the option to view English (or whatever your native language is) results only. I think this is in your search preferences; you may have to view the desktop version of the results page to get it.
When viewing a page that seems to be from your locale, look at the & hl= and following text in the URL. Copy this to the clipboard. Then go back to the search results page and add inurl: then paste what you just copied immediately to the right of the : (colon). Make sure there aren't any spaces between the colon (:) and what you just pasted.

This isn't another website, but https://github.com/sk1122/App-Searcher-and-Keyword-Seacher is a Django project which provides the software needed to self-host a website which does roughly what is needed.
Its models include reviews and ratings.
Besides Django, its scraper depends on requests and bs4.  I don't see any other dependencies.

You can use the pub: token to search for apps from a specific publisher. Maybe there are other supported tokens, I don't know.
Specify the full and exact publisher name, no quotes needed. It works both in the Play app and website, e.g:
pub:Dieter Thiess


text:
Are there sandbox apps that does not require the phone to be rooted?
There are many sandbox apps such as Permissions Denied (which was mention in one of the post) that can effectively control the permissions that apps which are installed onto your phone.
However, they require the user to root their phone.
So, are there sandbox apps that does not require user to root their phones and at the same time, allow user to control what permission to be given to the apps.
Would appreciate if the apps can run in Android 2 and above.

That would be a contradiction in terms: In order to disable permissions on-the-fly, root permissions are required -- no way around that.
For non-root users, there's only a different approach: Take the .apk apart before installing, manipulate the Manifest (remove unwanted permission's requests), re-assemble the .apk, and then install the modified package. Unwanted side-effect: No direct updates, as the signature on the package breaks this way. An app doing this is e.g. apktool, available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

There are no apps such as this that work without a rooted device.
This is because these apps make changes to system files - and you have to be root to do this.


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Used code bought on internet to unlock Galaxy S3 from 3 UK to O2-UK. Will rooting the device harm it?
My Galaxy S3 was locked to 3-UK when I got it.  So I used a code I bought on the internet to unlock it.  When buying the code the form asked which network I wanted to unlock the handset for.  I said O2-UK as that's the SIM I want to use.  No other SIM cards work on the handset except 3 and O2.  If I root my handset will O2-UK still work on it?  Thanks to anyone that can help.

Rooting the phone won't change SIM-lock settings, they're saved in a separate part of the phone, please see these previous questions for more info on that: Where are the SIM Lock settings stored on an Android phone?  and Does Unlocking bootloader affect network lock?
You can find more explaining these different terminologies here: What is the difference between: Rooting, Jailbreak, ROM, Mod, etc.?


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Why do the photos taken on my HTC One X not have a date/time displayed on them?
When I take a photo on my HTC One X, the date and time that the picture was taken do not appear appear (printed) on the photo. I can't set the date or time in the settings, either. If I use a third party application, I can set the date/time and see the timestamp on the photo.
My old HTC Legend (Gingerbread) had an option to choose whether the timestamp would appear or not.
Is it a feature not supported by Android 4.x, or is it just because of HTC One X model? It was not present on Ice Cream Sandwich or since I've upgraded to Jelly Bean.

What do you mean by "appear on the photo": "Printed" on top of the picture, or are you talking about EXIF tags inside the file? Aside from that, you should always have the timestamp of the image file. I never saw timestamps printed on top of the picture with digital cams, though it is no problem technically (and there might be apps supporting it directly).

sorry for the misleading usage. I mean example [ 05 Dec 2012 15:27PM ] printed on the corner of Photo Image. Not the tag inside the file.

Thank you for clarifying! See my answer below in this case.

This feature is rather be app-specific. Probably the default photo app on your Legend does this by default, while the one on you One X does not. To achieve the desired results on your new device, you might need to find a 3rd party photo app supporting this feature. Your phone is certainly capable of it, that's not the issue.

Thanks for the answer. I really wonder why the default app of One X doesn't support this. :(

I rather wonder why the default app on the Legend did that -- except if you needed to turn on this feature explicitly. That's a quite old feature from 35mm film cameras (where it made sense) which does no longer make sense with digital photos, where this information is available with file and EXIF information and thus can be "printed" or not just on demand. I wouldn't want to have that on my photos :)

on Legend, I can turn on and off. Not by default. I just want to have default app of One X supports that kind of turn on and off feature :)

OK -- that makes perfectly sense now :) Might want to take a look at PhotoCap or UCam Ultra Kamera, which seem to offer this feature. If one of them is acceptable as a solution, let me know, and I add it to the answer test.

Thanks Izzy. I am using Camera360 at the moment. Will check out those apps suggested by you too :D


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HTC Desire HD unlocked, cannot connect to 3G
I recently bought an unlocked AT&T HTC Desire HD from an E-bay seller in India.
I'm using a Tata Docomo Sim on the device. Although having subscribed to 3G data, I am not able to use it. Can anyone help me with how I can configure and use 3G with my mobile?
I tried all the APN settings available online, of which none worked. I am able to just use the EDGE (2G) network, which is too slow. Hope someone helps me to connect 3G on HTC Desire HD for Tata DoCoMo India.
Regards,
Praveen

As you are able to use 2G, your APN settings are probably correct (though you might contact your provider to make sure of that). Could it be the area where you are located is lacking 3G coverage? Can you use 3G with other devices there (cross-check)? Then there's always the possibility that you've got a crippled device -- unless it suddenly works with a different SIM card (again, cross-check).

no one here using 3G.. will try to check. Is there any posibilty to check weather my phone's is good or not ?

If you have another device with working 3G and can use its SIM in your phone, this should be a good indicator. Apart from that (and a repair center), I have no further idea how to check. Maybe a look into the system logs gives a clue, and maybe the "test menues" (look for "secret codes": *#4646#* should lead to a field test on some phones, e.g.) might hold something.

@praveenkumar Where do you live in India? Tata DoCoMo don't have a wide 3G network. They don't have 3G even in cities like Mumbai!! Make sure they have 3G coverage is your area. You can try putting that SIM in other phone.

I consulted with Service center, I'm in Mysore. They said not to use DoCoMo.. M switching to vodafone.

AT&T uses 3G frequency bands 850 MHz and 1900 MHz.  From what I can tell from the phones they sell, Tata Docomo uses the 900 MHz and 2100 MHz 3G bands.  They're not intercompatible.  Most often when you buy a US phone for use outside the country you'll want the T-Mobile version. Or a quad-band or 5-band phone which would eliminate the problem altogether.

Yes, the phone is Quadband. Its because of the network problem. Thank you :)

Not according to any spec sheet I've seen (e.g.) but if it works on Vodafone then great!

Hope it will works with Vodafone :)


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Can I rollback the stock system by just installing an older image zip?
I received the 4.2.x updates on my Nexus 7 and the performance has been awful.  I tried the Forever Gone hack and it helped but it's still much worse than 4.1.x.  I'm not so excited about doing a factory wipe in order to make my system almost as good as it was a month ago.
I've never tried rolling back a stock system before, is it possible to download the official nexus image zip and install it from CWM recovery?  Or do I have to do a more involved wiping and flashing process?  My system is stock 4.2.1 rooted and unlocked, with custom recovery.

Don't use full image at recovery! It contains recovery too (CM can repair itself, but reflash of bootloader is not needed).
Use fastboot and flash partitions: system, data
You will lose all of your data on the tablet, but it is needed because of the different filesystem structure. Without reflashing data you will get a bootloop.

You will most probably have to wipe.
This is because the data will have a different structure, as it is a major version.
If you have recovery, you can flash it to see if it works and if it doesn't, then you can wipe it.
I would suggest backing up any data you would like to keep.


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Where do I find the minimum requirements for an app?
I was trying to install a new app from Google Play on my computer, but a message told me that the app wasn't compatible with my device. No more information was given.
Can someone please tell me where I can find the minimum requirements for any given app? I want to check what's missing on my phone. Maybe I can fix the problem, assuming it isn't a hardware problem.

I always assumed because I couldnt install a specific app from the Play Store it was due to Geographic Location rather than because of the specifications of my phone. This article for CNN entitled "Should Android apps list minimum requirements?" might provide further insight.

I forgot to include the link http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/mobile/06/07/android.app.problems/index.html

You could look at the Manifest file as suggested in Ifor's answer by using the methods described here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2097813/how-to-parse-the-androidmanifest-xml-file-inside-an-apk-package or http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4191762/how-to-view-androidmanifest-xml-from-apk-file

Recently I had the case that Google Play would mark an app as incompatible with a device of me and two days later as compatible (and let me install the app which runs fine) without any change at all from the creator of the app (a friend who told me he did not change anything during that time). Therefore I guess that Google may also use some heuristic criteria to determine their compatibility judgement. This may make it difficult to get a definitive statement about what is missing in principle (even if Google would offer this information). Maybe just confidence is missing.

The theory is that you should not need to know.  When the developer publishes an app there is a manifest.xml file that describes the required capabilities.  These can be both hardware and firmware related.  e.g. you need a minimum Android version or you need a specific hardware feature like GPS.  Google Play then automatically filters which apps you can see and install based on these requirements.  The developer can also impose geographic requirements and potentially carrier requirements as well as disallowing specific devices if they want to.
In your case the obvious thing to do is to first check if the developer has a website with any more information.  If that's of no help try emailing them  the filtering can be tricky and catches developers out.  If the developer is at all responsive they should come back to you.  It is in their interest to have the app work on as many devices as possible normally, so if there is no good reason for it to be incompatible with your device they should appreciate the opportunity to work out the issue.  If there is a valid issue then your question may help prompt them to make the information available on a website or in the description.

Not sure if the theory is really that one should not know. As the original poster argues it makes sense to know what is missing. It's probably just as it is, not really a theory. Since there is already a file that describes the required capabilities it would not be very difficult to show information about that is missing. It's just not implemented on the google app store.

As the other answers already state, requirements are stored in the .apk's Manifest. There are several tools available to help you analyze this file, as e.g. is described in Stack Overflow's question How to view AndroidManifest .xml from APK file?. Examples given in the answers include:

android-apktool
aapt (as also explained by Dianne Hackborn)

Then there also are...

Manifest Explorer
axml2xml.pl
Android XML Parser

...and probably many more.

Look up on APKPure. They list this data at the bottom of the screen. No need to download tools.
As a consumer, I needed to know the version because I wanted to know if my older Kindle tablet could run some software or not.

Looks like they only list the required Android version, but not the rest, like if the app needs something specifically (e.g. camera, gyrospoce, etc.)?

The simple answer: You cannot.
The expanded answer: You cannot, unless the Developer has specified this on their site. You could also email them to ask them.
The developer uses the manifest file of their app to specify certain hardware or software version requirements for their app - Google Play then uses this info so that it doesn't install an app on an incompatible device.
Some examples of what they could put are:

Minimum Android version
Maximum Android version
Hardware requirements

GPS required
You need to have an accelerometer
You need to be able to use portrait/landscape mode

Geographic location or Google Account country (which can't be changed afaik)
Cellular Network Provider/Telecommunication Carrier company

If the app uses the NDK and it is built for armv7, you will need an armv7 device.

Sorry to correct you: But you can. There are tools available which let you browse the Manifest file.

@Izzy I was supposed to say you can edit the manifest, but I wrote this in school, and quickly.

The simplest answer to your question would be that the developer has excluded your device from the list of supported devices.
This could due to the following reasons:

Your phone might be causing some problems with the app. This can lead to the developer excluding your device.
The developer has excluded devices of certain form factors.
The developer may be targeting only particular handsets.

You might be able to get details of supported devices from the developer's website.


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Crashing video camera in CyanogenMod 7.2
I just updated CyanogenMod 7 to 7.2 on my Nexus One. Now when I go to camera → photo mode it works well, but if I switch to video mode it just crashes.
I tried to find an answer on the CyanogenMod site, but as much as I searched I found no matching question. As far as I could see on the CyanogenMod site, the latest stable version for the Nexus One is 7.2. Is there any solution for this?

Try this: Settings >> Applications >> Camera >> Clear Data

Please erase the camera data:
Settings -> Application -> Camera -> Clear Data


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Scan Barcode and QR code from the mobile screen itself
How to scan barcodes from the mobile screen itself?
Edit on Mar 10, 2020: I am also looking to do the same for QR codes.

You could possibly try the solutions in App that reads images of QR codes? I'm not sure if they work on other barcodes as well.

The recent suggested edit is being discussed on the meta.

As already described in the above comments, this would require taking a screenshot and saving it as an image file. Having done that, there are several barcode scanners available in the Play Store supporting "loading" of barcodes from image files, as e.g. QR BARCODE SCANNER. QR Droid also seems to be capable of what you're looking for:

Scan QR codes from your camera, browser, SD card, or saved image

This is another one QR Scanner. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teacapps.barcodescanner

I'm frequently using Manatee Works 'Barcode Scanners' app for such a purpose. Here's the Google Play Store link to the demonstration application.
The app supports a wide variety of 1D/2D codes, scans very fast, and is free. The only downside is that the option to manipulate the results is few, namely either copy or email, because it's a mere demonstration.

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


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Nexus 4 getting "No Service" until a reboot after losing signal
I've got a Nexus 4 running Android 4.2.1 on AT&T (via Straight Talk). I've noticed that sometimes at work (low signal area) instead of getting low bars (zero to two at my desk) I'll get "no service", with an empty triangle instead of the shaded in triangle with an H over it.
Moving to a place with better signal (outside, at home) doesn't bring back the signal indicator, but rebooting the phone does. I don't think it always does this, either, but I may have just not noticed. Once I even got "emergency calls only" which I've only previously seen when I had my SIM card but hadn't activated it.
The weird part is rebooting the phone at work brings back the signal meter too; the problem seems to persist until a reboot. Turning airplane mode on/off didn't seem to work. What's causing this? It seems like once it loses signal it just kind of stops looking for a signal until it reboots. Is there some way to prevent this or force it to reacquire a signal once I know I'm in an area with signal?

I'm having similar situation however I have no problem with the signal strength. In my case I use WiFi in the office. In some ares WiFi signal is to weak and phone switches to HSPA. Usually once a day phone enters no service state and reboot is the only way to fix it.

I've solved part of this issue; switching to Airplane mode and back (bring down the status bar, go to the quick settings panel, tap airplane mode twice) DOES restore signal if you're in an area with signal. So there's that at least, but it's still losing signal until a forced update. You might have to wait a second between the first and second tap of the Airline mode button to make sure it activates (the airplane icon will appear in the status bar).
Also note that occasionally it seems the phone will actually still get a 3G/4G signal and a stable internet connection...while still displaying the "no signal" icon. The only way to know this is happening is to try and use online features and find them working. You might just want to do the Airplane mode trick anyway since it's quite confusing to have the no bars icon but have the internet and calls working (and of course in this state you won't notice if the signal suddenly drops again).

Does not work in my case, unfortunately

Doesn't work in my case too

This solution works for me, but I can't just tap Airplane mode twice in quick succession.  I have to wait until the airplane icon appears in the status bar before I tap Airplane mode a second time.  I don't know why that is.

@Mingo yeah sometimes it does that and sometimes double tapping immediately works. Very frustrating, and still happening on Android 4.3. Added some info to the answer


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Nexus 4 random reboots
I've got an unrooted, plain vanilla 4.2.1 Nexus 4. Sometimes it randomly reboots itself while using it (and for all I know when it's not using it). Less than once a day problably, but I can't find a cause. IT does a weird sort of half-reboot too; it goes immediately to the big glowing X screen without the white Google screen that comes up during a cold reboot (off, then on).
The reboots don't seem to be caused by anything in particular; I've had one while running Chrome and one while running Gameboid. both of those run fine 99% of the time too, nothing has triggered the reboot more than once so I don't think it's a specific app.
Is this a known bug or caused by something or what? I'm mostly only using apps that worked on my last phone (which wasn't android 4.2) and stock apps, so I don't think it's any fishy apps.

Not an answer since I don't know why, but I haven't had this problem in quite a while. It might have been because of an update to some app/the OS but I'm not sure when it resolved itself/if the general problem is fixed.

Can you try to switch runtime from Dalvik to ART and see if this helps? You need to enable Developer options for doing this (About phone -> Build number, and make 7 taps there).

@Stan actually I think an update (perhaps 4.3?) or something fixed this, or I was just lucky. I no longer have my nexus 4 but I hadn't had this issue for a few months prior to getting my Nexus 5. Either way I'm afraid I can't test that myself.

Well, in my case upgrade even to the latest 4.4.2 did not solve the problem, but after switching the runtime it's running several days. This is possibly another similar bug in the OS. It happened at nights as well, when nobody used the device and it's presumably caused by garbage collection.

I've experienced random reboots on Android 4.2 on the Nexus 7. From my research it looks like there may be an issue with Google's location services, but that's not verified. I don't think it's unique to your device in any case.
Take a look at this article which goes a little more in depth.

True, I've seen reboot problems like this on 2.2, 2.3. Is there any version that doesn't ever have this problem?


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Can my Android phone be hacked without installing permissions?
After reading this article ( Kaspersky smartphone report ) this got me wondering.
Obviously if I install a dodgy app through Play Store or directly from a website, that can be dangerous, however if I install a popular app from the Play Store that has 10 million downloads for example, most likely it will be virus free.
So most of the Android hacks I've read about are people giving install permission to dodgy apps, however can my android phone be hacked without me installing an app at all?

There is always the possibility of a vulnerability in some app that could cause your computer/phone to be hacked. Browsers are notorious for having bugs that allow the computer to be infected with a virus simply by viewing a page. In fact, one method to jailbreak an early Apple iOS device was to simply browse to a page that delivered a payload via a bug in pdf (source).
Android mitigates this by having apps run in their own sandbox. Thus, an app that is compromised can only (theoretically) compromise its sandbox, which includes any permissions it originally was granted. If compromised, it couldn't send an SMS unless it had that permission originally, nor could it modify other programs' data. But even sandboxing is not foolproof.
If your phone is plugged in to a computer, it can be 'hacked'. This is proven by most rooting methods that use a bug to get root. Programmers could just as easily create a virus for computers that detects Android phones and installs a malicious app silently, or even roots them and takes over the phone completely.
This talk has some great details on app permissions. It isn't necessarily hacking, but it does show how an app with very few, seemingly innocuous, permissions can actually track and do a lot without you knowing.
In the end, your android device is a computer, with all the same inherent flaws that come with it. So like a desktop, if you are careful about where you browse and what you install, you'll likely be fine.

The browser is a big security risk especially for older Android versions. For example:
http://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/researcher-publishes-android-browser-exploit-110810
http://news.techworld.com/security/3250255/android-browser-vulnerability-exposes-user-data/
http://www.livehacking.com/category/vulnerability/android-vulnerability/
For older devices (on 2.2 or older) it may be best to use Firefox or Opera mobile browsers, which you can update regularly, unlike the built-in browser.


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Make apps force close automatically without going into settings

Possible Duplicate:
How can I stop applications and services from running?

I have an HTC Desire and I have been trying to figure out how to always get my apps and things I don't use to force close when I close them with the home button.
I have tried pressing the back button until it closed but that does not work as when I go into my app killer it shows that it is still running. Also, when I go in Applications --> Manage --> Running Service, some apps are still open. In addition, the app killer isnt properly working as when I close all apps in the app killer then go into the running services, some of the apps it killed are still shown as open.
Can anybody help please?

Possibly related: What is the right way to close apps in Android?

are you running a custom ROM like Cyanogenmod?

See the last paragraph and quote block in the "Manually Killing Apps" section of the linked duplicate.


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Google Services is killing my battery by keeping phone awake
In the last few days my Galaxy S3 has gone from lasting 12-13 hours to about 6 hours. On checking the battery monitor it seems to suggest that the phone is constantly staying awake and that Google Services are to blame.
I was recently experiencing real problems with Google Chrome freezing the phone so I have uninstalled and gone back to the native browser but the battery issue persists...

Has anyone experienced anything similar....is a factory reset the only solution? (Android version 4.1.1)

After trawling through all manner of options I isolated the root cause of this issue.
Within Google Account Sync I had a look at all available settings and the one that seemed to be causing an issue was 'Sync Internet' option which was just constantly running (and appearing to be keeping the phone awake.
Switching this off has got back my battery back to normal.
I still have no idea why my phone was trying to sync the entire internet :-)

Maven, perhaps?

sync internet probably means your computer browser history and data is synced with your mobile chrome browser. that is the worst data consumption part.

@thavan There is a separate setting for synchronizing Chrome.

To add to Dean's answer, I also had a number of Android apps that drained my battery by using Sync all day long. The apps listed in your Accounts tab under Settings all sync through Google Services. By using Tasker, I scheduled Sync to run every hour for 3 minutes. My battery life improved significantly after that. Here is the recipe for the Tasker profile:
Sync Scheduler Profile

Time: From 06:00 Till 23:00 (repeat every 1h)

Task

Action 1 (optional): Notify [ Title: Sync Scheduler, Text: Now Syncing!, Icon: your choice ]
Action 2: Auto-Sync [ Set:On ]
Action 3: Wait [ MS:0, Seconds:0, Minutes:3, Hours:0, Days:0 ]
Action 4: Auto-Sync [ Set:Off ]

Just wanted to thank Dean for his answer. "Google services" was draining my battery like crazy as well, and after turning off a bunch of Google account sync options - including "Sync internet" - my S3's battery life has noticeably improved. I now only sync email, calendar, and contacts. (I also outright disabled the Google Search app, though, which includes Google Now, so that could be playing a part as well.)

I don't see this answer here, so adding this as the problem described is similar to a problem that I had just this week.
Battery drain started happening for my huawei p9 a few days ago all of a sudden, no apparent cause. Google Play Services top battery user but also a variety of other apps.
A suggestion to turn off automatic app updates solved the problem for me (after I had done general cleanup and os upgrade and removed a google account(for which authentication was out of date) which had not solved problem).


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Samsung Galaxy S No Unlock Screen
I have a Samsung Galaxy S (with DMB).
It's running Gingerbread and it doesn't have an unlock screen. I have tried to set it up through the settings but it doesn't work. Any idea why?

I am not familiar with DMB, what is that?  What happens when you access the security settings? Does it appear to work, but then when you test it out it does not?

DMB is DAB and Online TV, it lets me set the lock but it just dosent work when i wake the galaxy up.

Have you changed the lock timeout in the security settings?

Could you provide some screenshots showing your lock settings?

I dont need help anymore, i did a factory reset and it started working. I guess someone had changed something before  i got it! :)


text:
Exchange - exclude emails from being sent to my phone
I have a droid and MS Outlook email, which is sent to my phone using Exchange. I'd like email in some folders to NOT be sent to my phone. Does anyone know how to do this?

Are you able to add specifically what phone you are using and what version of Android is it running?

if their isn't an option to select a set of folders.
I'm assuming there's something about those folders like big attachments? Or to sensitive to be on a mobile device?
My best advice to you would be to move the folders in question into an archive and set up a rule to automatically sort your mail into that. You'll never see an archive folder on your phone, so job done.
Hope that helps.


text:
Screen timeout versus secured lock time
I just updated to Jelly Bean on my GS3 and am mostly impressed.
I am having trouble with the screen timeout setting, however.  When I go into Display>Screen Timeout and select a time, say 30 seconds, I get a message that says "Screen will turned off when screen is locked.  Secured lock time is currently set to 5 seconds." My question is where? I cannot find this Secured Lock time setting in Display settings, Lock Screen settings or Security settings, which would seem to be the intuitive places to look for it. Further, even though I get this message, my screen now does not turn off at after 5 seconds, or ever as far as I can tell.  After walking away from the phone for 20 minutes, I returned to the screen  blazing in all its AMOLED glory.

If I understand that right, your screen should turn off after 30s idle time. If you switch it back on within less than 5s, you won't have to unlock (lock screen). After that "grace time" is exceeded, Keyguard takes over and enables the "lock". That's how your "configured part" sounds. I have no explanation, however, for the 20min thing -- except that some app might keep the screen awake -- here it might help if you specify what is running when that happens.

Thanks, Izzy. Your comment about an app running that might be keeping the screen awake prompted me to do a restart, which resolved whatever was going on.  Screen turns off after 30 seconds and locks after 35.  Appreciate the feedback!

Glad the hint helped! I took the freedom to turn it into a more detailed answer (giving additional hints).

Your problem is not in display but in Lock screen. I had the same problem and fixed it: Go to settings, lock screen, then secured lock time, and set it for ten minutes

With a relatively modern Android version, there is no need to trust a 3rd party app, which probably explains the app landscape observed.
There are three settings that can be managed to allow the screen to dim without locking the phone.  These features have been around since at least 4.4.
settings > display > sleep is the amount of time the screen will remain on after activity stops.
settings > security > Power button instantly locks is what needs to be altered so manually turning off the screen with the power button does not lock the phone.
settings > security > Automatically lock can be set to a comfortable span of time, such as 10 minutes.
On later versions of Android, the path to get to the above two is under the screen lock gear:
settings > security > screen lock (settings gear) > Power button instantly locks, and
settings > security > screen lock (settings gear) > Automatically lock.

As said in my comment on the question itself: That settings page is the place to configure the default behaviour. In your described case, those settings define the screen to switch off after 30s of idle time (i.e. no touch event), plus activate the Keyguard action (i.e. the lock pattern, PIN, or password) after additional 5 seconds (so if you switch the screen back on within less than 5s after it switched off automatically, you do not have to unlock the device as it would not yet be locked).
Now why does the screen stay on for 20 minutes or more, though configured to switch off after 30s of idle time? The solution is not always that obvious. Apps with the appropriate permissions might override those default settings. A good example is a navigation app: One surely doesn't want to permanently touch the screen to keep it from switching off while navigating. Another example might be an ebook reader prolonging the timeout.
While a reboot might solve that issue once it happens (in case a quick-fix is needed), in the long run it will prove better to check running apps for candidates overriding the mentioned default settings. While the navigation app might be obvious (and most likely desired), other apps might let you configure this behaviour.
In case you cannot easily figure out which app is causing it, a look at the system logs might prove useful. aLogcat is one example of apps helping you to capture log contents (there are many others as well). It might produce a large amount of lines, but searching the content for strings like "screen", "timeout", and the like has good chances to narrow it down.


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How to place replies in the same folder as the original message on the IMAP email app?
Messages that I reply to from my phone are placed in the "Sent" folder. Is it possible to configure the Email App to place replies in the same folder as the original message. Using galaxy S3, Android 4.0.4.

As far as I can tell, no, there is not a way to configure where sent mail is placed using the IMAP email account on the Galaxy S III. There may be a 3rd party email app that can do this, but not the stock one on the S III. As suggested in the comments K-9 Mail does what you want.

At least K-9 Mail lets you configure folders for Sent mail and others. Not sure about other mail apps.